Upstate Community Hospital

I love it here. Workers are all nice friendly and professional. For hospital food they really have good meals. Not home cooking but it's way better than some fast food places. Recommend 100%.

This is a review specifically for the "Upstate Family and Preventative Medicine" This office is located in suite 3M. This office has been fine for me until pretty recently. Some staff has shifted around and now I've been continuously baffled at some of the attitudes and decisions taking place there. It's funny that "preventative" is in the name because in all honesty they are not interested in preventing anything and shrug off any potential issues because I'm not sitting there dying in front of them. I just went in today to request blood work and some opinions of my reoccurring lower back pain that's been on and off for about a decade and has been recently getting worse. The nurse asked me what she would even label this appointment, implying that I'm fine. She ended up writing "patient wants blood work for possible back pain". She may have not meant anything by it but why say "possible" about twice a year I can't even walk. The blood work I requested was also irrelevant to the back pain. My doctor was a bit dismissive as well and suggested that I'm fine. He was nice though and attempted to explain his reasoning for certain responses which I always appreciate. They have done this weird thing where they basically say "well you look fine" in a round a round about way. Sure I look healthy but I'm trying to address issues early before they are chronic or unsolvable....again I want PREVENTATIVE medicine. I asked for blood work which he initially wasn't even planning on doing and said that his supervising doctor may not "approve it". Hilarious considering IM PAYING FOR IT. The supervising doctor agreed to the blood work but denied 5-10 muscle relaxers to use on an as needed basis during these random debilitating back spasms. I questioned why she would deny this and my primary didn't really know so he went in to talk to her again and she denied it again. I have no addiction history and no abuse history. I wasn't even aware that muscle relaxers could be addictive. I was prescribed 10 about 6 years ago and I just took the last one during a spasm last month. Not exactly an abuser lol. She didn't provide any kind of explanation either. I can and will easily go and get them at an ER and her decision to not actually treat me with the only thing that has ever worked was baffling. Her suggestion was that if I can't move from back pain that I should hop in my car and drive there for a visit.....hilarious. Lastly, they have taken on way too many patients. Currently appointments are about 2 1/2 weeks out. So it seems like you can no longer use them if you're sick. My primary claims you can get same day but that was absolutely not the case for me when I called both times, one of the times during an active back issue that was keeping me from walking around. Unfortunately there a massive shortage of doctors in Syracuse so they can get away with being dismissive and refusing safe treatment just for the sake of doing it.

Absolutely reprehensible "care" in the Emergency Department. 4½ hours in the hallway outside of the nurses station, and my 90 yr old mother was not acknowledged as a living, breathing human. Disgraceful. She went in via ambulance for a possible hip fracture, and we left before she saw anyone after 4½ hours. Steer clear, and go to SOS PLUS for orthopedic issues.

I have to preface this with the nursing staff was fantastic. My issue is the hospital had no communication with me as I was trying to set up plans to be released from the hospital for 3 days and then all of a sudden boom hey we're gonna to kick you to the curb with no forewarning or notice so I could I arrange anything very sad to treat your patients. Let alone they wouldn't give me the drugs they prescribed me because I didn't have a cc on me

When we first got into a room, two men who worked at upstate were talking about their bonus and how much they don’t want to work because of taxes. This went on for 40 minutes or so, and no they weren’t on break ! Nurses seemed not to care, very insensitive, dr was competent, but we waited over 4 hours. Room was grubby and dirty. Not a good experience, just not!

