{"id":1483,"date":"2014-03-26T21:33:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T04:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a-mountain.com\/?p=1483"},"modified":"2014-03-26T22:08:32","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T05:08:32","slug":"doctor-doctor-tell-me-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/?p=1483","title":{"rendered":"Doctor, doctor tell me the news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD
\nDirector
\n<\/span>Sarver Heart Center
\n<\/span>University of Arizona College of Medicine
\nPost Office Box 245046
\n<\/span><\/span>Tucson, Arizona 85724-5046<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Dr. Sweitzer:<\/p>\n

I spent a lifetime as a newspaper man so I understand intimately the meaning of snafu and fubar. But I have to say the Sarver Heart Center under its new management offered me an entirely new perspective.<\/p>\n

For a little short of three decades Dr. Gordon Ewy was my cardiologist. I would put him up for sainthood, but he would not accept. It was a sad day when he retired.<\/p>\n

Upon his retirement, I saw nurse practitioner Donner in May last year who noted that I was in fairly good shape. But she left as well. I had an appointment to see her last November. I received a letter in the mail that I had an appointment with someone of whom I had never heard. Didn\u2019t say spit about this doctor being my new cardiologist. Then, I got a call to make an appointment for a scan. But I had no doctor and no Donner. I spoke with someone in your office, described my predicament. She said in semi-hysterical terms she could not help me, and moreover she didn\u2019t know what to tell me. So I muttered some words (old Anglo-Saxon) appropriate to the occasion and decided I could probably do without a cardiologist since my last occurrence of SVT<\/a> was many years past.<\/p>\n

But the mischief of your heartless center casts a long shadow. I had prescriptions that required renewal. Rosemary at Walgreens called to obtain a renewal for a prescription ordered by either Ewy or Donner. She was told I had to make an appointment at the heart center. But I had no doctor, no nurse practitioner, no one with whom I could make an appointment. This was a problem worthy of Doc Daneeka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I worked around this problem by contacting my primary, Dr. Randall Brown who prescribed the drug.<\/p>\n

I would have let it go when it happened again today. But this was too much. Rosemary at Walgreens tried to obtain a renewal for atenolol. Someone named Sisterman at Sarver denied it. Perhaps I should not blame Sisterman because she doesn\u2019t know me from Adam. But when it comes down to it, that\u2019s the point, is it not? Once I was a Sarver patient. I could call the center and speak to an actual responsive human being. For many years it was Isabel, a Noo Yawker who took care of my appointments, offered tasty morsels at her desk and advised me on other matters with great wisdom. When Isabel retired, I could deal with Debbie who was efficient and cheerful. Today I am unknown, and Sarver cares not a whit. By the way, Jack Sarver gave me the loan to buy my first house in Tucson. He was a good man, a good Democrat and easy to reach.<\/p>\n

Which is unlike the center that bears his name. I called the Sarver Center today. I could press this number and that, and when I did so was told I could leave a message. I muttered some appropriate words (Anglo-Saxon in origin). I was thinking perhaps I should try to dial you, the director of the Sarver Heart Center, but I had to look you up. I don\u2019t know you from Eve. But I figure you have so many barriers set up between you and the public that I would have better luck speaking to the Pope. In fact, I\u2019m pretty sure I would.<\/p>\n

I did not want to let it go this time around, and just indulge my un-unique Anglo-Saxon vocabulary. So please consider this a nasty letter of remonstration and my testimonial that the Sarver Heart Center doesn\u2019t give a rat\u2019s derriere for its patients.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Former patient
\n(Seriously pissed off)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD Director Sarver Heart Center University of Arizona College of Medicine Post Office Box 245046 Tucson, Arizona 85724-5046 Dear Dr. Sweitzer: I spent a lifetime as a newspaper man so I understand intimately the meaning of snafu and fubar. But I have to say the Sarver Heart Center under its new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[186,187,185],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people-people","tag-gordon-ewy","tag-nancy-k-sweitzer","tag-sarver-heart-center","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}