Do not go to Florida Hospital for Children

[tartemis]

Enough time has now passed so that I am now pulled together enough to write this post as a warning to other families traveling to Disney World.

This past October, on the last day of our trip to the World, our youngest daughter (3 years old) was rushed to the emergency room because she was having trouble breathing. (She had a respiratory illness that brought on some sort of asthma-type attack, although she had no history of anything like this before.) To try and make a very long story short, we first tried to take her via cab to a walk-in clinic that the Grand Floridian (where we were staying) directed us to. When we got there, however, it was closed. At that point, my daughter also started to become critical. Luckily, we still had the cab that rushed us to the Celebration Emergency Room. Celebration was wonderful (and I wouldn't hesitate to go there again).

EXCEPT, Celebration does not have a pediatric ward. When it became clear that my daughter was going to have to be admitted, Celebration told us that they were going to transfer her to their sister-hospital, Florida Hospital, which had a brand-new Disney sponsored pediatric pavilion. Celebration said that they thought she would likely be out in 24 hours but that they needed to admit her as a precaution.

So we were transferred to Florida Hospital via ambulance in the middle of the night and arrived there around 4 a.m. We did not see a doctor until 4 p.m.! More than 12 hours later! I was pissed and started to wonder about the quality of treatment (especially because we really had no idea what was happening at that point), but figured that it wasn't worth trying to get her transferred to another hospital if she was going to be out in 24 hours anyway. Well, she deteriorated even more at Florida and we ended up spending 4 nights there. The doctors wanted her to stay another night but at that point we realized we needed to get her out of there since she was now stable enough and our doctors back home were starting to become concerned about the level of her care there.

In the end, if I ever am faced with a similar situation, I will demand that I am taken to Arnold Palmer's Children Hospital (or even the new one that just opened near the airport). I will NEVER go back to Florida Hospital again.

Hopefully no reader on here will ever need to heed this advice, but I wanted to pass along our experience in case anybody is in a similar situation. I'm still kicking myself for not listening to my gut that first day we were at Florida Hospital and I'm just hoping that my daughter does not have any lasting effects from the experience.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Is your daughter doing better now? I sure hope so!

 

[Kristian]

So sorry to hear about your negative experience. I hope that your daughter is much better. When we were at Disney last, in September, my dd who was 3 at the time, caught some type of a funky virus. We didn't have to go to the hospital or anything like that and within a day she was feeling better and was able to go back into the parks, but the cm's were very helpful in finding medicine on site so that we didn't have to leave etc. However, two days after we arrived home, she broke out in boil type abscesses on her legs. We took her to our local ER, which we rarely use because our experiences there haven't been great, but I panicked. Well, we waited in the waiting room for 4 hours. We got there at 6pm and waited until 10pm to even be called back and there was no one in front of us. When we finally got called back, a PA just pushed around on the abscesses and that was it. No culture's were taken, no blood, nothing. We were back there a total of 2 minutes and we left with a script for 10 days worth of antibiotics. Well, that round of antibiotics didn't work so we took her to her pediatrician, who got pretty ticked when he found out that they didn't culture the boils. He put her on a different medication, which also didn't work. Finally, after 4 rounds of antibiotics, we got rid of them, but it was a rough couple of months. The ER billed me for $400 after our insurance paid their part, which is 90%. I could not believe they billed me that much for practically doing nothing. I contested it. They did nothing. It baffles me how some hospitals go about with medical treatment, but yet charge an arm and a leg for doing next to nothing. It ended up being a staph bacteria, which could have been caught from anywhere, especially with us being in the parks at Disney, rest areas from driving etc...but it was a crazy couple of months post Disney.

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm so very sorry,and glad that your daughter is doing better.

While we haven't had any experience with the Children's Hopsital, I do want to commend the Celebration hospital. My husband was there last August, the day before we were due to leave for home. They were thinking of admitting him, but fortunately it didn't come to that. But he received excellent care. When he got home, he was admitted to a local hospital for 5 nights. He also had a staph infection-- combined with his high blood sugar, it was a rough couple of days.

And the people at the Beach Club were incredibly helpful.

 

[tartemis]

She is doing much better. Thank you for the kind words. It was a very stressful situation, however, and the flight home was probably the scariest thing I have ever done because the doctors warned us to not get on the plane if she was even having a hint of struggling to breathe. I swear I counted the seconds until we landed safely back home.

