Sounds like organized chaos to me.

[artsyone]

These responses to the new Wynn Hospital are interesting. I have a family member there so I have been there every day since the 1st of November. First of all, the building is beautiful, full of air and light, spacious and welcoming. There is valet parking by a bunch of 20 something guys who are on the ball and very funny, welcoming and cracking jokes about the parking process. The parking goes very fast and is very smooth. As you enter the foyer it is like a four star hotel and you are greeted by a nice man who directs you to one of the 4 long desks where you are asked why you are there, a person then walks you to your loved ones room and if needed will come and get you to walk back. The hospital is very large and confusing. The views from the windows are just amazing and no one cares if you want to take photos. The rooms are all private, large with plate glass windows and new furnishings. I have met several of the nurses who are young, energetic and caring. I was very impressed by the care also. I haven't been in the cafeteria yet so I can't comment on that. Now, the scut about the building is everywhere and I find it all ridiculous: the building is sinking, the building is loaded with black mold, nurses have already been treated for it, the top floor is leaking, the second floor is closed, the psych wards have no locks on there doors, and of course everybody knows somebody who has seen the mold which is hiding under the drop ceiling and everybody has a photo, but no one is willing to post or share it. The best rumor is about the crashing elevator, which there is totally no evidence of, but everyone knows somebody who saw it happen. The No Hospital Downtown people are out in force on all these websites, among others, continually pounding out this type of information. All for now.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Yup I was at Slocum Dickson for my eye Doctor a week ago and some guy also waiting said to me did you hear the news on the new hospital. I said not yet. So he told me: one side of the building is 4 inches lower that the other side. LOL

[Clipper]

I am sure that all will be well after everything is settled in and the people get used to it. I IS a beautiful building. I was, and am, a "no hospital downtown" person though. I have to believe that there was some shady crap in the process of selecting that site and I am sure there was the usual political hanky panky and someone's pockets got lined. But it is what it is. As long as people can get the care they need it will be okay. It is just too bad that they had to tear down half of Utica to build it.

[artsyone]

Yes, it is what it is,  so called crashing elevators and all. Utican's are by and large resistant to change. Any ideas why? I have never understood it.
.

[clarencebunsen]

Basically, all of the crazy stuff being reported on the internet (Black mold, building tilted ...) are less reliable than the reports that President Biden has been replaced by a senile space alien.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

ER wait time is 1 to 2 hours!!!!!! I go to Slocum maybe 1 and 1/2 hours.....but I go when my COPD is being compromised with a cold and I can't breathe so I get called in the second I arrive.

[Clipper]

I don't know of ANY ER that doesn't have a significant wait time. ERs are understaffed and with only one or two doctors or NPs treating people the waiting room stays backed up. All the rumors and lies about the new hospital are thriving on people's ability to hide behind a keyboard and spread the crap on social media sites.

If more people would quit going to the ER for every case of fits, farts, and freckles, and would use an urgent care ER, waiting time would most likely be reduced significantly. It really used to piss me off when I was working on an ambulance and some welfare sucking parasite on the system would call in the middle of the night for an ambulance. Too many times we arrived on scene only to find a kid with snotty nose and a mother that didn't want to wait for a free taxi ride. And some of them would even be pissed off when the doctor told them to go home and give the kid an aspirin and some cough syrup. They would often have the nerve to ask us to take them back home. Not going to happen. Why not. It would only cost the taxpayers a couple of hundred or more compared to a 6 or 8 dollar cab ride.

Here we have 5 or 6 urgent cares within a 15 or 20 minute drive, with one staying open until 10pm and another doesn't close until 9. I don't think any of them going to close until the last patient in their waiting room is taken care of.

[artsyone]

Clipper: I think you are to something truthful.

[clarencebunsen]

There are the same number of ER docs and nurses as there were before. That is the choke point. How many times in your life have you known of a nurse collecting unemployment.

