Does Any One Go to Town and Country Pediatrics on Halsted.

We see Papachek at Halsted and Lincoln locations. We love her. My only complaint is that they are very busy. It can take a couple months to get a well visit appointment and sometimes I feel a bit rushed during appointments. I love that we can call in and ask questions of a nurse or doctor. Their philosophy fits well with ours - they don't needlessly have kids come to the doctor or take medicine every time they have a cold.

H.! We go to T&C and like it. We've seen Dr. Johnston, who is very nice and friendly. She always has good questions and even called on a developmental survey to ask us more questions. My husband has used Dr. Cherian since she has Mondays available and never complains. I've gone to Dr. Kazdin but didn't find her to my liking. She just didn't fit my style but her professional conduct was fine. Yeah, sometimes it does take two months to find a well appointment that fits your schedule, but you can get that day or next day appt. if your child is sick. They also give you helpful
developmental, eating and habit sheets each visit because there's so much information. The parking is fine for $2 you can really complain. The staff is pretty efficient and I don't think I've waited more than 10 mins. for an appt. I'm happy with the practice and would recommend it to my friends or family. Good luck!

I use Town & Country Pediatrics and go to both the Halsted location and the Lincoln Ave location since our doctor practices at both. The Halsted office is the largest office and it's brand new (just opened in July/August). There is parking in an attached garage that they validate for $2.The office is fine - the staff can be a little snippy - I actually think the staff at the Lincoln office is friendlier, but the interaction with them to check in and check out is pretty quick, so it hasn't been a big deal for me. Our appointments have been on time - maybe 5-15 minutes late, but again, not a big deal and pretty typical for pediatricians, I would think.

We see Dr. Bergquist and really like her. She's a younger doctor, which I like, and is very warm, takes a lot of time during the appointment to answer questions, listen to my concerns. She's given us very good advice on sleep training and introducing solids.

Other doctors that I've thought were good were Holmes, Papacek, Wyman and Blade. I saw a bunch in the first couple weeks/months and I've seen Dr. Bergquist the last 3 times as our primary.

The only doctor I would not recommend is Dr. Rice. He's the founder of the practice and very old school with no bedside manner. I won't go into a lot of detail, but we had a very bizarre experience with him at our 4 day visit. I was in a post partum haze at that point and didn't pursue it, but I think if I had my wits about me more I would have said something.

Getting appointments: It's a big practice, so I've found it to be easy to get appointments. We book our next well visit when we check out, so it hasn't been a problem to see Dr. Bergquist. T&C also has evening and weekend hours (at Halsted only, I think), which is great for working parents. We've only had one sick visit. It was on a Saturday and they got us in the same day.

Because it's a bigger practice, it gets a lot of mixed reviews. I'm comfortable with a large practice environment, but some people find it sterile. That said, I've been very happy with Dr. Bergquist and the care our daughter has received.

I agree with nearly everything A. said, but I do have to say a few words in defense of Dr. Rice. He is an acquired taste, to be sure, but I have found him to be a comforting and reassuring presence in our lives and through a few very scary issues with all 3 kids. We weren't originally going to go to T&C, but right after delivery, the doc from the practice we had chosen came into my room and announced that they were no longer going to accept my insurance so they wouldn't be seeing us. I had to scramble. At the same time, this very helpful doc was pushing me to supplement our son with formula, claiming he'd lost too much weight and insisted that we see our new pediatrician the day after getting out of the hospital. At that time, they didn't do the 4 day, and I went home with some unpleasant complications. Dr. Rice saw us and asked why we were there. I explained that this other doc had insisted that our son needed formula and had lost too much weight and needed to be seen right away. He did the math right in front of me, told us that the other doc should be ashamed of himself and told us to keep doing what we were doing. He saw we were Jewish and asked who was going to perform the bris. We told him and he said we needed to switch immediately because he had had too many of his patients hurt by that person. It was late on a Friday during a Jewish holiday, but he stayed with us and made calls till he found an acceptable substitute.

His wealth of experience means he doesn't get overexcited by minor things. I've often joked that I could say that I'd found a monkey in my son's diaper and he'd calmly say "monkey's are okay, but call me if there's an orangutang."

When the youngest of our twins was hospitalized with a frightening infection, he often would make a special trip to the hospital to check on us, even though another one of the docs from the practice had already done rounds. He's an old fashioned pediatrician to his core. He may seem a bit gruff, but he's got a gooey marshmallow center.

All of the stuff about accessibility at the office and convenience is true as well. I've often been amazed to call about a sick appointment and hear, "come at 8:30 pm." If there's a kid who needs to be seen, they'll stay till the last sick kid has been seen. Great practice.