One Small-Town Hospital Gets it Right

In 1987, my daughter was born, and I stayed for three days at the local hospital in Odessa, Texas, Medical Center Hospital. At the time, the hospital was small, slightly run down, and the waiting room in the ER left something to be desired in lighting, space and cleanliness. However, the staff was wonderful, and it was a good hospital experience.

Again, in 1994, I was admitted to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, Texas when my son was born. Medical Center had made some renovations since the last time I had been there; the hospital more attractive, but the service from the medical and hospital staff was just as amazing as before.

My son was born on a Saturday morning, and by that evening Medical Center Hospital sent to my room a complimentary dinner for two: rib-eye steak, loaded baked potato, broccoli and cheese, dinner rolls, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice on ice (put in a hospital pink ice bucket). It was a congratulatory meal for the birth of my new baby, as well as being high in protein and other things a woman just having given birth might need.

Medical Center Hospital Emergency Room Care

I have also spent time at Medical Center Hospital when my son developed croup and then a disorder of the epiglottis. The disorder caused his throat to unexpectedly swell and freeze shut, usually requiring an emergency room visit. Inevitably, the disorder always flared at night. It wasn't long before the night nursing staff knew my son and I by name, and we bypassed the triage center each time to go straight a room where they administered a breathing treatment. They were amazing both with medical care and emotional support during this difficult time.

Eventually, my son grew out of the problems, and I only visited Medical Center for minor emergencies over the years. Even when visiting for a minor emergency, the triage center is well designed, beautifully furnished with granite countertops and comfortable bench padded seating, a large-screen television and a gorgeous salt-water aquarium to watch while waiting, though the wait usually isn't very long.

Medical Center Hospital Inpatient Care

In 2008, I was admitted to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa with a severe case of septicemia, which had progressed to septic shock. Though good, none of my previous experiences came close to my 2008 experience at that hospital.

Before I get to that, I want to talk about my best friend's experience in the hospital last year, so it can be fully understood why I am reviewing my hospital experience so highly.

Comparing MCH to Mainland Medical Center

Having only had excellent experiences with the local hospitals in Odessa, I figured we were lucky to have a good hospital, but I didn't know how lucky until my best friend was admitted to the hospital with multiple pulmonary emboli at Mainland Medical Center hospital in Texas City, Texas, not too far from Galveston and Houston.

She was rushed to the hospital from her doctor's office only to end up waiting in the office admitting area for nearly an hour. While waiting, the business office closed, so the staff grabbed a wheelchair and wheeled her to the ER waiting area, where she sat, with a diagnosed deep vein thrombosis, for at least another twenty minutes. When the staff finally did admit her, they could not find any of the paperwork that had been faxed to them, and we waited in the ER office area for another twenty minutes.

Finally, they assigned her to a room, but when we made it to the floor, the room wasn't ready. We waited outside while housekeeping prepared the room and then were ushered into the room and promptly left alone for over an hour. No nurse came to welcome us. No one came to tell her anything about whether she should change, get in bed, whether medical exams were to be done, nothing. She also had been checked in at approximately six in the evening, and they had already served dinner, and when we asked, they told us there was no way to get her any food. We ordered delivery from Jason's Deli that night and had them deliver it to the room so she could eat.

When a nurse finally came in, they inserted an IV, but couldn't even tell her what she should expect. The nurse said the IV was just standard procedure, and they put them in all patients who came to the hospital. It was two and a half days before they began to administer medication or get a doctor to come to the room. To sum it up: the hospital was not as clean as one might hope, the food left something to be desired, and the hospital staff spent more time complaining to the patients about each other than they did taking care of patients.

Patient Rooms at Medical Center Hospital

That experience made my hospital stay seem all the better. At Medical Center Hospital, every room is private. Television is free (some hospitals charge for this service) and they have free wireless internet all throughout the hospital. I was able to work from my hospital bed for the week I was admitted.

Patient and Guest Cafeteria Food at Medical Center Hospital

The hospital cafeteria food was so good, I would eat there by choice if I wasn't in the hospital, and I actually have! The cafeteria for non-patients, doctors and staff is next door to the food service for the inpatients. They even made up batches of sandwiches and small salads for patients who were hungry after meal hours. Something I've never known any other hospital to do.

Medical Center Hospital Medical and Care Staff

But that's not where the hospital shined the most. The staff was amazing. There are four hospitalists on staff whose sole job it is to check in on patients and review patient cases and report that back to the assigned doctor. These hospitalist physicians are trained specifically in hospital care, and they were all very friendly, informed, and always took time to answer questions, no matter how lengthy.

The nurses seemed to really care, and they took the time to ask questions and actually listen to the answers. I had a surgeon come in to put in my central line, and I was a bit nervous about the process, and he, a busy surgeon, actually took the time to sit by my bed and explain the entire procedure to me in detail, answering all of my questions.

Medical Center Hospital Ranks High

The differences in the hospital stays between the one my friend experienced and the ones I've had at Medical Center Hospital are divergent enough that if I ever had to have a planned surgery, I would seriously consider the ten-hour drive to Odessa from where I no longer live in order to have my surgery at that hospital. The staff, the quality of care, the facilities and the food are all above average to excellent or better. Now that I live in a bigger city (Houston/Galveston area), I figured I'd get better medical care, and while that is true of the physician's office care, I haven't had any hospital experience that even comes close to those I had at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa.