Deborah Merkerson

Review of CarolinaEast Health System

I have been ill from a relatively rare illness sin...

I have been ill from a relatively rare illness since I was two years old. I am now 65. I have been seen at what I would rate the worst hospital ever (Pitt Memorial Hospital, now named Vidant Medical Center, Greenville, NC) to two of the finest- Duke University Medical Center and CarolinaEast Medical Center. I was admitted to CEMC 8/29/17 and remained for a week. If the Emergency Staff had not been as sharp as they were, I would have died that night. How they realized what was wrong with me as quickly as they did is beyond my understanding. All I know is that I was having all the symptoms of my first stroke. As it was my first grandchild's first birthday, I told them I didn't care if I died past midnight but not to let me die that day. They gave me credit for the miracle but I give it all to God and the wonderful staff at CEMC who were doing His work.

While living in GVL for the last ten years or so I was rushed repeatedly because of the illness that caused my disability. It did not matter how many times I was rushed to that hospital, they would call my children back to GVL from college. Each time they found me on a stretcher in the ER hallway with the physician's report that the psychiatrist had been called to examine me the next day. They told my daughters repeatedly that there was no such illness that I claimed to have. It was first diagnosed among children in the early 1950s and recognized by both the CDC and the NIH, the two official bodies of the US government responsible for recognizing new illnesses. The rift that they created with my daughters is only now being corrected more than 20 years later. I was never examined while there.

If you have had a bad experience at CEMC I encourage you to give them another chance. Perhaps you were admitted with a condition less serious than many others who were in my situation. Sometimes they get swamped and have to prioritize. Sad but true.