Born with only half a heart, Marissa Long has spent three decades accessing lifesaving medical care at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, but her most recent visits to the ER have been nothing short of a nightmare.
During two separate visits in February, Long spent several days living in a hallway as she sought emergency treatment for rejection of her heart transplant.
One night she was placed in a bed next to the ambulance entry doors where paramedics constantly rushed in and she was unable to sleep. She was moved to a hallway lined with hospital beds that nurses had nicknamed “Narnia,” where she overheard other patients’ private medical information and worried about exposure to germs in her immunocompromised state.
“It’s really never been like this, normally we’d get a room pretty quick, like within a few hours,” said Long, who has accessed care at the hospital more than a hundred times.
At the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, ER hospital beds overflow into several hallway areas and two inpatient beds are crammed into rooms built for one, hospital officials have confirmed. Patients also get treatment in the an elevator lobby, portions of the waiting room and even an outdoor tent.
Many of the expansions into designation ER overflow spaces were pandemic-era emergency measures, but while COVID has subsided these spaces remain in use.
“Like many hospitals across the state and country, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is experiencing elevated patient volumes often exceeding those at the height of the pandemic in both the emergency department and inpatient units,” said a UCLA Health spokesperson in a written statement. “To limit pressure on the emergency department so that UCLA Health can continue to receive patients in need of lifesaving, emergent care, certain patients are moved to designated overflow areas within the ED (emergency department) and inpatient units.”
“We are grateful for our patients and their understanding, and we…
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