25 February 2016

L'Hôpital du comté

I just spent nearly 36 hours in the hospital, but not as a patient. My mother was hospitalized for a couple of days. You might wonder what a hospital in a small Southern U.S. town (pop. 8,000) looks like.


The new main entrance, a tall atrium, is a fairly recent addition. So is the hospital's name. Until recently it was Carteret General Hospital. Now it's Carteret Health Care — in case people don't know what "hospital" means, I guess. Please pronounce Carteret as [KAR-tuh-ret], with the stress on the first syllable and not the last.


Morehead City is the largest municipality in the county. It was named for the 19th century governor of North Carolina named John Motley Morehead, who sponsored the town's founding and development in the decade preceding the American Civil War.


Above is a door mat for you to wipe your feet on as you enter the hospital. The weather is rainy.


The view from the window of the hospital room was the one above. Not too reassuring, I'd say.


There are a lot of big old live oak trees on the hospital grounds, and many of them lost big limbs two or three years ago when a tornado tracked through the area.

P.S. Here's a screen capture of Accuweather's radar data at 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday 2/24. I'll let you know tomorrow if we were hit by any big storms or tornadoes. The front was drifting eastward and the cells along it were moving northward.

25 comments:

  1. I just checked the weather radar and that long line is now very much to the east of you. I hope you're still there!

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    1. Still here. We got a few minutes of hard rain, a strong gust of wind or two, and some distant thunder and lightning. That was the extent of it for Morehead. There was some damage in Durham and Raleigh and other scattered locations.

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    2. A fair amount of wind damage in western NC, as well. Big branches and even trees down in some places. And a whole lotta heavy rain.

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  2. the setting aroundhospital looks lovely

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  3. Here, in NoVa, we had some hard rain with lightning and thunder for a moment, and that's all, as far as I know. But, since it was raining buckets (comme vache qui pisse!), there may have been some flooding.

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  4. Whew. Glad the worst of the storm has passed.

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    1. We were lucky. That town in Virginia, just north of the NC border, was wiped out.

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  5. I think it is interesting to note that the natives of the small town of Carteret, on the coast of Normandy, France, pronounce it as Car-tray.

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    1. People here used to prononce it as two syllables: KAR-trit. Some may still. It's the kar-tuh-RETT pronunciation that grates.

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  6. hope your Mom is better soon

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    1. Me too, Melissa. Thanks. She's still pretty worn out.

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  7. I hope MA is better today and that you aren't worn out from it all. That was quite a storm. We lost a big tree branch but it dropped before the storm came through.

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    1. When I got to the hospital yesterday, the doctor was there. "She has rallied," he told me. Her fever was gone and she looked pretty chipper. She's now resting as per son's orders.

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  8. All good wishes to you and your mom. Hope she'll be well soon and out of the hospital.

    DR

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    1. Thanks DR. She's at home now and resting comfortably. It has all been very stressful for her, but seems unrelated to the surgery she underwent two weeks ago — as much as anything is unrelated to anything else when it comes to the human body.

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  9. Thinking of you. In my experience, having a relative in the hospital is stressful for the whole family. Hope all of you, and especially your mom, feel much better soon.

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    1. The night I called 911, we were at the hospital until 4 a.m., and then I got just 3 hours' sleep. I was surprised that I wasn't more wiped out than I was. Adrenalin, I guess. MA is better but still pretty tired.

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  10. My dearest thoughts are with both you and your Mom, Ken. Weather events must have been the icing on the cake - but not in a good way. I am glad to hear you are now at her home and out of the storm.

    Mary in Oregon

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    1. Thanks. We were lucky with the weather and MA is doing okay.

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  11. Glad your Mom is out of the hospital and home. Being in the hospital can really wear you out whether you are a patient or a caretaker. A friend of mine has been there twice since the first of the year. Her last stay was in a room on the other side of the Atrium. She had a very spacious room and the view of the bridge, ICW, and Atlantic Beach was amazing. The only problem I found was parking was at a premium. My worst fear would be the hospital would take El's Drive In and put a parking garage on the property! Since there has been such a problem with Blue Cross and the hospital, I expect some patients will be going elsewhere, which might help with the parking.

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    1. I parked over by the emergency room. There were usually 5 or 6 free spaces over there. MA is on Medicare of course, so the Blue Cross thing doesn't affect her.

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  12. Oh good grief, what a place to put a funeral home or even the sign !
    Happy for you and your mom that she is home now. Now she can get a good nights rest !

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    1. That is the funeral home all right. Not a happy view. I'm happy MA is at home now and I hope she will be back in full form by the time I fly back to France next week.

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  13. According to the hospital's website "Carteret Health Care is here for our community, our families and friends — therefore, Carteret is the first word you see. Health Care describes what we do." Good to know they have a full PR staff.
    But if your mother gets good care there and is OK, that's what matters.

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    1. MA's doctor seems to be very good. He called yesterday to check up on her, and she has an appointment with him next week.

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