Community Health Centers of Burlington

Reviews 3

RA

rajeev k

I have the most horrible experience with this facility. I Myself and my wife contacted the facility in Jan 2014 for our immigration related medical examination. We were directed to doctor Tara Chasnoff . However final form I-693 was signed by Andrey Wen MD whom we never met. The medical examination included physical check ,vaccinations based on the blood work and final documentation. The whole process took 4 months to complete and I was given the final documentation in may. We have to visit the facility 5 times to complete all tests. I had to repeat the same medical test again in 2016 because of some missing details and the same process took only a week with another USCIS approved civil surgeon (Everything was over in 3 consecutive visits, first day physical and blood work, second day vaccination and third day documentation) The I-693 documentation they provided were incomplete and inaccurate. I discovered the same when I met another civil surgeon for the second time to repeat the tests. She was verifying the details from the previous medical tests and found that many details were not properly filled. I was totally disappointed at this finding as I lost lot of money in the first exam but still documentation is ambiguous. My civil surgeon also discovered that some of the tests performed earlier were costly ones even tough there were cheaper alternatives. I had to call facility at least 20 times to move the things in 4 months. Every time I call nurse will pick up and update me that she is not the one who is handling my case and that someone else will contact me. But most of the time nothing will happen and I have to call and cry again. I was told that immigration related tests will usually take this much time as civil surgeons are usually busy. I realized that I was probably misguided and cheated by the staff when my friends were able to get things done much faster from other facilities. I am giving this review after close to 2 years as I realized how dragging the things were only now (when I had to go through the same again in). The following is how our appointments went at community health center Jan 2014- First appointment. The basic details of us were collected . Met doctor Tara Chasnoff. No tests or physical was done on same day. Got next appointment after 1.5 month March 2014- Physical completed. Doctor forgot to tell us that our blood samples need to be collected for determining the vaccinations required in our first visit. Asked to come again another day to collect blood samples as the lab was closed on that day. March 2014 - Blood samples were collected. Updated us that test results will be ready in a week and someone will call us to let the results are ready to book appointment for vaccination. April 2014- Vaccinations taken. We were told that documentation will be completed soon and we will be given a call to come and collect same. There was no response after that for 2 weeks. I started calling them almost everyday. After 3 weeks I was told that one of the blood test result is missing for my wife and we have to go again to give the blood samples again.(See how responsible the staff is ) May 2014- Second set of bold samples were given. Again took another 2 weeks passed. There was no update. I started calling them daily again.Each time I got different excuses like surgeon is on leave and not available , a different nurse was handling case etc. May 2014 - Final documentation was provided with lot of struggle by end of May. May be the issue I faced was and odd case. But I will never recommend this facility to anyone who genuinely desire that they need personal attention.

A

A Private User

Uninsured or on Medicaid? Expect to be referred here, but do not expect high caliber treatment--or even polite treatment. The secretarial staff over the 10 years I have had to deal with them have the nastiest attitudes for any clinic I have ever been to, except for Vermont Dental Care in Winooski, which I left over similar treatment. I learned early on I had to keep things given to me regarding upcoming appointments because I have been switched or booked in more than one slot more than once, and a no-show is just a no-show in their book, not any error on their part, mind you, without such backup. It is really sad if a patient feels she has to collect "evidence" of really having an appointment on another day or time to avoid their harsh no-show policy: You have to call daily for a same-day opening forever more! If you can get beyond the rude, incompetent secretarial staff, the dental care is okay. I feel my dental health was maintained, but they run on student labor, so dont expect to ever see the same dentist twice. There was a senior hygienist named Sue who apparently has retired. She was very competent and nice and is the only bright spot I can recall over the decade. As to the medical care, any controlled substance is a naughty drug in their book! I will never forget my one and only medical appointment there to get several medications renewed as I had just moved to Burlington, and the list included Klonopin among at least one other drug for my MS. The Klonopin request flavored the rest of the appointment for the worse, with Dr. Vivian Esparza wanting to swap other medications used to control my leg twitches and discomfort of many years in my medical record as restless legs syndrome, and more recently diagnosed as spasticity from my MS by DHMC. And yes, Klonopin is helpful for this, and I have been on this drug since 1998. And wow, how can a GP who has met once, decide Celexa in lieu of Klonopin is going to be of any help to me whatsoever? "Antidepressants modulate pain..." so all pain or discomfort then? She would not listen to me telling her I am intolerant of the whole SSRI class of antidepressants, because how could I possibly know what I am talking about, right? Needless to say, I did not make the drug changes, and was seen by the MS clinic at FAHC at much greater expense to the system just for a Klonopin refill. My final interaction was calling to transfer my records because I had moved back where I came from. I was asked about the "two-page form," and I responded with a clarifying question, was still trying to get her to agree "medical release" is the "two-page form," (really a one-pager with a list of definitions on the second, which I had throw away), was told I was "rude," and was hung up on! A first for me from any medical/dental practice ever! Because I was on my cell phone, I can tell you this conversation lasted all of 45 seconds! I am so glad to have nothing more to do with them! They are the ONLY practice I have made two complaints to Medicaid over abusive customer service. CHCB staff apparently know they can get away with such behavior because of the very limited options for dental care for adults on Medicaid. The relationship started badly and ended badly, so I conclude they have nothing to fear as far as reigning in staff misbehavior. This is clearly a clinic of last resort. We dont matter. Remember that if you do have "real" insurance, and a therefore a choice for medical and dental care.

PE

Peter Deng

The only problem that I have noticed with Community Health Center of Burlington is that they are not good at giving patients appointment and also on treatment part too. I have personally experienced myself many time. I was really suffering and want to see the doctor immediately but when I call their customer representative answer the phone and told me there was no appointment available for the day. That was understandable but I told the representative over the phone "ok how about tomorrow?" The representative then told me to call back next day in the morning at 7am and that they will try their best to see if they can get me in (again no guarantee here). O boy, as a businessman I am telling you this is not the best way to handle patient. Patient call because he or she is suffering and would like to see the doctor so that he or she can get cure and not to be told call back tomorrow. When it come to treatment, I really cant give any positive recommendation because every time I go there with hope that doctors are going to figure out what I am suffering from and at least do the best they can because they are the expert, I always ended up returning to my apartment very disappointed with the service and the kind of treatment I get. I saw different doctors but they were kind of the same. However, I continued to go there anyway with a hope that they have changed or will one day change but they are actually not changing and that is very sad. I hope the administration will work hard to bring changes to this community health center when they read reviews like this one. I sometime say "maybe the system was not design to work for everyone here." Good thing, I am not stopping going there anyway but I will continue to write reviews if nothing change. Peter