The hospital where my son is receiving treatment is filled with amazingly long and winding corridors. Unfortunately, I have to track them frequently each day. To get supplies from the chemist, to buy extra food for Middle son, to grab a coffee.
My directional skills are giddy at the best of times and here, I am well out of my depth. I haven’t been so much lost as in a parallel universe where the future stretches out in a long, blurring tunnel ahead. The halls all look the same and there are many dead ends and level changes. At one point, I was convinced that I would turn a corner and stumble, Indiana Jones style, across the skeleton of a poor soul who didn’t make it. And died of starvation before he could reach the canteen.
My directional skills are giddy at the best of times and here, I am well out of my depth. I haven’t been so much lost as in a parallel universe where the future stretches out in a long, blurring tunnel ahead. The halls all look the same and there are many dead ends and level changes. At one point, I was convinced that I would turn a corner and stumble, Indiana Jones style, across the skeleton of a poor soul who didn’t make it. And died of starvation before he could reach the canteen.
Then, I learnt to ask the guys who trundle patient records around in trolleys, to different wards where they are needed. They know every corner of the hospital and quite often will be going close to where you need to get. They also tell wonderful stories, stretching back years, about the history of the hospital.
Here is a (blurry, iPhone) photo taken from the window of one corridor. It shows the new road network that connects the bus way and tunnel under the river. As I looked, I wondered what a caveman would think if he were to see this engineering marvel. What words might he use to describe it? How would his brain absorb the experience and fit it in with what he already knew?
And then I wondered what the same stretch of land would look like two thousand years in the future. And if we were to see it, how would we describe it? Would we have words and could we link it to anything we already knew. It kept me amused for quite a few minutes as I gazed across the bustling scene.
Oh well... Back to being a human GPS. Where’s a trolley guy when you need him?
How’s your sense of direction? Do you have any tips for me?
Mrs Catch
xx
Hospitals make confusing visitors into an art form. Lots of ours have coloured strips running down the pathways that help you to get around when you learn the secret code.
ReplyDeleteAlways make sure you have some sustenance in your bag at all times. And a book for when they whip your boy away for tests.
Sending many, many good wishes your way.
I used to go to Cleveland Clinic, a huge facility, with my mother who has a fabulous sense of direction. Everytime we got out of the elevator there, I would inevitably go the wrong direction. She, the "sick one", would always know the right way to go. But then doesn't everyone's mother know the right way to go??
ReplyDeleteEven though I work in one, I hate finding my way in a different hospital. So I try very hard to never go....except for emergencies of course! How would we describe the world in 2000 more years? Please don't let it be the words: ginormous...awesome...far out man...but I do hope the word "cool" is still OK! When I was little and we would think about the future...and I mean like the 1990's..I always thought we'd be flying around is super cars...I never thought I still be in Chevy four door sedan...just wouldn't have sounded "cool" back then!
ReplyDeleteThere is some logic in hospital designs. Like the Emergency department is always close to the operating theatres and medical imaging. ICU is never far away either. These are usually on the lower levels of the hospitals, as are the outpatient clinics. I have spent each one of my working days in a hospital. You get used to them, but the wardsmen are definitely the way to go. They know all the shortcuts! x
ReplyDeletePictures on walls used to help me out... during our adventures in paediatric cardiology. And associated other procedures at other hospitals... I reckon they should give out maps like Woolies/Coles do. (Fresh fruit/radiology to the east, Nappies/wards to the north etc etc).
ReplyDelete:-)
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