CentraCare Health - Monticello Review

STAY AWAY! After going and sharing my horror story with others, I heard many other horror stories which even included death of a family member due to incompetent staff.

ER doctor had multiple failed attempts to remove ONE staple from my 2 year old that was being held down by 4 adults. After failing multiple times, (including two ADDITIONAL unnecessary incisions in her head I told him would be useless, and made the cut even worse)I told him it needed to be cut in half, and the two halves removed individually. At first he said it wouldn't work, then I showed him how, and he agreed.

He pulled out a RUSTY pair of wire cutters from a file cabinet. I said, are those at least sterilized? He responded, "well I guess we could run it under some hot water." I said, no, it needs to be burned with a lighter or at minimum alcohol wipes. He replies "good thinking."

He attempts again with my child screaming as he's wrenching away. He says he can't do it and it isn't working. I take it out of his hands snip it MYSELF and the staple is out in less than 10 seconds from me taking over.

(As others have stated, the supervisors, managers, and directors could care less and won't return calls or be of any help. This place needs to be replaced)

As many of my friends, family and myself have experienced... STAY AWAY... Buffalo or Maple Grove from here on out.

Absolutely awful. Mohammed I. Hussain, MBBS was the worst doctor and provided the worst experience.

The head of surgery happened to be on site in ER that night. Took my teen daughter in for a very bad eat ache, infected. Felt like family and the doctor followed up the next day....didnt expect that. GREAT service!!

Hands down the worst place ever. I have been dealing with them and their terrible billing department over the covid cares act where Centracare instructed me not to come in but to call an ambulance to check vitals. Upon arrival, even the emt's said I would not be billed. Seem like they are taking the handout and making patients pay anyway. Fraud much?

The service was absolutely terrible. I have been here for two hours & have talked to a doctor for about three minutes. My room is right next to the break room & there are multiple people in there just talking & laughing while we had to sit in the patient room. Unbelievable

My husband summed it up best when he said that it was the nicest E/R he'd ever been to--in terms of the facility itself, as well as the staff, and small conveniences such as the "vending machine" dispenser for prescription medication. Overall we felt like we were in excellent hands here. We are so happy with this Centracare location, and are impressed with the local area Centracare system overall.

.. very friendly. Great care . Treated me like family

Thought my mom was having a stroke so we called an ambulance for her as we were not with her. The ambulance arrived and asked my mom if she wanted to just follow them to the hospital and allowed her to drive despite being disoriented. She was released after running some test and I pulled up as she was on her way out. I assumed I was going to drive her home but I found out then that they had her drive to the ER. As we pulled out of the parking lot my mom got out of her car and told me she couldn t remember where she lived. There is obviously some major incompetence and poor judgement going on here.

The care I received at my appointment was excellent. Not just good or great. It was excellent! I was very nervous going into this appointment. But, this amazing and professional staff explained every part of the appointment and the procedures. I am so grateful for this hospital in our community!!!

Kicked out an ER patient after being told by poison control and the nurse s line to be admitted. Did not even assess the patient, get - proper medical history by the nurse, and was not even seen by a doctor, but was instead kicked out after 15 minutes. This is extremely dangerous to patients and could have been deadly. I will never go here again.

First and foremost, always consider hospital alternatives-Buffalo, St. Cloud, Maple Grove, to name a few.

AUG 2015. Long story, 9 month pregnant wife had a grand mal seizure in the middle of night. I was in shock when ambulance came. Crew asked me where I wanted to go. I had no clue. They suggested and steered me to to the closest, Monticello Centracare. Wife was stable and starting to regain some memory. They should have at least mentioned Monticello DOES NOT have a Newborn-Intensive-Care-Unit, NOR a neurology department, both of which my wife and unborn son NEEDED.

1) After an hour of wasting time in Monticello, the ER nurse (head nurse I think) and the ER doctor said, "We have to swallow our pride and take you somewhere else, because honestly, we do not have a plan IF another seizure occurs. We should have NEVER accepted her as a patient". Transferred her to St. Cloud.

I felt like I failed my wife since I did not consider the neurology or NICU need while I was in shock, but I do believe the medical professionals should have considered it our behalf. Thankfully someone "swallowed their pride" and spoke up. I believe either the OB doc on-call or ER nurse were the one to actually make the decision.

So of course I was not only frustrated with the decision to waste time in Monticello, but billing thereafter charged me for both ambulance trips. Since I believe the first ride to Monticello was a waste of time, I do not want to pay for THAT ride (shorter of the two).

