Mayo Clinic—An Amazing Place
I recently had a very personal experience that had a profound effect on my life—I was in need of immediate and very specialized medical care. When you learn that you have a life-threatening condition that needs to be acted on quickly, your whole world goes upside down. You scramble for help and feel alone and uncertain as to what to do.
I had some close friends that had experience being treated at the Mayo Clinic, and strongly suggested I look into it. I had been working with another clinic, and was not being successful. I submitted my medical information to them and waited eagerly to hear back to see when I could get an appointment. They actually never contacted me, but sent a letter to my local general practice doctor saying in effect that they were just too busy to see me, and did not offer any alternative. In effect, “there is no room at the inn, tough.”
I lost two weeks waiting on them, and feeling lost and alone, not knowing what to expect, two weeks was an eternity. So, I got on the Internet and looked up Mayo Clinic, feeling a bit in awe. I had heard about Mayo, of course, but would they “take” me?
There are three campuses around the county, the original Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota, and newer campuses in Scottsdale, Arizona and Jacksonville, Florida. For no particular reason I decided that I wanted to go to the oldest clinic, being the most established.
I found an online application for an appointment request. I began to fill it out when I had some questions, so I called the number provided expecting to have to wade through a lot to get my questions addressed. However, the woman on the other end immediately offered to fill the form out for me while we were on the phone. What a difference from the other place!
She walked me through and immediately got me assigned to a doctor. At Mayo all the doctors work together in patient care teams, with one being assigned as your lead. Within a day, I heard back from the lead doctor, the surgeon in my case, and began to work on my care plan. I had an appointment set, and I got on a plane.
I cannot say enough about the level of patient care I received at the Mayo. The corporate culture of team-work permeates every aspect of your care. They worked to book my appointments in the most efficient way, so frequently I saw several doctors in a row. And in every case, it was clear that the doctor I was meeting with now had communicated with the doctor I met with before, had the results of tests, and had conferred on my care. Wow.
The physical facility was amazing too. Being a geologist, I loved seeing all the beautiful stone tiles that covered the walls and floors. The colors, textures, and rock types were numerous, and promoted me and my wife to think you could do an entire geology field trip around the campus. Granite of many colors, metamorphic rocks with amazing minerals, and travertine tiles abounded. It was clear that many different formations, from all over the world, were represented.
If you find yourself facing a major medical issue, I highly, highly recommend, Mayo. They took me in, cared for me, put my mind at ease, and had extremely competent specialists. What an amazing place.
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