Bear Lake Memorial Hosp Svc

Pros

• The nurse and doctor were kind and explained everything, making it a five-star experience.
• The staff were very accommodating, attentive, and great.
• The hospital provides great care with no issues with billing.
• Dr. Crane was absolutely amazing and saved the patient's life.
• The care was phenomenal, with the nursing staff being caring and kind.
• Dr. Reynolds was knowledgeable and professional and collaborated well with the patient.
• The facility was very nice for a small town.
• Jennifer Felter explained everything clearly and made the patient feel safe and comfortable.
• The nurses, preop, postop, and anesthesiologist were amazing.
• The ER staff, surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nursing staff were amazing; they treated the family like family and ensured their needs were met.
• The food was excellent and the facility was clean.
• Travelers can feel confident in Bear Lake Memorial Hospital as an excellent emergency care option.

Cons

• One reviewer would give 0 stars because a doctor grabbed and twisted the knee, made snarky comments, and showed terrible bedside manner.
• A reviewer called Bear Lake Memorial the worst hospital ever, citing doctors taking lunch breaks while patients waited for prescriptions and meds not being ready.
• Another reviewer described the ER as horrible, noting arrogant behavior from a nurse practitioner and pressure to stay, plus an $1,100 charge for a short visit.
• A traveler complained about delays in obtaining medical records, which hindered care and work paperwork.
• A reviewer stated that the staff had gone downhill and were awful.
• Another account claimed some PA/MA staff seemed to scare patients into more treatment, making patients feel ganged up on.

Review

Bear Lake Memorial Hospital in Montpelier and the surrounding Bear Lake area is a place that inspires a wide range of feelings. The collection of experiences shared by patients and families paints a picture of a small-town hospital with many standout moments of compassionate care, alongside frustrations that show up in billing, scheduling, and occasionally bedside manner. Across the board, people frequently describe a sense of gratitude for having a local emergency and inpatient resource that can save lives, comfort loved ones, and provide attentive nursing care, even as they point to specific staff and processes that could use improvement.

A clear thread through many reviews is the quality of life-saving and supportive care delivered in emergencies. Several visitors recount encounters in the ER where the team acted quickly, explained procedures, and helped families feel informed and secure during frightening moments. One family who faced a skiing accident in Utah credited Dr. Reynolds with knowledgeable, professional collaboration, and described the nursing staff as caring and kind. Another guest who spent two days in the hospital for pneumonia appreciated the overall care, noting the facility's appearance and the staff's attentiveness. In these accounts, hospital staff backed by solid medical leadership created a sense of reassurance during serious health events, and the experience left many feeling grateful for access to robust care in a relatively small community setting.

There are also numerous testimonies that celebrate individual clinicians who left lasting impressions for their empathy and thoroughness. For example, a toe injury visit is described as being handled with clear explanations and options, with Jennifer Felter providing bedside guidance and making the patient feel safe and comfortable. A different patient described an ER visit during Thanksgiving where the provider was again said to be amazing - facilitating a smooth evaluation, discharge instructions, and a sense of genuine attention. In many of these positive entries, doctors and nurses are praised not just for clinical competence but for taking time to explain what's happening and to ensure patients felt cared for beyond the technical aspects of care.

Yet the same hospital experiences certain criticisms that recur across reviews. Several people recount moments of discomfort with bedside manner, including a number of comments about a nurse practitioner who, in one account, was described as arrogant and rude when a patient requested comfort and warmth during treatment. Another reviewer noted frustration with a different encounter, citing rude remarks, a feeling of being dismissed, and a sense that staff were more focused on other duties than on listening to the patient or family. These discrepancies - varying impressions of the same role or staff member between visits - underline how much an individual encounter can color a person's overall impression of the hospital.

Operational frustrations also surface in a few reviews, including accounts of long wait times, scheduling challenges, and lapses in administrative duties. One family described a backlog where a scheduled appointment turned into a very long wait, prompting questions about the value of scheduling if timeliness cannot be met. Others described difficulties obtaining medical records after ER visits, with follow-up reports, CT findings, or doctor notes taking longer to arrive than expected, complicating care plans with specialists back home. Billing concerns emerged as another sore point for some, including a large bill for a short ER visit and frustrations about prescriptions that did not arrive at the pharmacy as expected, which added to stress during already anxious moments.

Despite these critiques, many reviews emphasize the hospital's essential role in the community and the genuinely positive experiences that occurred. Several families recount heartfelt gratitude for the care their loved ones received during end-of-life moments, noting that physicians and nurses went above and beyond to ensure comfort and dignity. There are strong, consistent compliments about the nursing staff and surgical or anesthesia teams in various contexts - from preoperative to postoperative care after foot procedures - where patients felt respected, well cared for, and supported through challenging times. The facility's environment is also frequently praised as welcoming and clean, with one reviewer explicitly mentioning the quality of food and the overall atmosphere as contributing to a humane hospital stay.

In sum, Bear Lake Memorial Hospital emerges as a valued and trusted local resource, capable of delivering high-quality, life-saving care and compassionate support when it matters most. The narratives celebrate memories of skilled clinicians, attentive nurses, and moments of relief during distressing health scares. They also remind readers that consistency can be an issue: positive patient experiences hinge on individual staff interactions and operational efficiency, while administrative processes - billing, records, and scheduling - sometimes fall short of expectations. The overarching message is that the hospital serves a vital community need, with many shining examples of excellence and kindness, but like many institutions, it is continually working to harmonize its clinical strengths with smoother administrative and interpersonal experiences for every patient who walks through its doors.

Hospitals

• Bear Lake Memorial Hospital (0 miles)

Restaurants

• Twisted Subs (0.1 miles)
• El Jaliciense (0.3 miles)
• Dan's Drive In (0.3 miles)
• Taco Time (0.3 miles)
• Subway (0.4 miles)
• Arctic Circle Restaurant (0.4 miles)
• King's of Montepelier (0.5 miles)

Pharmacies

• Broulims Supermarket (0.2 miles)
• Bear Lake Drug (0.4 miles)

Places of Worship

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (0.2 miles)
• Community Presbyterian Church (0.3 miles)
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (0.4 miles)
• Montpelier South Stake Gym (0.4 miles)
• Jehovah's Witnesses (0.5 miles)
• Bible Believers Baptist Church (0.7 miles)
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (0.9 miles)

Cafes

• Fizeez (0.2 miles)
• Huckleberry Creek (0.3 miles)
• Stone Age Soda (0.4 miles)

Parks

• Montpelier Dog Park (0.2 miles)
• Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge (0.5 miles)

Transportation

• U-Haul (0.3 miles)
• Union Pacific Railroad Company (0.6 miles)

Theaters

• Centre Theatre (0.4 miles)