Loretto Hospital

This 1 star is only because I can’t choose none!!!
My father was sent here by his doctor to have a hip replacement surgery. When I came to visit I tried not to judge a book by its cover by the outdated style of the building but the longer I stayed the more I was convinced that this was a horrible idea. Long story short the nurses were incompetent and unprofessional. No bedside manner at all.
Fast forward to after his release and then immediate return because his hip was dislocated. Less than a week after his initial surgery he was under the knife again only to be told it wasn’t able to be fixed, and he had to endure a third surgery a few days later.
Visited him for over 2 hours yesterday and not one nurse came in to check on him. When attempting to call and get info on his condition I was placed on hold for about 40 minutes only to be told to check back later.

I’m surprised that I’m giving them 4 stars. For the longest I’ve heard about Loretto being horrendous. Not the case in my book. I come here around early March 2013. I had a couple of cuts on my hand and arm after bumping in my broken bannister at home. I couldn’t stop the bleeding and it was hurting badly and I started to feel faint so I went to Loretto and there was no wait in the ER. The Filipino nurse (I don’t know her name) was as nice as nice could be. She was very concerned about me and checked me out and asked me questions and seemed to be very caring. She was the best. I was sent to the back to give my insurance info and then I was admitted and given a room. I stayed there for a bit. They gave me pain killers, the bandaged my wounds and I slept for a little while before being released where the same nurse showed me to the door and wished me well. All of the bad comments that made me biased towards Loretto by others, went right out of the window that day. The staff was nice and caring and took their time with you. The only complaint is it’s not the cleanest place. The rooms were dirty and looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in a while.

This review is strictly for the behavioral unit. I have no idea about how the rest of Loretto Hospital works, however, after the way I was treated I never plan on finding out. I would rather be crazy, living on the street before I would want to be placed here after dealing with the so-​called «help» that runs this part of the hospital.
I had a family member who needed some kind of psychiatric help. Originally we ended up at Christ Hospital, however, they did not have a bed for him so they ended up transferring him here. And all I can say is what a joke these so-​called «professionals» are. He was not evaluated for a full day after arriving and then they just prescribed methadone. Problem is, the person in their care is not a drug addict. He does, however, take methadone prescribed to him by a doctor for chronic back problems. But his lack of not taking the prescription was not the problem. The problem is the person in their care believed that they were touched by god, was able to talk to dead friends and was in total belief that they were able to move things with the power of thought.
When asked if they drew blood I was told they had not. And considering that this person’s cholesterol was extremely high –a fact that I made sure was charted in the ER back at Christ– they were not giving them their meds for it. So that told me that they never looked at it. And if they did not much past the word «methadone». When I asked a nurse about his manic state I was told: «We just started them back on methadone and they’ll be fine in a few days.» Then when I asked about the cholesterol the very friendly nurse on staff (that is sarcasm, because she was anything but) never answered. And when I pressured her about seeing a doctor or someone a little more in charge of this person’s case I was ignored then had a door shut in my face.
Trying to get of a doctor that runs the care of the patients is a complete joke. I think I would have better luck getting a hold of the President just by calling the White House switch board. Leave a message and never get a call back. Have them paged same result. After about 3 days of nothing really happening in the way of care except the pushing of drugs (the staple of Mental Heath Care in this country) I finally had a chance to talk to a «consular» about their progress. First he told me that I had to talk to the doctor and when I told him that they never answer the phone nor returns calls I was told they would give me their direct number. Then when I asked about the drugs that they were being given I was told that the person in their care was fully in charge of their own treatment and that they could not give me any answers. Even if I was family. Then when I questioned the fact of how could they give the person in their care that kind of power when, like I stated before, A) thought they had been touched by god, B) not only saw deceased friends but could communicate with them, C) believed that they were able to turn things on and off and move things with their mind. I mean, how can you give that person full control over the TV remote much less their own health care? No answer to that and then on the way out after visiting hours I saw that same consular –he is also the one who told me that he would give a number of the doctor in charge– and I asked him about the phone number I was promised I was then told that they can’t give out that kind of information and I should just have them paged. Again!
That was yesterday.
Today I get a phone call telling me that they are now being released and I had to come pick him up. Problem fixed? Not even close. Just bring them in, dope them up and toss them back out in the street. That seems to be the motto here.
Update: 02/​11/​2013 2:47 PM CMT
The person in question for this review was listed as Homicidal (even though they were not because I was there at their home at the time of the problem and went to ER) and Loretto Psych Docs still had them in charge of their own metal health which means that at anytime they could signed themselves out. And if they were truly homicidal then they could of easily walked out the hospital to the corner and killed the first person they came across. So it makes me feel safe when I found as well that a lot of the patients that were on the ward floor with the person in question were transfers from County Lock Up.

The man who ran the DUI program was very professional (No, if you’re wondering, I didn’t get arrested for DUI, but my good friend did, and I went with her to her appointment. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink and drive – not only is it horribly dangerous and morally irresponsible – it’s expensive and a huge hassle to extricate yourself from!) The upside to all this was that we had a good experience on the fourth floor in the addiction center. I would definitely recommend Loretto hospital for substance abuse treatment. As a counselor with a pending CADC certification myself, I must say I was quite impressed with Loretto in this arena.

Very long wait time and the er was empty not busy at all