2 /5 Nichole Hawley: In December of 2019, I almost died because of this hospital. On a Friday I went to the ER, because I couldnt breathe. I couldnt even eat because opening my mouth to take a bite, caused me to be extremely short of breathe. I sat in the waiting room for 6+ hours, got the run around and wasnt even offered a breathing treatment. When I finally saw Dr. Lucero, he said I had a little bit of pneumonia, it was no big deal. He gave me an Augmentin tablet and a Norco, ordered a prescription, and then said I needed to leave. My BP was 180/100. I asked multiple times if he was sure I should go, because I couldnt even breathe. He said, "You are a young healthy girl, you need to go!"
I left. Took me 30 minutes to walk to my ride who was out side the surgery doors, because I could not breathe to even walk. Over the next 2 days, I got worse. Fever was so bad, one extreme to the next and I couldnt get it to break with over the counter meds. Sunday afternoon I decided to go to Urgent Care, because I felt even worse. At urgent care they were concerned because I couldnt hold my breathe for even half a second, they said I had to go to the ER. I cried, because I kept thinking Id get the same crappy Doctor I had already had. I got a ride to the ER, and the first person I came into contact with at the check in desk, told me I couldnt breathe because I had anxiety and I needed to calm down. They checked me in and took me back right away because my symptoms had worsened and I had been there only 2.5 days prior. They put me in zone one and asked me to change co I could do an x-ray. I couldnt breathe, so I couldnt even get my shirt off. They immediately took me to Zone 2.
My experience in Zone 2 is the only reason why I can give 2 starts. I would give 0 stars based on my interaction with Dr. Lucero a couple days prior.
Zone 2 was amazing. My o2 was in the low 80s, even with high flow oxygen. They hooked me up to antibiotics, steroids, and got my labs going. Based on my 19 whit blood count, plus all the other symptoms, they told me I was septic. The doctor told me if I had waited one more day to come in, I probably would have came in intubated or even worse. I had 2 different types of pneumonia, a viral and bacterial. The viral pneumonia was later discovered to be COVID. They ordered all the things, and later admitted me. I did have an anaphylaxis reaction to the CT Contrast (no ones fault, didnt know i was severely allergic to it.) The Zone 2 staff handled it amazing and got me back.
The Zone 2 staff was absolutely amazing. Its ashame that my first experience was with such a horrible doctor. Did I mention I worked at this hospital? Ya, I did, and he knew it, because I was on my lunch break when I decided to go to the ER. Nothing happened to this doctor, and I felt completely unheard. The ER Director came to talk with me while I was in the hospital, and he must have mentioned 12 times it was his day off and his daughter was waiting on him. Even working there, I was completely unheard and my life almost being lost didnt matter. He was a doctor, and I was just a tech. Even being an employee at this facility didnt get me decent treatment.
