San Francisco VA Medical Center — Attraction in San Francisco

This is hands-down the Worst VA in California. This place does NOT provide optimum services for veterans at all. Dont expects great bedside manners, hospitality, dedication, or anything associated with high-quality service.

Upon entry, you'll have to wait in a Covid Screening Line, where you shall encounter some extremely ghetto, uncouth, poorly-dressed, possibly gang-affiliated, incompetent security guards.

Their jobs are quite simple: greet us, write down our information, ask us screening questions, give us masks (if needed), direct us to the hand sanitizer, and send us on our way. They'll more than likely get the latter three correct, and the former wrong.

There's one security guard that had the audacity to yell at me on my first visit at this campus, because I didn't initially understand the procedure. No one cared! Theres also a husky security guard with short and stuby dreadlocks there, that refuses to write legibly or spell me name correctly (despite me showing him my ID).

It's not that these security guards aren't doing their best, because they unfortunately are. It's that this particular VA isn't buying the best third-party security company that they can afford. They're paying for the bare-minimum, which results in bare-minimum performances.

It's all downhill from there. Many of the doctors are just as tacky, and just as incompetent as the security guards. They also don't behave like traditional healers. They more than likely see us as a task to cross off of their lists, and NOT a patient that needs healing.

My primary care Nurse Practitioners is a prime example of this. He was so lazy, green, and not invested in my health that he tried giving my acupuncture for my shoulder; when in reality, I needed a labrum surgery for a tear in my labrum. Had I NOT stayed on his case, I would've never received a consultation for the Orthopedic. I'll be getting him to release me to another PCP soon.

Many of the veterans are drug addicts, homeless, elderly, or veterans that were recently approved for health benefits; so they more than likely don't know what good service is.

I strongly loathe Los Angeles County and nearly every city that it encompasses. However, one of the many things that County got right was the VA facilities and its treatment of the Veterans.

Overall, this place is dirty, ghetto, reckless, and it lacks hospitality. You'll sooner feel like a prisoner than you will a patient. Be aware of this! ALL VETERANS DESERVE THE BEST...

Five stars for the clinical help you get, (if you can get it). Currently the peer support program has no one working. The patient care advocate department is facing layoffs per my conversation with them. If something goes wrong with the phone system… good luck getting help. The patient care advocate list a way to reach them by the secure message system… unfortunately this is impossible unless a tech within va adds them to your list of recipients. They are aware of the problem and say they can’t change the bad information listed on their website.

**Update

This Hospital has a broken Logistics and Patient care advocate department. Getting through to the VA and actually getting through to someone on the phone is impossible. When a problem is identified (like non working extensions for departments) instead of fixing the problem they are simply passed along without a care from the advocacy team. I feel like if you are that tired out and unwilling to help Vets, it would be better to just sit at the desk and never pick up the phone. The care from the actual clinical side has been amazing! If you can wade through the shattered war zone of the logistics side of the VA,. I absolutely understand why Vets give up on trying to seek any help from the VA. I know people here care.... you just can't get ahold of them... and maybe all of the advocates and the peer support people have been laid off?

The administration side seems to be intended to make access to healthcare as difficult and as frustrating as possible.

I can say from personal experience that veterans are likely to stop trying to get care and push off their own care because the administration for VA healthcare is so frustrating. There is never a responsible person available when something goes wrong.

There is seemingly no way to fix the VA system, despite throwing millions and millions of dollars at the system. The most basic first steps of helping veterans are simply botched. Amazingly, the actual clinicians are great! Most administrative staff seem to actively engage in making access difficult or impossible.

I would like to give a special shout out to two folks pivotal in the stonewalling of care. Monica Santisteven-Killam and Mimi Man-yi Sui. They are the MVP’s of making Veterans look somewhere else for care.

The care team and Advocates office actively...

I wasn’t impressed one bit. The drive down from Santa Rosa was nice and long. Loved the scenery though. Well, I got to the Hospital and was already overwhelmed with all the cars and congested roadways with parked cars and movement of people walking all over the property of the hospital. I was lost had no idea where bldg. 200 was where my ct scan was. I called the hospital for assistance and spoke with the operator who flat out told me she couldn’t help me before I could finish my question on getting help. Well, I drove to the parking garage and asked the valet who kindly told me if I parked here the building and ct area is across the way. As I walked in the hospital I was greeted by two Enormous security guards who were friendly as can be. The lady was helpful when checking me in. I went to where CT scan was . There was a lady behind a glass window. Who appeared two busy to help me. I thought I was in the Philadelphia VA. She finally checked me in and then walked away. Came around the corner and said come with me. I go where a tow of chairs were in the hallway. Say there for 15 minutes and noticed a man in a wheelchair looking for help. Stopped at the Coordinators office where the door was half open and he knocked and no one answered. Yes there was a individual in there man/lady couldn’t tell. He slowly wheeled himself in and the individual walked out to explain. “Read the Sign First before you enter” knock” I kindly told the Individual he did and waited and knocked again. Rudely I was told to mind my own business. I stood up and said no one talks to me like that and treats patients rude. Well, I sat back down. The ct tech came and got me. Wasn’t very sociable. Walked in the ct scan. It looked like someone was laying where I was told to lay. The sheet and pillow wasn’t changed. I asked if the radiation would effect me in anyway since I have titanium brackets in my face. The tech didn’t answer my question. Instead, replied if I feel unsafe I could go. I thought wasn’t rude. I was scared. I got the scan done. Not a very good experience. I hope it...