Specialized Answering Services
There are various specialized answering service type you can take advantage of. Medical answering is a big one. Less prolific (but no less important) are medical call centers that specialize in sports-related injuries. You hear about all types of injuries athletes suffer and the types of treatment the receive on a regular basis - in fact, no televised sporting event goes by without the announcer spouting off about every tiny little detail of every single injury incurred by one of the players and what the doctors and therapists are doing to repair the damage and speed the athlete’s recovery.
In professional sports, the teams are armed with their own doctors, therapists, masseuses and sometimes even acupuncturists. During a game, the paramedics are standing by to whisk the injured to the closest emergency room to treat any injury as fast as possible. In amateur sports, the kids aren’t so lucky. Also, the fact that most kids want to appear tougher than they actually are, exacerbates the situation. This is when a sports-related call center comes in very useful for the parents of their little linebacker or goaltender.
In case the family does not have full medical coverage, a medical answering service can be a lifesaver. Sometimes the injury incurred by the child is painful, but relatively innocuous and can be treated at home. This can save the parents hundreds or even thousands of dollars in a needless hospital emergency room visit. For instance, a minor concussion can be diagnosed by a professional nurse at a medical call center and the child could be monitored at home by his or her parents.
Sometimes a child will incur a more serious injury, but not want to appear weak to his or her parents. Perhaps a bad cut from a razor-sharp hockey skate or a dislocated knee from a bad collision during an intense soccer game. In cases such as these, it is a good idea to have the child speak with the medical call center operator, since the child may be reluctant to tell their parents the severity of their injury because they don’t want to A) worry their parents and/or B) go to the hospital. Talking to a complete stranger on the telephone about one’s problems is usually easier because you don’t care about them, they don’t know you, you’ll never have to meet them and you feel free to say whatever comes immediately to mind. If the injury is indeed serious, the nurse will advise the kid to tell his or her parents to either get them to the emergency room or just ice it.
The operators of medical call centers are trained to keep the caller calm, be reassuring and not be reactionary. If they don’t know the answer to a query, they will pass the call along to a colleague at the same answering service who can answer your questions accurately. A specialized telephone answering service might be more difficult to find but just may be worth the trouble.