I’ve had people come through the apartment who have needed doctoring due to illness or injury—it happens. The best thing is to be well aware of the quickest and easiest route to the hospital or know the number to call for an ambulance (here it is 118).
One visitor had severe abdominal pains upon arriving in Milan from a brief mission trip to Egypt. She may have eaten something in Egypt that didn’t agree with her. I took her to the emergency room, and because she was only running a very low fever, they gave her a low status. When they examined her they found appendicitis, but only gave her a few antibiotics and sent her home with me. She seemed fine for the rest of her visit. When she returned to the US a few days later, her symptoms came back with a vengeance, and she had to have an emergency appendectomy. You can’t imagine how glad I was that she remained stable while she was here. The cost of her Emergency Room visit? Zero.
Another visitor also had severe abdominal pains, but repeatedly refused to go to the Emergency Room. Two days later, when I found her on the bathroom floor, I called for an ambulance over her protests. She also had appendicitis, but her appendix had burst. If I had not gotten her immediate medical care, she would have died. Due to peritonitis she had to stay over a week in the hospital. The cost of her emergency appendectomy? About €2000.
The day after I got my cast off (see Summer in a Cast) a family arrived to stay with me. They had taken a ferry to cross the sea, and their five-year-old daughter had fallen because of the choppy waters. They suspected that she might have broken her left wrist (just like me). I took them to the Emergency Room, where they determined that her wrist wasn’t broken, but badly sprained. They wrapped it and sent us all home. The cost? Nothing.
She cried every time she looked at the wrapping on her wrist. So I showed her a few pictures of me in the cast. When she saw that my cast had been decorated (by Sparkles) she wanted to decorate her wrappings. Decorating it did seem to make it better for her. Sometimes you just need some flowers and stars to make everything OK again.
Besides these medical emergencies, what most people need in the way of first aid is usually Band-Aids or adhesive tape to cover blisters. I try to keep a good supply, plus antibacterial ointment on hand. You never know when someone’s going to get an owwie—or worse. God is good!
Walking By Faith in Europe 