East Liberty Medical Clinic

I have Permanent nerve damage caused by Dr. Vale and her procedure of excruciating pain was completely unnecessary. Need I say more.

I was afraid of coming here because of all the negative reviews. It’s Thursday afternoon and I’ve been sick for the last couple of days and decided to finally see a doctor. I recently moved downtown from Vaughn so finding a doctor has been tricky. I decided to try out this walk in clinic because of how close it is from my condo. I called as I was on the way and was greeted by a friendly receptionist and be ensured me the wait time wouldn’t be long. I waited about 10 minutes before being called in, the nurse although didn’t greet me asked me what was wrong while inside the room (which was good because of all the reviews saying they would simply ask in the hall). I waited another 10 minutes for a doctor to walk in and he was very friendly and finished my session within 10 minutes to ensure he got all the facts right. I will be back here for walk ins because they are very close by!

I had to wait for an hour but it was OK because I kept myself busy reading interviews with David Attenborough on the net.
The clinic is very clean and it looks like they have a good system that efficiently operates

Had an appointment with dr Vale at 1:50…after walking in a mere 8 minutes late and seeing 9 other people sitting waiting, I was told my appt was cancelled because I was late. 8 min late! Restaurants give you more time than this shit hole. Don’t go; don’t make an appt, don’t even step near it.

East Liberty Medical has potential.
That being said, it hasn’t quite met it yet. The facility is large with an excellent core location. It offers a variety of different services including phys therapy. I have been to the walk-​in clinic portion several times now, and have also scheduled follow up with specific doctors.
In the health care world, one of the most important things one has to do is find a doctor that they feel comfortable with… at East Liberty-​in theory-​should be a great place to see a young doctor that you can relate to, (read: the Justin Trudeau to a middle class 40 year old) but… there is a slight disconnect… a lack of personality that is exhibited by both docs and nurses.
From the nurse who seats you in that room… Don’t expect a «hey! Welcome! Great weather eh!?» rather be prepared for a «reason?» and then an abrupt leave.
From the doctors they are hit or miss. I’ve had doctors for walk in that have acted interested in my life (so I assume lives of his patients) then most recently the doctor who I’ve had, where I had to inquire if they are indeed the doctor, and their name! So… less then stellar.
So overall… great location… usually about an hour wait for a walk in… and a ‘grain of salt’ for the «service»…

I also second Simon’s security breach although I did not go into the computer system I definitely could have. I am also a health care provider so I do understand the logistics behind a walk in clinic but there are certain things that are unacceptable — patient information and being asked why you’re here while being escorted into the room. There’s been a few times I had to return as my initial reason of seeing the md was negated and paperwork has been lost in the system (e.g. MRI requisition). I’m not sure what the alternative is since I like a clinic that’s close. My family doc at the clinic is okay, but once again I usually go for specific reasons… and follow up when I know the issue wasn’t resolved

Had a bad case of sore throat that prompted me to cancel my RSVP to the Unilocal hockey event. Needed to take care of my healthy first and lucky I chose to cancel as I am still feeling the effects as I write this over the weekend.
The clinic opens at 8 am on most days. Registration was fairly quick and it was not busy. Since it was my first time, I had to fill in the necessary paperwork. The wait in the waiting room was shorter than my wait in the patient’s room. I guess they only had one doctor on staff.
The diagnosis was fairly quick and she explained the results thoroughly. Unfortunately, she told me I needed to tough it out on my own and wait for my cold to pass. It seems this year the weather changes were so dramatic that everyone has a hard to to adjust to the seasons. Hopefully, I won’t be visiting soon and winter will be more pleasant.

I have been to this clinic on numerous occasions, from the staff to the physicians, the attitudes are positive and professional. The thoroughness of the physicians was top notch. The efficiency of such a large clinic was also the best I have ever seen. East Liberty Medical patient for life!

