Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA

Wow. I don’t even know where to start. It’s been a rough few days and finally my son who is 4 is home!
Went on Friday night to the Ronald Reagan ER due to my son suffering from EXTREME abdominal pains. The wait was long (I’ll review the ER separately), but once seen attending Doctor Shant Shekherdimian and his resident Kent Garber truly took excellent care of my son. (Dr. Shant works for pediatric surgery, and his resident Kent Garber floats between areas.) without any hesitation they sent my son to get an x-​ray, but nothing was seen that seemed abnormal. Rather then sending him home with some Tylenol (like some hospitals in the SFV would) they proceeded to do an ultra sound. With a lot of fluid in the stomach, they moved on to a CT scan. They kept trying everything to see what was wrong rather then giving up. After the CT scan (which was also difficult to read due to internal fluids) Dr. Shekherdimian notified us that my son needed emergency surgery. Understandably I was a complete wreck. Prior to the OR, UCLA has a care team that came to see my son and give him toys, crayons, coloring books, the whole works. Moving forward to post op once my son was in the children’s hospital on the 5^th floor, he was being monitored by Dr. Shekherdimian and his resident team ²⁴⁄₇. He came in every morning with constant updates, and whenever we had a fever spike or something was wrong, he was extremely FAST at responding. Whether he was at home or at work, we always received a response within minutes. During our stay, every single RN we had taking care of our son was AMAZING! They watched him like a hawk, gave him more toys to keep him happy. Donna was one of our nurses, and she was great! She has an RN «bestie» who was one of our day shift RNs named Tanya D. And she was also excellent. Mark our night RN was also very caring and patient. My mother is a nurse as well, and sometimes she can be… Umm. Tough to work with. She means well but due to a language barrier and her love for my son, she just wants the best for him so I know she made the nurses work a little bit more then they should. (That’s putting it lightly). During our stay, we had nothing but the best care from an amazing peads team on the 5^th floor. They all truly love their jobs, and love their patients. During moments of panic from me (as a mom it’s terrifying seeing your little one ill) they were understanding and very comforting. We also had a very nice social worker stop by to discuss options, and not once during our sons treatment did anyone show financial crap in our face. I know the bill will come one day, but all they cared about was the well being of our son. I want to thank the whole floor of RNs who took care and healed my son, but I want to send a special thank you to Dr. Shekherdimian and his resident Kent Garder for saving my sons life. Lastly, the usual «thing» is for physicians to come pretty early in the morning and then communicate via the RN, but Kent went out of his way to come see us multiple times even though he didn’t have to. He took special care to explain and answer the million questions we had, and also had a great sense of humor. There was a moment where I switched shifts with my husband so I could come home and rest, and during that time they took my son from mushy food and allowed him to order a pizza which was a step back in the healing process. I immediately called (calling and getting through to a nurse, charge nurse, or anyone is SOOOO EASY), and spoke to Kent, (thinking my husband allowed him to eat pizza) I told him to slap whoever made that decision, and he said it was him, Kent, and I responded with «I’m virtually slapping you over the phone». He laughed, and understood that I was joking, which in my opinion is great that doctors and nurses can do that. It makes a tough situation much easier. Everyone involved had a great personality, a sense of humor, but above all, a STRONG PASSION to heal my son and all other children on the floor. If God forbid I ever have to take my son to the hospital again, it will always and forever be THIS hospital. I cannot say thank you enough.
(One thing that made me angry, after discharging my son, very important paperwork and a brand new bottle of children’s Tylenol was forgotten. The Tylenol doesn’t matter as much as the 20 pages of signed forms by me and my husband, as well as the physician and resident, that explained the surgery, the intake, all the important stuff was THROWN AWAY IN THE TRASH CAN!!! Common sense would be to hand that over to a nurse. It had private information, and I am in fact a little concerned about PT confidentiality. They didn’t shred it or call us to let us know It was left behind, they just threw it in the trash bag. That’s something I will be calling about to whoever is responsible for the janitors because that’s something that should NEVER happen.)
Besides that one thing, I have nothing but the best to say about this palace. It’s amazing.

What kind of hospital is this? I waited 8 hours in the emergency room cause my kid needed a few bandages and an X-​ray for falling off his bike and scraping and brushing his knees all over! I can’t wait to get back to New York.

great bunch of people/​staff here. came in to do some ovenight tests for my daughter. they were nothing but accommodating to me, my wife and, most importantly, Sofia. it’s hard enough to have to come here, but, dealing with the pros here at Mattel, and the UCLA Hospital System in general, makes it bearable, if not downright enjoyable. ok, that might be a stretching it, but, it was a good stay. i highly recommend if you have a choice. located ON the UCLA campus with valet parking. good food options and reasonably priced meals at the cafeteria too.

Our 8 month old daughter was admitted here for two nights for observation testing. The staff on the pediatric floor as well as the pediatric neurology department were several notches above any we have had thus far. (This is our 4^th hospital visit with this child). They were very friendly and down to earth while being professional. My daughters condition (infantile spasms) was taken very seriously. We were always in the loop about her tests, treatments, therapy, and outcomes. One thing that stood out was how the Doctors came by several times a day. We rarely had been visited by the doctors in other hospitals as well as the charge nurses. The charge nurse on each shift always came in. Overall, we felt at ease with the care my daughter received for such a critical condition. I trust and recommend UCLA’s pediatric programs, especially the pediatric neurological department.

This place truly cares for their patients. I was granted an opportunity to come and volunteer on Halloween day, which I did. I was really happy and excited to see how they really transformed the lobby level into trick or treat stations for the pediatric patients. To see these kids with huge smiles was worth it. After seeing and meeting with staff members, you can tell they care about their patients and will do anything to get them to feel happy and healthy. Will go again for Christmas to sponsor a family in need.

Ucla, in my mind is the best hospital in the world. My son had a heart defect and the cardiology unit here perform open heart surgery on him when he was just 5 days old and saved his life. We are still here now as he is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit while he’s recovering. All the nurses and doctors are top notch and so caring and helpful.
I know lots of people that have had surgery here and are very happy with the hospital.

UCLA is a great hospital. The Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA takes care of children as well as congenital heart patients (adults). The facility is state of the art. The care after surgery is remarkable. The doctors and nurses are amazing. Thank you MCH @ UCLA for everything. — KingofHearts :)

Awesomest hospital for kids ever. The nurses, as well as everyone else there, are so nice. Everyone works on the same page and knows whats going on. Everyone is competent and knows exactly what they’re talking about. If you need a children’s hospital, this is your place to go. Don’t forget to try the ice cream!