Yet, I still pray that I'm not in Jville with a traumatic injury.... what if it were from domestic violence or some other crime? They won't report it cuz it's apparently still not their problem.

There are people who say that they had family and friends who went in to Mercy Hospital and there was a HUGE police investigation. Cool, but how many others didn't make it that far?

I'll take the Beloit Health Care systems over Mercy any day...

My new doctor and my old clinic in Beloit did more for me in my first visit with her than my old doctor with Mercy did in two years!!!

the wonderful expensive high tech equipment is great..but you still need someone to know what there looking at and THAT'S the problem. even the radiology can't look at a ct or ultrasound and actually diagnose something correctly.Aside from a few everyone at mercy are scandelous cold hearted people who don't have a clue of how important people are the good dr.s/nurses who work at mercy leave mercy because they don't agree with the hospital and don't want to affiliate themselves with such garbage. sounds rough but that hospital don't care about the people why should the people care about the hospital

If you want to be laughed at and ridiculed for whatever your affliction may be.....then go to Mercy ER. The whole department needs to be overturned starting from the TOP down.

John-
Don't you think it is cute that we are JohnDoe and JoeSchmo????? :)

Even if you arrive at an emergency room in an ambulance, you are still triaged and required to wait-unless it is a life or death situation. I knew my son's situation was not life or death, and did not think that wasting the time of an ambulance was neccesary, as I live less than 5 mintues from Mercy. I did think it was better to take my chances at Mercy than drive an hour to our hospital of choice. But, as I said, next time I will take the trip. And as for those that do not have insurance, why do you need to go to the emergency room for care? You still have to pay at the ER, and Mercy can turn you away anyways. The point is, if it is not an emergency or urgent then wait til the morning and go to a clinic-be it a free clinic, urgent care, whatever.

And as far as using the ER as a doctor's office...put yourself in the shoes of those who are insurance deficient...we all have our needs.

That's my point Joe, if in your opinion it was an emergency (and I'm not questioning your perception) coupled with your obvious experience and/or previous knowledge of Mercy's shortcomings, I would think you would have called an ambulance to ensure prompt attention...?

JOhn-
My son has asthma and was having a hard time breathing, his nebulizer was not helping him at all. He was coughing and gagging the entire time we were in the waiting room at Mercy. And yes, next time I will just drive to Madison.

JohnDoe-
I disagree. There are some healthcare providers out there who have exceptional service and commitment to their patients, employees and communities. There are always a few people who have complaints, but it seems like it is a lot more than a few who have issues with Mercy- be it service, care, billing, etc. I've had issues with all of those aspects of Mercy.

JoeSchmo...I guess if you were able to wait for an hour and then drive to Madison...it wasn't as much of an emergency as you would have us believe....I hope you,ve learned something from the experience...if so, it wasn't a waste.

For all of you slamming Janesville based health services....do your homework on whatever city you seem to think is your saving grace....Madison, Milwaukee... Rockford...whichever it may be...you can substitute the name of any city/health service you want...and the comments are generic.

It's just like insurance...it's easy to condemn until you need it.

I agree...with packerfan. ER=worthless. I had to go to the ER for a broken bone last year and it took them 4 hours to get me back there. I went through 2 bags of ice waiting for them. riduculous! Apparently, it was my fault that I broke a bone during flu season! I too am part of a HMO and normally go to Madison doctors for my treatment...but i felt it was an emergency. They looked at my insurance and said that it was "no problem" and that they could treat me there even though Mercy Hospital wasn't on my plan. Well, they were wrong! Maybe we need to have people there that know what they are talking about as well before it starts costing people hundreds of dollars!! I couldv'e drove to madison and been home by the time they even saw me!! And for a $50 copay!!

I too have an HMO, but it requires me to go to Madison for care, which is fine with me. Except for the fact that I live in Janesville and have a son who has health problems. We went to the ER at 11pm on a weeknight because he couldn't breathe. We waited for an hour before even being seen by triage. After triage we decided to go home, since they said it would be hours before he's be seen by a doc. We headed to Madison and were seen there.
I work at a hospital, and would have to agree with people's comments on using the ER as a doctor's office. There are so many people who come to the ER for medication refills, colds, dental pain, a sore body part that has been sore for weeks, etc. It is called an EMERGENCY room for a reason. :)

I honestly thought Mercy East's Urgent Care was open 24/7. I apologize if I was incorrect in that. I do understand sick, crying children.

