Intermountain Health Saint Joseph Hospital — Local services in Denver

I had a gruesome no-contact spiral humerus fracture from simply throwing a dodgeball while out of town in Denver for a dodgeball tournament. The injury was particularly traumatic for me. It's not just a playground sport, but a really wonderful adult rec sports community that fosters many connections and social activities in my life. I was not just in a ton of pain and shock from this injury while being rushed in by ambulance, but also feeling a lot of mental anguish of what this meant for my personal life and independence/mobility.

The staff here treated me firstly with urgency and utmost care. I had a lot of questions. I was scared, anxious, worried, and wanted to understand everything that just happened and what I needed to do. Each person that saw me took the time to answer my questions as best as they could or make sure I got directed to the right person for the answer. I never felt like any of my questions were stupid.

Secondly, they took some of the edge off with humor and personability. My X-Ray and nature of injury (no-contact dodgeball throw) made me a little bit of a celebrity for my 10-hour stay. It was honestly nice to laugh a little about it all but still be taken seriously. One doctor particularly mentioned and assured me that this is not just about physical pain, but there is a lot of mental/psychological components to healing from an injury like this and it felt so validating to hear that because I was already very worried about this component. The balance of friendly banter with compassionate insight made me feel protected and respected.

The nurse staff found out I loved stuffed animals and had a stash meant for child patients and spoiled me with a cute elephant and teddy bear haha. It really made me feel safer.

The X-Ray tech was really patient with me. I was in excruciating pain as I have always been very immune to opioids and he personally helped me hold my fractured arm up literally taking the X-Ray with me. He also waited as nurses got approval to administer more pain meds. He's probably used to in-and-out X-ray patients and spent a good 45 minutes extra with me to help me get the proper care.

I wish I could remember names but the main doctor or nurse (these 2 guys who were with me the majority of my final hours) did a fantastic closed reduction (CR). The pain meds were not doing anything for me but somehow they took an X-Ray that made me a hospital celebrity and turned it into an post-CR X-Ray that literally looked like I had no fracture, and did so without causing me much discomfort.

They also were honestly very funny and silly the whole time. They entertained my friend's super meandering questions. The entire CR felt like a Curb Your Enthusiasm sketch. I have a good sense of humor about things so I feel like they adapted to me though, meaning I know they'd handle a patient who may have a more serious disposition accordingly so. They were funny but tactful!

They also spent a great amount of time trying to locate a larger-sized sling for me and made sure to answer every question I had about to handle the next steps given I did not live there.

I suppose my only complaint is I do wish they would have done ORIF surgery there and then but I understand that the post-CR X-Ray was a decent reason to opt for a natural heal. A thrower's fracture is super uncommon, but from what I've researched in academic journals on this injury, ORIF has a pretty statistically significant benefit of natural healing post CR to this injury. But again, that post-CR X-Ray was top notch so I get being conservative, especially on a Saturday.

I ended up having my ORIF surgery at a different hospital while still in Denver only 2 days later, and unfortunately had some extreme swelling and pain complications and came right back to Saint Joseph's ER to treat me instead of the place that did my surgery because the experience I had with them really just made me feel much, much safer there.

I had an excellent experience the second time around as well. Thank you for helping me feel well...

Went here to deliver my first kid. Spark notes version: The midwives and nurses during the delivery were amazing! Recovery was made miserable by the nurse named Amy. If Amy is assigned to you as your nurse, demand a new nurse. Do NOT put up with her crap because she is TERRIBLE!

Long version: The midwives and nurses during labor and delivery made 32 hours of labor bearable. The midwife who actually delivered m kid, Laren, was wonderful and I'm so glad she was the midwife to deliver my little girl. She did a great job of telling me when to push (because I had an epidural and couldn't feel anything) and an amazing job of stretching me between contractions so that I only tore a little bit instead of needing an episiotomy or tearing my perineum.

Things went downhill after delivery the next day. The nurse that was assigned to me for the day shift, Amy, on the first day at the hospital after my kid was born was incredibly inconsiderate. She came in around 6am talking at the top of her lungs while my baby and husband were asleep after a long night of being labor and delivery, and didn't bother to lower her voice when she saw that they were sleeping. Then my family came to visit later in the day--my parents, my grandparents, and my two siblings--and Amy came in with them all present and said, "I have bad news about your baby" without asking for the rest of the family to step out, or asking for a moment, or introducing herself or anything. She just walked in and said, "I have bad news about your baby." Of course everyone's minds go to the worst thought imaginable with that kind of intro. What was the bad news? My baby's blood sugar levels were 4 points below where they would like them to be. We all sighed in relief and told her that wasn't bad news, but she insisted it was the worst thing that could happen. Instead of offering us options as to what to do about the blood sugar, she said the only thing we could do was to use donor milk because I wasn't producing enough food for my baby at the time.

