Hospital experience is just what this doctor ordered

As a longtime resident of Santa Fe and a 30-year member of the medical staff of Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, I wanted to share my very positive experience with a family member’s hospitalization recently.

My young adult daughter had been experiencing severe recurrent abdominal pain for a week. She had been seen in the emergency department of an Albuquerque hospital where an ultrasound showed some worrisome findings, but lab work was normal. The following day, she was no better, and I called a colleague, Dr. Eric Manske, a Christus-employed GYN specialist, who agreed to see her the next day in Santa Fe, on his day off. He repeated her ultrasound in the office and recommended emergency surgery that afternoon.

From the moment we walked into the hospital until discharge two days later, our collective experience was overwhelmingly positive. The newly remodeled wing of the hospital was clean, spacious and cheerful. Every person we interacted was professional and genuinely interested in my daughter’s comfort and welfare, including nurses, lab techs, nursing aids, housekeepers and dietary personnel. A security guard, no less, helped my daughter’s boyfriend obtain saline and a contact lens cup late that first night after surgery. And, lastly, Dr. Manske was thorough and informative, as well as technically excellent.

I have dedicated most of my emergency medicine career to this hospital and this community. I have never felt more proud to be a part of this fine team until experiencing the care of the patient from the inside. We are fortunate in this town that Christus St. Vincent has come so far in improving quality measures and the patient experience despite the difficulties in the insurance industry and medical “marketplace.” Thank you all.