Myrtle Beach Message Board

I'd like to hear from anyone who has an opinion, good or bad, on the care received at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.

I'm wondering because this is a For Profit hospital; all our experiences have been with Not For Profits. I couldn't find any good web sites that gave understandable hospital ratings.

When we moved in Myrtle Beach in April 2008, I started having strange symptoms that were a bit frightening (we actually thought I might be having a stroke).
My husband and I went to the Emergency at the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.
Turned out I was suffering from Bell's Palsy.
I was treated efficiently and the personnel at the Medical Center were very respectful, knowledgeable, and friendly.

I understand that this is only related to one incident, but I certainly appreciated how I was treated and would not hesitate to go again or recommend them.

Thanks, sounds like a pretty good experience!

We're trying to decide exactly what part of MB/NMB/southern NC to move to (we currently live on Cape Cod, our house is on the market) if, and it's a big IF, we can or ever sell our CC house. We're leaning towards Little River which would give us access to Grand Strand Regional; the other choice is around Wilmington (Shallotte, Leland) to have access to New Hanover (a teaching hospital in Wilmington).

Hi Gail,

I didn't know much about the hospitals in the area when I first arrived here three years ago. Since then, my father has had occasion to be hospitalized several times for breathing difficulties and heart attacks. He was going to Conway Hospital for the first several incidents and I was less than happy with the treatment he received there.

One of our close friends here is an anesthesiologist who highly recommended Grand Strand Regional Medical Center. He claimed that it was a very highly regarded hospital and one of the leading coronary care institutions in the country. We brought him there during his second heart attack and we were very impressed with the level of care he received.

Last October I had a kidney removed and chose Grand Strand for my hospitalization. I had a terrific experience (if you can call having a kidney removed "terrific") for the 4 days I was in there and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the facility to anyone in need of care. The staff was great, the doctors supremely professional, and the experience (my first overnight stay in a hospital) excellent, all things considered.

I don't know anything about the Waccamaw Hospital down in Pawleys so I can't comment on that.

On a side note, I will say that the world of narcotic drugs is pretty weird and rather amazing. One minute you're listening to a nurse describe the process of how she's going to insert a Foley catheter and just as your eyes dilate in terror, you're OUT. :-)

--Leo

Are you serious!!!! How in the heck did I miss that . And you still kicked my butt on the golf course , I need to sell my clubs

I can't comment on the Grand Strand Medical Center, just wanted to chime in with thoughts & prayers for Leo's continued/speedy recovery !

Apologies for the thread hijack !

About 13 yrs ago when my wife was expecting our son,we changed our vacation month from September to April.We were both caught of guard by the sun.It was very windy and cooler than September,so it really hit us.
I am Italian and have darker skin so all I got was a decent sunburn.Patti,on the other hand,is half French and much lighter skinned.Well she ended up getting sun poisoning(even after covering herslef in suntan lotion and drinking plenty of water).We ended up at the Grand Strand Medical Center where Patti (excuse the graphicness) was throwing up bile and had a high fever.They also had her on a baby monitor.They took GREAT care of her.They walked her through everything,kept me informed,checked on her frequently,and honestly seemed to care.
Other than Patti's care,what really impressed me is the care they gave me.As the husband I had to be strong,not knowing what was going to happen.But in that bed,hooked up to machines,was my wife and unborn son.They undertood my fears and when I was in the hallway stretching my legs or sitting in the room they showed their concern for me by checking on me and making sure Patti and I had everything that we needed.
Ill forever be indebted.It's a fantastic institution that's ran by incredible people.
Hope this helps.

Ron

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate all the opinions about Grand Strand. I wasn't sure since it's a For Profit if the care would be compromised. Thank you so much everyone.

Leo, I do hope you're feeling much better and appreciate all the information you've passed along to us about where to live in the beautiful MB area. I saved all your emails and plan on using them if we ever can sell our house on Cape Cod. Tough market up here!

Again, thank you all so very much. I love this board.

During my emergency room visit to Waccamaw a couple of months ago I was super impressed.The doctor was nice and very comforting...the nurses were super sweet and on top of things...even the guy that put me in CAT scan machine was friendly. The place was spotless and I felt well cared for while there.

Laura, good to know re: Waccamaw. We'll be spending the winter at Tupelo Bay, so it's always good to know about close medical facilities. I know Waccamaw is small; sometimes that's good, sometimes not so good.

We have really good care here on Cape Cod, even better in Boston, so it's something we're really interested in, especially since we're hoping to move soon to MB or NMB.

it was before 2001 can't remember the exact year but we had visited in the summer and went to wild water and wheels for the day and we all got burt pretty badly. I threw on a shirt and sat under a umbrella during some of the time I was there but my brother was just doing some watersides and bobbing on a tube in the wave pool and lazy river and despite everyone telling him to put on sunscreen he did not and never does put on suncreen and ended up with sun poisoning. He never puts on any sunscreen and always burns. I hope he does not get skin cancer. We had to go to the Grand Strand Medical Center for him. When me and my mom were down in 2001 she has brittle diabetes and went into shock and had to be taken to Conway hospital, we stayed in Sea Mist then and I ran down to the restaurant there right after they had opened up and was given some free food to take to my mom to try to eat but she was to out of it. I like the Grand Strand Medical Center better now that I have been to both.

You can view hospital ratings at:

http://www.healthgrades.com

Thomson-Reuters has listings as well.

I've been to Grand Strand ER once (Conway ER didn't have an ophthalmologist on call for an emergent eye injury so after waiting 45 minutes, I had to be transferred to Grand Strand) and Brian had sinus surgery at Grand Strand last year...both of our experiences were very favorable and we'd definately drive in that direction!
Colleen

The trip to the Grand Strand ER went well for me when my 13 year old hurt his neck trying to dive through a big yellow tube from the lazy river that they put in the pool. He somehow dove into the side of it, or hit the inside with his head, and I guess he whiplashed him neck. I don't know if there was a lifeguard at the pool, but he came to me at the beach and I asked the beach lifeguard what to do. He was useless. I think he should have had advice for me. We went up to the room and he kept saying it hurt. He is very tough, so this worried him. I asked him if it hurt bad enough to go get it checked and he said yes. That was worrisome because of his toughness and the fact that he'd give up time to go the doctor voluntarily.

I probably should have called someone at that point, but we got in the car because we were at Sand Dunes which is very close to the hospital. The care was good, we were taken back fairly quickly and they collared him and CT'd him. It took a couple of hours, but seemed a reasonable amount of time. He was OK. While we were there I asked them to check his swimmer's ear because we had been to the doctor near the hotel for that a few days earlier and it was still hurting. The doc had no problem with checking it and put him on a stronger medicine. I have a feeling that without that stronger med he would have remained in pain, so the visit worked out. I liked the staff.

There was a girl getting stitches in the next cubicle, I think she had dived in somewhere shallow, so she was really lucky. I think another kid had dived into a wave, then the wave disappeared if you know what I mean.

Visitors should make sure to bring their insurance card. It's a dangerous place!

My husband, Kay, was taken by ambulance to Waccamaw Community Hospital when he collapsed during our recent visit to Myrtle Beach. This was the third time it has happened in the past 6 months and the doctors here in the Dayton area could never find out why it was happening even after he had been put through so many tests. Dr. John Ijem at Waccamaw, after listening to his history, performed only one test, said he needed a pacemaker and put it in the same day. My husband was dismissed from the hospital the next day and we continued on with our vacation. The doctors, staff and facilities at Waccamaw are top notch. He has never received better care anywhere even at our supposedly "award winning" hospitals in Dayton.