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Having raised 3 children, I was a frequent visitor to emergency rooms for years. Highlights include:
Daughter 1: broken hand, appendicitis
Daughter 2: broken arm (trapeze)
Son: 2 separate broken arms, auto/bike crash with knee injuries.
Wife: appendicitis while camping.

These were mostly Kaiser around Portland with one at Providence, one in Medford and another in Burns. In each case I was impressed by level of care, competence and compassion of staff, and by effective triage where wait times corresponded with the level of need,. For instance, my wife waited in pain with appendicitis behind a gunshot wound, diving accident with neck trauma with paralysis, and a heart attack.

My last visit was on Thanksgiving 2006. I broke my face playing football (a 40+ year tradition of Turkey bowl). I?m nearly 60, so maybe my reactions were a little slow. I initially denied serious injury, but by the time my wife arrived I was in shock, shaking with cold, nauseous with an extremely high BP. She took me to Kaiser Interstate where after a few brief questions that she answered (I could not speak or walk much at this point) I was whisked back to a room and given shots for nausea, wrapped in hot sheets and ex-rayed. I had broken the 3 major bones of the face. I was taken by ambulance to St Vincent, given adequate pain treatment and surgery the next day. The surgeon did an outstanding job and today you cannot tell I was injured or have two plates in my face. Pretty good with a $5 co-pay.

When I was young in Portland I can remember long waits, crowded waiting rooms and over worked staff. In the late 70?s Kaiser opened Sunnyside and the attitude and service were a 180 degree difference. I have been very impressed since that time.

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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