December 2023 by Vanesa Silva Bernaldo
AWFUL.My daughter had her appointment on July 25, that day apart from arriving on time, they made me wait 30-40 minutes for a check-up with the nurse (who, apart from talking to you about GETTING OUT INCLUDED) did not know how to treat a BABY. And then I waited ANOTHER HOUR for the DOCTOR, during that whole process my daughter took her 20 minute nap, then waited 20 minutes and then was called by the NURSES (blood draw and vaccines) THEN I HAD TO FORCEL WAKE HER UP TO GET HER VACCINED and on top of that they extracted BLOOD in total. TO FINISH, the system did not work to obtain APPOINTMENT and after 2 days they gave me the next MEDICAL APPOINTMENT…With 3 MONTHS in advance with two days left, they called me to tell me to RESCHEDULE the APPOINTMENT because the doctor was not going to be there that day. I call at TWO HOURS and they tell me that the next appointment they have is December 27 (according to the same DOCTOR), I ask them to give me the closest one they can and they give me FOR DECEMBER 5…. From OCTOBER to DECEMBER ?I arrive at my daughter's appointment ONE HOUR EARLY, and the receptionist tells me YOU ARE EARLY, when no one arrives... with 5 minutes left until 2:20pm (time of my APPOINTMENT) about 3 children arrive. They make me pass THE IMPATIENT NURSE didn't even take the time to deal with a BABY who was rudely WEIGHT and HEIGHT. And she told me "WAIT, the doctor is coming", I distracted MY DAUGHTER with A BALLOON, with a paper and PEN, in the BED, with the water, with a WIPE, with THE CHAIR... I distracted her with everything (even with food) AND SHE GOT TIRED ‼️‼️‼️ they spent 40 MINUTES WAITING FOR A DOCTOR who dedicated himself to caring for the children who arrived after mine and after being admitted by the nurse. I gave him 10 MORE MINUTES to wait and GRAB MY THINGS, when I left I ran into a NURSE “we are going to weigh the baby again” because according to what the machine DIDN'T read CORRECTLY... in the little room all the nurses were OK. HANDS CROSSED smile stops GOSSIPING his life…⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ THEY HAVE NO DELICATENESS towards a BABY who does not speak or know how to express his discomfort for a stranger OTHER THAN WITH A CRY and THESE NURSES BECOME INSENSIBLE only to run back to GOSSIP his life with his colleagues. 8 hours like that.
June 2021 by Emily O.
I previously reviewed CHN LIC, but then I took down my review because I thought that they were changing and addressing my concerns. Now, I believe that they did not. Accordingly, I want to let other patients and potential patients know about my experience as they may make their decision about whether to be a patient there.I became a patient at CHN LIC upon the suggestion of a neighbor in late 2019. My primary reasons for becoming a patient were that they accept my insurance and they are less than five blocks door-to-door from my home. As a CHN patient, I have received one-on-one psychotherapy, been seen as an adult internal medicine/primary care patient, and I also received tele-health psychiatry services in late 2020, from a provider at another CHN branch.My experience as a Behavioral Health patient has been tumultuous and harmful. From December 2019 to June 2021, I received psychotherapy from a CHN social worker. While I would unquestionably recommend the therapist I saw, Amanda de Jesus, I would not recommend CHN for Behavioral Health Services.First, I think CHN Behavioral Health takes place in a toxic environment for patients no matter who their CHN therapist is. Most importantly, I did not appreciate that I was unable to enjoy privacy and confidentiality during my time in therapy. For example, If I needed to send a written message to my therapist in between our appointments, I was forced to send it via CHN's Patient Portal message. From what I know, Portal messages were diverted to a CHN office manager before they were routed to my therapist. However, the Portal does not allow patients to submit documents as attachments. This made way for an additional problem: my therapist was unable to send me emails, nor was I able to send emails to her, so if I had documents to send 'for my therapist's eyes only,' I had to physically deliver (or mail) the document(s) to CHN LIC, and await the time when my therapist went into the office to pick up the paper copies to read. From what I understand, this email policy only applies to Behavioral Health providers, as administrative staff and other providers (e.g., nutritionists) at CHN are allowed to (and do) email their clients. In the height of the pandemic, with work-from-home, this was less than ideal and inefficient. Similarly, during tele-health sessions, neither written material (i.e., via chat) nor patient's screens could be shared. From my experience, only the providers have the option to display their screen (i.e., screen share). For reference, the software that I mostly used for tele-health therapy via video conferencing with my therapist was called Luma Health. Notwithstanding COVID-19, I think that these are outdated rules to have as department policy, especially the lack of email.Also, I learned that confidential matters communicated orally were not assuredly confidential at CHN. During one particularly sensitive conversation between my therapist and I in April, I asked that she keep things "one-on-one confidential" (i.e., just between the two of us) so that I would feel comfortable disclosing what I wanted to disclose, but wasn't otherwise telling her. I confirmed, in advance of the disclosure, that the topic wasn't anything she was required to disclose by law, (e.g., child abuse or neglect) so that I wouldn't make her promise to keep something secret that she legally could not. In reply, my therapist explained that she still could not "guarantee one-on-one confidentiality," because she works for a clinic. I felt distraught and immediately began to cry. I attended therapy in the hopes of working through many difficult, traumatic, and upsetting issues, but it sometimes felt like I wasn't at the right place to get the help that I needed. I think that my therapy was severely disadvantaged by this context.Another example of how toxic my experience was at CHN Behavioral Health came about when, in November 2020, I was told I was being discharged from therapy. According to CHN Behavioral Health AVP Dori McLennan,
