Please help my friends navigate MGH.
June 11, 2011 2:22 PM   Subscribe

Please help me help my friends navigate their stay at Massachusetts General Hospital as international patients. Said patient is a child who will be receiving proton treatment for a brain tumor.

My friends, who are a family of four, will be traveling to Boston shortly so that their child can receive treatment to hopefully stop a recurring brain tumor. Two of the family members will be there for an extended time, the two others will join them two weeks in for a while. They are in touch with the International Patients Center at MGH regarding their stay and are working through the logistics of it all now. A two part question follows...

1) We friends would like to surprise them with a gesture of support during their stay. One of the things that would be nice to arrange is a phone so that they can call home to Canada. Another might be a "credit" at the tuck shop for incidentals and treats. If you have been a patient at MGH in similar circumstances, what was helpful for you and how could I go about arranging it from Canada? I will be in touch with the International Patient Center on Monday but any inside tips would be helpful.

2) Can you suggest things for them to be aware of or to avoid during their stay? Particular hotels, for example, that should be crossed off the list? Anything else?
posted by lunaazul to Travel & Transportation around Massachusetts (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: They may wish to check out what the Ronald McDonald House help them with.
posted by birdherder at 2:29 PM on June 11, 2011


Best answer: MGH is excellent but I had a bad experience with the family waiting room staff. The incident happened after I talked with the brain surgeon in a private consultation room off the family waiting room. The surgeon had personally given me permission to use the private room to make some phone calls about bad news he had just given me about a patient's tumor.

An elderly volunteer came over and made me leave at once since the rooms are supposed to be for doctor-family consultations only. I explained I had permission to use it and that I was relaying bad brain tumor news but he made me leave anyway. All the other rooms were empty so it was really silly.

I left but it was very upsetting. So I'd say be aware that there are some bad apples in that surgical waiting room that's tied to the neuro-oncology ward.

The main cafeteria inside MGH has great food. It's called Eat Street Cafe. I'd give them a gift card to use there. You could eat every meal there and not get sick of it. The selection is great.

There is a CVS drug store kind of across the street from the neuro-oncology/radiation complex. You can't see it but it is there. Maybe money to use at CVS would be helpful.

I think the gift shop at MGH is pretty boring.

Are they going to have a car? If you are there after 6 or 7 at night, you don't have to pay for parking, if I recall correctly.

Honestly, the best gift in this situation might be cash.

I can't remember exactly but some tumor treatments are done at an annex that is not at the main MGH center. Your friends might want to confirm this procedure is done at MGH itself and not at that annex. There's a shuttle that goes to the annex.
posted by vincele at 3:07 PM on June 11, 2011


Best answer: There is a Whole Foods close to the hospital, so a gift card to there might be nice as it would give them a chance to take a walk. There is also a mall not so far away called Cambridge side Galleria.

You can get a pay as you go cell phones from Virgin, Metro and Boost.
posted by momochan at 3:22 PM on June 11, 2011


Best answer: You can get a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go phone for less than $20 US. Calls to Canada are $0.10 a minute.

You can also get pre-paid gift cards that act like credit cards from American Express and other companies. You pay $53.95 and your friend gets a card with $50 stored on it. These can be used at any place that accepts credit cards.

Depending on where they are staying, they made need to use Boston's public transportation system—the T. You can order them a Charlie Card from the T's website, which will give them access.

--

My first memories are of MGH. When I was sick as a young kid, I spent 6 week there. It is a fantastic hospital.
posted by ifandonlyif at 3:25 PM on June 11, 2011


Best answer: I live right across the street from MGH. If you think it'd be helpful for them to have my contact info to email for info on a hotel they're hooked up with, or places to eat/buy supplies/whatever, MeMail me.

Is the family two adults and two kids? If so, the kid not receiving treatment (and the kid receiving treatment, if s/he is allowed outside) may be interested in the Wednesday evening Yappy Hour at the Liberty Hotel next to the hospital. Local dog owners let their dogs run around the enclosed yard. A number of non-dog-owners come for some friendly dog time, and there are usually a few kids there having a blast petting all the puppies.
posted by olinerd at 10:06 PM on June 11, 2011


Best answer: Do they have a Caring Bridge website set up? I'd suggest that to them if they don't - I think you can even set it up for them then transfer ownership to a parent. It's a great blog site designed for people with serious illnesses - a great way to update friends and family, and connect with other patients. I work at a blood bank and a lot of our pediatric patients have CB sites.
posted by radioamy at 10:27 PM on June 11, 2011


Best answer: There's an Anna's Taqueria across the street and to the left a couple of blocks. It's a Mexican-ish chain in Boston (there are maybe 6 of them). Anyway, it's not at the hospital, there's an upstairs and downstairs, and it's a nice place to get away. I did my clinical rotations at nursing school at MGH and we used to go there for lunch. Eat Street is decent enough, but it is in the basement, no windows, and full of hospital people. Nice to get the hell out of there.

Also you might suggest that they take some walks down by the Charles river, just across the street, basically. It's quite nice and again, is a way to get away from the hospital and still be close by.
posted by sully75 at 12:01 AM on June 12, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks so much everyone for your many great bits of info. We'll be able to figure out a helpful gift from these answers, I'm sure, and I'll be able to pass on some good suggestions too. Thanks also for your personal experiences. They are appreciated.
posted by lunaazul at 10:40 PM on June 12, 2011


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