John Fernandes of Calgary, Alberta - Doctor Rating

Dr. Fernandes is very good at his job. He is quick yet thorough. He is also a really nice person.

Great Dr., however he should drop his reception staff Irene!

Dr. Fernandes is a competent doctor, but his wife Paige who also works in the office is very unprofessional and can be downright nasty, it is all about the money over there and if you are a healthy, infrequent patient be warned, you will get released as a patient and forced to find a new doctor. I discovered this after many years at the same clinic and this happened to me, so make sure you go and book an appt. at least once or twice a year and make sure they do not classify you as a " file storage facility" patient with " no contribution to their operating costs" . Do your part and make sure Alberta Health is paying for a visit even if you do not need to go. No wonder our health system is in trouble!

just do not choose him

I have been a patient of Dr. Fernandes since he began practicing. He is always in a hurry. He does not listen well. Makes lots of mistakes like confusing patient prescriptions. This practice is all about making money. His wife Paige who also works with him is extremely rude and probably responsible for him losing patients. She needs a lesson in common courtesy. I prefer to use the walk-in clinics where I get treated with a lot more respect.

Is he busy? Yes. Is he quick and a bit abrupt? Yes. Is he so good that all the rest just doesn´ t really matter? Absolutely. I´ ve had countless doctors in my 41+ years, and he is the only one to know about the rare condition I have, and the only one to understand the impacts it can have on my life.

On the day after I separated from my wife, he took the time to talk to me about it even though he had a full waiting room. He spends his time with his patients wisely, and he can´ t spend 30 minutes talking to each person about their son/niece/cat. However, if you´ re truly in need, he will take the time for you.

At the end of the day, as distasteful as this seems to many of us, he has a business to run, and due to the funding structure in our province that makes his business one that is based on volume. Accept that you are getting fast, high-quality medical advice and give up the notion of having a personal relationship with your doctor. That´ s just not reality any more.

His practice is obviously a business, but you´ d think to make it a successful one he would have staff that would reflect some of those characteristics.. When you call your doctor´ s office after being told by paramedics that is important to see your family doctor as soon as possible & are told that they have nothing available for 2 weeks so end up in emergency!!?!?!? Was appalled by the rude, uncaring & unprofessional behavior.

I´ d like to echo many of the concerns already mentioned.
Dr. Fernandes is a competent professional who has the knowledge to deliver sound medical advice... but does not do this consistently.

In my treatment, he has made more wrong or ineffectually diagnoses when I seen him, than delivering real help. He has contradicted himself on many occasions. He is impossible to see in a timely manner when you are in need. He is rushed, out of touch, and as a result sloppy in his approach. If he is book smart... he’s not people smart.

I can appreciate that he is overwhelmed, but he is ultimately responsible for this state. His biggest weakness is the reliance on his wife, Paige, as nurse and office manager. She is at best cold and at worst rude. She has no sense for customer service, and is seemingly unable to empathise with patients. She wants elderly “cash cow” patients: high frequency, low complexity clients – filling prescriptions week after week. She seem’s to forget that although Alberta Health pays the bills… the patients make the practice.

Since Dr. Fernandes opened there has been a steady degradation of quality of service and a not-so-subtle focus on maximizing profit at the patients’ expense. I think John, at his heart has what it takes to be a good, caring doctor; But with the pressure, guidance and support he’s getting from his wife he won’t. As a team this husband and wife seems focused on there entitlement, and a palatable disappointment that having a medical practice isn’t delivering the “Beverly Hills” lifestyle they saw in the movies.

I hope for his sake he sees the light, suggests a change of carreer for his wife (realestate maybe?), starts to build back the respect and trust of his patients again. If you call and his wife answers - hang up. Fair warning.

My children have been patients with Dr. Fernandes since they were wee; I visit rarely, because I have " White Coat Syndrome" - terrified of Doctors..Definitely not due to the care from Dr. Fernandes; I have always found him to be friendly, and, courteous. His staff are friendly, and, so what if Paige is abrupt at times? She has always been absolutely professional.

