St Alexius Medical Center

I had my daughter here in August and for the most part I had a really good stay. I went through 4 nurses during a long labor and ¾ were very nice and empathetic, always making sure I was comfortable. The other one was almost at the end of her shift and very snippy. The maternity nurses were super nice, only had one bad one there too. She just seemed really annoyed from beginning of her shift till end. Special shout out to their anesthesiologist though! Very kind and personable. Very very good at what he does! Overall, aside from a couple crabby nurses, I really enjoyed my first delivery :)

My recent experience is with the ER and main hospital (ICU) and cardiology unit. My mother in law was admitted for a stroke. The doctor came in and told us we needed to make a decision on giving her a certain medication (tPA) which needed to be given w/​in the first 3 hours or it could not be done. First, they had not confirmed a stroke (which is normally done by CT scan or MRI). They just assumed based on her sypmtoms. I get that they need to figure things out quickly when it comes to this. What I had a problem with is the unprofessionalism of the staff during our family discussions to figure out what was best. The nurses stood by the end of my mother in law’s bed and literally looked at each other and rolled their eyes while we were discussing what to do. That set the tone for the rest of her stay at this hospital. Nurses fumbling with machines, trying to get stuff entered into the computer, making mistakes, etc. Not to mention the unorganized chaos of the emergency room waiting area. They have a revolving door and then about 10 feet away is a desk with two people to check you in or ask why you are here. There is a sign place right in front of the door that says «due to privacy, please wait here until you are called». Ok, got it. but then why are there a line of chairs in front of the desk area where you can see and hear everything anyway. Makes no sense to me. So then what happens when the line gets so backed up that you are literally standing in the doorway area with nowhere else to go. Again, makes no sense. The whole hospital staff from start to finish seemed very unorganized and chaotic. Not what you want from a hospital. I am glad I have a better hospital closer to my house. I will say that my mother in law is home and doing well – hopefully won’t have to go back here anytime soon. I’ve also had other bad experiences with relatives that were here. My grandmother somehow got a broken hip during her stay here. they didn’t know how it happened. Hmmm…

Waited over 2 in a half hours in the ER. To top it off a lady that came in 30 minutes after me knew someone who worked in the ER, pulled some strings and she went in before myself and another woman. I was in a bad car accident, the ER nurse said she would give me pain meds and it is now an hour later and still havent recieved my pain meds. I will NOT recommend this hospital to anyone nor will I be coming back. Rude and Uncaring doctor and staff! I asked for my discharge papers and went home!!!

Everyone in this Hospital is so nice and willing to help you. Every time I got lost someone working there would walk me to my destination.
My sister had her baby there, and she said said the same thing. The best quality service you can get from a hospital.
The small gift shop was aweseme. They have the most unique gifts for almost anyone. The laday day was so nice and patience on Sunday. I would probably come back to gift shop just to get something.
The whole hospital has that modern new look and easy to get almost anywhere.

It’s a hospital. It’s not fun for anybody.
Just realize that if they are busy that you are going to wait. Staff seems overworked and understaffed but they are nice and do their best to make your stay as best as possible.

This hospital has the WORST housekeeping ever! The nursing staff and physicians are EXCELLENT but the patients rooms are not cleaned. My son stayed in the ICU & Peds department for a few days a couple of months ago. I called 3 times for someone to come and clean the room and empty out the trash & no one came until the day he was being discharged. The night before discharge a nurse called housekeeping herself and no one came. It’s sad that such a beautiful hospital with amazing, caring and outstanding nursing staff is kept dirty. A dirty room is never okay.

Pregnant with possible appendicitis and still sitting in the waiting area after THREE hours!!! This hospital is a joke. I am honestly going to change my insurance so I can make sure not to give birth here. Worst hospital ever.

They are always super awesome here at St Alexis. I came in for a badly twisted ankle. They took care of me. I saw Dr Kmetuk, goes by Dr K. She was awesome! Gave me crutches, ice bag, ace bandage, prescription, care instructions, a note for work and a referral to follow up with a foot Dr. Quick and easy, she took care of everything!