I don’t think there are enough negative adjectives in the English language to describe the experience I had at this clinic. I’m not going to speak about the clinic as a whole, because I only had one experience (my first and my last) with a physician and another woman who took my temperature but refused (yes, refused) to identify herself.
I’ll spare you the reason for my visit, but it was legitimate-I’m a seasoned health care practitioner myself.
I was registered within 5 minutes of arrival. Shortly thereafter, I was called to come into a room by the unidentified woman, who, by the way, began interviewing me in the hallway as we were walking to my room. Basically, she kept repeating: «what is the reason?» I wasn’t sure what to say so I didn’t respond, so she persisted. By the time we were in the room, I said, «I’m sorry, I’m Simon, and you are?» She said nothing, walking towards me with a thermometer, repeating: «what is the reason?» Over and over… and over, and appeared to become increasingly impatient. She took my temperature and as she walked out, said her scripted: «Please have a seat [I was already seated] and the doctor will be right with you.»
Well, she lied about the «right with you» piece because it would be another 45 minutes of waiting before the doctor would come. Of note, there was one person in the waiting room as I arrived close to opening time.
In the patient room: I quickly noticed what came to be one of the biggest ethical breaches I’ve read about and experienced. The computer screen in the room was populated with a list of all the clinic’s patient names with their respective room locations in the clinic. What’s more is that I recognized one of the people on the list. I also imagine that all the the other patient rooms have this list available and visible on their computer screens. Frightening!!!
Of course, curious me, and having 45 minutes of idling and sitting around, I started to play with the computer. It appears I could easily access the patients’ visit histories, home addresses, phone numbers, places of employment, health card numbers, dates of birth, and the list goes on. Of course, I am sure other patients can access all this information on me too, as my name was also on the list, for the world to see.
Taking the «Devil-​finds-​work-​for-​idle-​hands» idiom a step further, I took a snapshot on my phone of the screen and will certainly lodge a formal complaint against the clinic and the doctor, whose response to the issue when I brought it up was: «It can’t really be helped. There’s nothing we can do to prevent it.»
I’ll spare you the details of my interaction with this ethically and professionally bankrupt physician, but will entertain you with a few adjectives:
— Unethical
— Uncaring
— Disinterested
— Condescending
— Argumentative
— Insensitive
— Defensive
— Socially ignorant
— Presumptuous
— Rushed
I have seen many, many health care facilities, worked in some, evaluated others, and I keep a close finger on the pulse of what is happening in current health care institutions. I have never before seen such dismissive, such morally undeveloped, socially regressed physician and (unidentified woman). Although this doesn’t at all surprise me, given what I know about walk-​in clinics and the beasts that inhabit them (perhaps a stereotype), this experience, given its broader implications for risk to information and risk to the public, is off the charts!

I saw my family doctor (she’s downtown) on Tuesday and she gave me some antibiotics. I feel like I’ve been getting worse and she didn’t have any openings so I went to this walk-​in clinic today since it’s close to home.
The wait wasn’t long. Maybe 10 minutes. Then a guy came into my room and disinterestedly started asking me what’s wrong. Was he the doctor? Was he the janitor? He didn’t bother to introduce himself. I assumed he was the doctor.
He quickly checked my ears, throat and chest and said to keep doing what my doctor told me to do. He wasn’t friendly and it seemed like he could care less about me.
Update: I was able to get in to see my doctor later today. It turns out I have pink eye (highly contagious) and a chest infection, which the doctor at this clinic should have picked up if he cared about what he was doing.

Very quick to get in tonight, however I was seen for less than a minute and my concerns were not addressed. I understand that this is a walk-​in clinic, however just handing me a prescription for something that might not event be the problem is quite concerning. Going to have to look for a second opinion now tomorrow.

One word: don’t bother going here until it’s your last resort. Trying to call is almost next to impossible cause one pick picks up the bloody phone!
Busy and staff there are completely rude and unprofessionally!

I live incredibly close to this place as have been several times. When east liberty med centre first opened I would have given it 5 stars. Now I think 1 is generous. The doctors are slow to help and quick to refer, although the referrals never go through so you don’t ever get helped. Today is a Friday, I walked in at 1030, it’s now 1230 and I still haven’t seen anyone. Don’t waste your time here. Also, physio and massage are way over priced. Awful all together.