I get so pissed when I think of what happened at Florida Hospital. As just one other example, they had started her on antibiotics at Celebration, but after they transferred us to Florida I realized in the middle of the night that they had stopped giving her the antibiotic -- when we were finally able to reach a doctor to ask why, he said because he didn't think she needed it. The next day I had to push the doctor on it and he said that he would re-prescribe it if she had another chest x-ray (her second one in less than 48 hours) to warrant it. Well, the chest x-ray showed that her lung had further collapsed so they started her on antibiotics again. Then on discharged, a new doctor (we saw 3 different attending physicians while we were there), stopped her antibiotic again and gave me a lecture about over use of antibiotics. Really? I get the concern but (1) it is worse as far as resistance is concerned to start and stop someone repeatedly on antibiotics than to just give it to them and (2) you have a 3-year old with an unexplained illness that is getting worse requiring them to stay on oxygen and you can't explain why she isn't getting better -- its not like a 30 year-old coming into a walk-in clinic complaining that her cold isn't getting better and demanding antibiotics.

 

[Donald Duck888]

Wow, I am so sorry to hear about your situation with getting your daughter proper medical care down there that is just terrible. I do have to agree with the other poster that Celebration seems to have their act together but that other hospital sounds like a nightmare.

I actually spent 5 night myself in Celebration hospital when on a trip to Disney about 10 years ago when I developed a pulmonary embolism (actually had 2 but who's counting lol) about 2 days into a vacation. When my wife finally got me to go to the hospital after 5 nights of no sleeping because the pain was so bad and really slow walking due to only 30% lung capacity we we luckily sent to Celebration, (i wanted to finish the vacation and see doctor after we flew home). After an initial issue with being overlooked in the waiting room the care there was pretty great. I can't believe they dont have a pediatric unit. I mean really look where they are located.

Again I am very glad to hear that your daughter has recovered and hopefully you wont ever have to go through anything like that again.

 

[tigger51276]

In Aug/Sept 2011 during our trip to Disney my DD9 (who was then 7) came down with an odd mainly childhood disease HSP while we were there. At first I thought she was having an allerigic reaction as it looked similar to what happened to her when she took penicillian. On our last day there, our flight got cancelled and she got worse and we ended up in the ER of Florida Hospital. We were at the one near the airport though and I have to say their pediatric ward was just excellent (can't say much for their ER though). They were great to both my kids and I making them feel very special and I felt she was in good hands. She was there for 4 days and then she improved enough to go home. I would definitely recommend that branch although it was at least a 30 min drive from WDW every day.

 

[4kids4karen]

Enough time has now passed so that I am now pulled together enough to write this post as a warning to other families traveling to Disney World.

This past October, on the last day of our trip to the World, our youngest daughter (3 years old) was rushed to the emergency room because she was having trouble breathing. (She had a respiratory illness that brought on some sort of asthma-type attack, although she had no history of anything like this before.) To try and make a very long story short, we first tried to take her via cab to a walk-in clinic that the Grand Floridian (where we were staying) directed us to. When we got there, however, it was closed. At that point, my daughter also started to become critical. Luckily, we still had the cab that rushed us to the Celebration Emergency Room. Celebration was wonderful (and I wouldn't hesitate to go there again).

EXCEPT, Celebration does not have a pediatric ward. When it became clear that my daughter was going to have to be admitted, Celebration told us that they were going to transfer her to their sister-hospital, Florida Hospital, which had a brand-new Disney sponsored pediatric pavilion. Celebration said that they thought she would likely be out in 24 hours but that they needed to admit her as a precaution.

So we were transferred to Florida Hospital via ambulance in the middle of the night and arrived there around 4 a.m. We did not see a doctor until 4 p.m.! More than 12 hours later! I was pissed and started to wonder about the quality of treatment (especially because we really had no idea what was happening at that point), but figured that it wasn't worth trying to get her transferred to another hospital if she was going to be out in 24 hours anyway. Well, she deteriorated even more at Florida and we ended up spending 4 nights there. The doctors wanted her to stay another night but at that point we realized we needed to get her out of there since she was now stable enough and our doctors back home were starting to become concerned about the level of her care there.

In the end, if I ever am faced with a similar situation, I will demand that I am taken to Arnold Palmer's Children Hospital (or even the new one that just opened near the airport). I will NEVER go back to Florida Hospital again.

Hopefully no reader on here will ever need to heed this advice, but I wanted to pass along our experience in case anybody is in a similar situation. I'm still kicking myself for not listening to my gut that first day we were at Florida Hospital and I'm just hoping that my daughter does not have any lasting effects from the experience.

It's a well known fact among FL residents that all the "Florida" hospitals are not the best. They have the lowest paid staff, etc. Several years ago a friend of mine who was a ER nurse stating walking into the ER is a 8 hour wait. I experienced that wait when my daughter gashed the skin outside of her eye and needed stitches. So your daughter seeing the doctor in 12 hours. I know know all my local after hour clinics that can do x-rays, etc. Now, that I know these things, I will drive the extra 30 minutes to a non "Florida" hospital in Tampa like St. Joseph's or All's Children's hospital although the newest "Florida" hospital in my area is around 4 miles from my house.

