Renee Hickman knew something was seriously wrong. Dizzy, confused and without an appetite, the 64-year-old Alba, Texas resident had been feeling off since Friday night. By Saturday, she had no memory of the entire day — a detail that alarmed her enough to finally agree to her husband Burie’s urging to go to the emergency room at UT Health Quitman.
“I just wasn’t myself,” Hickman said. “I told my husband something was very, very wrong.”
Doctors quickly diagnosed her with a severe urinary tract infection that had progressed to the early stages of sepsis. Her oxygen levels were low, and her potassium had dropped to zero due to persistent diarrhea. Hickman, who has COPD and uses supplemental oxygen, was admitted to the hospital and stayed from Sunday through Thursday.
Despite the seriousness of her condition, Hickman said her experience at the hospital was overwhelmingly positive — thanks to the staff.
“I mean, nobody wants to stay at the hospital, right?” she said. “But the nurses, the aides, everyone — they were great.”
Attention to detail
Hickman was especially touched by the food service staff’s attention to detail. After noticing she had trouble chewing bacon, one staff member ensured she received sausage every morning instead.
Another morning, when she had no appetite for the scheduled breakfast, a nurse arranged for oatmeal to be brought to her instead. Hickman said she was impressed by how accommodating and thoughtful the staff were.
Hickman also appreciated the light-hearted interactions she had with the case manager, whose office was across the hall from her room.
“She’d always ask me where I was going,” Hickman said with a laugh. “One day, I told her I was headed to the cafeteria. She would just smile and laugh with me.”
Sympathetic to family members
This was Hickman’s first time being admitted to UT Health Quitman. She and her husband moved back to the area in 2015 to care for her mother, who was also cared for by the Quitman team before she passed away in 2020.
“Even then, the nursing staff was wonderful,” Hickman said. “They were so sympathetic when my mom passed.”
Since her discharge, Hickman has continued to see her primary care doctor at the hospital and said she has been doing well.
“They took good care of me,” she said. “I’ve never been treated like that in a hospital before. It was so different. I was just very pleased.”Visit our website to explore the emergency services available in your area, or check the current ER wait times.