I was in St Alexius for three days on the cardiac floor, starting out in the ER. Every single person I came in contact with here was EXCEPTIONAL. If I could, I would name each and every one of them and give them the recognition they deserve. And that starts with the Tranporters, by the way. Friendly, professional, thoughtful are just a few of the superlatives that apply. From the floor staff to the nuclear medicine department, from the ER thru food service.
I have to believe this is a great place to work because that positive friendly attitude usually starts at the top.
Thank you St. Alexius Medical Center.

I went out of my way to have my first child here, almost 5 years ago because I grew up in the area. Big mistake! They gave me a customer service survey an hour after I arrived, me being naïve gave them great ratings because at that point there were no issues.
As soon as that was done the nurses took their masks off, they were rude, commenting on how there will be no screaming (this is labor & delivery), very cold and uncaring. I made it clear that I would never have another child there. The maternity ward nurses were much better, one even told me she heard stories about the labor & delivery nurses and their bad treatment of patients. I always felt cheated about my experience, especially since they gave me the survey at the beginning. Beware ladies, do your research because it will stay with you long after it’s over.

Don’t have time for a long review-​but the moral of the story is: Saint Alexis Hospital claims to have a large women’s and children’s hospital that is pediatric friendly, but the bottom line is they don’t want to take care of handicapped children. So if you are a parent with a handicapped child or a child that is medically fragile, think twice before bringing them here. They’re extremely bothered by complicated children. The staff in the ER will shy away, and will not keep you updated, let alone provide basic care. They will hold you in their pediatric ER –then tell you they’re closing– then send you to their adult ER where no one will check on you for hours. Then when the shift changes, they’ll send you to Lutheran General or Lurie Children’s Hospital for a problem they could’ve taken care of in the first place. The whole time you are in the ER they will talk about you at the nurses station. They will talk about what a pain in the butt you are, and all the while, you are able to hear them complaining. However, if you go out to the nurses station to ask for some help, you’re not able to get anyone-​they scatter like cockroaches.

DO NOT HAVE YOUR BABY AT THIS HOSPITAL!!! I gave birth to twin boys via c-​section and I was adamant about breastfeeding ONLY. I told all the nurses to NOT feed my babies formula, and in addition, there were little signs on my babies’ cribs that said «NO FORMULA». I wanted my babies to stay in my room with me so I could be close to them when I needed to nurse them. The nurses told me it would be «safer» for the babies to be in the nursery because I could not get out of bed yet after my surgery. They promised to bring me my babies for every feeding. That was total BULLSH#&! During the 1^st night, I woke up and noticed I had been sleeping for 6 hours! I immediately called a nurse because I was so worried that my babies were hungry. The nurse brought me 1 baby and I noticed he had a taupe — colored stain around the neck area of his white pajama shirt. I asked what it was, and she replied, probably a formula stain. WHAT??? I was so pissed. The nurses were feeding my babies formula after they were told NOT to!!! No wonder I had problems breastfeeding! The next day I asked 3 times for someone to help me or show me how to get my babies to properly latch and nurse. They finally told me the lactation specialist was busy and would come later. Well she came 24 frickin hours later. She spent a whole 10 minutes with me and left. It was a joke. One nurse told me I would just have to accept the fact that I couldn’t nurse my babies. I was devastated. My milk dried up a few weeks later. WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. Then they gave me discharge papers even though my babies needed to stay a few more days for jaundice issues. I told them I wasn’t comfortable going home because I had a hard time sitting up and getting out of bed after my surgery. I pleaded with them for 1 more day. They told me I would be fine. Thank God my OB/​GYN checked in on me that day because he extended my hospital stay for 1 more night. I never got a 2^nd chance of giving birth, because twins are enough for this mama. But to this day I feel devastated that I was never able to breastfeed and that I had zero support.
St. Alexius Suk$!!!

