Select Specialty Hospital - Madison

"My stay at Select was about 2 1/2 months. I came to select after being in ICU for about 3 weeks with Gillian-Barre Syndrome. I was on a ventilator, unable to move except my hands a little. The staff, nurses, CNA’s, RT’s, PT’s, everyone was beyond exceptional. I was pretty down when I came there but they were always trying to cheer me up. They kept me from sliding into depression. Everyone seemed to do something special for me, whether it was getting me pain meds during shift change (thank you Marissa), or finding a way to wash my hair with real water while in a recliner or bed (thank you Karli), treating me to a smoothie (thank you Bailey). Virtually everyone did something special for me. I wish I could list them all here. It was really special to watch how everyone worked together, helping each other even if it wasn’t their patient. The CNA’s have a very physical job and worked so hard. The nurses were great about pitching in and helping them as well. I feel like I became friends with so many people there and miss them. This is an exceptional hospital. Feel confident that your loved ones are in good hands being here. Thank you to everyone at Select."

"After spending over 3 months at UW Madison ICU TLC Unit and 10 days in their intermediate care Covid floor I was finally released to Select. Grateful to the incredible people at UW for saving my life I was nervous about being transferred into the unknown. I was bedridden and on 8 liters of O2 with a trach. Covid had taken it's toll on my body being in an induced coma for 2 months so much of my body didn't work properly. My first memory of Select was arriving to the 4th floor by elevator and the nice EMTs wheeling my gurney into the hallway. A very welcoming gentleman with a computer on a cart wheeled up to me and introduced himself. He immediately put me at ease. He explained he would be checking me in and getting me settled. I admit I was scared leaving UW being so weak and so sick, I wasn't sure I was ready or healthy enough to be going anywhere. I could go on and on about everything Select did for me and my family so I will just break it down. In the 3 weeks I spent there they managed to have me walking in the hallways, reduced my O2 from 8 liters to 4, Removed all IVs and Pic Lines, Removed my Track and had me on a nose canula. These were all huge hurdles for me. I refer to my Nurses and PTs, RTs and OTs as my Select Angels. They welcomed my family visits (something during Covid I couldn't have at UW) which meant the world to me. I have to give props to the cafeteria as well. The food was delicious and the person coming by to take the orders and help you through the decision process was a big help. This isn't typical hospital food. It was a highlight of my stay there. Finally my Caseworker Sam was an amazing and compassionate friend throughout my stay. She understood my desire to get home and did so much to get me there. You won't go wrong by choosing Select. Nothing is perfect especially when you are as sick as I was and away from home for so long but they understood and made it the best for me they could. They will forever be in our thoughts and prayers. My Select Angels."

"Select Specialty Hospital means so much to my family and me. They cared for my Dad after his battle with COVID-19, and truly helped rehabilitate him to ready him to come home after months in the hospital. They were like family and truly loved on him and cared for him like he was their own family member. They supported him and gave him hope for the future, which was desperately needed. We are so thankful for this facility and the staff that goes out of their way to make their patients' stays the best they can be. They even brought my Dad back to talk to the staff and held a luncheon in his honor after his survival. What a blessing! Beautiful people work here!"

"The bedside staff here are extremely caring and trying their best to provide excellent service. However, you should be aware that staffing ratios are extremely unsafe. By their nature, patients who are admitted to this hospital are extremely ill and very vulnerable, requiring high levels of services. Despite this, they often have 5 patients to 1 nurse, even if half of those patients are on ventilators. They often have 8+ patients to 1 CNA, even if none of those patients can go to the bathroom by themselves. And the respiratory therapists are lucky if they only have 8 ventilated patients each. Physicians often work up to two weeks of 12-hour shifts with no days off (I saw one doc work an entire month once!) These ratios are clearly unsafe and poor staff:patient ratios have been proven to result in accidents and injuries by many studies. However, since there is no federal (or Wisconsin state) law that sets minimum staffing ratios, the large parent company of Select Specialties cannot be legally forced to increase their staffing levels. That’s the glory of for-profit medicine! I’ve interacted with at least four different Select hospitals in two different states during my 15 years as paramedic and a nurse, and they all exhibit the same callous disregard for safe staff:patient ratios. My advice? Get your care at a hospital with a union. That way if the staff is being forced to work under unsafe conditions, they can go on strike and make sure everyone knows about. At Select, they’ll just keep on talking about their “commitment to quality care!” while continuing to staff at a bare-bones level and blaming every single outside thing they possibly can, instead of taking responsibility for their own choices. And since Select views poor social media reviews as a “quality incident” I’m sure some poor sucker in HR will be responding to this with some sappy nonsense about how concerned they are to hear it, blah blah blah. I won’t be responding. If you are a patient or have a loved one here, you can figure out how devoted to change they are simply by asking each staff member who comes into the room how many patients they have. Then decide for yourself if that’s acceptable."

"I was admitted to Select on November 17, 2020 and I was there until roughly June 10 2022. During my rough stay the staff was amazing and became like a second family. They were there helping me through everything even my anxiety and depression. I think the staff appreciated me as much as I did them. Thanks to the director Dr. Croft I was able to get the best ENT in the state to work on my case."