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Patient guide service, Austin

A named guide calls you back before ten the next morning.

Call, write or use the form below. It reaches the same desk at 71 Mill Street, and the person who picks it up keeps your case until you are through the right door. Help booking a hospital visit costs nothing. Class fees are listed on the programs page.

Phone
+1 (779) 555-3858
Answered
Third ring, weekdays
After six
Voicemail, call back by 10:00
Written replies
Next working day
Visit planning
No charge

Not medical care. Northwell's guides and classes are not medical care and do not replace your doctor. The desk cannot read symptoms, results or prescriptions sent through this page.

Urgent? If something is urgent, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. Do not use this form or the chat for it.

Write to the desk

Tell us which door you are trying to find

Four fields are required and the rest help the guide prepare before calling. Say which appointment or class you have in mind, the week that suits, and anything about access we should know, like a wheelchair or a second language at home. Leave out symptoms and diagnoses. We cannot use them and we would rather not hold them.

Tell us who to ask for when we call back.
We need a phone number with the area code.
That email address looks incomplete.
Helps the guide suggest the nearest location and the parking. Add a street and city, or leave the field empty.
For example: the appointment date you were given, the building named on your letter, the week you want a class. No symptoms, please.

Nothing is booked or charged when you send this. A guide confirms any class seat and fee by phone.

After you write

What happens between your message and the right door

The same guide handles every step. If they are away, their name is on your file and a colleague tells you so on the first call rather than starting over.

  1. Within one working day

    A named guide calls

    They introduce themselves, give you a direct extension and ask what you have been told so far. If the form came in after six, the call comes before ten the next morning. We try twice, then send an email.

  2. Same call, about eleven minutes

    Location, paperwork, parking

    The guide confirms which building and entrance your appointment uses, which forms need filling beforehand and where to leave the car. For a class, they check the date, the seat and anything that has to happen first, such as a physician's note.

  3. Two to three days later

    A letter, then a check-in

    You get a letter with directions and a checklist of what to bring. Most people call us about parking. That answer is on page two. The day before, the guide rings once more to see whether anything changed.

Before you send anything

What the desk cannot do for you

Anything urgent

We do not book emergencies and we do not triage. An urgent message sent here waits in a queue until a guide reads it, and the guide's only answer will be to call 911. That costs you minutes. Call 911 first.

Opinions on a symptom or a medicine

We do not tell you what a symptom means, whether a dose is right or whether you need a second opinion. Your own clinician does that. What we will do is help you get the appointment and turn up with the right papers. The full limits are in the terms.

Questions people ask the desk

Short answers before you pick up the phone

Can I just walk in to Mill Street?

You can, on a weekday, but the guides spend most of the day on the phone and you may wait. A call is faster. If you come for a class, arrive no earlier than fifteen minutes before the start; the door stays locked until then.

Is help booking a hospital visit really free?

Yes. The visit planning call has no charge and no follow-up bill. Classes have fees, from $15 for a single steady movement session to $140 for the four-evening new parents series. Those figures are indicative and confirmed when we book you.

Can someone call on behalf of a parent or partner?

Yes, and a lot of our calls are exactly that. We will talk logistics with you. For anything that needs the patient's own details, like confirming an appointment time with a hospital, the guide will ask to speak to them briefly or to have their permission in writing.

I sent the form and nobody called.

Check the number you typed, then look for an email from [email protected] in your spam folder. The usual cause is a missing area code. Ring +1 (779) 555-3858 and give your name; the guide will find the message.

Can I use the chat instead?

For a quick question about a class date or directions, yes. The chat is answered by the same desk during weekday hours. For anything that needs a callback, the form is better because it gives the guide your number.

Classes in Austin, twelve seats each

Want to see the timetable first?

Every class, its seat count, its fee and who it is not for, on one page. Or read how the desk started in 2011 on the about page.

See the programs Work at the desk