Patient Testimonials Tulare

How have you been blessed by Adventist Health or one of our employees? Let us know by filling out a Community Feedback Form.

Treating patients like family

A case of pneumonia is tough at any age, but for an 86-year-old Army veteran, anxiety can run just a bit higher, especially for the family.

The day after Christmas 2019 when Ernest L. Chapman appeared to be suffering a relapse of a November bout with pneumonia, his family decided that a trip from Visalia to Tulare was in order.

“I insisted that the ambulance bring him to Tulare,” his son, Matt Chapman, said. “He was not ambulatory, and he was running a fever of 102.”

Matt said his concerns were immediately eased by the attentive care shown to his father and his mother, Dixie.

From care at the hands of the Imaging staff and Clinical Laboratory staff, to the care he received from Dr. Salah Sherif in the Emergency Department, compassion and concern were always close at hand. Matt said he doubts his parents were not alone for longer than 10 minutes at a time without a member of the staff returning to check on them.

“They were comforting,” Dixie said. “They told me what they were doing while they were doing it. I never felt any real anxiety.”

Matt said they treated his parents like their own.

“My father was quite confused and a bit difficult to deal with, but they never faltered,” he said.

New mom finds comfort in Tulare Birth Center

Baby Aceson wasn’t her first child, but Vanessa Arellano was still a little anxious about the delivery. Especially because she hadn’t been to the Adventist Health Tulare hospital before.

But she said she will always remember how calming and comforting the Birth Center staff was and how they eased her concerns. The staff compassionately helped her through her fears about labor, supporting her and keeping her spirits up.

“I got really emotional during the epidural and super scared,” she said, “but they just kept telling me how good I was doing. They were so sweet about everything, and they never rushed me.”

She said she felt more than comforted, she also felt they were truly sharing in her joy.

“You could just tell they were excited about every single baby,” Vanessa said. “After Aceson was born, they told me things like ‘I’m so proud of you’ and really made me feel good,” she said.

That care and attention extended to her husband as well.

“They explained everything to him and made him feel welcome,” she said. “They invited him to participate and brought him food when he needed it.”

She was so pleased with her care, she posted a message to her Facebook page to other moms, telling them to consider having their babies at Adventist Health in Tulare: “They were so excited to help, I had the best experience there!”

‘Why not try Tulare?’

As a retired surgical tech in the operating department of a local hospital, Ray Moreno knew plenty of doctors and thought he knew all the options when it came time to choosing where he would have his own surgical procedure performed.

Until his wife, Merideth, made a suggestion he hadn’t considered: “Why not try Tulare?”

A nurse, Merideth had previously worked at the Tulare hospital before it became part of the Adventist Health family and knew many of the people there. She told him he would be in good hands. He decided to take her recommendation.

He asked Dr. Tu-Hi Hong to schedule his procedure at the Tulare hospital.

“Dr. Hong was familiar with both of us,” Ray said, “and I had cared for his patients. I knew his work.”

When it was all over, Ray said his wife could not have been more correct.

“From the time I walked in the front door for my pre-op work ̶ including registration, labs, the EKG – everyone was very welcoming,” he said. “They were just really on the ball. I think I was done within an hour.”

Not only that, when he left the hospital after the surgery, he said he felt great, like he hadn’t been through surgery at all. Which, to him, meant the anesthesia had been administered expertly.

“I couldn’t believe how good I felt!” he said. And, the outcome was good, with everything going according to plan.

He said he appreciated the one-on-one-connections with the staff who he said took such good care of him while he was there.

“I’m just thankful this hospital was open because I had such a good experience.”