Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital

Have had excellent care from ER and being admitted. Kind caring Doctors and R.Ns.
They listen to your concerns and fears. It's hard to think of just one person on your care team to thank.

I went in because I had some minor chest pains. It took some time but, they made sure to check everything to be safe. All the nurses and the doctor was very polite making sure I was comfortable. The highlight of my visit was my male nurse. I can't remember his name but he showed much consern and carried on a conversation with me. It was only inflammation in my chest wall but he still stated it was a good idea to get checked out. I'm very grateful to him. My room was #26 in the emergency department.

Have had 4 surgery and 1 walk in clinic experiences here over the past 4 years as well as 2 physical therapy sessions. Rating would have been between 4 and 5 stars for all of them, leaning towards the higher.
Unfortunately my most recent experience with one of their medical office doctors was very much the opposite.
It was through the VA’s Community Care program for a shoulder problem I’m having that physical therapy hasn’t been able to fix. Got the call about the appointment over a month in advance of it so I requested a reminder call. Never got the call but went there the day prior to make sure I still had the appointment. Was very nicely informed that I did and told they weren’t allowed to make reminder calls so they sent me a reminder text. Unfortunately I never received any texts from them. That’s all okay, if not for the actual appointment and even more what followed I would still highly recommend them.
Dr. Grierson is a very pleasant person and listens as well as advises. It’s Spectrum’s policies and tactics I have a problem with. We agreed that getting an MRI and finding out for certain what is wrong with my shoulder is the best way to go. However he also informed me that if it indicated that I needed surgery I would not be able to get it there because I smoke.
The following day I received a phone call from the imaging scheduling dept. trying to set up an appointment to get the MRI done the following day. Knowing that the VA would not have given approval in such a short time I refused to make the appointment and told the person to call me back after they had received VA approval. She replied that they normally schedule and complete the imaging then work out the insurance stuff. I told her to call me back after the the VA approval was obtained because VA does not pay for any non emergency care unless prior approval is obtained.
Aprox. 2 weeks later I missed a call from the imaging scheduling dept. and returned the call, speaking to Emily. Again wanting to set up appointment for the MRI. I asked if VA approval had been obtained for it and she informed me that it had been so I set up the appointment. 2 days later I spoke to both Battle Creek VA and my VA primary care provider. Both informed me that’s the dr. recommendation had been received but no further action had been taken on it much less approval for it given.
I called the scheduling dept back and cancelled the appointment because keeping it would have left me stuck with a huge bill the VA never would have paid!

What a nightmare I had in June of 2018, and still have every day due to an eye surgery performed by Deborah Wu. If this is the caliber of professionals. We should all stay away.

Went to the ER with a relative, after waiting for 5 hours, we were told it will be awhile longer. While there, we watched an elderly man clutching his chest, rolling around on the sofa, complaining of chest pain. The front desk said there was nothing they could do as ambulances were taking priority. I got him a cold wet paper towel from the bathroom, and then finally the reception lady walked out and handed his friend a cold pack for his head, he was complaining of being too warm. Every now and then, the front desk would say loudly "oh we just got another ambulance, oh we just got 2 in". I never saw these ambulances, even though there is a window in the ER waiting room that the ambulances would drive by. I asked who was their Dr. on staff and found out THIS ER DOES NOT HAVE A DOCTOR ON STAFF, just a nurse practitioner. They were very reluctant to tell me this, I asked 3 times. My relative was finally seen after 6 hours of waiting. One of the nurses told us she had been there 10 hours without a break. Minimum treatment was provided to my relative, and so when we left Spectrum ER, we went to Traverse City Munson and received excellent care and a referral to a specialist. Spectrum ER used to be good years ago, but it's terrible now, they are short and insufficiently staffed and this should be looked into by management. There is no reason to not have a Doctor on duty.