I had to wait months for my first appointment with psychiatrist stephanie heard, but i was happy to do so as i had been hearing only positive feedback about her from everyone i talked to.
My appointment was on august 20, and i arrived on time. I had to wait for her for about 20 minutes (no big deal) but finally she came down to the waiting room, got me, and we went back upstairs to her office.
Her initial assessment lasted over an hour. She was very thorough and just about as compassionate as any psychiatrist i've ever seen (most of them are interested in "just the facts"... Your clinical symptoms, meds, daily habits, etc).
One thing that she did say at that first appointment, upon learning of my habit of noncompliance with meds (a classic trait of bipolars such as myself) was, "if you're not going to take your meds, you should at least find a psychiatrist who doesn't charge as much as me." this didn't bother me at the time, i assumed she was expensive (i had insurance and so didn't even bother asking what her rate was) and left it at that.
At the end of the appointment, she didn't have me make another appointment (this seemed unusual), she just told me she'd call in a few days to ask how the meds were working. I was fine with that because i assumed that if i was having problems, she'd be able to see me again in a reasonable amount of time.
I left with prescriptions for three different meds, all of which i had been on before, only in a different combination. I was eager to give them a try.
I filled my prescriptions right away and started my meds.
A few days later, my girlfriend's younger brother died and we went out of town for several days.
When i came back home, i had several messages on my answering machine. One of them was very mumbled and i had to listen to it four times AND look up the corresponding number on the caller ID before figuring out it was dr. Heard wanting to know how my meds were working.
I called her back, and thus began my series of encounters with her secretary.
You see, dr. Heard doesn't have her own voice mail (that i know of). You have to leave a message with her secretary, either by leaving a message on the secretary's voice mail, or, if you're lucky, the secretary will actually answer her phone and you can tell her to have dr. Heard call you that way. If you're NOT lucky, the secretary won't answer her phone AND you won't get her voice mail. I let her phone ring and ring and ring for over 4 minutes once, with no result.
But that's later.
Anyway, the first time i spoke with dr. Heard's secretary, i told her that i was returning the doctor's phone call in regards to how my meds were working. I explained to her that although i didn't feel any different, my girlfriend's brother had just died and i didn't feel like i could accurately assess the meds in such a situation to begin with for at least another week or two. Okay. Message taken. Or so i assumed.
The next day, dr. Heard called me and i answered the phone. She asked how my meds were working. Apparently her secretary had told her nothing other than the fact that i had called. So i repeated my story to her, and she agreed that we could give the meds another week or two and get back in touch then.
About 10 days later, i was feeling no different... I was about to give dr. Heard another call when i found out that i had lost my health insurance. Remembering all the fundraising that the guidance clinic does, and knowing that psychiatrists often have free samples of meds, i figured they'd be able to help me out somehow.
So i called the guidance clinic, explained to dr. Heard's secretary that my meds weren't working and i had lost my insurance. She told me that they didn't keep free samples there (odd for ANY type of medical office), but i asked her to have the doctor call me anyway.
The next day, the secretary called me again. She said that the doctor said for me to go to the free med clinic at a church downtown. That'd be all well and good, i explained, if it weren't for the fact that the meds weren't working to begin with. I asked, again, if she'd have the doctor call me so that maybe she could change my prescription, but was told that the doc won't change my prescription without an office visit. I was still operating under the assumption that the doc was oh-so-expensive and i wouldn't be able to pay out of pocket for such an endeavor. So, i asked her what i should do. Her reply was, "let me call you back". I never heard back from her.
A week went by. I wasn't doing very well. Eventually, my mother decided that she would pay out of her own pocket for me to see the doc and get a new prescription. So i called dr. Heard's wonderful secretary yet again on the morning of august 27. I wasn't sure if the doc would accept out of pocket payments, or how much it would be, or how soon i would be able to get in, so i said only that i had a few questions for her and asked if she could call me back. I told her that i was an established client and i left my name and phone number.
By the 30th, i still hadn't heard back from ANYONE at the guidance clinic. I knew that if i had any shot at getting an appointment, i'd have to catch this secretary lady on the phone, rather than just leaving a message to be ignored. I started calling her extension at 8am.By 8:45 i still hadn't gotten an answer (only voicemail), so i called the main receptionist for the guidance clinic and asked her if dr. Heard's secretary was even in the building. I was told that she hadn't yet arrived at work, and to try back at 9.
At 9:15 i called dr. Heard's secretary's extension and it rang. And rang and rang and rang. I figured i'd just stay on the line and eventually she'd pick up. Well i gave up after over 4 minutes of continuous ringing.
Frustrated, i got in my car and drove to the stupid guidance clinic myself. I went in the lobby and explained to the receptionist that i had been trying to make an appointment with dr. Heard for over a week and couldn't get her secretary to call me back. The receptionist said that if i would "just have a seat", she would call dr. Heard's secretary to come downstairs to see me.
So i sat and waited. 15 minutes later, this secretary lady showed up and asked what she could do for me. I asked if i could pay out of pocket for a visit with dr. Heard, and she said yes. So i asked how much it would cost, expecting some ungodly amount of money. $90, she replied. My jaw dropped. $90 is the cheapest psychiatrist i have EVER seen (and i've been to a lot of them!). Anyway. I asked to make an appointment. So the secretary ran back upstairs to get her appointment book. She got back a few minutes later, flipped through some pages, and said "november".
Excuse me?
I pleaded my case once again (established client, just saw doc a month ago, meds DON'T work, rapid cycling bipolar, losing my mind...) hoping to refresh her memory and possibly get an earlier appointment, to no avail.
It was at that point that i gave up on the guidance clinic and the possibility of ever seeing dr. Heard again. I told her secretary that i could find another doc to see sooner than november, to which she snidely replied, "good luck".
I left the guidance clinic and immediately went to community mental health for an intake assessment. They set me up with an appointment to see one of their psychiatrists just 2 weeks later. On my way out, they said that if i had an emergency before then and couldn't wait, i could call and they'd try to get me in even sooner.
To be fair, i know little of dr. Heard's abilities as a doctor as i only saw her once, but i am disappointed by the attitude of her secretary and the politics of the entire guidance clinic as a whole. I basically got the shaft the second they found out that i no longer had health insurance.
The "guidance clinic" guided me right out the door.
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