TK
thomas knoppe
Feb 9, 2025
This facility was great and in the past I'd have given it 5 stars, that was until they fired Dr Bunka for speaking up about working conditions affecting patient safety. Dr. Bunka has been the peditricaian for my toddler for all his appointments the past 3 years, and has been helping with his speech delay by providing great recommendations on getting his speech issues assigned to both specialists and educational resources. Every avenue we thought of, from advanced hearing tests to autism screening, and Early childhood educational intervention was booked or referred to. A lot of these programs I did not personally know about.
She also took the time in appointments to answer questions for my wife and I as first time parents, and the impression from our very first newborn appointment with her motivated us to schedule every single baby wellness appointment with Dr. Bunka the first year, and for the 2nd and 3rd year. Each appointment she'd ask questions about my son's speech development. Before he turned 2 she began recommending a program provided by the state called Early On for his speech and cognitive delays and I didn't ask for a referral because I thought my son would start talking soon, but at regular child wellness checkups she brought it up again and again and then I asked for her to put the referral into the state. My son got over a years worth of Early On exposure which both introduced him to a classroom setting, and specialists through the school district that he saw weekly. When he aged out of Early On he got referred to a specialized 4 days a week early pre-k through our local school district for children like him. I credit his progress from these programs from Dr. Bunka's insistence at putting in a referral. My son also grew to recognize Dr. Bunka and would smile when she entered the patient room, and that doctor-patient familiarity will be lost since he now only goes in for appointments once a year. Personally speaking, I still remember the pediatrician I had for my first 15 years or so as a child and now my son won't have that same level of familiarity.
My wife and I also just welcomed our second child into the world; our first daughter. We had Dr. Bunka see her for her first appointment, and then I went ahead and scheduled the next 5 or so new born appointments well in advance my daughter would need over the first year. My wife and I were happy that we had the same pediatrician for our second child in case she too ever has a developmental delay since Dr. Bunka was familiar with our family history. Unprompted, Dr. Bunka already brought up some recommendations for my daughter to look into given some other unique medical issues my family has. Sadly, that was no longer the case when we got a sudden phone call a week or so ago asking us to reschedule all the appointments I made in the future for my daughter.
I hope Dr. Bunka finds a new local practice or gets rehired so we can continue to go to her for medical appointments and advice.
Ultimately, I'm sure the other pediatricians at this facility are also good at their jobs if Dr. Bunka is a reflection of the quality of care the others can provide, but my wife and I were saddened at suddenly losing a great pediatrician.