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Michael Mallin and Lucille Harvey, both former patients of Dr. Alex Pulido, read a sign on the late doctor’s door Wednesday informing people how to get ahold of their medical records.
One patient sat outside his former Palatka doctor’s office Wednesday afternoon expecting an appointment after receiving two automated calls to confirm ahead of time.
No one came to the door that afternoon, and more patients showed up. Some looked at the sign on the door and others, too, had received confirmation calls.
Dr. Alex Pulido, an internal medicine doctor in Palatka, died unexpectedly last month at 46 years old and patients have been scrambling to try to collect their medical records and make new doctor’s appointments.
“They called me yesterday to confirm my appointment,” said Satsuma resident Michael Mallin, who was waiting outside the office for his appointment Wednesday afternoon.
Another woman, Lucille Harvey, said no one called her to tell her how to access her medical records. She stopped by Pulido’s office, 700 Zeagler Dr., Suite 1, to see if there was any information she could find out.
A new sign on the door is directing patients to Express Family Care. Pulido’s wife, Gaby Pulido, confirmed that office is handling her husband’s former patients.
Patients are encouraged to fax medical records requests to 386-385-4826. They can also call Express Family Care at 386-530-4990 to make a new patient appointment with their doctors.
Patients who wish to stay under the care of Pulido’s nurse practitioner, Bridgett Hynes, may be able to do so by the end of the month.
She and Pulido’s former office manager Gail Parker are hoping to take over a space just one door down from Dr. Pulido’s old office soon.
“Everyone’s been very helpful getting patients taken care of to the best of their ability,” Hynes said. “It’s those that aren’t seeing another specialist that are really lost in transition right now.”
The duo is hoping to get a phone set up this week for patients to reach out to them but, as of Thursday, they did not have that. Hynes said if patients wanted to message her on Facebook she would respond to them as soon as she could.
Parker said she and Hynes are starting from scratch to set up an office and it is not what they had planned to do. She said working at Dr. Pulido’s office, everyone was like a family, and Hynes agreed she was happy working there.
“It’s going to be quite a challenge here for a little bit,” Parker said about setting up a new practice.
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