[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by biker1

It is amazing how people get all wrapped up in rankings without really understanding what actually goes into those rankings. It is the same thing that goes on with rankings of universities. The suggestion that you must go outside of FL for excellent health care is not based on anything concrete. You can certainly find less than stellar health care no matter where you live. If I needed the services of a children's hospital and I lived in Boston, would I travel to Baltimore based on the fact that it is now ranked just ahead of Boston? I don't think so. However, I would if there was a specific Dr. that I wanted to see. You can find excellent Drs. in Florida. A lot of them practice at Mayo, Shands and Moffitt.

I think I may have not been clear.

I have been involved with a group of parents for more than thirty years whose children were born with very unusual and very involved cardiovascular problems that last all of their lives. Adequate care or even good care is not good enough for them. We continue to take our daughter to Cincinnati Childrens Adult Cardiology Clinic because of her unusual plumbing and need for expert anesthesia care.* Some Children with Williams Syndrome have died from heart surgery performed at smaller, less experienced hospitals.

I was hospitalized a year ago here, quite unexpectedly and spent a week in Critical Care and I received excellent care at TVRH . I felt the nurses there were superior in every way and caught things the doctors did not.

I think TVRH is a decent hospital for most things.

I think that The Villages has adequate health care and I think that the hospitals that you mentioned, Moffitt, Shands, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville are good. We are very lucky that our company insurance pays for our daughters very specific needs at her age of 53.

* Anesthesia Concerns | Williams Syndrome Association

[Bay Kid]

Dad went to Urgent Care a few days ago around 2pm and was told they couldn't see him that day. So many sick people this time of year I guess.

[biker1]

No, you were perfectly clear. In your other post, you suggested that FL was not as good as other places. I get it, you think medical care is better up north and you cherry picked some hospital ratings to support your argument. I don’t happen to agree with the suggestion that “up north” is “better”, and I grew up in the north. Regarding your statement that you think Shands, Mayo, and Moffitt are “good”, as opposed to “very good” or “excellent”, what do you base this opinion on? I happen to think they are excellent based on having been at those facilities.

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I think I may have not been clear.

I have been involved with a group of parents for more than thirty years whose children were born with very unusual and very involved cardiovascular problems that last all of their lives. Adequate care or even good care is not good enough for them. We continue to take our daughter to Cincinnati Childrens Adult Cardiology Clinic because of her unusual plumbing and need for expert anesthesia care.* Some Children with Williams Syndrome have died from heart surgery performed at smaller, less experienced hospitals.

I was hospitalized a year ago here, quite unexpectedly and spent a week in Critical Care and I received excellent care at TVRH . I felt the nurses there were superior in every way and caught things the doctors did not.

I think TVRH is a decent hospital for most things.

I think that The Villages has adequate health care and I think that the hospitals that you mentioned, Moffitt, Shands, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville are good. We are very lucky that our company insurance pays for our daughters very specific needs at her age of 53.

* Anesthesia Concerns | Williams Syndrome Association

[PennBF]

Our experience. Had complaint and wanted the best so flew to Houston, Texas, MD Anderson. Diagnosis was "Fibroids" don't let any one operate they will go away by themselves. Pain Continued so went to local Dr. Diagnosis is "Pancreatic" cancer operate immediately. Went to Mayo in Jacksonville for another opinion. Diagnosis: Stage 3+ Uterine Cancer. Operated and today is considered cured. Moral of the story: was not impressed with MD Anderson, local Dr. was terrible. Have seen multiple xrays of the pancrea, plus view from surgery..no sign of cancer. MR Anderson was just plain wrong. The above are facts..Opinion is if you are some one of importance or a challenging case you will get good results from MD Anderson, someone off the streets probably just as good as anywhere else. Use a 2nd opinion for any significant diagnosis. Have been back to Mayo in Jacksonville and am really impressed with their treatment and procedures and care. Am not new regarding the major clinics and teaching hospitals and regard Mayo as our first choice.

[Brawnwy123]

Originally Posted by Tomterrif

Like great majority of benefits of Te Villages but health care seems to be below average. Had good treatment at LMRC but was warned wait times are normally quite long... hospital on out side was poorly lit... ratings of both hospitals were quite depressing.. staff advised me they desparately need a new hospital to handle volume but only get these ubiquitous urgent care centers... had to travel back to Cincinnati for heart surgery due to overall rating of hospitals. Will prevent me from ever considering full time here... correct assessment or not?

Reply to Hospital Item. OK, If I told you the facts on a week of my wife being in the Villages Hospital, you would surely think I was lying. Not just bad,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Terrible!! And the place should be closed down. Go on the first floor and look at the gallery photos (about 18) of the top tiered gang. Just opposite the Snack Bar, first floor. They almost killed my wife.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sickening and I mean that.

[Madelaine Amee]

Originally Posted by Dan9871

You will find great stories and horror stories about health providers anywhere you go but there are very few places that have a local bulletin board like TOTV to amplify horror stories like The Villages does.

I don't feel I can make personal assessments based on aggregate statistics of providers, unfortunately I feel I have to somehow make assessments of individual providers myself. There are good and bad providers everywhere no matter how good the "brand" they are associated with is.

For us the transition from Massachusetts to The Villages was stressful because of the having to find new health care providers... as it would have been no matter what place we moved to.

In the end we feel our health and health care is better here than in Eastern Massachusetts (which has lots of world class health facilities) simply because Villages Health and our doctor do a better job of managing the care we received than in Massachusetts, and the locality of services. We feel our PCP is just as competent as any of the better doctors we dealt with in Massachusetts.

As far as hospitals in the area we are very satisfied with the services we have received at Villages Hospital, Leesburg Hospital and Munroe (now Advent) in Ocala. We weren't satisfied with the services we received at the other big hospital in Ocala, though that might have been the luck of the draw.

In the end picking health care providers is stressful and personal, and if you get it wrong you lose.

If you already have providers in Cincinnati that you trust and have done a good job for you, you may find it hard to replace them no matter where you go. In our case most of our providers were on the verge of retirement so that actually made the transition to The Villages an easier choice for us.

In my humble opinion, this is an excellent assessment on health care in TV. We are also from Mass, but north of Boston and my doctors and specialists were at Beth Israel. Since moving here I have found two specialists I see who are from Beth Israel in NY, and my heart doctor has now added a heart specialist from the Mayo Clinic Rochester to his group. We have both had to use TV hospital for major emergency procedures and minor procedures and have been extremely pleased with both the treatment and the doctors. I was a patient at Mayo for three years, miserable travel but excellent care. We are pleased with our care .... my health provider in Mass was a 2 1/2hr drive from home and then back again on major highways, so traveling from my home here to TV is a dream. I should add that we have the very best health care that we can buy and that helps to get you the best provider!