Hospitals in the WDW-area

[madenon]

First of all; let me knock on a lot of wood! Hopefully I wont need it, but as an Er frequent flyer I make it a habbit to sort out the medical stuff before a trip. In the past, our travelinsurance company used to have great booklets in which was stated with which hospitals, clinics, pt, anything you could think about in the medical field, they had contracts with. For those on the list it would mean; get in, get your help, let them sort things out with the insurance company and not even having to flash a CC or pay yourself at first and claim with the insurance afterwards. Very easy such a list, as a lot of them would be on there and no need for me to sort out where there's a hospital for instance. Unfortunately, they don't do the lists anymore for some stupid reason. (still have got the special contracts though and will cover a lot more hospitals etc. if you're willing to pay and claim later)

Still no problem if something should happen, they've got a 24/7 callcenter which'll direct me to possible covered options, but I am a bit of a controlfreak about this and don't like calling callcenters too much when I have to use my cellphone.

So I would love to hear about your knowlegde and experiences. Not only answers to the question where hospitals in the WDW-area are, but also all about their reputation etc. My travel-insurance does cover multiple private clinics and hospitals, so that's no problem either.

And again; let's all knock on wood non of us will have to see/has seen a hospital from the inside during a trip.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

There are basically two hospital "systems" which serve most of the Orlando area.

Florida Hospital System runs both the Celebration Hospital as well as the Kissimmee Regional Medical Center, among other locations. www.floridahospital.org

Orlando Regional Healthcare runs the Dr. P. Phillips Hospital (formerly Sand Lake Hospital) and Orlando Regional Medical Center (largest in the area), among other locations. www.orlandoregional.org

Hope this helps.

 

[madenon]

Thnx, Chesire! And offcourse it helps, any info is very welcome.

 

[6mouskateers]

but we got to spend whole day in the ER at Celebration and another week at Florida Hospital with DS (then 5 years old)

The folks at Celebration were very wonderful to us and made a very difficult day bearable. The medicine was standard (but there wasn't anything they could really do for us--we needed to be moved and had to wait for room to open up at Florida Hospital Ped Heme/Onc) The staff was great and so kind while we just took up space in their ER. They worked with DS's Dr to get us moved,(although I think they weren't happy at first about being told what to do by DS"s Dr--but that's just Drs )

Florida hospital was crazy busy--almost a frantic pace. I really have no complaints about the standard of care per-se. The medicine part was fine. I felt very sorry for the overworked nurses and aides who had many people to deal with and not enough hands. It was difficult to get some very basic things because it seemed they just weren't a priority. The staff was very nice, no complaints about that, just hard to get stuff like towels. Everything was locked up and put away so it made it hard to help take care of him. I had to ask for everything we needed and wait and wait and wait and wait to get things (not exagerating either).

Have no experience in their ER because we were direct admit--eventually.

After that experience, I always made sure I had a better plan when we went somewhere.

Here's hoping for a healthy, worry free trip for you.

 

[madenon]

Thnx for the info 6mouskateers. Sorry to hear you guys had to go to hospital instead of doing nicer things.

 

[alizesmom]

but we got to spend whole day in the ER at Celebration and another week at Florida Hospital with DS (then 5 years old)

The folks at Celebration were very wonderful to us and made a very difficult day bearable. The medicine was standard (but there wasn't anything they could really do for us--we needed to be moved and had to wait for room to open up at Florida Hospital Ped Heme/Onc) The staff was great and so kind while we just took up space in their ER. They worked with DS's Dr to get us moved,(although I think they weren't happy at first about being told what to do by DS"s Dr--but that's just Drs )

Florida hospital was crazy busy--almost a frantic pace. I really have no complaints about the standard of care per-se. The medicine part was fine. I felt very sorry for the overworked nurses and aides who had many people to deal with and not enough hands. It was difficult to get some very basic things because it seemed they just weren't a priority. The staff was very nice, no complaints about that, just hard to get stuff like towels. Everything was locked up and put away so it made it hard to help take care of him. I had to ask for everything we needed and wait and wait and wait and wait to get things (not exagerating either).

Have no experience in their ER because we were direct admit--eventually.

After that experience, I always made sure I had a better plan when we went somewhere.

Here's hoping for a healthy, worry free trip for you.

Give me a hint as to your better plans. We're taking DS to WDW in December and I sure would like to feel more comfortable should we need to go the the ER. He's had a lot of visits this year due to hydrocephalus shunt failure. Thanks. Karen

 

[6mouskateers]

ALizesmom,

I did a little better planning and packing, and of course never needed to do it again--thank GOD! I made sure I had more than one line to access his port--I had one but realized that if that one failed etc, it would be better to have 2 some extra Emla etc. I packed extra (thin) towels so I didn't have to clean him up with those rough brown paper towels again. It literally took them a whole day to bring me towels and an emesis basin and that was a bit upseting. I realize that towels are not a life or death items, but the poor kid was getting tired of getting dried off with paper towels and I don't blame him. Their supplies were not accessable by patients or families.

Most important of all is that I ran the list of hospitals past his Dr the next time we took a little trip to "cut out the middle man" so to speak. We had always been told to go to the nearest ER for fever, and were told that before we went to Celebration, but if I had been a bit more clear-minded we would have gone striaght to Florida Hospital. I guess what I am trying to say is make sure whatever hospital you go to has the services you will need right off the bat, if possible. Of course, sometimes that is impossible, especially when minutes and seconds count.

So for our next trip we had a plan and directions of how to get to the hospital that we wanted, extra supplies of our own, and a few more creature-comforts that really took no more room to pack and would have made the stay a bit better. Luckily we didn't need to use our better plan.
It's been a while, so if I think of any more tips I'll pass them along.

Have a magical trip!

 

[arminnie]

Orlando Regional Healthcare runs the Dr. P. Phillips Hospital (formerly Sand Lake Hospital).

I had an emergency appendectomy at Sand Lake 3-4 years ago and was very pleased with the care.

I was VERY scared as I'd had an emergency gallbladder removal in another state a few years earlier with disastrous results (hospitalized for weeks, ill for months) due to a terrible hospital.

 

[ducklite]

I know someone who works at Sand Lake, and he says he'd never want his family to go there because it's become overrun with a "less than desirable" group of patients.

Celebration is a great hospital. ORMC is a Level 1 trauma center. Arnold/Winnie Palmer is a first rate children's and maternity hospital.

Anne