Instead Of Visiting, Support A Family With An Ill Loved One In These Ways
When someone in your extended circle of contacts is rushed to a health facility that provides urgent care, it's only natural to want to support the person's immediate family. Your desire to show support can come in the form of traveling to the urgent care facility and being close to the family, but there are other ways that are valuable to help. While the family might appreciate your physical presence, there's also a chance one or more of them could find it distracting, especially in a time at which the family feels vulnerable. Instead of showing your support in person, get in touch with a family member and offer your assistance in one of these ways.
Acting As A Communications Helper
If you're close enough with the family and the person who's receiving medical care that they'll tell you the details of the situation, you could offer to help the family deal with communicating with its circle of friends and family members. When someone's ill, it's common for the person's family members to field calls, emails and text messages seeking updates, and this constant communication can be taxing on the family. If the family wishes to give you this duty, ask for a list of people to contact and spread the word that you're communicating on the family's behalf.
Taking Care Of Children
If you're physically close enough to do so, you can provide relief for the family by looking after the children while their parents are visiting the care facility. Many parents don't want to take children into this environment -- at least not regularly -- but young children might not be able to remain at home alone. Coordinate either taking the children to your home or staying at the family's home as long as is needed. The latter option is often preferable to help keep the children in their own environment and following a familiar routine.
Serving As A Runner
The longer the patient stays in the care facility, the more need there will often be for items from his or her home. Given that the immediate family members might not wish to leave their loved one's side, you can make any necessary trips to the person's home to retrieve personal items such as toiletries, slippers, an MP3 player or even a family photo album to cheer the person up. There might be a handful of these trips to make over the days or weeks ahead, and taking care of this duty gives the family more time together.
If you'd like to learn about medical procedures in care facilities, contact companies like Alaska Urgent Care LLC.