I want to preface that the hospital itself was filled with 90% amazing physicians, and all the other staff was great. I’m a complicated patient in terms of my health history and many other aspects. I had to have almost two back to back ED visits, the second resulting in admittance. Because I use a buprenorphine patch for pain management (the first time I did not bring it up as it wasn’t necessarily as relevant) I was given red flag treatment by the hospital upon this second visit. Buprenorphine in high doses is used for substance use disorder. It’s used in doses between 8000-16000 micrograms a day for this. The patch releases 480 micrograms in a day I use, a minute amount. Upon this second visit and admittance, a hospitalist who was very young came and was acting weird when I asked why medication could not be administered when every physician prior had given the okay. She did not give an answer and I told my nurse I could sense the dishonesty (it’s my profession to notice things like this). Anyways, a younger hospital came in and explained the buprenorphine triggered an automatic chart problem and if I didn’t fix it and left against medical advice to find treatment at another hospital, I would receive poor treatment going forward at upstate facilities. Basically it was stay in poor pain and fix it, or leave and end up in a possibly worse situation later in my life hospital care wise. It was a lose lose and although looking back I believe I made the correct decision, it still was a difficult one. The patch use is solely FDA approved for pain. It’s no different than using morphine for pain relief, other than mechanism of action. Anywho, I was in severe pain which went down to moderate by my fourth and final stay in the hospital. Even though I didn’t feel great I rushed asking for discharge as it took 4 days to get my pain management regiment down. The doctors have to deal with a policy of some sorts created by the hospital which binds the hands of the hospitalist and the doctors who see you every day. On Friday when the decision for no pain management was made, formal scanning wasn't done. Over the next following days, scans, bloodwork and more began to support my subjective complaints. I want to point out to the hospital that a policy which completely upset a person who has a well-respected career, which requires many years of school was treated like dirt. This policy will only result in people who are black, Hispanic, or simply impoverished by treated disparately when it comes to in pain hospital treatment. In both situations in the ED, everyone understood I was in pain and believed pain medicine above what I normally take was warranted. However like I said, past the ED the doctors face red tape. Upstate, I guarantee if a lawsuit was brought under the civil rights act this law would be proven as inequitable and be forced into drastic changes. I will use your non-hospital referrals because the physicians were amazing. I however, will never go to your ED again based on that experience. Between my rare autoimmune disease and open heart surgery I have had many, many hospitalizations. This was my first one ever due to the pain I experienced. The only reason I cannot write a 1 star in good conscience is how knowledgable, understanding, and kind specific physicians were. I’d like to thank Dr. Himchak for giving me some of the greatest care I’ve received in my life. Thank you, truly from the bottom of my heart and you are the reason I stayed in the hospital and endured the severe pain, because I believed in you and that you would figure out short-term what to do as well as help get me treatment over the next five to six months. My nurses Brian and Gina from one of the telemetry floors were also fantastic and certainly deserve a thank you as well.

Nice and clean hospital. Went to hematology for iron infusion they were very professional and polite. Ambiance and security was good. Enough parking around hospital and was easy to find this.

The staff on 4 west have been the best I have ever encountered. They have been friendly, responsive and kind. This is from the doctors, the nurses to the techs to person that delivered the meals. Dr. Ahmed was amazing. I know my family member is getting exceptional care.

Recently my sister in law was taken to the hospital. Our family back East was very concerned about her. I believe she had good care but getting through to the hospital was almost impossible. The people answering the phone are not friendly and we tried over a hour straight just to get in touch with the nursing station or her room. Each time we were hung up on. We never got through which is horrible when someone you love is ill. They need more people on the phone and teach them to be friendly. It was very stressful. She was there about three days and two days we couldn't get through at all. She did get out of the hospital so I assume they took good care of her.

My ex husband (we are still good friends) told me of his experience with ER on 3/1/2024. He came in via ambulance, showing signs consistent with his condition, which requires drugs, IV fluids, IV and oral meds in an acute care setting as trying to get over it without acute care as an inpatient is dangerous and potentially fatal. The ER staff would not admit him, kicked him out at 2 AM and said he didn't need that level of care. He suffered for five days, no meds, no supportive and adjunctive care. Thank god he is just now pulling through. This is a blatant example of patient dumping. Shame on them. Definitely he has standing for legal action, has all prior through present documentation.

