ECMC Foundation 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215

"The way they treat people here is disgusting!! You can ask basically anybody who has been to ecmc and they'll all tell you how horrible it is. Treated my mother horrible after her surgery and discharged her under an hour from getting out of surgery despite it being a major life changing surgery. They told me they'd update me when she was out of surgery and they didn't!!! I was waiting in the waiting room for hours with nobody telling me what was going and then to find out they made horrible comments to my mother! UNREAL save yourself the energy and go to a different hospital. Sadly her surgeon operated out of ecmc only."

"TERRIBLE"

"ECMC's psychiatric emergency room and inpatient facilities, in my experience, consist of atrocious wait times and a malicious attitude toward patients on the part of many employees/nurses/doctors. The treatment was exceptionally unacceptable at *CPEP*, the center's Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program. This program is a highly unhealthy and ridiculously overwhelmed facility to which “at risk” mental health patients are sent, often against their own wishes, without access to the internet, their phones, or many basic needs until they are officially sent. to an inpatient psychiatric ward. It was many hours before a psychiatric doctor saw me on CPEP (at least 27 hours, if I counted correctly), and I had to stay there for several days longer than I should have (they profusely say that “there are no beds available upstairs” ) in an extremely unhygienic and discriminatory environment. The bathrooms *regularly ran out of soap*, and there were *unnecessary restrictions* like complicated plumbing to get your daily or as-needed (PRN) medication, a Band-Aid, a days-old, soaked san, with no one required to wear a mask, and no one is quickly seen by a board-certified doctor. The staff did not provide me with an ADA shower until I had been at ECMC for 7 full days, even though my PCP ordered the accommodation to help me recover from my chipped fibula. I did not receive my prescriptions and the treatment I needed for my disability in a fair, efficient, or reasonable manner. Their medical evaluation and treatment processes, both in my observations and those of other patients, consist of downplaying various findings and aspects of one's behavior and personality and exaggerating certain personal or medical details. Discriminatory treatment based on sex, age, and disability status was widespread, including inappropriate behavior by many staff members and frequent use of insults and inconsiderate word choices. These complaints do not apply to all staff members; In fact, many of the nurses and social workers, especially in inpatient facilities, were genuinely sincere, helpful, incredible human beings, but virtually every valid point and unacceptable issue that was brought to someone's attention was blamed for them. ECMC was “understaffed.” However, I sure would love to know what the medical director/director/CEO or whoever is in charge of the net worth of this institution is… ECMC has many exceptional professionals, nurses and doctors, BUT it appears that the hospital mental health sector remains the lowest priority on ECMC's radar, and very few resources are actually allocated to the programs they advertise. If anyone is struggling with mental health I highly recommend visiting their PCP (Primary Care Doctor)*, seeing a counselor (from centers like BestSelf) they trust, visiting a different immediate care center like WellNow, or visiting BPC or BryLin*, contact *Buffalo's Mental Health PEERS Connection* (which provides free transportation to and from the center) or by calling 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Line. I think they are finally starting to pay attention to the concerns of many mental health patients as a result of the firestorm of recent controversies and complaints, but I still *wouldn't recommend ECMC to my worst enemy anytime soon*."