this is always a good site to know about.

http://www.usnews.com/directories/hospitals/index_html

By Karen~admin on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 08:01 am:

Best Hospitals

Colette, I was actually reading another *best* list yesterday on hospitals. Johns Hopkins is right in there with the best of them.

Where did you have your surgery????

Note: NOWHERE in New Orleans made the list - surprise! NOT!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 10:41 am:

There are quite a few from Wisconsin, on the list.

By Colette on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 11:46 am:

I had mine at Mass General. We are only about 1/2 hour from Boston (on a good day traffic-wise). Thanks for making the link clickable!

By Pamt on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 12:03 pm:

Karen, last I heard there weren't even many hospitals up and running in New Orleans. Has that changed? I know that Children's really never stopped and there are a couple in Metairie.

We're close to a lot of good medical care here in Marshfield, Milwaukee, and Madison, as well as Iowa and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN is only about 3 hours away as well.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 09:40 pm:

I used to work at the hospital in Marshfield. There is good health care all over Wisconsin.

By Karen~admin on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 10:25 pm:

Pam, since Katrina, medical care is still a challenge in this area. EJ and Kenner Regional get all the patients that Charity used to get, and wait times in ER's can be 8 to 10 hours or more. EJ is worse. A number of doctors relocated after Katrina because they lost their offices/homes/practices, and as people gradually returned to the area, I think the healthcare system has been struggling to accommodate them. Wait times for *new patient* appointments are months, and for returning patients, can even be months. Seems to me the only places that are plentiful are the pharmacies. LOL

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 11:18 pm:

Wow. With an 8-10 hour wait, I might have been feeling better, by the time I was finally seen, when I recently went to the ER. In that amount of time, I bet I would have fallen asleep, in the waiting area. We were all done, in 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

By Karen~admin on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 05:57 am:

Dawn, my sister lives in Pensacola, FL, and it is much worse there - she tried to go to the ER in June with symptoms of a heart attack, and they told her there that it would be 12-24 hours before they would see her. She ended up leaving.....and living.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 09:02 am:

Yikes! I can't imagine such a thing. I know that things get busy at the walk-in and people can wait several hours to be seen, but with symptoms of a heart attack, we would see them right away! When someone comes in with chest pain, we don't make them wait. Chances are, it really isn't their heart and it's some other reason that their chest hurts, but you don't know that, at first.

By Karen~admin on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 10:18 am:

Dawn, there was another woman with a history of heart problems in there with the same symptoms and SHE had been sitting there for several hours. There was also an older woman with an open head wound, who had also been sitting there several hours. When my sister questioned the ER *admitting* nurse about all of it, she was told *we are very understaffed, we will get to everyone when we can*. I don't know which specific hospital it was.

I DO know that when DH first moved here from D.C. in 1997, I told him *If anything SERIOUS ever happens to any of us, take us to the ER @ E.J. (main large hospital serving our area)*. Now - since the Charity hospital system and others are closed following Katrina, the wait times @ E.J. are horrendous and there have been numerous reports of sub standard and even life endangering patient care, and that is the last place I want to go in an emergency. Granted, some of the *smaller* hospitals don't have the latest diagnostic or treatment options as E.J., but the only way to get seen in their ER in any acceptable amount of time is to go there by ambulance. And if you do go to another hospital in an emergency and need care that they can't provide, you are sent to E.J. via ambulance or life flight.

Unfortunately, it's a statement about health care in many areas along the Gulf Coast, I think, much in part due to Katrina or other events.... and I am certain other parts of the country are dealing with similar issues.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 12:58 pm:

It's downright scary! I'm sure the hurricanes don't really help much.