I am typing this for my Mother-in-Law who I accompanied to this particular urgent care visit.   The actual time she and I spent with Dr Sussi King was awesome - she would be the reason we would return, exclusively! She was thorough, kind and very patient; maybe one of the best doctors we've ever seen! The wait time unfortunately, was another story! It was extremely long, but apparently the new norm at this time; I called several other local Aurora Urgent Care Clinics and they all had 2-3-4 hour wait times. However, the fact that Aurora closed down the ability to make an appt on the urgent care web site was very disappointing, which made the over 2 hour wait, more frustrating and ridiculous than ever! Adding to our extreme dis-satisfaction, was the fact that the lobby was busy enough, that we had to sit in the part of the lobby that is directly in front of the main doors, which NEVER quit opening the entire time we sat there. So, Arlene, 88 years old, feeling horrible with one of the worst colds ever, was expected to sit in the very cold lobby, literally next to the door while waiting to be seen; we were very cold even with our winter coats on. I asked if we could wait in the car and the lady at the registration desk advised 'no'. Did it not dawn on anyone that this was a poor set -up? That was absolutely uncalled for. That set up may be ok for the 'usual' wait time of 20-30 min, but when you have to wait 2 hours and 10 min for your name to be called, it crosses the line of ridiculous and unacceptable. We knew we had no other options if Arlene would be seen because there were no other Aurora Clinics with lesser wait times and we knew the ER would be no different (except, likely a bit warmer for the wait). When Arlene was called, the nurse introduced herself and asked us to follow her back to a room; she was in front of us talking but we could not hear a word she was saying. I told the nurse that Arlene was very hard of hearing, but she continued to talk low, and had a mask on for the visit. I shared several times that Arlene couldn't hear her, but she was facing her computer, which was not close to us as she was relatively far away from where we were seated in the room. The nurse appeared to be very nice but should be made aware that face to face conversation in a louder voice would be very helpful when speaking to someone who is extremely hard of hearing. Up to that point of the visit, it was a pretty awful experience. After the doctor came in however, everything improved because of her level of compassion and thoroughness in Arlene's care. Dr. King sat face to face with her and placed her hands on Arlene's knees, looking directly at her; she spoke loud enough that Arlene could hear her. She asked Arlene how she was feeling and what was bothering her; she listened and seemed genuine in her care. Dr King is outstanding and we were so grateful that she helped Arlene; I have confidence that my Mother-in-Law will feel much better in a few days.  Also, of note, I called Arlene's primary doctor's office earlier that morning and asked if she could be seen that same day and was told no; her primary doctor's next available appt was in Feb. I asked about other doctors in the same clinic and was told that the next opening in general, was January 17th. Arlene sees her primary doctor 2 times/year per scheduled suggestions...but when she actually has an urgent medical need, she has yet to be seen by her primary - and has ended up in urgent care at least 4 or 5 times. Arlene will likely be switching providers because of this, maybe even leaving Aurora all together because of the above experience. Thank you for taking the time to read our concern.  Respectfully, Arlene and Sue Veit
St. Lukes Franklin UC LFH