Good Sam vs. Southside

Mwatkins13

Anyone have their opinion of Good Sam vs. Southside?  I can choose either and I'd like some opinions.  Thanks!

hooligans4

i had both my children at good sam so i cant say which is better.  i didnt have any problems with good sam other than the room i was in after giving birth was a closet.  literally they converted a storage closet into a patient room.  so it was soooo tiny and me and another woman shared the room.  most of my family had to wait in the hall for their turn to see the baby.

i think southside may have private rooms but im not surt. 

eggymaye

MY MIL had surgery in Southside and I would NEVER go there!  She had to be re-admitted 5 days after she came home because of complications that were later confirmed to be dr error!  I once went to Good Sam and it was GREAT.  I would rather go there than Southside any day!

JenGrl8503

You cannot and should not compare a nonOB unit to an OB unit...

when we moved from the Midwest and got pregnant right away I didn't have anyone I knew well enough to ask for a recommendation for an OB...I actually researched OB units first...found that Southview is in the top 3 on Long Island...far ahead of Good Sam...then chose my OB based on the fact they deliver at Southside.

I was nervous at first bc as we told people we were delivering at Southside I got a ton of negative comments, all saying I should go to Good Sam instead...none of the commenters had any experience with the OB unit though.

I got more nervous when I went for the free childbirth classes they offer...the hospital seemed old, crowded, not super clean....BUT then we toured the OB unit...it is recently remodeled and looks nothing like the rest of the hospital.

I had a phenomenal experience having DD1 there and can't wait to have DD2 there in a few weeks

lmrblade

If you can go to Stony Brook or Mather, go to them instead.

jo4janet

I had an excellent experience at Southside. I know others who delivered at Southside and some who delivered at Good Sam and the ppl who delivered at Southside were much more satisfied. The postpartum unit was recently renovated and i had a single room. More importantly, who is your OB? I know many ppl, particularly who work at Southside that use Dr Kasten.

vcusano

My Son was born at Good Sam and I had a wonderful experience with them.  The nursing staff was very attentive, I never had to go looking for anyone to assist me with anything.  The labor/delivery rooms are large and advanced but yes, the regular rooms are on the small side, but they are building a new maternity ward at this time (not sure when it will be done though).  I would prefer to have great care and attentive nurses over a larger room and poor care/staff any time (not saying Southside has poor care, I have no idea as I have no experience with them other than an awful ER visit my DH had there).  I just found out I am pregnant again and will 100% choose Good Sam again

tonty07

My friend delivered at Good Sam about 3 months ago and had a terrible experience with the nursing staff during recovery. She had nasty encounters with the nurses and had trouble even getting food after delivering her baby! She said the L&D she was in was nice but the recovery room was shared and outdated. 

However, the L&D room at Good Sam that I saw was spacious, had a view of the water, big reclining chair for the daddies to be, area for the baby. The triage room was outdated with shared bathroom between the next room. My experiences with the nurses I've met and spoken with were nice and friendly. Another miss for Good Sam was that most of the rooms are shared, only 3 private rooms, first come, first serve basis. Also, Good Sam's waiting room was downstairs on the main floor, and 3-4 chairs in outside the L&D floor. Visiting hours are from 8am-10pm, daddies don't get to stay overnight unless you're in the private rooms. 

I had a tour of Southside last night, and the maternity unit is brand new. It had its own parking and entrance. The waiting room for the maternity unit had at least 10 chairs, with a snack/refreshment table. Nursing staff were friendly. The L&D room was spacious with a private bathroom, big chair for daddies as well. The triage room was shared but clean, the private recovery rooms was a decent size with a private bathroom and TV (Disclaimer: Nurse said the private rooms were about $240 a night). What I did like most about Southside is they had a solarium room, in case you didn't' want to cram guests into your room, you can hang out there with the baby! The food for breakfast and lunch is served buffet style in the hallway to get the mom's moving and dinner is taken by order. Visiting hours are 24/7. 

A big factor btwn the two hospitals is that Good Sam is NICU Level 3 and Southside is NICU Level 2. Do some research about this if you have had a complicated pregnancy or at high-risk, or if you're going to premature labor, I would go to Good Sam. 

Hope this helps... I'm still lost about where I'm going to deliver and going to speak to my doctor about this today. Will update when I DO deliver my baby. 

Beachbride422

I delivered at Southfield 2weeks ago and had a great experience. The L&D nurses were by my side the entire time and helped me along when things got complicated. The nurses on the maternity floor where extremely helpful and constantly came in to make sure I was completely comfortable.

RoxyV111582

this is actually really helpful, i work in manhattan and my OB is out there, they do all their deliveries at the NYU langone hospital, which doesn't help me if i'm out in LI when i go into labor. the two closest hospitals by me (i live in west babylon) are good sam and southside. I'm probably going to schedule a tour of the maternity ward and see which one we like better, also probably going to do research on how people rate the maternity wards of each hospital.

Mittens14

I had my son at Good Sam 3 years ago and my sis just had her twins at good sam about 6 weeks ago.  We both had fantastic experiences with the hospital and nursing staff.  As for the reference to it being hard to get food there, I don't see how... You order your own meals room service style, so you pick what you want from the menu and when you want it.  I thought it was a great system and the food was pretty good