HOSPITAL POLICY CONCERNING PATIENTS ON ANTI-​CORAGULANTS AND DAY SURGERY NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.
If you or a loved one is 70, on Coumadin and with a heart condition DO NOT have «Day Surgery.»
My husband went in for a simple bi-​lateral hernia (DAY SURGERY). In short, he almost bled to death with the medication they gave him and they did not monitor his blood chemistry close enough before or after surgery.
He passed out two days after surgery, was rushed to hospital and had to have NINE UNITS of blood.
A older person on Coumadin, with a heart condition should have their blood monitored closely two days before, during the day of surgery and two days after surgery AS A IN PATIENT.
My husband almost died, literally. The emergency room staff is excellent as they worked on him fiendishly for twelve hours before he was stable enough to move to ICU. The Emergency Room staff is excellent, bar none.
My grip is with Administration and whomever decided he (and any 70 year old on blood thinner) can safely go through «DAY SURGERY.»
SO If you or a loved one is older, on a blood thinner, DO NOT let this hospital, the doctors or insurance tell you that Day Surgery is a viable option. You are gambling on your love one’s life.
The ER and ICU staff was excellent. They were kind, they were more than heroic (I’m sure a multi-​million dollar law suit might have been in the back of their mind if my husband had died).
People on any blood thinner should be CLOSELY MONITORED.
Please spread this as far and wide as possible. If you love someone that is on blood thinning medicine demand they be a in-​patient and their blood chemistry closely monitored.
End note: If these folks had treated my husband as a in patient and done monitor his blood properly (in a hospital setting) for two days before and two days after surgery (4 days) they could have saved themselves the cost of 15 hospital days and 11 rehab days.
DO NOT USE DAY SURGERY IF YOU ARE ON BLOOD THINNERS. You need to have your blood closely monitored.
My husband was at a «perfect health» weight and has exercised 5 out of 6 days for over 40 years so at 70 he was healthier than most 30 year olds. He survived only because he was in PEAK body health for a 70 year old.
BE WARNED.

I went for lab work here because it was the closest location near my doctors office. I was pleasantly surprised. The hospital itself is huge and very nice inside. I did not know where to go originally but the friendly staff directed me to where I had to go. Then I had to register and that was a fast and easy process. Then I was escorted back and had my blood drawn. The tech was friendly and did a really good job. Then I was offered orange juice and escorted to cardiology for my ekg. I got my ekg in a timely process and the tech was also very friendly. Overall it was a very positive encounter.

