Strong Memorial Hospital — Attraction in City of Rochester

First call answered to the ER was by someone named SHEILA. She gave me her name after I asked for it and to speak to her supervisor. As I was explaining to her my mom just got brought into the ER after collapsing while staying with my aunt as I am her proxy and POA and she has dementia and I needed to know and assistance going about getting my Aunt approved to enter the ER to be with my mom past covid restrictions as because she has dementia she needs someone to advocate for her.

She said it was policy and there was essentially nothing she could do about it and my mom had only been there for 22minutes and I could call back in 2 hours without resolving my issue and it was up to the nurse and not her but was not helping me do so and was going to basically hang up. I asked if I needed to drive there (3 hours away) and physically come there to ensure someone is there with my mom like, why can't you resolve the issue so my aunt can come in and NO don't tell me "sorry I can't help you" I Need to be assisted now, or given information on how to do this, and if not give me to someone else.

she responded that "once I show up to the door I can do whatever I want to do."

I explained that YES SHEILA, I already am aware that I can do whatever I want to do - you don't need to tell me I can do whatever I want to do I am already fully aware I can. What I need to know is how to have my aunt given authorization to come be in the ER with my mom who has dementia who needs an advocate and I don't like her answer or the way she was talking to me. She essentially told me too bad, I then asked for her name and to speak with her supervisor which she didn't like either, SHE THEN HUNG UP ON ME.

When I called back a minute later whoever answered this time told me she is not aware of anyone in the ER with the name SHEILA, but she could help me. She assisted me within minutes having the charge nurse authorize someone able to come be with my mom in the ER so I could call my aunt and let her know.

I don't know who SHEILA is who works in the Emergency Department at your hospital, but her supervisor should inform her that one day she is going to be rude to someone on the phone like me who's mom is in physical and psychological decline while I have 3 babies at home while I'm trying to care for her and get her medical care through her dementia and overcoming that can be difficult especially when we don't know what's wrong with her and she keeps collapsing and ending up in the ER and someone who's going through that type of stressful situation might SNAP and although you're not a customer service agent you should still care about the families of injured people in your ER during this pandemic. I live in schenectady and we get a bad wrap here for our medical availability and especially our hospital and the whole reason my mom came to Rochester JUST this past weekend was to hopefully find or get BETTER Healthcare when it was needed and I am already considering bringing her back to Schenectady after dealing with that ER staff and when my aunt arrived the receptionists gave her a super hard time too and wouldn't allow her in and told her to leave as well I had to call back and speak to this woman who had spoke to the charge nurse and had it approved and she had to walk out and get my aunt. All the receptionists had to do was call the ER and ask! If they didn't know someone was needed to be allowed in for my mother.

Literally because your staff and receptionists are not properly informed or trained in communicating with other departments my mom went without an advocate for hours in the ER which I do not appreciate.

When you ask her when her tongue hurts she will say No. Because SHE HAS DEMENTIA. And then without fail everytime doctors do not take it upon themselves to advocate for their patient who just came into the ER after having a seizure or fall covered in blood which is obvious came from her mouth and her tongue is so swollen she is mumbling to talk and you don't think to give her ya know 600 of motrin? Children and the disabled NEED...

I was a happy patient of Strong for 40 years but since COVID it's like Bizarro World: It's not just the filthy facility, wait times or being short staffed. It's the abusive, inhumane treatment from rude, woefully inept & arrogant doctors & nurses that this once great hospital/university is teaching/ employing. They will let you die while laughing about it & I wish I were exaggerating. I have a rare genetic condition that requires frequent hospitalizations but now I'm mocked for these issues by so called professionals. I was literally dying from an autonomic crisis that they mocked & misdiagnosed as anxiety 2xs & discharged me, my HR was 16 & BP 65/50 by the time I got to RGH where I was prepped for defib immediately. I spent 5 days on their cardiac unit & they didn't help either but that's a whole different issue. We should not have to educate Drs & bring medical literature & data. They make things up as they go, lack basic medical knowledge, go directly against people's doctors/laugh at the reason we were sent there & claim they know better than other Drs. They're too busy socializing with their colleagues, making snide remarks, ignoring, yelling at and mocking patients while overlooking (or not understanding) basic, clear and concerning lab results, symptoms and signs of true medical emergencies. I've seen and had them withhold critical meds & tests for hours & hours or altogether for no reason but it's a way to get people to leave. It's a free for all of misconduct! I had a seizure and lost consciousness for God knows how many hours in the treatment bay after telling them that I was going to have one & they argued with me & told me to stop saying it. As I faded out I saw multiple nurses & physicians watch (& pretend not to see) & as far as I know no one even checked on me, no vitals done when I came to. They treat people like they're crazy for seeking medical treatment from medical professionals! They're all too used to missing diagnoses, the errors of colleagues (that they all cover up) plus assuming if the previous Dr ignored the situation it's acceptable for them to do so also. And idk why they're responding to reviews telling people to contact patient relations- don't bother because they haven't responded to anyone in years. I don't even know if anyone works there. There's literally NO accountability, they can do (or NOT do) whatever they want to and even if you just ask questions about test results, they bully you and threaten to call security if you don't leave fast enough! There's no one to call and speak to about anything which is why you see these horrible reviews. In the ED the attending doctor is usually not even 35 yrs old, they think they know everything there is to know (and the same goes for nurses who are even younger and less experienced) Without experienced doctors to teach them how to practice medicine and that everything isn't like the textbook says, they ARE kids playing doctor. Since COVID they've been taught not to admit people even when you clearly need it. There's a stark discrepancy in how addicts, people with MHD & other marginalized groups are treated, which is seen in the reviews & most praise seems to be from employees! The state is giving more money for more room for patient neglect, abuse and other misconduct by the limited and inexperienced staff? What TF? And it's not like this elsewhere in the US, only upstate NY (NYC draws top Drs from everywhere). Because all the bright & experienced Drs that left the state or retired (the fallout from the illegal forcing of COVID vaxxes) now you've got to pray for a miracle to be diagnosed correctly AND admitted AND live through the visit! I've had over 10 Drs that work in practices tell me that there's something very wrong with the hospitals, that no matter what is wrong they'll just pick something out of your chart to blame & discharge you. The hospitals are aware of what's going on with 1ks of ignored complaints & NYS medical board is aware too & just like they got away with murdering 5 million NYers in COVID, they're getting...

