Seeking New Doctor for My Son

I used to take my children to Evergreen Children's Clinic and I have seen Dr Pollard. They were not my favorites. It was very difficult to get in to see Dr. Pollard or the other doctor there. We mostly saw nurse practitioners, which is fine most of the time, but I did not particularly care for the ones there. Most of the doctors/nurses that I saw were very concerned about my children hitting all of the "benchmarks". My son didn't crawl until he was almost a year and they were very concerned about that, telling me to make him have "tummy time." He hated being on his tummy and once he could roll over, what was I supposed to do, hold him down? My son crawled and walked just fine. They also do not have a lab, so when my son was a little jaundiced as a newborn I had to take him to the hospital lab - with all of the other people out there, breathing on him etc... There was even an inmate there with a police escort one day. When my daughter was born we switched to Woodcreek. I am MUCH happier there. They are not as concerned that children do things "on schedule." Each child is different and does things at different ages. I can make appointments online and they have a walk-in clinic, but I can usually get a same-day appointment. My daughter was a little jaundiced too as a newborn, but I never had to take her to the hospital for labs. The doctors there also only give antibiotics when they are actually necessary (a pet peeve of mine). If Woodcreek is one of your options, I definitely recommend them.

We go there. We see Dr. Russel usually, but have seen Dr. Pollard a couple of times. We have visited their after hours clinic many times. Both doctors and all their nurses are very nice.

Once they failed to diagnose my son's sinus infection, but when my son went to the ER and had to be admitted for a really bad croupy cough, Dr. Russel came to the hospital the next day and was great.

I don't know anything about that dr., but I love our pediatrician! He's been our ped for about 5 years now and he's awesome! His name is Dr. Nicholas Themelis and his practice is Pacific Pediatrics on Pacific Avenue over by PLU. The phone number ###-###-####. Good luck.

Hi A.,
I am not familiar with the Evergreen Children's Clinic but it does sound like you're in the South Sound. I take my kids to Brian Berry with Franciscan Medical Group in University Place. He has cared for my kids for 17 years. We moved to Kent and I still commute because he is so wonderful.

Love, love, love Evergreen Children's Clinic! Drs. Pollard and Russell are great. They also have a great team of PA's, nurses and office staff. They are all very experienced and you can tell they like what they're doing. They also have an after hours clinic and a few same day appt. slots available each day. You do have to call right at 8:00am to have a chance at a same day appt.
My oldest daughter is distraught over the fact that she has to find another doctor when she turns 21 in July. There's a clinic right at PLU, where she goes to college, but would still rather drive to Evergreen. I'm sure you'll be pleased with them, too.
My children's regular doctor is Dr. Pollard.

Mary