I am afraid of Dr´ s - but, know I can trust Dr. Fernandes. At one time, I went in with a very severe skin condition; he admited he did not know what it was, but recommended a cream, and suggested I return for a followup. Well, the cream did not work, and, my skin was worse; he did not let me leave; he phoned a fellow physician, who happened to be a dermatologist, and I was in within 30 minutes, to see a Dr. who is booked 6 months in advance.

????? ??????? ??????!!!!!!!!

Well said!!!!

Not sure what all the " griping" is about. Dr. F and his staff are the utmost professional and always work in the best interest of the patient.

It´ s funny how people are so willing to " slam" when their identity is concealed. I´ m sure those complaints are from the " problematic" patients who are NEVER happy with anything.

Bottom line, this Doctor " Rocks" and his staff is very competent!

I have read this posting after one of my colleagues sent it to me. Dr. Fernandes has been my Doctor for many years. I also happen to be a medical secretary in an adjacent office that often refers patients to Dr. Fernandes for second opinions, surgery, etc. I have covered in Dr. Fernandes´ office on many occasions when his staff was ill, etc.

I think that Dr. Fernandes is excellent - bottom line. He is caring, compassionate and thorough. I actually know several of the people that posted negative comments on this ratings blog - and can certify that they were kicked out of Dr. Fernandes´ practice for bad behaviour. I know this because they tried to get into my Dr.´ s practice after being kicked out of Dr. Fernandes´ office.

It´ s sad that people can post anything they like on a forum like this completely anonymously. What you typically find is that you only get inaccurate stories from people who, for some reason, want to " vent" their frustrations when they couldn´ t bully Dr. Fernandes or his staff into getting what they want.

I actually know one of the people below who posted a negative comment about Dr. Fernandes and his wife. This nasty patient was basically trying to scam an insurance company so that she could go on a cruise. Dr. Fernandes refused to write her a note to get her off work for 3 weeks " to recover from an illness" . She tried to exploit her knowledge about Dr. Fernandes and his family in order to coerce/threaten Dr. Fernandes into writing her an extended absence note.

When Dr. Fernandes refused - she tried to get the note from his Nurse/Wife Paige. And when SHE refused - this patient ended up coming to my Dr.´ s office to try to exploit us for the note.

This patient eventually posted very negative comments about me and my Dr. after she saw us both and didn´ t get what she wanted. Dr. Fernandes basically threw her out of his practice - and she became vicious to him. She is not smart. She came into my Dr´ s office wanting to be a patient - stating how " terrible" Dr. Fernandes was.

I would be willing to bet that most of the negative comments about Dr. Fernandes are from patients similar to this. Generally, only people that are unhappy about something - or didn´ t get to bully a Medical Office - will take the time and effort necessary to post negative comments like this anonymously.

I am about to retire, so I don´ t care if anyone knows who I am. I´ m sure that many people will be able to guess when they look at Dr. Fernandes´ neighbours.

To the woman who so viciously attacked Dr. Fernandes and his family in the post below: SHAME ON YOU, HC! I see that you never once mentioned that Dr. Fernandes came to your house many times in the middle of the night over the years and saved your life, stitched up your kids on the kitchen table and saved the lives of BOTH of your parents. It is because of reprehensible people like you that fine Doctors like Dr. Fernandes have to carefully scrutinize who they allow into their practice and why so many of our fine Physicians eventually burn out and leave practice!

I hope that you get what is obviously coming to you. A saying I like is that Karma will eventually come your way: remember - Karma is only nasty if you are.....and you are the nastiest. Enjoy your Karma.

To anyone who reads this post - don´ t believe what you necessarily read on the internet. If you are an adult - you know what people are like and how they can be. Judge for yourself. If you do - you won´ t miss an opportunity to get a great Dr. and it might just one day save your life!

I love being old......

