COH Building — Local services in Duarte

If you want to see an actual oncologist good luck. My first one left CTCA and then City of Hope took over. My new oncologist is leaving (although he was so busy he only saw me a few times). There are some very nice staff there unfortunately those are not the people that can help you with your health. CTCA made me feel like they cared and I was in good hands. Dr. Galamaga, his PA’S and staff make me feel like I am part of a herd of cattle and I am not immediately dying so I am easily overlooked and my concerns are not important. At least my last Oncologist told me that she was leaving I had to hear it from other patients at the hotel we stay at Dr Galamaga is leaving. I assume the intentions of City of Hope are to let NP’s and PA’S care for me. I wouldn’t know what their intentions are since they do not communicate and good luck getting through to someone on your care team or scheduling because they’re too busy too! It’s really awful to think I will have to start this whole process over at another hospital. City of Hope has so many patients that they don’t mind you leaving to start over somewhere else. I was told “we’re sorry you feel this way” by a very nice patient advocate. She was very nice I am not being sarcastic which makes it worse because some people there are still kind and caring but they’re not the ones who care for you medically. I hope that I can find a place where this is not the standard of care. A place where I don’t have to be on my deathbed to see the actual Oncologist. PA’S are not trained the same amount as the actual doctor and if I had some other disease besides cancer I may not mind seeing a PA but I do have cancer and I would like to be seen by an Oncologist and one who isn’t dismissive of...

Remodeling the cafeteria and building a six-story parking structure is not as important as the eight story treatment Center that will be completed in two years which is a treatment Center that is desperately needed for infusion treatments . And the Six Story parking structure was not needed , The treatment center is the one that's critically needed i wonder what is more important parking cars or the care and treatment of the patients with cancer and various other diseases. The schedule for infusions is always booked up you have to make reservations far in advance in order to get your treatments as required for your illness. And wait a very long time the day of your treatment. And to top it off after building the six-story parking structure they blocked off access to the structure from the rest of the campus. They put barricades up and created a road down the entrance so no one can cross from the campus into the parking structure so no one hardly ever parks in the parking structure if you drive through the parking structure there are very few cars parked there I understand some doctors are parking in there. It's not serving the patience. Talk about mismanaging patient care for...

The level of care my mom received here varied wildly. Some nurses are competent, some are not. If you need your catheter to be emptied you better hope you have a good nurse who will answer your call in a timely manner. Or that if you require extra care they will take the time to make sure you aren't sitting in filth for a prolonged period of time. Or that they even check up on you at all.

The front desk was generally very good, however, this too varied. One woman, Latisha (an older woman), was condescending in her manner of speaking and appeared to be deliberately typing slowly because she didn't like how I came up to her desk (which was empty). Additionally, the security guard at the lobby came up close to me and asked if I was with the group of girls behind me even based on the assumption of a shared race. This was incredibly inappropriate.

I understand that the hospital staff are busy and human as well, but that does not excuse the callous behavior so many workers display. Patients and families are going through some of the most challenging periods of time here, but some of the staff don't seem to care or...