No complaints about the people there, they're all pleasant enough, tho' impersonal, and seem competent enough. However, the overall design of the new Westboro facility is such a major disappointment, especially considering the investments in focus-groups about overall design and look-and-feel that Reliant made when planning their future. Key elements of the guidance from the group I participated in have been completely ignored in the Westboro facility. Driving to and from it is unusually difficult, even for Massachusetts, since access from the north, south, and west all require driving through Westboro's infamous traffic circle at Rte 135 x Rte 30. All parking requires walking across a wide, major driveway to get to the doors (troublesome in ice, salt, snow, slush, and rain). Not enough handicapped parking spaces.
Our focus group offered very broad compliments of the look and feel of Worcester Medical Center (St. VIncent's) as an example of goals to shoot for, and Westboro's is completely opposite, impersonal, cold, grey, vacant, colorless. In an otherwise empty atrium, a staff member stands at a fancy, space-age kiosk, with 2 other staff seated, like bank-tellers, behind a heavy console. From there you walk into large waiting areas with lots of seating with all the warmth of an airport gate area. A too-small TV on the wall of the lab area shows PowerPoint-like slides that flip too fast to read and most with print too small to read from even the closest seating, even with my 20:20 vision.
I mentioned the disappointing design to the staff and medical staff I saw. Each of the 5 said that no-one asked her ideas and advice at all, 2 mentioned the blank halls and corridors, 1 commented that offices have no windows at all.
So for the place's medicine I have no complaints. For it's design, it's impersonal to the point of unfriendly, probably exactly as their leadership always intended. read more
