Chalmers P Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center

1 star off for not having free WiFi. If you do as you are told, and follow the procedures, you will find this to be a wonderful experience. It’s clean with maintenance people everywhere. I find and see friendly helpful individuals all over. Who wants to help the Grumpy Gus screaming, and yelling demands? No one! Lots of volunteers. Lunch in the canteen is pretty reasonable. Where else can you get a grilled cheese for a dollar? Be pleasant and on time, and you will enjoy your visit.

Lets see, where to begin. While I have had SOME positive experiences here, they were not nearly enough to overshadow the horrendous service I have encountered in the past year at the Chalmers P Wylie Ambulatory Care Center. As a drill sergeant once told me, you can have all the ‘atta-​boys’ in the world but it only takes one ‘aw sh_​_​’ to screw it up. this place has several. Not everyone working at this place is completely worthless, so I will grace them with 2 stars instead of only 1.
The following is like a rap sheet of offenses, and to readers– please do not dismiss any of the following out of hand, as it honestly constitutes my experience. Others may have been more lucky than I… people who are missing limbs and older veterans seem to get special treatment here. (granted, anyone who was in WWII, Vietnam, or anything similar in magnitude… you have all my respect and deference, but these people shouldn’t treat ANY veteran badly, as we are the reason they have a job)
— My paperwork has been lost more than once at this location
— Important calls about my medical care don’t often get returned

— Supposedly well-​educated medical staff here do not display basic reasoning skills or any interest in developing them

— Doctors here cannot be reached by any means except appointments that are months out and arbitrarily cancelled or moved by the facility

— Doctors here either ignore some concerns or fail to take them all seriously, I have a highly educated and credible witness to this
— There are two individuals working in the disability services section who are combative and disgustingly rude

— There is at least one nurse who writes down something completely different than what a patient tells her, as she takes notes for the doctor (I saw the clipboard and literally thought I had fallen into the twilight zone… WTF)
— Patient advocates are ineffective and either unwilling or unable to get anything meaningful done for a veteran. one let slip to me how the place is basically just a failed bureaucracy and there is nothing they can really do. (but many veterans know this is true for all VA facilities)
— Numerous people have answered my phone calls to this facility with a brash and hurried attitude. as if it were an offense to ask them to actually do their job
— There is a so called ‘urgent care’ section which may have since been removed… but when I went there early this year they led me on to the point where I was having vitals taken, and then they turned me away because they said I was not registered. I proved that I was all along, in the following weeks… and why the hell does it matter if a disabled veteran in need of care is REGISTERED OR NOT!!! I have a perfectly good DD-​214 and veteran’s ID card btw

— Several people here are almost entirely without tact and will take issue with anyone who doesn’t take what they say at face value, a sign of dangerously rampant ignorance
— And last but certainly not least. a tech made me bleed excessively onto the floor by screwing up a blood draw. But you know what… that last one was the only honest mistake of the bunch, so she gets a pass in my book. Thanks for the little candy bars, young lady– you saved me from having to stay there longer. ;-)
Keep doing what you do, just more carefully please.
This place is so bad that I don’t want to go back… the medical ‘care’ for me is free, but you know what they say– you get what you pay for. Literally the only saving grace is a Starbucks inside… there is a valet service, but I wouldn’t let those guys touch my car if I were you. On a side note, I put in complaints with an agency that monitors this place, and the IG. It remains to be seen what good that has done, if any… like most complaints about a government institution, they were probably ignored.

I’ve been working here for over 18 months. Very rewarding to help my fellow Veterans!

This is top notch care here. The staff are very helpful. I actually look forward to see the staff here.

This is for the Women’s Clinic, specifically Nurse Carolyn and Dr. Shaikh. If you are a woman veteran this is the team to be on for your health care needs.