Barre Family Health Center

"I always do my best to leave honest & thorough reviews each time. I first had experience with this medical center many years ago when I lived in Barre in the early 2000's. I thought Dr. Latimer & Dr. Mariani were phenomenal, as well as Dr. Potts & Dr. Service, also great. I also have seen an NP who goes by "Duncan" that's terrific. However, not every practitioner is wonderful. My biggest complaint ever about a particular doctor was Dr. Babu. I'm not sure if he is still with this practice. He made a very careless mistake, that was extremely detrimental to my health & well being back in 2006. I know that this was a long time ago, but still I never will forget. He disclosed very sensitive, upsetting information regarding my physical health over the phone. This should have been handled much differently, and I should have been asked to come to the office in person, rather than sharing these details by phone. I was such a mess at the time I received his call, I literally couldn't even get back on the phone at the time after what this man told me. I had to have my (then partner) finish the phone conversation with him. Never should you tell patients bad news like that over the phone! I hope he has learned his lesson somehow since then. I should also add that we had more recent experience with NP Andrea Julian, who saw two of my young daughters. Though she was pretty friendly, she always seemed to rush a bit much during appointments, and also *repeatedly* dismissed my many concerns as a parent about my children's ongoing behavioral issues. She would simply say that it sounds to her like "typical/age appropriate behavior" although I have older children as well, and they certainly didn't display any similar behaviors! No matter how many times I addressed this, even creating a list to share with her, she'd just repeat that she wasn't at all worried about it. Fortunately, we have since switched practices, and now my daughters have evaluations scheduled by their new doc for these behaviors that Ms. Julian claimed were "typical" & their current provider feels that there is a strong possibility of my youngest being on the Autism spectrum. If only she had listened to me as the parent of a patient, we could've probably gotten the necessary help for her years prior. Instead, I'm stuck waiting almost a year for a specialist appointment, because they have such lengthy wait lists. I don't know why she felt I was exaggerating the problematic behavior, but I certainly wasn't & genuinely was interested in seeking help. My daughter has very long lasting intense temper tantrums, anger issues, speech delay, sensory problems, major meltdowns, impulsive behavior, that comes seemingly out of nowhere. So if you have children with any special needs, you may want to see someone else here if you're planning to visit this facility, unless you do not wish to be taken seriously! The wait times are lengthy sometimes, but this is basically the same thing no matter where you go. Some docs years ago were excellent, it's a shame they've changed. Phlebotomists are also seemingly inexperienced here. I had one young woman who had a very tough time drawing blood from one of my daughters, despite the fact that she was sitting perfectly still. She should've asked a co-worker for assistance, but instead continued struggling, making the process very uncomfortable/borderline traumatic for my child. She clearly needed much more training! However, this was only one individual, not the entire lab of course! Not the worst practice, but glad we made the decision to switch when we did. Before they expanded the building, they were honestly much better. **Update**: My children (who NP Julian claimed she had no concerns about!) were since diagnosed with having an Anxiety Disorder, as well as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) & the other has been diagnosed with developmental delay & Autism. Providers, please don't ignore parent's concerns!! If Ms. Julian had simply validated mine, rather than dismiss them, my daughter's could have been diagnosed so much sooner (years ago)!"

"Always been treated well by the staff and the doctors. And most of the receptionists (accept the brunette one with tattoos,that’s been at the front desk this past year. she’s very rude). But dr. Maddelini, is a great doctor and so was dr Lewendrowski. Adel and Hailey are awesome too and so is the nursing staff, and so have been anyone who I’ve received care there. they really care and when I broke my back they listened and really pushed for me to get the care I need. Seriously no office is perfect but this place really doesn’t deserve a lot of the bad reviews here, and even if they aren’t perfect they always try their best. (Accept that receptionist). Glad to give feed back the owners should give those nurses a raise. They work hard and put up with a lot there and still are kind and always have a smile. -esw"

"Pretty sad for a worker at the front desk to be wishing people they don’t like to catch Covid… very unprofessional. Covid has been and can be deadly to some people. Have a little more respect."

"My family have been patients of Dr. Potts for over 20 years. While we respect Dr. Potts and her staff, we are rarely seen at the scheduled time and often wait up to an hour before being seen by the physician or PA."

"I am not happy with them at all. Where do I start? Their lack of communication with appointments is appalling and their overall conduct over the phone is downright disrespectful. Also, them trying to schedule telehealth appointments instead of seeing their patients in person completely negates the purpose of a Doctor's Office. I needed to be seen urgently for bronchitis and i they scheduled 2 Telehealths at which point nothing got done. They also didn't send over any prescriptions to the pharmacy and never communicated with me after the visit. After suffering for a week, they finally allowed me to come in but they forced me to take a Covid Test despite the fact I didn't need one and had already taken 2 at home, stating it was their policy to see me, which was fine with me except for the fact the lady doing the covid test was incredibly rude, wouldn't let me use the bathroom, made me stay outside and treated me awfully, even to go so far as to embarrass me by calling me out in the waiting room. They almost never do anything on time and it takes days for prescriptions to reach the pharmacy. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with their care but mark my words, first chance I get, I'm out Update 12/12/22: the disrespectful treatment continued today when I was seen for coughing which was what the appointment was for and was denied entry into the building."