Public service on Sundays. Transporting the stricken

Transportation

When the worst of the emergency is stable you get the question of transport to the Emergency room. The basic rules for Medicare are this: If they do anything that involves using their supplies other than oxygen the subject needs to go in and be checked by the doctor. If you have insurance check the rules, and make your decision according.
If the emergency has been taken care of and you don't find spending three hours in the emergency room to be a good use of your time and you can do it without financial problems by all means don't go. If you must, then do it with whatever grace you can muster. 
Be sure you know where they are taking your person.  In my area  which emergency room you go to depends on what the emergency is. So ask.  Write it down and get the street address if you don't know where that is.

Don't ride in with them. After the ER releases your  person, you are on your own to get home.  So drive  down yourself.  Most of the checkup time is going to be sitting and waiting for the doc to show up, and waiting for the labs to be looked at. Your role is basicly to guard you person. You don't need to rush and this is a good time for some pre prep and a time to calm down.
Only one person is allowed to be with the one who had the emergency, so only one person should go.  Everyone else can  find out later.
If this isn't a freaking screaming emergency,  While they are loading your person onto the gurney grab a bag and put in supplies that will make sitting and waiting easier. I actually have a belly pack that is designated and half packed. I put in a glucose meter and strips, the Footless Man's MP3, his cell phone, the paper with the crossword, a pen and a munch bar. Depending on the state he is in I might also send a set of clean clothes, and I make sure that he has both prosthetics and his cane riding with him.
If you can, send the history sheet with the EMT's. If things happen too fast, bring it along. It saves repetitions and lets people know what is going on.
If it is an emergency, then you can take the time to pack after they roll. You will meet up shortly and believe me, right now you are superfluous.
So after the ambulance heads out, Stop and make yourself a cup of tea. Sit down and drink it, and review what you need to bring for yourself. Call a friend and bitch if that helps. Then pack up and go.
The following laundry list may be a helpful one.
If the ambulance rolled without waiting for the useful bags for your person, You need to bring them.
So here is what you and your person might need:
Your person may need a full set of clean clothes from undies out.
(It depends on the emergency, but sometimes they have to cut clothes to get to important stuff.)
If it is winter bring an appropriate coat.
They will need the standard medical stuff that they use, like their glucose meter and strips.
Pack some food. Hospital food can be appalling and the box lunches are doubly so.
Pack their cell phone.
They will need something to amuse their mind. a book, an MP3, a gameboy,their knitting.
You will need these too.
Bring the insurance info if this is the first time in.
Drive with deliberation, park with care.
Try to make sure that you are parked in a legal parking spot.  Having your car towed while you are in the emergency room is a copper bottomed drag.
You will be coming in through the emergency room entrance.
You will get a metal detector and bag search.
Make sure that your knitting needles are wood, and a project that fits in your purse is better than a whole bag for itself.
Be aware that what can come in with the ambulance is a whole different animal than what you can bring in through security. This is why you want to send stuff with, it saves an argument.
I can send a bag lunch in with the footless man, but security will try it's damndest to not let me take it in. Sometimes I wonder if they are culling the stuff for their lunch.
The receptionist people will take you back to be with your person.
from here on out it is sitting and waiting time.