Keeping Up With Maury
A Hospital Visit
by Maury Feren

I want to tell you today about one of my visits to the Cleveland Clinic main campus at 93rd and Euclid Ave. It was more like an event so I had to write about it.

Since I don't drive my driver headed into the so called gathering area but she came through the wrong entrance. (First visit) In order to get into the proper entrance you have to go through Carnegie and 100th St. Once you get there you know you will learn the right way so it eliminates confusion.

Disregarding the faux pas' we headed for the entrance. I couldn't believe what I saw. There were at least 25 cars in head of us. Some of them were turned in the right direction with at least 3 lanes of cars. There was all kind of confusion. The valet handled all of this traffic as best as they could. I am not counting time but I can tell you it was not a short process.

It was a mess but somehow they straightened things out and a valet greeted us with a wheelchair already to go. I don't know how many men and women are involved in parking but every one of them was busy trying to help. There was so much activity that you would believe it would be impossible to handle all these cars in that traffic. People never stopped coming.

So I get to the inside of the grand lobby'; all marble of course. People moving in all directions back and forth. There are many red jacket helpers that are there to make things easier. We head over to the information desk to ask for the room number of the patient we are going to visit. We are helped at once and given directions on where to go. This is why I really need a wheelchair it's going to be a long walk from where we are and where we are headed.

We start on our journey. It almost feels like a journey. People are leaving, some are coming. As we travel through the concourse we pass through the first stages on the first floor we see a snack area with yogurt, smoothies, sandwiches and much more. It is quite active with people taking advantage of its wares. Then we come across a clothing boutique for women. The window dressing is a knock out with beautiful displays of its elitist clothing. Right there for the asking.

Progressive Insurance is said to have a terrific art section in all of their buildings. That is of no concern to The Clinic because they have beautiful art all through each of the concourses up and down.

We passed beautiful examples of caricature art. Decorated pieces in all kinds of styles. You will see museum quality art. The collection of the Clinic is so good they offer a tour for you to see all the different kinds of art that is hanging on the walls. It is sure a site to see.

I should mention that we went in one direction were we saw the many retail stores and then we turned in another direction were we took an elevator to G-90. The action never stopped coming and going. When we finally got to where we were headed we turned into the really medical area. It was an eye opener.

There were nurses all over the entire floor everyone was busy. We saw all kinds of medical equipment ready to be used. There was no question that we were in an intense working area. The nurses never picked up their heads - they just continued working. While we visited the nurses for my friend came in to check on him every 15 minutes.

That is why Cleveland Clinic is rated so high. It was a good visit showing us how explanatory their work is. Going back to our car included the long trip we had originally. However, this was the bad feature, Getting valet service was easy it just doesn't happen - it takes time. We waited for our car much longer than we expected it was late afternoon when we left. The cars continue to pile up. I say it took 30 minutess or more to get our car.

I am not going to criticize management they are doing a terrific job handling all that traffic. I just wanted to comment that you have to add an hour your plan when you visit someone on this campus. Time is always short for many of us, Don't figure that you can beat the rap when you come to visit.

This is good advice for anyone visiting the Clinic although it has some negative aspects it is a positive approach at what they do. I am sure people will appreciate it. There is nothing here to knock the Clinic.