If I ever have another illness, I will not be coming here. There was mass confusion and the insincerity and even rudeness of the nursing staff made a miserable time even more loathing.
Initially, I came in to the ER for extreme stomach pain that had spread to my back and lower neck. I told them several times the pain was inside my stomach, not my back, but they decided to just take x-​rays and a urinalysis to make sure I wasn’t pregnant for the x-​rays. This is important later!
They found nothing on the x-​rays, never took vitals (like my temperature or pulse), and treated me almost as if I was just there crying to get pain killers. After about 5 hours of doctors and nurses hem-​hawing around, they decided it was a back strain and sent me on my way with pain meds and advice that ‘if it gets worse, your kidneys are failing and you should go see a doctor’… Hello? Couldn’t that have been checked in the urine test?
So, hoping it was just a strain but still skeptical, I took my pain medicine home and tried to get some rest. The next day I was feeling even worse even with the pain medicine, so I set up an appointment with a GP who was affiliated with the hospital. He has an independent practice, but I believe he assists in surgeries here. He is an amazing doctor and I love him dearly. I left to see the doctor, and by the time my husband had carried me in, I was shaking so badly and so cold my lips had turned blue and I was nearly falling out of my chair in the waiting room. The doctor hurried to see me and took a urine test, and sure enough, it wasn’t back pain or my kidneys. I had a bacterial infection in my blood stream. The doctor told me if I had come even one day later I could have died from the infection.
So, I was rushed from the doctor’s office to the hospital where he had arranged me a room. It took them about 30 minutes to even get me processed in to their system, and even then, now alone without my husband, I had to stand at an intake counter to give information and set up billing. Exactly what I wanted to be doing with a 103* fever. After another 30 minutes of prepping myself to be mauled by this place’s atrocious billing, I was taken to my room.
The nurses were prompt in arriving (it was late afternoon so I assume all the morning rush was quieted) and taking my information. It took them about an hour to get all my background information and finally decide what to do with me. I was in horrific pain and dreading the impending failure of my organs. At long last they took another urine sample and brought me some fever reducers and an IV. The nurses that day were very kind and explained everything as best they could given the limited information we had at that point, but it took them FOREVER to get anything done. On my first day, I chalked it up to being a busy hospital and tried to be patient. But the first day was probably the only «good» day.
From there on out, but only during the day time shift, the nurses were rude, condescending, and SLOW. So, so, so incredibly slow. I would page a nurse for pain reliever or to fix my IV or assist me to the bathroom, but it took them 30 minutes to an hour to respond to any calls. And once they responded, it took them close to an hour to return with whatever I asked for. So I had to get in the habit of asking for things 2 hours in advance of when I guessed I might need them. I was delirious, sick, and in pain, and managing a schedule to accommodate the nurse’s speed was outrageous to me.
And it only got worse. I was with new nurses every day, and by the third day the nurses I had were not only slow, but also very, very rude. They had the nerve to argue with me over whether or not I should be taking fever reducers. With my temperature at 102*. I’m not a doctor, but I believe common sense says having a fever is not good and does damage your internal organs (especially the brain.)
The doctors I had were all stellar, and the nurse techs were amazing as well, but with the exception of the speedy, cheerful, and kind night shift nursing staff, I cannot see myself coming here for treatment again. The pain was so outrageous and I felt neglected whenever the sun was up. I don’t know if the staff here are vampires or just total d-​nozzles during the day but it was truly a miserable experience. Being chastised for taking pain medicine when my organs were practically shutting down made me feel really inhuman. It was not a dignified experience.
To top it off, on my 2^nd to last day, I got a call on my hospital phone while I was sleeping that woke me up. Who was it who called? Why, it was the financial department asking me how I wanted to set up billing arrangements!
A hospital willing to wake up a patient on morphine and heavy antibiotics with an average temperature of 102 to get a bill worked out is not a hospital that cares much for their patient’s well-​being. I guess as long as they keep me alive I’ll have to pay the bill? Just kill me next time then!

If the rating system allowed for giving less then a 1 star review this place would receive it. The total bill I received from this hospital for the less then 20 hours I was under their care exceeds by almost $ 5000 the bill I received from Rush Presbyterian Hospital (Top Ten Hospital in the Country) for the two nights and two days I spent in Rush’s Neurological Intensive Care ward. They use a billing system that seems more like a mob owned establishment where everyone is an independent contractor so they bill you separately for the same services. I recommend avoiding this place unless you have no option except dying because you will need to mortgage your house to pay for limited care. Going to this place is just begging to be hit with thousands of dollars in bills without the successful treatment to go with it.

I went to Day Surgery to have a procedure done there. (I am pretty sure that everyone who has surgery goes through Day Surgery.)
The check-​in staff was great and they explained the procedure to me. The surgeon knew his stuff and made me and my family feel at ease.

I’ve seen my share of ER’s. My family and friends joke that we have a wing named after us at the Good Shepherd Hospital ER. My kids have a habit of getting either really sick or really hurt after their amazing pediatrician is gone for the night.
I spent 8 minutes in the ER waiting for someone to take my daughter back to see her boyfriend, who was in a car accident earlier that night, and was taken to St Alexius via ambulance. I spent 35 minutes standing in the vestibule area between the doors and the revolving doors waiting for someone to come get my daughter and take her back to see her boyfriend. After my initial 8 minutes, I couldn’t take one more minute in the actual waiting room, not that the vestibule is much better, but at least I felt like there was a wall between me and the dirt and grime that was in the ER.
St Alexius Medical Center is the dirtiest, most unorganized, disgusting ER I have ever seen… and the staff is rude and uncaring. It reminded me of a commercial for an ER in a third world country… or a tv show about the zombie apocalypse. It was so gross. I saw and heard things I will never be able to un-​see and un-​hear.
**** Edited to add: my review, in no way, reflects how I feel about the actual hospital. My son and my grandmother spent many days and nights at St Alexius hospital and I never had a bad experience with their care. The hospital is great, the ER is tragic.

