<p>For those interested...... the following link is from the WUSTL website..... I know D was told of this service at orientation, I wonder if this is the service that took Cressmom's son to the hospital or if they were even contacted...if so, they should have transported him back to campus as well or at least the WUPD should have per the website.
<a href="http://www.est.wustl.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.est.wustl.edu/</a></p>
<p>Thank you scmember for the WUSTL emergency link. If D received that information at orientation, she didn't share! It is good to know. I also e-mailed her the link so she could program their number into her cellphone.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the link to WUSTL Emergency Support Team. I couldn't go to parent orientation and didn't know that this existed.</p>
<p>Cressmom,
I sent you a PM withthe names and phone numbers of some oral surgeons that I found in my health insurance provider's webpage.
Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I heard about the freaky accident. I know no one on campus was available due to the holiday, I found out by myself; that’s scary. Why the university contacts the parents to send the bill, we’re 18 years old, aren’t we?
My RA after heard about this made a list with emergency numbers and she ask us if we want to our parents be contacted in a situation like this.</p>
<p>Finally the Labor Day weekend is over. My S saw the dentist this afternoon. There is nothing he can do now, just wait to see how my S’s body reacts. The doctor cleaned his wounds and everything looks better, at least that I was told. I think a have a very strong boy, he didn’t miss his classes and he is working on his homework due on Friday. There is a lot to come and many questions to be answered.<br>
I will answer every message that all of you sent me, just give me some time to breathe after all this.
Thank you for your encouragement and nice wishes. We really appreciated.</p>
<p>He didn't even miss his classes? That really is a strong kid! Please keep us informed about the response you get from WUSTL administrators. As a parent of a WUSTL student, I hope that they make some major changes in the way they respond to such a crisis. There is no excuse for the response you received. Holiday weekend or not.</p>
<p>I am so happy for you, cressmom. Now we just pray that your S's defense system takes over and that he will be okay. You are right, you have a tough guy for a son. Extend our hugs to him and his sister. Now, you have an idea how they both handle crisis. I think they did a super job. Sometimes, us parents underestimate our kids. Tough times really bring out the best in people, young and old alike.
Here's hoping for his quick recovery, and God forbids he loses any of his teeth, tooth implants are just like the real thing. I know, I have one.</p>
<p>What the heck happened to him?</p>
<p>A tragedy gives us a lesson:
1- The emergency team works, the ambulance went there on time, but they don’t give the extra care after the student is treated, the Student Health Services will, but they don’t work on weekends or holidays.
2- The Wash U insurance doesn’t cover prescriptions, how can we have them if our parent’s insurance should cover them but our parents aren’t contacted?
3- No one under 21 years old should have an accident, if they do, can’t buy painkillers and RAs are not responsible for that.
4- There is no follow up after a student is released from the hospital on weekends.
5- The student is responsible to treat himself with the gauze is given when released.
6- The student should call to contact physicians if he could find any from the white pages.
7- The parents would not be contacted until it’s time for them to foot the bill (deductible + co-pays+ the 20% not covered or 50% in some cases +100% dentist, eye doctors)
8- Students won’t have special need foods (a 20 minutes walk to Walgreens gives energy drinks to last for a while).
9- Students’ professors won’t be contacted, even if the student is dying should send them e-mail.</p>
<p>I can imagine how distressing this experience must have been. Barnes Jewish Hospital is a world class facility, but it is also a trauma center for a major metropolitan center and, as with many such facilities, the wait for treatment can be agonizingly long. That dental work was involved added considerably to the complexity of the situation. We are from the St. Louis area (son is WUSTL class of 2011 and we are alums) and have a good network of dental care providers for our kids, but when our middle son's braces were recently imbedded in his cheek during a weekend soccer match, finding a dental professional who was in town and available proved impossible. The extrication was eventually done by an intern at the ER. I wonder if the weekend/holiday dental situation is similarly dismal in other large urban areas. In any case, your story was sobering and I appreciate the post to the WU EST link. I saved the phone number and will make sure my son and his classmates keep it handy. And I hope your son is doing better. What a terrible way to start the year for all of you.</p>
<p>I'm sorry to hear about your son's accident Cressmom. I hope all is well at this point.</p>
<p>I do want to clarify one thing about the health plan unless of course something has changed in coverage this year. The Wash U health plan is more comprehensive than most colleges, in fact so comprehensive that it counts as a primary health plan. Most college health plans do not. The student health service is strictly for everyday health concerns - flu, sore throats, mono, etc. I can't say I'm impressed with it, since the only two times my son used it, he had to visit 2 to 3 times before they figured out what was going on. Emergency visits are a separate issue from the Health Service - they are covered anywhere, I believe at 80%. </p>
<p>You may already know this ( I did not until the sophomore year)- the Wash U medical plan is a primary health plan and if your sons or daughters are covered under you, your plan will become secondary. It is also true that the Wash U plan does not cover prescrips, although I think there is an option to add that in now. If your student takes regular meds, be sure to have the prescrip written by the Dr's at home unless of course your plan has coverage anywhere in the U.S. </p>
<p>Regarding the HIPPA laws, most professionals tend to overprotect and do not fully understand how the laws apply - even when it comes to paying the bills.
