Return of the Collar

I have to say I am grateful for having worked at a competent medical office with decent employees who put the patient before payment.

Last time Tristan got botox, his doc at Primary's recommended we see a college of her at a rehab clinic in Sandy.  So we did, and we were impressed.  Tristan was crawling and walking within two months.  So after his second injection, we decided to go back to the same place.  I called to make the appointment, they asked if I wanted to keep the same time of day I had before, 2 PM, and I said yes.  I put it down on my calendar and we waited two and a half weeks to go.  I was a little miffed they made us wait that long because they were considering him a "new" consult, even though he was being seen for the same thing, but I figured what the heck, we'd sort it out when we got there.

The day of the appointment came, and Tristan and I drove up there two and a half hours early to go shop around the Valley Fair mall.  It was fun, he got to play on the splash pad and had a blast.  And I got a pair of trendy boots.  Then, I got him some lunch, and we drove back to Sandy for his appointment.  We got there about 1:20, but we sat out in the parking lot and I fed him a little cheese burger.  When he was through, we walked into the clinic.  It was now quarter to 2.

I told them his name, the receptionist stared at her computer confused, and then told me a moment later his appointment was at 1.  So I said, um, no we were told 2, like he had been seen before.  And she said, I'm sorry, we'll have to reschedule you.  Of course I got mad, "it's your guy's mistake and we just drove all the way up from Provo to see her.  Can we at least talk to her?"  The chick said no.  So I said, "Well, technically we still have 15 minutes left of our appointment, we should be able to at least ask her what we can do until we can get in for an appointment." The receptionist shook her head, feigning sympathy, and told me that I couldn't talk to her because it would end up being a 10 minute appointment, and they couldn't bill for it.

Furious, I stomped out of the office, and took out my phone.  I called Nick and left him a message that the office was ridiculous.  Then I called the office back, and as sweetly as I could, asked to speak to the office manager.  She was out for the day.  So I left her a message.  I told her I was very disappointed in her receptionist conduct.  I was mad she would tell me that their getting paid was more important than my son as a patient.  I was mad that they wouldn't even let me talk to the physician, what do they do when people call in with a question?  Do they bill for that?  I was mad they wouldn't make up for their mistake in scheduling, that I understood things like that happen after having been a receptionist myself multiple times, and I could not believe that they would turn me away without even consulting the physician.

She didn't call me back the next day, so I called her.  And we had a lengthy chat.  She agreed with me, I shouldn't have been treated so unprofessionally, especially when the error was on their part.  She asked what she could do for me, since they couldn't get in me for another week.  Nick said I should have asked them to pay for the gas, but I didn't.  I just said no thanks, I'm going to go back to his original PT.  At least his staff is competent.  I just wanted to let them know so in the future when they were faced with a similar problem, they didn't send another patient away.  I could just see myself getting reamed out by my old boss for doing something like that, which is why I was so appalled.

SO!  Sorry, long rant, we ended up going to see Kelly again in Orem.  He got us in the next day after we contacted him.  Imagine that, what great service!  And, he gave us great tips and ideas that have thus far been working.  Tristan doesn't put up a fuss when we put him in his collar anymore, because we have turned it into toss the ball time.  And we also play toss the ball at the wall while holding him tiled on out laps.  That along with other things made for a very productive visit.  We're hoping Tristan does better after this series of Botox, because the next step might be surgery to correct his torticollis.  So like I said, keeping our fingers crossed everything will work out for him.