Presence Saint Joseph Hospital, Chicago

I brought my 3yr child to the EMERGENCY for stomach pain. After thurough examination, Dr. Chadd found the problem and saved my CHILD’S LIFE! GOD BLESS DR. CHADD because he is one of the best doctors in Chicago!

I came in early on a Saturday thinking I would not need an appointment for an EKG which is what I though my doctor referred for me but it was an electrocardiogram which I would need an appointment for. I was unhappy thinking I came out in the cold for nothing. However, Brenda, the lady doing registration that morning, I was only 1 of 2 patients in the registration area was a big help and was able to get me in right away. She was absolutely wonderful. If not for her going the extra mile I would have had to miss a day of work. Once upstairs at the heart center my wait was 5 minutes give or take and the procedure only 15 minutes. The assistant was very helpful as well and I was in and out and at home by noon. The experience was a nice one.
The only reason for not giving 5 stars is that the carpet in the waiting room was filthy and had not been vacuumed ih who knows how long. That did not make a good first impression and an employee there actually commented on it, There’s really no excuse for that especially considering how early I arrived at St. Joes.

This hospital, since being taken over by Presence, is now a joke! All scheduling now is «central» for all of their hospitals. You have to wait on line (as I did today) and after 10 minutes, they simply hang up on you! Happy holidays!
So, I called back in – again, the same routine. wait on line for 5 minutes, line goes dead!
Or, like last week when I called this same Central Scheduling, after 15 minutes (YES. 15 MINUTES ON HOLD). I finally opted for their recorded suggestion of «if you want to leave a message, we’ll give you call back». Since I thought they sounded more efficient, I pressed the button and left a message. What a chump I was … after leaving a message, they know advise «someone will contact you within 24 hours!» Really ??? Are you kidding? Is this, as your recording advises, «…handling calls in the order in which they are received.» Don’t think so.
The next day, true to their word, someone called me back within the 24 hours window. Unfortunately, I was not able to answer the call and, when I called back … surprise, I was advised that I would have to «get back on hold and wait in the ‘order in which they were received.» Really??? Are you kidding ??? And, to that they said, «no, sorry, that is our system!»
I am trying to reschedule a test I went in for yesterday in their new facility on Sheridan (another wonderful joke!). millions of dollars spent on new facility and equipment and what a disappointment. Have been here for a few tests (for both me and my husband) — poor, poor, poor service! The 6^th floor waiting room is small, not enough chairs, but an overhead TV always on blaring some ridiculously loud and obnoxious sitcom. The noise drowns out the staff calling names for people to come in for their appointments. (Whose idea was this?) And, complimentary wi-​fi (as all other facilities offer, including their main hospital on Lake Shore Drive). DOES NOT WORK! Every time we are there, we complain to staff who advise they know and are working on it. (REALLY ???) When you make people wait two hours for a test (as I did yesterday). perhaps they would like to contact family to let them know of the delay. Can’t do it. and, as I sat there the other day, I heard other exasperated people express the same dismay. ‘why can’t I get my email? why can’t I call out? wi-​fi is not working!‘
This hospital is convenient and, when you do get in to see someone, for the most part staff is really great. but, giving these recent problems, my husband and I are now considering Northwestern which is just a quick bus ride away!
I hope they can clean up their act since we’d like to remain customers and not see their great staff head to the unemployment lines, but with this lack of customer service, it does not look promising!

The billing process is absolutely awful. You don’t know how much or what you owe until after the procedure is done. There is no explanation of the billing process. In addition, when trying to set up a payment plan you have to call back several times to make sure they process your credit card payment. The representative told me that I was setup for a payment plan then did not explain that this would not be charged to my credit card automatically each month, but I would need to call-​in to make each and every payment. Not worth the hassle… Northwestern is much better.

I went to the Saint Joseph Hospital Emergency Room today. Great environment, fabulous care, wonderful service. So glad to have it in the neighborhood

Terrible service. Make people wait a whole day without food for a test. No bed change… no help with bathing. A real waste of time.

Just delivered my baby and although we had complications the staff here went out of their way to help in every step of the way. Esther in the NICU is amazing, I’m a first time mother and she was very supportive in helping me with my son. This is a difficult time for a lot of first time parents especially when there are complications in the birth, this hospital made me feel at home and welcomed. A lot of special people that work here take that time to make parents feel better about there situation. Thank you!

