Pamela Breakey

Review of Borgess Health

I am a "frequent flyer" within the Borgess System ...

I am a "frequent flyer" within the Borgess System and I have to say that several things have changed in the negative direction since Ascension took over. Website is much less user friendly. Hard to find needed phone numbers, harder to obtain copies of my test results. The staff who see patients directly have generally been kind and professional and very willing to listen to my concerns and needs. I've had good care when I have been an inpatient, usually after surgery. Some reviewers have complained about having Residents see them. In my experience, student nurses and Physician Residents are usually curious and highly motivated and unless I am having something complicated done, I have no problem seeing them. I did discover that non-physician staff at outlying facilities are paid less for the same position than those at the facility in Kalamazoo. That seems crazy to me as the people in the smaller facilities usually need to be able to do a larger variety of things than those in the larger facility and certainly are no less professional or well trained. If I were one of them, I would be unionizing if a union isn't already in place and if there is one, I'd be pushing the union rep to address this issue. In brief, I have very positive impression of the staff who see patients and an impression that the Ascenion powers that be have a very un Christ like value system that prizes the bottom line ($$$$) way too much!