Happy Holidays! Here’s A Hospital Stay!

I was working in a hotel on Christmas Eve. We had six checkouts that day. It was the first Sunday morning shift in months that I didn’t have the second girl with me. I expected a day on my Kindle and then going home to my entire immediate family after my shift. I expect my family to be home once I get there, but an elderly lady threw a damper on my Kindle plans.

At 8:00 am, a man in his late fifties or early sixties came in the front door holding a Tylenol bottle.

Man: “My mother is staying with you. Can I have a key to her room to give her these painkillers? She’ll have trouble getting up.”

He wasn’t on the reservation, but he knew her room number, her name, and her phone number — just enough for me to feel comfortable going up with him with the emergency key.

We chatted in the elevator. Yes, he celebrated Christmas; that’s why his mother was staying with us. And he appreciated that I was going to the room with him. It was just a polite little conversation.

I knocked on the woman’s door.

Me: “Ma’am, Guest Services is here with [Man].”

Woman: *Frantically, through the door* “Please help me!”

She was in the room’s foyer flat on her back, fully conscious, and wiggling like mad to get up. Her son darted to her side, obviously trying to figure out the situation, and I knew that we had to call for EMS. I had my phone with me, so I told her to stay still and called 911.

As the dispatcher asked questions and I passed them on, I found out that the woman was eighty-nine years old, she had been on the floor for only a couple of minutes, and she didn’t trip; she lost her balance and fell backward.

The dispatcher asked if anyone would be downstairs to direct EMS to the room, and I realized that I would have to leave them to go to the desk. I put a hand on the woman’s shoulder and genuinely pleaded with her to stop trying to get up because an ambulance was coming and they’d help her, and I ran downstairs.

I called my general manager while waiting because there was no manager on duty. He asked me to take pictures of the area once everyone was cleared, and I agreed.

I directed the first EMT to the woman’s room once they arrived and felt that I should be out of everyone’s way, so I went back to the desk. EMS and the woman’s son came through the lobby with her on a gurney with a collar and an oxygen mask, and the son thanked me by name.

I went back to the room and took pictures, but I know my general manager is frustrated because all movable furniture was pushed out of the way, and I said in my text that I remember the layout being standard when I came in. At least I got pictures of the bathroom floor being dry.

I made my morning call to my mom almost an hour later than usual and relayed how the morning had been so far. I have a grandfather in his early nineties who lives with my parents, so I told her the details of what I saw, and we agreed that they probably wouldn’t blame the hotel because her son already seemed to be wary of her falling, considering he didn’t want her getting up to answer the door. My mom pointed out that my family wouldn’t blame a business if my grandpa fell and said that he’d lost his balance.

I really hope she’s okay and that her family can still enjoy the holiday.