Saint Joseph Medical Center - Joliet Emergency Room — Attraction in Joliet

I was taken to St. Joseph via ambulance directly from my primary doctor's office. Part of my condition at the time was that I was unable to stand and maintain my balance, which prompted my doctor to call EMS.

Upon my arrival to St Joseph, I was transferred from the ambulance cart/gurney to a wheelchair. As a health care worker myself, I must mention I am certain I was clearly a patient that should have been placed under "fall precaution". Once in the wheelchair, I was taken into a small room for an EKG. After that room, I was transported to another room for blood draws, IV fluids, and portable X-ray. Still in the wheelchair, I asked if there was any way I could lay down due to my condition (I had difficulty sitting as well as standing) but was denied. I understand that hospital ERs may not have beds readily available, so I tolerated the circumstance.

This second room I was taken to had a reclining chair, so I got up from the wheelchair I was in and stumbled onto the recliner. Once I was in the recliner, the wheelchair was taken away by a nurse. Close to an hour after, a nurse walked in to the room and stated I would now be taken to the ER waiting room. I informed that nurse that I had difficulty standing and walking without losing my balance, she replied that I should be feeling better soon due to the IV fluids and instructed me to stand and walk over to the waiting room. I had an IV pole so I held on to the pole for balance as I struggled to walk to the waiting area. The nurse left me at the entryway to the ER, expecting me to walk over to a chair in the waiting room without assistance. This was quite a difficult task for me to act on at the time. While I waited in the ER waiting area, my IV fluid bag became empty and my blood filled the IV line.

An hour after, I was called upon by a staff member to go back into the ER room. When my name was called, I informed the individual of my condition and reiterated my difficulty standing. I also showed her my blood filled IV line. She replied that the room I was going to was not very far and I would be "ok". I again struggled to get on my feet and walk back to the same room I was previously in for blood draws, IV fluids, and X-ray. Before I could sit again, the same nurse stated, "oh wait, we have to do an eye exam". She instructed me to walk to another hallway to perform an eye exam with a Snellen eye chart. It was extremely difficult to stand and perform this eye exam where a patient reads out the rows of letters. I was then informed that I may be nearsighted due to aging but NO information regarding my difficulty standing was given. After the exam, I was guided to the room I was previously in. Once I sat down, again in the previously mentioned recliner chair, the nurse addressed my IV line by singlehandedly grabbing the entire fixture (IV needle, taped dressing, etc.) and pulled it all off in one motion. This action immediately made a bloody mess before she handed me gauze instructing me to apply pressure with it. She then left the room. Once my bleeding stopped, I looked around the room for a sink to wash my bloodied hand but this room had no sink, no method of sanitation.

Moments after, the medical practitioner who's care I was under walked in and told me to follow up with an eye doctor but offered no information regarding my more obvious symptoms, only advising to follow up with my primary doctor.

This experience has left me feeling St. Joseph's staff and/or workflow has a level of incompetence that needs immediate review. From the changing of rooms, to the treatment undermining my condition, it's just not a healthcare facility I can trust with my health. I would rather drive myself elsewhere if/when I may be in need of...

I don’t think that after my grandma asking for water, and me updating her allergen information, and repeatedly telling multiple staff and er nurses that my grandmother was allergic to multiple medications, type two diabetic, dehydrated, and was turned down for chemo due to her lab results.

They were dismissive, negligent, and my grandmother now has no recollection whatsoever of her entire week spent in the hospital and suffered from severe hallucinations and their poor care, her legs have become so swollen that she can hardly walk and the staff expected her to be able to walk even though she’s been diagnosed with multiple issues that limit her mobility, and she was hallucinating from the medication that she is allergic to that they disregarded and ignored multiple repeated times we have notified and have been on her charts since 2015 that she was allergic to.

I don’t think I will ever go back to this hospital again for anything important, the staff lacks attention and regard, and patience.

My grandmother remembers very little, and she states that she received very poor care from the nurses and staff, felt as though she couldn’t be heard, and that they couldn’t bother to care about her own health or needs, despite explaining multiple times to the nurses what she was needing, whether it be to not receive medication she’s allergic to, to close the door as men walked past her open door as they were cleaning or checking her clearly privacy requiring areas, that she could not physically walk, and felt threatened by the nurses poor care and impatience due to their lack of acknowledgment of her own health needs, and the simple words we both were saying.

I am extremely disappointed in what happened during her time in this hospital, and thankful she was able to get the surgery she needed without issue outside of the nurses poor care before and afterwards.

I thank Dr. R.K. Natesh, her surgeon, for being the only intelligent and competent conversation I had and for being the only positive thing that came from my grandmother’s experiences at...

Took my mom to the ER because she was having trouble breathing. She is handicap (disabled). The 1st Dr. Thomas was great with her, listened to our concerns, and ran a bunch of tests. He came back and gave us an update of what was going on. Nurse, Melanie (at 1st her and I got on to a rockie start), stated Dr. Thomas was going to admit her because of his concerns, great no problem. Then this other Dr. Kim, who does, I will repeat, only does follow up on CT scans that Dr. Thomas asked him to do. Dr. Kim comes in and says everything is okay with Mom's heart. there is no need to admit her, and she can be discharged. WHAT... First of all, it wasn't my mom's heart we were there for. It was for her lungs. If Dr. Kim would have taken time to read her chart before undermining Dr. Thomas's decision, Dr. Kim would have known my mother was obtaining fluid on one of her lungs, pneumonia, due to a power port she has had in her for too long. Oh, she also had a UTI, which 23 white cells were seen in her urine and rust color. She has been in the hospital for 5 days, had surgery to remove the port, antibiotics, and blood pressure monitored. After Dr. Kim and I had serious words in the room. Melanie, the nurse, apologized for his outcome, in which she should not have to apologize for a doctor undermining another without reading the patient chart first. This is why health issues get overlooked, not properly attended to, how patients end up back at the hospital, sicker or dead because of doctors like him who don't read, communicate with other Dr(s). People come into the ER because they are unhealthy. Not everyone likes going to the hospital, but when they do they should be properly taken care of to the best of the profession and OATH these doctors take to give the best care possible to the patient and to listen. I understand ER is sometimes a handful with sick people, I have worked in them. Listen, communicate, wellness, and quality of life should be...