Things only got worse from there.

I had diarrhea starting the day before going into labor and going through my entire hospital stay, and hemorrhoids on top of that. I had no control over my bowels. Second day at the hospital, I ended up having an accident while in bed, and was out of the hospital pads they provide you with, so I rang the nurses' station to ask for another pad so that I could change myself. The nurse at the station forgot to take me off of speaker right away and I heard her say, "Amy, isn't that your patient?" and Amy's response of "Yeah, I'll get around to it." I waited 20 minutes sitting in my own filth for her to "get around to it." I realize the nurses all have a handful with all their patients, but to wait for 20 minutes when she knew about both my hemorrhoids and my diarrhea is unacceptable. I changed, spent 10 minutes in the bathroom crying because it was so painful, came out and stood around crying because it hurt too much to sit down. She came in and asked why I was so upset, then insisted that I never told her about my diarrhea and eventually ran out of excuses and had to admit that she was in the wrong.

She would also come in throughout the day and tell me that my sessions with the lactation specialist went "terribly" and that my baby would never survive if I couldn't make milk for her, and continued to harass me about how I wasn't doing enough for my baby. After putting up with her for a day and a half, I finally had enough and talked to the charge nurse to insist that a different nurse be assigned to me.

The rest of the stay after Amy was fired from being my nurse was considerably enjoyable, and I was able to start producing enough food for my baby once I was no longer stressed out because I was being harassed constantly about how I wasn't doing my part.

Moral of the story: If Amy is assigned to you after you deliver your kid, demand a different nurse. Do not put up with her...

I gave birth to my first child at St. Joseph’s Hospital in February 2017 and had a harrowing experience during labor and delivery and when being readmitted through the Emergency Department. This review will focus on those two aspects of the hospital. I had my second child at Rose Hospital and had a much better experience. Some elements of my experience are described below.

TL; DR: More than two years later, I am still in physical therapy due to a birth injury I received at this hospital. I was also sent home with postpartum preeclampsia and then had to be readmitted through the ED, but only after waiting for 7 hours with severe-range blood pressures.

Obstetric Violence -- An episiotomy was performed on me WITHOUT MY CONSENT with no efforts to reduce tearing. I suffered a 4th degree laceration as a result of this procedure and experience ongoing issues from this injury even several years later. My baby was born vigorous with all normal readings.

Chaotic Delivery Room -- no one was in charge in the delivery room. Nurses and doctors were all yelling at each other and yelling at me. Critical diagnostic tests (including checking my urine for protein) and vitals (including taking my weight) were not performed or recorded.

Poor Communication -- I experienced poor communication with nurses, residents and attendings who often provided conflicting information. No one reviewed my birth plan, which had included a desire not to have an episiotomy.

Lack of Adequate Supervision of Residents -- Critical procedures were attempted only by residents. When the resident rounded and I had questions, she provided inaccurate information.

Inability to Get Supplemental Food for Baby -- St. Joe’s is a “baby friendly” hospital, but this protocol has been implemented in a way that disempowers families. My child was born small for gestational age and very hungry. I had a traumatic delivery and so my milk supply was both reduced and delayed. We continually asked to get supplemental food and were denied. He lost weight rapidly. It was not until he had lost 12% of his body weight that it was treated as an emergency and the nurses threatened to take him to the NICU.

Very Poor Service and Hygiene in the Emergency Department -- I returned to the hospital with severe postpartum preeclampsia 4 days postpartum. I waited 7 hours to be treated and even then, the attending in the emergency room did not call OB until I asked him to do so. There were also poor hygiene practices in the emergency room. A man was vomiting profusely, and the staff took his vitals -- including blood pressure and pulse ox (on his finger) and then took mine, without cleaning the equipment.

Poor Documentation -- The fact that I had a hypertensive event during delivery was not clearly marked on my records. Therefore, when I returned to the ED with severe range blood pressures 4 days postpartum, they did not immediately see that I had been hypertensive during delivery.

Inability to Get Food for Moms 24 Hours -- Food is not available for patients at all hours. When I was readmitted in the middle of the night after waiting in the ED for 7 hours, I was hungry, but there was no ability to get food to the room.

Not Offered Supplies or Care to Room with Infant when Readmitted 4 days Postpartum -- When I was readmitted for severe pre-eclampsia 4 days postpartum, I was not offered a bassinet or diapers or wipes for my 4-day old infant. After several requests and waiting for hours, we were provided with a bassinet so we could sleep. However, I was unable to get a boppy to support the baby while breastfeeding until a new nurse started during the day shift. Further, our infant had been losing weight rapidly and was therefore scheduled for daily checks at home. However, once we were back in the hospital, no one would check the infant. My partner had to find the baby scale in the room, google the user manual, and track the baby’s...