Let me start by saying that everyone is fine, happy and healthy. Even this boy who gave us all a bit of a scare today.
A few days ago I asked Shane the number for 9-1-1 here (it's 1-1-1). Not sure why I thought to ask, but I'm glad I did -- because I had to use it today.
Around 11 a.m. our time, the Adorable Boy started crying hysterically, saying his throat hurt and that he was having trouble breathing. To be clear, he was breathing fine, talking and crying. So it didn't seem like an emergency. Still, I couldn't figure out exactly what was going on.
I got him to calm down and asked him a bunch of questions: Did you swallow something accidentally? Did a piece of food get stuck in your throat? Did you poke your throat with something? He didn't know what had happened and could describe it only as a bug flying into his throat and getting stuck.
I had the Adorable Girl home with us today too -- she had an upset stomach last night and this AM -- and we decided to drive down into city center to see Shane during his lunch break. We were just a few streets from home when the girl started yelling that the boy was crying. Again, he was hysterical, saying his throat hurt, something was stuck in it and he couldn't breathe.
I was really scared at this point and didn't quite know what to do. I knew he was breathing -- so that was good -- but I didn't know if something was partially blocking his throat or hurting him in some other way. I just didn't know. So I pulled into the Wendy's parking lot and put 1-1-1 -- and this socialized medicine system we've all been warned about -- to work.
The woman on the other end of the phone was extremely kind and very helpful, reassuring me that the boy's crying (we were all crying by this point) was a good sign and help was on the way. Help came in the form of a St. John New Zealand ambulance. I later learned these ambulances are run through a national charitable organization, funded in large part by the government. Fundraisers, donations and "part charges" make up the shortfall. I think we will pay a part charge of about $80 for the service.
And it was more than worth it. The crew was wonderful with the boy, helping him calm down and climb into the back of the ambulance. A very nice, very pretty woman named Cat (the boy flirted with her the whole time) checked his throat and breathing and assured me that he had nothing stuck in it. He did, however, have inflamed tonsils that might be making him feel like he had something in his throat.
The crew used an iPad to record his vitals and take notes as they checked him out. They did not see a need to transport him to the hospital in the ambulance -- though he probably would have liked that -- but they did suggest that I take him there myself.
Before letting us go, they made sure I knew how to get to the hospital and handed me a piece of paper with a reference number written on it. The hospital could use this number to access the records from the ambulance call, they told me, and I could even pull the records up on my web browser if I needed them.
By this point, the boy was back to normal, laughing and talking. But I still wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything. So I buckled everyone in the car and drove to Waitakere Hospital, about 5 minutes away.
Kids waiting room
At the emergency department, I handed over the paper from the ambulance crew. I had no insurance cards, no passports, nothing to prove we deserved to be seen. But all that was needed was a name and birth date to get registered. Within 45 minutes we had been seen by a nurse and a nurse practitioner -- both agreeing the boy had, essentially, a bad sore throat and swollen tonsils -- and left with a prescription for kids' Tylenol.
The medical practitioners we dealt with were extremely kind, compassionate and very good with the kids. They could tell I had been rattled by the experience and made a point to assure me that I was right to react the way I did. I was very grateful for the attention, care and information they gave us.
As for what this experience will cost, I don't expect it will be much more than the $80 for the ambulance visit. The public health system in New Zealand is subsidized by the government for citizens, residents and people with visas that last for at least two years (the kind we have). We don't have insurance, per se; we just have complete access to health care -- no questions asked. We do pay into the system with our taxes and have a fee, something like a co-pay, for some services. But the emergency department visit isn't one of them. And we even got the Tylenol for free.
All in all, I have nothing but positive reviews of the NZ health system as we put it to use today. And I'm grateful we came out the other end with nothing but a sore throat to worry about.
Well that and the heart attack these kids are always giving me -- but looks like we'll all survive another day :)
