North End Community Health Center

Been with Dr. Turnock for over a decade. Never had any problems. I like to put the rubber gloves on at the same time she does just to make her feel as nervous as I do. :-)

Go with Dr. Patel. I am a nurse and an NP student and can assess providers well. I would definitely select her over many others out there. Always overdelivers.

My mom had her primary doctor here, now is in the hospital with no word from her primary. We tried to reach her many times and no word. Now my mom is dying. They don’t care about anyone

Awful. Just awful. If you want a two minute exam with no communication and no accountability, go here. If you want to be treated like a person, go somewhere else.
This is the one time I would leave a review of zero stars, if possible.
Borderline negligence.

OK, so, definitely not pre-​mature. I’ve been back a few times since April and I’m consistently blown away by Dr. Patel. She is super compassionate, open-​minded, knowledgeable, and very, very mindful of your insurance situation when recommending a course of action. I always leave her office feeling much better about my health situation. If you have any kind of medical anxiety, get in to see Dr. Patel. She’ll make everything much less scary!

I know this place as North End Waterfront Health, so the naming convention may have switched since the facility underwent a rebranding.
This is my go-​to for health care. It’s an extension of MGH but isn’t as much like a hospital or as busy as a walk-​in clinic. The doctors here are all very good and the range of services offered make it an exceptional facility.
Need some birth control?
Want a dental check-​up?
Have a mental health issue?
Need an X-​ray or some blood work?
Need new glasses or contacts?
This place can do all of it, same-​day, and it takes most insurances. They even accept state insurance, so it’s really affordable to get all kinds of intensive treatments here.
Best of all, since everything is in one network (MGH), it’s easy to coordinate care. This is a huge plus for me, having struggled with multiple doctors in the past and making sure all of them stayed up-​to-​date with my health care.
This is a great facility and I have totally referred people to come here. The only down-​side is that it’s a bit of a walk from the train, but it’s still really accessible. They even offer validation for parking in the nearby garage, so it’s only like $ 1 to park downtown!

I ve been going here since 2004. In the mean time, I moved out of the North End but I would never go somewhere else. My primary care physician, Elizabeth Turnock is always so pleasant! All their staff are very nice, helpful and polite. I haven’t had one bad exerience in almost 10 years-​you guys are doing a fantastic job!!!
It also seems that they don’t have a high turnover. The same people from 10 years ago (front desk, RNs, doctors are still there) — it says a lot about that place!!!

I have been going here since my son was born in 1998, I live in the suburbs now and would not go anywhere else. My husband said call around and get someone local, well I called and got answering machines in the middle of the day. I know sometimes the NECHC can be busy but they always get back to you. While my kids were very young I have had to call at crazy hours and always given a call back right away by an on call dr and put me at ease. I was very afraid of dr’s myself and neglected care until I came her, now I do what I need to do routinely and someone who was afraid of shots had come to terms with them, I could not have done this without the compassion of all the nurses and dr’s. It is nice to have everything in once place, dr, dentist, eye care, therapy and etc. NECHC is worth the 30 minute ride to Boston anytime for me, I would not trust my kids health with anyone else. Everyone at NECHC feels like part of my family.

When I lived in the North End, I picked a PCP here and went for routine checkups and when I was sick. The doctors and nurses were always very nice and helpful and I usually had no problem getting an appointment. I moved from the North End a few years ago, but kept the Community Health Center as my doctor’s office. As of late, it’s been much more difficult to get anyone on the phone and/​or to make an appointment. I’ve routinely had to leave a message for someone to call me back rather than have my call directly answered. Still, I had no major complaints… until recently. Exactly two weeks ago, I called (and had to leave a message) to make an appointment. I had a serious health concern and wanted to see a doctor ASAP, which I stated in the message I left to set up a time to come in. I received a call back from a nurse. Unfortunately, the fire alarm at work had gone off when the nurse called back so, as luck would have it, I wasn’t able to get to the phone. However, I called right back and when I finally got someone on the phone, I explained my situation. The gentleman that answered the phone asked me what kind of medical referral I thought I needed. Umm, well that’s why I was calling to see my doctor actually. I was hoping this type of medical advice could be provided to me, not the other way around. I let him know that it was the nurse that had actually called me back so perhaps I should speak with her. He put me on hold to see if she was available. She was not. The guy said she would call me back. That was two weeks ago. I haven’t heard a thing from them. In the meantime, I was able to have everything completely taken care of elsewhere and will not be returning to the North End for medical care.

First, the good things:
1. The nurse Michael is very helpful and easy to talk to. He always takes his time with you on the phone and in person.
2. The on-​call doctor that you can talk to on off hours is always very helpful, and often gets back to you very quickly. I have had to use this on many occasions!
And unfortunately, that’s where it ends. It’s next to impossible to communicate with the people that run this place. You ask for calls back, and all you get is excuses and delay after delay. If you are looking for a new PCP I would go elsewhere, they seem to barely have room in their schedules for the patients they have. Due to a few medical conditions I have, I often will end up needing to make appointments the week of — forget it! If you have something that should be taken care of «promptly» (in other words within a few days or even a week) good luck arguing with a nurse or secretary to schedule you in! No one in the office seems to have an interest in helping, they just want you to get off their backs.

I’m torn on this review. Dr. Ramos is my PCP and is everything I want in a doctor! She’s smart, a good listener, and makes me feel cared for.
That being said, the practice is a mess. The front staff is rude and incompetent. It’s a nightmare trying to talk to anyone over the phone. The waiting area is dirty. The woman who took my blood left me with a giant bruise and was rude to me throughout the blood draw.
Thankfully, I’m pretty healthy, so I’ll be back to see my pcp once a year and that’s that. But if I had any health problems and had to frequent the doctor, I would run from this place.

