Medical Emergency at Park

[Bartoli]

Has anyone ever experienced a medical emergency while in one of the parks? My DH suffered a serious head injury last year which left him with a tendency to have seizures followed by temporary memory loss. I am concerned that DH might have a seizure if he over does it (too many rides and blistering heat). So, I have lectured DH on taking it easy and plan on putting ID cards on each of us and our kids (ages 9, 8 and 6) with our names, our hotel, room number, my cell phone, etc. so that if we get separated someone will know how to contact me. Unless he hurt himself, he would not require a hospital visit, but he would need to get back to the room to rest. Would Disney be able to transport him back to the resort (Poly)? Any other ideas on how I should prepare for this? Has anyone else had to deal with this? Help!!
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[Talking Hands]

There is a First Aid Station in each park where your husband could rest if needed.

 

[Bartoli]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

For an actual emergency, the Reedy Creek Emergency Services provides full Fire and Rescue services. They also can transport a person to a hospital.

As Lisa said, the First Aid stations at the park have Registered Nurses on duty and the situation can be explained to them so he can lie down and rest/nap for a while if needed.

If he just wants to go back to the room and nap, I would suggest the entire family goes with him and then you and the kids return to the park

 

[Poohnatic]

I'd also suggest that if you don't already have family plan cellular service that you pick up some 5 mile range FRS radios. It'll make it easier to communicate as issues arise, and if DH needs a little 'down time', he can reconnect with the family quickly.

suzanne

 

[Nanajo1]

If DH experiences a seizure and no family member is there to tell the respondents that he does not need to go to the hospital they will transport him to the hospital. I second the radios for quick access to each other. I would test them at the park to find a less used frequency.
Hope you have an incident free trip.

 

[Bartoli]

Thanks. We have cell phones and radios, although the range is about 2miles, so the phones are probably our best bet. Thanks for the advice. I am sure all will be fine.

 

[lovespoohbear]

I had my first sezuire at disney world in 1995. the ambulance was called and took my parents and i to the hospital. we were told then that disney has it set up that if you need an ambulance they pay for the ride to the hospital. not sure if thats still true or not.

 

[spotdog]

I travel alone and had a serious (but not life threatening) sudden illness at Disneyland once. I was taken to first aid and agreed with them that I needed to go to the hospital but did not need 911 called. They transported me (free of charge) to a local hospital in a van.

After 8 hours of tests and observation, I was given medication and Disney was called and returned me to my hotel by the same van. (On the return trip I had the company of a CM who had injured his ankle.)

I and Medicare, I was on SSDI at the time, were responsible for the hospital bill. It was terrific for Disney to save me ambulance or cab fees and they treated me very well.

 

[zumbergc]

We were at a private event at the Wonders's lounge where they had some pool tables. Needless to say one of the kids got wacked in the forehead with a pool ball. The kids clammed up as to what exactly happened.

They have EMT like people respnd to the situation almost immediately.
Access the situation and see what is needed. The kid had a bit knot on his head but was OK, they just iced him down and he was good. His parents were there and didn't think it was necessary to goto the hospital.

Disney has some special code they call when someone gets injured, can't remember what it was called. They are quick and discrete, because were barely noticed it had happened, since the pool tbales were in a seperate rooms off the main room.

Connie

 

[pugdog]

Just last year during fantasmic a person nearus had a sezuire. The Cm near us called for the medics as we were clearing the area so she wouldn't hurt her self. The came in the back way and no one even noticed what was going on. It only took them about 3 or 4 minutes to get there.
She was transported to the hospital direct, but if you are aware of whats going on and you ask they will ,if midically appropiate, take you to first aid first before the hospital if needed.
And yes they have a van that will bring you back to the park or resort when you are done at the hospital.

 

[seashoreCM]

He should plan not to be separated for any length of time (except for rest room breaks or going to order food at a restaurant). This may mean your forgoing rides he is unable to withstand. Perhaps the 9yo is able to take care of DH for short periods so you can do more things yourself.