I have been going to this hospital for 18 years as I am a patient with Lakeshore Infectious Disease on the 12^th floor. That said, I’ve discovered that Presence Health, which now runs the hospital are rude money grubbers. My copays are now 40.00 and they charge now for missed appointments which I think is pretty crappy to do to people struggling with HIV /​AIDS
They tried to charge me for an appointment they said I was a no show, uh, never happened. I was also in patient recently, when I went for a follow-​up app’t /​stress test I was told, rather loudly and rudely, that «Oh, you owe us 1800.00» before I even received a bill! When I was in the ER they also said «You have a 250.00 copay, how would you like to take care of that «while I was stressing about my illness. Money money money. They will also hound you endlessly with phone calls. When I took a urine sample I was also told I could receive the results the next afternoon. When I returned I was told «Oh we’re closed.“Make sure they send you an itemized bill, as they nickel and dime you to death and don’t tell you when they use out of your network doctors

If I could give their emergency room less than 1 star, I would. I went in at 2 a.m. with an emerging allergic reaction. Already having had this reaction before, I noticed that my eye was starting to swell and become very red and decided to immediately go to the ER to try and stop it before it got worse. I explained to the nurse and the doctor my allergy and showed the doctor (Moses S. Lee M.D.) photos from my previous reaction to illustrate the severity and express that I needed Prednisone. He told me that it was a minor reaction and that he didn’t think a steroid was necessary so he simply prescribed me some antihistamine eye drops and told me to take 2 Benadryl every 6 hours for the next day. I explained to him that I had already taken 2 Benadryl and that having gone through something like this before, I know that Benadryl is not strong enough and that the only thing that works is Prednisone. Additionally, my sole purpose for coming in at 2 in the morning was to get a Prednisone prescription and stop the reaction before it got any worse. Reluctantly, he wrote me a very low dose prescription for the Prednisone and told me not to take it unless the reaction was worse the following day, but he was very certain when telling me that he believed the reaction would subside with solely Benadryl and eye drops.
I did as the doctor told me and filled my prescriptions and used the eye drops and took Benadryl and set the Prednisone aside, assuming that because he has a medical degree, he knows what he’s talking about. That was not the case, and the reaction did not go away overnight. Instead, I woke up the next morning and the reaction was 20 times worse, just as I had feared. My eyes were totally swollen, red, and oozing, not to mention painful, and the skin around them was extremely irritated. I immediately took 2 more Benadryl, used the eye drops, and took the prescribed amount of Prednisone. I then went to another urgent care where the doctor there told me that my reaction was far too severe for solely eye drops, Benadryl, and the very low dose of Prednisone, and he then wrote me an additional Prednisone prescription 3 times the dosage of the original prescription from Presence SJH ER. Had the doctor in the ER taken me seriously in the first place and listened when I explained to him (and showed him) how severe my allergy really is, I could have been prescribed the proper dosage in the first place and avoided this terrible reaction that I knew was emerging. I also could’ve avoided paying two separate copays and for two separate Prednisone prescriptions, but Dr. Lee simply ignored my concerns and sent me on my way. As a health care professional, doctors have the ethical duty to hear out their patients and provide them with the best possible care, however, my experience was the opposite. I wasted my time and my money and I will certainly not be returning to this «hospital» ever again.

I took a tour of the maternity ward today and everything seems great. The staff is amazingly warm and friendly. Rooms are nice and they have cots for whoever stays the night with you. They seem so welcoming not only to the mom but guests as well.
I delivered my first baby at Prentice but will be delivering my next here!

Both technicians who did my ultrasound and mammogram were very nice and easy to talk to. Despite showing up 15 minutes early, the registration department was behind. The radiologist was also very nice, but I found it concerning the mass I feel (and he felt too) doesn’t show on imaging. I walked out with no referrals to remove the mass causing so much pain in interrupts my sleep.

Understaffed and possibly poorly trained. When entering the ER I was told to sit down and they would call me up, since there was nowhere to sign in I asked (what I think was a reasonable question) how they knew who to call up and he rudely told me he would find me.
Once a room was finally available, I went to set my purse down on the counter and it was dirty. I literally swept debris off it. They laid down a gown for me to put my purse on. My gown that I wore? Oh, it had a tear across the chest. Classy. My nurse had terrible bedside manner. He was not friendly, and seemed a little agitated when I told him i was scared of needles. Then he tried getting the IV in… after two failed attempts he had to call in another nurse who got it in my arm no problem. She was also very kind when she realized how stressed this was making me. The male nurse then hooked up the IV and gave me pain meds-​then LEFT THE TRASH ON MY BED… ON TOP OF ME! WHAT?! The kid who took me to get a cat-​scan ran me into several doors, luckily the pain meds had kicked in otherwise I’m sure this would have been painful.
The doctor was very kind. The lady who did my cat-​scan was great. Everything else was terrible. If you can avoid it– do not go to this hospital.

We had a fantastic childbirth experience here. From the front desk to the in-​room dining stewards, nurses, doctors, residents, students, and support staff were all extremely professional, courteous, punctual, and welcoming. Our nurses Joy and Kelly were particularly special, going above and beyond their usual duties to ensure that we and our new baby were given the best possible care. I would highly recommend this hospital for anyone seeking a traditional birth environment. We had some risk (my age and mild pre-​eclampsia) but felt absolutely no stress, and were consistently supported and cared for by all the staff members. Thank you all so very much for your wonderful demeanor, your nurturing, your kindness, and above all, for ushering in the greatest blessing of our lives. Sincerely, thank you.

