The Observation Deck

A friend of mine makes frequent trips to the emergency room. He has four young children with a lot of energy and little fear (or as I say of my two year old grandson, more b...'s than brains).

When he needs an emergency room he goes to Fairview even though he lives in Lakewood. He finds the long waits and poor service at Lakewood Hospital too much to put up with.

Recently, his daughter took a nasty fall and got a large cut on her head. Since she was bleeding so badly he took her to Lakewood Hospital. He waited, bleeding child in his lap for fifteen minutes, trying to get someone's attention. He finally gave up, and drove to Fairview. The child was treated and home 90 minutes later.

Bill Call wrote:A friend of mine makes frequent trips to the emergency room. He has four young children with a lot of energy and little fear (or as I say of my two year old grandson, more b...'s than brains).

When he needs an emergency room he goes to Fairview even though he lives in Lakewood. He finds the long waits and poor service at Lakewood Hospital too much to put up with.

Recently, his daughter took a nasty fall and got a large cut on her head. Since she was bleeding so badly he took her to Lakewood Hospital. He waited, bleeding child in his lap for fifteen minutes, trying to get someone's attention. He finally gave up, and drove to Fairview. The child was treated and home 90 minutes later.

Bill

Belly up to the bar, you have a complaint? We know you are a hound after the Hospital(fox). But this post is way below your normal fire starter schtick.

LakewoodAlive just presented a program where you could have asked management all about this stuff. But once again too busy for a face to face discussion. This would be the third time you were to busy to ask the people that could answer your questions face to face. A disturbing trend, from a person I always thought fearless.

They talked in detail about what Lakewood Hospital profits are used for and where they go. They spoke in length about the structure of the lease arraignments with Lakewood Hospital and the city. How they used to pay $25 (one time charge) and how Fred DeGrandis and mayor Cain upped that to $1 million a year. They spoke of the amount of taxes Lakewood receives from employees, and even some on the future of Lakewood Hospital. Yes the Clinic spoke openly of the future of Lakewood Hospital, and took questions.

Yes Bill they were there, LakewoodAlive was there, the Observer was there, but guess what, No Bill Call. I believe you think it is much more fun to throw rocks from afar, than face the people you accuse.

But let's go back to your "friend" what was his name "Harvey?" It is impossible to get into Lakewood Hospital Emergency Room without enteracting with someone. If it is only the person at the front desk who then asks you to fill out a form. At that point the person is looked at, life threatening, severe bleeding, broken limbs, all in order of importance. Now it is possible that every room was filled with heart attack patients, but i doubt it.

What I think possibly happened was:
1) You were sharing a beer with Harvey that is as bitter as you for the hospital, and he told you a story. Maybe he was mad for the same reason as you are, you and your wife being scheduled at the same time in different hospitals. never thinking to change one appointment, you still carry the bitterness today.

2) You signed on, saw that the Hospital had a positive fundraising event, and that pictures would be posted shortly, and you decided to throw a little Bill Call monkey poo into the party.

Bill, for the record I have gone to the emergency room and waited, and waited, and waited. I am sure we all have. But never without good reason.

So your friend's quick thought for his daughter was to take her from one clinic hospital, to another one 20 minutes away. instead of walking through the doors and asking WTF? Tell your friend to call the Cleveland Clinic and get the customer surveys for hospitals in the system. I think your friend and his daughters would be surprised that Lakewood scores constantly in the highest percentage for service and customer satisfaction.

Please.


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I have been to the Lakewood ER a few times. Couple for myself and a couple escorting other people. I would so that 90% of the time I was pretty happy with the service. Sure I have waited for a long time. (Except when my wife was pregnant. Man those pregnant women get all the perks I tell you. )
Lets face it though waiting is part of going to the ER. All and all I am happy that we have a top notch ER in Lakewood.

I spent a day a couple of Saturdays ago in the Lakewood ER/urgent care. I had really bad stomach pains which turned out to be an ulcer. I will tell you that I have no complaints. I waited an hour to get seen (I was checked in almost right away), but I wasn't near death so I totally get that I was not an urgent patient.

I found them very thorough and very professional. My sister has kids and has tried out them all and found the same as I did. Your wait and the quality was the best at Lakewood.