Use the "child swap" procedure that each ride has, if you feel that will help. (Typically everyone goes through the line together.) You and the 9yo would do the swapping and DH sits still.

So long as DH has no seconds-critical ailment, he should do OK. While lying down in a ride is not always possible, lying down outside is always possible until the 9yo can fetch a wheelchair or a CM beats him to it.

Find out how much each service (vans, etc.) costs before using it if you don't absolutely positively need it. With the family accompanying him DH is entitled to lie down on a Disney bus as soon as he gets on if he thinks he needs to lie down and does not want to pay for a cab.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[SueM in MN]

My DD has had a seizure at least once in the parks during most of our WDW trips. Usually, a CM will come along fairly quickly and offer to take us to First Aid or call the First Aid responders for us.
If we are close to First Aid, we go there and she lies down for a while. If we are not close, what we have done in the past was just tilt her wheelchair back (she doesn't have a tilt-in-space wheelchair, but I don't have a better word for it) and lay her down for a while.
As pugdog mentioned, WDW does have complimentary vans that they can use to transport you back to your hotel if needed. We have not used one, but have been offered one - they don't want someone who is ill or may become ill to be on the buses on a long ride when they could be transported more privately.

One suggestion I have heard for cell phones is to label the programmed numbers with names and relationships (like Mary Smith - wife) . That way if your DH is not able to speak, his phone can "tell" them who to call out of all the numbers listed.
Also, you might want to have a short instruction card for the 9 year old so that he has the information he needs to give to the CMs if his dad has a problem.

 

[dlrhine]

I can talk from recent experience on this subject. When we were in WDW this past Sept. we had to take my DD age 2 to the hospital 3 hours after landing at Orlando International Airport. We got to our hotel room and my DD was struggling to breath. We called our Ped. at home and asked what we should do and he said call the front desk and ask if they have a clinic. When the resort heard that she was struggling to breath they sent Reedy Creek Ambulance to the room along with the hotel Manager etc. They transported her to Celebration Hospital ER and we were never charged a thing. I also know that it is no charge from when I worked at Disney in 1995 at Blizzard Beach. Anyhow, we get to the hospital to find out she was having an Asthma attack, and before that we didn't even know she had Asthma, we just knew she had a fatal peanut allergy. That was a scary trip for us but Disney treated the whole thing wonderfully. Thanks

 

[Merriwind]

Two points that I think are important (others may have mentioned them)

One, Disney can provide van transportation to an ill guest back to their resort. We were so happy to learn of this service when DD was 3 and came down with Rotavirus towards the end of our trip. No way she was going to make it on a bus from MK to OKW. The van was a lifesaver!

Two, if your husband is alone, suffers a seizure and has an abnormal neurological exam afterward (memory loss could definitely cause this), he would absolutely be transported by ambulance to the hospital. For this reason (and probably several others), I would recommend that you always be with DH. I think even a 9yo could have trouble dealing with the sort of chaos that scene could create.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[batraylover]

I had a friend who took their kids to Disneyland a little over a year ago. The little girl was injured in the candy store on Main Street, when she pulled the scoop out of the bin to scoop some candy into a bag, and the scoop hit her in the mouth, and she fell back and slammed her chin onto the counter, and there was blood everywhere.

First aid station because it happened in their park, took her straight to the emergency room with the whole family in a Disney vehicle. They paid the bill and would not let the family put it through to their insurance company (I guess to avoid a lawsuit later). They gave both girls, the one who was injured and her sister a shirt (the little girls shirt was covered in blood) and they gave each of them minnie mouse ear headbands, and then took them back to their resort.

Now I am not sure if Disney would be like this in every emergency or not, just thought I would mention what happened.

 

[wuv tigger]

If not, it would be a great thing for him to have when he can't talk to 1st responders. I am NOT great when ti comes to computers but here is their website. I wear one & thank God I have not had to use it but it is nice to have the peace of mind.

http://www.medicalert.org

hth,

Judy