Mayo Clinic — Local services in Jacksonville

My family member had surgery and was in Mayo for 17 days. During those 17 days I learned a lot about this hospital.

Valet Parking is $8 and is closed on the weekends. The parking lots become full after 9 am but tend to fair out after 4 pm. There are plenty of parking spaces on the weekends. Also, because the facility is crowded during the week, when you are ready to leave from valet parking, be prepared to wait for a while. It gets crowded at the entrance.

If you are having surgery or visiting someone who is having surgery, you will, more than likely, go to the 4th floor. Once you enter the building, the elevators will be on your left in front of the security desk. Once you arrive on the 4th floor, you will then tell the person at the desk either in front of the elevators, or over to the right, that you are here for surgery.

For those visiting during surgery, be prepared to stay for several hours. There is free WiFi, comfortable chairs, a vending area, and a television in certain areas equipped with free movies for you to watch. It's a comfortable waiting area, simply be prepared to stay.

Downstairs is the Zest Cafe and M Brothers restaurant. Next to M Brothers is the gift shop. Starbucks is further down in the opposite direction and some of the grab-n-go stations are on your way to Starbucks.

Before your loved one goes to surgery, they are given a medical number on a card. On that card is also a detailed color coded explanation of the process. It tells you when they are being prepped for surgery, in surgery, in recovery; etc. You simply look at the large screen in the waiting room, find the record number and see what's going on with your loved one. This eliminates a person from asking someone at the desk.

Once the surgery is nearing a close a nurse or the attending physician will call for the family to talk about the surgery. You might go in a quiet room to ask any questions or voice your concerns.

Once your loved one is in recovery, the person at the desk will provide you with a room number. Once the room is ready you can go up to wait for or see your loved one.

When your loved one stays in the hospital, they will be assigned a nurse and a tech. The tech is there to assist you if you need help. For instance, a glass of water, change your gowns, take you to the restroom, order your meals and they also take your vitals. Your RN will administer your medicine and anything else that you might need.

Be prepared to have a different nurse and tech each day.

While in the hospital, the patient will be given a menu. They give you a lot of food, enough for two people. You can order the main course with two sides, dessert, and a drink. If you don't want a large portion, you can ask for their snack menu or Winter menu. These portions are smaller and allow you to snack before lunch or dinner.

Meals can be ordered in advance. You can order three meals for the day and breakfast the next morning in one call, if you choose.

The server will bring you your meals at the time that you request them. They are generally really nice and will ask if you need assistance with the tray before leaving.

I have found that the majority of the staff is very nice and knowledgeable. The facility is very clean, and well lit. There aren't a lot of guests walking the halls or talking loud. They make it a point to keep all patients doors closed at all times, which is good.

RESTAURANTS

I have eaten at the Zest Cafe almost every day. They sell grab-n-go sandwiches, all types of salad, fruits, water, tea, soda, sweets and hot food as well. I especially loved the Lamb Shawarma and cured salmon. The staff here is extremely nice and the manager goes out of her way to make your visit memorable. You can dine in or dine out.

If your loved ones have been at Mayo for awhile, on a regular diet, and want to try a different food, this is the place.

Right across from Zest is a large sitting area with a piano that some come and play during certain hours. Outside is also a sitting and eating area as well.

I was very...

I have really mixed feelings about Mayo. The campus is nice. If you have a bunch of different types of appointments it's all right there and they plan it back to back for you, extremely convenient. The nurses and general staff are super friendly and fantastic.

They are not good at communication at times. I had no clue until like 48 hours before surgery that I would actually be staying overnight for 23 hours at the hospital. Some hospitals release you immediately after the procedure. This is a good selling point and it was reassuring to stay at the hospital that long, but it was stressful not knowing this until the last moment.

CONS: 1-I had to stay over night and would get to talking with many nurses about buying a house or other financial things and they all mentioned how little Mayo Clinic pays and how they wish they made more. This campus is over the top in looks and it sucks that they don't prioritize the PEOPLE who work for them.

At least in the Cosmetic department, making an appointment for a procedure is a PAIN. You have to first make an appointment to make an appointment. I didn't misspeak. You make an appointment for them to call you back in a couple of months and then at THAT appt they make the surgery appt for a couple of months later. WASTE of time and money on their part.

