Few days ago, I saw an elderly lady with chest pain, leg swelling and irregular heartbeats. She was staying at home with a helper, the rest of her family being away overseas. Being a foreigner, she was worried about going to the hospital because she wasn’t sure how to handle the paperwork, administration, etc.
Fortunately, her neighbor was at hand to help. In fact, it was this caring neighbor that had arranged for me to visit the elderly lady. She was prepared to help arrange transport, etc. to get the patient to hospital. In this case, she would be getting the help of yet another neighbor!
We eventually persuaded her to be transferred to the hospital where she was then admitted. It was good to see such community spirit, with neighbors pitching in to help each other. One wonders if the patient would have deteriorated, were there no neighbors to help…
The Housecall GP 