So.

Last night my friend, who is 12 weeks pregnant (though before last night she thought she was 8) goes into the ER. After doing all sorts of weird little doo daddy voodoo hoodoo things to her and running a cat scan (just in case she has an explosion in her head), they decide she's severely dehydrated (to the point of losing 17 pounds in one month) and is one month further along than she thought. It's also horribly hot and she has a not quite one-year-old. (Needless to say, this pregnancy wasn't planned. She was even on the pill.)

The ER says, "Get to your doc ASAP." That's right -- the doc she can't get a hold of so she finally ends up at the ER.

Except she can't call the doc. She is phoneless until Thursday and the only phone around that she can use belongs to the people next door who use drugs heavily. You know, like cocaine. She's, understandably, a little nervous about going over and taking her baby with her. But that's her only option.

But she can get online. We have very few options in terms of how to get her phone call made due to transportation issues, when the doctor's office will take phone calls or appointments (only during certain times of the day), etc.

The best we can do is this:

I can call the doc and make the appointment and message my friend the details. Then I can call her husband and let him know the details so he can get off work and take his wife and child to the OB.

So I call. The receptionist informs me only my friend can make an appointment. No one else can. She says, "Why don't you get her to your house and she can call from there?" Trust me, we've been through this ourselves. "Bummer, huh." And that's all I get from the doc's office.

So this is my question: (Other than how my friend is going to get this appointment made.) What does the office do if they have a client who is deaf or mute or doesn't speak English?

I'm really frustrated. My poor friend.