The Northwestern Children’s Practice

As a father of four children, I appreciate great medical care, a comforting office presence, and a warm atmosphere where people know us and offer a personal touch. This practice has always provided those things to me and my family. I do not typically write Unilocal reviews (usually only when horrified, angry or exceptionally pleased). I am writing because this is MY family’s practice and I am an educated consumer:
– my children get exceptional care here
–my wife and I get to talk to warm, patient practitioners and staff and share our concerns
–they know my family and treat us like family
–the interactions that I witness while at NWCP are positive, engaging events where people are smiling and reassured and content
There is a lot of nonsense posted here. I realize that it is impossible to vet every review, and no practice is perfect. Dr. Weissbluth (senior) seemed like a good man and we enjoyed his guidance with sleep training. He did not leave the practice– he retired. His son briefly joined the practice and then left to start his own shop. We never saw the junior Weissbluth and cannot comment on his competence or bedside manner.
We have seen the rest of the doctors and nurses who work at NWCP over the past many years and we love the practice. Our kids like going to see the doctor. They have the typical «small town» relationship with their pediatricians that my wife and I did growing up. They are warm, intelligent people who love children and love their job and craft. They appear to adore my children and that makes me happy. The care we’ve received from the mundane school physical to more acute illnesses has been wonderful. I still remember Dr. Li calling daily (for 3 days!) just to check in after a scary pneumonia in our oldest child. This is a practice that has a long history of caring deeply about the community in which they live and serve. You won’t find a better practice in Chicago. End of story.

I love this practice and I love love love Dr Tim Blegen. i wish I could use him as a doctor for everything we need. He sees my son and answers every question in the world, I am never rushed he is genuine honest and caring. I will keep him for my sons doctor if I have to drive miles to do it. Awesome doctor! Great practice.

I am dumbfounded by the one-​star reviews. We have been going to NWCP for over 8 years (so we cover the pre– and post-​Weissbluth period), have two daughters, one of whom has respiratory issues resulting in frequent visits, including numerous sick visits (i.e., walk-​in without appointment), and have never been disappointed with the service, the way we’ve been treated, wait time, follow up/​response time, etc. I cannot think of one single thing we have been less than satisfied with overall. We primarily see Dr. Goldstein but have seen at least six other doctors and a handful of nurse practitioners as well. The receptionists certainly do not throw confetti and give hugs when you enter, but the doctor’s office is not a birthday party; the receptionists satisfy the required need for scheduling, check in and check out. The doctors are literally available around the clock and never, ever make us feel foolish for a middle-​of-​the-​night emergency call. They are in tune with our girls, proactive about health care and give honest, practical advice. We moved out to the suburbs but will not stop going to this practice until our girls grow out of it. I feel so very confident endorsing NWCP.

My review is not about the whole practice or the doctors, I happen to think the doctors are great, the receptionist are friendly and helpful, the lactation specialist Erica is so patient and kind, even our last nurse Jenna was probably one of the best nurses we’ve encountered anywhere. But unfortunately i cannot say the same about the nurse manager Angela Hence. Her bed side manner and how she administered the oral rotavirus to my 4 months old daughter caused huge concern, I feel the need to share my story and warn other parents about her.
On Tuesday June 2, my husband and I took my daughter for her 4 months visit. When Angela came in to give my daughter her shots, the following happened
1. She did not greet anyone of us, her face was stone cold and went straight to get the shots started. deal“
2. She started giving the rotavirus to my daughter, as a 4 month old, my daughter is a little scared of new faces, and is a still a bit colicky, so she started crying as soon as the drops hit her mouth. Again, Angela was stone cold, did not even make any attempt to comfort her. she simply stood at a distance to continue to squeeze the liquid, not along the side of her cheeks, but all the way to the back of my daughters throat, the liquid was coming out fast, because my daughter was lying down, and crying, immediately all the liquid started to pool in the back of her throat and she started chocking. At first, she was coughing, but Angela didn’t stop squeezing the liquid in her month, and all of sudden my daughter stopped coughing, and started gaging and gasping for air, and could not catch her breath, her face turned bright purplish red, at this point Angela didn’t even care to stop. so I picked my daughter up right away, so Angela can longer give her more liquid. We also had my mother with us, she kept telling me «the nurse need to stop, tell her to stop, the baby is choking». It took my daughter a total of almost a minute to start breathing normally, she was still gaging, coughing and burping after almost a minute. The entire time Angela just stared at me impatiently, didn’t say a word. At that moment, I was so upset didn’t know what to say except to Angela «do all kids choke like this?» she gave me a one liner response «some kids do, some kids don’t».
3. All i can think about at that moment is «don’t over react, it will be ok, and she needs all of her shots». so i did let Angela give the rest of the shots, it went ok, she then picked up her stuff, didn’t say anything and left the room.
After I dressed my daughter and was about to leave, she was still burping from gasping and coughing earlier, I then went outside and demanded to speak to someone about what just happened. Another nurse asked me what happened, I started telling her about the situation, then Angela came by, she was annoyed and argued with me and said «your daughter was fine, she wasn’t choking, i would’ve picked her up if I thought she was choking. I asked her «how do you define choking?» she said «when they couldn’t cough and gag». I told her «She was gaging, She couldn’t cough until i picked her up and her face turned purple». she then condescendingly told me «She was crying, that’s all, and she spit out most of her medication anyways. I’ve been doing this for years, she’s fine» after hearing that I was too upset to talk at that moment and had to leave.
I am a firm believer sometime kids just needs to tough it out. But not in this instance, I understand crying babies choke on liquids sometimes, but my issues with Angela are the following
1.Angela failed to stop immediately when my daughter started choking to allow her time to recover, instead she continued to force the liquid down her throat.
2. She used a condescending tone when addressing this issue and continue to lie and argue that my daughter was not choking. i might be a first time mom, but i know when a child is choking. I would’ve been completely ok with it if she apologized for being a little too quick and forceful with how she administered the oral vaccine. But she didn’t, she acted as if it was my daughters fault that she choked.
3 Her bed side manner was horrific, she didn’t care to greet anyone or say a few comforting words to a terrified 4 months old even when she made her choke.
one more thing to add, I called the office manager Cindy Chavez to discuss this incidence that same day, it’s been 3 days and no response, I doubt that they would address this issue, but I hope my review can help other parents. I do like the doctors and some of the nurses here, so I am not going to switch pediatrician, but you can be sure that Angela Hence will never come near my child ever again.

Awesome place for children. We take our first born there. He’s a happy 6 month old. Dr. Blegen is a great pediatrician. highly recommend him!

Dr blegen is the most amazing doctor! He always gets back to me very promptly, is very very caring, takes his time with us, and never makes a question feel like it’s not important. We moved our children from another practice close by which was horrible to this one to see dr Unger, who is also nice, but dr blegen is on another level of being a fantastic pediatrician and excellent in communication. I would hands doesn’t recommend him to anyone looking for a caring pediatrician!

I have been taking my 6 month old son to NCP since he was born and I have only encountered top level service and medical advice from the doctors and nurses.
We have seen Dr King and Dr Blegen and they have always been patient and helpful with our sons vaccinations and general questions we throw at them. We have had to visit NCP for an emergency visit on two occasions without an appointment and we still received the same level of exceptional service and medical attention.
On our first unscheduled appointment, we dealt with a very knowledgeable nurse who was able to diagnose our sons croup and tell us how to treat it.
Both my wife and I are delighted with NCP and would gladly recommend it to others.

My wife and I have been bringing our children to NWCP ever since we moved to Chicago 6 years ago. We primarily see Dr. Li and have also interacted with Dr. Sharma and Dr. King. Being physicians ourselves, I can confidently say we have always been impressed with the care and attention our children have received here. Each physician was knowledgeable, professional, and most importantly, genuinely engaged with my children. The nursing and administrative staff are friendly and accommodating. One day I showed up with 3 kids in tow only to realize my actual scheduled appointment was the following day. Recognizing the effort, they offered to get me in with a different physician that day. I highly recommend this practice to everyone.

I’ve been taking my daughter to this practice since she was born, and we’re very happy with it. As first-​time parents, we don’t always know what we’re doing. But we DO know that we can call the practice any time with concerns or questions. The doctors and nurses are very responsive and accommodating. Every time we’ve needed to get in, they make it happen on the same day. Our primary doc is Dr. Hirsh, but we’ve worked with many others (and NPs as well). All are great.

We have been using NWCP for 15 months (our daughter is 15 months old). From our pre-​natal consultation to now we have been very impressed with the physicians and nurses we have seen. We primarily see Dr. Goldstein, who is wonderful, but on sick visits we’ve met some of the other staff. Our scheduled appointments have all started within 5 – 10 minutes of the appointment time, and we’ve never waited more than 20 minutes when we came to the «first come first serve» sick hours (which are phenomenal and prevent you from rushing to get a next day appointment when your child starts acting sick at 5 pm the evening before). The $ 25 fee to speak with a physician after-​hours is annoying, but I get the feeling it is prevent people from abusing the on-​call doctor. The trade off, in my opinion, is that they have sick hours 7 days a week so you always know you can come in and see someone.

