Villages Hospital ER Experience - awful
 

My wife became quite ill yesterday vomiting multiple times, 103.3 fever, loss of mental capacity - very scary and had to take her to the ER because everything was closed after 8 pm.

By the time I got here there she could barely sit up and was pretty foggy. I signed her in at the ER desk and was told to sit down in the waiting area. An hour later - still sitting there with my wife barely able to stay awake.

Went to the desk and was told to go see the triage nurse. Triage nurse said that she was next to be evaluated to see when she could be schedulef to be seen by the medical staff. Fifteen minutes went by - still nothing.

I understand that an ER operates on a highest need basis etc., etc. but my wife was obviously in need of immediate attention.

I walked out and drove her to Leesburg Hospital - walked in and they took one look at her and she was being treat literally in minutes. I can't speak highly enough about the Leesburg staff.

Due to privacy, suffice to say that my wife is doing much better thanks to the great care in the ER at Leesburg.

I will never, ever, step foot in the Villages Hospital again.

Beware - it's just a short drive to Leesburg if you ever have a medical emergency - I strongly recommend avoiding the Villages ER.

Silly question to anyone that might know, do people brought by ambulance have better treatment than described by the op?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920AZ using Tapatalk

Monroe Memorial in Ocala is another choice...straight down 27

Down 27 is Leesburg

T

Glad she is doing well!!!!

you are so right....UP 27

Not really. I have been taken in by ambulance a few times. I got care in the ambulance so when I got to the hospital I was in the hallway on the stretcher for awhile. All times I went in I did end up being admitted.

If she was next, she may have been taken in before the time it took you to go to Leesburg. Glad everything worked out.

Got food poisoning a couple of weeks ago and had a similar experience. I was holding a bucket the entire time, couldn't sit down, I begged them to find a place for me to lie down as I was in extreme pain. I was the only one in the waiting room but they still didn't come and get me for an hour and a half. They didn't put me in a wheel chair and I could hardly walk. I had to follow the tech down several hallways all the way to the end. I had to sit down twice but neither time did they offer a chair. After I received fluids and meds I was discharged several hours later and had to walk those long hallways again. Finally I asked for a wheel chair and they gave me one. I was not impressed and won't be going back there again.

Thank you for posting on TOTV. Your experiences will help guide the rest of us if emergency care is needed and circumstances are such that we can make a choice. In addition, you should report what happened to the hospital administrator.

Villages Hospital
 

I know this has been said many times before..... if you are experiencing an emergency, or needing immediate attention..... call 911....... care starts immediately when the paramedics arrive and is continued during transport. You are taken directly into the ER..... not the waiting room.... you are triaged there. And yes, at TVRH you may still have a wait, but you are safer there than sitting in the waiting room. And certainly safer than getting back in a car and heading for Leesburg or Ocala..... If this was a CVA (stroke), care would have been initiated in the ambulance. This could have been a fatal trip to Leesburg. There are so many variables. It is just always safer to call 911. Especially this time of year.... when all local hospitals may be on divert....

It's a holiday because New Years was on Sunday! Most doctor's offices are closed. I've been waiting here in the ER in Michigan with my 92 year old mother for hours! They've checked on her, took a chest X-ray but we are still waiting to get out of the waiting room!

I agree! Last Spring I was having issues so went to see my primary. I was checked from stem to stern there without finding anything wrong but was told "IF" this happens again...call 911. It did happen again and that's what we did. Did I wait in the ER...yes but they kept checking on me and when it was available, the next test was done. The ER along with their X-ray, lab etc serves the hospital as well as the patients that come in. Triage is what they do. IF I'd have been having a stroke, heart attack was bleeding profusely I venture to say I'd have been put at the head of the line in triage. IF there are issues you feel need to be addressed then by all means contact the hospital administrator. They can't "fix" something unless they know about it.

All should experience the Villages Hospital ER " ONCE " not that I wish you or your loved ones ill. You can be the only person in the waiting area and no interest will be indicated that you even exist for hour after hour. Have had the occasion to be in six or seven ERs in my lifetime, as a patient or accompanying a patient, and this truly must be what third world medicine is all about. Contact the hospital administrator ? Ha, this has been going on for years and if the hospital administration claims not to be aware of all the complaints the word [B]" disingenuous " [B] needs a new definition.

You are right - perhaps she could have been next but then again after another 15 minutes of nothing happening I had to make the call to either stay or go. Will never know how long I would have waited. What I didn't mention in my original post is that after I approached the Triage nurse and returned, people voluntarily came up to me telling me they had been there for hours upon hours waiting for treatment. Now I can't say the seriousness of their issues - could have been a mosquito bite for all I know - but after listening to several of them I decided to leave. Although this sounds unimaginable, one lady came up to me and said she had been there since 1 pm in the afternoon and it was now 9 pm. Have know idea what her medical need was but hearing that was the very last straw for me... Thanks to all those that read and responded...

Tbear