Taking a bunch of grapes to a patient in an American hospital?

melindamusil

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Really? They are way expensive.

So are many flower arrangements. And many fruit baskets. I've never fully understood why you're required to spend lots of money to express your concern.
 

AndieX

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Ah, you can tell he's English by the quality of his gifts - Milk Tray anyone? ;)
 

Jamesaritchie

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Don't forget helium filled balloons. I've been to hospitals is seven states, and even adults often get balloons to go with the flowers and fruit baskets. The gift shop almost always sells them.
 

mirandashell

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Don't forget helium filled balloons. I've been to hospitals is seven states, and even adults often get balloons to go with the flowers and fruit baskets. The gift shop almost always sells them.

Over here, we would find that odd. Helium balloons are for celebrations.
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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Told you us Limeys are a weird bunch! ;)

I'd draw the line at a helium balloon (unless it was for the baby of a close relative), but I could go to Tesco en route to (the) hospital, spend about £15 and leave with a half-decent bunch of flowers, a big bunch of grapes, a half-price* novel, a box of chocolates and two or three trashy magazines. All delivered in the plastic bag too!

If the patient is someone I'll visit when they're back home recovering, I'll turn up with a big home-made cake once they've escaped the joy that is NHS cuisine.

Milk Tray would annoy me as I'm a classy bird, but Celebrations would do the job nicely under the circumstances. Actually, pretty much any chocolate would do if I was craving it. Apart from Quality Street - bleugh.

* Why are they always £3.87?!
 
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benbenberi

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Since hospital food stinks (at least in my area), I've been known to sneak in Popeye's Chicken, slices of chocolate-layer cake, strawberry-banana smoothies and Whoppers to relatives and friends. :D

My mother had surgery at the NYU hospital about 10 years ago, and the food in that place was so terrible, the nurses would provide patients with the menus of local restaurants that deliver. Delivery being directly to the patient's bed!

I've never heard of grapes as a hospital gift in the US, so they might be considered a bit weird, but certainly not out of line.
 

Bolero

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On number of beds in a ward.

My experience of being a day patient in the NHS is one big ward - say 20 beds, 10 to a side. (Just in for the day for a minor op). Times 2. No TV, possibly radio but I was reading a book.

Visiting hospital - intensive care, very large ward no sub-divisions. (All patients visible from nurses desk).

Post-op not intensive care - partitions in long ward so it is 4 or 6 beds to the sub-partition and a corridor with windows along the ward. Some bays with curtains near the nurses desk. Not everything visible from the nurses desk.

Convalescence in local hospital - large ward maybe 20 or more beds around the walls. No nurses station in the ward.

Mixed gender in all cases, but all adults.

So just floating that for US people, and so more comment could be made on what is usual in US hospital.

Also noticed around hospital corridors the tendency to have

a) Old black and white photos of the area 50/100 years ago
b) Paintings donated by the artist
c) Paintings by members of staff
d) Paintings with discreet for sale stickers on, proceeds usually to a hospital charity.
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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Ha! I've already grilled the good folks from the US about their hospital layouts, wards/units, etc. I don't know if you can find the thread via my profile? Feel free to seek it out as there's plenty of good stuff you may be able to use on that thread.

The last hospital I had the misfortune to visit is one of those awful recent PFI builds which is already falling to bits. My cousin used to work there, but escaped to work in an old (i.e. properly built) hospital in one of the roughest towns in the region - says it all. They looked after my Gran well, but I've heard some horror stories about the place - usually involving childbirth - which make Stafford Hospital sound positively wonderful.

My lasting memory of the PFI-built hospital is the big NO SMOKING sign out front, beneath which a motley assortment of pyjama-clad patients, some pulling IV poles, had congregated for a crafty ciggie.
 

NateSean

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As to the grapes thing, I don't think I would find it weird. I've been in the hospital and while I like flowers, I tend to associate them with funerals. Receiving flowers when I'm trying to recover from a potentially life threatening illness sends the wrong message. Also, I can't eat flowers. Generally.

Grapes would tell me that my loved ones want me to be alive and healthy and are encouraging me through their thoughtful gift. So bring on the grapes.

Traditions be damned.
 

Orianna2000

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I never heard of this British custom! Fascinating. Are the grapes a specific color? Or does it not matter?
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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I'm not particularly bothered by flowers either. I agree - if you can't eat it (or read it), it's pointless. ;)

My personal preference is for those juicy red Flame grapes, so I take those if I can get them. However, so long as they're nice and fresh (and seedless), I'd say any variety/colour is acceptable.

