Beacon Kalamazoo Hospital — Local services in Kalamazoo Charter Township

Update: I left after 5.5 hours of waiting and I STILL have not been seen by an MD. I was never offered any kind of pain meds, when I asked for aspirin the resident turned me down. The waiting area has been emptied numerous times, yet I was never brought to a room. I finally said ENOUGH and left. I will go to Bronson from now on. Ascension has dragged this place to the ground. I told them the doctor can call me with the results. My guess is that I will never know my test results until go to Bronson and they access them. I’m still experiencing intense chest and back pain but they never even talked to me about what it might be from.

Been here for over 3 hours with severe chest, back, and jaw pain and have not been in a room yet or offered anything for pain. When I arrived the waiting room was empty. They did take me back for chest x-rays, and was wheeled past numerous empty rooms and then wheeled right back out to the waiting room. I have not seen an MD, only the resident.

A doctor came out and loudly began discussing a patients treatment, medications being prescribed, what to expect, etc. The doctor never asked the patient if he was ok discussing his PROTECTED BY LAW medical information, just walked out the door yelling about this situation to the patient as he crossed the room to get to the man. I could not believe it!

When I brought this to the attention of a nurse, she disclosed that the hospital has been making policy changes and that patients are being seen in the hallways in chairs lined up against the wall-sitting next to other patients with no privacy and no separation. This is NOT ok. She was NOT ok with these changes and agreed it is a HUGE HIPAA violation. I work in healthcare and have never seen the rights of patients being denied like this before. I’m appalled. I’m providing a photo of the doctor speaking the man I mentioned for proof that this took place.

To top it off, the only restroom available to the waiting room is a single bathroom that smelled very strongly of urine. The floor was VERY sticky, and had a wet floor sign in the middle of the floor. There are no hooks to hang a jacket or purse (it’s winter time, people wear coats in Michigan), I had to resort to putting my coat on the baby changing table so I could use the toilet-gag. My shoes stuck to the floor as I walked around in the waiting area after that. That makes me seriously question how clean the rest of the place is!

I’m only staying long enough to know that my blood work proves I am not having a heart attack. I will not be back. Thank goodness there is another choice in town!

I’m going to note before some PR person responds that they care about their patient experience that they absolutely do NOT. Their reviews repeat the same things I have said and worse! From the second you walk in the door you can see that this place is run down and second rate. The amount of money this place makes on the sick should at least warrant that the bathroom is cleaned regularly (it was not cleaned at all while I was there), the 90s wallpaper isn’t peeling off the walls, and patients have a private space to discuss their...

I’m leaving this here in the hopes of raising awareness about Ascension Borgess. As someone who has several relatives that work professionally in healthcare, I understand that the environments can be challenging, but it cannot be ignored that the level of service provided by the nursing staff fell significantly short of acceptable standards.

During my time in the hospital (ER), I observed several instances where nurses seemed unsure about basic procedures and protocols. This not only raised concerns about their competence as registered nurses but also made me feel unsafe as a patient. Something as simple as basic phlebotomy, and you’d think they’d be comfortable doing it by now, but I suppose the blood splatter on my clothing proved this not to be the case. Due to their inability to draw blood effectively the first (few) times. My blood painted not only my clothes but the medical tools within hands reach and the seat I was in. The nurse tending to me proceeded to just wipe the blood off of the tools, his hands, and the seat using a single paper towel.

A nurse, or any healthcare provider, for that matter, should be confident. The lack of confidence I observed in the nurses here has some serious negative effects on vulnerable patients who rely on them for timely and, at times, lifesaving care.

Kudos to the nurse that I believed to be pregnant working that night, who was notably the most experienced and comfortable in comparison to her peers. While I congratulate her on her impending journey of motherhood, my heart goes out to all future patients of Ascension Borgess who will undoubtedly suffer while she’s on maternity leave.

Most alarmingly, I was administered the wrong medication during my hospitalization. I was told very calmly by the doctor on shift that there was a mistake and I was given the medication of another patient. This error has already had a negative effect on my mental health, but this would've also been the case for my overall health and well-being. As a young adult with a history of cardiovascular complications the medication administered into my IV was not only not originally intended for me but completely inappropriate for my condition and had the potential to pose a plethora of other potential risks that could have been fatal if not caught in time. It is imperative that hospitals maintain rigorous protocols for medication administration to prevent such dangerous mistakes from occurring. This type of negligence could be deadly, and I will be dealing with it accordingly.

To top all of this off, I was welcomed to what apparently was the only bathroom in the entire ER, which, to my surprise, was filthy and also had droplets of blood left around the sink where people were supposed to apparently wash their hands. The ER room itself was also pretty disgusting. I would recommend anyone who is in need of emergency help to just take the extra time to go to Bronson. I am not native to Michigan, so unfortunately I had to learn...

I would give it negative Stars if that option was offered!!! Their guesswork care of our Mother led to her death! "Working blindly" was what their infectious disease doctor told my brother, just before inundating her with antibiotics on the, what he guessed to be about a 33% chance she had an infection! prior to those medicines going into her body she was on the rebound from a major surgery was talking breathing on her own eating food etc!! I am near 100% positive they killed her!! I'm not done spreading the word about that hospital! The doctors treated her like a practice patient! Probing and prodding her missing medicines that she was taking all her life! Making excuses and reasons and guessing all throughout her care! prior to those antibiotics they put her on other of antibiotics on the guess that she had an infection in her Bones! They didn't wait for the cultures to come back and when the cultures came back it revealed no infection so they took her off the antibiotics just before her surgery!! After the surgery 3 days after oh, they inundated her with strong antibiotics on another guess that she had an infection!!! They also guessed that she had cancer because she was a lifelong smoker! At 85 years old they tested her for cancer and negative on any cancer or the results! Not a spot on her lungs or her breasts! She went in with a very minor fracture to a partial hip replacement she had several years back! They're orthopedic "specialist" Dr Shafer, assumed the crack occurred because she either had cancer or an infection! They poked and prodded her after missing her first two doses of lithium for her manic depression she had, she not only was busted up physically but now psychologically because of their missteps and missing medicine doses! Her whole treatment was based on lies assumptions and guess work! The hospital is a pathetic joke of a medical care facility!! Several members of their staff /doctors are a joke! This is the same hospital that treated Our Father very poorly and kicked him out early into an assisted living facility where he passed shortly after! Doctors need to be held accountable for their missteps and not listening to their patients or their patients spokespersons! Never seen such pathetic medical Care in my life! Her fracture was so trivial when our mother went in that we were told the first day she may just be able to go home and it'll heal on her own but they'll have to wait for an orthopedist to look at it! To go into a hospital with such a minor fracture of sound mind but a little banged up, and not walk out of that hospital!? They screwed up big time! I highly and strongly urge people to stay away from this hospital if they...