Berkeley Parents Network: OB/GYNs at Kaiser Richmond

Berkeley Parents Network

OB/GYNs at Kaiser Richmond

The Parents Network > Reviews > Health & Medical > Kaiser Doctors > OB/GYNs at Kaiser Richmond

April 2006

I wished to ask for recommendation for good surgeon Gyn in Kaiser / Richmond Facility prefering a female if possible. Also, a primary care there as I am changing insurance. Thank you

I would highly recommend nurse practioner Pamela Mullins for your Richmond Kaiser OB/GYN needs. She is very patient, compassionate and wonderful. anon

Re: Breastfeeding Friendly Kaiser ObGyn (July 2003)
I'd check out Kaiser Hayward. They are one of the 34 hospitals in the United States, and the only one in the Bay Area, to get Unicef's designation as Baby Friendly for breastfeeding. Check out information here: http://home.onemain.com/~ct1008688/bfusa.htm

April 2003

I have read the archived postings about Kaiser Richmond OB's, but did not see the info I am looking for. For my last pregnancy I used Kaiser Oakland for my prenatal care and, since I was considered high risk, was under the care of Dr. Walton, although I mostly saw one of the residents. Now I live closer to the Richmond facility and I would like recommendations for OBs there. I called to find out who handles their high-risk cases and was told that they all do, but most are handled by Dr. Tracy Seo and Dr. Nora Salvador. Neither of them have appointments available soon so my first visit will be with Dr. Flanagan. I would like to know other peoples' experiences with these doctors, pro and con, and any other OBs at Richmond, particularly for a high risk pregnancy. Also, if anyone can compare the Oakland vs. Richmond facilities for prenatal care and high risk pregnancies, I'd love to hear about that, since I could go to Oakland it's just not as convenient. Thank you! Getting ready for baby #2

Hi, I am going to Kaisers in Richmond, and my ob/gyn is Dr. Seo. She is very nice, but young. She might not have the experience you need for your pregnancy. I guess it depends how you feel about it. I am considered high-risk because of my age, and I feel comfortable with Dr. Seo. In general my experience with Kaisers in Richmond is good; however, I didn't like Dr. Chang. He has lots of experience, but I felt very, very uncomfortable with him. Also, if you go to Richmond you won't deliver your child there. I believe your choices are Alta Bates and Oakland. Alta Bates is great, and I am very happy to deliver my baby there. I hope this helps, if you have more questions you can send me an email. anoack

Also recommended: Walnut Creek ObGyns

July 2002

Anyone have any recommendations for a Kaiser Richmond OBGYN' I'm looking for someone with a more natural approach that is supportive of homebirth(or at least not horrified by it:)

I am about to start prenatal care and since I am now on my husband's insurance I have to switch to Kaiser. I have been taking my 1-year-old to Kaiser Richmond and am very happy with the Pediatric Dept, but I don't know much about the Ob/Gyn Dept. If anyone can give me a recommendation for a Ob/Gyn at Kaiser-Richmond and also any information about the prenatal care there I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

Colette Kauffmann, RN FNP saw me through my pregnancy, and was just fine. She answered all questions, was quite reassuring, without being scary. I had some bleeding (which scared the **** out of me), and she was very calming. I think I did see someone else there once (Colette was on vacation), but I don't remember her name. My impression is that most of the people there are at Kaiser because they want to focus on the patients, rather than fighting with the misc. insurance companies, prior treatment authorizations, etc. Isaac was born at Alta Bates, and I thought they were terrific. I would recommend that while you are still in the hospital, you grab one of the lactation consultants. Start demanding a visit while you are still in labor. I had some problems, and my milk never did come in, even with working on it for months with nursing and pumping. Eleanor

Naomi Torgersen at Richmond's Kaiser OB/Gyn is great! She wasn't my first choice, but glad that I ended up with her. She's warm, sympathetic, and easy to talk to. She gives it to you direct and gives you room to make your own decisions. Sadly I didn't go far enough (miscarrage) to make good use of the prenatal care services, but received an information packet that I felt gave me a good start there. Amy

