CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER

"I just love these folks. We have been using them for all our kids for many years."

"I have been bringing both my children here, and the staff have always been very good and professional. My kids love seeing FNP Pam, who is very good to them. Never a long wait either."

"Since February my children have saw the providers at Childrens Medical Center. Primarily my children have saw FNP Pam and they absolutely adore her. She’s so patient and listens to every concern. More recently my girls have saw Dr. Terral and Dr. Casey. They love coming here. Everyone dotes on them and they get a million stickers! We love the staff at CMC."

"I went here as a child so naturally when I moved back to the north shore 5 years ago I used this center as my children’s doctor. Unprofessional and unhelpful is an absolute understatement. The staff who answers the phones are so rude and never want to answer any questions. My son needed a to be seen and needed a referral for a psychiatric evaluation and they refused to even bother with it and told me they had no answers for me and told me to look up doctors. I feel their practice is just old school and outdated along with staff who could care less about their patients. Needless to say, we switched to Leblanc Pediatrics last week and it was a breath of fresh air! I wouldn’t recommend you bring your children here."

"I have healthcare coverage with a community plan under Medicaid. I had to unexpectedly move back to Louisiana from another state at almost 9 months pregnant so this was my only option for medical coverage until after the baby was born and I started working again. I didn't have much time to research pediatricians in the area I live now so I contacted my plan's customer service department whom referred me to Dr. Terral at the Children's Medical Center. However, the center's front desk scheduled us to see a FNP instead of Dr. Terral. It was very important to me to see the actual pediatrician being a first time mom, but I didn't question their decision and assumed it was due to such short notice since newborns have to be seen within 3-5 days after birth. I just figured the doctor didn't have any availability when we needed to be seen. The first appointment with FNP Pamela Blundell went fine and baby had no issues so I scheduled the next check-up. Just before the second visit was due, we noticed a red scratch-like mark developing right underneath her eye and I made a note to ask the doctor about it. However, we were scheduled with a different FNP the next time who told us my baby more than likely scratched herself, but that it also could be a hematoma developing assuring us it was harmless and would clear up on its own within the next 3 months or so. Well it didn't. The red mark started to rapidly spread across my baby's face and grow larger now almost reaching her bottom eye lid. I called the center and demanded to be seen by Dr. Terral for the 1-month visit and asked why we had only been scheduled with the FNPs instead of the pediatrician. I was told by the staff member that patients whom were covered under a Medicaid plan were automatically scheduled with the FNPs. I did not appreciate this at all and felt insulted that just because I currently have this medical plan my baby wasn't good enough to see the actual doctor. The mark grew even bigger by the time we saw Dr. Terral for the 1-month visit. He immediately recognized that it was not a hematoma, but a hemangioma and suggested we contact a specialist immediately for treatment due to the location being so close to her eye and that we did. We took her to Poole Dermatology who were so helpful and very knowledgeable at our first visit. My baby has just began taking a beta blocker which she could be on for up to 18 months. In conclusion, I feel the Children's Medical Center discriminated against us due to having coverage through Medicaid, and if we had been seen by the actual pediatrician in the first place we could have acted on treatment sooner when the hemangioma was still very small. I do not think it is fair nor is it right that this office blindly schedules first time patients especially with newborns with anyone other than the doctor and should at least offer the patient the option of whom to see. I definitely would not recommend this office to anyone."