Heritage Valley Kennedy - McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania

Debbie W.

I had an appointment this week for an ultrasound that I had been avoiding for years. I am having massive issues and the sonographer got me through this very difficult test (for me). She is very skilled and her compassion, empathy and kindness overall possibly saved me from avoiding finding out what is wrong. She worked tirelessly to help me get through this and I am beyond grateful to her.

Michael S.

Staff is great. I came in with FLU A. Got me in within 5 min and had me in a bed with all the bells and whistles to figure out what was wrong. When I started shaking they’d bring in warm blankets and proceed with tests. 10/10 highly recommend! Thank you again this has been the worst time of my life but you all made it a little less horrible.

Amanda C.

Super understaffed in stead of saying so they just say that they are busy even though we've been in the ER since 6:00 p.m. and maybe two people that came in here in the emergency room before us, it's now 9pm and still waiting on blood test results. They are not busy. They just don't want to do their job. They are ignorant and rude. Next time I'll definitely go else where!! Wish I could give 0 stars. I really thought when they became heritage Valley that they would be better but clearly I was wrong.

Erica W.

PLEASE DO NOT GO HERE FOR ANYTHING! They need to take all their doctor and nurses liscenses away and shut the hospital down for good!. Went there a year ago with a broken tibula (ankle/leg). They told me I could walk on it, gave me the wrong sized boot for the type of injury it was, didn't show me how to work the boot. Didn't give me crouches until i asked for them so i could try and get out to my ride by myself (nobody working there helped me to get outside and into my ride). They even told me I could go to work. I SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN WALKING ON IT, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A KNEE HIGH BOOT AND PUFFED UP TO A SNUG FIT USING THE PUSH PUFF BALLS ON THE BOOT TO HOLD THE BROKEN BONE IN PLACE AND STABALIZE IT, SHOULD'VE BEEN GIVEN CROUCHES WITHOUT QUESTION, SHOULD'VE BEEN TOLD TO AND HOW TO PROP IT UP FOR BLOOD CIRCULATION NOT TO CLOT ETC... Thank God i followed up with an orthopedic doctor who followed up to make sure my broken bone was healing properly with no blood clots who told me everything the hospital workers did wrong and told me to file a dispute and not to give the hospital no money!.

Skylar H.

DO NOT GO HERE FOR A PSYCH HOSPITALIZATION.
Not only does the sole psychiatrist (yes, there is only one in charge of everyone) yell at each patient upon intake and refuse to listen to anyone’s actual symptoms, but he prescribed everyone the same combination of medication.
In my particular case, he irresponsibly prescribed a combination of medication that I had had a bad reaction to years prior to my hospitalization. He insisted on trying it again, and it induced psychosis. I have never had any psychotic or bipolar symptoms in my life before this. He discharged me after a month without trying any further meds, and I was still heavily in psychosis upon leaving. The facility did not set up any follow up program, and so my parents took me to St. Clair hospital a week after discharge. St. Clair is superb; it was like night and day compared to my stay at Heritage Valley Kennedy.

Also, all but three of the nurses do not want to do their jobs, and they loathe to open the bathroom for you or get water, so you end up either peeing the bed at night or getting super dehydrated. They even put pads on the beds for when patients would pee them.

Additionally, I couldn’t get my regular meds for most of the first week I was there. This included my birth control and my diabetic medication Metformin, along with my acid reflux medication Dexilant. I need to take these medications every day or else my hormones get messed up (I have PCOS), my blood sugar and cortisol end up unbalanced, and I start throwing up from the reflux. I had to bug the head nurse and the therapist on duty every hour for at least five days before they finally were able to get my medications.

Furthermore, the environment is dirty and deplorable. There are bugs in the showers (bathrooms rarely get cleaned properly), and the sheets are basically rags.

In addition, the food is awful. For example, one day everyone who had ordered chicken nuggets for lunch was served raw chicken inside of the nuggets. We ended up without any lunch that day, as no replacement food was brought. One person even fainted!

Lastly, when I had entered psychosis and was no longer able to advocate for myself, the nursing staff did not notify my parents when I ran out of meds, and they didn’t tell my parents that I had peed the bed at night until my mom saw the pad on my bed while visiting.

The therapy at here isn’t therapy at all. It consists of games and the occasional motivational speech, depending on who is in charge of the session. The only two therapists who actually knew what they were doing were Jonathan and Marissa, but they were rarely there during my month-long stay. I learned no new coping skills during group therapy. It was only when I spoke one-on-one with Jonathan (who’s the head therapist) did I glean two new coping mechanisms.

Oh, and they lost some of my clothing too. Also, a lot of my laundry was returned to me still really wet after each wash, but that’s the least of the problems I experienced there.

I will also I was able to experience both sides of the ward: the less severe side (when I was admitted) and the more severe side (when I went into psychosis). The severe side is HORRIBLE. It is much smaller, so there is only one small hallway to walk for most of the day. There are no games on that side, no books, and the tv is usually hogged by the meanest patient, so basically there is nothing to do unless one of the therapists decides to come over and do “therapy” (aka play a really lame game for half an hour). There would usually be only one half hour activity a day. It made what I was experiencing so much worse.

Patricia M.

Horrible place. Short staffed. Dr had no empathy or compassion Changed all my meds without any discussion. I left 10 times worse. Think twice. Some good compassionate nurses. Don't go here.

Elisabeth G.

the handful of nurses that helped me were very nice, however, the discharging nurse was dismissive of my medication questions/concerns. I left feeling like maybe I should’ve gone to another facility or considered turning to the internet for clarification. The whole “vibe” of the ER is strange, feels like something is off. The workup they did on me did not feel sufficient, and the diagnosis they gave me on the discharge paperwork certainly was not what I truly was diagnosed with and what the doctor discussed - but I am trying to trust that they did the right thing. Nice staff, some disgruntled, fast in and out times. Not sure if I would go here again. I will probably end up getting a second opinion from a more trusted provider.

Ryan B.

Had to take my significant other here due to a medical emergency. It was early in the morning, but the time it took to be seen was under 5 minutes which was very quick compared to other hospitals we've visited at similar times. They were very helpful and provided us with everything we needed, not to mention, being incredibly friendly and nice to speak with. God forbid we ever have another emergency, we will come here again.