Obviously, no one comes here (particularly the first time) when everything in his or her life is going perfectly and all of his or her hopes and dreams have just come true. If you find yourself in need of CMS you are probably at or below rock bottom. Furthermore, I would think it would go without saying that to be an employee of CMS or any similar business, one would have to be kind, patient, and understanding but as anyone who has ever been to the Cactus location will undoubtedly confirm, that isn't the case. I was at Cactus for less than one month, but have witnessed first-hand as well as through friends who have been going there for years, that nearly the entire staff at that location seem to hate their jobs only slightly less than they hate their clients. Rude, disrespectful, and in some cases what can only be described as intentionally cruel and bordering on sadistic was what I came to expect from CMS, until moving to this location on the corner of 23rd Avenue and Northern. Here, the opposite is true as I have witnessed all the best qualities humanity has to offer from nearly everyone on staff. This includes the receptionists at the front desk, through the nurses, providers and counselors, not only towards me but generally to all people who are the most in need of such compassion and yet are often the least likely to receive it from a society that has been taught to see people suffering this affliction and instead judge them to be undesirables, criminals, or worse. In particular, Bea at the front desk and Kaleen, my counselor need to be recognized. Even when surrounded by other people demonstrating the correct way to treat those in need of help and support, Bea and Kaleen manage to distinguish themselves with their empathy and warmth. If you should ever find yourself in need of a place like CMS, you will be hard-pressed to discover anywhere more welcoming and less judgemental. Neither will you find a staff more compassionate, nor are you likely to encounter people who more embody the traits we should honestly expect from everyone in a health care field. While it would be nice if services like this were no longer needed, I couldn't be more pleased to have found this CMS location at a point where I couldn't have needed them more.
Just one last thing to add. I noticed more 1-star reviews for this location than I would have expected. When I investigated this a little further, I discovered that all but two of the negative reviews were from at least six years ago and one of the two "newer" poor reviews was two years old. If you were swayed by the criticism, I hope you now believe (as I do) that the problems that apparently plagued this location were in the past. It truly does appear that they have taken the past critiques seriously, have addressed those issues, and now run a clinic with nearly perfect ratings. While I was initially distressed to see so many low scores after posting my honest, very flattering opinion of this CMS, especially after making the point that the kindness and compassion I witnessed wasn't only directed at me, I am relieved to learn that the overwhelming majority of those scores were from a time before I started coming here. I also now wonder if several or many employees moved from this location to Cactus five to seven years ago...
