Atrium Health Levine Children's Hospital — Local services in Charlotte

I hate parking at atrium. The parking lot is very narrow and sometimes when you request to park in the oversized Handicap section they won't let you even though you have an oversized car with a handicap placard. It's hit and miss with the people at the parking deck gate if they will let you in.. several times I had to park at the very top just to get a parking spot with enough space to get my daughter out. If planning to park your own car, plan enough time to park your car.

I take my daughter here for her procedures and emergencies. I do like presby but my daughter is so complicated that Levines is place to take her.

They currently only all both parents to come in with their kid. The waiting area for procedures is on the 5th floor. It has a kids waiting area with an air hockey table in it. For any time of surgeries and procures you typically go to the 5th floor. We been here a few times since covid and there place isn't crowded at all.

Now if you are getting an MRI you will go to the 3rd floor to the children's Diagnostic Center. We were the only family in there. When we left the 3rd floor to go to the 5th, there was only one family in the the diagnostic center. The waiting area on the 5th floor only has two families there. My daughter was even given a stuff animal. She chose a lama this time.

I wish doctors would discuss results with patterns in a separate room instead of the waiting room. I think they do ask the parents if it's OK to discuss everything there though.

The waiting area, you first check in at the front desk and they will keep you updated on your child. If you get a number, you can follow your child on the screen to see what's going on. If you have lots of things with you, like we do the front desk will watch your items while you go to the cafeteria for food or just to go to the restroom.

To get to the cafeteria you go to the 3rd floor. You will have to scan your badge to get the double doors to open. I find that the badges can be finicky and if it doesn't work sometimes. Just push the button by the door for them to open the doors for you. More than likely you will have to do the same thing to head back.

The last time I checked the cafeteria, it seemed to be at an odd hr where everything was closed. I would suggest to ask the front desk to see what's open. There's a panera bread on the adult side of the hospital.

My daughter has been going here for the past 9 yrs and she's about to be we 10. I really enjoy the PICU and the nurses on the progressive care floor. My daughter always ends up on the progressive care floor. I find that you should speak up if you are every uncomfortable in taking your child home already. If you feel that the team of doctors are not listening, you can actually request another team to check your child out. There are some great respiratory therapist and there are some that aren't so great. Most nurses are great but there are some that are there for just the money. You can typically tell. It's been a few years since my daughter has been admitted, so things could be a little different since covid happen.

Overall, I would recommend Levines children's hospital

I find the emergency department if 50/50 chance to get someone good. I find that I get better help when I call my daughters specialist to go ahead and admit her. That way I don't have any trouble for the ED doctors trying to send me home. Again my daughters last emergency was a few years ago, so things could be different since covid happen and when...

DO NOT BRING YOUR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN HERE!

In 2019 we had a complex pregnancy with our daughter. We were referred to Levines by our high risk obstetrics office. Our initial interactions were phenomenal.

On December 16th, 2019 we rushed our five week old daughter to the ER due to a seizure. We were quickly called back, I assume due to the nature of our visit combined with her age. At this point we had arranged for care of our older child. I left to get him settled with relatives while they staff preformed a CT of our daughter's brain. On my way back to the hospital I received a hysterical call from my wife. It was determined that our little girl had a brain bleed. The staff had called their child protective team (I believe the term was CHIP team), who accused use of abuse. For context, I would like to reiterate that we had a high risk pregnancy with multiple appointment weekly, including OB, high risk OB and pediatric cardiology. She also was seen weekly by a pediatric orthopedics team for treatment of hip dysplasia. She had no visible injuries to her body that would indicate abuse. This team of providers informed us we were being admitted to the hospital and that we would have a camera placed in our room. They stated we were not allowed to be unsupervised with her. They also said that they would be notifying the department of social services. Several hours passed with us sitting in the ER, with no interaction with any staff. I searched for a nurse and asked for an update. She coldly told me that they couldn't find a crib and we would be there until they did. After waiting for an additional period of time, we were brought a bed suitable for our little girl and escorted to an overflow room. I don't know if it was an abnormally busy night or if they are typically full. There were children lining the hallways of the ER; reminding me of something you would expect to see in an impoverished country. At this point its the early hours of the morning, my wife needed a breast pump, as I didn't think to grab ours. Our nurse provided a pump, but told use they didn't have a fridge in that unit that she could store the milk and she wasn't going to walk to another unit to store the milk. At this point, we can feel the animosity directed toward us by multiple staff. Im certain it was due to the allegations of abuse.

