Health Grader A To F.
Yelp
Zero stars for NWMH patient relations office meant to resolve issues, but instead uses inaccurate paperwork to close cases that have been active & unaddressed for years. I dealt with 4 managers : Cary, Mark, Marco A. & Eileen Johnson for ~3 years.
The first time at patient relations I wanted to know how to change medical records*** & spoke to Casey S. who told me [just to get rid of me] that I could go in front of the board & they'd make the decision to amend. I took 2 weeks to think about this because one of the "minor" diagnosis (2015) is speech inverse disorder & didn't feel comfortable speaking to a board of people, but did decide to give it a go. I returned & stated intentions & was told that wasn't a thing. "No idea why Casey S. would say that!" To get rid of me! Now, at least alerted to the fact honesty isn't a priority here.
***Dr. Feng at Stone (psychiatry) refused to record SI (suicidal ideations) when I reported it after two miserable meeting with her & Dr. Goldman, her mentor at the time, as well as inaccurate information about Rx & a 9-week focus on my race & adoption.
FENG : Did you feel different growing up [being adopted]?
ME : No.
How can I when all my siblings are adopted? Also, we got out of a 3rd world country [at the time] & felt lucky, not different, but the answer wasn't accepted. She asked to speak to my parents not being specific why & took 9 weeks to do so. During sessions she pressed the issue & when she finally made the call instead of sharing her findings, she told me I could pick up my records & read about it there. I entered NWMH in 2015 with changes in cognition that included reading so now instead of speaking to me about it, she's taking advantage of a disability which I identified & shared with her a steep rise of anxiety, telling her this the problem with our interactions is a preprepared conclusion & disregard to clear sensory issues. Throughout I had the sense her record-keeping wasn't honest & I'll explain that more when I review her & Goldman.
Patient relations is in the same room as records & with any trauma or ptsd, navigating new spaces can be very difficult, but I found going back here once I was dismissed (see pic of letter from Feng still writing inaccuracies) helped dampen the stress of that moment when she refused to discuss the conversations with my mom describing it as "strange." Neurology used to be located in the same building (now down the street connected to a Stan's Donuts), but fear of running into Curran (neurologist) was high & affected ability to leave my house. I prepared weeks in advance to follow-up in person & sometimes backed out. This experience definitely confirming prolonged exposure therapy is the most effective way to treat ptsd.
In January 2021 after PT, I went to patient relations to follow-up with Eileen regarding two letters she offered to send to managers overseeing Curran & Feng to explain the aftermath of their decisions, since emails about her progress went unanswered, but instead I was threatened by head of security Ty P., who also takes all complaints about security (that's nice!) that I'd be arrested by CPD for trespassing. I was frozen to seat, sweating with chronic pain flare-ups & used my voice to drown out their voices. I use social media to share how environment affects PNS/SNS/endocrine system since ptsd (fight/flight/freeze) is biological & I started broadcasting LIVE which helped to me avoid blacking out since feeling connected to something bigger than the moment happening to you is essential to remind body, you are safe. Stay here.
Eileen confirmed the number of complaints I filed & it was not the same. They were two short & an issue imho. Before I found out about that, Cindy (thank you!) offered an email confirmation & that helped moved things along since Eileen called October 2020 stating, "special cases" are sent to her. Interestingly during that Jan '21 final visit, I asked for an email confirmation & was told "they don't do that," so I decided to wait for her meeting to end. Can't help to wonder if one role of patient relations is to create new policies to protect themselves as issues with communication arise instead of making improvements as Eileen suggested in her final letter to me. I'll dive more deeply into that in a future review.
In conclusion, I dated this guy back in 2009 who worked in web design & would tell me if companies didn't want to deal with the public they could simply not put any contact or customer service info on their websites. This long, drawn out experience reminds me of those words. A hospital is a company & NWMH has successfully created a department that has a CONTACT US link, but with no actual solution when doctors take advantage of their patients/clients.
STONE REVIEW :
https://www.yelp.com/biz/norma-and-ida-stone-institute-of-psychiatry-galter-pavilion-chicago-2? hrid=Fs7pLBhERnsAA4FtXSrB7g&utm_campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)