Would any of my fellow country(wo)men care to chip in here?!
 

mirandashell

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I don't mind what colour the grapes are as long as they are seedless. Getting rid of the seeds is a pain when you're not in your own home.
 

Mr Flibble

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I never heard of this British custom! Fascinating. Are the grapes a specific color? Or does it not matter?

Generally doesn't matter. The humorous addendum says that whoever buys the grapes will eat most of them before visiting time is over, leaving the patient with a brown bag of grape skeleton (and possibly seeds)
 

KarmaPolice

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From memory, grapes were usually the green ones - I only personally started seeing the red ones regularly in supermarkets in the mid-90's. Possibly another sweet seasonal (strawberries, cherries etc). I think the tradition might date back the times where such fruits were 'exotic' and really expensive. (another example - oranges/satsumas at bottom of Christmas stockings). Balloons? Never. Flowers? On the rise. And with my family, you can find out how 'ill' you really are by the amount of marrows given. A couple of thoughts on your Brit character...

1) He'll think a private room is swanky. The norm here is still the ward - unless medically a room is necessary. Unless the patient is in for 'the long haul', it'll be mixed-sex. Any adult ward will contain at least 50% old people, and children's wards will contain similar amounts of under-fives.

2) Doctor knows best. It's slowly fading, and is naturally lower the higher the class bracket you get, but we still 'defer to doctor' when it comes to medicines, operations etc. From personal experience the 'discussion' about an upcoming planned operation is roughly...

Doctor: You need this operation. I'll make you better.
Me: Is it risky?
Doctor: Not really. We've done them loads of times before.
Me: It'll work, right?
Doctor: We wouldn't do it if it didn't.
Me: Um, okay.
Doctor: Sign here, please...

Asking for a 'second opinion' is rare. Big exceptions - cancer and anything to do with children. Mainly due to the media, people are more (usually mis)informed about 'wonder' drugs etc, and will demand it. As the NHS has to really watch their pennies these days, they'll try to keep costs down by sticking with the 'older, but proven' medicines than the flashy new one that offers 5% improvement at 500% the price.
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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I don't like grapes with seeds at any time - they're such a nuisance to eat! Although they'd be preferable to marrows. ;)

The English character is used to American hospitals, after he spent a month in one (well, two actually) a year earlier in the story and having lived in the US for 15 years by this point. And, in his line of work, he's had to make a few hospital visits in a professional capacity.

He still likes his grapes though!
 

jaksen

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Balloons are often given to hospital patients, so much so that many gift shops will sell them. I had my last child in 1992 - GOD I am so old! - and I got flower arrangements, candy and balloons.

When my mother was in the hospital a short time ago, she got flowers with balloons.

Maybe it's a fairly recent thing but balloons are fun. Put them near a source of air - window, ac, heating vent - and they move around. :D
 

benbenberi

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I guess the rationale for balloons as gifts for patients is that balloons are colorful and cheerful, and hospital patients need color and cheering. They're generally the big mylar kind, with appropriate colorful/cheerful pictures & messages, and often come attached to flowers. Dietary restrictions don't affect balloons, and they don't require any care or maintenance to stay cheerful.
 

jaksen

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My older sister recently had hip replacement surgery. When she got home I sent her a flowers, chocolates and balloon arrangement. She thanked me but LOVED the darn balloons. She has a big house with high ceilings, etc, and she said she lets the balloons just drift around from room to room and you never know where they'll show up. (She's 69 years old, btw, a world traveler and who would think such a simple thing would bring her so much happiness?)
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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Balloons aren't such a big thing over here, although I'd think about taking one in for a child if they weren't allowed chocolate and the like - or were too ill to look at a book or play with a toy.
 

Cathryn

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If you want the grapes to be sweet and juicy she had best be in the hospital sometime between the middle of September and the end of October or the grapes will be imported and mostly sour in comparison. There is something else she can complain about.
 

Bolero

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Small addendum on flowers - sometimes you see loads of flowers in a ward, along window sills, rather than on the patient's bedside table. Those were sent over after a funeral with the dedications (usually) removed, rather than leaving them to fade in a heap on the grave, or at a crematorium be moved out of the way half an hour after the last mourner has left the garden of remembrance (well, the paved area with a few low maintenance bushes and patio sort of areas so you can lay out the flowers from the "Smith" funeral (with a useful locator label on a stick) a little way away from the "Jones" funeral and still have space left to set up when the "Bloggses" come out.)

Other than that, yup, grapes to hospital patient is a UK classic. Chocolates to the nurses to say thanks for looking after the relative, that happens a bit sometimes.
 
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