Cherie Brandt

Review of Altoona Regional Health System

On a Thursday.... My daughter has her first ultras...

On a Thursday.... My daughter has her first ultrasound: at upmc. This is her and her husbands first pregnancy.. She calls me after the test. She is concerned because the ultrasound tech is acting oddly. The tech is waking in and out of the exam room and taking longer than expected.

Saturday.....5am . My daughter Is notified by My Upmc (email) thar her and her husbands child has evidence of a severe birth defect. Yes, and Email ! She calls the upmc doctors office, leaves messages and receives no call back. .

Monday... My daughters routine Upmc doctor appointment . We listen as the doctor removes the chart from from the outside of the exam room and then a 20 minute delay before she enters. The doctor began to sadly explain the test results and what my daughter should expect with the birth defect diagnosis. We explained that we had already been notified by email. The doctor apologized saying that my daughter should not have been sent the results by email. Since we have several doctors in our family we were able to discuss and plan our preparations for this birth defect with professionals over the weekend... My daughter requested a referral to Children s Hospital in Philadelphia.

On Tuesday (the next day)... My daughter has a 5 hour appointment. She meets each doctor/surgeon/NICU case manager/ genetic specialist on my grandsons team. All specialist had read her chart prior to appointment. I can not explain the sense of relief we experienced during this visit. Nothing with the diagnosis/treatment had changed just the tactically approach.

Upmc appears to have changed from a hospital to business only mentality. I hope patients and families realize that they can and should go to hospitals that allow doctors to care and support their patients . Not all hospitals are the same!

I do not blame the doctors, nurses and/or departments but instead the directors and those in the highest power of Upmc. You can do better than this!