I when there yesterday for a emergency
We spend 3 hours there
The Staff was friendly
The nurse forget about my daughter
For like ½ hour to take the iv from her harm …
It wasn’t bussy day Saturday
I like the Illinois masonic better

The hospital’s staff is the best I ever encountered during an ER visit. When you’re sick the positive energy is critical. Also the hospital is always clean and you don’t ever have to worry about unreasonably waiting all day/​night to be seen. They even give you warms and toasty sheets for added comfort. I’d stay here everyday if my insurance company let me. Thats a joke. I couldn’t ask for better! Thank you all!

I came here for some treatment due to an MS flare up. The staff was very caring and compassionate. They explain to me everything that was happening while I was getting my treatment. You don’t usually find this at hospitals, but the food was pretty good and I enjoyed that I could order it at any time not just at a set time. I would recommend and will be going back when I need future treatments.

This hospital is sloppy and has poor procedures; avoid surgery here. Here is my experience:
I was scheduled for surgery on my right foot to correct hallux rigidus. For simplicity’s sake, call it bunion surgery. They had me booked in their system for ankle surgery to remove hardware/​implants, which we found to be their mistake because the doctor’s orders were clear.
This might seem like a minor error, but the anesthesia is very different for the procedures. Bunion surgery is heavy sedation, while the ankle surgery would have required full gas and a breathing tube, a significantly riskier approach. Fortunately, after a ½ dozen times of correcting them, they got it into the system correctly.
The next issue were nurses. I lost count at 6 times the number of nurses who introduced themselves as my nurse and were replacing the previous nurse for some reason. This creates more opportunity for error as each one is less likely than the other to know what happened previously.
And I rotated anesthesiologists, although this was for my convenience so they could get me into surgery on time.
The real impact of the lack of procedure hit me when I came home. I wound up with the wrong pain medication, a tube of cream that I didn’t know what to do with, and the real kicker: They left one of the EKG leads on my chest!
This is what happens when there are too many people rushing about without any standardized idea about what they are supposed to be doing. My surgery was minor and most of the risk was with the surgeon. But for something major, if they are giving me the wrong meds and leaving things attached to me they shouldn’t, what will they mess up with you?
Avoid this place.

I was looking for a doctor within my network and found Dr. Douglas Lee. The facility is based out of New Lenox, called Southwest Gastroenterology, in the new Silver Cross facility. My problem is that the facility did not accept Medicare but the doctor did, but we had to work with a facility that would. Actually he was one of the few that was in-​network with my insurance and medical facility/​hospital, that was willing to do the procedure. It was a rare ‘coming-​together’ if you know what I mean.
I had a procedure done at the Presence Medical Center in Joliet. I had never met the doctor before, but I liked him right off the bat. He is kind, young, and has a manner that I was comfortable with. After my procedure he explained the results and I felt good about it.
And his support staff at Presence were outstanding. They were genuinely kind and friendly, before, during, and after the procedure; unlike the other place I used to frequent. I’m glad I made the change.
Doctors are usually not the kind of people you befriend; they serve a function, they bill you or your insurance and you rarely see them unless you’re health is in trouble again. However, I felt that Dr Lee and I could be friends.
Thank you Dr Lee for taking good care of me. Thank you staff!

F this place.
The billing department is the worst. I’ve been hassled numerous amounts of times for the same problems– all of which, when I called my insurance company, have been filed under a claim. So I have no idea why they keep coming after me? I will not be coming to this hospital again. My insurance company told me they took care of it and filed it, but I received three letters claiming that I need to «pay my outstanding bill» because they said my insurance company questioned if I had «another insurance company paying for it.» (I don’t– why would I? And I called my insurance company at least five times asking them about it on their side, and they said that they had already filed it.)
I don’t know. It’s clean, they’re rude, but they don’t take forever int he ER. However, the amount of problems I had with the billing make me never want to come here EVER again.

Came here today for my wife’s surgery. I have mixed feelings about this place, but I keep coming back because my wife’s doctors are all affiliated.
Impressions since last visit:
. New ER looks nice.
. Same goes for other remodeling. But this still has the feel of a dying hospital.
. Free WiFi like most hospitals, but here they filter for content. Religious hospitals are obnoxious.
. Best Unilocal reviews for this hospital are for outpatient surgery. I must admit that’s a relief.
. Still the best views out the window of any hospital.
Pros:
1. Convenient lakefront location, with great views out the window.
2. Very friendly staff, rivaling many other hospitals.
3. Surgeons love St. Joseph, because here they are allowed to choose their own surgery team for each procedure. I can only imagine this has a very positive impact on surgical success.
Cons:
1. This is a religious hospital, resulting in random quirks you might not expect.
2. This is an old hospital with an uncertain future. Recently split off from Resurrection, and no longer benefiting from that network. The building, though extensively remodeled, feels dated and cramped.
3. Staffing can be surprisingly thin, even with a full patient load. For example, after 5pm the outpatient surgical center doesn’t have a receptionist at all. Those of us waiting on patients are left to fend for ourselves.
I feel fortunate that my own doctors are affiliated with Northwestern, a hospital that is more expensive, less folksy, yet somehow way more reliable and effective. I hope my wife and I can find her better care elsewhere in the future.