MyNurseOnCall.com: Target Gift Card Giveaway
Thu, Sep 17, 2009
Many of you may remember back in February when I blogged about one of my favorite time and money savers – a 24/7 medical help line called Nurse On Call. Here’s a quick excerpt from that post, for those of you who missed it …
My little ten month-old son has had a nasty cold for almost two weeks; complete with constant fevers, a cough, and a stuffy nose. So, when a strange rash appeared a few days ago I decided to give his pediatrician’s office a call. They were busy – as always – and promised me someone would be calling me soon. Five hours later, the rash was getting worse and I still hadn’t heard back from the nurse. Thankfully, I had another option. I called Nurse On Call. It’s a 24/7 medical help line, available through my husband’s company. In a matter of minutes, I was able to speak to a friendly, experienced Registered Nurse about my son’s condition. She listened patiently to my situation, answered all my questions, gave me home-treatment advice, and told me what to watch for in the future. She also sent a fax to my son’s doctor reporting everything we’d discussed so he could be kept in the loop. Thanks to her advice, I was able to help my son while saving the time and expense of a trip to the doctor’s office or urgent care.
I love Nurse On Call! I use it all the time. It’s such a great, mom-friendly service. I’ve used it for everything from advice on my daughter’s ear ache to questions about what medicines were safe to take during pregnancy. It’s a fantastic resource.
As I mentioned in February, my husband’s company had been offering this service to businesses for years and was considering opening it up to individuals and families. Great news! Thanks in part to the fantastic feedback they received from the surveys my readers submitted, they have now launched a new family-friendly line of service called MyNurseOnCall. It offers all the same benefits as the business version I’ve been using, it’s just designed to be used by individuals and families.
My husband’s company liked my previous post so much that they asked me to do a video testimonial for their new website. I was happy to do it because I really do like the service, but I must admit the whole idea of being recorded made me a bit nervous – next time I’m going to request a hair and makeup consult (I’m also going to hire a babysitter because they had to edit all the times my kids popped into the window behind me to tattle on each other and ask for popsicles). Here’s my big web debut…
So, anyway, on to the great giveaways. MyNurseOnCall is offering a special deal to all MeckMom readers. You get to try their awesome, budget/time-saving service for free for 30 days. Yep you heard me, free. All you have to do is go to the MyNurseOnCall website and sign up for an account. You will be asked to enter your credit card or PayPal information, but you will not be charged for 30 days. During those 30 days you are welcome to call the help line as many times as you like – there are no limits or restrictions. After your free month, if you like MyNurseOnCall as much as I do, you can continue your service for a low rate of $5.95 per month. However, you are under no contract and can cancel your membership at anytime. There are no penalties or fine print to worry about. Just enter the coupon code MECKMOM during checkout to be eligible for the free 30 day trial.
As an added bonus, MyNurseOnCall.com is also offering three $25 Target gift cards to a few lucky MeckMom readers. To enter the gift card giveaway you simply have to add a comment about a time when you could have used a nurse’s advice - you know, like the time you hauled all your kids to the urgent care and paid $50 in copays, only to find out that your daughter’s chest cold could be treated at home with a humidifier? Okay that was me, but you get the idea. All blog comments will count as one entry in the giveaway. If you go to MyNurseOnCall and sign up for a membership with my coupon code, you’ll automatically get an additional 3 entries in the gift card giveaway. Oh and yes, for those of you who are wondering, if your number is chosen multiple times you can win all three gift cards. Won’t that be a fun shopping spree?!
So remember, not only do you get to try out this fantastic service and get expert medical advice from Registered Nurses free for 30 days, you also get a chance to win free stuff at Target. C’mon, it’s hard to resist that. I wish I could enter! This giveaway will be open for the next two weeks (until Oct 1st, 2009 at midnight CST). The winners will be selected randomly and be contacted via email. If a response is not received within 72 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
Good luck, everyone! As always, to those of you who comment, thanks in advance for passing it on.
*This giveaway is now closed.
And the winners (chosen randomly by the iPhone app iChoose) are … Kathy, Meredith, and Sarah. Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your gift cards. I’ll be contacting you via email today. If I don’t receive a response within 72 hours another winner will be chosen. Thanks for playing, everyone!
September 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I heard a woman on the radio the other day who spent hours in the ER for a rash her son developed only to find out that it was actually squished blueberries from her son’s pocket!
