Bend Memorial Clinic (BMC) Urgent Care appears to not want to actually offer Urgent care or see patients.
My 6 yo daughter had a light fever a few days, then, on Saturday, things got much worse. She said her throat was really sore, couldn't swallow or talk, and was drooling everywhere. Her pediatrician (who we love) is at BMC pediatrics, so I head to the BMC Westside Urgent Care clinic. I arrive 245ish and carry my sick lethargic kid (who isn't small anymore!) into their 100% EMPTY waiting room. There's no one at the counter. So I wait until a woman finally shows up at the counter. A line of about 6 people has since formed behind me. She apologizes, then asks if I have an appointment. I say no. She says, "we're completely booked, so we're only seeing appointments." I say "well isn't this urgent care? " She says I could try their eastside clinic. En route, I call to make sure I don't need an appointment there. I say "Can I bring my daughter to you without an appointment?" The woman says in a snippy tone "you better hurry, we close at 4" (it's 3:10). I ask again if I need an appointment. She again snips, "we're a walk-in urgent care clinic". I arrive about 3:25. As I carry kiddo past the security guard he says "they have a 2 hour wait" I nod and continue. He then calls out loudly "ma'am, they have a 2-hour wait!" I say "Ok, thanks" over my shoulder and continue on. I find this waiting room also COMPLETELY EMPTY. The woman at the counter says "you're lucky, we usually are busy around this time." I set my daughter on the counter in front of me and start to do the check in process. Just then my stats retching, the lady behind the glass window points and says "there are bags right there". But they are too far for me to reach quickly, So I cup my hands to catch The mess and the lady gets up and walks the other direction, I think this is so she can come around out the door and help me. But she never appears. When I'm trying to dump the goo in my hands in a garbage can, the lady comes back to her desk and says "Oh sorry, I have a weak stomach and can't be around that (????) but we'll get her right in.
The person who comes to do the exam checks temp and bp, looks in ears and throat. She says "her left tonsil is really swollen, it looks abcessed and may need to be drained. The only way to know for certain is to get a CAT scan and we don't have that here, so I need to send you across the street (to the hospital) and they can do that." I say "wow, a CAT scan?" And she says, "yeah, of course I don't know if they WILL do that, they may just do a strep test. But if they NEED the CAT scan they can do it over there, but we can't do it here" it just seems really awkward. We head over across to St Charles immediate care. They say it's odd BMC would send us to them for a CAT scan/drain because an abscess (if that's what it is) will respond to antibiotics so a drain would be a last resort. They quickly swab, take about 15 min to run the test, ID strep, prescribe antibiotics and some steroid liquid for the swollen tonsil, and we head home. Easy peasy .
So here are my musing about BMC:
1. WHY would BMC even OFFER a westside urgent care clinic if they are only going to accept appointments? And if this is the case, why isn't this policy advertised or signed anywhere? Preferably online, or at least signs before you haul a sick kid all the way in from your car? "
2. How is it, with over an hour left of office time and an EMPTY waiting room the Westside clinic says they are completely booked (unless you have an appointment)? Does this mean they truly only see people with appointments? If so, maybe they should change their name to "Saturday appointment clinic"
3. Why is the bmc operator so snippy and at 3:10 telling me to hurry on a 15 min drive across town instead of assuring me I have plenty of time to make it by 4 to a walk in clinic?
4. Why is the security guard at the eastside clinic insistent on stopping my trek towards the urgent care waiting room with a story about a 2-hour wait only to find the waiting room empty?
5. Why is the eastside clinic receptionist seemingly supporting the guards 2-hour wait story by telling me I'm lucky because they are usually very busy?
6. Why is it a receptionist at an urgent care facility has a "weak stomach"? that seems like she's in the wrong job. Why does no one even make an attempt to help with the vomiting episode?
7. Why would the BMC examining practitioner not try to administer a strep test herself? The idea of a CAT scan as the first thing for a swollen tonsil seemed really ludicrous. It felt like she just wanted to get rid of us, like everyone else we came into contact with at BMC on this not so fine Saturday. read more
