While on vacation in Florida, I received the unsettling news that my sister spent a night in the ER with some chest pains, cutting short a weekend getaway in northern Wisconsin with her family. She’s now home in the Chicago area with doctors going through the process of elimination to figure out the problem. So far, so good: It’s not a heart attack and it’s not COVID-19.

She felt terrible to have ended her kids’ fun. She could have stayed and continued on as normal, but then she would have been taking an unnecessary risk; given how remote their location was, there is a relative scarcity of specialized medical options should she have needed them. Time, of course, is of the essence in an emergency.

It dawned on me that the availability of emergency care isn’t something that my sister and I think about, whether at home or away on vacation, on any regular basis. I assume it will become a more regular consideration now that she has had this scare.

Being far away, being far out there as so many meatpacking facilities are, has several benefits with regard to conducting meatpacking operations. So many important and interesting considerations go into choosing those locations. But I’m wondering now, with this recent episode fresh in my mind, is the availability of emergency services one of them? Where does does that consideration rank among the full list?

COVID-19 has been a scare of its own, and a daily reminder of the extent to which meatpacking employers must go to protect the health of their workers. Maybe the idea of proximity to dependable emergency care also is now fresh in their minds, if it wasn’t already.

Is the ER minutes away? Is it an hour away? Hours away? What plans are in place, what resources need to be aligned, to ensure the most expedient care possible? Does this figure into the cost of insurance coverage?

These aren’t rhetorical questions; I’ve honestly never thought to ask them when visiting a plant.

Please comment with any answers or insights you can provide. I probably won't be the only person who stands to gain some knowledge.

Close encounters

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