[artsyone]

Nov 6, 2023 17:43:14 GMT -5 Clipper said:

I am sure that all will be well after everything is settled in and the people get used to it. I IS a beautiful building. I was, and am, a "no hospital downtown" person though. I have to believe that there was some shady crap in the process of selecting that site and I am sure there was the usual political hanky panky and someone's pockets got lined. But it is what it is. As long as people can get the care they need it will be okay. It is just too bad that they had to tear down half of Utica to build it.

[artsyone]

Well, they tore down quite a bit, but not half of Utica; I know you haven't been here in years, so mabye you don't know about the condition of some of those properties: Except Bengee's, where a few very desperate or very old gals still knew how to bake your biscuit, and a bunch of really old down and out guys still populated the bar stool's every morning at 10AM, 95% of those buildings were not worth saving, even if they were older or had some nascent fading historical value. That whole line of buildings that compromised's Bengee's, Photo Fare, the old Berger's were in an advanced state of decay. They had been abandonded and sat empty for more than 20 years and couldn't be saved despite the innane ranting's of the No Hospital Downtown people, the buildings had to go. Also, there was one remaining row of 3 Erie canal vintage row houses that were in and had been in terrible condition for years. That was the saddest part, not the Bengee's Strip ( no pun intended). But then there was collateral damage because many folks still had thriving businesses there and that was the worst. But, it is what it is. Cities decay and rebuild, they rise again, they do and undo. It is simply the way of things.

[Clipper]

I try to come home at least every other year. We were there in July but we had no other reason to go downtown. We passed by the hospital on the Oriskany St side a few times. We were staying in Verona and Kathy's brother's widow is in Whitesboro and many of her other relatives are in Ilion and Mohawk. It breaks my heart to drive around most of the city now.

I guess I am too nostalgic and resistant to change. For those of you that still live there it must be a blended mix of sadness to see the old go, and excitement to see the new come in. As for me and my loudly voiced opinions, right or wrong, I think that they actually ruined West Utica when they re-configured the arterial from Oriskany to South of Court St. and cut off Court St. which was probably the most used thoroughfare between downtown and West end.

[BHU]

Nov 9, 2023 13:57:13 GMT -5 Clipper said:

I try to come home at least every other year. We were there in July but we had no other reason to go downtown. We passed by the hospital on the Oriskany St side a few times. We were staying in Verona and Kathy's brother's widow is in Whitesboro and many of her other relatives are in Ilion and Mohawk. It breaks my heart to drive around most of the city now.

I guess I am too nostalgic and resistant to change. For those of you that still live there it must be a blended mix of sadness to see the old go, and excitement to see the new come in. As for me and my loudly voiced opinions, right or wrong, I think that they actually ruined West Utica when they re-configured the arterial from Oriskany to South of Court St. and cut off Court St. which was probably the most used thoroughfare between downtown and West end.

The traffic patterns that they created had to be designed by committee. You should see some of the traffic bottlenecks created by drivers getting off the arterial headed north to get on Court St. It's a nightmare. It's the same deal trying to get on the Arterial from Court St headed south. That's what multi millions of dollars in construction dollars gave residents of this area. Not to mention that West Utica was practically cut off from the rest of the city with that newfangled mess called "progress". 

[artsyone]

in every way you both are correct in your assesments of the cutting off of West Utica when they built the arterial. I remember West Utica as a Polish American enclave so neat and clean it was unreal, but not now. It is like a separate city, decayed in parts, then again parts have kept there integrity, though the old families are long gone of course. The hospital has a little townlet growing up around it, we now have Brooklyn Pickle, a deli and a few other new shops. The hospital area is busy, busy busy and traffic has increased exponentially;( I for one am a S L O W driver in my little Nissan and have to get used to the new traffic flow.). I was on Court Street 2 days ago at 3:30, coming up Washington to try for a left turn onto Court and the traffic was intense, because the new hospital is using that as an arterial. The city now needs to reasses the traffic flow in that area. BTW: we have a new Mayor: Mike Galime. I think he will be good for the city.

[BHU]

Nov 7, 2023 17:54:48 GMT -5 artsyone said:

Clipper: I think you are to something truthful.

Hello Artsyone, I'm glad to see you posting again. Welcome back!