Editor;
I’d like to discuss a recent problem that I encountered at the Westcliffe Clinic.
First let me say that I’ve been seen there periodically since about 2006. I have a variety of physical problems which make it difficult for me to get “out and around” much.
I am 67, and my back has been broken in at least [five] 5 places, I had an acute attack of Peritonitis at age 27, which has caused many internal and hormonal issues. And regrettably, I have many other health issues.
In short…it’s not exactly easy for me to get around, or sit (especially on hard surfaces) for any length of time, without causing pretty severe pain from muscle spasms!
The patient chairs at the clinic are exactly the same ones that were here when I arrived years ago….and they are like sitting on a cement surface! No one has ever bothered to recover them, or add any padding, which makes any wait, and especially a long one, an excruciating experience!!
I had an appointment on April 26th at 10:40, for which I arrived at 10:20…a bit early, but the traffic was light. So I was taken back to a room with the infamous “cement” chair at approximately 10:35, and questioned by the nurse assistant about why I was there [in detail], which was for a refill on my Migraine medications…nothing else! So far so good…I told the nurse that my right hip was very painful and that it hurt to sit for any length of time.
Then I was left alone in that room for an HOUR AND A HALF until I finally couldn’t take the pain any more and decided to leave! This was at 12:05 p.m. I had been there, alone well over an hour and a half, and NOT ONE person stopped in to check on me; nor did the “doctor” show up either!!!
During the hour and a half wait, I had opened the door after about 45 minutes, and I asked the staff what was going on, and when would the “doctor” arrive? All I got were shrugs, or comments of “I don’t know” from every person on the staff. Plus, while I waited with the door open finally, I could hear a great deal of laughter and general “cutting up” coming from the rear area, by the
emergency section.
I walked (slowly) back toward that area and realized that there were no apparent emergencies as no one was in there, and the curtains were wide open, so it was quite visible. By that time, I was both in pain and furious! No one apologized, and no one explained what had happened to “delete” my appointment!
Despite all that, on the following day, I was told that they’d had a lot of emergencies that morning and was why I’d been left alone!
I was there, more or less “as ordered”, for a simple refill for Imitrex. I did not get one, and “she” INSISTED” that I had to come BACK IN again in the next day or two to get the refill! I was flatly refused a call-in or fax to my pharmacy for the medicine, and the drugstore received a flat refusal (their words), when they tried to get a “bridge” refill so I could heal a bit before going back in. I think a refill would have taken perhaps 3 to 5 minutes at the most…yet I was NOT SEEN that day at all, through no fault of mine.
I was there–where was the doctor????
I must tell you that the experience was truly infuriating, and I am very angry at the way I was treated that day, and I am still being treated by this clinic. The service has seriously gone far downhill in the years I’ve been going there. There are a number of helpful things they used to do but do no more.
Something needs to be done if the Clinic wants to stay in business, because I will absolutely NOT be going back…under any circumstances! I’ve never been treated so badly…anywhere that I have been. And I won’t put up with such disrespect now.
Connie Qualey
Custer County