Stanford Medical is far from where my parents and myself live. To get to Stanford we have to drive four freeways, cross two small "mountains", and navigate traffic where you are bobbing and weaving to move forward. All this in the middle of summer and California summers may be dry but they are HOT.
We do drive that route because Stanford Medical is the best hospital in the area. There are other hospitals and they all deserve the recognition they are getting, but my parents need a specific set of doctors and only Stanford is the closest. We did go to USF Med for a specific need, but mainly we go to Stanford.
Their hallways are busy. At any given time during "normal working hours" the hallways are jammed with people from doctors and nurses to interns and maintenance workers to patients and visitors. There is ALWAYS someone walking the halls to either get food, get a consult, or to go to their procedure. And the hallways are clean. They are so clean that I think we could eat off the floor. (I know they're not that clean, but I'm stressing a point.) I'm just saying that even with the construction going on around the grounds that Stanford Medical is the cleanest hospital I've been to.
I've had the luxury of eating here at their cafeteria and I am fairly impressed with their menu. Usually hospital food is not varied because the cost to make an international selection of dishes is daunting. With Stanford Medical the cafeteria has three stations that make a diverse array of meals from Mexican comfort food to on-the-go sandwiches; there is a make-your-own-sandwich station and a desert bar where you can grab an ice cream bar or cake. The food is delicious, contrary to my assumption that hospital cafeteria food is bland and cardboard.
Some of the waiting areas are adjacent to the main hallways; this makes the travel ways a sort of confluence of human activity states. Also the hospital is in transition with construction projects dotting the landscape. (There is the large one at Pasteur Drive that obscures your view of the hospital before reaching the building proper.) All this together makes the place seem more chaotic at first impressions.
The grounds, if they are not under construction, are tended well. Roses line a path from a parking structure to a main entrance. Trash bins dot the area but are not intrusive to the view. You can spot parking structures but they don't dominate the scenery. Buildings feel grown but you can make out where new additions start.
As I sit here in the waiting room for my mother to wake in Recovery, I think that she and my dad are lucky to be able to be treated here. Aside from the world renown medical facilities and staff here, my parents will enjoy their stays here.
Unless their procedure dictates cardboard food for dinner.
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