However after speaking with hospital staff for literally hours, I am on a payment plan.
-Billing lady: very helpful and kind. Hands tied.
-Ambulance Supervisor: Condescending and unhelpful.
-Ambulance Director: Very well spoken, kind, understanding, but firm on decision to waste time at Monticello. If not already in a local politician position, should consider running...
-ER director: Never called me to discuss the situation and why the ER staff said "we should have never accepted you". Ambulance director told me the ER director would be calling. Has not.

2) My wife's first memory of the night was the ride from Monti to St. Cloud in the ambulance. Paramedic in back with her said, "they should have never brought you to monti..."

3) Family acquaintance doctor who practices at Monticello Centracare Hospital confirmed the fact that is was a poor choice to come to Monti. Especially since the seizure was done and there was no longer an emergency when first ambulance arrived.

I've waiting over 3 months to post this poor review to see the final billing decision, but as expected, "no one's fault but mine." It is my fault for being in shock and not considering that Monticello could not handle a neurological or NICU situation.

I am a truck driver from Michigan. I had called them to let them know my situation, I was in a lot of pain. They were very understanding. They found parking for my semi truck and a security guard escorted me in to the emergency room. They went out of their way to get my pain under control and get me back on the road. I was very impressed by the care and the people. This was the best care facility I have ever been into in my whole life, and I am 47 years old. Thank you!

Terrible place to work they take everytjing from there aids in the middle of a pandemic. Instead of raises they get nothing lose 401k match . Centra care is amongst the worst for taking care of there employees

Med surg nurses went above and beyond for my time at Monticello!

Absolutely ridiculous place!!! They treat patients like garbage and they are super slow! Every time I come here it just gets worse!

I visted the emergency room and got my appendix removed. The nurses and doctors went above and beyond to make sure I was as comfortable as possible throughout the whole visit.

This hospital has been terrible for years. My dad went to the hospital because of pains in his abdomen. He thought it was appendicitis. The doctor comes in and says, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, it s not appendicitis, the bad news is, it s pancreatic cancer. If you don t know, that s one of the most deadly types of cancer. My dad died 4 months later. Seriously, don t go here.

Dealt with the worst nurse ever. He threatened to mark my file so I as he said "wouldn't be helped ever again" he was aggressive and acted more as a prison guard more than anything. I'd rather would've taken a ride to Minneapolis.

Awful service and couldn t even diagnose a child being constipated

Dont even deserve 1 star.
Wife is in active labor dialated to a 4-4.5 cm and they can feel her water bag. The nurses wanted to keep us and wanted to break her water but Doctor said no and sent us home 2 different times! Just cause it is a weekend and it is at doctor convenience!
If have this baby at home think we will sue for incompetence

Nurses are 3 star
Doctors suck

Avoid the ER at all costs. As a doctor, I ve been in many ERs, both as a provider and a patient. The bed was filthy with crumbs and lint; clearly the linens hadn t been changed. I was left in the triage room and never put in a regular ER room. The nurse was extremely rude and the doctor completely ignored my pain despite having a history of kidney stones. He botched my IV and left an open catheter in for five minutes which could have easily gotten infected. Waited 40 minutes to get toradol (I told them I didn t want anything addictive). The physician could barely speak English. Go to Maple Grove or Princeton or Buffalo. But avoid this place.

I gave birth to my daughter here and I couldn't have asked for a better care team or facilities. My nurses and doctor were always attentive, upbeat, and encouraging. At one point I said I was cold and without having to ask, they moved me to a warmer room. One nurse was having trouble putting in my IV and again without me having to ask, she went and found a more experienced nurse to do it. I wanted to avoid taking any pain meds and they were respectful and accommodating of my birth plan. I felt like my doctor and nurses were very warm, patient, and caring throughout the whole process. One nurse in particular (Lois) really hustled her butt off helping me and I'm so grateful that she was there. The day after the baby was born, they played a lullaby over the hospital sound system which was a sweet touch. I also took the prenatal class here with my husband and it was informative and inclusive, we felt pretty prepared once it was finally time. I would definitely recommend this hospital to any expecting mothers out there.

Do not go here! The nurses here are unprofessional, rude and disrespectful. With the exception of Todd and a new nurse in training, the rest of the nurses are downright lazy, rude and condescending. The physical therapists are pushy and use ultimatums to motivate patients. My mother just had major surgery and she was treated like a drug seeking inconvenience. Fire your staff and replace them. Thank you.

