May 29, 2010

Praise for Swedish Medical Center

I finally wrote to Dr. Rodney Hochman, chief medical officer at Swedish Medical Center to praise the truly excellent care I received on the night of March 29, when I fell and dislocated my elbow. He responded the same day and he liked my blog!

Dear Jill,
Your email this morning was a great way to start the day. I will make sure that the group in the emergency department hears about your experience. I usually try to spend a least a half day a week at one of our clinical sites to see our people in action. I continue to be impressed with the quality and compassion exhibited by our people. Your blog and Rik's photos were also very insightful. Regards, Rod


And here's my original email (sent at 6 AM when I had insomnia yesterday):
After the Passover seder, around 10 PM on March 29, I slipped and fell on wet pavement, injured my arm and was taken by ambulance to Swedish First Hill, where I received truly excellent care. The ED doctor (who had just left his Passover seder) and nurses all treated me as though I was a family member. They listened to and honored my requests, addressed my significant pain, diagnosed a dislocated elbow and attempted to put the bones back into the joint. When that proved unsuccessful, at around 3 AM they called an orthopedic specialist. I was fortunate to go under
the care of Dr. Bill Wagner, who successfully reset my arm and has been a caring, compassionate physician ever since.

I passed a long night at the ED and I only wish I remembered the names of the staff who helped me so this letter could go into their personnel files. Swedish is fortunate to have such employees!

Swedish is always my hospital of choice.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Contributors