Janesville should be fortunate that we have state of the art equipment so we can stay in town with loved ones. Sometimes in an emergency you have minutes to get the help you need so be THANKFUL we have a great hospital with great doctors and nurses.

Thumbs Up Mercy keep up the good work. You can't please all the people all the time, But I will admit I'm a rough customer and you have always pleased me, Thanks again

Mercy saved my husbands life when he had a heart attack. I went to the ER when I thought perhaps I was having a heart attack. Upon arrival I was whisked away ahead of others who had been waiting. We have to rely on their (nurses in triage) judgment as who needs to be seen first based on life threatening symptoms.I have been there with issues with my kids ailments through the years so I have been on both sides. As with any unhappy experience, many go out of their way to share. Too bad the customers that are happy don't do the same.

They missed my daughter's meningitis/encephalitis twice dismissing it as a stiff neck from playing sports. When it became life threatening, they med-flighted her to UW Hospital in Madison.
They "lost" my son's 24 hour halter heart monitor test results. We took him to UW Hospital.
Now we simply skip the "middleman" and head for Madison if there is time.

I haven't as much faith in our local hospital as so many of you. In many areas I think they are well qualified, but if I am injured badly I would rather be sent to Madison. Frankly I was just diagnosised with something that was surgically corrected. Our Janesville Doctors took only 13 years to diagnose it. Actually it was a fluke blood test that they just started adding to the workups. But as I would give the symptoms over the years to the Docs would shake their heads and say something about getting older. Unfortunately...I will never be right again because of this. I guess that's why they call it practicing medicine.

DOCJONES, I'm not sure what the big deal is. The Level II verification -- not certification -- is simply noting the availability of services. If they have already been working with the ACS and they have the services then it's simply a matter of receiving verification. It isn't a judgement on the quality of care or anything.
http://www.facs.org/trauma/verified.html...

packerfan, I bet you would think twice calling the ER worthless when your life actually depended on it.
.
In all fairness convenient care was probably closed and as anyone with children knows that when they are screaming you take them to a doctor! Ear Infections are brutal and now you are wiser ;O)

the reason to go to ER with "urgent care" issues at 3AM is that there are no urgent care centers open. when you have a child in pain and screaming, the ER is your only option.

Why go to the ER for an ear infection? Why not go to Urgent Care? That is the reason the ER gets so bogged down--inconsiterate people that use it like a doctor's office--and then have the balls to COMPLAIN it took too long!

i took my daughter up there late last night to ER (ear infection). I waited 3 hours... never got seen an left along with two other people who waited longer!! ER = worthless!

Before all the bashings start on Mercy-I remember when the nuns had the hospital and everyone went to Madison because of outdated equipment. Give Mercy credit for getting the top notch equipment in. The Er gets so busy because people go there when its not really an emergency so it backs it up. I had a brain bleed a few years ago with seizures and a stroke and got supberb care and they saved my life-family was glad they didn't have to travel to Madison to be with me. GREAT HOSPITAL AND GREAT DOCTORS

Lost-City, who are you talking to?

I'm not sure this is necessarily a good thing....

Heaven help us all!! Have any of you been to Mercy?

To curtaincall: I have an HMO - therefore cannot go to Madison. I'm glad to see they are making strides forward - yes, it's no Mayo Clinic, but I have no choice. My son needed to go to ER several years ago (while in HS) and WOW - they were wonderful, took care of him immediately and were soooo helpful and kind. We couldn't have asked to have been in better hands.

I would never ever go to the hospital or dr. in Janesville. Not with Madison so close by, much better equipped. Same with the Monroe hospital. That place is just ill equipped.

and it still takes hrs in the Er from start to finish...was there with my daughter a few weekends ago and it was about 4 hrs of being there. but i do have to admit they did lots of tests, CT scan, Mri to make sure they didnt miss anything. so walking out of there with her i felt better about the severe headache she had was nothing major.

Most any medium sized community hospital in WI can get a WI level III trauma designation with little effort. To get a Level II designation requires certification by the American College of Surgeons. Claiming to "operate as a level II" does not mean thet they are in any way certified as a level II by the state of WI or the ACS.

If they met all the criteria and were able to truly "operate as a level II" - they would be certified as a level II trauma center by now.