I used the Comestic surgery department to remove some skin I had from weight loss. I met with Dr. Elegbede and he seemed nice enough although he didn't seem to understand some of my billing questions. We met, I decided to do the surgery and then they contacted me several months later to SET UP the surgery date for a couple of months later, so maybe 9 months after the original appt.

At the PreOp appt less than a week before surgery, I expected the doctor to be at the meetings and he was not. I didn't see him again until the day of surgery when he was marking me up. You would think he'd be at preop a couple of days before to review your case with you real quick.

The preop was less than a week away from surgery but there were meds on the list you are supposed to stop taking 1-2 weeks before surgery. So it was weird they set up the appt like that, they had time, I had been waiting months for the surgery.

At all my followups the doctor wasn't there and I expressed each time that there was a huge pooch at the bottom where my skin wasn't properly pulled up. Finally at about 6 months post op I had them set me up with an appointment with the DR for him to look at it and me express my concerns. He tried to tell me he wouldn't have left skin hanging like that..... sir, I had been complaining since the surgery, and it's obviously still there. He asked me if I had lost weight (because that could cause it) and I explained that no I had actually gained 10lbs. At that point you can see in his head that he realized that HE DID in fact not pull the skin correctly. He said he could fix it in office and when I complained about me having to pay for his mess up and that I'd have to take off time to heal all over again he said he would talk to the hospital about it.

That was in Jan. I get a call around March for them to set up my surgery and do the surgery in April. With Mayo, they send you the bill ahead of time, which they should do if it's elective and in the past had made me pay in advance. This time I didn't get a bill in their portal and I was not billed on the day of.

Two weeks AFTER the surgery to correct the doctor's mistake I got a bill for $3,500. If I'm not mistaken it is illegal to not be upfront about costs and bill after the fact for something like this.

I contacted their care team who were great and I got a letter stating that the fees were correct but they would waive them. They shouldn't have tried to charge me in the first place for their mistake. I originally was going to leave them a much more positive review, but after the billing issue and telling me the charges were correct, they left a bad taste...

This second time around I notice lack of professionalism with some of the staff specially the nurses/medical assistants, some of the interns, schedulers and billing department., to be honest to many to be noticeable. Day shift nurses some are just rude and have no empathy, they make you feel like they are the patient and you are the one that have to have customers service with them instead of them with you as one lays in an ER bed on pain/sick and they expect you to speak to them with a big smile or they report you, schedulers are the same way, oh and by the way if they don't like you thay send you certified letters in the mail saying they can kick you out. The intern to be doctors some are very professional and some are very profiling and know it all, al they want is to up-sale you what they been told to do on the script and if you don't agree with them they get very sensitive and then you're a bad patient like if I didn't know about my own illness and what works and what doesn't work, like if it was my first time going through it. Also if someone doesn't like you or puts a note on your record it's like every person you come in contact with that opens your record see the note and treats you like they are ready to fight you. One major thing this time around with Mayo Clinic is how uncared for they make one feel when you are dealing with someone in an appointment or over the phone, the first thing that comes out of there mouth is the word Insurance, Insurance Insurance... If your insurance pays... over and over and over. By the way I have some of the best insurance that already paid them thousands and thousands of dollars and they still rub in your face every time they have how they will service ones health if the insurance pays. It's just disgusting how all they care about is money, money, money and NOT your health, as matter of fact if you tell them something else hurts they will immediately set you up with dozens of visits and test because they already try to make it like someone is dying. Another thing is after my insurance paid them thousands of dollars they immediately start sending one messages and treats of reporting you to collections if you don't start paying the outrageous deductible they say you have to pay. Even if you call to set a payment plan and tell the billing department how much you can pay for the mean time, if it's not within what they think you should pay then they tell you no, find the money some way or use a credit card or we'll report you to collections, and if you say I can pay half what you're telling me know they say yes give me your money and we'll still report you to collections. The quality of service and the knowledgeable doctors I encounter my first time around who made me proud to be being taken care of by true professionals and staff that cared for your health and well-being is no longer there!!! All they care about now is Money and if your insurance and you are going to pay, even if you have the best insurance and all intension to pay the deductible as soon as possible!!! What a shame!!! Also how they have contracts with farmaceutical companies and they try to sell you medications that most likely will end up killing someone in the long run or horrible side effects as long as they get the dollars kick back for the sale. I hope this helps with a different view of a veteran dealing with Mayo Clinic several times and by the way, never owned them a dime and always paid my bills. The first bill between my copay and insurance was over 300...