It's not like I didn't try to get a doctor visit in quickly. Here's how it happened for this placement:
Day 1: Child placed in our home
Day 5: Home visit with caseworker was supposed to happen but cancelled
Day 6: Home visit, find out the clinic where Cricket has gone to a doctor, but not the actual name of the doctor.
Day 8: Call clinic to schedule an appointment and told to deliver or fax paperwork before scheduling appointment. Intend to drop off paperwork on a day clinic is open, but I'm overwhelmed with our family's adjustment, and I just can't do it.
Day 12: B faxes paperwork. Clinic is supposed to call within two days.
Day 14: No call from clinic.
Day 15: Cricket needs to go to the ER, and I am kicking myself for not having more medical and information and history that I would have gotten from the initial doctor visit.
There are some weekends in there that spaced it all out. No one seemed to blame me, but I just really wish I had seen her doctor before I was bringing her to the ER. Next time, I'm going to ask who the doctor is when I am scheduling the home visit with the caseworker. I had it on my list of questions to ask at the home visit, but I shouldn't wait.
Thankfully, Cricket is stable now and just needs to get through this virus. And our wonderful neighbor took Dinosaur and Rhinoceros. I only asked her to take Dinosaur for half an hour then watch him get on the bus for school, but she offered to take Rhinoceros. That made what could have been an unbearable morning just a busy morning. It was even a blessing I could have lots of time blocked off to cuddle Cricket.
Check that off my parenting experience list: I have now taken a child to the ER.
Here we are required to have the child seen by a doctor within the first 72 hours of them coming into care or moving to our home from another foster home. Doesn't have to be "their" doctor. Usually it's a doctor at a walk-in clinic or at the cps medical clinic. That speeds up the process of getting medical history, since the doctor asking another doctor for medical info is usually faster than a foster parent asking for it. Actually, 3 of our 5 have come to us from the hospital so we've gotten paperwork for them, and one of the others lived closer to us, so when my mom took her to the local walk-in for her intake medical appointment they discovered that her primary care doctor was in the same practice. Bam, all her medical info was on the system and in front of that doctor! Also, I can't believe this is the first time you've taken a kid to the ER! Wow!
ReplyDeleteThe state requirement is within 30 days, but our agency policy says to do it "as soon as possible." 2 out of 4 have been from the hospital, so I've only dealt with this twice. I really wish the large system of clinics that have had all four of my foster kids as patients at one point or another would allow us to schedule appointments without needing to fax/deliver the paperwork and then wait at least two days. Seems ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI've been really spoiled with healthy and accident-free kids. I almost thought we'd have our second trip to the ER today when Rhinoceros took a fall from an office chair, but he was fine.