Hospital just says ‘neigh’ to horse
A man tries to bring a beast to visit a sick friend, but security guards corral them
LIHUE » A few weeks ago, a relative of a man recovering from surgery thought it would be a good idea to bring the man's favorite pet to visit him in the hospital.
But when the man showed up on the third floor of Wilcox Hospital with a horse, no one on the staff was amused.
The patient's relative was intoxicated, said Lani Yukimura, spokeswoman for the hospital. And he called from the lobby to say he was bringing the horse up about 7 p.m., after employees at the front desk had gone home.
He never made it to the man's room. Security stopped him as he got off the elevator.
"It's a very dangerous thing," Yukimura added. "Our greatest concern is patient care."
Still, hospital staff brought out the patient to see the horse, but the relative was wrong on two counts -- it was the wrong horse and didn't even belong to the patient.
Hospital staff escorted the man and his equine companion back to the parking lot, where he put the horse in a trailer and left, Yukimura added.
Wilcox Hospital does have a pet visitation policy, but horses are not allowed into the hospital. Any nonhuman visitors must first be checked out by the staff to make sure they won't do any harm. But a horse in an elevator is a bad idea, hospital or not, officials said.
"We were thankful there was no incident," Yukimura added.