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Old 06-26-2007, 05:08 PM
 
34 posts, read 123,151 times
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Well I live in Easton and I can tell you that if I am sick I will either go to Redi Care, my family dr (st. lukes) or Warren Hospital! NOT Easton! Many people in Easton don't even go to Easton as much as they used too! They would rather go to St. Lukes or across the river to Warren Hospital, or Lehigh Valley Hospital (pending insurance). Look into them.
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Old 06-26-2007, 07:10 PM
jjj
 
168 posts, read 817,441 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattingly23 View Post
Over the weekend, had a health concern with our 20 month old son. We just moved to Palmer Township, and have chosen a new doctor in this area, but that office doesn't have our records yet, so calling their service on a Sunday wasn't an option since they don't know who we are yet. Anyway, he needed to be seen, suspected a seizure due to high fever....scarey, so we went to the closest ER. Easton Hospital. We were there for over 3 hours, and we spoke to a few people in the waiting room that had been there hours before us...so it wasn't like we all showed up at once! We saw a doctor for all of 5 minutes...and were really treated quite rudely by the nursing staff that seemed bothered that they actually had to do their JOB and care for patients.


Just wanted opinions of Easton Hospital, their ER and for future reference, what hospital and/or ER would you recommend?
If possible when needed, drive to St Lukes in Quakertown off rt 313 close to rt 309. This is the best hospital anyone in my family has ever been to as far as emergency or routine patient care. They really know how to treat people right.
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Old 06-28-2007, 04:32 PM
 
17 posts, read 103,822 times
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DO NOT EVER go to Easton...seriously I was just in the ER in March & was treated horribly! 12 hours, saw 2 different Dr's (guess they changed shifts) for all of 5 minutes. I was in horrible pain which wound up being an ovarian cyst which ruptured while I was there..the admitting person laughed at me when I said I had bad lower abdominal pain. I had to go to the nurses station b/c no one would answer the call button and when I asked for a drink was told ice chips would be okay, but had to get them myself!!(had not eaten or drank all day & due to cat scan that made me 'glow' wound up w/diarrhea) They also didn't tell me anything about the cyst, what to expect or the fact that I had not one but TWO cysts...didn't find that out until I followed up w/an ultrasound a month later. Lehigh Valley or St. Luke's are both good, I prefer LVH, but they're probably equal. Do Not go to Pocono either...they are notorious for costly mistakes. Hope your son is feeling better!
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Old 08-18-2007, 11:54 PM
 
19 posts, read 79,685 times
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Not true. Easton gets a bad rap as a for profit facility, but it has saved many jobs for the residents in the area. The hospital would of certainly closed if not for CHS. Also it is in the top 5% of hospitals rated in the country for least complications and decreased mortality rates according to healthgrades.
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Old 08-18-2007, 11:57 PM
 
19 posts, read 79,685 times
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Easton Hospital recently brought in (1 month ago) a BRAND NEW ER group of doctors to improve their service. These new MDs have decreased waiting times and improved care by 100+ percent! Very impressive, I had a friend who was in and out of the ER within an hour.
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Old 08-19-2007, 12:56 AM
 
Location: Eastern PA
1,263 posts, read 4,918,660 times
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My DH and I deal with the area ERs on a regular basis. The hospitals I would avoid in eastern PA are both Pocono and Easton.

Since this post is about Easton, I will address the concerns I've had there. The ER has been a wreck for some time, ever since all the older and established ER docs left (most of them are now at Warren). The hospital has a whole relies so much on agency/traveling nurses who do not care about patients as intimately as staff from this area do. Sure, they are superficially professional, but they are there to make a buck. My next-door neighbor has worked there for 20+ years and shares my opinion on this. His wife resigned as an RN after the same length of time because she could not stand the constant mandated overtime and dealing with inexperienced agency nurses anymore.

