4.5 stars!
When a…read moreprevious doctor of mine said she was going to stop recommending weekly massages in the following year "because [she] didn't believe in them," I decided I'd find a doctor that did. I've been a patient of Dr. Madonna Mallari, one of the internists here, since 2013. I've also seen two other internists when she wasn't available, and Drs. Atienza and Wong were just as warm, friendly, efficient, and accessible as she is. The reception staff are also nice and upbeat.
My first visit with Dr. Mallari was for a wellness/physical, a yearly check-up I always find stressful for it includes a Pap test, and I knew that Mallari was going to be my new doctor when the Pap test ended just a few seconds after it began and, more importantly, was PAINLESS! This annual procedure always seemed to last for longer than ten minutes and necessitated the use of super-cold metal instruments that caused much anxiety and pain, but with Mallari, I barely felt a pinch! I actually said "That's it?" I went home and told Mom I found a doctor for us, so she promptly made an appointment to see her, too.
After that initial appointment, I found it hard to schedule the next few visits with Mallari (either she was on vacation, or working at another location) and I've had to settle for Urgent Care when I came down with colds and sinus infections and an appointment with Dr. Atienza, who did my second physical and proposed booster shots (flu and tetanus-- don't believe when you're told you will be sore for only a few days... I was sore for almost three weeks!). Atienza also informed me that if my past Pap tests have been normal, then I won't have to take it every year- whew! Dr. Wong was the doctor that removed the staples on my head that I acquired after a fainting spell that left me with a 1.5 inch parietal gash, which an emergency doctor at the Shea Hospital next door stapled shut ten days before. Wong was affable and easy-going, as if we've known each other for a long time. When I tried to schedule an appointment to see Mallari, but couldn't get an earlier date and time, I tried to ask for Wong, or even Atienza, but was told that if Mallari was scheduled to work at the Shea clinic, then I will have to wait for an appointment with her. For that, I'd only rate 3.5 stars out of five. The other star is for the in-house lab for blood work and other lab tests, which I always have to get done, thanks to my fainting spells, viitamin D deficiency, and other traits I have been blessed with. No more trekking to other labs, often far from home, with orders in hand. Just show up a little earlier before your doctor's appointment, or hang out after and get them done here. The phlebotomists are efficient and skilled at what they do, and if one isn't sure he, or she will be able to get it right the first time (my veins can get very shy, especially when it's chilly outdoors, or indoors, and it almost always is chilly inside clinics), then the initial phlebotomist will ask the other one to step in, which is what happened this morning. Kudos to the woman who studied both of my arms for the better vein, instead of puncturing me at both arms and feet, without success, like those phlebotomy students did at the Mayo Clinic a few years ago!
I hope that I'm able to find a home nearby to move into, so I won't have to search for another medical group!
