Pull in Emergency.

In my recent bout of hospital visits, i came across something i had never really seen before in my daily life. Even though i saw them, i did not make particular note of their presence other than the fact that they are there. What i'm referring to of course are the numerous "Pull if you need help" red strings that litter every single bathroom of a hospital.

In fact, I didn't give them a second thought beyond "oh hey, they are there," until my brother pointed out that they were in fact, very interesting. So interesting that i should write a blog about them. So, lets take a trip into the land of over-examination of mundane things for a bit shall we?

I understand why these things are actually in place... anyone who has a brain can figure out why a hospital would need such an item. But from my count, each bathroom has at least 2 of these, and some of them have 3. Very strategically placed. One within reach of the crapper, one within the shower, and wherever else you can't reach from there. This is a good thing... i mean... who wants to be stuck on the John and realize that they can't get up without assistance (pretty awesome that if the tp runs out, you can probably pull for some more of that too).

What i don't really understand about this whole deal, is that these pull strings are in the public bathrooms too, not only in the patient rooms. Why would someone who is using the public bathroom need emergency assistance if they are in the public bathroom? If i were a patient, i would be using my own freaking bathroom in my room. I can understand having these things in the bathrooms closest to the ER where you're most likely waiting for someone to see you and you are in fact injured or sick or something... but in the place where dad was, it seemed that anyone coming to visit a patient would just use the patient's room, or they'd be healthy enough (in the case of an emergency) yell or call for help where someone would hear you.

I really think that this is just a bit overkill in the system though... If you're in a hospital, and you need help in the bathroom, it would be much easier to get help than say a walmart bathroom. Imagine if you slipped and busted your face in the bathroom at walmart... THEN i'd want a pull string every 3 feet. Cause who the hell knows if you're ever going to be found in the bathroom of a walmart, slowly bleeding to death from the open wound on your head... they hide bathrooms like they're trying to keep people out of them.

So dad, i'm glad you are better, but it's time to install some emergency pull strings in the house... who knows when someone at the OBB is going to need assistence in the bathroom.