What the heck happened to Community Hospital? I am so angry right now with our experience with this hospital. My 76 year old father fell, so we had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. We directed them to Community because we have always used this hospital and received great care. Well we have learned our lesson. He ended up having to stay in the ER for over 24 hours in pain, no food...just some crackers. He came in because he fell and they gave him a covid test..so of course that came back positive. The doctor that we thought we liked in the beginning, as soon as she saw he was positive wouldnt even come in the room, she yelled the result of his tests to us thru the door way. (the nurses on the other hand could careless..and for this we were very grateful) When they FINALLY got him a room...they were like sorry you cant go with him he has to be quarantined for TEN DAYS! Um what? What guideline was that? Even nurses if they test pos can be back at work in FIVE. So they put him in a room..wouldnt let us go or visit and LOCKED him in the room so he he couldnt go out in the hall. Nobody would call us back, and of course since he had "covid" it was all about the covid and never mind he fell and had issues from that they werent even paying attention too. It was a mess. Every time we talked to the "nurse" she would tell us that he could barely walk and they were giving him physical therapy. Then two days ago they decided to move him to Loretto to the rehab there. It was even WORSE there. Today my hub and i went and got him out AMA. I am so disgusted with the treatment and how far this hospital has gone down hill. When my dad was in there for over a month 6 - 7 years ago for endocarditis...they were AMAZING, so we had no quams in taking him there. We should never have let them even take him out of the ER and should have brought him home with us to recover. We THOUGHT we were doing the right thing as we SHOULD be able to trust a medical facility. Im here to tell you that you cant. We ended up with the experience from hell and my poor dad had to suffer thru it. He is home now and this will never happen ever again. Lesson learned. Too bad it had to be the hard way. Dont go to Community....its garbage.

Doctors kept me waiting so long past my appointment time that I went home. Why can't they call and tell you to come later? Bloody awful system.

They don't deserve any stars...but was forced to pick one...Negative 5 stars...10 hours and still waiting never offered food and only gave him a sip of water I will NEVER GO BACK!!!!!!

Genuinely the worst hospital I've ever been to. I came in in extreme pain. My back and stomach where hurting and I came in off the ambulance screaming. I had to take my mask off because I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse gave me an attitude about putting my mask on when I was feeling extremely sick. I have been waiting in triage for 7 hours and not one sign of help. They have not even looked at me. It took them 6 hours to even take my vitals. DO NOT GO TO THIS HOSPITAL. I'm angered by the lack of care they gave and the attitude that the staff has. Absurd.

Do not have a baby in this hospital. They do not follow guidelines that most OBGYN's use. I pushed for 6 hours. I was never warned or informed how damaging this is to a woman's body. DO NOT LET ANYONE HAVE YOU PUSH THIS LONG! I'm 2 years postpartum still suffering pain. I've spent over $10,000 out of pocket for surgery, physical therapy and doctors appointments trying to repair the damage I suffered. I can't sue because they are a state hospital. You must file within 90 days to sue. Postpartum I was told for a year I would heal, give it time. I have not. My labor nurse "Susan" was a nurse from hell. She tried to hold me to the bed when I was pushing! She told me to be quiet constantly. I never screamed, only moaned. She complained about her hearing being damaged by yelling women. She was horrible and doesn't belong working with laboring women. They look nice and sleek but they do not run smooth. I was held in labor/ delivery for 8 hours post birth, not for my health but because of staffing issues. I had visitors, visit me in there with my blood still all over the floor. It was embarrassing. The bed in labor/delivery is slit in the middle it's not something you can sleep on! I slept maybe 3 hours in my almost 40 hour stay. If your newborn is awake all night after you pushed all day and labored the night before they don't help you. You may as well be home where you can be comfortable and have a helper come in. The toilet seat was busted in my bathroom. The hot water broke in the bathroom. I had some random guy wander in to check out the water issue while I was trying to nurse my newborn. They will lie and tell you you can move and choose your birthing position. I was held down on my back for hours. I was told to push when I had no urge to push. I asked to move and was told no. I never saw a birthing ball, birth stool or shower chair. I asked, I got nothing. I couldn't even get a heating pad. I told them my baby was stuck after 3 hours of pushing, they ignored me. The midwife I had, got up and walked out after I'd been pushing for 5 hours without saying a word. A few minutes later a man walked in. He didn't introduce himself, just walked between my legs to look! I asked who he was and why he was there. He ignored me as did the nurses in the room. The midwife came back, discussed with the man (doctor I eventually I found out) what the plan was without including me in my own care. Then they finally introduced him as a doctor. This was not an emergency! I still pushed 30-45 minutes after this! Any competent doctor would have done a C-section. Shame on this hospital. I will not be having more children because of the pain I live in and damage I suffered at upstate. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else. I'm afraid it's common at upstate with the rude condescending response I got from them. This hospital failed to do a C-sections. I'm guessing to keep their figures low. Most women would like to avoid a C-section but not at the expense of our body, health and well-being. I've suffered depression since I figured out I'd never heal. I wish I'd given birth anywhere else. Please do not support this hospitals labor and delivery unit. I'd never wish what I'm suffering on my worst enemy. I filed a complaint with upstate. They responded with an insulting letter saying I needed physical therapy and claimed that pushing for 6 hours isn't a problem. They ignored that I did 6 months of pt through upstate bone and joint. Most OBGYNS won't have a woman push more than 3 hours because of the damage it causes. I was told that by multiple doctors postpartum. This hospital needs a serious review of practices, needs to learn what informed consent is and hire professional caring nurses, competent midwives and professional acting doctors. Please run from this labor delivery unit!

