North Vista Hospital (COE) Hospital

Great place for Bariatrics. Pre op nurses were great.

The nurses were wonderful!

The overall experience was excellent. The only problem for me was the recovery room staff. They were not very caring, I would even call them mean.

North Vista Hospital's website:
http://www.obesitynomorenv.com

I had my surgery on 11-21-06. The Pre-op room was good. My surgery was postponed for over 8 hours though. I didn't like the way that most of the nurses couldn't speak clear English and it was hard to understand them. They could have updated us who were waiting for the wls, more often, to let us know what was taking so long.
When I went in - finally - for the surgery, it went very well, finished in less than an hour, however, in the recovery room - the nurse there was very uptight or overly pushy - and not very understanding. However, later I found out I had difficulty coming around from the anesthesia. I was extremely thirsty and they refused to let me have anything to drink, but instead of letting me know why, they just said no you can't have anything. I realized afterwards, that I still had the tube down my nose. But they could have told me that.
Since my breathing was not up to full capacity, they put me in the ICU for about a day.
When I was allowed 'nutrition', they brought be liquids - but none of them were sugar free! Eek... I refused them all - because I didn't want to get sick from what I was eating, so I sipped a lot of water. They had put a catheter in (which I was extremely grateful for), and put my legs into a massaging leg binders - which were wonderful - and I wish I could have a pair for home.
Once I was put up into the bariatric wing, the nutrition improved .. although the temperature of the foods could have been better - warmer for the warm liquids especially -- cold soup and broth are not my favorites. They still insisted on fruit juices - which are much too sweet for me.
Bad Experience - The day I had my catheter removed (4:30 am), I was still hooked up to IV's, my Pain Meds, Oxygen, and leg massagers. At 6:30 a.m. a CNA came in and took my vitals. About a 1/2 hour later (about 3 hours after having the catheter removed) I had to go to the restroom. I pushed the "Call Nurse" button, for someone to come in, but NO ONE DID for almost 1 1/2 - 2 hours from 7:00 to 9:00 and by that time, I was panicking. What good is a Call Nurse button, if they are not going to come?? My husband came in at 9:00 a.m, and I told him to go get someone before I scream. I was even yelling out for someone to help, flashing my lights on and off, and playing the TV loudly, but no one came in. My husband was very angry and stormed down to the nurses station and demanded someone come down and unhook me to let me go to the restroom. The nurses started yelling at me "why didn't you use your phone". Well for one thing - I couldn't reach it - it was pushed way back, behind my bed, and I couldn't raise myself up, and twist my body to get it. They argued that it hadn't been 1 1/2 - 2 hours since I pushed my call button - but it was because I saw the time on the TV news broadcasts. They were calling me a liar. I and my husband did no like that at all.
When my doctor came in, and I told him of that situation, he said he would take care of it. And from then on, I was treated much better. The one CNA who argued with me and my husband, then had an attitude for the rest of the day.
The rest of the week I was there were much better. I should have walked more, but it was hard to get off the bed and walk to the bathroom. I had hard time sitting up without pain. But by Friday, the 24th I was discharged.
The two best nurses were Lisa on Nights and Shirley on Days (two different days), but what can you expect on the Thanksgiving holiday? Everyone else was somewhat pleasant. The CNA who had the attitude was Judith.

Great staff in Surgery, Recovery and the Bariatric floor. They are well trained and equiped for Bariatric patients. I ended up with a room to myself. Which enable my daughter to stay in the hospital with me both nights.

Everything about this hospital was great. From pre-admidditng to discharge, the staff was excellent. I would highly recommend this hospital to others.

Excellent,excellent, excellent.

Great hospital, not in the best area of town so I was expecting less quality for some reason, wrong of me to do because it was very clean and had an awsome staff!

Staff was great. my call light was never on for more than 5 mins.

Except for my complications and all the tests I needed to take, I found the hospital to be well run and friendly.
My main complaint was with the pureed diet, and the patients had no choice of
what was served.