Centra Care with shuttle vs ambulance to Celebration Hosp.

[DisneyOma]

Well, since I got to experience both 'rides' this last week on a very stressful trip, I thought I'd open up a thread for anyone who had questions.

Centra Care is the clinic WDW advertises/contracts for their guests. They provide a free shuttle to and from WDW property. The shuttle was great. The clinic is sketchy, not very well supplied, IMO. They did a urinalysis, got negative results, said it was probably an infection, threw two prescriptions at me, and sent me on my miserable way.

Got an ambulance ride two days later to Florida Hospital in Celebration - very professional ambulance crew. Long waits unattended at the ER though. Like, pumping saline into me, with a bladder condition, and not checking to see if I needed to use the bathroom for an hour. So painful! I had to get up, stretch to get to the door to get help. Got lots of tests, took about 5 hours to get out? With a new prescription and no relief, but some info from a CT scan and bloodwork and another urinalysis. There's a Mears shuttle back (WDW will reimburse) but not if you've had morphine, or somesuch. I didn't have morphine, (might have helped for the night at least) but was able to get one of the kids to pick me up and take me to pharmacy as well.

Long, uncomfortable 22 hour ride home. Doctor appt Wednesday, keeping my fingers crossed to get rid of the pain.

Happy to answer any questions though!

 

[LYSE]

Sorry to hear...get well.

 

[SMD]

To be fair, if it turns out to be a kidney stone, almost no clinic or urgent care is equipped for that and will likely redirect you to an ER. They may be well supplied for the kind of care they're designed for. If you were directed there by the hotel maybe they need better info to help people decide where to go.

 

[DisneyOma]

To be fair, if it turns out to be a kidney stone, almost no clinic or urgent care is equipped for that and will likely redirect you to an ER. They may be well supplied for the kind of care they're designed for. If you were directed there by the hotel maybe they need better info to help people decide where to go.

Yeah, the clinic didn't even think about kidney stones. They went straight to a female-type infection, without a test. Didn't redirect me to the ER, just threw a couple of prescriptions at me, and got me on the shuttle. I'd say they are good for coughs/respiratory infections, ear infections, strep, etc, but not for things that might need bloodwork and other lab results. It's the company WDW recommends, so just wanted to get that info out, that they are not as supplied as they should be for what they advertise.

The CT scan didn't show any kidney stones, but did find some other stuff that might be causing my issues. But it wasn't anything they could fix while I was down there, or decide to fix. I'm guessing it's going to be a long haul of negating each issue to find out what's causing me to feel like I've got an elephant on my bladder. But they took the time to look for things, which gave me some peace of mind. I was afraid of what they might find, but nothing horrible showed up.

One thing I realized was that I am used to the hospitals and medical scene in a high density college/medical research state (MA) where there is a plethora of med students, residents, and doctors. Being left unattended for up to an hour - that really surprised me. Here in Boston, I'd have had 3-4 people coming in to check, recheck, and re-recheck. I remember one hospital stay where I just wanted them to leave me alone and let me sleep! I'm spoiled, I think.

I do think both places are tuned in to WDW guests though. Transport is very well done, as when I got taken to the clinic from HS there was a reserved parking spot for the shuttle, labeled nicely, and someone from first aid walked me to it. Two CMs showed up at my room when I called for the ambulance - and I got multiple calls from the front desk to check on how I was doing. We also were given 3 extra FP+ as we had missed a day's worth of park time. I hadn't expected that!

 

[arminnie]

A few years ago I was sent to Centra Care. I was quickly diagnosed with appendicitis and sent to Dr. P Phillips (formerly Orlando Regional Sand Lake Hospital when I went there) where I had my appendix removed at 10 pm. Very smooth and professional. I went back "home" to my hotel the next morning, and two days later went to Epcot - but only for a few hours.

 

[mamabunny]

Centra is why I carry the "Dr. on Demand" app in my phone; if I have something (like an ear infection, or similar) that crops up with one of us while we are at WDW, then we *start* with Dr. on Demand (which is basically a FaceTime visit with a doctor who is licensed in the state you are standing in) and if any medications are indicated, they can be sent to a local pharmacy.

Our health insurance policy covers it at the regular rate for a doctor's office visit.

 

[Coloradomom]

I have had to use the Celebration ER twice. A few years ago I developed an eye condition due to sun (even though I was wearing good sunglasses it had to do with the intensity and angle). We were at SSR and they called a cab for us and gave us vouchers for both ways. This last trip in May I had to go for removal of a packing in my nose prior the day prior to our trip.
Both times we were seen in what I would say was a very fair length of time, and well diagnosed. My DH works in health care and even HE was impressed. In May they even called in a ENT specialist even though we were just having the packing removed. He was there with I. 20 minutes and diagnosed and treated part of the issue that even one of hat top hospitals in Denver (a big health care center) had missed. And when I had slight concern the next day I emailed him and heard back within 15 minutes. For to trip our adult DS was with us and he arranged for Uber. It was about 7 dollars one way, worked very well.
I hope I don't have to but if I do need health care in WDW I would go back to Celebration Hospital any time.