My husband had a brain stent procedure performed at Strong Hospital a week ago, but had to be airlifted back to Strong because of life threatening complications.

I was very concerned about how we were going to monitor the plàvix level once we went home. His follow up appt.was a week away and we lived 2 hours away. They also had a hard time getting his plavix level in the theraputic range at discharge. When they finally got it there, they released him about an hour later.

After he was airlifted back to Strong Dr. Bhalla and Cindi said they thought the bleed was because his body over responded to the theraputic dose of plavix.

Cindi later added that they usually go down to the liquid form that's lower to easier to monitor. Her excuse as to why they didn't was Covid. This made no sense as we had already been up there a couple times and I (wife) was even allowed to go in to the appt..

Cindi also expressed during our second trip back that Dr. Bhalla is very cautious and always puts his patient on a seizure med right after the procedure because of the risk of seizures. Well, my husband wasn't put on seizure meds untill he was airlifted back there.

4 days later we called Strong to talk to his doctor about: his low grade temp, increasing headache and his hand that looked infected from a trainee nurse that didn't follow prodcol for putting in an iv for someone on heparin (a nurse later shared this with meand that she had to write the girl up for it). TO OUR DISBELIEF WE WERE TOLD NOONE WAS ON CALL.

We decided to go to Cortland Guthrie Hospital. They immediately did a ct scan which showed he had a brain bleed on the right side where the stent had been placed. The doctor explained this was serious so they needed to airlift him. She also explained the age of the bleed was about 4 days old which would have been the day of the procedure.

He was air lifted from Cortland back to Strong at 6:30 against our wishes. At this time we both asked if he could go to Crouse in Syracuse. We were told he needed to go back there the surgery was performed.

We were told 3 different reasons by 3 different people as to what caused the brain bleed. Dr. Bhalla says it was because the plavix level was to low.

Upon figuring out how to link the ct scan from Cortland hospital I was able to read it. It clearly states the hemorrage was predominately on the right side where the stent was placed. So I'm pretty confident it was either the anyerusm leaked alittle or puncture or knick to the artery because of his twisty arteries I was told about.

When I went to Strong on Tuesday to visit, he literally looked like he was dying. He had to stop and catch his breathe between every few words, he looked legthic and out of it.. The iv he was using for nutrition and energy was left unplugged for 4 hours well I was there. The food he was being given wasn't something you would give to someone who was vomitting 3-4 times a day. His tray sat there untouched untill 3:00. I came and had the menu changed to soft and bland stuff a vomitting person might try to eat. I got him to eat little bites and demanded they let up on the Fentonyl, moraphine and oxicoton the nurse shared he was getting.. Less than 24 hours later he was up showering and acting coherent again. Still throwing up but looking and acting so much better.

I stayed a couple days and then went back home, since he appeared to be on the mend only to get a text the next morning that they had to stop the plavix because it dipped again. If he makes it out of this hospital alive we are going to Crouse for a 2nd opinion. My husband is finally home. He still isn't back to himself but he is slowly improving. We are still trying to get records transferred to Crouse but I don't expect to they to do it to quickly. Looking back I wish we got a second opinion before we went though with this procedure. Can't get the memory out of my mind of the trainee nurse laughing because she was able to bubbles before injecting my husband's injection site or the many other outragous things that...