Thanks, Portland VA Medical Center

Typical VA Doctor

Two Sundays ago I was ill after church and went directly to the ER at Portland's VA hospital. I was quickly seen by a resident, X-rays taken and then I was quickly admitted. The problem was a massive infection of a total hip replacement I'd received in August. I went to the VA after waiting two hours at another hospital ER without being seen, but the Portland VA hospital had me in an examining room within 20 minutes!

After 20 years of being 100% disabled, this happened to be my first overnight experience as a VA in-patient. Everyone was extremely kind and highly skilled.  Because I was going to face surgery at some point, I wasn't able to eat or drink so I can't comment on the food service, but it probably was quite good also.

My sincere thanks to the VA ER staff, Imaging Services, Orthopedics and the kind docs and nurses on the 5th floor in Portland. My operation to address the deep hip infection, done later at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital, went well, I was released after eight days, and I'm now "enjoying" my third hip, with 40 days of IV therapy still to follow.