Broward Health North

After a five-​month hiatus from this place, I’m back to write a more favorable review… but I so wish the circumstances were different.
As I’ve already documented here, my mother has emphysema. She’d been sick a few days prior, but didn’t want to go to the hospital… I mean, who really does WANT to go, anyway? Finally, she decided she needed medical attention, and called me to come over to her house and help my dad pack some things for her. When I arrived, she was in such bad shape that she couldn’t move or breathe, and my dad and I had no choice but to call 911. They brought her to the ER, where she was struggling so much that they decided to intubate her and put her in a medically-​induced coma. This was stressful enough, of course, but made worse by a nurse saying to me in an accusing tone, «Don’t ever let her get this bad again.» The ER doctor heard her and stopped her pretty quickly, telling her not to point fingers. I appreciated it, because the very last thing I needed right then was a guilt trip. I felt terribly enough as it was. Within a few hours, she was admitted and sent to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU).
Now, I’ve become quite accustomed to hospitals in the past few years, sadly. We had a bad experience here with my mom’s last stay in January, and dreaded her coming back to North Broward. But I have to say, the ICU staff was phenomenal. They were the most caring, supportive nurses I’ve ever encountered. With such a small amount of patients to take care of, they can spend more time with each patient and their families. They all took their time to explain to my dad and I what was going on, and kept in contact with us over the phone as well. They also encouraged us to call them day or night with questions, and gave us the direct line to the ICU. Of particular note, Yolanda and Karen were amazing. This has by far been the worst time of my life, but they made the experience less stressful than I know it could have been had the staff not been as great. I’m so grateful my mom had such wonderful people watching over her.
My mom remained sedated and on life support (ventilator) for ten days here. After a week, they asked my dad and I if we wanted her to get a tracheotomy, since they were having difficulty weaning her off the ventilator with the tubes in her mouth and down her throat. Keep in mind, I think just about anyone would do poorly in that condition (they have to wake the patient up, where they have NO idea where they are or what happened to them, and tell them to try to breathe normally while tubes and a balloon are lodged in their throat). So we gave them the go-​ahead. Two days later, they had her transferred to Kindred Hospital on Las Olas Blvd, which is an acute care facility. I do feel like they rushed her a bit out of the ICU… she could’ve used another day to heal from the tracheotomy. My concerns were validated when she suffered a high fever the very next morning after being transferred from North Broward. I’m not a doctor or a nurse, but I feel like another day could’ve prevented that from happening, since the transport process is a stressful one on a very sick patient like my mom.
Mom is at Kindred still, and I find myself wishing she was back in the SICU, if only because of the nurses there. My hope is that she makes a full recovery and we are able to go back to visit them, so she can meet the people who helped bring her back from the brink. The world could use more amazing nurses like them. I hope no one has to end up here, but if you or a loved one do, you’ll be in great hands.

An excellent ER experience for my parents who were in a car accident. Once in ICU and a regular room the staff was courteous and efficient. The issue is with the transfer to a rehab facility. They lost a bag containing my mother’s hearing aids. She is 90 years old. Repeated phone calls got no response. Once I put in a complaint on the hospital’s website I did get a call. Apparently of the 4 people and agencies invovlved all they do is wait for news from each other. First the nurse involved reported the loss to the transfer company but was conveniently out of town to follow up. The ambulance company does not respond. After another written complaint I got a patronizing call. It has been almost a month. No one wants to take responsibility for losing or replacing this $ 5000 item. Looks like I will have to resort to legal means. What a blatant disregard for patient’s property and a sad commentary on public relations.

I am here under very sad circumstances. My dad fell hit his head and has a traumatic brain injury… This is the hospital the ambulance brought him to and I am very happy they did so…
My father was given immediate evaluation and care… All of his nurses and care givers in the ICU are amazing! Especially his nurse Monica Berry. This ICU nurse saw my mom distraught and pulled up a chair and held her hand and comely talked to her and stayed by her side for over 40 minutes… Monica made sure my family was kept all together in the ICU and gave us blankets, pillows, chairs so we could all be next to my dad… There was 8 of us… My family over the years has been in and out of hospitals all across South Florida. I have never seen such compassion and care and genuine concern for my dad the way that Broward Health North has been giving him. Everyday my dad’s nurses come in and fully bathe him 2x a day. They have him on an air bed and pillows under his arms. The nurses turn and move my dad every hour to keep him comfortable… Unfortunately, my dad had to have major brain surgery. Doctor Matthew Moore and his team of doctors all worked together to try and save my dad… He’s 83, but strong… After the surgery my dad remained in a coma state which he still is in and will not recover from…
Dr. Moore and Dr. Lin throughly explained to my family step by step what is/​was happening to my dad… Dr. Lin took over an hour to spend with my family and make sure we fully understood what we were facing… The other doctors did the same thing. If we didn’t understand something then we were throughly walked through the process… I never saw nurses in a hospital ICU with so much patience… In other hospitals your lucky to get a nurse to come in right away let alone an answer…
Broward Health North is very different. When one nurses shift ends and the other takes over, the nurse leaving walks the oncoming nurse through everything they did and gave to the patient while on duty… I having been staying in the hospital around the clock so I witness all the care my dad is receiving.
It finally came down to my dad not being able to recover because of his brain injury. A hospital rep came in to discuss our options for my dad and possible hospice care. My mom and family never felt rushed or pushed in making any long term plans for my dad…
We even called in a 2^nd opinion on a neurologist … My brother is a doctor up north and was with us to be with my dad…
Sadly, we got the same opinion so for now my dad is in hospice… Everyday I walk through the ER to go outside and get fresh air… The security guards along with the ER staff are very nice and also compassionate towards me…
I go to the cafeteria several times a day to get coffee and food. For hospital food it’s not bad, and the prices are pretty good.
All in all other then my dad’s injury, my family has had a very positive experience with Broward Health North and I would definitely recommend going to this hospital…