I highly recommend Dr. Danica Bloomquist. She was my OB at Oakland Kaiser but she works at Kaiser-Richmond as well. She was perceptive, patient, friendly, and straight-forward. Most refreshinly, she strongly advocated for natural childbirth. Although at 32 weeks, I decided to have a homebirth, I would have loved to have her deliver my baby. ReCheng

I went to Kaiser (Richmond) for all my pre-natal treatments while I was pregnant. My only problem was that I hardly ever saw the same doctor. My nurse practitioner is Pamela Mullins who I have seen since I was a teenager. I assumed that she would be the only doctor I would see since she knew my medical history. Wrong! I only saw her 3 or 4 times during my pregnancy. I can say that I saw every physician in that department. I was working at the time and I had to make my appoinments at various times and she was only available on certain days and times. I felt that I did not really have the kind of bond that a doctor and patient should have during a pregnancy. I would definitly suggest telling the receptionist that you want appointments only with whichever doctor you have been seeing or are scheduled to start seeing. I also suggest going to Kaiser in Vallejo, or Kaiser in Walnut Creek to deliver. Good Luck!

I have seen Dr. Flannagan at Kaiser Richmond and liked her fine. She seems friendly and she has taken the time to answer my questions. I did have a really bad experienc She rushed out of the room as I was asking questions, and when I had to see her again at an emergency appoitment after my baby was born, she misdiagnosed me and I ended up having to go back to Urgent Care. I was relieved to get back to Dr. Flannagan again. As for the prenatal care, I was not very impressed. You must attend at least one class before you can see a Dr, and it was inconvenient and not very helpful in my opinion. I understand why they do this (saves time answering some basic questions) but it was a bit of a drag. They also told me I could not see my OB for prenatal care, but had to see a nurse practitioner. I did not like this, because I had established a relationship with my OB and was not thrilled to switch. And you may not know this, but to my understanding all Kaiser babies are delivered by residents, not your Dr anyway. I switched insurance halfway through my pregnancy, so I don't know about the whole range of care they provide, but I have been happier with Kaiser for other things, such as post-natal (wonderful) and pediatrics (even better.) BTW, we love our pediatrician at Richmond- his name is Dr. Schaff and he is so great, I wish he was my Dr too! If you can get him after your baby is born for pediatrics I'd recommend it. Good luck, and feel free to email with any questions.

Nov 1999

Congradulations! I was very concerned too when I read people's comments on the UCB parents website when I was pregnant. Now my baby is 9 months old and I think I should post and tell people about my experience at Kaiser and at Alta Bates.

The prenatal care at Kaiser (Richmond) was good. My nurse practitioner was very caring and she pays attention to a lot of things. She once made another appointment with a dermotologist so that I can just go upstairs and have my skin rash treated right there in one visit.

However my complaints are: (1) not enough information for classes - I had to call and ask (a few times) to enroll in the childbirth class. For other classes (breast feeding, baby care) they don't offer in Richmond, I had to call the Oakland medical center for it and they didn't give that information to me in the prenatal visit. (2) sometimes it is hard to get an appointment- that's the major reason why I didn't ask to see a MD but sometimes it was difficult to schedule the appointment even with my nice NP. Kaiser send Richmond and Oakland patients to Alta Bates in Berkeley for delivery. Our experience with Alta Bates was actually pretty good. In the delivery room the nurse was very helpful and supportive. I was fortunate to have a quick delivery and so that's all I can remember. We got a private room. In the recovery section the nurses are responsive and helpful too. I remember they would come in 5-10 minutes when I called. They didn't offer any formula or bottle at all when my baby cried and my real milk hadn't come. Now I understand that not all hostipals would do the same for breast feeding babies.

I still don't know if my positive experience was because of overall improvement of Alta Bates or just because my baby was born in a "good" time when there is not too many new mothers and babies. So I think it is a good idea to see if other members of this list have any recent experience with them. (and update the web page if necessary). Wishing all the best for you and your baby.

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