 

[Tiger926]

So sorry to hear you experienced this.

We had an exceptional experience when our baby was emergency rushed to Arnold Palmer's Children's Hospital while at WDW. We were misdiagnosed at Centra Care Clinic (which I think may be the same company as the one in question) and will never step foot in that place again.

The care we received was amazing, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Arnold Palmer.

Tiger

 

[iheartwalt]

What an awful situation But so glad she is doing better.
I don't have any personal experience but I do hear wonderful things about Nemours Children's Hospital. Unfortunately they are not network with my insurance but from what I have heard about them vs the other ped facilities it would be worth it to pay out of network for us should the need ever arise.

 

[AshleeH]

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience and I hope your daughter is doing better!

I would not recommend any Florida Hospital chain (including Celebration). I could go into detail, but I went to the ER for five hours, saw the doctor for three whole minutes, and was charged over $1200 (I was told at the hospital that it would be $600 and I paid half that night, which I already considered price gouging for the amount of care I received and the few tests that were run). We are currently demanding to know what some of the charges are and our account is under review, but the whole experience has been a nightmare and I will no longer go to any Florida Hospital chain.

 

[SweetMissy]

I'm sorry....that stinks! Did they ever find out what was wrong? I was guessing allergic reaction to something.

 

[jenifferf00]

Well, we waited in the waiting room for 4 hours. We got there at 6pm and waited until 10pm to even be called back and there was no one in front of us.

I'm sorry that you had to go through this, and glad your daughter recovered. However, after working in an ER this statement bothers me. The sickest people don't often come in through the front door, they come in via the ambulance bay and you never see them. Also, 1 very sick person can tie up a large portion of the staff very quickly, CPR, nurses getting and administering meds, doctors ordering tests, procedures, and meds, staff calling to transfer, x-ray techs, respiratory techs, surgeons, etc.

While a staph infection is scary, and the wound probably should have been swabbed; it is not a situation that should take precedence over someone dying, or gravely ill.

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm sorry that you had to go through this, and glad your daughter recovered. However, after working in an ER this statement bothers me. The sickest people don't often come in through the front door, they come in via the ambulance bay and you never see them. Also, 1 very sick person can tie up a large portion of the staff very quickly, CPR, nurses getting and administering meds, doctors ordering tests, procedures, and meds, staff calling to transfer, x-ray techs, respiratory techs, surgeons, etc.

While a staph infection is scary, and the wound probably should have been swabbed; it is not a situation that should take precedence over someone dying, or gravely ill.

 

[LilyWDW]

I'm sorry that you had to go through this, and glad your daughter recovered. However, after working in an ER this statement bothers me. The sickest people don't often come in through the front door, they come in via the ambulance bay and you never see them. Also, 1 very sick person can tie up a large portion of the staff very quickly, CPR, nurses getting and administering meds, doctors ordering tests, procedures, and meds, staff calling to transfer, x-ray techs, respiratory techs, surgeons, etc.

While a staph infection is scary, and the wound probably should have been swabbed; it is not a situation that should take precedence over someone dying, or gravely ill.

Depending what is happening in the area, it is possible to nearly fill up the ER with people coming in by ambulance. Depending on what is wrong with these people it is possible to have the majority of your staff tied up with them for an extended period of time. As such, those who are triage as not being critical will end up waiting until they have the space and bodies available.

 

[maxiesmom]

I would not recommend any Florida Hospital chain (including Celebration).

Me either. My sister ended up in Emergency at Celebration last March, and then they put her "under observation". Which consisted of a small room (that they couldn't see into) where someone would come by once an hour and ask her how she was feeling. She was on an IV, but when she asked to be unhooked to use the bathroom it took them over an hour to hook it back up. Idiots!!!

I would like to know, which hospital should you ask to be taken to, if you have a serious problem while at WDW?

OP--I'm very glad your daughter is feeling better, and I hope she is back to herself in no time flat!

 

[4kids4karen]

Me either. My sister ended up in Emergency at Celebration last March, and then they put her "under observation". Which consisted of a small room (that they couldn't see into) where someone would come by once an hour and ask her how she was feeling. She was on an IV, but when she asked to be unhooked to use the bathroom it took them over an hour to hook it back up. Idiots!!!

I would like to know, which hospital should you ask to be taken to, if you have a serious problem while at WDW?

OP--I'm very glad your daughter is feeling better, and I hope she is back to herself in no time flat!

We only had one ER visit at a WDW stay. The resorts work closely with Celebration hospital. When we went down to the lobby at Shades of Green in the middle of the night, they told us they could call the ambulance to come out and do a courtesy check of my son (free of charge) to determine if he needed to go to the ER. We stated we had a car and would drive so they gave us directions.