I wish I could give this place a good review, but the ICU nurses and doctors here were so mean. Actually, there was one nurse who was nice and willing to show care for the patient, but the rest were acting like they didn’t want to be there. They talked down to the patient as if he were a burden to them. Don’t they realize that they are there to take care of the patients? Isn’t that what their job descriptions are? I was appalled at their behavior and so was the patient. The patient checked out prematurely from the ICU because he couldn’t handle the negative attitudes of the staff there. Ridiculous hospital!

Lately, our family has been doing it’s share of ‘elder care’. Lately, most of it seems to have fallen upon me and my cousin. Lately, she and I sort of support each other when bedlam erupts. Enter St. Alexius ER.
We rolled my Aunt in on a Saturday afternoon in a pretty dehydrated state, and promptly her own personal wheel chair was commandeered by another patient. We hoped this was not an omen.
The RN assigned to us was pleasant and had actually taken care of her on her last visit. Step One: get the IV going. My Aunt is what you might call ‘a tricky stick’; she and all things needle like do not do well. We waited an hour for the IV to be started. When our nurse made an attempt or 2; it was a no can do. She called for reinforcements in the form of a pleasant phlebotomy tech. She managed to draw 2 small tubes for blood testing. They called someone working on the 4^th floor on another set of geriatric veins.
Apparently things weren’t going any better on the 4^th floor; so a hand off occurred to yet another phlebotomy tech; he did 3 needle sticks to drip blood into a test tube for more testing. Our original RN came back and managed vein entry. Hail Mary: finally some hydration for the poor woman but next time I will just do it myself.
Our next encounter came in the form (and I say that glibly) of an ER attending physician. Not only was he the most disinterested MD but he must have been the most popular: he was interrupted on his cell 5 times, then kept leaving us, to see to others. Were we triaged? Were we getting turfed? Hard to tell. At some point, he spent 3 minutes with us. Then on to the radiology tech.
This young woman was as cool as a cucumber and apparently had no smiling muscles in her facial structure. She rolled my Aunt away without a backward glance; we were glad she was not one of the phlebotomy team. As time continued to pass my cousin and I managed to hit the dregs of the waiting room coffee urn.
Our unhappy patient was finally rolled back; muttering under her breath how she hated being roughed up in Radiology. And then we waited … and waited … and waited. No, it was not busy. By 7 pm, she gets her diagnosis of a UTI with an invitation for a 23 hour admit.
At this point, our RN assures us that a room is being arranged. (We are not amateurs; this will take hours.) So we leave her to check on my mother who was lamenting the situation and on her 27^th Rosary.
At 9 pm, armed with a couple of decent lattes (thank God) we breezed past the ER secretary. No sooner had we cleared the doors when a security expert was hot on our tail. Amazingly, my Aunt was gone; taken to a room; this was an all time record.
When we were reunited; no antibiotic on board yet. Her assigned RN was a nice guy and took a nice long history. She got her antibiotic 10 hours after her admit. By then, my cousin and I had sustained ourselves with 25 raisins split equally and 1 pack of exceptionally stale gum. They had hot water for tea on the unit; we supplied our own tea bags. They did offer stale graham crackers.
When we came to take her home the next night; not only did she have a gigantically swollen lip that no one noticed; but her care kit was untouched, unopened, and unused. Though documented as having been completed, she was unwashed, and had no assistance with the food she received.
The RN assigned, though apologetic was unfazed. The Charge RN did a tap dance and tried to pass the buck. And the sad part is, the bill for these shenanigans will come faster than any care she received and will more than likely include charges for incomplete care. I had best not mutter about Obamacare.
My Aunt is a sweetie; her response was for her daughter and her niece to never trouble, trouble. It’s so sad, but so true that in this day and age you had best have someone with a medical background in your family to be in your corner when trouble arises. For our family, that person is me. Our experience over a very short time frame was less than stellar. Not only should their patients be cleaned up but their act needs to be cleaned up. Every patient is an important patient.