Out of the mouths of Babes...

labcat01, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2007

That is a sweet story...thanks for sharing. (although he should have asked for more nurses while he was at it :lol2: )

widi96 · Nov 30, 2007

I'm confused. Your hospital charges for extra cable channels?

RNAnnjeh, MSN, CNS · Nov 30, 2007

Oh yes. Families still have to pay for phone and cable. How archiac is that?

fultzymom · Nov 30, 2007

I'm glad that she listened to him and is going to do something about it. So many of those families are up to their eyeballs with bills. Who has enough for cable?! :uhoh3:

Jolie, BSN · Nov 30, 2007

The boy (10 years old) walked over and asked our CEO if the cable would finally be free, because his family can't afford the $10/day for cable and that fancy TV wouldn't mean a thing to him.
Well....apparently the CEO was shocked and amazed at the cost of cable in this facility.

Let's do the math. $10/day = $300/month per TV. Assuming an average of 300 occupied beds per day in a medium to large hospital, that comes to $90,000 per month in TV revenue alone, an amount that probably far exceeds the hospital's actual cost of cable service. Nothing like gouging sick people who are bored, lonely and have nothing else to do. I'm not buying that the CEO was unaware of the daily TV fee. Now if it's waived, she'll probably cut back on RN staffing.

mauxtav8r · Nov 30, 2007

Private theory about the shambles our healthcare system is in:

I think nobody really knows what anything actually costs. Guaranteed the $10/day wasn't related to actual costs by the hospital, more like market-driven because people would a)never see the bill, and b) pay anything to get cable (as they do at home).

Sorry to hijack a very charming thread.

RNAnnjeh, MSN, CNS · Dec 3, 2007

I'm just thrilled that she was disgusted.

One of the biggest complaints from families to the social workers is that they can't afford the cable/phone service while in hospital. I know that the SW's have been lobbying to try to get this changed for years...and along comes a 10 year old whose mother pointed him in the right direction.:yelclap:

Now....let's see what happens next!

Oh, btw....we're actually staffed very well, so I'd be happy to see the $$ go to cable, phone and cheaper meals for families.

Agnus · Dec 3, 2007

this is a cute story one of my colleagues shared with me yesterday.
our children's hospital is undergoing renovations and stepping into the 21st century. one of the units had a "room opening" ceremony the other day, and had one of the patients and his family cut the ribbon with the ceo. one of the features that was highlighted was the plasma tvs that will be in every room. the little boy looked up at his mom and asked:
"does this mean the cable will finally be free?"
his mom replied: "why don't you ask that lady over there" (pointing at the ceo).
the boy (10 years old) walked over and asked our ceo if the cable would finally be free, because his family can't afford the $10/day for cable and that fancy tv wouldn't mean a thing to him.
well....apparently the ceo was shocked and amazed at the cost of cable in this facility. she approached my colleague yesterday to confirm the price and, according to my colleague, was wild and was off to find someone in charge of the cable and deal with this issue.
there's nothing like the brute honesty from a child to get some action.
made me smile, hope it does for you, too.
cheers
rnannjeh:santa1:

love children's honesty and directness. too bad we have it drilled out of us as adults.