They mistakenly believe that they cannot discuss anything about a patient with you when in reality they cannot discuss the medical reason that a patient visited their office. It's a real pain in the rear for parents. The NYTimes had a good article about it a few months ago.</p>
<p>Cressmom,
I'm sure that I speak for others in hoping that your son is rapidly recovering from his injuries. Can you provide us with an update? Also, can you tell us what the University's position is with respect to this apparent lapse, now that senior administrators have had time to assess what went wrong and what needs to be changed?</p>
<p>An update on my S
He is doing much better but still there is a long way to recovery. Bills are piling up, the insurance doesn’t cover the expenses of specialists that didn’t have previous approval due to the emergency (nobody at the hospital told my S that he would have to have a referral with approval before he sees follow ups, and since he was urged to go to a surgeon that was waiting for him across Clayton, he did that but we had to pay). My S was brave to do everything by himself riding the MetroLink, calling doctors and going to class.
We still didn’t hear from the administration after sending a letter. No one contacted us yet, not even to see how my S is doing after the accident on campus.
I’m tired, worry because bills of thousands of dollars are coming, and still uneasy for the way this accident was handled. Otherwise I’m happy to see my S recovery and good spirit.
Thank you again for the get well wishes; they helped a lot.</p>
<ol>
<li> Sorry for you but sounds overdramatic to me.</li>
<li> No age requirement to pick up one's own prescription in ANY state including Missouri (ask friend to drive).</li>
<li> Emergency numbers are in Parents Handbook mailed to everyone.</li>
<li> Mouth injuries need no "special food." One can live on water, milk, Ensure, and sport drinks for a long, long time. If he could not swallow water the hospital would have kept him.<br></li>
<li> Dental injuries are seldom emergencies. As you have seen, wait and see is the usual approach to tooth injuries.<br></li>
<li> One of the benefits of out-of-state college is that the student learns to handle his own emergencies. Perhaps an in-state school would have been better suited to your son. At some point students have to learn to handle it. After all, the guys in Iraq are the same age as college students.</li>
<li> Wash U. has it covered same as most schools. Health Centers are minor illness clinics; Not trauma centers or even emergency rooms. They are a convenience for students and that is all.</li>
</ol>
<p>acadgr,
I think your comment were really harsh. I think your attitude would be different is your S or D would have been the one to have the accident.
As a mother of a freshman, I don't think that my D would have been prepared to handle such a situation, and cressmom post has facilitated a discussion between my D and I, about emergencies and health coverage.</p>
<p>I probably wouldn't have wanted my parents to come. I would have called them and told them I was OK and could handle it. They usually trust my judgment. My brother had an accident in college on a Sunday and called my parents from the emergency room. He had his fracture set under anesthesia and was discharged with a temporary splint and pain medicine. Unfortunately, he couldn't get a ticket home until Tuesday. He had surgery at home on Thursday and went back to school on Saturday in a long cast with Lortab. He resumed his semester very successfully, even managing to schedule his twice-a-week therapy between classes. An experience like this,that you manage without help from home, makes you more confident the next time you face a difficulty. You would probably be happily surprised at what your daughter can handle. My brother still thanks our parents for letting him make those decisions. (They would have stepped in if he had decided anything really stupid.) He felt that there was nothing our parents could have added to the situation if they had been there, and he certainly didn't need anything from the university. Dormmates are usually pretty close. They tied his shoes and buttoned his clothes for him until the long cast came off. All respected his independence (friends and even professors).</p>
<p>You said your brother went home for surgery, this kid didn't go home, that's the difference. It is much easier being home with mommy and daddy after the surgery than alone with roommates out for classes.</p>
<p>nmsgkIII, I'm student and I fully agree with you.</p>
<p>Well said, Trapper.</p>
<p>acadgr: "Overdramatic"? Unless you were at the scene, you have no idea what really happened. In fact, it seems that you didn't even read the entire thread. Cressmom's primary point throughout has been that she could not get a response of any kind from anyone at the University, despite all the assurances that were presented to all parents at orientation. Nobody expects to have emergency surgery performed at the health center. But given this situation, I certainly would expect the university (RA's, student emergency response personnel, on-call docors, or administrative personnel) to follow-up with Cressmom and her son, at the very least. Which was not done.</p>