Attended this clinic for 2.5 years. Why did I fire Dr. De Los Santos? Why will I never go to this clinic again?
In a nutshell: severe incompetence of doctors, poorly run clinic, rude receptionists, the walk in doctors are inexperienced and unprofessional, Dr. De Los Santos is extremely rude and unhelpful and appointments are unnecessarily rushed or rescheduled.
Out of a nutshell: see stories below
I am 27. In pretty great health. Maybe I would wind up here once every 4 – 5 months for something over a 2 and a half year span. Here are the stories of some of my visits:
My experiences with their walk-​in doctors:
1) Me seeing young female doctor
Me: «I have this bump on the inside of my finger»
Young female: «it feels like a ganglion cyst, you can google that and look up some treatment options»
Me: «I’m sorry, google it?
Young female: «yes, there are videos on how to smash it with different objects, like a book.»
Me: «I googled that before I came here and it is supposed to be dangerous»
Young female: «well, you could just wait to see if it goes away. There isn’t really anything we do for it here.»
2) Me seeing middle-​aged male doctor
Me: «So, I dropped a weight on my toe. Went to the hospital and they x-​rayed and it’s not broken but the swelling is so bad I can’t even lower my foot, let alone put weight on it, because it feels like my toe is going to explode»
Male dr: «you need physio therapy. My buddy works over across the hall. I’ll set you up with him, he’ll take care of you.»
Me: «they said at the hospital that I would need a hole drilled in the nail to relieve pressure and that any family doctor could do it. That’s why I came here.»
Male dr: «no, physio is what you need»
(2 weeks of agony and very expensive physio later with this doctor’s «buddy» my the skin around my toe starts blistering with blood pockets and I go to my physiotherapist appointment):
Physio guy: «whoa…that’s not good. I don’t think I should treat you while it’s like that, let me get my doctor friend to take a look»
(He brings in the same male doctor from my walk in appointment)
Make dr: «oh wow, you need to have a hole drilled in the nail to drain that»
(I lost the nail in my toe which could have been prevented by relieving the pressure early.)
3) Me seeing a young male doctor:
Me: «I am pretty sure I have a yeast infection.»
Young male: «oh. Ok. Well… we can uh. well we can do a quick pap, I guess. Um. Ya. Ok. Is that what you want? Does that. I mean, that’s probably the best idea. «
Me: «ya…ok»
(He pushed my thighs further apart instead of asking me to do it then did the usual stuff but then took out the speculum and put two fingers in my vagina and felt around like he was looking for my g-​spot. I’ve had someone feel around for abnormalities, but this was like i was getting fingered. I have never had a pap that included that sort of nonsense. I have never felt more uncomfortable in my life.)
So…needless to say, I stopped going to the walk in. I thought I would stick with Dr. De Los Santos (my Family dr).
Then came the referrals. Referrals for everything. Sometimes 5 minute rushed appointments and 1 – 3 referrals elsewhere, every time I went. I am in general good health by the way, just low iron and some allergies (hence all the blood tests). I have been rudely rushed out of my appointments and felt like I was an absolute inconvenience for being there.
Then I made an appointment with De Los Santos to get results for allergy tests. The clinic is a 3 minute drive from my place down Strachan. (Silly to drive, I know, but it was a freezing day in winter). I left about 10 minutes early. (Always plenty of time). Then bam, I get behind a truck that is trying (and failing) to back up into a parking lot, blocking the whole street. It was taking forever so I called to let them know that I would be late possibly. The receptionist asked how long and I said, maybe 2 minutes, it won’t be much. She said «ok, that’s fine.» I park in an open spot and run in. Yay! I am only 1 minute late. I wait at reception for probably another minute (with one person in line in front of me and three people behind the desk, I might add). I finally hand them my health card and a nurse comes over and says, «oh, Dr. De Los Santos has already taken another patient since you were late. You’ll have to reschedule. If it’s an emergency you can see a walk-​in doctor.» At this point it is 3 minutes past my appointment time. I was just livid.
Never, ever, ever again will I go back there. I don’t care if you can instantly heal the blind and make them see, no one has the right to treat people the way she does. And the other doctors there should still be under the supervision of someone who knows what they are doing.

Dr. De Los Santos is lazy and rushes you out of her office. I was just a few minutes late for my appointment, and she made me reschedule, even though I had to reschedule surgery due to not having that physical! She doesn’t care, and I am firing her as my family doctor.
She is nice at first, but don’t listen to the good reviews. I would love a referral to a new doctor if someone has one. This one is out!

At 2pm on a Tuesday the walk in time was amazing — I filled out a form and was basically immediately called into the room. It was also very easy to get service with an out-​of-​province health card, which I appreciated. Unfortunately, the doctor I saw seemed extraordinarily disinterested with an infection from a recent surgery. In fact, she told me that «I usually don’t like prescribing antibiotics, because you should be able to take care of this yourself.» ouch! As such, seems like a well run centre. But watch out for your pride!

Terrible clinic. The staff at the front desk are horrendously rude. I am sure they are busy and perhaps stressed, but you are still in customer service — so get over it! The doctors are OK, nothing special, the location and clinic itself is nice enough, but the front desk people ruined it for me. Very unhelpful and ungracious.

This is my favourite clinic — though tricky to find if you only have an address. What I like most about this clinic (and it’s a big factor) is that it’s CLEAN. And modern. And I don’t feel like touching a door knob would be unwise. If any other walk-​in would just put in some new tile and updated magazines, they’d be my favourite too.
I only use a clinic for prescription refills as my doctor is not in town and I only make the trip for medical issues. Staff here are friendly, the wait time can vary between 10 – 40 minutes, but that’s decent for a clinic. My only gripe is taking the blood pressure every visit (and being less than polite about it — this seems to be the exception to friendly).
Again, clean. Much more like a doctor’s office and any walk-​in I’ve seen and worth the trip.

Apparently when you’re having a fairly serious allergic reaction, if anything in/​around your mouth/​neck is swollen you’re meant to go to an emergency room, not a clinic.
The More You Know. (Sung like a star swiping across your TV screen in 1991.)
The wait time here was only 30 minutes at about 10am on a weekday, and everyone was very sweet to me, and unlike most clinics they will give you a referral if needed.
I feel like an ass, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the doc I saw in the end. It was a man, and he was completely patient and I really felt like he was really listening and not rushing to get me out of there. I guess not taking his name was a side effect of the self-​absorbed-​ness that comes with being worried about what the hell is going on in your body. Apologies, Doc. You were awesome.
PEPPER THE LEPER: If you’re covered in hives and have a swollen face you are the scariest person in a waiting room and everyone will continuously give you approximately two metres of personal space.

This clinic has some good points and some bad.
Pros: Short wait times to be seen for walk ins, blood lab on site
Cons: If you are even 1min late for your dr appointment and you’ve even CALLED to notify, they cancel your appointment. (which they don’t even tell you on the phone, they wait till you get there)
You’re only allowed to discuss one issue at a time even if you have an appointment with your family doc.
The doctors are okay but not great.