Love this practice and its staff. They’ve all been nothing but very professional and cordial every single time we’ve had to bring our children for a visit. We’ve been going to NCP for almost ten years now and to this day, I don’t have any negative comments to make about this practice. On the contrary, I am more than ecstatic to say that they’ve been very dedicated and have always been there for our family health issues. Our girls see Dr. Unger and she is phenomenal, my girls love her and they have built a good relationship with her. On a second note, I have never frequent any physicians who have been willing to give out their cell numbers, I have theirs. How awesome is that? When Dr. Unger wouldn’t be available, the other physicians and/​or nurse practitioners have done an amazing job to take care of our girls. We have never felt rushed through any of our appointments. Furthermore, all of our visits have always been very thorough and I truly admire this about this facility.
I wouldn’t leave Northwestern Children’s Practice ever! Love them.
Peace,
Sylvia J. Ovalle

I don’t write many Unilocal reviews anymore. But I do still watch Unilocal,and am concerned that this, my kids’ practice, has recently picked up some one star reviews that seem at best, misleading, and at worst, patently false.
My kids, twin boys age 5, see Doctor Scott Goldstein primarily, and Dr. Aaron King in a pinch. I have met at least two other doctors in the practice, and both came across as dedicated and competent professionals.
Ironically, I actually moved my boys here from a truly awful pediatrician, so I have first hand experience of the characteristics of a «one star» doctor. A «one star» practice doesn’t manage your child’s whole health. A doctor in a «one star» practice doesn’t refer you to the right people when you have a child with special medical needs. And a «one star» doctor doesn’t bother to communicate with all those confusing specialists and then translate it back to you. Scott Goldstein is a «five star» doctor in a «five star» practice, and he does all of those things that my child’s old doctor did not. As for the snively nosed, kids with fevers, kids with stomach flu, kid swallowed a lego typical kid stuff? He does that just fine also.
Further, this practice as a whole does not mess around when it comes to modern medicine. They do not take kids who are not up to date on their vaccinations (and don’t agree to catch up), so I know that my children will not be exposed to preventable diseases at this practice.
So, my advice to new parents seeking a pediatric practice is as follows. Do not look for the practice that answers the phone the fastest. Or the practice that can get you in to see them the fastest. Or the one with that wins the «nicest nurse» contest. Or the one with the most convenient parking. Or even the one with the slick side gig taking kickbacks from drug companies for recommending their vitamin drops. And, even though I disagree with the bedside manner comment from another reviewer, if I have to I will trade bedside manner for medical competence any day of the week.
My advice, as a parent of a child with multiple medical needs, is to pick the practice that is the best at doing the doctoring — or medicine, as it is more commonly known. And this is the place that is best at the doctor bit. Trust me — I have travelled the country with my child, and have met well over a dozen pediatric doctors at this point — this practice knows its stuff.
To conclude, caring for a child with a rare disorder means navigating a medical minefield of specialists. Dr. Goldstein has made sense of the confusing maze of mines for me. My child and I are off to the Mayo clinic in a few weeks and we will probably meet another dozen pediatric specialists, but I go there with the confidence that Dr. Goldstein has my child’s back for what is sure to another bewildering and exhausting process.
I wholeheartedly recommend this practice.

I’ve been going to this practice for seven years since my daughter was born. And I have to agree that since Dr. Weissbluth retired the office is a mess. Every doctor or nurse practitioner I have ever worked with here has been excellent. But it is IMPOSSIBLE to get anyone in this practice to answer the phone. I can’t make an appointment online until after I speak to a live person and as of right now I have been on hold for over 44 minutes!!! Since I spent so much time on hold, I had time to call Dr. Daniel Weissbluth’s office and make an appointment for today. I wonder how many phone calls it will take to get my daughter’s medical records out of The Northwestern Childrens’ Practice! I even tried pressing one to leave a message and it just kept going through the loop saying thank you for your patience. Good-​Bye NWCP.

I don’t have kids… or children but if I did you can bet your bottom dollar I would use The Northwestern Children’s Practice. I think they have really turned a corner since Dr. Weissbluth’s departure and are definitely the best option in Chicagoland. When calling doctor’s offices I am accustomed to long hold times and corny background music, but I was extremely impressed when I called today and the line was answered before I even finished dialing the number; now that is service I have not experienced outside of a Michelin three star restaurant! Such a great team of doctors and staff at this practice with impeccable bedside manner. They show patience with their patients and source the freshest vaccines on the market; highly recommend!

