Francisco-Hugh Arlene A, MD

1) Office staff completely frustrating to deal with.
2) My 8 year old son is on Adderall for ADD and we do not call this medicine in front of him. Many professionals suggest not referring to this as medicine as medicine is related with sicknesses. We refer to it as a focus pill. The doctor referred to this as medication in front of him which I don’t appreciate and am very disappointed about. She could have just called it Adderall or asked me in private. She should have been more sensitive about this subject. I have only been to this doctor once and am thinking I need to look for a different pediatrician.

Where do I begin? Dealing with the incompetent office staff has been difficult.
1. Office called to confirm appointment FOR THE INCORRECT DAY.
2. I’m self-​pay and was never told they don’t accept anything but cash. Showed up for a rushed appointment (due to problem number 1) and was told that I had been informed over the phone. Nope! That was not true.
3. They charge you $ 10 to fill out the physical form for children to attend school. But then, they don’t even fill it out. Skip filling in all the immunization dates because «it’s not needed». I’m like «I paid $ 10, you should fill out the form».
4. I received several phone calls from the office regarding a matter that had to do with another patient. They kept saying that I had called in that morning, when in fact, I hadn’t.
5. After receiving the lab results back, the office took 3 days to SIGN the paperwork. It was frustrating because I was supposed to enroll my daughter in Kindergarten. When I finally received the paper, it wasn’t even stamped or dated. Just such a joke.
If it wasn’t for the air heads up at the front, this office would be great. Our nurse practitioner was kind, gentle and very professional. Just unfortunate that she works in a practice that makes so many mistakes over the phone and at the front desk. We will not be returning! My son sees Mike at Growing Healthy Together. Next time I’ll wait to see him. He’s awesome and the office staff is capable of using the tools needed to do their job.

I gave birth at St. Mary’s in Long Beach in June 2006. I had to follow up with their «in-​house» pediatrician before I was gonna be able to see the recommended fellow Filipino pediatrician (Dr. Arlene Francisco-​Hugh). Dr. Takla was bragging about his 32 years (at that time) experience. His clinic was too crowded so I was glad to be meeting another doctor for my daughter to take over… Our first visit with Dr. Francisco, upon the very moment her stethoscope touched my baby girl’s chest to listen to her heart beat, she immediately detected a heart murmur and told us that we have to watch her closely!
She’ll always be the one and only pediatrician of choice for my kids — no questions asked!
*editing because I forgot to mention that the other doctor of so long years of experience missed my daughter’s heart murmur