Last year my dad had gotten unexpectedly sick and needed a new doctor to care for him. He was admitted to a local Florida hospital in the Delray area. As prepared as my parents thought they were, insurance, extended health care, they soon found out they were not prepared for much of what happened next.
First the doctor, as we all know Florida doctors are much too busy and regretably do not have enough time for the amount of sick older people living in such a concentrated area. This forced us to search for someone to care for him and it took a while to find the right doctor, but the communication regarding my fathers medical history was not followed well, which is a problem when shopping for a doctor.
I found we have to be advocates for our family members, doing all the work to find the right hospital, making sure he was being treated with dignity as well as good care. The first hospital was a disaster but we had nothing to compare it to. He was soon transfered to a rehab from there and that appeared to be a death sentence that he would never return from. He developed some complications and was sent to a new hospital that was wonderful.
My father never recovered from the experience and the purpose of this blog is to make sure that no one else has to go through the nightmare that my family went through. There are still wonderful medical resources in Florida but you have to know where to go. With your help sharing your experiences through this site, I can post the results so you can be an informed patient and not have to go through the frustrating experience of having to go from facility to facility and wasting time and effort.
Many of you are not from here originally and have your family in other places. They are invaluable, and no one is better at caring for you and helping when you are not well. They come down here to help and need to be brought up to speed so they can become acquainted with your situation as well as the resources available to you and them.
My hope is that with your feedback regarding care and your reviews of doctors and facilities will help the next person. And each of you can turn to this forum to help get the best care for your illness. In turn the better facilities and doctors will remain busy and thrive and the bad ones will improve with feedback when it effects their bottom line.
I plan on starting with the medical industry (which is a tremendous endeavor) and grow to other services in the Florida area such as plumbers, carpenters, cleaning services, etc. With your help everyone will benefit.
