Hospital Visits: People Sleeping in Chairs, Chair-beds, and Cars
Sleeping in Car
It may not surprise you that a lot of hospital patients’ family members spend the night in the patient’s room.
Most of the time, this means sleeping on a chair-bed, a device that’s not usually very comfortable as either a chair or a bed. Some hospitals are more thoughtful in design, and have a built in couch/bed that’s actually quite comfortable. Still others provide no accommodation for family members.
Family members spend the night in patients’ rooms or in waiting rooms for several reasons. The most common are:
- They feel the need and/or the patient feels the need for them to be there. I still remember quite well trying to rig some arrangement of chairs in the NICU waiting room while my wife was there after surgery, and failing pretty miserably. It was important to her and to me that I was close during that critical time.
- If folks are from out of town, they may not be able to afford the cost of hotel accommodations. I frequently visit with patients who’ve spent weeks in the hospital, and a spouse or parent or adult child has spent every night in their room. While sometimes the cite the desire to be there, they often talk about the cost of a hotel.
What may surprise you, though, is how many people sleep in their cars because they don’t have the money for lodging. I occasionally observe it in the medical center garages, and know that people sleeping in their cars is fairly widespread.
Family members sacrificing comfort to be with family in the hospital is a fact of life, as is people sleeping in cars so their family member can be at a major medical center for treatment.
There are some organizations that work with the hospital social work departments to provide funding on a need basis for housing. One I’m familiar with is Compassionate Touch. You can even help if you wish.
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