Nurses Caring for "Important" People

[Disney Doll]

President Clinton's hospitalization has made me think of this:

While I know every patient is important, there are some that come with some extra "baggage"...ie-a former President.

Do they have their own medical staff??? Doctors, nurses, other therapists??? And does that staff come along with them if they end up in the hospital? Or does the "regular" hospital staff care for them? And what do you do with the Secret Service? Do they stand outside the room and check everyone who goes in? Do you need special clearance to care for a President????? Is a situation like this (an "unexpected" hospitalization where they don't have time beforehand to check things out) a Secret Service nightmare?????

It would seem to me that the bigger hospitals (ie-NY Presbyterian or Cedars Sinai) would have a "VIP area" where the VIP would be somewhat "removed" from the rest of the hospital population.

In my nursing career I have cared for one "celebrity"...someone who was more famous "back in the day" but at the point I cared for this person their "day" had pretty well passed. This person was in a regular private room with the regular hospital staff caring for him..again, not someone with the "cache" of a former President though.

Just seems to me like this would be a hospital's and nurse's nightmare.....

 

[npmommie]

I have never cared for a President, but I have had high ranking public political figures for patients.
not a nightmare at all. just some extra staff, security etc.

I have also had celebrities as well.

 

[LuvOrlando]

What do you think the chances are that he's going with a clinic Dr who happens to be on call and who makes all choices based on price and generics like they seem to want the rest of us to do? Methinks they're in somewhere top notch like NY Presbyterian Number 7 from US News and top rated in all of NYC.

I happen to think anyone who wouldn't seek out the best available would have to be a fool. I don't think he's a fool so I suspect he's going to wave off the run of the mill staff and go with the best money can buy. I know I sure would. I am curious how this plays itself out regarding where he receives his care and all.... very very curious.

 

[Disney Doll]

IIRC, he had his heart surgery at NY Presby, so I ma not surprised he would choose to go there with this issue...get back to the docs that know you and all....

I guess my questions were more from the perspective of the nurse or the institution without the health insurance debate added in.

I have heard that "sitting" Presidents travel with their own medical staff While I am not sure it is true, it seems like it could be true & would make some sense. If it is true that "sitting" Presidents have their own medical staff, do former Presidents have the same?

If a former President does not have his own medical staff, would the medical staff at the hospital have to go through special security clearance before caring for him?

As far as who cares for a VIP, I would imagine that if the "regular" staff is caring for the VIP, the nurse manager on the unit is going to pick the best of his/her best. My guess is that if there is a 1st year nurse and a 15th year nurse, the first year nurse is probably not going to be caring for him. Not to imply anything neagtive about new nurses because I love them, love what I can learn from the etc., but there is also something to be said about experience when one is thrown into an unusual situation like caring for a former President.

Just ponderings on a Thursday night...I fell asleep earlier, so I'm not tired now....

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Many of the world class facilities have special areas set aside where people/VIPs can pay extra for better, bigger "suites" that are connected for themselves and their extra personnel, and extra services. It all depends on the personalities, but many are very nice and it's no problem at all. BTW many of the VIPs are from other countries and have large numbers of staff that travel with them routinely. Cultural differences can be a big challenge for everyone, though.

 

[Disney Doll]

Actually, the one "celebrity" I cared for was very nice. The person's assistant left a lot to be desired though.

 

[WDWAurora]

I worked at a hospital in high school that had a famous religious figure frequently and, occasionally, a celebrity who was fairly big in the 80s and early 90s. The religious figure was entered under a false name (as the other was, I'm sure) and had some additional security assigned to the area. Nothing really big. The minor celebrity (d-list at that point, z-list at this point) traveled with an entourage and was rather difficult. I an hardly tolerate her movies anymore because of my dealings with her on that and other issues associated with hospital fundraising.

 

[Mkrop]

I use to wrok for a hospital management company.

I know a hospital in the DC area that is prepared for VIPs especially Presidents. They have staff that has been cleared by Secert Service.

The management company also owned a hospital in Las Vegas that got many celebrities. They were usually admitted under false names. Sometime things would leak, sometimes the CEOs of the hospitals were convinced it was the celeb's staff vs hospital personnel who would leak the info so they could become newsworthy!

 

[DawnCt1]

President Clinton's hospitalization has made me think of this:

While I know every patient is important, there are some that come with some extra "baggage"...ie-a former President.

Do they have their own medical staff??? Doctors, nurses, other therapists??? And does that staff come along with them if they end up in the hospital? Or does the "regular" hospital staff care for them? And what do you do with the Secret Service? Do they stand outside the room and check everyone who goes in? Do you need special clearance to care for a President????? Is a situation like this (an "unexpected" hospitalization where they don't have time beforehand to check things out) a Secret Service nightmare?????

It would seem to me that the bigger hospitals (ie-NY Presbyterian or Cedars Sinai) would have a "VIP area" where the VIP would be somewhat "removed" from the rest of the hospital population.

In my nursing career I have cared for one "celebrity"...someone who was more famous "back in the day" but at the point I cared for this person their "day" had pretty well passed. This person was in a regular private room with the regular hospital staff caring for him..again, not someone with the "cache" of a former President though.