When I had baby #2, it was at Easton. Dr. Mann was excellent, but the nurses were constantly offering me drugs and interventions after I had specifically stated, both verbally and in writing, that these were not to be offered. I had the med and intervention-free birth I wanted, but it was a hassle. Sure, the facility is physically pretty and the nurses are nice, but when the chips were down and I needed competent breastfeeding help, I did not get that either. Since I use a family doc for my children who is not on staff there, I requested the on-call pediatrician to evaluate my son. While my insurance was clearly stated and totally pre-approved with the hospital, they had 1 doc in Peds who did not accept my insurance and attempted to bill me $800 for two extremely brief bedside exams on my perfectly normal little guy. It took many phone calls, letters and finally speaking to Mr. Catena himself before the matter was resolved - while the collections office in another state was threatening to send me to collections.

Just a few months back, my own husband was hospitalized on a med/surg floor. His co-workers and I warned him to go to St. Luke's or Lehigh Valley, but he went to Easton simply because it was closer to home. I had to be hypervigilant throughout the stay, as the nurses were at many times confused, disorganized, could not answer basic questions about the meds they were giving him, and I was all around unimpressed with his care. The discharging RN/LPN combo could not even decipher the names of his discharge meds or pronounce all of them correctly!

Many of the talented staff that have been at Easton over the years have fled in droves. If you go to any other ER in the Valley, you will see ex-Easton Hospital nurses in force. I predict this hospital's future will be doomed after St. Luke's opens their new facility near Route 33 & Freemansburg Avenue.

Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to really add details to illustrate how I formed my opinion.
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Old 08-28-2007, 08:52 PM
 
19 posts, read 79,685 times
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Again, Easton takes a long bad diatribe.I live 3 miles from Pocono M.C., but work at Easton Hospital in Maternity. The nurses and staff are the most caring and compassionate group I have ever seen. As a L & D nurse, we respect a patient's right to have a medicated free birth, but by law have to offer pain management. No one is forced, but patients have the right to be informed on all options of pain medication and maternity is no different. In all hospitals I've worked in, many patients arrive for the birth of their child after 40 weeks of pregnancy, and have not selected a pediatrician, or have not called their insurance to find which MDs at other hospitals accept their insurance. Hospitals may accept a certain insurance, but MDs are private practioniers, and under no obligation to do so. Its the patient's responsibility to learn this information. It amazes me each time that family's do not check this out, or find a pediatrician prior to arriving at the hospital. The on call pediatrician is just that, a private MD available for patients that did not pre-plan. Easton Hospital is a community hospital, with a community, family-like atmosphere. As for the agency nurses, every facility uses them, and if you review your statistics, Easton uses less than St. Lukes or LVH. As for the ER, yes there was a big problem there. However, the hospital hired a brand new ER group that has greatly reduced the waiting time, and patient satisfaction has dramatically increased. The nurses that have fled in "droves?" It was the result of a strike, and the new staff that have been hired are from such facilities as St. Lukes, LVH, Sacred Heart, Warren, Moses Taylor, CMC, St. Peters, RWJH, JFK, NY, Philly, and many more. Easton Hospital is listed in Healthgrades as one of the top 50 hospitals in the Country with the lowest mortality and complications of any hospital. I have been a RN for over 20+ years, and chose to work there for all these reasons, and with the nursing shortage today, had my share of choices. If you want to be a number, by all means choose a larger facility, if you want to be remembered, choose a community one.
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Old 08-29-2007, 12:32 AM
 
Location: Eastern PA
1,263 posts, read 4,918,660 times
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I don't intend to debate any more with you on this subject, but you need to know I do not feel that your constant Easton cheerleading is warranted. That's why I posted in the first place. This forum is to educate folks who may be new to the area or seeking knowledge, and I feel they need the truth as I see it in addition to your opinion. Of course you like it - you work there. Even if you live right near Pocono - there aren't that many acute care hospitals within easy commuting distance for you anyhow, and we all know PMC is horrific on so many levels. Labor/Delivery/Postpartum is one of the better departments at Easton from what I have heard from one of your part-time RNs whom I trust.

