Thorek Memorial Hospital

Let me begin by saying that I’ve experienced a number of different hospitals in a number of different situations in the past. Let me also say that some of these experiences have been specifically within the realm of pain management. So I feel like I know what I’m talking about, at least a little bit.
I think hospitals and doctors are tough to review because you oftentimes aren’t in your best mood when you’re there. There seems to be a psychological tendency to associate hospitals with bad experiences, even when those experiences aren’t the fault of the hospital. It’s also important to remember that doctors aren’t wizards, nor are they auto mechanics. People who expect to go into a hospital with something wrong and be restored to fully functional within a matter of hours are setting themselves up to be disappointed.
Having said that, my experience at Thorek was a tale of two visits. First, the ER. Second, the stay as an admitted patient.
I went to Thorek in the early morning hours on a Monday in winter. I chose Thorek because it was close – within walking distance, despite the considerable pain I was in. I had been awakened with a familiar feeling. It was a kidney stone, my fifth in eighteen months. However, as a recent Chicago transplant, I had not been to a hospital in the city, nor had I established myself with a primary care physician.
So I show up to the ER at about 3am, disheveled, in pain, and vomiting. I explain my situation to the person behind the protective glass and take a seat. There is no one else in the waiting room. I wait for about 20 minutes (maybe? time gets sort of altered in a situation like this), and then go back to triage, where I explain my situation to the nurse. After a bit a doctors stops in, asks me a few questions, then tells me he would like to get a CT scan. I still have not received any medication for pain or nausea. It has been about an hour since I walked in the door.
I’ll pause to say that it was pretty apparent to me that they were trying to figure out whether I had a legitimate problem or was simply there trying to score painkillers. I don’t blame them for this; in fact, I expect it. Painkillers are a huge problem. They ruin lives. Hospitals need to be part of the solution, and as much as it sucks for the rest of us, there has to be protocol to ensure they’re not handing out drugs to addicts without some control. I had no history there, I had no doctor, I showed up in the middle of the night looking a mess and exhibiting symptoms that could have been from heroin withdrawal (which, if you’ve never seen it, isn’t pretty). They did their diligence and I’m not mad about it. If it happens to you, you shouldn’t be either.
So, I get my CT and get sent back to the triage room. There are no beds in the ER for me because it is full of what will turn out to be homeless people. The doctor comes back, confirms there’s a stone, and orders painkillers and anti-​nausea meds. Things are looking up.
Around 6:30, police come through and start telling people it’s time to go. This is when it becomes apparent to me that the place is half full of homeless people. I get the sense – though I have nothing to back this up – that due to the cold weather, ambulances were basically trolling for people on the streets who were in trouble. They get a warm bed for the night and a sandwich upon their departure. I don’t hear much in the way of discharge instructions; it wouldn’t shock me if there aren’t any records of these people being here. At least one drunk guy also is removed from the ER by three police. I think he is being taken into custody.
After this exodus and the subsequent cleanup, I get a bed and am told that I will be admitted until the stone passes. This is when the ER starts losing points. Two main things happen that concern me. First, once I have a bed and it was determined that I was to be admitted, I was basically ignored by staff. There wasn’t much for them to do, but there was little effort to make me comfortable, and there was virtually no communication. After my IV bled out a little, a nurse took the bloody blanket away (ok) but never replaced it (not ok). Little things, big deal. Second, and maybe a much bigger deal, when the IV started bleeding out, I didn’t realize it at first. I bled on the blanket some, on my shirt some, and on the floor some, both in my room, in the hall on the way to the bathroom, and in the bathroom. Stuff happens, but IT DID NOT GET CLEANED UP FOR TWO HOURS. A nurse knew about the blood because she saw it when she fixed my IV and took the blanket, but for two hours, my blood was on the floor in the hallway and in the bathroom. There was at least one other patient walking around who was barefoot. Huge hazard for him, big deal. This concerns me greatly; I don’t have anything that could be contracted, but cleaning up something like that should be top priority.
I’m out of space… more to come in a follow up.

These idiots messed up my insurance info, address, and double billed me numerous times. I would rather die than seek treatment from anyone that works in this sad excuse for a hospital. Unless you enjoy spending hours on hold with the hospital and your insurance carrier, I’d suggest ANYWHERE else. A hobo with a rusty knife is more professional and skilled than the morons that work here.

This hospital is the worst, they never have adoctor for overnight ER and they have a physician that in my case sent me a 600 $ bill, i went in for extreme pain he said he wouldnt do an xray and didnt even touch me to see what was wrong those 600 $ were for giving me a motrin that i didnt even take and not even helping my pain or situation sent me home i waited like an hour for him, not a doctor at all, that was like a year ago, today my little sister is coming in and theh sit her to take her vitals, BLOOD EVERYWHERE! CHAIR, FLOOR, AND EVEN THE TABLE, THEY DO NOT CARE FOR THEOR PATIENTS, AND I TOOK PICTURES PLEASE REVIEW THEM I AM NOT LYING AT ALL.

