Misericordia Community Hospital

Was sent here in 2011 for a spinal tap. Thank God, that’s over. The idiot doctor I was going to had hospital privileges here (and didn’t believe that I had MS– so made me get re-​diagnosed). That’s the only reason I went, and I’ll think long and hard about going back.
Ever heard anything about spinal taps? The size of the needle they use? The pain involved? The headache afterward? I was nauseated for at least a week ahead of time thinking awful thoughts. It’s considered a day surgery, and I was going to have to stay there for 4 – 5 hours afterward for observation. Needless to say, I was nervous.
When I called to find out if my husband could be in the room with me when the procedure was done, the chirpy voice at the other end told me, «Of course!»
I was prepped first. The nurse who had to put in my IV or flush it or something sent saline straight into a vein where my thumb met my hand and I let out a bloodcurdling scream and just about hit the ceiling. She finally got that under control, but my hand hurt for hours afterward.
When I was wheeled down to Fluoroscopy, my husband was holding my hand, and he entered the room with me. I’ve never had a fluoroscopy procedure, so I knew nothing about what to expect.
Then Cruella showed up. «He’ll have to leave,» she snapped.
«I called ahead and they said he could be here with me,» I said, feeling myself succumb to tears in front of her.
«No.» Then she turned on her heel and just walked away into a control booth, where she continued to watch through the glass as I bawled my eyes out for at least five minutes. WHO DOES THAT!!!
At last, another woman walked in (one with a heart and soul, which this other thing in scrubs seemed to lack). She very gently explained to me that because of the radiation, and the limited number of suits that they had, this was why my husband needed to wait outside– for his protection. That was all I needed. It would be nice if I’d been told that during my phone call. Then this woman gently comforted me and held my hand throughout the procedure.
The doctor and his intern came in and did the puncture (which thankfully, because of the video guiding the needle, did not hurt). I only felt the pressure of the needle being pushed in. But honestly, thanks to the doctor’s narration for his assistant, I felt like a piece of meat on that table.
The kind lady who held my hand when I was near hysterics raised this rating to 1 because of her gentle care. Because alone, Cruella would have pulled a 0 for this place. I made an official complaint– enough to rate a phone call from hospital management. It is my sincere hope she is no longer employed there. If she is, I hope she got a hell of an earful about her bedside manner.

I went here once and never, ever again. While I understand that when a woman comes in who is sexually active, you need to ask if there is a possibility of pregnancy. But when the patient tells you that they always take all precautions seriously to protect against that, you don’t insist that they may have forgotten and have an interrogation line of 4 nurses asking the same question of, «Are you possibly pregnant?»
After waiting a couple hours in the room for the doctor, a trainee came in and drew my blood… at least, I think she was a trainee… it was a very painful process, more so than I am used to, but trainees need face time to practice, so I have nothing against that.
The kicker for me was when the doctor came to see me after my blood test was complete to tell me, «Your tests show you are not pregnant.»
* Long pause between me and boyfriend *
They must have thought this pregnant pause was one of relief from a young couple glad to not have spawned an illegitimate child… but it was that of a baffled young couple with one in pain and the other fighting back nasty comments.
The older nurse was very rushed to get us out of there and kept giving me nasty looks (as she did the entire process) and off we went to a walk in clinic. I was sent for blood tests which showed I needed to increase my iron supplement again and found out I was having a killer reaction to a flu going around.
Sometime after this I mentioned the story to my sister-​in-​law who commented that she had a poor experience there back when my niece was ill. I will not be back there, ever.

I have been here a few times for myself to have a CT scan and a MRI. It was the same area and the first time I went for the scan, I had to fill out paperwork and watch a video. When they were ready, I had a locker to put my items in. The nurse who gave me the IV explained what would happen and she was kind. The technician was alright.
The next time I was there for a MRI, I had to wait over an hour after my scheduled appointment. There isn’t a lot of seating in the area, about 6 chairs but there are chairs in the hallway. Newspaper is available as well. There’s also one bathroom that can be inconvenient to get to if the chair right by the door is occupied.
Once inside, I was asked to change and waited in a chair for the tech who explained what would happen. I was a little nervous as I recall a friend who told me she became claustrophobic. But this was not the case for me. I was very comfortable laying down with my headphones listening to music and looking out into the mirror. The machine does get loud but the techs are great to explain what will happen and there if you don’t feel comfortable. The whole procedure took about 15 minutes and went by very quickly.
While visiting others who had a stay here, the rooms can be crowded and the hospital is showing its signs of age. However, most of the staff I encountered were caring. But be sure to ask questions if you aren’t sure as I find they don’t always offer much information.

Went here to the emergency department after having a migraine for 3 days. They let me wait in the waiting room with screening out of control kids (if you’ve ever had a migraine, sounds and lights are like being shot!) for over 4 hours to only give me an IV and Gravol. They said pain mess wouldn’t help, I didn’t get a scan or bloodwork… Not pleased.
Maybe the other areas of the hospital are good but the emergency isn’t!