September 17th, 2009 at 11:52 am
After reading your post, I was intrigued, but with a healthy family hadn’t had the “opportunity” to give it a try. Well as life goes, an “opportunity” arose late last night. My son suffers from croup quite often and last night we had a flair up. He is 4 years old, but whenever he gets sick, his wind pipe swells making it hard for him to breath. Being that my husband is a graduate student and our health insurance is pretty awful, I decided to give MyNurseOnCall a try. I called the hotline, was transferred straight to an extremely well qualified nurse who was able to answer all my questions and help provide me with fast medical advice to help my son. I am truly grateful for that nurse that took the time to help my son. Thanks MyNurseOnCall, you have definitely won a true fan.
An Extremely Thankful Mommy,
Kris
September 17th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I have heard of this type of service before. I think it is a great idea. I think this service could save me a lot of money in co-pays.
Thanks for the tip!
September 17th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I overreacted after my son threw up twice. I thought he had a concussion because he had fallen earlier in the day. I took him to urgent care and they told me to go to the ER. The ER said he looked fine. All this took half a day and several hundred dollars.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I went out on vacation and called our pediatrician because my 11 month old (and I) were puking up a storm. Since we didn’t know the area well, we asked the nurse about preventative measures to take to avoid a trip to the ER. We followed her advice and all was well!
September 17th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Oh, we’ve definitely had some colds and sore throats and it would have been great to have a nurse on call to see if something was really wrong or not. Also, i had a really bad sun burn once and we were more worried than we needed to be. Sigh.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I have Kaiser Permanente and they have an advice line so I call that before I attempt to make an appointment to see the Dr. I recently had Vertigo and felt like the room was spinning. I was so scared. I didn’t know what was going on. My fingers then were tingling and my lips were also and I was talking fast. I called a Nurse at Kaiser and she told me I was hyperventilating from the Vertigo. She then told me what to take over the counter and that night my Dad went out and got it for me. Bless him!! I appreciate a Nurse’s advice!! Thank you for the chance to win a Target gc!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
My son broke out in hives while we were away at the Oregon coast. His ears, hands, and feet were all swelling. He was only 1 yr old, and I wanted to know if I could give him Benedryl, and what dose I should use. I called my Pediatrician’s nurse advice line, but they were at lunch or something. I had to wait until they returned my call several hours later. It would have been GREAT to get an answer right away. (turns out my son is allergic to cold).
September 17th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
So there was the time I took my son to the doctor to find out he had croup or something similar and they couldn’t do a thing for it, it felt like such a waste of time and money, but I needed some answers. And then there was the time we took our less than 2 week old to the ER ’cause he had a high fever. He ended up being fine. Word to the wise…they admit babies that young as a precaution, but didn’t know that until we got there. Sometimes you just don’t know for sure and you’d rather be safe than sorry, but it can get costly and time consuming.
September 18th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Last spring I lost my voice and felt awful for a few days. I have 4 kids and prefer to not waste time taking myself, hauling 4 kids, to the doctor unless I think I might die. I progressively got worse over the next 2 weeks. By the time I finally saw a doctor I my lungs were so inflamed there was the possibilty of permanent tissue damage. I had phenumonia and something else like brochitis. I was dumb to not go sooner, but I just couldn’t handle being so sick, taking my 4 kids, and juggling their schedules to make it all work. If I’d had a service like this, I would’ve found out that it probably was a bacterial infection and making the sacrifice to go to the doctor was worth it. It took about 3 weeks to get back to normal; after way more medicine than I like to take and a lot more down time. Mynurseoncall.com would’ve been a great resource for me personally then and numerous times over the last 13 years I’ve had children. Plus husband could call his 2 times a year instead of asking me if I think he’s sick enough to go to the doctor.
September 18th, 2009 at 9:20 am
When I was pregnant I got this weird ache in my back that I wasn’t sure whether it was just the usual ache or something kidney related. I had to wait a nervous day to hear from the nurse and was glad when it turned out to be nothing.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
i had to call once to settle my fears when my 2 yesr oldgot into the chewable dinasour vitamins and ate who knows how many!
September 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
I could’ve used their advice when I accidentally gave my kiddo my birth control pill instead of his Claritin. Please do not ask me how this happened. Yes I did call poison control… And he’s fine, btw!