December 17th- This morning was full of staff including drawn out interactions with social workers employed by the hospital. One of which was also a nurse. She was the first employee who showed empathy for us. Our daughter was still expecting seizures at this point. She taken for full body X-rays to search for broken bones, of course there was none. We asked that these test not be preformed, as we were concerned about a five week old infant having this type of unnecessary radiation exposure. We were told that these test are required per hospital policy, and there was nothing we could do. The neurosurgery team stopped by midmorning. Dr. Wait shared his opinion that this bleed was a result of trauma. We explained that's not possible and his response was "these things don't just happen". He insisted that she didn't need any further emulation from a surgery standpoint and the bleed would resolve on its own. Knowing this wasn't the case, we requested an MRI for more detailed imaging. This request was denied. We were still in an overflow unit at this point with straight back chairs pushed together to try to rest, as we had not slept in two days.

*See next review due to...

I brought my daughter to the hospital yesterday for her severe case of eczema and psoriasis diagnosis. First of all the doctors that came in to draw her blood were struggling terribly so they stuck her two times just to end up getting someone from OB/GYN to come do it again. Fast-forward, we then went to a waiting room to wait for a room after being told we will have to stay overnight. After about an hour inside of the cold small holding cell, we went up to the room that we would be staying in for the night. As soon as we wake up in the morning around 9:30 AM, some nurse came in and stated that we would be going home and leaving today and I told her my transportation arrangements and I also told her what time we would be leaving after that we didn’t see any other type of nurse for another three hours. We had one children nurse that came in, who had no idea that we were going to be leaving, offering to do activities with my daughter, as if we were not leaving in one hour. My ride was almost here around the time that I said they would be here so I then called the nurse and ask them to take out my daughter‘s IV because we are leaving at around 12:30 PM. The nurse said they would get someone. One hour later no one ever came and I could tell by the nurse who said that she was going to get someone that she didn’t really care and possibly didn’t even relay the information so me and my daughter proceeded to take the IV out ourselves and then when I called the nurse oh then magically, they were able to get someone to cover it up with tape and the nurse that cover it up, stated that she didn’t see any type of discharge papers and that we also had someone else that we had to see as well We were also supposed to be seeing a dermatologist virtually and the nurse that disappeared this morning also told me that we weren’t going to be seeing them today because they were all booked up and that she would give me a referral to dermatology. All of the other nurses that we seen had no clue when we were leaving and that I was told that we could leave even though I mentioned that multiple times to multiple nurses so my ride came on their lunch break and then had to leave so now we have to figure out different alternatives to get home.

Hours later a new nurse came in to order my daughter, some food, but it wasn’t enough for the both of us and she also didn’t offer me any as well so when I called to see if we could get some more, I was told that no we could not because my daughter does not have a guest order so here we are sitting here hungry nothing available but snacks we are tired of snacks. We have been eating snacks since last night. The overnight doctors were pretty great but ever since we woke up the daytime and morning nurses have been complete nonsense in providing inaccurate information and act like they do not communicate with each other to know what is going on with the patient. Even The girl that makes lunch in room service sounded rude as well and did not have any type of alternatives to offer us as for real food while we are sitting here hungry and were supposed to not be here and been left because that’s what we were told. If I have to stay overnight again, I will definitely be going to a different emergency room so that I’ll have a better chance of continuing to be taken care of for that morning and that day as well in hopes to receive accurate information and communication between all of the nurses during the day and...