Just seems to me like this would be a hospital's and nurse's nightmare.....

When I was a nursing student, I did my pediatric experience at Babies Hospital, at Columbia Presbyterian. We lived in the dorm on Ft. Washington Ave and crossed the street, (when we didn't use the tunnel) and walked through the Harkness Pavilion to get to Babies. It is funny that you raised this question because I was thinking about the Harkness Pavilion in this very same context. It was very fancy, at least the lobby. We never saw any of the patient rooms. It was reserved for "private patients", AKA VIPs. I know that they were served meals on china, private rooms of course, etc. I almost got the impression when I googled today that Harkness has been "repurposed" but I didn't have time to follow that. I did fine a china plate from Harkness for sale on ebay. That popped up. Hartford Hospital has had its share of VIPs and anyone even accessing anything about those patients, if they do not have direct care responsibilities are fired without question; as it should be.

 

[DawnCt1]

Actually, the one "celebrity" I cared for was very nice. The person's assistant left a lot to be desired though.:headache:

Isn't that always the case! It doesn't matter if its a celebrity or the CEO of the company you may work for. The "boss" is always nice but the assistant has the "do you know who I work for" syndrome.

 

[golfgal]

Many years ago my mom took care of Sting when he collapsed at a concert in MN. He was in a regular room, but since it was ICU I don't know that they had any choice.

 

[BCV513]

I know all the hospitals in Boston have suites where celebrities and politicians stay. When my college roommate had hip surgery, they had no rooms at Brigham and Women's so they put her up there. It was AMAZING. Just like a hotel. She had a personal nurse 24/7, a chef, the room looked just like a hotel. She was so disappointed that it was only for one night and they moved her to a regular floor after that.

 

[Judy from Boise]

When I worked at LA County/USC I was working on the jail ward during the LA Olympics.....and we were on alert for if any Big politicians got sick or injured. The jail ward had it's own secure helipad, elevator, ER etc.
Here in Boise I worked at the local trauma center and we were vetted and plans made weeks prior to the president coming in for a fundraising event.

 

[scottishduffy]

During my time as a nurse I had several well-known clients, though i wouldn't call them outright celebrities. Just well-known enough. A good friend had cared for former president Clinton! He had somewhat publicly injured his knee in Miami and came to our hospital.

The celebrity pts always used hospital staff. Though the managers would very carefully assign the nurses to that person. We would not be allowed to give any information over the phone no matter who they claimed to be since some reporters were very good liars. We could not even admit anyone was admitted.

I only saw very special arrangements made twice. My uncle was involved when Celine Dion had her son at a very small hospital in Palm Beach. She was admitted under a false name and had an entire floor closed off just for her. She did use hospital staff but also had security. This was a very small hospital at the time and ended up working out well for her. The rest of the staff had no clue she was there until after it was all over. After the fact the media descended on this little hospital, but she was already home by that point.

The other time I saw special arrangement was not for a celebrity per se, but for a case that made national headlines. The victim was a child and the hospital at the time made very special arrangements around this child to protect him/her and keep media away. The same 4 nurses (2 day/2 night) would rotate shifts with only this child. The child had a private area with private therapists and was kept in the hospital for a over a month though she/he had recovered much sooner from the incident. They waited until media coverage had died down before releasing the child so that more acmeras would not traumatize the kid. Once the cameras were no longer at the childs home, then the child went home.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I know all the hospitals in Boston have suites where celebrities and politicians stay. When my college roommate had hip surgery, they had no rooms at Brigham and Women's so they put her up there. It was AMAZING. Just like a hotel. She had a personal nurse 24/7, a chef, the room looked just like a hotel. She was so disappointed that it was only for one night and they moved her to a regular floor after that.

My experience in Florida was worse and better

Celebration Health has a Presidential Suite; while all the rooms came with a recliner so a friend/family member could spend the night with the patient if desired, the PS also had a sofa, a table and chairs, more floor space (naturally) and sliding glass doors leading out to a balcony from which the patient could see the fireworks from IllumiNations.

No personal nurse, no chef (and most disappointing, no reading material!). On the other hand, I got to stay in that same room the entire time

 

[lemondog]

Around here there is one big hospital where most of the celebs seem to have their babies. I know for a fact Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman had their baby there, and they used the regular staff, as do all the other big celebrities. They liked one of their baby nurses at the hospital so much, actually, that they hired her to be one of their nannies. I know this for a fact because she is my friend's aunt.

 

[PaulaSue]

Humm, I never thought of this. I will have to ask my old Boss (Dr. at NY-P, I was his children's nanny) who has taken care of Pres. Clinton and has been on tv with him/for him.

 

[Robinrs]

Isn't that always the case! It doesn't matter if its a celebrity or the CEO of the company you may work for. The "boss" is always nice but the assistant has the "do you know who I work for" syndrome.

This is par for the course. When we do interviews, the bigger the celeb, the bigger the head of the person in charge of them!! Whenever they come with a list of criteria I always ask if it's the celebritie's criteria or their "people's" criteria???? Usually the celeb is WAY less persnickity!