My mom had hip surgery here in 2012. It took several hours to get through emergency and to get admitted. The doctor and x-​ray technician misread the x-​ray and sent her to be operated on the wrong leg! We told the doctor he was wrong — she fell on the right side, all the pain was on the right side and there was nothing wrong on the left side, but he was the doctor and he knew what was right. DO NOT let doctors intimidate you or ignore you. It was because we had the nurses write on the left leg (do not operate) and that the operating surgeon saw this and cancelled the operation. The same initial doctor came and said that there would be no operation without our consent, and he was dismissive and uncaring. After arguing with him for 15 — 20 minutes he agreed to send my mother back for another x-​ray and MRI. My mother suffers from anxiety attacks, so having the possibility of an unnecessary surgery was incredibly stressful. He came back the next day, said we were right and walked out. An incredibly unprofessional and unhelpful person. We were glad that he was not operating.
The nurses and the physio-​therapists on the other hand were amazing. They listened, showed concern and were helpful in calming my mom and treating her like a human being. Be willing to challenge doctors and advocate for a patient — we truly feel that it was the only thing that saved my mother from a horrible, unnecessary surgery.

ANGEL NURSES!!! I recently had day surgery on Friday January 18, 2013. I was extremely nervous as this was only my second time being put under. Only once before for my wisdom teeth. The nurses were so gentle, polite and very attentive to me. I sat in the bed and waited for my surgery for an hour and a half, and whenever they had a free moment they would come and talk with me and make jokes trying to make light of the situation (they brought my junky mags to read. (In Touch, and Life & Style) When it was my turn the porter came to get me and she was so funny I loved her Filipino accent. The anesthesiologist was GREAT he went over everything with me and put me to sleep with great ease.
An hour and a half later I woke up feeling dazed and couldn’t remember where I was as there were new nurses on shift now. They were awesome they came to my bedside and calmed me down and reassured me the surgery went well. While waiting for my husband and kiddos she made me toast with PB & J… yum. She helped me get dressed and brought a wheelchair around for my husband to take me to the car in. She made me feel cared for and that I had her time and full attention. Sometimes you get the feeling that they have somewhere else to be.
On Monday a nurse from day surgery called me to see how I held up on the weekend and how I was feeling, and she didn’t stop short of knowing it was my birthday on monday and she wished me a happy birthday!
All in all a wonderful experience and it is nice to know that some nurses out there actually still love their jobs!

Top notch staff, the nurses were so excellent I can’t say enough good. The food was lousy and I’m beyond distraught that you can’t get wireless Internet so that is why there isn’t a 5 star rating.

I have both good and bad experiences with this hospital. The good first:
I had my gallbladder removal done here. As soon as I was checked in I was taken care of. The nurses were friendly, caring and informative. They even made me toast with jam when I woke up hungry.
The bad:
If you need to go to emergency, I would recommend going to a different hospital. I had to go here once, as well as my husband in emergency situations. They are always, without fail, understaffed. If someone critical comes in and ranks ahead of you in importance, you can forget being taken care of for hours. And I do mean hours. Lots of them. I had a gallstone slip into a bile duct and was in severe pain. I had to wait 4+ hours for any medication or even a glass of water. The only way I would return to the ER at this hospital is if I were having a heart attack or bleeding so severely that I would be afraid to try to make it to the U of A or another hospital.

This is the hospital my wife and I had our baby in, so consider this a review of the delivery/​recovery area only.
Most of the staff we came into contact with were awesome. We were prepared to have a hypnotic child birth (my wife was hypnotized during delivery — no drugs, less pain), and the nurse we had assigned to us was accepting, and open to our requests. Unfortunately she went on break, and the nurse that came in was an old, crusty woman, who really didn’t care about our wishes at all. When it came time to deliver the baby she came back in and made a comment that really, really ticked my wife off (it was extremely rude, and uncalled for). Of course that’s what sticks out in our minds.
On the recovery side we had help with breast feeding, and had a number of great nurses, but once again, and old crusty nurse had to ruin things. She was giving us partial information on things, like what’s involved in the «Car-​seat check» which you have to undergo before you leave the hospital. I had to do it 3 times because she wasn’t telling us exactly what we had to do! When you’ve been in the hospital for 24 hours, awake for about 36, you just want to get out of there and go home, and I felt like she was playing some kind of game trying to keep me there.
We paid for one of the deluxe recovery rooms, which they make sound lavish. I was told it was a king-​sized bed, which sounded awesome since I’m extremely tall. Yeah… it’s a double, not a king. The food was definitely an upgrade (and my wife said it was tasty), but they charge quite a bit more for a «partner» meal (so much that I didn’t see the value in it and left the hospital for food).
If you’re looking for a hospital to deliver in, I’d suggest you look at the Royal Alex. We stopped in there about a month before we had our baby, and it’s quite nice in there.

I’ve had a great deal of experience in this hospital, as a student and a health care provider, and as a family member of a patient.
I am not sure I can do this review justice because there are just so many components to a hospital.
One very important thing? The majority of the people there, even now with all the crap that’s been going on in the Albertan healthcare scene since the early ‘90s (thank you Ralph Klein and Steve West *spit*), the majority still care and still try to do their best. They still try to connect.
I have some concerns about the few who have been affected by the health care cuts, but this would be the same regardless of which institution I was reviewing. Also, I’ve found some hospitals have units that have high school-​like gossip that can affect patient care. This, while a part of human nature, should not occur in health care. I made my concerns known to Patient Relations and I was told to «pick my battles».
Parking requires either coins or credit card and you pay for it before you leave the parking lot to go inside, whether it’s the emergency parking lot (please only park there if you’ve someone close to you actually IN the emergency department at the time) or in the much larger much more easily accessible public parking out «out front».
And one small piece of advice: Always ask questions, even if you don’t know what to ask, you can ask, «what things should I know about my Mom’s condition?».