Northwestern Medical Center 133 Fairfield Street, Saint Albans City, VT 05478

"Absolutely horrible. I understand short staffed, i understand overworked, I even understand typical wait times for Non Emergencies. That treatment is based off Need, not want. BUT. When someone is losing consciousness, to the point they smashed their face off the ground brusing their face, popping blood vessels, blood pressure through the roof, extreme asthmatic, sits in a hallway gurney for HOURS, and not ONE nurse, doctors, stop to check in, ask how said person is, not even a HELLO…. Like really? When this person was seen up there two days prior?! Wonder why UVM is overrun because this hospital is a joke. Listening to the nurses and doctors talk poorly about the patients they were looking in on as well. Just disappointing. Be better."

"Here was my recent experience with NMC's emergency department. I presented the morning of 11/19/23 with symptoms suggestive of a spinal nerve issue (horrible shooting pain down both legs and a delay in urination). I got through triage quickly and found that to be the best part of the experience, as the nurse seemed concerned and took a thorough history, including the fact that I had been dealing with worsening sciatic pain since August, had a family history of stenosis (congenitally narrow spinal column), and had been unsuccessful in managing pain per my PCP's recommendation to use OTC meds and engage in weekly PT. Once I was in back, I waited almost an hour and a half to be seen by a provider, with this happening only after my partner approached the nursing station and asked when I would be see. The provider (an female NP whose name I cannot remember and from whom I received no paperwork directly) came in and reviewed the history I had shared. She said she wanted to do a rectal tone exam to evaluate for a spinal cord injury. This was a vulnerable process, and when I found that I could not bear down with her fingers inside me, I started wailing thinking that I may be on my way to sustaining a spinal cord injury. The provider's response to my upset was to yell over my crying to ask "what was going on?" -- rather than taking a moment to let me cry, provide a modicum of comfort and compassion, and check in about my status. After this procedure, I was given a bladder scan by a nurse to determine if I was retaining urine as I had felt no urge to go since that morning. My bladder was found to be fairly full (500ml), and I was asked to get out of bed and try to urinate in the patient bathroom. At this point, my vitals had not been checked since triage, and my pain was worsening. I got up twice to try to pee and found that I had lost the ability to do so while waiting in the ED. I informed the nurse of this fact and finally given an IM narcotic for pain, with my vitals again going unchecked. I was then asked to go through with an X-ray despite my showing the provider an MRI report, including images, from having gone through an outpatient center the night before as referred by my primary. I could not sit comfortably in a wheelchair and so had to walk through pain to the X-ray area. The NP informed me that reading the report on my cell phone was "hard on her eyes." The provider told me following the X-ray that I was going to be transferred via ambulance to UVMMC due to the need for an emergent MRI and specialized care. This news came after I had been in the ED already for 3-4 hours. I asked if I was going to have a catheter placed prior to transport due to the level of urinary retention and was told yes. I waited for this procedure to happen and called a nurse after about a half-hour to ask when. This nurse was a different nurse, and I had to explain in painstaking detail that I was asking about a catheter due to being unable to pee. This was after the nurse's response was that I should "try to get up to go on more time" -- as if I had not clearly explained that I had physically lost the ability to pee! I was transported to UVMMC, but not before the provider as part of the consent to transfer explained that a risk of ambulance transport was that I might die or be hurt in an accident. When the EMT asked me what my vitals were during my visit, I told him that I had last gotten these taken at triage. He was absolutely shocked. The best thing that happened in this situation was to be taken out of this hospital and sent to UVMMC. Unless I am unable to drive myself or my loved one to Burlington for emergent medical care, I will never place my trust in this ED ever again. If the utter lack of timeliness, compassion, sensitivity, and skilled care I experienced is the norm, it is 1000% unacceptable and an arguable risk to the health of Franklin County community. EDIT TO ADD: I needed to receive emergency spine surgery at UVMMC due to an extruding lumbar disc with severe spinal stenosis."

"So the first night the nurse Barbara was nice. They next day and night were ok but they kinda swept me off cause I was getting better which fine. The food was yummy. The sodas were cold. It's been a minute since I said this but NWMC not bad I didn't die while I was here huh. Also a shout to the LNA Sam & The traveling nurse who was really sweet and came from Pennsylvania you know who you are ty."