The Women Institute

I have had several appointments here. My first appointment was an annual exam. I waited a really long time, the doctor was very pleasant. The front staff must not like their jobs or just don’t respect their patients because they were never welcoming or warm. During my exam I was told I had an ovarian cyst and I would have to come back for an ultrasound to see if it resolved on its own.
Six weeks later I went for my pelvic ultrasound. You are advised to drink 5 – 6 glasses of water and not urinate before the procedure so they may better visualize your organs. I drank this much water and then waited to be seen for almost an hour, with a full bladder. It is uncomfortable enough to wait to be seen at a doctor’s office but to add the stress of a potentially harmful ovarian cyst and a full bladder made things worse. The assistant guided me back to a room and I waited for the doctor. In the mean time, two different people came in an out of the room to grab different things for other appointments. The doctor used a condom as a guard between the ultrasound probe and me. My procedure was quick, we communicated minimally and I was told the cyst was no big deal.
A few months later I am in the emergency room for acute abdominal/​side pain. After a CT scan and pelvic ultrasound to rule out stones they discover a large ovarian cyst. They tell me to follow up with my PCP and OBGYN. I do both of these things. I make my appointment, they call and ask me to come later than my appointment was for, I agree. I show up when they asked me to and end up waiting. The assistant (I say assistant because I do not believe these women in scrubs are nurses or trained professionals) gave me a sample cup to collect my urine, I placed it on the counter as I was instructed to do and she handled it without gloves. I visit with Dr. Rodriguez, after another 45 minute wait time. She tells me it might go away on its own but we should do an ultrasound. If it is the same size or larger I would need a surgical procedure. She gives me her card with an emergency pager number on it. If I experience abdominal pain, vomiting, fever, excessive bleeding I should contact her immediately for emergency surgery.
At this point I am very scared.
I schedule my ultrasound for one month later. A week before I get a call asking me to move the time of the appointment, I can’t. I get another call telling me they have to cancel the appointment and to call them to reschedule. Life is hectic, I didn’t have time to reschedule right away. Then I start getting emails and phone calls to confirm my new appointment time, which they made for me without consulting me.
My appointment was for today at 1 p.m. An employee calls at 11:30 to confirm my appointment, even though I had asked them to call the day before to confirm and give me instructions on water consumption. After asking if they were running on time, I confirm I will be there at one. The employee assures me they are on time and I am the first appointment after their lunch hour. They call again at 12:15 and ask that I come in at 1:30 because the doctor has an emergency elsewhere. I ask if I show up at 1:30 if I will be seen right away. I am concerned with this because I have drinking water all morning and don’t want to spend anymore time than I have to holding in my pee. She says I’ll probably be seen by 1:45. I ask if its ok to come at 1:45, she says no. I tell her this is frustrating to me because I have been pushed and rescheduled and cancelled on already, she says «I’m telling you to come in at 1:30» There is absolutely no empathy for this, not that it mattered that I’ve taken days off work to make these appointments or hey, maybe there’s a huge cyst on my ovary that should be taken out.
I called back after I calmed down to cancel my appointment. I will not be returning, but I think if I wanted to return they might just cancel my appointment anyway.
tl;dr These unprofessional people don’t care about you or your well being. Seek treatment and compassion elsewhere.

From what I understand, Dr. Rodriguez is likely a knowledgeable and compassionate professional. Unfortunately, I never met her.
Considering my lack of insight, I hate to leave a less-​than-​positive review. However, this clinic has great potential — from Spanish-​speaking staff to immigration exams to accepting Medicaid. I’m not writing a rant about an excessive wait, but in the hope that future patients will be prepared to set aside ample time for an appointment.
I found Dr. Rodriguez via Rush University Medical Center’s website. Unlike other reviewers, I had no difficulty setting up appointments with her helpful staff (though I believe Unilocal’s listed hours differ from those on the clinic’s door). Cancelling my first appointment was painless and, when the clinic cancelled my second appointment, they diligently followed-​up via phone and text message until I secured another spot. However, when I arrived about 10 min. early, I was a little put off my the number of cosmetic procedures listed in the window… as well as numerous bored, half-​asleep patients in the waiting room.
I’m not sure how this clinic is associated with Rush aside from a single page advertisement for the hospital among brochures. Still, staff was friendly as I filled out paperwork, allowing me to opt out of including my credit card information (simply writing down and handing over financial information seems very risky). Sadly, after sitting on a window ledge for an hour (all seats were taken) and discussing whether or not to leave the other patients, I had to return to work. With two women ahead of me, it would be a total of two hours before I was seen — I would have devoted almost 5 hours of my day to discussing an IUD. I totally understand that doctors get backed up. I also think it’s incredibly admirable that Dr. Rodriguez devotes a full half hour to patients. But a two hours behind schedule allows ample opportunity to alert patients or offer to reschedule, shortening wait times for other patients (such as the woman beside me who’d commuted from the suburbs)? Though I appreciate how quickly I was re-​scheduled after last week’s cancellation, I would rather wait another week than choose between two over-​booked days.
My apologies if this account is unhelpful; there are plenty of reviews on the internet attesting to Dr. Rodriguez’s skill and bedside manner. For a clinic that serves women of different backgrounds and different health issues, I think patients should know in advance if they need to take off work, arrange childcare, or travel home late. Though I’m disappointed logistics wouldn’t allow me to begin treatment, hopefully an expedited system will allow this clinic to reach its full potential.

