Ascension Alexian Brothers

Medical staff was amazing. However, I can honestly say the food was not edible. The best thing on the menu was the baked potato. I know I was on a heart healthy diet. But that does not excuse the fact that the fish and chicken were very dry. Even the scrambled eggs were sketchy... Sometimes so overcooked or heated they were rubbery. I had actually had family sneaking in food for me. So much for the heart healthy diet.

Updated: Day shift 3/6/26. Karina (RN) she was super caring, respectful and very compassionate a long with PCT Liz. Thank you for making the difference. Because physical therapy the worse! Need to train your staff that patients are in a lot of pain and they need to show a little more compassion which none of them seems to have that! Update 3/4/26 I have to say the night shift staff are very friendly. Thanks Kayla (first and most difficult night) with the best PCT the entire Neuro floor has which is Krist! Thank you for being so kind and understanding. 3/5/26 Second night thanks Amanuel you were amazing with PCT Khrist again! The best! I’m very disappointed at the nursing staff at the Neuro floor. I have to keep reminding them that it is time for my pain medication. They don’t like to be bother at all and are very unprofessional, their lock of sympathy is very much terrible. The X-ray team were very rude and not caring at all, they hurt my back when transferred me to the X-ray bed and didn’t even care! one of them was almost yelling at me. Occupational therapy team just didn’t want to work at all, I was in an excruciating pain and one of the ladies told me “didn’t you have this surgery before?” Like saying shouldn’t be in this much pain, because I had been through this before! I told her this was my first time having this surgery and even if I had it before was very unprofessional of her by telling me that! The lock of sympathy here is terrible! The Pacu, OR and anesthesia team were exceptional!! They really care and take care of you! I really appreciate for caring when a patient is very nervous. Dr Pelincovick and PA’s were the best! Thank you so much!

Arrived at this hospital in the early morning at the ER for stroke symptoms. The first crew I saw was great. Intentional, respectful, attentive, and very caring. I was admitted. I had a CT scan, blood work, Eco Cardiogram, and a sonogram of my arteries. I waited ALL DAY AND NIGHT with no results given to me from ANY doctor! Dr. Ahmed was supposedly the primary doctor whom I never seen or talked to! The nurses on floor 5 were fantastic! Inessa, Jackie, and Cory were very personable and took care of me very well! The next morning at 6am I was supposed to get another CT Scan. I was awake most of the night and was ready at 6am for my test. They didn't show up until 11:30 am and I still did not talk to a Doctor or the Neurologist! No indication of results of any of the tests! So I left the hospital to go to another one. I ended up coming back to Alexian hospital ER because I needed to find out the results and try to fix my problem. I had to go back to the ER to re-register. The ER doctor was the one who told me my results of my previous test and blood work up. The Neurological Doctor told the ER doctor that I didn't need to be admitted and that I could go home. They admitted me anyway and I spent another night in the hospital for no reason!!!! Also, the "ghost doctor" (Dr. Ahmed) who I still never met or talked to, prescribed medication to me without consulting me about the results of my tests and why I needed them! A case manager named Page came into my room and said I shouldn't have been admitted and that she was gong to talk to the Doctor to have me discharged. The Neurologist finally came to my room and told me that I didn't need to be there and that he told the ER doctor that on the phone the day before!!!! The last nurse was a stinker! The one nurse took out the complicated IV that the ER put in my arm and told me to leave. They never gave me discharge papers even though the Doctor signed me out! The communication at this hospital is insane and of course no one is taking responsibility for it! I feel sorry for the nurses that work here because they deserve a better hospital and better doctors!!!!!! I highly recommend NOT COMING TO THIS HOSPITAL!

My friend, who is a registered nurse, was admitted inpatient on 5/21 for a fractured pelvis. On 5/22, near the end of day shift, PRN morphine was reportedly discouraged by the assigned staff nurse. By the time an alternative PRN pain medication became available, it was during shift change. Understanding that shift change can be a busy transition period, the patient called twice requesting pain medication due to escalating pain. A PCT reassured the patient that the nurse would “be right in.” Hours into the shift despite an additional call light request and a very painful trip to the bathroom, no nurse arrived and no pain medication was administered in a timely manner. This was not justified by the needs of the unit. At that point, the patient’s pain became unbearable, and a request was made for the charge nurse and nursing supervisor to be informed regarding the unaddressed pain management concerns and delays in care. Explanations were provided regarding the lack of nurse-to-nurse handoff during shift change; however, the overall experience reflected a concerning lack of patient-centered care. Both the patient and I have worked in bedside nursing and understand the challenges healthcare staff currently face. However, we could not imagine failing to at minimum round on patients during shift transition to acknowledge their needs, confirm their safety, and ensure basic care standards were being met before completing full assessments. One explanation offered by the nursing supervisor was that staff are no longer accustomed to performing basic bedside handoff practices since COVID. This was deeply concerning. The supervisor additionally shared a personal hospitalization experience in which her bedside commode reportedly went unemptied for 24 hours, stating that she had to specifically request that staff check on her before shift sign-off. This further reinforced the concern that patients and their families are being placed in the position of needing to advocate for the most basic standards of care. No one that’s hospitalized should have to tell someone how to do their job. What happens to those who don’t have loved ones and can’t advocate for themselves? Unfortunately, this hospital has developed a reputation for poor inpatient care, and this experience appeared to reflect broader systemic and cultural issues rather than an isolated incident. At minimum, consistent nurse-to-nurse handoff procedures should be required to reduce communication failures, delays in care, and unmanaged patient needs. More concerning is the broader implication this creates regarding patient safety and quality of care overall. If the most basic elements of inpatient care — timely rounding, communication, pain management, and shift handoff — cannot be consistently accomplished, it raises serious concerns about how more complex and critical aspects of patient care are being managed behind the scenes. I personally left bedside nursing at this hospital due to inadequate nursing support. While healthcare has changed significantly across the board in recent years, these concerns continue to be echoed consistently by family members, friends, neighbors, and former patients who have taken their care to other health systems, including Advocate, that exemplify basic standards that should be expected and beyond. Ascension Alexian Brothers must take meaningful steps to reinforce fundamental standards of inpatient care, improve communication and accountability, and rebuild a culture that prioritizes patient safety and dignity from leadership down through frontline staff.

My husband was admitted after hours of waiting in the ER for a hernia causing a bowel obstruction. He had Emergency surgery that evening. The next day, after the surgery, he was told that if he was able to consume a light lunch without having any nausea, he could leave. We had no previous experience with this type of surgery /bowel condition and were anxious to get home to recover. Unfortunately, he did throw up what he had eaten in his sleep that night and could not move his bowels. Additionally, he was experiencing great pain in one of his incisions. He had to be rushed back to the ER where they found that on of his incisions was infected. He was admitted and had to have surgery again (his second in one week) ! He should have NEVER been allowed to go home after his first surgery without meeting proper discharge guidelines; the ability to eat without throwing up and having a successful bowel movement while still in hospital. Now our insurance doesn’t want to pay for his first admission/surgery because he did not stay overnight in the hospital for the required 2 nights. Terrible lesson learned. Our family has used Alexien when it was part of Amita in years past and we were always pleased with quality of treatment received. This is no longer a facility that we would ever recommend!