Debbie Allen to Dr Sergio Quinones

December 29, 2013 at 4:00pm

How do I begin to put into words the wonderful experience I had with Dr. Quiñones and his staff? Allow me to share a little of my experience.
My first contact with Santa Fe Medical group was through Bill Yanez. I’ve always been a cautious person so I put Bill through the ringer. The only time I really had to discuss the possibility of surgery was on weekends and let me tell you I took up hours and hours of his time before I actually made the decision to use them.
When I arrived at the airport Eddies picked me up and drove me straight to the hospital. Since I happen to speak Spanish we talked the whole way in Spanish. He was very friendly, open, yet professional. The second I arrived at the hospital two male Interpreters were waiting for me. They introduced themselves to me and told me that I had received calls from family members checking to see if I arrived safely. They quickly ushered me into a small clean private room where they had set up a computer with a magic jack. They told me I could call as many people as I wanted to in the US for free through this system. They explained to me that they would be taking shifts staying in the room next door. All I needed to do was call and they would instantly come to my room. These guys were so friendly yet professional I could not help but be impressed. After I made calls I filled out paperwork, the nurse drew blood work and started my IV. Prior to surgery Dr. Quiñones came in, introduced himself, asked me if I had any questions before we got started. I only had a few (since I had grilled Bill to death). I was ushered into the operating room and my surgery began.
Up to this point everything was pretty routine. What really impressed me was all the truly legendary service I received after the operation. The nurses were FABULOUS. They continually checked in to see if I was ok and needed anything. (By the way guys if you’re considering surgery there is one super beautiful nurse who is just as nice as she is pretty. You might want to come have the surgery and then try to take a turn for the nurse (LOL).
Here’s when my experience gets interesting. Dr. Quiñones put a drain tube in one of my incision points because while they do 2 leak tests during surgery, he does an additional leak test the next day. In his thousands of surgery experiences he’s only has 2 cases of bleeding. I was his third. He was concerned that the tube was not draining light pink like it was supposed to so when it was time for me to check out of the hospital and into the hotel he told the nurse he would feel more comfortable leaving the drain in. That way he could check on it one more time before I left. I was taken to the hotel and honestly I was a bit nervous over the whole blood thing.
That night in my hotel room, I decided to call Dr. Quiñones myself on his cell phone and ask him if he would look at my drain tube one more time. What I didn’t realize is that that evening the entire staff were having their annual Christmas party. He left in the middle of the party and came over to my hotel room. He checked me out decided to sit there for about 30-45 minutes to observe what was going on. When I met Dr. Quiñones originally he was a bit on the quiet side but in the hotel I learned a lot more about him. He will NOT allow a patient to go home sick. He delivers more than he promises and trust me, his patients come FIRST. That night he made the decision to bring me back to the hospital for another night. The next day he announced he was going to re-open me to see what the problem might be. When he opened me up there was no bleeding and I was completely clean inside (evidently I might have coughed hard and caused a blood vessel to bleed but it had already stopped by the time he went in).
For the extra night in the hospital and the extra surgery HE CHARGED ME NOTHING!!! Who does that??
I offered to pay him 500-600 dollars extra (because that is all I thought my credit card would hold. He refused the payment. He told me he sends his patients home in good condition.
Dr. Quiñones is a die-hard Chargers fan and he has season tickets to all the games. Because the only time he could arrange for his team of surgeons to be available for the re-surgery was during the game, he missed the game because of ME!
I cannot put into words how much I respect Dr. Quiñones ability (he’s had more than 10,000 hours of surgery experience), integrity (to me the test of a good doctor is what happens when things do not go perfect and I assure you-he’s the best), ethics (he stuck by his original surgery cost even though I’m sure it cost him an extra out of pocket fee).
Would I go back to him again? Absolutely!! Would I recommend my best friend to go to him? Absolutely!! Dr. Quiñones, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you did for me.
Doctor Quiñones, gracias de todo corazón por todo lo que hizo por me. Siempre estaré en su deuda.

Debbie Allen
Teacher
Greenville, SC

Dr. Quinones is amazing, welcome to the losers bench!!!