Zucker Hillside Hospital

"My son started going to Zucker Hillside hospital for paranoid schizophrenia and they literally saved his life. His last Doctor was Dr. Ling and she went through the pandemic years with him. It wasn't easy because his anxiety was worse. She has so much concern and care for my son. It was hard to reach her sometimes but that wasn't her fault, it was just a difficult time. All in all she did her best for him and he is a very Happy young man."

"This is for the Zucker CRISIS center. I was having horrible panic attacks. I was there 4 hours, left with nothing but a piece of paper with therapists names, all of whom were not accepting new patients when I called. They offered none of what their website says -Crisis psychotherapy Diagnostic evaluations Medication management Coordination of care Referral and connection to long-term outpatient mental health care ZERO save your time and go anywhere else. I spoke to a social worker afterwards who told me they have been terrible for years."

"This is for the crisis center If I could give Zero stars I would. I sent several people over the past few months in crisis here. They left with some names of people to call on their own, an impossible task for someone truly struggling. They gave no help with referrals or medication changes or crisis intervention which is what they are there for. Save your time and money and go elsewhere or go to an emergency room for a real evaluation. This saddens me tremendously as crisis care did not used to be this horrific."

"It was a hard decision to come to this hospital, but what disappointed me during my four day stay that took place last Friday was no heads up on how to use the shower, no heads up about when to get discharged considering it was a holiday weekend by giving me the option of staying or trying DBT elsewhere or going home. While entering my unit, half of the unit was closed due to every patient required to take a Covid 19 test. Not only I was forced to wait until all Covid 19 tests came back negative for nearly 2 days to have the entire floor unit I was in be fully accessible for all patients and for visitors to come during visiting hours, I was forced to stay until Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Another disappointment was no adequate warning when I was in the emergency room section spending last Thursday night there due to intrusive unwanted thoughts was that Zucker Hillside will be short staffed and if you decide to go, you would have to wait until Tuesday to be discharged. Had they told me that Thursday night or early Friday morning, my anxiety would have lessened the minute I stepped foot in my unit. If I had my own room without a roommate, not to say I had a bad one, it would have enabled me to have more privacy of what I feel comfortable wearing. I was disappointed that I wasn't assigned a psychologist with me to speak to for as long as I could regarding my mental state between Friday morning & Monday evening. I was disappointed for having to get blood drawn twice for blood tests, which I always dreaded doing. Why the staff had to do blood work on me twice, I'll never know. The pluses were meeting new patients who were nice and nurses who were nice. Louise did an outstanding job with her wit and always made sure I took my night pills and asked me about my mental state. During the stay, I was physically fatigued with leg and chest aches but an improvement to my mental state with exercising methods into helping me be at a more adequate mental state, which I am grateful for. I loved the music & art therapy together and meditation. The visiting times were reasonable. Sue, the social worker, was very helpful and nice to me in helping me with the discharge forms and wanted to know more about me. An assigned schedule was a plus, but had I received from Dr. Mendelowitz a schedule to follow on who to see while he was on vacation during the Martin Luther King weekend with more structure, I'd probably be more mentally organized and would be more prepared on who I must see. Whether it be an employee with social work experience, a part time psychologist, or the cleaning people to clean the room I was in because the day I got discharged, no nurses warned me that I'd smell bleach or disinfectant late Tuesday morning with custodians coming into the room at a certain time. Just some failures of communication on their part."

"I was admitted voluntarily to the adult women’s psychiatric unit. The staff was so patient, helpful, genuine, kind, and empathic. There was some incidents with other patients and the staff handled it all beautifully and with grace. They truly helped me and gave me the coping skills that I needed to become a person who can manage their mental illness. I want to thank all the staff and especially the outpatient staff like Fran, who was so patient and really seemed to be on my side and fight for what was best for me. I truly appreciate every step that was taken in order to get me to a place where I needed and knew I could be. Highly recommended for everyone who needs help. 10/10!!"