Waited an hour and a half to be seen for a follow up… Not even a procedure! And it took over a week for a returned phone call. Wish I would have read the other reviews before coming here.

I hate to write a bad review on places but I had a terrible experience here. I came a couple months ago on a referral from a friend because she noted they’re financially reasonable. After my exam she stated according to my records a needed a shot. She was explaining to me what it was for, and apparently we were on a whole different page. I looked her straight in the face and asked if it was for one thing and she said yes. When I got into the car after leaving and I looked up the shot information online i discovered it was A TETANUS SHOT, not what she had said AT ALL. I blame myself for not asking more questions about it, but I was very upset. Not only that, she bought her toddler son INTO my examination room to give me my shot. So she is cleaning the area WHILE HOLDING HER SON. I found it very unprofessional and It really upset me. But I didn’t want to spend anymore time in this place, showed my insurance and left. Now I received a bill for an outrageous amount for a terrible experience.

Unfortunely i have to rate this place with a 1 star intead of 0 because that is not an option.
the service provide was accurate and with some up and downs but finalized.
The problem start with the finalcial aspect, after they carefully review my insurence, check and recheck my coverage, the INFORM me that the procedure will be 100% cover.
BIG LIE, the procedure was done, i paid my deductible and the history supossed to end there, however 1 year later my i recieved a letter for this clinic asking me to pay certain amount of money owm… excuse me? i contact them, and just as stated in a previous review, took them serveral days to reach me back, we discuss the whats and why’s of this charge and they supossed to resubmited to the innsurence… this clinic assure that everything will be fixed, now after 2 years later once again the charge is appearing.
THERE FALSE ADVERTISEMENT is what made me rate them, poorly, hopefully they fix it, because i will made aware as much people as i can reach about the wrong dping in the financial aspect… shame on them.

Confession No. 1: I’m middle-​aged, and, despite the eternal youthfulness of my spirit, my face seems to be heading south. Entropy always wins.
Confession No. 2: Deep in my heart, I am vain.
Confession No. 3: I like a good deal.
Living Social offered a deal I, an aging baby-​boomer, could not resist — 20 units of botox for $ 150 (regular price $ 300). I said, what the hell? The ability to make facial expressions is over-​rated anyway.
So, two months ago, I went over to Western Avenue, to a nice bright storefront clinic, and got injections of botox.
The waiting room is clean, neat and amply supplied with magazines designed to appeal to women. The clinic is run by Dr. Claudia Rodriguez, and it turned out she was the one who administered the shots. That made me very happy, because I had heard stories about unqualified people doing the shots, but in this case, the M.D. did it.
Dr. Rodriguez was very nice, very quick. She showed me a few before and after photos, so that I would have realistic expectations. I asked her to treat the twin «gggrrrr» lines between my eyes, that have been caused by many years of stupid drivers and asinine employers. The shots stung, but really, I’ve been hurt worse when my cat wouldn’t let go of me. I was very pleasantly surprised.
The only post-​op instructions she gave me were to not touch or press on the area, and to not lay down for 8 hours. Easy breezy.
And then I went home. Dr. Rodriguez said it would be about two weeks before I noticed a difference. Of course, that didn’t stop me from standing with my nose against the bathroom mirror, examining myself for a change every couple of hours.
Turns out 20 units really isn’t a lot. It’s not enough to freeze facial expressions. But it was enough to work. About two weeks later, I did notice that the two little anger lines had diminished. Now, almost 7 weeks later, they are still gone. I didn’t tell anyone that I had done this, except one woman. She said the procedure had taken a couple of years off. So there hasn’t been a universal groundswell of approval of even being noticed by the rest of humanity. It is a small change.
Am I pleased? Yeah, I am. Would I do it again? Yeah, I would. Will I? Sadly, not unless there’s another Living Social, or the lottery finally comes through.
Only reason I don’t rate this business 5 stars is because of the front desk people. They’re very pleasant, but really slow to return phone calls. When I’d leave a message, even to return a call, it took at least a full day to get a return call. And, though I showed up 10 minutes before my appointment, I waited for a solid hour before I got to go in. These things aren’t deal-​breakers for me, but they shouldn’t be happening.