Now THIS is what I call patient-centered care!
Catherine Baucom, MD, of Baton Rouge, LA was on her way to the hospital to perform surgery when she got caught in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. Instead of calling the hospital to warn the patient and prep team of the delay, she did the unthinkable: she abandoned her car and took off on her own two feet.
Dr. Baucom remembered that a friend lived just a few blocks away from where she was stopped, so she jumped out of her car, ran to the friend’s house, and asked to borrow a bike. But we’re not talking about just any bike: the nearly 6-foot-surgeon peddled away on the 7-year-old daughter’s bicycle!
“Catherine called, she was outside my house. She said ‘Hey do you have a bike?’ I walked outside and said yea, its a kids bike,” said her friend, Dr. Brian Barnett. After a quick test run, Dr. Baucom decided the bike was her only choice to get to the hospital. “I got the air pump out and aired the tires up as much as I could.”
She was stopped shortly after police caught sight of the tall woman in surgeon’s scrubs and a princess helmet peddling down the highway on a tiny pink bicycle. After explaining the circumstances, police escorted the surgeon to the hospital, where she was able to perform surgery.
The heroic surgeon said her patient and the staff at BRASS Surgery Center were grateful and amazed, but not surprised.
“A lot of our patients are women and they come in from out of town. They’re very nervous, for different reasons. So I felt like I needed to get there for them,” Dr. Baucom said.