I was there for an out patient wellness procedure that has been recommended every 3 years. The doctor who performed the procedure coded it as a wellness check up that would have been 100% covered by insurance. Thorek in an effort to commit FRAUD and increase revenues re-​coded the procedure in order to charge me an additional $ 1500.00 of out of pocket expense. The surgery staff and doctor were fine but now 5 hours invested in phone calls to the hospital and my doctors office without a resolution forces me to alert everyone to this FRAUDULENT CONDUCT by Thorek’s billing office. You must avoid any surgery with this Hospital. They are as close to being outright CROOKS in the already confusing health care industry that I have ever experienced. If you have been treated by Thorek in this fasion PLEASE report you incident as I am to the Illinois States Attorney Hotline at 1−800−386−5438

My pain doctor works out of this hospital, and as such, I’m here often. My pain doctor — the only one my insurance covers that’s nearby — regularly messes up my prescriptions, to the point where the pharmacist here knows that when the script is messed up, it’s because he forgot to write the dosage, or wrote it for something I’m allergic to (he’s done that 4 times now). But compared to the ER staff, all of that’s sort of acceptable.
I was in a lot of pain and fainted in my living room, hitting my head really hard on the coffee table. I passed out for about five minutes or so. My roommate freaked out and thought I might have a concussion, and took me to the ER. There was nobody at the front desk. I had to call the phone number for the hospital, and after letting the phone ring for about five minutes, someone answered and told me there should be someone at the desk. I told them that no, I was sitting at the desk, and needed to be seen, and the person sighed and just hung up. About five minutes after that, someone came and checked me in. I get that it was late on a Thursday, but ERs should have staff ²⁴⁄₇.
The doctor who saw me was a peach, too. He didn’t do any sort of examination even though I told him I wasn’t really there for pain meds, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. His response to this was to print out all of the prescriptions I’d had through the national database and tell me that I was probably an addict. I told him that I was on them for a reason and he could call my pain doctor, could he please examine my head? I told him that he could give me IV baby aspirin if he wanted, but he continued on about how he might lose his job if he gave me painkillers. Was he trying to guilt trip me out of a concussion?
The IV stick I got in my hand also went THROUGH my vein and I still have problems moving my fingers. I never did find out if I got a concussion or not. I’m not dead yet, so I guess I was okay.

I have been trying to pay my bill. The number provided to me on the bill and the number on the website just take me to peoples personal voice mails. When i called the operator she also got me over to someones voicemail. None of the voice mails I have left have gotten responses. Now I have to mail in my payment. You need a better system,

My doctor is through part of this hospital and I really like her, but I am going to have to switch to someone else because these people cannot figure out their damn billing system. I keep getting random bills then I call to pay and they’ll say that nothing is due and my insurance took care of it. Now I have a weird invoice for something four months ago that I already paid for saying its way past due and to rip off the bottom part for my records, but it’s not even a paper you can tear. This place makes me seriously concerned for my credit. I’d advice against going here.

The facility itself looked quite a bit dated, but every single person that we came into contact with could have not been nicer or more friendly. No one was overbearing, but answered all of our questions very pleasantly. If you can get over the dated look of the hospital, I think this place is absolutely worth visiting for the friendly staff every alone.

The only good thing about this place is most of the employees I have had to interact with have been very nice. That being said this place is beyond unorganized and it drives me insane. If I make an appointment I expect to see my doctor at the time I was told. I do not enjoy sitting in a waiting room 40 mins after my scheduled time.
Another perk is they have a free parking lot.
The hospital is well kept, and has some beautiful artwork on display to stare at while you try to find reasons to not scream in frustration after waiting too long to see your doctor.

Worst service ever! Wait almost 3hours for a cat scan and EKG. Very slow service. I would never go to this hospital if I had a choose.

Worst hospital experience of my life!!! I was admitted to this hospital in December and when I was discharged I told everyone I came in contact with how wonderful of a hospital it was. Well something changed drastically! I was admitted by my family doctor for further testing and pain management. The first night there I waited over 2 hours for someone to come in and help me in anyway. The next night I waited over an hour with my call light on for help and was crying in pain to the point that my room mate went out to the desk TWICE asking someone to please help me. My HORRIBLE experience culminated on the morning of my discharge when I hear my night shift nurse speaking to my day shift nurse in the hallway and I hear her say «she says her pain is a 7 but just lays there. Im pretty sure she is a heroine addict who moved to this area because she tapped out the system where she came from. You need to get her discharged today.» I’m a paramedic in good standing, who has to take drug tests frequently and I have NEVER done an illegal drug in my life!!! When my doctor came in I told her «get me out of here. I would rather go home and DIE then stay here
another minute».
Update: It appears that the hospital is trying their best to correct the situation and make themselves better. I can’t blame the administrators for the actions of their employees as long as the work to correct the problem and only allow the best of the best work at their facility.

