Kaiser Alameda Pediatricians

Aug 2013

RE: Time to switch away from Kaiser pediatrics?

I would try another location. I live in Alameda and go to the Alameda pediatrics office. The docs here are great. It is super easy to get appt and parking is street parking (if there is no street parking there is a cheap city lot a block away at oak and central...although I have never had to park there bc there is always street parking). If I had to go to Oakland for pediatrics I would prob think about switching insurance too. Going to the Oakland location is awful (both of those parking lots are hard to get into). If alameda is not convienant try another city that has a peds office. Alameda kaiser patient 

Nov 2002

Kaiser recently opened an Alameda office with three Pediatricians. Our son is currently seeing Dr Minger who we like but I was curious if anyone else had previous experience with her (good or bad). The other two pediatricians are Dr. Cheng and Dr. Ruiz. I believe they all were at Kaiser Oakland prior to moving to Alameda. If anyone has seen these doctors I would appreciate any information. Thanks! Jasmin

Dr. Cheng has been our daughter's pediatrician since birth and is now our son's too. We are even following him to Alameda though it's not nearly as convenient. I like him -- he's always been very good at giving us the different sides to consider in decisions, and then making his recommendation if asked for it. For instance, when trying to decide whether to vaccinate our daughter against chicken pox, he shared the benefits and the risks of both getting the vaccine (she was two) and waiting. I then asked him ''If it were your kid, what would you do?'' He said he would probably wait until she were five; if she hadn't contracted the virus naturally by then, he would vaccinate her.

He's also been very responsive when needed. When our daughter's blood test showed a slight increase in her lead level, even though it was still in the ''safe'' zone, he called us to let us know on a Saturday evening. But he wasn't alarmist about it all - - again he explained the concern carefully, letting us know what to worry about and what not to, explained the best course of action to take.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous when I first met him because he seemed so young, but he's a good pediatrician and does his homework. He follows up on the things in our kids charts written by other doctors, remembers to follow up in the office on things we only discussed on the phone earlier. I recommend him strongly. elisabeth

My son & I saw Dr. Minger 3 times before she moved to Alameda. I liked her very much and would definitely have considered the switch to Alameda if I had the extra time in my schedule to go down there. She was kind, empathetic, and took a balanced approach to parenting. I also felt like we had a good connection, even though I had only seen her a few times. She was generous on the parent q & a that seems to be a large part of well-child visits. For what it's worth, I found her on the recommendation of other physicians in the Kaiser system who suggested her among all the pediatricians in Oakland. Laura M.

We saw Dr. Minger at Kaiser Oakland before she moved to Alameda. I liked her so much that when we do a same-day appointment in Alameda (more convenient to us, since his daycare is here), I ask to see her. We did see Dr. Cheng recently for a same-day appointment (I was willing to take anything they had), and thought he seemed young but was very good.

(For our regular appointments, we still see Dr. Mukherji in Oakland. She's fabulous.)

My son is 2.5. Jennie

Editor: More recommendations for Susan Minger are here: Kaiser Oakland Pediatricians