On Feb. 26, my wife, whose balance has been compromised by an unexplained stroke three years ago, fell backwards in a local parking lot and struck the back of her head on the pavement. With the help of a good friend and numerous good Samaritans, I was able to get her back into our vehicle and drive her to the Concord Hospital ER. We spent the next seven and a quarter hours in the ER waiting room, which rather than a state of the art healthcare facility more closely resembled a third world bus station. The waiting room was filled to capacity with individuals ranging from infants to the elderly, all of whom were in some form of medical distress. Everyone I spoke with sat unattended for over six hours.

It was six hours before a doctor examined and cleaned my wife’s open, bleeding head wound, examined images of her brain for a possible brain bleed or concussion, and prescribed Tylenol. That took 10 minutes. Staff working the ER were kind, caring and efficient. They were simply overwhelmed by the demand and lacked the help and resources necessary to respond appropriately. Reviews on Google and Yelp show that our experience was not unique. Current administrators clearly lack interest in correcting this problem affecting our most vulnerable citizens. Trustees should remove these uncaring functionaries and replace them with more caring and competent professionals. The problem is obvious.

William Halacy

Concord