Cook County Health Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center

I have been coming to this clinic for a couple of years to avail myself of the sexual health clinic. The place was never a paragon for efficiency or excelled in any way, but I recognized its worth as a walk-in clinic in an underserved area and I put up with the odd nuisance. My visit a few months ago however was a disaster that forever swore me off this place and I would advise anyone but those folks who have no other options to chance it. Everything on my visit went to ***, starting with a young provider who admitted he was in training for just a couple of months (and still was not supervised or accompanied by his trainer) who had to pop out every few minutes to ask "if we can do that" and who almost swabbed my throat with the swab already used for another test (ewww). Things really went downhill when I went to the lab to get my blood tests; when I got there, I noticed two people already checked in ahead of me who were sitting and waiting. I signed myself in and waited for about 25 minutes myself - after already spending an hour and a half in this place even though I had an appointment I had arrived promptly for. After those 25 minutes had elapsed and the door to the lab remained closed with no one calling patients, I went to a gentleman who appeared to be some sort of concierge and asked him to check with the lab if they were aware that there were patients waiting there for over half an hour (including the people who were already there waiting before me). He obliged and did so, and when he emerged from the lab he said someone was coming. And sure enough, SHE DID. A person emerged from the lab and without drawing in a breath tore into the poor youth who had been waiting there the longest, confronting him why he had the temerity to complain and lie that he was waiting there for half an hour. I drew her attention away from the underserving victim and said it was me. She then fixated me with her gaze and yelled at me that I had not been waiting for half an hour since I had signed at XX:XX. I said yes, at this point it had been about 25 minutes, but people had been waiting before I got there, which made it half an hour FOR THEM. She then yelled me again to "not be telling no lies as that makes it look like they're not doing their jobs." At this point I walked away and asked the concierge for assistance in filing a complaint. He was very obliging and tried to help, but after half an hour spending going from floor to floor and room to room he said no one was availalbe to take my complaint and promised he would have the responsible person call me. At that point, I left because I was not about to have someone who was verbally abusive or her colleagues stick a needle in my arm. To summarize the next couple of weeks, it took a while to get a call from the liason in charge of complaints, who mouthed a lot of platitudes but had little to show for it. In the end, I did get a call from the lab director, but other than "reassuring" me and apologizing to me he could highlight no definitive actions taken against the person he employed or any meaningful corrective action. On top of that, he could not explain the final nail in the coffin - why two out of the four swab tests had not come back or resulted. In summary, I will NOT trust my health to a clinic where a) a swab already used for one test can be used to swab you again, b) unsupervised personnel in training is not accompanied by a - imagine that - a supervisor, c) the lab staff makes people wait inordinately long for no reason at all and then d) yells at and abuses the patients who dare raise questions, only to e) have the liason responsible for complaints not be found for days until he is and then he is ineffective, topping it all with f) the lab director neither being able to explain how 2 out of 4 swab test results never came back and then failed to outline any concrete steps to discipline an abusive employee or to implement a concrete plan to root out these serious and unsafe practices.

Ok so I have been coming to this clinic for a couple of years but lately the for some reason the service has been going down, doctors, nurses are great but the extra staff that is supposed to be coordinating are just bodys walking down the aisle as if this is a fashion show. My friend whom I was just there for support and doesn’t speak English was waiting for more than two hours and no one called him in if it wasn’t for me that I asked when was he going to be help. There’s obviously poor communication among the staff. I hope that things get better it’s a great place otherwise.

The reception desk 4 really needs to improve her communication skills. Without greeting, Her first word to a patient was a curt one: “yes!?” I said “I’m here for an appointment….” Not letting me finish, she jumped in and said “go to have a seat”. I had to tell her “I’m not finished yet”. She really needs some reception language training or/and an attitude change. The nurses and doctors and other staff members are great. Just the reception really needs some improvement. That’s the staff members patients first see. They can really ruin or brighten your day!