I’d like to comment on the treatment I received at the Malibu Saint John’s Health Center. Last Friday, after suffering from excruciating pain from a rib injury, I finally decided I’d better see a doctor to find out if any of the ribs were fractured. Having sustained the injury on the previous Saturday, and seeing the pain was getting only worse, I felt I had to do “something” about it.
A week prior to that, my houseguest went to Saint John’s Health Center after contracting one of those nasty respiratory bugs, so I decided to give it a try myself. We all know what a drag it is to go to any E.R. facility the hospitals offer. If you arrive even halfway ambulatory, you are faced with all sorts of forms to fill out and endless hours of waiting in abject misery and discomfort. It’s enough to make you even sicker.
My experience at the health center was a revelation. The waiting time was minimal, the attention and care given made me think that’s how health care must have been decades ago, before HMOs and huge medical conglomerates, when the patient was treated and viewed as an individual rather than a biological cipher.
The attending physician, Dr. Gillingham, couldn’t have been more solicitous and reassuring and I’d like to express my sincere thanks for the excellent care I was given. I just hope the center will always be there and I think we who live in Malibu and have the need for such a facility should make sure it remains where it is.
Erna Segal