I thought I would now share the terrible news about what took place at Javon Bea Hospital. We were beyond lucky to have amazing EMTs with us from the Harlem-Roscoe Fire Protection District. 

We went to the ER on Wednesday (5/25) due to Logan having three seizures 30 minutes apart for an hour and a half with vomiting. We took him due to him losing his medication with vomiting, worry of dehydration , and quick onset of seizure without sign of illness. When we arrived we were put into an ER room in but we were never hooked up to any machine (even after informing them that Logan goes into desaturation after seizures). We arrived at 930am and did not leave until 630pm. He was given his regular dose of medication again and then the hospital tried to contact Logan Neurologist at 4, which was too late and there was no response. We were sent home.

Fast forward to Thursday (5/26) evening, Logan was having therapy. He spit up some and I thought it could be due to acid reflux from having seizures the day before. Logan did great during therapy and at the end was sitting on my lap while his therapist and I went through evaluation forms. Logan went limp but I was thinking it was due to being exhausted from standing and doing vision therapy. All of a sudden he vomited a ton. His therapist helped me while I cleaned myself up and left. I took Logan to take a bath. A minute into the bath he went limp  and vomited again. Got him cleaned up, went downstairs to hold him and started to call his neurologist on call. He again went limp, pale and zombie like. I laid him on his side with a towel because now I knew vomit was coming again. Sure enough he got sick again. He was non responsive and I called my sister to come sit with Lydia because I knew I would need to call 911 and Zac was not home yet. I get a hold of neurologist and tell her what’s going on. She has me do a series of techniques to check if it was a seizure. He was non responsive. This is for about 5 minutes now. I went pick him up and he snapped out of his trance. She said if it happens again give him rescue meds and call 911. I got off the phone and he projectile vomited. I called 911.

Now, the beginning of terrible treatment by the closest hospital to our house, Javon Bea. We are rushed to the hospital with Logan still not acting himself. Sirens on and all. Oxygen is on Logan at this point due to low oxygen levels. Low 90s. We get to the ER. We are told he is to go to triage. The EMTs say this must be a mistake. A nurse goes to double check and another nurse returns. She states no we need him to go to triage. We have no beds available. I say he will not go to triage. He has actively been having seizures. The last time we went to triage after being brought in by ambulance Logan turned blue in the waiting room and needed to be airlifted to Luries in Chicago. She stated that was the only place available. The EMT with me stated he shouldn’t go to triage. He’s on oxygen and isn’t doing well. The nurse rolls her eyes and says that is all we have available. I asked isn’t this emergent, look at his file. I’ve had this issue before, I spoke to the director. It’s in his file he cannot go to triage when he is in this condition. She states of trauma is filled, you can go to triage. The EMT and I look at Logan and he is going back to being a zombie again (another seizure) his oxygen dips below 90 and he starts vomiting all over himself. The nurse is staring at him while this is happening. The EMT and I both argue he can’t go to triage. I asked once he is done being triaged, where will he go? The waiting room? She said yes, just like everyone else. I said he is literally seizing in front of you, with oxygen below 90, and filled with vomit. You want him to sit in the waiting room. She said he will go to triage first. I tell the EMT I do not want to stay here. I want to go to Swedish American. She says we are not denying you care and we will not sign off. I said, you cant adequately help my son. She argues they can in triage. I tell her I do not trust going to triage and I want to leave. She laughs. The EMT calls his boss and we leave to go to Swedish American. 

After arriving to Swedish American we get excellent care. Logan goes on to seize and have multipl rounds of vomiting. It makes me sick to think that that would have taken place in a waiting room if we stayed at Javon Bea. Logan did not stop vomiting or seizing until he received two medications. Logan vomited so much by the final time he was starting to have specks of blood in his vomit.

I’ve had multiple individuals ask why we went to Javon Bea knowing how terrible they are. My response: the last time we had a terrible experience I was told by the head of the ER this would never happen again. The last experience was when we were brought into the ER  almost a year ago because Logan stopped breathing at my parents house. He was brought in by an ambulance with oxygen. We were put in triage. Not given oxygen support in triage. Logan was postictal at this point. I was arguing then that he shouldn’t go to the waiting room. The nurse says we could leave without going against doctors order because we haven’t been seen yet! Logan seized less than a minute after going into the waiting room and went blue. Logan ended up being rushed to trauma and sent to Chicago by airlift alone! I was PROMISED this would never happen again. I was told what to say if it were going to happen again. I was told Logan had a flag on his file. I did everything I was told to do by the HEAD of the ER. Yet, Logan was treated terribly. Logan had to suffer more because of Javon Bea. It took us an hour to get to a hospital that treated him because of the detour to Javon Bea. 

This mistreatment is disgusting on so many levels. I will be filing a complaint and I will spread the word on how terrible they are. My son deserves better, everyone deserves better. The truth of the matter is they did not want to deny Logan coming because that would be losing money. If they were truly full with no beds or trauma, they should not accepted him when he was called in. They blantently stated they would not sign off on him going else where because they had room in TRIAGE! He needed more than that. If it wasn’t obvious by the reason we were coming in, then It should have been obvious when he actively seized in front of the nurse, oxygen levels dropping, and vomiting all over. Yet the nurse had the gall to snicker and roll her eyes when I asked to go to Swedes. 

After all this had happened I made the call to guest relations… Again I was told - “We will look into this and investigate to ensure it never happens again” I had to explain that’s what they told me before. They were supposed to call me back. They called me a day later for an update. It was 5 minutes before an evaluation for Logan. I let them know I couldn’t talk due to a prior appointment. They said they would call back. It has now been a week and all I have gotten is an email saying they will reach out in the near 25 days. 

This is unbelievable. I’m appalled by how easily we are thrown to the side for a serious issue like my son’s life. I fully believe Logan would have ended up with organ failure if he remained in the ER at Javon Bea waiting in a waiting room with 13 people ahead of him. 

I created this petition  in hopes to gain attention to the issues at Javon Bea Hospital. Things HAVE to change! Our community deserves better. I could say this is a result of a certain staff, but the fact this has happened twice and even patient relations are not taking this seriously speaks volumes about the way the system is ran. I want to see change and clear expectations on what takes place with kids coming to the ER with breath problems or seizures. I want to see accountability from those who run this hospital. I want to see the care of patients go beyond being another payout of cash in the higher ups hands. I want to see care being care and not another tally mark to meets quotas.