As a marketer, as an “agency” person, you always are looking to work with people, brands, companies that you can rally behind and feel good about. It always helps if you have great personal experiences with them. This is an account of my experience with a client of ours The North Stonington Health Center (part of Westerly Hospital Healthcare).
I have suffered from migraines for over 20 years. I’ve been to countless neurologists, general practitioners, naturopathic doctors, accupunturists, pain specialists, etc. It’s a frustrating condition as there doesn’t seem to be anyone who can help me get to the root cause of my pain. In the meantime, one drug and one drug only brings me relief… Imitrex. While it works most of time, once every couple of years I get migraines so bad that the medicine doesn’t work the way it should and while the pain subsides it comes back quickly and I am in pain for days on end.
I had one of these experiences a couple of weeks ago. I was suffering with a migraine for about 4 days. It was a Friday and I had a meeting with one of our clients, Westerly Hospital Healthcare. We were meeting at their new facility, the North Stonington Health Center. My head was hurting through the meeting despite taking mulitple doses of Imitrex, and I knew I needed something to break the cycle. So, after the meeting, I decided to stay and get treated at North Stonington Health Center’s Urgent Care facility. Why not, right? I was there already, feeling bad, and they (unlike lot’s of other walk-in places) are able to do injections, if needed (which believe me, I did!). My other alternative would have been to go to the ER and wait for hours to get treated, which I’ve done before and it’s probably the worst place to be when you have a migraine!
On the flip side, North Stonington Health Center, was the perfect place for me to be. They triaged me quickly, and within minutes I was in a very soothing room, with murals on the walls, talking to Dr. Larsen. We discussed medical/migraine history, then he did a neurological work up on me to make sure it wasn’t anything other than a migraine, since having a headache for 4 days is not normal. After discussing a few treatment options with me, we went with the one that had worked in the past for me. He sent a nurse in who gave me the shot, shut the lights off and let me rest while the medicine did it’s thing. Within 15 minutes or so I felt better and Dr. Larsen helped to check me out and let me know that I should return if the pain came back.
The very next day, a Saturday I might add, I got a call from the North Stonington Health Center to see how I was doing. It was such a delight to get a follow up call. Who ever does that? I’ve never gotten a follow up call from any of my doctors, ever!
I commend North Stonington Health Center for going the extra mile and putting their patients first— from the design of the facility to the compassionate staff to the great care to the unbelievable follow-up. I, for one, had a great healthcare experience with you!