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. DO NOT go here. It is the most unprofessional doctor’s office ever. First, the front desk is understaffed, so if you get involved with this place, every time you need to make a phone call, you will have to wait AT LEAST 20 minutes to get through.
I simply went in to get a physical and some blood work done. The doctor did not even send me the full blood work up… yes, she sent me an incomplete list! I called at least 5 times that day, waiting 20 minutes or more each time because the either the doctor was incapable of understanding that I wanted ALL my results or because the staff could not communicate that to her properly. I waited a couple of days and no results arrived. I had to call back to request them again. When I finally received them, the office did not have the decency to convert the names of the tests done into layman’s terms as they had done with the incomplete list. Therefore, I was stuck online researching the names of the tests to figure out what was what. DO NOT waste your time at such an unprofessional place. What a waste of time just to get some blood work done…

some great doctors here and the reason we frequent the place… unfortunately administratively the place is poor. you can even sense it with the medical staff that they don’t think much of the admin support.
recently we couldn’t even get an appointment with any doctor or nurse practitioner for days for a sick family member… and they had no suggestions on what to do.

Five stars only for my amazing PCP Dr. Turnock who is amazing, wonderful and fantastic. And her nurse Linda. They are both so kind, throrough, and they listen to. They explain everything they’re doing and why they’re doing it. I couldn’t ask for a better doctor.
2 Stars for the front desk staff because they are miserable people but deserve at least 2 because they treat me nicely because I can speak italian, i look italian and have an italian last name and because my entire family, who come from the north end all go there for their appts.

When I was sick and called in the morning they said no appointments today, none tomorrow, but they could get me one the day after tomorrow. Also they took my blood pressure and did not tell me that it’s borderline hypo-​tension which could be causing my unexplained dizziness. I want to change my PCP to somewhere else but haven’t gotten to it yet.
My dissatisfaction with the center as a whole is worth putting up with for Dr. Portney who is a psychiatrist there and one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Love the clinic because it’s close but that’s where my love ends.
I went in with bubbles, a brutal rash from an allergic reaction and I was crying my eyes out from pain. You know what I was told? «If you feel that this is an emergency, go to the hospital.»
Jerks…
They have no room for their current patients and yet the advertise in papers and on billboards. NO SENSE DOES THIS MAKE TO MEEE!!!

Five stars for awesome therapist Vinnie Scibelli, who I saw for the better part of four years! And five stars to the awesome admin in behavioral health, Janie.
Five stars for the lovely dental hygienist who is patient with me and my lack of flossing. And to the two different dentists I’ve seen there — very nice.
Five stars to my excellent PCP, Dr. Turnock and her nurse, Linda. They are thorough, non-​judgmental and very kind and are currently gently treating my sliced fingertip.
When I called on Monday morning looking for an appointment that morning for my finger, they fit me in. Cheers for not having to go to the ER!
I would honestly never get to the North End if it weren’t for my appointments here, and it’s great literally feeling like my doctor’s office is Little Italy. I love it.

The reason I’m still a patient here is that I believe once you find a PCP you like, you should stick with her/​him no matter what since it’s very difficult to find one that’s the right fit.
So I endure the NECHC because I think Dr. Darlene Ramos is phenomenal. But the administrative staff (it’s unfair to generalize, but I don’t know anyone’s name in order to more specifically tailor my criticism) can make you f-​ing nuts. Twice they screwed up my appointments — and getting appointments with Dr. Ramos is pretty difficult.
The first time I came in for an appointment that never was, they told me they simply had no record of it. I still had the card on which they wrote the appointment date and time and when I presented it to them as proof, I was met with an «I don’t know what to tell ya» shrug. The second time, I came in at my scheduled time, but was informed that I was late and thus my appointment was canceled. I was not late and I showed them the card again. It was deduced that the appointment was changed and I was just never informed of it. I’m a reasonable person. There’s a lot of inconvenience I can withstand if only I’m assured of the responsible party’s regret and determination to set things right. But both times I arranged to get time off work in order to keep these appointments and the receptionists did not seem to appreciate this fact and made no effort to accommodate me in a timely fashion.
Since then I’ve had several appointments go off without a hitch, but I could do without the «you’re bothering me» feeling I get from the receptionists when I come in. (And to be fair, it isn’t all of them, only one or two. I’ve had perfectly pleasant experiences with some receptionists, but obviously it’s the bad ones who stick out in my mind.)
Anyway, to be clear, this rating applies only to the front desk staff. Once you get beyond them, the medical staff is first rate. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the doctors and nurses at NECHC.

I have called 4 times over the past 2 weeks, and there is no option to speak to a person. I’ve also left 4 messages stating I would like select a doctor there as my Primary Care Physician AND make an appointment. After trying a few more times and digging for another number (617−643−8040), I was able to make an appt.
I assume I’ll like the doctor, but I’m not going above 2 stars until I visit.

I made Dr. Ramos my primary care physician before ever meeting her. I LOVE her. She is so nice and helpful and willing to take the time to explain everything in detail. She wants you to ask questions and doesn’t seem to judge anyone. The first time you go is really just for a consultation so I had to make another appointment for a physical. The only problem with that is that the appointment is in May because she is so busy! Her nurse, Beth, told me that she will return my calls (if I call) and really be my contact because Dr. Ramos is so busy. But I am hoping that isn’t an issue. When I got here I filled out paperwork and really didn’t have to wait long at all. They do seem busy but everyone is so nice. Also, the convenient North End location means that if I were to ever get sick, I wouldn’t have to travel far to see my doctor. Although getting an appointment with her might be an issue…