UCB Parents Pediatrician Recommendations
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Jeff Gill
March 2002
Dr. Jeff Gill is closing his private
practice. He has recommended three peditricians in the oakland, Berkeley
area. They are:
David Kittams, MD
Olivia Lang, MD Berkeley Pediatric Med Group
Robin Winokur, MD
Nicole
12/99
Susan
we used dr. jeff gill in orinda until we moved out of the area recently. we
lived in oakland, but the periodic trip through the tunnel was well worth it.
when we left our son was 1.5. he was very good with our son and patient
with him as well as with us. i have no reason to think he would be otherwise
with lesbian parents, but i don't have any concrete evidence to back that up.
we only chose two vacinations to do. dr. gill is generally pro vacination,
but is supportive of parents who choose not to if he feels they'v made
educated decisions. so he'll give you his opinion and you do your research,
which i assume you've already done. he did not treat us harshly at all for
our decisions. similarly, i don't think he's a big fan of the family bed,
which we use, but he is very respectful of different decisions. when i asked
for advice about sleeping through the night, he told me in advance that all
his methods involved crying which he knew we didn't want to do. we just told
him no thanks and declined hearing his advice on this subject. we've never
had to wait more than 5 minutes. he allows a LONG time for each appointment,
so they never felt rushed and we had plenty of time for questions. in
addition, if you run over the appointment time (45 minutes, i think), you can
have extra time for a higher visit charge. he supported us using a homeopath
in conjunction with his services and i think has many patients who use him as
the primary care physician and see homeopaths, naturopaths and the like. i
think he is willing to share records. in spite of the fact that we didn't
see eye to eye on everything, i'd highly recommend him . we couldn't find
another doctor that came close to having the same philosophies on everything
and dr. gill is respectful and leisurely in his visits.
dr. jeff gill
925 377 7337
i should also mention, he sometimes answers his phone himself (too bad that
this is so shocking for a doctor) and is available for phone consultions. he
returns calls promptly.
Sherry
Dr. Jeff Gill 925-377-7337 is a progressive pediatrician who is known to
be open to alternative choices. He is also available for home visits
and is known for spending a significant amount of time with families.
He may not actually practice homeopathy, but I expect he is supportive.
One of several good practitioners of homeopathy for children is
Christine Ciavarella, a physician assistant 510-524-3117.
India (12/99)
I can strongly recommend our pediatrician, Dr. Jeff Gill, with Progressive
Pediatrics. He is wonderful with our 6 month old son- very gentle & makes
him laugh. We were considering not doing any immunizations at all, although
we have since decided to do selective immunization on a delayed schedule,
and Dr. Gill was very supportive, non-judgmental, and informative
throughout our decision making process. He is very supportive of our desire
to work with a naturopath and a chiropractor- he only asks that we keep him
in the loop as to what other form of treatments our son is receiving. He is
also totally supportive of the family bed. We have never waited more than 3
or 4 minutes for our appointment to begin, and he takes as much time as we
need with him. Our first appointment lasted for about an hour and a half
because we had so many questions about immunizations! He is also great in
an emergency. We had to call him on a Sunday night, and he called back
(long distance to the East Coast) with a great attitude and wonderful
reassuring advice. His office staff is great. Did I mention that he makes
house calls? We switched to Jeff Gill after a disappointing and stressful
start with Berkeley Pediatrics, and we haven't regretted the decision one
bit. His phone number in Moraga is 925-377-7337 and his URL is
http://www.timetocare.com. Please feel free to email me if you have any
questions about him!
Shanta (12/99)
I highly recommend Dr. Jeff Gill in Moraga as your childs pediatrician. He
is very respectful of my views and questions. I have never waited to get in
and never felt rushed either. He calls me back and discusses my concerns
and he is genuinely caring of both parents and child. (I changed twice
before finding him for my son and I'm glad I kept looking)
So, now with all that said, you wondered about alternative health
practices... he is familiar with alternative options like homeopathy, herbs
and osteopathy just to name the ones I've raised and his response is one of
giving you his best non-judgemental advice so that you will be most
informed. He practices western medicine, but doesn't belittle the other
options for staying healthy.
As for being lesbian moms, I think you would be treated foremost as the
parents. Dr. Gill seems very progressive in his thinking.
As for insurance, you may need to check about his office policy. He runs a
very alternative style practice and only recently signed up with a few
select PPOs. His rates are very reasonable and the quality of care
exceptional - so I bill my own insurance and get 50% back.
Dr. Jeff Gill
925-377-7337 10 minutes from the Orinda exit to his office in Moraga.
From: Susan (6/99)
We love our pediatrician. Although we live in Oakland, we go
through the tunnel to use him.
He is Jeff Gill
1001 Country Club Drive, Suite D in Moraga
phone: 925 377-7337
We like Jeff because he allows lots of time for visits. There is plenty
of time to ask questions in a relaxed way. He also answers questions over
the phone and returns phone calls promptly. Sometimes he has even answered
the phone himself when we called (I've never heard of another md who does
this). For an extra charge he does home visits. He is open to working
with people who have differing opinions on some issues. For example, even
though he is very pro-vaccine, after making sure we were informed, he
respected our decision not to give our son all of the vaccines. We also
like him because though he is very cautious, he is not interventionist. He
will prescribe antiobiotics when necessary he does not do so at the drop of
a hat. He recommended breast milk in the eye when our son had
conjunctivitis. We also work with Christine C. Ciavarella at the Hahnemann
Clinic in albany (524-3117). She has a great, gentle way with children and
was helpful when our son had an ear infection. Jeff has no problem with
this and is happy to work with people who are using additional homeopathic
or naturalistic practicioners in addition to using him. As far as I know
Dr. Jeff Gill is still taking new clients. He will do an interview with you
to see if you are compatible but he won't give anything that resembles
medical advice during the interview.
From: Adele (3/99)
Although no one's asked for a pediatrician recommendation, I want to sing
the praises of Dr Jeff Gill in Moraga. This guy is wonderful. There's never
a wait in the waiting room and he only schedules a certain number of
patients per day so that he can spend as much time with you as you need. He
doesn't subscribe to a nurse advice line because he wants you to call him
*personally* when you have a question about your child during non-office
hours. He has evening and Saturday office hours. He answers his own phone
and if he is with a patient when I call, I've never had to wait more than
30 minutes for him to call me back. He makes house calls. He's very
knowledgable, friendly, and responsive. Recently we had to take our son to
the emergency room at Children's Hospital and he met us there within 15
minutes of our arrival there. What a difference from the times we've been
there and had to wait *hours* to be seen by a complete stranger.
The *only* drawback is that he doesn't take insurance. But his fees are
reasonable ($29.00 for well-child office visits, less for ear-checks etc.).
He's definitely worth the drive through the tunnel. I switched from Dr.
Kittams' practice which was a 5 minute drive from my house and I'm so happy
I did!
Dr Gill even has a website http://www.timetocare.com.
The opinions and statements expressed on this page
are those of parents who belong to the
UC Berkeley Parents Network and
should not be taken as a position of or endorsement by the
University of California, Berkeley.