He had an injury from playing on the Honey I shrunk the kids playground rolling down the net climbing part where his arm got stuck in the net. (teen brother saw it happen, we didn't) We should have taken him to the ER sooner but we thought maybe it was just sore and was going to see how he went. He couldn't sleep that night and kept crying it hurt so we decided to go to the ER. Celebration is nice. They had free computers in the lobby, not that we waited, within 5 minutes we were called back. It ended up being a bulging fracture.

 

[TigDis212]

Me either. My sister ended up in Emergency at Celebration last March, and then they put her "under observation". Which consisted of a small room (that they couldn't see into) where someone would come by once an hour and ask her how she was feeling. She was on an IV, but when she asked to be unhooked to use the bathroom it took them over an hour to hook it back up. Idiots!!!

I would like to know, which hospital should you ask to be taken to, if you have a serious problem while at WDW?

OP--I'm very glad your daughter is feeling better, and I hope she is back to herself in no time flat!

It depends on what the nature of your emergency/illness is. Celebration Health is the most used hospital by Disney, and I have had excellent care there. Their newly built ER Wing is absolutely gorgeous and state of the art. It models a "front of house/back of house" service style, so it doesn't feel like the typical overwhelming ER environment. More like a hotel in my opinion!

Disney also transports to Dr. P. Phillips Hospital (part of the ORLANDO Health Chain) and also to Orlando Regional Medical Center. ORMC is used more for worst case/life threatening emergencies. Celebration Health does have a helipad now too, so they can fly you to other hospitals quickly if need be.

My fiancé had to go to Celebration in the middle of the night for what we thought was an extremely severe migraine (vomiting, loss of vision, loss of hearing). They got him into a nice room in the ER immediately (we drove ourselves there) and we saw a doctor within 20 minutes. Within an hour they had him admitted due to suspicion of meningitis. Thank god it wasn't! It turned out to be an infected lymph node in his thigh causing all the migraine like symptoms, and he had to stay for 4 days of IV antibiotics. The room was private and had a pull out couch in it for me to sleep on to stay with him, and the room even had a fireworks view of Disney property! So we didn't miss the fireworks, even from the hospital. I would absolutely recommend Celebration to anyone. The staff was so accommodating and helpful and sympathetic. Excellent bedsides manor.

 

[tartemis]

I'm sorry....that stinks! Did they ever find out what was wrong? I was guessing allergic reaction to something.

Thanks for the kind words. The official diagnosis was "reactive airway disease." Her older sister and my mom had been sick with a virus, which she caught and preceded this "episode" (for lack of a better term) a couple of days before we had to go to the ER. I think it was Thursday when she started to get sick with what seemed like your typical cold and cough and then it was Saturday afternoon that I really noticed that she was having trouble breathing (and Saturday night when she deteriorated fast). Talking to one of the nurses in the middle of the night after we were admitted (and I was frustrated that she wasn't getting better), she told me that this has been a particularly bad year for viruses/flu-like illnesses and that she bet that she would be wheezing for a week and then be fine -- it turns out she was right on the money. (I can't say the same for the idiot doctors we dealt with.)

They said that it could signal that she may be predisposed to asthma, but it has never happened before and she has done really well since we have been home, so the specialists here are hopeful that it isn't true asthma. It just seems that some illnesses hit her really hard -- she has always been predisposed to croup and I'm thinking that we just need to watch her very carefully whenever she gets a cold from here on out.

I will say that we also cancelled our annual February trip to Disney World this year. After the stress of the October trip we decided we just need to spend time close to home. She is also so young -- she acts so much older so I sometimes forget -- so I think when she is a bit older she will be able to let us know if she is having any troubles. At this age, they just go, go, go. 30 minutes before we were rushing to the ER, she was dancing with Prince Charming with a huge smile on her face, but looking back I missed a number of warning signs that should have signaled us that we had a serious problem.

 

[tartemis]

I would like to know, which hospital should you ask to be taken to, if you have a serious problem while at WDW?

I thought that Celebration was great -- they recognized within seconds of us entering the ER that our daughter was in distress and needed to be moved ahead of everyone else. She had a full team working on her within minutes of are arrival. It is also the closest ER to WDW. So, if we ever had an emergency I would head there again.

BUT, if were told that my child needed to be admitted, I would request to be transferred to Arnold Palmer -- my pediatrician at home stated that he thought that was the best children's hospital in Orlando.

What I think is odd is that Disney has donated millions of dollars to Florida Hospital to create a beautiful new children's ward. The facilities were amazing. But the service (what really matters) was horrible. Perhaps Arnold Palmer didn't need it? I don't know, I just think it is strange that this is the hospital that Disney decided to back when everything I have subsequently read is that it is the worst of the 3 main childrens' hospitals in Orlando.