To the editor:

The day after Thanksgiving, to my surprise, I found that my doctor's office was closed for the weekend.

My on-call doctor thought my problem merited a trip to Addison Gilbert Hospital, so the Emergency Room doctor could look at me to rule out anything serious. As it turned out, all doctors' offices were closed for the weekend, so I was told to be patient; that they would be busy.

It also turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I experienced what I think every citizen of Gloucester should. From the moment my son got me into the reception area a little after 1 p.m. until we left at about 7:30, I was greeted and treated with smiles, care, compassion — and hot blankets.

If you don't appreciate a hot blanket, you've never spent time in any hospital, let alone an emergency room. From my vantage point, I was able to watch the hubbub, the perfectly controlled and organized hubbub which I am sure is routine.

Because our hospital was being overwhelmed, the doctor who cared for me, I understand, had worked from early morning on what was probably a full shift at Beverly Hospital, then willingly came to Gloucester to help. He diagnosed my problem, explained it to me and told me he was going to have a blood check as well as an ultrasound done to be sure he wasn't overlooking anything. After a nurse took care of the blood letting, and inserted a tube with antibiotics, I was whisked away to the ultrasound procedure.

I am thankful there was nothing seriously wrong and that oral antibiotics will take care of me. The next morning, I received a phone call from an AGH nurse to ask how I was feeling and to tell me to be sure to call if I needed anything. Needless to say, no one on that staff had a chance to sit for a moment, but they never lost their smiles or attention they gave to us.

The purpose of this letter is to say a most sincere thank you to all of the nurses, doctors and other personnel on staff at Addison Gilbert Hospital's Emergency Room. Also to ask everyone in Gloucester to fight for our hospital. Many others have written similar letters and all we can hope is that they will be seen and will help.

As with everything in life, we don't appreciate it until we really need it — or it's gone so let us keep that from happening!

Constance Blunda

Curtis Clark Building, Gloucester