In the time since my last post, I realize that I personally know of 23 RNs who no longer choose to work there for various reasons, and only 5 of those mentioned the strike. The new administration and constant changing of the upper-level management in various departments has created total chaos in the opinions of those who have left.

I have been involved in healthcare for 20 years in this area as well. I had everything 100% pre-certed for my son's birth and still had a HUGE hassle. BTW, Cornelio Catena was brand new back then but at least he took the time to call me personally and rectify my situation. I have a lot of respect for that. When I stated in a signed birth plan approved by my OB that I do not wish to be offered pain relief - then honor my wishes. My signature backed them up. The nurses at that time were not too supportive of natural birth - let's face it, it is easier as a nurse to take care of a floor full of drugged-up women snoozing through their labors paralyzed from the waist down by an epi.

I don't really care what the numbers are on the agency nurses - the fact remains that my husband was given substandard and inattentive care by nurses who obviously did not care, period. He told them repeatedly that the IV site needed to be changed - he ended up with a nasty IV site that could have been prevented. He finally had to threaten to remove it himself before the lazy RN assigned to him decided to actually do something. I know good bedside manner when I see it, and they did not have it. The visiting nurse who followed up with us at home was phenomenal, as the hospital nurses should have been. When the LPN cannot pronounce the name of a common antibiotic to give the discharge instructions nor understand the difference between q.d. and b.i.d. there is a definite problem! There was no "community hospital" atmosphere other than the wonderful gentleman who was manning the front desk when I arrived to visit. Dr. B. Reddy was also excellent, as were the OR staff and nurses. However, the anesthetist on my husband's case was incompetent and continued the procedure even though anesthesia was not achieved properly, telling him to merely "hold still." He finally achieved a good level of sedation in the PACU, real nice. All the good anesthesiologists from years ago are nowhere to be found these days.

If I want a community hospital that truly feels caring, I personally would go to Warren. I have also gotten a personal community-type feeling at LVH-Muhlenberg and the staff has been very attentive, plus you have the advantage of being associated with LVH and their cutting-edge medicine for this area.

That's all I have to say about Easton Hospital. As for me and my family, thankfully we have awesome insurance and are not going back to Easton again.
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Old 08-29-2007, 10:06 AM
 
35 posts, read 152,097 times
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Thank you Karen. I totally agree that the staff was rude and completely lacking in the caring one would expect from a healthcare provider, especially when the patient is a young child.....and the only "feeling of community" we got was from the people in the waiting room, since we were together for hours.
I am the mother of 5, and have seen my fair share of hospitals. That ER trip to Easton was by far the worst.
Since my original post, almost anyone I have asked has told me to go to St Lukes.....including the staff at our family doctor, which is owned by Easton Hospital!
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Old 08-29-2007, 11:44 PM
 
19 posts, read 79,685 times
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I am a cheerleader for my patients, as well as a professional. I have worked in hospital settings for over 20+ years. Yes, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Its just not one I share. I chose to work at Easton, and could have had my pick of other hospitals both in PA and NJ, where my family and I originally came from, and I am very picky. I think everyone has their share of bad experiences or have heard stories from individuals about every hospital in the area. The fact is this hospital I chose to work for seemed like a caring facility, and continues to prove that to me. and p.s. its not easier taking care of a drugged up patient as Karen states above, I didn't go into nursing for that and find that quite offensive. I enjoy my job everyday even after all these years and find great pleasure and personal satisfaction as well as consider it a privledge to attend a birth, and support a woman's decisions on medications. Again as a patient advocate, nurses present all information to a patient including pain options. Birthplans are written well ahead of time, and the many moms that go through a non medicated birth, I support, as well as those of us who may require a little relief from labor. It becomes a woman's personal choice.

Last edited by PoconoNurse; 08-30-2007 at 01:13 AM..
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