I was taken to Thorek Hospital for an emergency situation. I was admitted because of my symptoms. Every staff member I came in contact with was so nice and caring. I was very amazed since this usually is not the case I found at other well known hospitals. They ran tests on me to rule out serious illness. The best part was they informed me of the actual times I would be tested and explained the procedure. I am so grateful to everyone who took such great care of me. The hospital is small and maybe not fancy but for the great care I received, I would not hesitate to go there again.

This has to be the most horrid medical facility I’ve ever had the displeasure of visiting. Since my mother was initially admitted nearly 3 weeks ago she has become dehydrated, developed pneumonia, and encountered numerous ailments under the care of this «hospital». It’s becoming more difficult to have faith in the doctors under these conditions, especially with such uncouth staff. With the exception of one or two nurses (Maria is a gem), the staff has some of the worst bedside manner I’ve ever witnessed. They behave as though caring for patients is an inconvenience rather than a requirement.
My mother vomited on her bedding and not a single staff member came to assist her. I pressed her call light as well as flagged down a CNA and her nurse to no avail. I ended up grabbing new bedding out of their storage closet and changing her myself after waiting for nearly 30 minutes. When I approached the desk to ask who was supposed to be caring for her, I was brushed off by her day nurse saying they were changing shifts and the night nurse would be there in a minute. Unsurprisingly, that minute turned into about 20 more. I decided to stand in the hall and call the nurses station from my phone to get some answers. And of course the looked at me as though I’d lost it when I approached the desk yet again while still on the phone.
Through my phone call I was finally told the name of the night nurse and given the same speech about changing shifts. So does patient care completely cease when shifts change? And do I always have to call the nurses station for answers even though I’m a few feet away?
And let’s not forget the CNAs loudly and openly joking and bad mouthing patients in the halls. I’ve been up here almost daily for about 2 weeks at different times of day and I almost always manage to encounter this. It’s as though mocking the ill is a CNA requirement at this «hospital».
If you can help it, admit your loved ones to hospitals with more compassion and professionalism. This place is a disaster and does not deserve to be called a hospital.

Hospital er was empty service was ok but room was very dirty bottom of trays had like dried up fluids on it room wasn’t sweept or moped in some time, nurses were nice but more involved in gossiping about things than getting job done,

Nurses and doc. are very very irresponsible, I will not recommend anyone to stay here for any reasons. if this is the hospital ur doc is affiliated with, please change doc. Most doc here is not required to come to site and they leave it all to the nurses here. Nurses here, gosh, they absolutely don’t care much about these patients, which is very sad. Overall, if u want ur love one to be taken care of while they are hospitalized, plz don’t choose this hospital. I would give them zero star if I have the choice.

The worst. I brought my friend in who was throwing up blood. There was no one it the emergency reception area. I had to go outside and look around for someone who worked here. There was a nurse outside who was smoking and he said ‘well there should be someone there”…not helpful at all. Finally someone showed up to check us in. Then we waited a lot longer before he even got taken back.

If I could give one star I would. The worst bedside manner. I had a head injury and you have thought I got a paper cut. Meanwhile the staff jokes outside in the hallway while nothing happens. I sat in the ER for over 2 and a half hours before seeing a doctor. With an open dash on my head. Do not use this hospital!

We’ve been to the ER at Thorek twice with relatively minor problems– I had bursistis; my daughter an infected piercing. The wait was less about 10 minutes in each case. The treating physician was Board certified, a good listener, and very competent.
I’ve received a bill for one of the two visits, and it was less than expected.
I’m glad we went there rather than sitting in the waiting room at Northwestern for 3 hours.

Take the reviews/​stars with a grain of salt… who has a positive experience at a hospital?
I’ve only been here for outpatient labs. I came early in the morning with no appointment, hoping to get in as they opened so I wouldn’t have to wait. I only waited around 10 minutes to be registered. Then I went straight to the lab for an easy, professional blood draw.
My only complaint is it’s kind of a pain in the butt to get your records from here if you have a doctor elsewhere.
FREE PARKING! And no hassle with validation. Easy in and out.

Decent hospital a few miles from the lake. This place has decent size parking. Staff is friendly and accommodating, and currently they are going through some construction. This hospital has been around for quite some time… I remember driving past it with my folks when I was a kid.
BATHROOM REVIEW: This is for the bathroom in the lobby by the main entrance. The bathroom is pretty spacious and clean. It had two urinals and a stall and was very well-​kept. Sit or squat? I’d sit.