Bad service, they were very rude. They Didn t take me seriously, and was misdiagnosed.

The only good thing about my visit was the nurse that I had.

If you have to go to this place don't go see Doctor Nemic he's a joke I had trouble swallowing food and this went on for years I kept telling this so called Doctor about it nothing was done until one night I had to go to the emergency room and the doctor on call got the food unstuck and set up an appointment to see a specialist he had to do surgery on my throat after years of suffering because of this dumb ass at the Monticello Big Lake Clinic I can finally eat without food getting stuck in my throat.

I be had mixed experience here. When I've had pretty significant physical injuries I've been taken care of well but they were super busy and it understandibly took many hours to get in and out for what was a 25min operation none the less the doc was very nice a d did anything he could to ensure I was as comfortable as possible which even though I was uncomfortable his demeanor went along way however I've all went in on a weekend with a fear bad abscess tooth I wasn't in a lot of pain at the moment but I was worried the infection could spread before I could get to the surgeon on Monday and d
Felt it would be best to go in I opted to wait til about 10pm when I knew it wouldn't be as busy so my tooth wasn't jamming up the ER and almost the entire day I was in horrible pain but for whatever reason it subsided and I just wanted some antibiotics and get out the door.... Well after be questioned about drug use... Placed in a room outside the ER with cameras in it the doctor was rude about the condition of my teeth (long story but basically I was give soda in a bottle for yrs and it killed my teeth as a kid the dentist said she would be socked if they lasted past 25 I'm now 33 and she wasn't far off ) anyways was further treated like a drug addict and when the nurse came back with my antibiotics she was abrehensive of giving them to me like she was scared I smiled and thanked her for everything she was speachless like she expected me to attack her or something. Look I understand they probably see everything come thru them doors and they probably would have been right 50/50 given the time and how my teeth looked but I made no action what so ever to make them believe I was a drug addict nor did I even mention the word pain or ask or even hint at getting drugs I was simply scared I could go blind or die and wanted to avoid that as I think anyone one who's reading this would and as a professional you have to pump the breaks on assuming everyone is on drugs cuZ looks are a pretty poor indication of someones personality so was I offended no not really if I was actually in a lot of pain at the time a d been treated that way yes I would have and I probably would have gotten a lawyer to tell me if I had a case or not mostly just to prove a point before I was even in the room I'm talking before I hit trieage (sp?) They already made up there mind I was fishing for drugs which couldn't have been farther from the truth and that could have lead to me being mistreated and that's not fair to me. Point being it wouldn't have hurt to wait 5-10mins before you made up your mind on me as a person. So I will think twice before going her and I have far worse stories like when the stitches my dad's nose on crooked with what looked like a 7yr old with a sowing needle stiches him up and was like oh it's nap time your good to go he has to go to another hospital two days later and have his nose rebroken and restitched but this is getting pretty long as is

Emergency appendectomy preformed by Dr. Bowen. Staff was caring, professional and very prompt to address the urgency of surgery needed. 5 days after my surgery and I am feeling great! Monticello hospital has come a long way to provide outstanding medical care to our community! The staff made me feel very comfortable knowing this was my first surgery. Feel very fortunate to have a medical facility that could address my needs.
True that we are not a trauma hospital but it is nice to know that the physicians and nurses are knowledgeable and can direct you transport patients to a facility that is capable of caring for you. Great place for general surgery! Thank you to the great staff at Centra care for taking great care of me!

If I could rate this hospital 0 stars, I would. The doctors and nurses that work here do not care about their patients. I've been here numerous times and the only reason I continue to go is because this is the closest hospital to me. I've had doctors forget who I was, tell me I was faking my pain and seeking medication after having a piece of my lung removed. I've came to this hospital with two collapsed lungs (on separate occasions) and it's been a literal nightmare both times. The ER doctors don't know how to properly put in a pigtail catheter so both times I was in excruciating pain while the doctor figured out how to shove a tube through my rib cage inside of me. After getting into a car accident I came here with my cousin and they gave him ibuprofen when he was crying in pain. They sent him home with nothing for pain and told him to use ice. Why bill your insurance to be told to ice your injury? Every time I have come here whether it be emergent or not, I'm treated like I'm stupid, or like I'm a liar, or I'm told that I'm not actually in pain. It's the most pathetic hospital I've ever been to and I think I would rather die from internal bleeding from a ruptured ovarian cyst that see one of the joke doctors here.