My mom is new to the area and finally trying to tackle her stenosis/back pain. She was interested in a back implant, and our understanding was they could help with this.
Our initial consult was in Atascadero. I was a little surprised to find there was no easy handicap "ramp" in front of the office (by the one handicap space). You had to either step up, or go to the other end of the parking/shopping area (multiple office spaces away) to access the one ramp - which is no easy feat for my mom with her limited mobility and pain.
Due to COVID, I stayed in the car and after a period of time I fired up a video chat with my mom so I could hear and advocate for my mom, which ended up being mid-appointment. The women practitioner never introduced herself or explained what was discussed prior - which I let lapse, as video chats are complex, but in hindsight I found unprofessional.
She was quickly scheduled for an epidural, which was likely the right call. That went smooth and the surgery suite seemed well run and professional.
A week or so later my mom had a rash develop near the injection site and was in a new type of back pain, but had her follow up scheduled the next day, so decided to wait it out. We were rather concerned and stressed so showed up to the appointment early, parked near the ramp and had her hobble across the three buildings...only to find the office CLOSED.
If you try calling, you get the dreaded call tree - but it's worse than the normal "press 5..." stuff. It asks you to call a whole other phone number - so here we are on a call, and unless you have a pen and paper handy, you have to either call back with said pen/paper or try to remember this new number to call back while on the call.
After sorting THAT out and calling the new number, of course no one answered, so I left a voicemail and started driving to SLO to take her to the ER. I got a call back on the Grade, where I was told the appt was in San Luis and that was on her discharge papers. It absolutely wasn't; only the time and date.
While the hours online said the SLO office was open until 4pm on Friday, and we could
arrive by 3:45pm (easily), they were closing early and were not open to seeing my Mom in spite of her issues. The PA in that office never spoke with us but the receptionist relayed that we should go to the ER, as planned.
I asked the receptionist to please be sure, when confirming appointments in the future, to specify the location to prevent these issues in the future and she smugly said that it was listed on her paperwork and voicemail. I can snap a picture; it wasn't on the paperwork. My mom said their auto message also didn't say the location but I can't confirm that. And since we had originally seen them in Atascadero I assumed that would be the same. I found it an unprofessional response to a simple request on how to improve their communications.
We ended up at the ER that day and never had any follow up call from the PA, the nurse practitioner, or any of the office's doctors afterwards to check and see what the outcome of that visit was and how my mom was doing.
I understand that the doctors are likely decent specialists and the epidural process was exemplary. But I found the office staff to be unorganized and unprofessional and I would encourage the office to really look at how easy/hard it is for patients to communicate with them, of all ages.
We will be seeking another pain office and cannot recommend, not because of the doctors, but because of the difficulty communicating and unprofessional experience we had. read more