Came here to this hospital and the front desk receptionists was very friendly. He asked for my id and scanned it immediately into the system. That is a great way to keep track of who visits that patient. He said everyday that I come the label will change color and that's how they know when you came to see the patient. Nurses on the floor were friendly as well and answered all the questions and concerns we had. The parking was very economical as well.

I just have to reply, seeing that someone left one star because Community General Hospital in Syracuse has joined the Upstate University Hospital system recently. That is not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, my Upstate Medical School Professor Surgeon picked this hospital for my surgery and hospital stay. In July 2015 I had shoulder surgery at Community General Hospital, Syracuse, NY -- now a branch of Upstate University Hospital. I have other medical conditions, injuries and disabilities which could become complicated, and they weren't sure of the extent of surgery necessary on my shoulder, so my surgeon chose this location out of many possible operating rooms in the UH system. I stayed overnight in the hospital after the surgery. From the moment I set foot in the hospital to the moment I stepped out, I was treated with kindness, care and respect. They treated me like a Queen, only better. Community General's' social services and nursing actually addressed all my handicaps, conditions and needs and made sure I got services at home when I left. They gave me a beautiful new wooden cane fitted to my needs and showed me how to use it to get up and down stairs despite having one arm immobilized after surgery. I've had a lot of surgery in my life, and sports injuries when I was younger, and have never received such excellent care! To be honest, there are other small regional hospitals in upstate NY (often run "for profit") which don't even have social service departments, or quality control, or any consideration for patients and visitors. Other hospitals have administrators who don't care, and don't treat their staff well, and everybody forgets about patient care. I can tell that Community General is not that kind of hospital -- the hospital is adequately staffed, the employees look more satisfied or happy, and they appear to be on a mission to really show that they care about patients and want to contribute to a healing experience. Skip the gourmet coffee kiosks -- those are not necessary -- a caring environment wins hands down. I wish more hospitals were like this. It looks like Community General benefits from joining the UH system by having some of the best surgeons in the region, access to doctors who also teach medicine, and an updating of facilities and decor. Honestly, one of the nicest renovations of an old hospital building ever. At the same time they retained a lot of local neighborhood people who work there and are dedicated to the idea of making good health-care available and making people feel welcome. The neighborhood is in an older area of Syracuse with a very diverse but mostly minority community (minority in mainstream America) and close to the Onondaga Nation. I am an ethnic minority and I have sometimes found staff to be less caring or rude or dangerously neglectful even in big hospitals with supposedly great reputations. This hospital is what a hospital should be -- even if small and with older buildings. Also, they have one of the nicest mammogram centers in the entire State of NY, and some of the finest specialists have offices here. A little-known secret of Syracuse, NY. I highly recommend this hospital.

The Family Birth Center took great care of us, good nurses and doctors very attentive to needs.

Food in their cafeteria really is awful, both morning and afternoon meals really sucked. Expensive and not well presented, very confusing arrangement and displayed. Good luck folks

Had my daughter here on 9/15/16, the nurses were very attentive, sweet, caring and actually gave a damn! The midwives are very knowledgeable and make you feel comfortable and confident. Love this hospital!!

Seem to me daughter was seen in er no compassion to pt n pain got run around in er guess they don t care or maybe forgot y they went in to medical care in first place would n t go there n i work d for hospital for 20 yr s just ashamed to say that no one seems to care maybe it need to remember pt s right s so pick differant hospital to go to if u want compassion