Emergency Contacts

Nearly every week there is a sick child in the clinic who needs to go home but for whom we have no current contact. Today was heartbreaking. A small boy cried in the clinic for an hour. He was in pain and his fever crept up to over 103 degrees. We called his dad but he was at work and "on the road" and said he was unable to come. We could not reach the mother. It could have been appendicitis so we called 911. Another child came to us with a temperature of 99.9. Same story except that he was not in acute pain. No one would or could come to get him and we couldn't reach the mom. At the end of the day we sent him home with a fever of 102.9. We are not allowed to give any medication that is not prescribed by a doctor, so all we could do is try to make the children as comfortable as possible.