Michael's comment

Michael,
Dang blogger won't let me answer in reply to your comment so made a new blog post

Is calling the hospital technically possible: Yes, I use Google voice (.06$/min) I assume skype works too
See shum's post below for corrected number
I wait for hospital answering machine to answer, press 9 for English,
wait for the operator,
ask for English (most but not all of the operators have been muliti-lingual),
ask for room 406 (sometimes I am asked to provide Dad's name sometimes not) and
they transfer me to his room (room phone working as of today).

Welcome - I assume so.  Although mother mentioned she was worried about being swamped with calls.

Times- I think they are 1 hour behind EST but not sure.  Hospital time is tricky, hours of boredom intertwined with high stress/pace procedures, MD visits and then more tedium.  I would recommend staying away from meal times. In my experience I have had more difficulty later in the afternoon/evening connecting through the hospital system.  The less critical Father's condition is the more tedious this hospital time becomes.

Hangin in Bro...
Brendan