I don´ t know how to type, so I am getting my granddaughter to type this for me. My daughter told me about this blog thing and so I read it myself and got very upset with what I read.

This Doctor has been taking care of my grandkids, my kids, my parents, my grandma and my cousins and uncles, nieces and nephews for a very long time. In all, he probably takes care of about 45 family members of mine and we all agree: he is amazing. Yes, he is always in a hurry - but when any of us has really needed him: he is ALWAYS there for us.

When my wife was dying " from old age" we used to call it - but now we call it " Alzheimer´ s" - Dr. Fernandes somehow had the ability to make " time stand still" in the room with just the two of us. He would often talk to me for up to half an hour at a time, never once worrying about the throngs of people waiting for him in the waiting room. During the agonizing two year process that slowly took my wife away from me until only a shell remained - Dr. Fernandes kept me going with a combination of medications and just talking to and supporting me. I am actually crying while I´ m writing this because I am SOOO angry at the people that posted negative comments about him and his wife - who AWLAYS found time for me in his busy and crowded practice. She is truly an angel, Paige is. My wife really liked Paige too.

When my wife eventually died, Dr. Fernandes and his wife took the time to come to the funeral. I know that they have a very busy family life - yet they was there for me! How many Doctors do this?

Dr. Fernandes always stays personally on call for all of his patients. All of the time. When my cousin called him on Christmas morning when he was having chest pain - Dr. Fernandes answered the phone....and organized everything that saved my cousin from a heart attack. On Christmas day, Dr. Fernandes went to the hospital and made sure that my cousin got his Stint - or whatever that little cage thing is that goes in your heart artery [Grandpa - I think its called a " stent" ].

How many Physicians personally stay on call all the time for all of their patients? None that I know other than Dr. Fernandes.

So please don´ t believe any of the bad comments. They are probably from bad people.

Yes and I wonder how many of the 10/10/10/10/10 reviews are done by his wife? No doctor is perfect and I know QUITE well that he is not. I dumped him and now just go to the walk-in clinic in Beddington. At least they look after you there.

The absolute worst doctor, he should be banned from practicing.
He does not care about his patients and has zero respect for the health of anyone
in his care.

I would hesitate to call him a " dr" and I would never call his wife a nurse. Most of the time when you go to the office you sit there and wonder why on earth you´ ve come back. He doesn´ t listen, shuffles you out while dismissing every one of your concerns. I need to find a new doctor but right now I´ m stuck with him and his arrogance. I´ m at the point where I´ m just waiting to keel over and go to the emergency room before I go back to see him. He´ s not helpful! He´ s a little big for his britches and I get embarrassed for him every time I see walk in the office. Just writing this review makes me angry and in fact I´ m going to drop him right now. Dr. Fernandes. Give me a BREAK.

Hmm where to start - he is arrogant, does not listen to your concerns, is rude, rushes you out of the office, leaves you feeling worse then when you came in and the list goes on! His wife is a witch and should hide out on a remote island where she has no contact with humans. She obviously has no people skills and I am sure this is because she is just as arrogant and self centered as her husband. Do yourself a favour and find another doctor. You are actually better off without one if he is your only choice.

I have been a patient of Dr. F´ s for 12 years. He is very good at what he does. He is knowledgeable and very kind. The staff is great too. They will do anything to help you out. They will squeeze you in, make that extra call and make sure that the patient is taken care of. Those of you who are disgruntled, are probably experiencing problems in all aspects of your life. You are miserable people just looking to take out your problems on anyone you can. Because this is a forum that is anonymous you feel you can exaggerate. Well, I disagree, this office and Doctor are among the best there is!!

WHY WHY WHY do I continue to go back and waste my time with this Doctor and his so called nurse/office manager/wife who is the rudist most anti-social person I have ever had the misfortune to deal with - Dr Fernandes is a close second.
9 times out of 10 I leave feeling worse then when I actually went in.
I honestly feel like running for the front door everytime I go there - Well this time I did and I won´ t be returning anytime soon! In fact I NEVER will be.