23 years ago, just before my son was born, my dearly loved OB/GYN (Tibor Engel, MD) recommended Dr…read more Andy Bauer for a pediatrician. Dr. Andy came to the hospital to meet my son, probably out of respect for Dr. Engel. I was a new mother, and my mother lives in NY. I cannot overstate the quality of the care that my children have received from Dr. Andy, his PA Beverly, and Greenwood Pediatrics. My son was quite small, 6 pounds 5.5 ounces. I'm tall, and his father is tall. So we all expected an 8-lb baby. Dr. Andy had me bring my son in for weight checks for a few weeks, until my son started gaining weight at a faster pace. He was in the 95th percentile for height, so the weight had to catch up. When my daughter was born, she was even smaller. I asked Dr. Andy if he wanted me to bring her in for weight checks, and he said, "Nah. You just have small babies." Turns out that baby weight is correlated to the mother's birth weight. I weighed 6 lbs 7 ounces. I would never have had 8-lb babies.
There was a terrible incident where my son's diaper was filled with a bright green mess. I PANICKED, and called Greenwood after hours. Dr. Andy called me back, laughing, and asked me if he had had any blue ice cream at Cold Stone. Well, yes, he did. Problem solved :) We are fortunate that that our kids are healthy. Dr. Andy used to joke about how he almost never saw them, except for checkups. I told him that they ate a LOT of vegetables, and weren't allowed soda or junk food except on special occasions. He said, "H'mm."
I like the fact that antibiotics are only prescribed when necessary, and never without the child being seen. Dr. Andy is a no-nonsense physician, and doesn't coddle children or their parents. My kids actually like seeing him, and Beverly :) This recent visit was for my daughter, now 19. I was THRILLED to learn that Greenwood will keep seeing patients up until age 26. I hated leaving my NYC pediatrician, Dr. Edward Davies, when I turned 18.
I'm very grateful to have a pediatrician that we can trust implicitly. I wasn't sure about the HPV vaccines, but Dr. Andy recommended them, so the kids got them. And once there was a time when I was convinced that my infant son had some sort of very rare syndrome, which I based upon an ear crease. Dr. Andy rolled his eyes and pointed out that we would have seen enlarged organs on the ultrasounds. Well, yeah. I'm impressed that he knew about this rare syndrome right off the bat. And for new, inexperienced parents, the after-hours on call service is amazing. We rarely used it, but when we needed it, Greenwood was there. I will say that projectile vomiting is quite disturbing, but does not require ER visits.
My babies are now healthy young adults, and I'm grateful to Dr. Andy, Beverly Garrison, and the rest of the team for their part in getting them here. I never had any problems with the front desk staff, except for one nurse who constantly mispronounced my son's first name, but whatever. He would correct her, and then next time...same mispronunciation. Weird. I like the fact that you never feel hustled at Greenwood. Yes, you might have to wait a bit to see the doctor or PA, but when it's your kid's turn, you will get the same level of care. Son had a motorcycle accident on a weekend, so I took him to Urgent Care and then to Dr. Andy on Monday. Dr. Andy examined him and also spoke about motorcycle safety. I appreciated that. Being a parent can be scary. Having excellent pediatric care is a saving grace.