September 21st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
When my oldest was 2-1/2 months old, we left her with my in-laws so my husband and I could go out to dinner. Normally, my daughter would breastfeed, but we left some formula for the grandparents to give her while we were gone. After we returned home, I noticed my daughter’s face was swelling up. She was not having trouble breathing, and she wasn’t even fussy, but I panicked and we rushed to the ER, where we waited and waited for a doctor. Finally, we were given a room, and while we were waiting for a doctor, my daughter vomited. Immediately, the swelling went away. By the time the doctor came, there was really nothing for him to do except explain that she most likely had an allergic reaction to the milk protein in the formula, something I’m sure a Nurse On Call could have explained. I also have a friend who uses this service, and he raves about it!
September 21st, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I could use a service like this quite often. I, fortunately, have rather healthy kids and we are not at the doctor much. I would like to keep it that way. I would always rather call and get some basic information before plunking down the co-pay for a visit.
More specifically, I could have used this service when my oldest daughter got chicken pox a week and a half before I was due to deliver our fifth child. I needed information about potential risks to the baby, actions I could take. I did call our pediatrician’s office. They refused to give me any information over the phone without seeing my daughter to verify that it was chicken pox. I couldn’t believe they wanted me to bring a highly contagious child in for something so obviously diagnosed at home. I switched to another doctor after that who was willing to answer my questions.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:14 am
I could have used it yesterday when my 2 daughters were feverish with bloodshot eyes. I’m pretty sure it’s just flu, but it’s always nice to have someone who knows more than I do back me up without having to drag them into a flu-infested office so they can get exposed if they don’t already have it. I’ve called our local hospital’s nurse line MANY times. Our pediatrician doesn’t have anyone on call after hours (it’s ER or nothing, they’ll page from the ER, maybe), so phone services are very handy.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
DD got a fever just a few days ago and I was so panic and afraid it was something to do with swine flu. That night I ran into the emergency room, this is when I think I could really use a nurse’s advice.
September 26th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I would have loved to have called a nurse when my husband got a staple from a staple gun stuck in his hand! Would it have been safe to yank it out with pliers? Or should we go straight to the ER??
September 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I could have used a nurse when my husband thought he was dying of something and it turned out it was just really bad acid reflux!
September 29th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I could’ve used MyNurseOnCall when I thought I had a seasonal flu and it turned out to be a raging thyroid. It was a Sunday and my clinic was closed, so I got a ride to a clinic in another part of town. After they took my blood they sent me straight back – to the ER!
Luckily everything turned out OK, but it just goes to show that it can be hard to make the right decision when you don’t have enough information.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
As a nurse I use this service frequently. I knew my daughter was going to need stitches and was going to take her to Urgent Care. I called My Nurse on Call first and was informed by the nurse there was no pediatric doctor at the Urgent Care that night that could do stitches, so I ended up taking her to the Emergency Room. It saved me from paying two copays. Great service!
September 30th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I use Nurse on Call pretty frequently when I have an issue. No one likes going to the hospital, waiting for who knows how long just to get a huge bill for a tiny thing! I tried to call the one I usually use last night for my sister but they would not give me any advice since she was not with me. Maybe the MyNurseOnCall could have helped in that situation… Hmm…
September 30th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I really could have used a nurses opinion when my husband spent 3 hours in the ER for a broken nose. They did X-rays and a cat scan and then came back and said it was too swollen to set it, so we should just go home and then go see an ENT in a week. Only to find out now to fix it, we would have to do surgery, so forget that! It doesn’t hurt him, doesn’t look that crooked and we wasted $125 copay plus 80/20 on the x-rays and cat scan!
October 1st, 2009 at 10:21 am
I needed a nurse one night when my son was crying uncontrollably for 2 hours straight. He was only 3 weeks old, so he was still brand new. He got super hot, red, and I was so scared. I still do not know what the problem was to this day!
October 1st, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I remember my child had frequent canker sores in his mouth nearly every week. It seemed like a pretty painful ordeal, and I was going to call the doctor but instead
I spent some time on the internet and found that I could cure this with 3% hydrogen peroxide! :[
October 1st, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Recently when I was on vacation I forgot my inhailer and wouldn’t you know it I have a horrible asthma attack. I was 6 months pregnant and he pharmecy was swamped with people. I had no refills left on my perscription and would have given anything for a nurse to let me know if it was ok to use the over the counter inhailer but ended up spending a day of my vacation waiting to hear from the doctor sitting in a pharmecy. Not fun!