Editor: 

On Sunday, July 14, at 11 p.m. I needed to go to the emergency room over possible heart issues. I chose to go to Mad River Hospital ER and that was a mistake on my part.

It was a busy night. Because my triage put me low on the priority list, I had to wait. The waiting room allowed no possibility for social distancing. Also six people wore no masks and were moving around the waiting room. One little girl took off her mask to sneeze 4 feet away from me. I mostly had to wait out in the cold since I felt unsafe, being an elder with possible heart issues. The toilets were filthy and nobody cleaned the chairs after people left. Also there was no security guard and there were altercations with people on drugs that the staff were dealing with. It was very scary.

Other than bringing people into the ER, nobody monitored the people waiting. I expected to feel guarded from COVID-19 transmissions. As I understand it, Mad River has laid off many staff members and frankly, they have no business running an ER this way. After three hours mostly sitting outside in the cold, I left because my experience was very stressful and I take the pandemic seriously.

Devora Kaufman, Eureka