I've had a lot of bad hospital experiences on the behalf of others - some of them here. But when it came time for me to go to the hospital myself. I was over the moon with the care I received at Salem Hospital.

1) The receptionist made me feel welcome and could tell I was confused, and helped me.
2) My initial doctor was honest about being off soon and helped me adjust my expectations to switching doctors a few times through the process, and was very thorough on intake forms.
3) My next doctor was very sympathetic, seemed to actually listen to what I was saying, and took the time to hear my opinions on my own body
4) My phlebotomists were extremely understanding of me having difficult veins, and joked through the process to help me feel more comfortable. One of them even said I would make a good EMT, which I found flattering as she was one.
5) The woman who did my ultrasounds was so great - she taught me some things about ultrasounds that I had no idea about, and really just acted like a REAL PERSON the whole time, which is so helpful when you're in an uncomfortable scary situation like that.
6) I already left a compliment card but I wanna shout from the hilltops: "JIM/JAMES THE NURSE IS AN ANGEL!" He could tell my partner was struggling to keep me calm and came over of his own accord to assuage my fears and talk to me a little bit. What could have easily been a code yellow suddenly became a teaching moment. I was into my next test really quickly after that and Jim certainly made passing that time easier.
7) the patient transport staff. I had three different transporters over the course of my stay and 2/3 of them were extremely jovial, friendly, and seemed to really love their jobs.
8) the CT technician was awesome. He reassured me through the process and made me feel like I could do something I was absolutely terrified of.

Just had yet another kid there. OB unit was awesome, and so was “Mom and baby.” The service was excellent and they put our needs first. Everyone from the doctors to the nurses, to the assistants, to the housekeepers were amazing. Can’t thank them enough for their exceptional service.

This place should be shut down. Just had to leave Salem Hospital Emergency Department tonight (7/30/2018) AMA because after a full hour and an empty waiting room they completely forgot to triage me. I asked the 5 people sitting, chatting and playing on their phone at the front desk if it is hospital policy to only triage select patients, knowing full well this is not the case. One of them laughed at me and tried to tell me "we do our best." I explained I am a brain aneurysm survivor and epileptic, and my BP is very important. They seemed to think this was comical, one of your nurses decided to flash a flashlight at me, I guess to try to trigger my epilepsy? I'm not sure what kind of sociopaths you hire up there, but I will be contacting my attorney for a malpractice suit.

Horrible experience. Treated like I was just a number literally. They would refer to me as a number even to me. The doc does a bunch of tests and then says your not anemic and sends me on my way. Not what I went in for in the first place. Do not come to this hospital.

Took about 2 hours for my youngest to be seen for hair wrapped around one of her itty bitty baby toes... Tried taking her into urgent care first but they no longer treat patients under 4 months.... Making Paige about 20 days too young