Being the mother of five young children I have been to the Lakewood ER a few times ( ). I was actually there a few weeks ago when my 3rd grader fell off the monkey bars at school and had a horrible break. We were there for about 2 hours which I don't think is bad because the place was packed, he needed x-rays, he needed to be splinted and they also had to call Rainbow Babies and Children to have him transferred for surgery. Our experience with the Lakewood ER was wonderful. We have been there for 3 other broken arms, one child needed staples in his head, two children needing stitches, one sprained ankles, a few sore throats on weekends, and I was there back in April. All of our experiences there have been wonderful. On a few occasions we have had to wait because of a large influx of people, but I have always felt like we have received excellent care. Several years back when the kids had different insurance we had to go to St. John's Westshore. Our daughter had broken her elbow and was in extreme pain. We waited 3 hours to see the triage nurse, in the meantime my 3 year old daughter howled on and off between falling asleep. When the triage nurse finally saw her they rushed her right back to the doctor and then had her transferred to another hospital. But we waited 3 hours to see triage, that was insane. I vowed never to go back to there. I have never had to wait more than 30 minutes to see the triage nurse at Lakewood ER. When I was brought in to the hospital in April they sent me back immediately. When my children have been bleeding they have gone back almost immediately. Lakewood seems to do a good job with children, they seem to take care of them very quickly and they are very good with the kids too. I wouldn't go anywhere besides Lakewood ER.

I forgot one thing. When my 4 year old autistic son split his head open on the bathroom floor (ceramic tiles) we took him to the ER. He needed 15 staples we were back home within an hour. Most of the time when I have been at Lakewood ER we have been in and out of there in about 90 minutes, sometimes more or less depending on the severity of the issue. And never have we had "bad" service.

20 minutes away

Is my grandma driving?

It seems they do a good job unless you are Bill Call or a friend of Bill Call.
Hmmmm.............

I went to the ER with a baaaaaaaad stomach virus after throwing up for a good 5 hours straight in the middle of the night. They treated me pretty good for the most part. Their staff wasn't really patient with my parents or I, and once I got into the hospital for a two day stay I had a horrible nurse.

But the ER part wasn't bad. We came in at oh...3-4 in the morning? We waited about 20 minutes and they got me in and on fluids quick. Plus, I think I ate all of their popsicles because it's the only thing I could keep down. I can't turn down popsicles!

Well Bill, I guess Ed is right. I am "friends" with you and I have only ever had horrible experiences at the Lakewood Emergency Room.

It was with my kids twice and myself once. It was on the weekends and they were not busy but we waited for hours not sure if it was staffing or what. Once my son was screaming in pain and I stood at the window for 15 minutes before anyone would even take my name, the security guy wouldn't even look up at me. When it was me, my mom who has been a nurse for 35 years (20 in a hospital) was floored. Don't even get my husband started.

Regardless, like any place with customer service I just go somewhere else that wants my money. I don't think that is throwing stones, it is just going elsewhere. I feel sorry for the people who don't have a choice. I am very happy to hear that others have had good experiences.

We visited in August when my son fell off the monkey bars and broke BOTH his wrists---we probably waited 45 mins to see the triage nurse after we signed in, than spent another 2 hours waiting, getting x-rayed, getting the splints put on. The nurses were great, however the whole time we never saw an actual Dr.---just the PA. All and all the experience was just meh...but I always have extremely low expectations whenever I have to pay a visit to the ER. Hopefully we're done for a while

Colleen Wing wrote: Regardless, like any place with customer service I just go somewhere else that wants my money. I don't think that is throwing stones, it is just going elsewhere. I feel sorry for the people who don't have a choice. I am very happy to hear that others have had good experiences.

Colleen

If you had a bad experience I do hope you told them. They have a pretty active follow-up on problems, and they try to keep a tight rein on the problems. They really do believe that the clinic is the one who gets hurt. Not just Lakewood.

In the end, they are here to serve Lakewood and they should.

My problem with Bill post, and I really do like Bill, is he told me why he was upset with the hospital. To me a simple phone call could have done wonders. I also wish Bill had been at the LakewoodAlive meeting as all the people he wanted to talk with were there and they were answering questions, especially on financial end of the deal.


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I just got a bill from the hospital (collection agency) for over $2000.00 with no explanation what it is for!!! I need to check into it. I have no idea what it could be or why my insurance would not have covered it.

Overall our care there has been good except I personally think the waiting room and the ER are filthy! I also wish everyone entering the hospital had to wash his/her hands upon entering. I always leave there wanting to take a hot shower when I get home. My last trip there was 2 months ago, smashed my finger in my car door. I broke my finger and required stitches. The physicians assistant and the nurse were awesome, the doctor however had a lot to be desired. He had dirt under his nails, dirty hair, he did not wear gloves when he checked the stitches and splinted my finger and he never cleaned off the blood before he wrapped it...yuck! I was a little frustrated with the experience. At least I did not wait too long, about one hour.

jennifer scott wrote:I just got a bill from the hospital (collection agency) for over $2000.00 with no explanation what it is for!!! I need to check into it. I have no idea what it could be or why my insurance would not have covered it.

$200 for tylenol
$150 for towels
$75 for popsicles
$175 for sharing the same oxygen as LH employees.

You know, the stuff that will cost you $2000 normally!



If my concussion doesn't get any better, I think I'll be in the ER tonight. I'll make sure to follow up on my experience if I do decide to go in.