Lake Behavioral Hospital — Local services in Waukegan

Latisha!!!! THE SUPERVISOR!! PROMOTE HER, GIVE HER THE FLOWERS HE DESERVES!! I began my search for medication mgmt initially with Chicago Behavioral Hospital, which is the sister hospital to Lake Behavioral Hospital. I was seeking med management or an outpatient program with Dr. Shiraz. The operator at CBH told me he had transferred over to the sister hospital. Dr Shiraz is the best of the best so of course I had to follow his practice to wherever his career takes him, hopefully its only up from here if you are reading this, Shiraz. But, lets get to the point of my review. I normally begin every single one of my phone calls on a recorded line, however my guard was down because I thought there was no need for assumed malpractice or mismanagement from front desk employees at a behavioral hospital. I was wrong to assume this. I was transferred to what sounded like an American caucasian woman working front desk in her mid 40s to early 50s. She had a deep voice and was incredibly rude. I had told her how I had first began my search for dr shiraz on the blue cross blue shield provider search website, and while Dr Shiraz did appear on this list, and on google, his only contact was still Chicago Behavioral Hospital. I told her I understand her policies and HIPPA and PHI prevents her from giving out the Dr's location or information, but I told her that google and the website is not updated to his transfer to this hospital. She was very rude, huffed at me, almost growled even, and her responses were filled with hostility, impatience, annoyance, and as if she was very bothered that I was even seeking mental health support services in the first place. This is not the kind of employee that a Behavioral Health Clinic should be training. When you call a MentalHealth Clinic, you are typically having mental health struggles, and should be met with a warm, encouraging, kind, nonjudgemental demeanor, tone, and attitude. I received the polar opposite from this woman. When I told her that I did not appreciate the way she was speaking to me, she yelled at me, saying that "WELL I CANT GIVE THAT OUT GO TO GOOGLE- etc etc etc, enter nonsensical angry gibberish I then told her that "thats enough now, may I get your name and speak with your supervisor" she tried to yell at me further saying" IM TRYING THERES NOTHING---- enter more non helpful belligerent discourse and I said thats enough now please transfer me, and she SLAMMED THE PHONE ON MY FACE. I called again and was transferred to her again, this time, I let her know she was on a recorded line, that I dont like the way she spoke to me or hung up on me or refused to give her name when I asked for a supervisor and I need to speak with the supervisor again, she hung up on recording. I called again, let the operator know they were on a recorded line, explained what happened, the operator sympathized, I asked for a supervisor, and Latisha answered. She recognized that I was upset, she acknowledged my emotions, she sympathized and empathized with my need to get mental health services, and she congratulated me for taking that step, and apologized that my feelings were affected from the phone call, and that she would personally submit my complaint request to the patient advocacy ombudsman and took my information down. She congratulated me for focusing on school and seeking psychiatry and she made me feel heard, accepted, and wanted. I was not going to follow dr butt here after my neg. experience with the older lady with the deep voice, but after seeing that Lake Behavioral Hosp. has employees like Latisha who go above and beyond to make sure that everyone calling gets the proper treatment and is spoken to and not AT. Latisha, if it was any other person who answered my complaint call, I would NOT have asked to be forwarded to your new MEDManagement program, and I would have called CBH back, told them about the bad experience I had with Lake Behavioral front desk, and left a negative review instead of a positive one. If the older middle aged front desk DONNA sees this, do better,...

My experience at Lake Behavioral Hospital was absolutely awful.

I came in during a mental health crisis (which is why most people go there) and the very first thing I was met with was a man doing my intake who looked at me and said, “Why are you crying??” Really? Maybe because I was in the middle of a crisis, in an unfamiliar place, and had no idea what was going to happen next. That’s a terrible way to begin someone’s intake process.

The only positive part of my intake was the social worker I worked with — they were kind and helpful, though I wish I remembered their name.

My mom and sister specifically brought me to Lake because the CEO of the hospital had previously spoken at a workshop in Kenosha, WI, promising that people from Wisconsin could be admitted at their Waukegan location without any insurance problems. Unfortunately, that turned out to be completely untrue.

An hour before my very first psychiatric appointment, I got a call from Lake telling me my insurance would not cover the visit because I was from Wisconsin. I explained that I had chosen Lake because their own CEO promised this would never be an issue. The man I spoke with was extremely rude and dismissive. In the end, I had to pay $350 out of pocket — money I was told I would never have to pay. Getting that news right before my appointment, while already in a fragile state, was incredibly distressing.

When I showed up for the appointment, I was visibly upset. My boyfriend came with me to help advocate for me (I had been told this would be fine, just like my sister had been present during intake with no issues). However, the same man from billing insisted my boyfriend could not accompany me. In the state I was in, I couldn’t advocate for myself, so I reluctantly went in alone.

Thankfully, the psychiatrist I met with was wonderful and immediately recognized how upset I was. When I explained that I had brought my boyfriend to help me, she was shocked that he wasn’t allowed in and immediately told me to go get him, reassuring me that of course I could have an advocate present.

I reported everything to Sam, the staff member who had been helping me from the beginning, and she assured me that I would not be billed for this appointment because of how I was treated. That was back in April. It’s now August, and I am still receiving bills for the appointment that was supposed to be waived.

This entire process has been upsetting, unprofessional, and the opposite of how a person in crisis should be treated. From the dismissive intake staff, to the false promises about insurance, to the lack of compassion when I needed support most — I would strongly urge others not to go here and not to bring their...

Do not send a loved one here at all costs, and if any family member has had a loved one here and they have damage from a blood draw, seek medical attention. My godson told me after the first blood draw from an elderly man who he said wasn't American but didn't know the nationality, which that doesn't make a difference, just trying to describe the man, drew blood he felt an electric shock like feeling and refused to let him take blood anymore, now has nerve damage to his arm. He had been complaining since August of pain in his right arm but never showed me the knots nor that he was having trouble grasping things without tremendous pain. I took him to his PCP after a blood draw where the phlebotomist felt the knots and told me he needed to see his doctor, they were even unable to get blood from that arm. His PCP stated she believes he has severe nerve damage and has referred him to see a neurologist. My godson told me this man did this to many, many others while he was there. I was called and told he was refusing his blood draws, I told them no, he was refusing for the same man to draw his blood, he would gladly let someone else. He has great veins as documented by his medical providers so how this happened is beyond me. I told him to let staff know his arm was hurting, which he did, but no one bothered to check him out or do anything. This is completely unacceptable!! How many others have had this done to them, I'm sure quite a few. He sees his neurologist Monday. I'm praying for the best 🙏 Shame on this place for the poor treatment of the people who are there for help!! There were many more issues such as a nurse bullying him telling him his mom should have suffocated him when he was born because he was tired of freezing everyday, it is on camera with this nurse being in his face, is this how this facility believes is acceptable saying things like this is going to actually help someone in a crisis? All of that stuff I just brushed off but this damage to his arm from someone who clearly should retire is something he is going to have to deal with for a long time, if not for the rest of his life! I spoke with Shari and told her these bad reviews are spot on, she stated that no one would want to give a good review at a psych facility, seriously? I see a few here and I've read reviews from a local facility that has over 4 stars with excellent reviews. He already has a lot to deal with and now another issue caused by an incompetent phlebotomist, I assume he was qualified, truly don't know but my godson has had many, many blood draws and has not once had any issues until being...