That’s Noob and Littles at the Shanghai World Aquarium back in January. A few seconds after taking that picture, Noob tumbled off the little ledge that the kids are on and hit his chin on the edge. We quickly determined that he would need stitches.
This was the first time we’ve ever needed emergency medical care while traveling. And of course it would happen in China, of all places, where we don’t speak the language and aren’t familiar with the medical system.
Luckily, we happened to be visiting the aquarium with one of my husband’s Chinese co-workers, “J.” She directed us to a nearby hospital and came along to translate, and everything worked out just fine.
But the experience really showed me how woefully ill-prepared I have been to handle medical emergencies when traveling, especially outside the USA. I’m hereby vowing to do better in the future: I will research and do a post on this blog prior to any international trips we might take, to understand what we should do if one of us needs medical attention.
So, here is the post I should have done 10 months ago on medical care in China…
J directed us to Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, which is a large, modern hospital in Pudong New Area. It’s accessible via metro (line 6), but since we were obviously in a rush, we took a cab instead. Yes, with no car seat for Noob. You do what you have to do.
Like many hospitals in China (at least in the larger cities), Shanghai Children’s Medical Center offers access to a “VIP” area, for an additional fee. This is specifically geared towards expatriates and other foreigners. It is staffed by physicians who speak a variety of languages and who, in many cases, have trained abroad. So upon entering the hospital, J and I took Noob up to the VIP floor to pay the fee. I was warned that the VIP fee was “very expensive,” but I was stressed out and willing to pay just about anything to make this experience a little easier. Turns out that the VIP fee was 300 yuan, or about $50. Maybe expensive to the Chinese, but cheap compared to an American ER!
J told me that in most hospitals, Noob would be treated entirely in the VIP area. Shanghai Children’s worked a little differently: We did have to leave the VIP area and go into the main hospital, but we had a nurse to escort us around and we got to cut to the front of the lines.
Our first stop was a triage area. There were probably 50 or more kids waiting to be seen, but our nurse directed us right over to see a doctor. He looked at Noob’s chin and agreed that he needed stitches. Next, we went to a room where they cleaned out the wound, again bypassing a bunch of waiting kids.
Finally, the nurse took us to the operating room, where Noob actually got the stitches. It was much calmer up here, compared to the hustle and bustle of the main hospital. There was only one other person waiting on a patient. When Noob’s turn came, it was a little nervewracking because they took him from me — I wasn’t allowed back to where they were stitching him up. But he was only gone for maybe 5 minutes, and he did great.
The doctors wanted to give Noob a tetanus immunoglobulin shot, but I explained that he is up-to-date on his tetanus shots and therefore didn’t need the IG shot (which is typically given to people who are not vaccinated against tetanus or have an unknown vaccination history). The doctor looked at me quizzically and asked, “Well, how do you know the shot worked?” Ummm, because he got it? I don’t know. That’s not a question you’d get from an American doctor! :)
Then it was time to pay. The total bill for medical care (not including the VIP fee) was about $30! Even with the $50 VIP fee, that’s still a bargain — I’d expect to pay at least a couple hundred dollars just to set foot in an American ER! I paid cash, but found out after the fact that I probably could have had them bill insurance directly, as many major Chinese hospitals do take American insurance. Oh well! It was so cheap that I didn’t even bother submitting the receipts to my insurance company for reimbursement, as I could have done.
The doctors wanted me to bring Noob back to the hospital every 2-3 days to check his stitches until they healed, but we opted to just check them on our own, and they healed up fine.
All in all, it was a scary experience, and not one I’m eager to repeat — but all’s well that ends well.