Hospital and Emergency Care in Tucson AZ

My mother recently took two unexpected trips to the emergency room at St. Joseph's hospital here in Tucson, AZ. She had never been admitted in emergency care before and was a bit scare, bewildered, and worried, not to mention - in health crises.

The local papers sometimes feature stories on the poor health care and worse customer service one receives in Tucson medical care. For those of you who read my blog, you know I'll often comment on restaurant service, so I felt "duty-bound" to share a bit of my mother's experience. For the sake of brevity, I'll leave out most details of her illness. (She is under medication and recovering nicely, thank you!)

During trip #1 - We encountered a young man who took her immediate vitals, etc. in emergency entrance lobby. Polite, funny, looked my mother in the eye. Wow. She was given a room in less than 20 minutes at a time many were suffering from swine flu. The doctor himself came and got me out of waiting after she was situated and assured me she was being taken care of. She went through a battery of tests and every clerk, assistant, technician, etc. was kind, thoughtful, and unhurried. I especially remember one wheeling her down for a CatSkan singing..."Money, money money money...Muh...neee (Pink Floyd)

Ten days later she was re-admitted again with immediate entrance and was situated in a ward room until admittance. During her initial ward visit she was seen by the general hospitalist doctor, the pulmanary specialist, an internist, a respiratory specialist, and her cardiologist from the previous visit was notified. All were polite, kind, thoughtful, unhurried, and many showed a nice sense of humor trying to help my elderly mother relax and recover. During her stay of two days the nurses were kind and quick to answer pages, cleaning staff hummed and talked to the patients politely, and medical staff explained things to my mother, complete with written instructions.

Sure, there were a few glitches and incorrectly written precriptions, etc. but for the sake of the overall experience, I choose to disregard those things right now. I am glad I was with my mother to figure out all the medications, etc. afterwards, for sure.

Bottom line?? Hats off to the staff of St. Joseph's hospital here in Tucson. Thank you for your bedside manner and humane demeanor. It's what hospital and health care SHOULD be, and for my mother's two experiences - was. May all of you experience the same care should you find yourselves in a similar situation some day. Thank you.

CUSTOMER SERVICE – A thing of the past???

Last night, my wonderful in-laws took my husband and I (and Jenna) to a very nice place to celebrate our anniversary. Because the hostess area was full, we sat outside in a fountain area to wait for the 30 minutes they said we had before a table would be free. We couldn’t wait in the bar area with a minor. Not too many Tucson restaurants take reservations, so we accepted a thirty minute wait as normal for a Saturday night. After 20 minutes, my husband went off to make sure they knew where we were. He was told it would be another 20 minutes.

During the next 45 minutes, both Jenna, and my mother in law also checked. We were told there was a party of 6 at the table we would be seated at, and had to wait for them. Now, this is a large restaurant, and they only had ONE table for more than 4??? As we waited outside, we watched dozens of people enter the restaurant. After an hour wait….they finally seated us…OUTSIDE!!!
Now this might not seem like much at first you think, many restaurants have attractive outdoor seating, and so does this eatery. However, bear in mind that we live in Tucson, and this is SUMMER. We were not seated in the regular restaurant garden seating with misters, fans, or anything like that, but instead in a far off solitary section of two tables set up next to the parking lot and the indoor restrooms. We politely asked to have an inside table as soon as it became available and they said “sure”. By this time our “Sunday best” dress clothes, hairstyles, and makeup were all much the worse for waiting so long in the heat.

Thirty minutes later my daughter went in to check on the status of “our table” and they’d given it to someone else. This was when my husband called for the manager. And before he got to the table, the entrees were served. Two of the five of us were served the wrong meal. Rocco was served the wrong sides with his meal. When we spoke with the manager, he said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” Asked what side Rocco had ordered, and left.

Our bill totaled over $150. There was no discount, no complimentary beverage, no dessert on the house, no coupon for return. Nothing.

Are we over-reacting here – or is this standard service now. This is NOT the first time we’ve had celebratory meals made memorable by bad service and a lack of care for the consumer. I figure, “they don’t care” = a nice blog, twitter, facebook and online reviews for all their
future customers. Oh, and watch out…the chicken SPECIAL is $26.00.

A trip to the Dentist

So anyone ever enjoy a trip to the dentist?

I have to say, when I had Super Insurance through my school job in Wisconsin, that it wasn't half bad. I'd get $1000 coverage a year, which in those days covered the cost of TWO crowns/caps, and a wonderful dentist. I was with him from his dating years, to marriage, honeymoon, first kids, you name it. You learn alot when you're a regular in a dental office.

The best was the personal service, and the nitris oxide or whatever the formal term for laughing gas is. Other than the injections and the drilling, oh and the teeth cleaning/scraping, it wasn't half bad!!!

So I move to Tucson. First of all, I can't find anyone who uses laughing gas. What is the world coming to? After 20 years of the stuff, I'm addicted. That was my (literally) high of the visit.
Sigh. So secondly, you either take out a second mortgage to get your pearly whites cleaned, or you take on dental insurance personally.

Being self employed, I found some dental insurance. Generally ONE visit to the clinic takes care of my yearly "dues".

So here I am in Tucson, and my old dental work starts to slowly fall apart, fall out, etc. So, I get this really strong feeling I'm going to lose my front tooth (or half of it) and I make an appointment. The first thing the telephone receptionist says is...you haven't been here in 18 months! I'm like...well it's EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (You have to have priorities! I remodeled my house, got married, moved...and subsequently STILL haven't sold my house -- but that's another story) So I get my appointment and come in for my temporary cap. Now let me tell you -- there's a LOT of difference between a nice family dentist you've been going to for 20 years, and a CLINIC. Today's surprise was it was under new management and all new dentists. Oh boy...I've got to train another one all over again.

Right away I ask my new dentist's credentials as he's standing above me, 6 inch syringe in his hand. He realizes I'm scoping him out and I said, "well wouldn't you"? My assistant has a whopping 7 months experience. Hmmm. He did well with the shot, and the drilling--Everything else was left in the capable hands of his 7 month's experience sidekick.

Without too much information here, I'll tell you my front tooth temporary cap fell out within 24 hours. I have five other caps, so I'm surprised at the quality (lack of). Besides, I must comment that the tooth was the ugliest, most ill-fitting piece of clay I'd ever received. I go BACK in for a re-glue. Hmmm....by evening it popped again.

So, it's a long drive to the dentist, and about 10 days til I get my final, so I decide to use denture cream adhesive. (ucky tasting stuff, wow) So, day 4 of my experience, my husband and I are out taking a twilight walk on a rocky roadway. I let go a mighty sneeze...and you guessed it...lost the tooth.

I spent the next day hiding behind a magazine...and got a new, one size fits all, chicklet temporary now. Anytime I forget and smile big, people look twice. There's a lot of public complaints about health care, hospitals, nurses, etc. Better lump dental into it too...

Anyone got any stories to share? My family wants me to take a picture of my chicklet--but I'm afraid it'll end up on one of their web pages....