Dryden Hospital

I do not find the Hospital terribly bad, Staff is friendly and understanding. Yes, I have walked out a few times do to wait times, but I understand triage. My issue is with the huge gap between primary care and emergency care. The area needs walking clinic service. I waited for weeks to get in to see my doctor for serious ankle damage, and update him on another matter. He did not even look at the ankle and I was forced to emerge where I was casted for over a month. The pain we as patients deal with just waiting for the substandard service, only to be sent 4 hours away for treatment. Absolutely ridiculous. The Hospital is alright for what they have to work with... the system and politics around here are piss poor!

I was recently admitted to DRHC and was treated harshly. I have trouble hearing and memory is slow. Well when wanted to leave, was threatened with restraints and call the police and throw me in jail she said. I was admitted with dehydration. Finally talked to Dr and signed myself out. I was terrified to stay there.

Hospital staff are mouthy. You need to understand that you are public servants, and that talking down to someone trying to get their test results while uoure being recorded is going to be hazardous yo your career. Say hi to the patient ombudsman and the college of physicians for me, they'll be contacting you soon. Kinda sad that I've had to file so many complaints for lack of care.

This "health centre" shouldn't be accredited. I often wonder how many other people experience the same negligent care as myself and several family members. Put in a complaint and Patient Care Services takes months to respond, with NO action plan on how to rectify the terrible care people receive.

Unless you’re a respected white person, you’ll be fine. But if you are of Color. You are only there for drugs. Do not recommend unless you are absolutely dying but even then id be iffy still.

The ER is busy looking after patients with real emergencies, but also non-emergencies as Dryden does not have walk-in clinics. The doctors and nurses are always very busy. Be grateful if you are not one of the real emergencies, and accept the wait time to access great quality health care. We as a family try not to abuse this service, but we are so grateful that it is available.

I wish I could award less than one star for this facility. In 2011, my grandfather lost his life because of the poor and inexcusable treatment he received from this "care center." The nurse that took care of him disregarded the doctor's orders to NOT GIVE HIM MEDICATION BY MOUTH when she administered tylenol tablets for a fever he had due to flaring sinuses. He ended up choking on these tablets which eventually took his life. The nurse was in the room at the time of the incident and watched as my father tried to save his own dad's life.. He has been traumatized by this event. She told him that he needed to calm down and that it was not possible for a grown man's airway to be blocked from two small pills. There was no Anesthesiologist at the facility to aid and he was not hooked up to a heart monitor so they had to guess his time of death. As if this weren't enough, when we requested the charts from the facility, there were times changed and things scratched out all over the place! The nurse that talked to my mother on the phone, the night of the incident led my mother to believe that he had gone into cardiac arrest as a result of the antibiotic he had taken earlier through his IV due to an allergic reaction. She knew exactly what happened! Despite the funeral homes wishes they are in partnership with the hospital to hurry up and get him embalmed, we had an incredibly thorough autopsy done that stated, "no reasonable cause of death with exception to blockage.*** Luckily for this agency, they operate in the country of Canada where they are protected by the government and there was no justice to be had for myself and my family's disgusting loss. I just want to warn others that this agency is incredibly incompetent and incapable. If you can go elsewhere, do. Six years later and the sting is still here. We have not forgotten!

I had went in for emerg and was told come come back in the morning. I was in extreme pain, had blood coming out of my ear and was unable to hear out of that ear. I then went to Sioux lookout hospital and was told I had a perforated eardrum. I’m unaware why you have 24 hour emerg when I was denied help until morning.

On Monday, August 10, 2020, I was involved in a motorcycle crash. I was hit from behind. I had severe bruising in various places all over my body, and a shredded thumb. I refused treatment at the scene. I accompanied my badly injured friend in the ambulance to DRHC. When we got there, I discovered my left leg was in so much pain that I was unable to walk, so I was admitted. The length of time to see me is irrelevant, because my friend was in worse shape than I, and there were other patients in the ER at the time. Eventually, the ER doc came, poked me in a couple places, glanced at my bleeding thumb and said there was nothing he could do for me and he walked away. About 45 minutes later, I got tired of waiting for someone to come back to me, so I hobbled over to the nurse's station, and they were surprised to see that I was still in the hospital. They told me they were done with me and I could leave. I held out my bleeding thumb and said what about this? A nurse came by with an alcohol-soaked piece of gauze and put it on my thumb and walked away. After a few more minutes, I was able to get some band-aids from a paramedic to wrap around my thumb, and after making sure my friend was being properly cared for, I left to secure a hotel for the night for us. Nobody made any attempt to tend to my bleeding thumb. No one offered any advice on pain management. When I asked for information from the staff about my friend, every answer was "I don't Know". The pharmacist in Thunderbay was able to provide with advice on over-the-counter pain medication to enable to finally get some sleep. Worst hospital experience of my life.

It is a decent hospital in a small town/city. The staff are usually very helpful and kind. They have done minor surgery availability, x-rays, CT scans, ultrasound, emergency room, long term care beds, small intensive care unit, and a couple specialized birthing rooms. All in all a pretty good hospital, and for the most part all a small town needs.