I was very loyal to this practice for 5 years because it was the only place my son had been since birth. I recently made the decision to run for the boarder… These people have become so arrogant and unresponsive that it is sickening. It used to be a great practice but since Daniel Weissbluth left they are showing their true colors. After the first 4 hiccups I tried to endure and stay but this last time has officially burned the bridge. I wouldn’t recommend this place to my enemy; the service has declined remarkably. Yes the office looks nice and some of the doctors are knowledgeable and great with kids but the nurses and staff could care less if they had your business or not. You share a concern with them and they basically say join the club… I never received any type of apology or explanation for such horrible treatment and/​or customer service… beware, it is not what it used to be.
Mind you, this practice received ONE STAR because I didn’t have the option to give them 0.

Just moved to Chicago and was looking for peds for my kids…
With high expectations I went to their office and I Loved IT!
We saw Dr. Dawn LI and she was auper nice and informative! !!! She asked and answered so many questions and she was super kind with a great smile! :) she also gave me detailed infos I would need for my kids.
I am so happy I found a doctor I can trust! :) Facility was super clean and nurses were super kind! Highly recommended! !!!

Landmark review
I finally got to see our son’s pediatrician Dawn Li at the Children’s practice which is located right across from lake michigan. I was surprised to find that we did not have to wait long to get into the room. I believe this is based on when you make your appointment, probably earlier the better. Afterwards they ask that you take the clothes off your baby and bring them to the weigh and measuring station in the center of the office which is a bit weird, but it was rather quick. We went back in the room and soon enough our physician came in. Dr. Li exhibits great bedside manner, patience, gentle with the baby, hits the high points, and answers all questions. the nurse came in after and gave the shots and soon we were out the door already. You never feel rush which is great. All and all good experience, however when we were leaving there was tons of people in the waiting room so make your appointment earlier
The only con I read is the service fee of calling to talk with a physician. 25 dollars seems like a lot to talk with a physician…
Hidden deals:
— Parking validation at the desk
— FYI bring your own diaper to replace after weighing

Waiting hours in this waiting room is over for me. We switched pediatricians because of the rough treatment you get in the waiting room when you need them most. On more than one occasion I have waited for over 2 hours to get into the doctor!

Incredible practice-​we absolutely LOVE our doctor, Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I can’t wave enough about him and all my other «mommy friends» are probably sick of me talking him up like he’s the KING but he seriously is. After many attempts of my husband and I trying to sleep train our son alone, we finally gave in the what we thought was a ridiculous method (eg. putting him to bed by 5:30, letting him cry it out for 3 days, having him nap ONLY in the crib). We thought we could get around it but our lives were being taken over by the lack of sleep both our son was getting and us as new parents.
We saw Dr. Weissbluth and within 3 days our lives completely changed for the better. Both our children are incredible sleepers and we are more confident parents because of Dr. Weissbluth. His support, understanding and expertise make us coming back to him, even though we now live in the suburbs.
We have had to see other doctors in this practice as well and they have all been wonderful. The nurses are great too and always attentive, never rushing us out like a previous practice we were part of. They truly care about their patients and understand the needs of parents with small kids.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

I have been to this practice one time with my 2-​day old baby and unfortunately I was not impressed. As other reviewers stated, the receptionists are not friendly. They ask for the name of the baby, proof of insurance and that is it. I asked for an emergency phone number, and the receptionist said: call the main number and follow the prompts. So I said, when I called earlier the prompts don’t lead me to an emergency number. Are you referring to the $ 25 fee charged when you need to speak to a doctor after business hours? She said, yes, or you can call 911… Really, call 911 if I have a question that is making me anxious, but it is not necessarily a 911 emergency?
Then, they call your baby’s name and you are in and out in less than 15 minutes. My husband spent more time trying to find parking (which is a hassle in that area) than at the practice face-​to-​face with the doctor.
As a new parent, you have so many questions, and you are so nervous and unsure about everything, especially when your baby is losing weight by the day, and no one in that practice made me leave in a better state-​of-​mind than when I came in.
They measured the baby, checked the weight, the doctor came in for 10 minutes or so, and we were out. She prescribed vitamin D drops, I asked for a good/​safe brand and she said any brand would be fine… So I came home, did a research on my own and bought a D-Vi-Sol…I have no clue if this is a good brand or not, and don’t understand why the doctor could not recommend a good reliable brand.
I’ve been looking for other practices in the area, but it is hard to choose one without a referral… Unless my second visit goes better, I will be looking for another practice. What a disappointment !!!