Ok so where do I start… I’ve been vomiting and having a high fever for about 3 days or so. I decided to go into the ER because I started feeling very dizzy and the place was packed. At first everything seemed good, they moved me ahead of people once I described my symptoms but after taking blood work I sat there waiting for almost 4 hours! I overheard nurses telling patients that the rooms in the back with beds were packed and they weren’t discharging anyone back there and a good amount of people waiting that surpassed me had injuries such as a sprained ankle that were visible though mine is internal. So I knew that if I stayed sitting any longer I’d just pass out because I felt terrible and needed to be laid down but I told them «hey you guys are treating this like an urgent care, I would’ve appreciated you having told me that the ER was completely booked so I could’ve been attended properly at another hospital.» Anyways they gave me attitude because of what I said and after a while longer I asked for my blood work and the physician guy was not happy about having too much work on his desk I guess and said with attitude that he’s not gonna check it right now that he’s busy. So I just left. My advice is that unless you got shot or have visible damage DO NOT BOTHER GOING TO THIS POOR EXCUSE OF A HOSPITAL. Where they not only lack customer service but lack the space, tools, and nurses to be able to even call themselves a hospital. It’s quite sad actually. I’m sure there’s one or two nurses there who didn’t graduate from clown collage and actually wanna help people but as far as if I saw any helpful nurses… Non in sight.

I am shocked to see that someone gave this hospital a one star rating — it’s related to emergency, which I cannot speak to. My mom is here for surgery on her brain — about the scariest thing a person can go through — and I’ve had 100% confidence from the first time I called Broward North Hospital — to find out if I would be able to stay over night with her. I was on the phone within 30 seconds with someone who was able to answer my questions and she assured me that they do everything possible to accommodate overnight stays — since they know patients get well faster when they have a family member with them as much as possible.
The nurses are fantastic, and I can say that about everyone I’ve encountered, the admitting staff, the maintenance crew, the security team, the people in the cafeteria and the café… and of course, the doctors. If I had to find somethng to complain about, it is the cafeteria’s limited hours — so anyone relying on the cafeteria needs to be observant about the times. The food is great and so is the coffee. I’m a vegetarian so I was happy to see the salad bar and veggie pizza — the food I don’t eat looked fabulous too. And while I’m on that subject, the meals served to my mom all looked like home cooked food. Tonight she had ziti with meat sauce, and for lunch, she had a chicken leg with mashed potatoes and green beans.
I have lots more to say, but it’s a little personal for Unilocal — I could write a lot more about what excellent care my mom has received and the success of her procedure. My heart goes out to the family who wrote the poor review … but I have had the extreme opposite experience with Broward Health North. i cannot say enough good about this facility and the people who work here. The hospital should be proud of every one of them — clearly, they are all proud to work here. Everyone (and I mean everyone!) is up beat, extremely conscientious, and customer-​service oriented. If I could give the hospital SIX stars, I would. This is as good as it gets.

Unfortunately, I have nothing positive to say about this hospital. My mom was able to walk on her own power into ER with symptoms of dizziness, left-​side weakness, left vision problems, she spent at least 7 hours in ER to which they said they wanted to hold her for observation. They confirmed the next day she had a TIA or ischemic stroke, and after 2 more days in the hospital, she had lost complete use of her left arm and left leg. You would think that medical people know more about what to do with stroke patients, but the only thing they did as far as I know is prescribe 81 mg of aspirin. That’s baby aspirin! As anyone knows, the risk a stroke victim has of another event is high, so the doctors I talked with afterwards both wondered why they didn’t prescribe 4x that amount. So the sad part is wondering what they could’ve done to prevent the extent of the damage of the stroke or what if I could have taken my mom to a different hospital or at least have gotten a different ER and attending doctor. The sad part also was that the physical therapist who evaluated my mom on the first day of the hospital stay gave me a rather positive prognosis, but now, she is starting from scratch on learning how to stand up, walk, use the toilet, etc.