VA Long Beach Healthcare System

Reviews 4

MO

Mona Marche

I was admitted for a knee broken in 6 pieces. The nursing staff (RNs and CNAs) were the best and the worst. The best were attentive, caring, patient, and overall very good. The worst were impatient, uncaring, well, they made it the worst hospital experience I have ever had. I was operated on by a resident. He was caring and listened...didnt have the usual arrogance some orthopedic surgeons have. He was gone before my first follow-up visit. My grump, though, was that a "resident" did the surgery. The follow-ups began with the nurse practitioner. I requested a "doctor". I have been seen by residents. Two of them were in such hurries, I didnt get questions answered. They would be on their cell phones checking other things the "whole" 20-minute appointment. After they walked out (seemed the norm), I would wait. A nurse would walk in and say I was done and could go. Id say I was waiting to finish up with the doctor with my questions. Id be told he (they) left for lunch. My last visit I met a lady who was the manager of the dept. I told her I was tired of not being listened to, not having questions answered, and the general courtesies a patient should experience from a doctor visit. She spoke with the chief resident and he saw me. I needed paperwork filled in and signed. It was done hurriedly. Downstairs, I looked at it and saw it wasnt completed. My husband saw and got his attention down the hall. He came because my husband insisted. He did the paper work with another pen. He messed up, which we didnt know until later. It is still not done and needed to be turned in. When I called, I rarely got called back...When there, my husband overheard one person telling another (dept. employees) that it didnt matter what time the appointment was. they saw people like the ER. The more important ones were seen first. We could get there at 10 a m and not be seen until just before lunch, get hurried while in, etc. We saw one elderly man sitting in his wheel chair when we got there. After we waited quite a while, and were done and leaving at lunch time, he was still sitting in the same place. I asked him if he was seen yet. No. Nine of 10 things I needed written by them were incomplete, or incorrect. When I got the papers back, the person who wrote them would often be gone and Id have to wait til after lunch and then some more after that, or...........Back to the hospital stay of 14 days. The food was NOT good quality, and, with the exception of 3 meals, wasnt even good. The 2 Saturdays there, lunch was a hamburger on a bun with one thin slice each of tomato, onion, and lettuce. There was a side of more carbs (e.g. mashed potatoes, garlic bread). There was the drink and a small sugary fruit cup or applesauce. For dinner, a large frankfurter, bun, drink, small fruit cup, and the most awful small bowl of bean concoction. I had this 2 Saturdays in a row. When I shared a room with a woman with cancer, she was served the regular meals with bacon, sausage, etc. Those foods (bacon, sausage, hot dogs, ham, etc.) have sodium nitrite and other cancer-causing chemicals in them. I was told the food was trucked in daily from Los Angeles. I kept my "menus" to show what I ate. I also have photos I took of some of the meals. Yes, I have photos of the frankfurter meal. I have often stated that the VA hands out x-rays as if they were lollipops. I wont go there now.

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xXDA BALL3RXx

Im a retiring Marine Corps senior officer (prior enlisted) with 28 years of service. Just had my first experience with the Veterans Affairs Department in Long Beach and, unfortunately, it was not a positive one. After waiting nearly two hours to get a simple photo for an ID, I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Malbrough, the gentleman in charge of the camera. Attitude was extremely unpleasant and acted as if he was doing you a favor by taking your picture. Thats not the best part though... Robert, while in the process of inputting my information in his computer, took a photo via a remote digital camera without the simple courtesy of giving me notice. My head was turned sideways and was mid-sentence when it was taken. I was surprised and asked Robert if he could retake the photo. Robert flatly said "No, Im not going to do that" as if he were talking to a five year-old. Its a tight job market out there and, no doubt, there are many far better people to hire in place of Robert Malbrough. I dont simply place the blame on Robert though; also culpable are the human resources personnel that hired him, as well as the individual that decided it was a good idea to put Robert in a customer service position. This is a first impression following my initial visit today. Welcome any feedback from other veterans. Is this the norm or an isolated incident?... The other staff I interacted with (other than Robert Malbrough) seemed friendly.

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ST

Steven Salapich

Horrible. I have been to many VAs in my life and this is by far the worse. Twice i have had to walk out and end up refusing treatment per signed papers cuz these jerks had no treatment to give me. Both times in ER, once with broken neck and now recently with probable pendecitis. Both times facility too full or un-equipped to treat me. Stuck me in corner or hallway for hours with no warmth, food or water. Also no communication. Only way i ever found out if their emergency staff was ever going to help me or not, was after some wandering around. I complained before to the patient rights advocacy guy, and he was full of weak excuses. Def not a Vet himself, im sure. Today i tried to complain but apparently all the business offices in LBC and Patient rights people closed by 4pm! As if 5pm for govt. wasnt early enough. When my appendix bursts and kills me i hope my family sues all of em. P.S. , tried to seek appt at primary VA clinic in Anaheim bout this weeks ago , but they dont answer their phone or call me back...for 2 weeks now! just to SET an appt. This is why corporate punks should nor be in charge of health care for the prior military Men. Portland, Colorado, all WAY better than Long Beach. Got a multi million dollar sky scraper hospital that you can see for miles, but 10 or more patients in ER and while hospital shuts down.

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VA

Valeria Sanchez

I am sorry.... I do not mean to offend anyone but I will be honest and speak on behalf of all the Veterans who are not receiving proper medical treatment. The VA rushes you in and out of your visits as fast as possible. Masking any and every problem with medications, rather than fix the cause. The Long Beach VA is the most mismanaged VA hospital in California, from the director on down. I am 100% service connected and decided to use my money to pay our of pocket for Kaiser insurance. Within one month of being with Kaiser my quality of life improved 100%. For almost 4 years I placed my life in the hands of the VA medical center and was lucky enough to walk away before any more damage was done. I ended up needing parts of my liver removed to undo the VAs damage and have permanent damage done to my kidneys. I know for many of us there is no other option than the VA. Be your own advocate and keep notes and if worse comes to worse head to another hospital. Most ER doctors are familiar with the mediocre care of the VA medical system. I will however say that Womens health and he psychiatry departments are very thorough and do their job well.

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