Need First Aid in the Park?

[msmayor]

Thought I'd share my experience with park first aid during our recent visit.

Three adults (me, my daughter and a good family friend) were in Epcot on a rainy Sunday when my daughter took a nasty spill on the stone stairs within the Canada pavilion. Wet from the rain, she just hit an area that was pretty slick. Thankfully, she was able to break her fall a bit with her hands/forearm but took a good hit on the knees, with one knee scraped up very badly. We got her up and to a table/chair to sit, and assess the situation.

She started to feel a bit dizzy (likely the adrenaline) so while our friend stayed with her, I went to find a cast member to try and get some assistance. VERY helpful, the cast member working the DVC stand there was able to find someone who came to speak with us. She did say that to get any 'true' first aid help right there, they were required to call 9-1-1...my daughter definitely didn't feel she needed that level of help, but we did need to get the knee cleaned and bandaged. The cast member explained that policy required she ask us three times "Do you want us to call 9-1-1?" and we would have to answer three times...my daughter replied "No" the three times and then the cast member explained what to do.

A security guard arrived with a wheelchair for us to take my daughter to the First Aid Station, located on the side of the Odyssey Pavilion (by the Baby Care Center). The security guard made sure we got down the ramps in Canada to the flat walkway, and made sure we knew where to go.

We walked in to the first aid center, very similar to an urgent care facility. After signing in we were quickly ushered to an exam room (I and our friend were allowed to accompany my daughter, still in the wheelchair). The care provider was wonderful, looked over the knee and cleaned the wound carefully. She bandaged it up securely, gave us some extra gauze and tape/wrap as well as some ibuprofen, told us to return if it got any worse.

We were allowed to keep the wheelchair for the rest of our time at Epcot; turned it in when we exited the park later that afternoon. It definitely helped, allowing my daughter to stay off her feet a bit. She felt good enough to walk that evening which was good - we had tickets to MVMCP and she didn't want to miss it.

The next day, my daughter wanted to return to First Aid so they could take a quick look and bandage up properly again (it was a bit hard for us to get it right - the wound was pretty large) and they very kindly took care of it without any issues.

All of this was done without any charge to us at all.

It made us all feel so good to have this quick care and help when we needed it. Every cast member we encountered was very helpful and kind, and we made sure we put cast compliments in for all of them.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks for sharing your positive experience. It makes me feel better. Hope your daughter feels better now too.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I had to visit First Aid for assistance for the first time in September. I got a classic ‘lol’ - hangnail - and it was catching on things and hurting. (I didn’t have my regular bag with me where I keep supplies, I’d switched over to just a little bag for essentials. Isn’t that always the way, never need it when you have it but need it when you don’t have it!)

I found it much like an Urgent Care center. I had to sign in and then was taken right into a room. The nurse provided a wrapped nail clipper and I took care of it myself, then I filed it down with the little file that is part of the nail clipper. I left it with them where they were going to re-sanitize it. Had some laughs on the way out, it was a good experience and felt familiar.

Thanks for sharing yours and I hope your daughter’s knees are ok now!

they were required to call 9-1-1...my daughter definitely didn't feel she needed that level of help, but we did need to get the knee cleaned and bandaged. The cast member explained that policy required she ask us three times "Do you want us to call 9-1-1?" and we would have to answer three times...my daughter replied "No" the three times and then the cast member explained what to do.

This is interesting. I helped out with a medical situation at a resort one day (as a nurse myself). The person had a condition well known to her with occasional flare ups that she was trying to manage, unsuccessfully on her own at that moment. They kept wanting to call an ambulance and she kept asking them not to. We did eventually manage to take care of the problem right there but it took a little while. I’m sure it was a very stressful event for her, and for staff. (I was used to it so it wasn’t for me other than everyone else feeling anxious about it.)

I didn’t know about that policy so thanks for explaining.

 

[Rogue1677x]

I had a similar situation walking to Hollywood Studios when I face planted on the walkway. I looked quite the mess, but they were great patching me and I even offered kudos to my dentist because my crown got scraped sliding on the ground but didn't come loose.