Huntsville Hospital vs Crestwood

[GentleVoice]

I've been here since Crestwood was a little backwater clinic with beds in West Hsv. i've never known anyone that had a good experience there other than the occasional plastic surgery or broken bone.
I was horrified at the care my mother received in Crestwood ER two years ago.. she had a stroke and was confused and told the ambulance to take her there.. (I think her brain was screaming "Not Crestwood" and it got garbled.) There was one other person in the ER and it was about 11pm. The bathroom was trashed and stayed that way for the hours I was there, notified them twice. Alarms were going off on the equipment she was hooked up to constantly, except no one came..and when they did, they showed me how to stop it when it went off. Right. <snort> The poor kid across the hall had an allergic reaction to a shot they gave him and they almost lost him by ignoring him and his father.
ya know the stroke drug they need to give pronto? Not even discussed. Maybe a doctor might have discussed it with me, had we seen one, but several hours later, I had her transferred to HH.
They may be ok for plastic surgery and such, but I'd never take a sick person there. We swear by HH.

[SarahBellum]

I guess Crestwood is hit or miss. Had a relative go there with chest pains since it was the closest and they took excellent care of him. My FIL fell ill with an infection and we waited at HH emergency for nearly an hour then were told it would be quite a while before he'd see a doctor. We left for Crestwood where he saw a doctor in minutes and had surgery within the hour which probably saved his life. He loved the care he got there and the staff was very nice and helpful to the family. His room was very clean and pleasant.

Over the last year I had a couple of procedures at HH that required overnight stays. I can't complain about a thing there. Great staff and it was as comfortable as a hospital stay could be.

[CoreLysium]

Oh, reading your post, Gentle, I realized I did have a pretty bad ER visit with them about 10 years ago. I had damaged my back and the first ER doc I got wanted me to lie flat. She even pushed on me as I screamed in pain to try to do it. She was quickly replaced.

I didn't have to complain. I think everyone knew something seriously wrong was happening.

[JJ270]

I will never go back to HH in Huntsville for emergencies. It took almost 3 hours to see a doctor.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by nerdtron

We had a baby at HH a few months ago and we'll be trying Crestwood next time (assuming there is a next time). The Mother Baby rooms are the size of my work cubicle and the nurses were hit or miss. It wasn't a bad experience, but I've heard good things about delivering at Crestwood.

Daughter had her first at HH, and they were bringing her the baby to nurse at all hours, even after she asked them to bottle feed so she could get a little sleep. She was exhausted - no wonder the baby cried, she couldn't produce any milk!
Next baby came at the new HH in Madison - night and day difference. The rooms were still small, but not as small as HH. By then, both she and her DH were HH employees, and he already knew a number of nurses at Madison.

Doesn't HH own Crestview now? They own every other hospital in north Alabama.

[zenjenn]

My take away from a couple hospital experiences and word from nurse friends...

If you have a very routine need, like you need a few stitches or a suspected hairline fracture x-rayed, Crestwood can be preferable as it is less crowded, possibly more convenient for your primary care physician, less of an ER/urgent care wait.

But if you at ALL think you might need the next tier of care, Huntsville Hospital all the way.

I've never known anyone that had a good experience there (ed. Crestwood) other than the occasional plastic surgery or broken bone.

I once broke a bone severely and the EMT asked me which I wanted to go to. I wasn't sure.. I didn't know the break was severe at the time, and I had a brief thought that.. maybe Crestwood would be better.. could get me in and out of there quicker than at HH. But I chose HH, and I'm glad I did.

That said, my ER experience was horrible. They left me languishing in agony without any pain meds for hours. It was a busy night and they were understaffed and I guess I was just triaged out of notice or something. (I don't think the ER nurses quite realized how bad my break was) They left me without a nurse call button and I had to call my husband (who was out of state) on his cell to get him to call the hospital and advocate for me on the phone. Bleech!

However, once the severity of the break was identified and I was transferred out of the ER, wow, I would not have wanted to be at Crestwood. I received amazing care at the orthopedic center at HH. A few hours of neglect and pain (and it was excruciating - worse than childbirth) in the ER was worth being in a position to get the right care on site. Loved my doctor, the staff, the post-op.. all of it once I got out of the ER.

And from what I have heard from other parents, when it comes to children, HH hands-down, because of the Pediatric ER. Apparently not at all the same experience as the regular ER.

[Carolf123]

I had a bad experience with the nursing staff at Crestwood after ankle surgery. They didn't really care other than what they had to do to get by.