As soon as I walked in I was met with a scowl from a twenty something, curly haired, Hispanic female. I told her that I had an appt. She said, "did you fill out the paperwork"? (I didn't know that I had paperwork to fill out. I made an appt and immediately headed to the office. I didn't know I was texted paperwork.) I asked her if I could fill the paperwork out at the clinic and she literally rolled her eyes at me and sighed!! The female sitting next to her said that I could use a tablet, but I was already feeling uncomfortable so I said, "that's okay", walked away, and sat down to look at the link I was texted. No less than five minutes later a Hispanic male approached the counter and she was very pleasant greeting him and handed him the tablet to fill out his paperwork. She called my name and I said, "yes ma'am" and she ignored me. She called my name again, so I walked up to the counter. With a scowl on her face. she said, "it will be $45 up front". I said, "normally, my office visits are covered". She rolled her eyes at me again and said, "your insurance doesn't cover it". I said, normally it does so I'm confused, but okay and pulled out my card to pay. She rolled her eyes at me AGAIN and with an attitude said, "I'll call your insurance to verify". I literally said out loud to her, "WTF" and went back to my seat. I was already scared because my throat was so swollen I was struggling to get air through. Why the attitude for no reason? I was scared and she was so unreasonably rude. To be honest, I think she's racist. I watched over and over how the black and brown people in the waiting room and coming through the door were all pleasantly greeted. I did not get the same treatment. I was the only white person in the waiting room. She did verify with my insurance and I paid the $45.
I waited for approximately one hour before being called back. The man that took my vitals was very pleasant and comforting as he could see I was scared.
I waited for another 20 minutes before the female Dr. entered. She asked how I was feeling and felt around my neck and looked at my throat. She said, "I don't see anything or feel anything, It all looks normal". "My concern is that it is so far back there to where I can't see that I am afraid it will restrict airflow. You need to go to the ER". She said she would call ahead and have them waiting for me. That entire interaction with the Dr. was approximately 2 minutes.
I left and went to the nearest emergency room. Long story short, they said my throat was very red and irritated and had white patches, and my lymph node on my left side was really swollen. I had blood work, Covid, flu, and strep testing and everything looked normal so they did an x-ray of my neck with contrast and everything looked great. They diagnosed me with pharyngitis and gave me a steroid injection. Within 30 minutes the swelling in my throat had gone down significantly, and I was breathing so much better.
Hospitals are not fond of urgent care clinics. One nurse even asked, "why are they even a thing"? She said, "they don't do much and scare people unnecessarily, a lot". She also said, "if the doctor really was that concerned about your throat closing then she would have called an ambulance for you". When she looked in my throat she immediately saw the redness and irritation. I could not understand why the doctor at CareNow did not see it.
I am extremely disappointed with my visit. I was treated terribly by a front staff member and not given adequate care from the doctor. I have been going to this clinic for more than 10 years, but my children and I will never step foot in this clinic again! I will tell all friends and family to avoid this place at all costs!
I'm going to post the picture that I took of my throat. It's hard to get a good picture of your throat when you've got 25 people sitting around you, but you can clearly see my throat is red. You can even see some of the white patches. I feel like this clinic owes me $45 for what I had to put up with! read more