Lisa Turner – Emergency Department Success Story

Methodist Mansfield's stellar spin on emergency care

Lisa Turner, wife of state Rep. Chris Turner, is
thankful for the great care she received at the
Methodist Mansfield emergency department
after being bitten by a brown recluse spider.

Summertime emergencies come in all shapes and sizes. But as Grand Prairie resident Lisa Turner discovered, sometimes big emergencies come in small packages.

Two summers ago, while shopping, she reached to the back of a shelf. That’s when she felt it — a tiny prick on her arm. She dismissed it as a likely scrape from the metal shelf and went on with her day.

But a couple of hours later, a friend noticed an angry, red blister on Turner’s arm. Turner called her sister, a registered nurse, who advised her to get to an emergency room if the blister grew.

It did, so Turner headed to the Methodist Mansfield Medical Center emergency department (ED), where the attention she received quickly alleviated any fears.

A wise choice to seek emergency care

“They took really good care of me from the moment I arrived until I was discharged,” Turner says. “I’ve been in emergency rooms before where they put you in a room and seem to forget about you. But at Methodist Mansfield, the nurses and physicians were constantly checking on me, asking how I was doing, and keeping me updated on everything that was happening.”

An exam revealed the cause of Turner’s injury: a bite from a brown recluse spider.

“While the venom from a brown recluse bite isn’t typically fatal, Mrs. Turner certainly made a wise choice in seeking emergency medical attention,” says Ketan Trivedi, MD, medical director at Methodist Mansfield ED.

After she was treated with IV antibiotics, the bite’s redness and swelling began to subside. Within a couple of days, Turner’s arm was as good as new.

While her experience is out of the ordinary, the care she received isn’t — at least not at Methodist Mansfield. Equipped to handle a variety of injuries and ailments, the medical professionals here are standing by 24/7 to take care of you.

From the summer 2014 edition of Shine magazine.