Dr. Kelly Linnea Helms, MD

Dr. Helms is caring, discerning, and simply the best. After many struggles and difficulties, she performed two separate surgeries for me. Each time being thorough, professional, and cautious. For every office visit, she would take time to make me feel comfortable and educate me on various options. I never felt that it was a treat and street mentality and the exact opposite was provided she appeared warm, caring, and proactive. Also, she has taken time to refer me to other industry professionals that suit our family best. Since choosing Dr. Helms in 2017, I feel that I’ve been provided the very best care and have been happy to refer others to her. Her assistant has always been kind, responsive, and made sure to notify her with any issues I’ve had. I will say the professional who does the imaging at the office is very rough and demeaning; however the rest of the practice is truly wonderful. It would be worth doing your research and I’m sure you’ll find many happy and satisfied patients of Dr. Helms and this practice. 

I first saw Dr Helms at 22, when my first OB left the practice. She is warm, and friendly, but honest and won’t beat around the bush. When I got pregnant she made me feel at ease and went out of her way to help me/call me with results. (I have heart disease so I’m high risk, and a huge worrier.) a year after having my first daughter I found out she was leaving the practice and going to another practice and followed her there, because I had such a connection and trust in her. She’s one of my favorite people. I had bleeding issues at 13 weeks with my second daughter, she got me in for an ultrasound next day and had me on bed rest for a few days (ended up being a blood pocket- AKA no concern) After my second daughter I ended up with postpartum and she followed me closely and helped me get the help and medication I needed to get better.
I am sorry to hear the other reviewer’s issues, but I have nothing but love for her and the practice. I knew Stephanie as well, and I know she left to work at Phx Childrens hospital a few years back because I ran into her there when I had my own cardiology appointment there! My mom also drives an hour to see her as well even though she no longer takes either of our insurance anymore.

I don’t take the time to write many reviews, but I feel others have a right to know just what kind of medical practice they are walking into, & what level of care they will receive. This may be a long review, but this horror story is necessary when deciding if this is where you’d like to be seen.

I previously saw Dr. Langer & I LOVED her. However, my medical insurance changed & I had to see a new doctor, even though I didn’t want to. Dr. Helms took my medical insurance, so we decided it would be best to switch to Dr. Helms, since I had a sensitive medical history.

I became pregnant right around the time my insurance changed, &  had not had an opportunity to meet Dr. Helms in person. A friend of mine had used her, and mentioned that she was not “warm and fuzzy, but she was direct and knew her stuff.” I can handle and appreciate that, I thought.  Boy was I wrong!

With my sensitive medical history, I was instructed by Dr. Langer to come in & have bloodwork drawn IMMEDIATELY upon finding out that I was pregnant. She had an order waiting for me. I did just that. I came in on a Tuesday, and followed up on that same Thursday with bloodwork. I received a call from the office with my results from Tuesday, but Thursdays was not in yet.

The following Tuesday, I had more blood work done, & had still not received results from the previous Thursday. A few hours after returning home, I began to bleed.  Obviously, I freaked out and called Dr. Helms, leaving a message with her medical assistant, Stephanie. Later that day, Dr. Helms called me back, & indicated that my results from Thursday had been lost, so we had no numbers to go off of.  This was terrible timing & news, when a pregnant woman is bleeding. In addition, I asked if I should take time off of work, due to the high physical demand of my job, & she made me feel stupid for even asking, & said yes. So, I took a week off of work.  She indicated that she would not be in the office the following day, but her assistant would call me to let me know my results of that days blood results.  The following day, I waited until around 3pm & I realized she wasn’t going to call me back, so I called her and left a message. She finally called me back once the office was closed and told me that she COULD NOT give me my results because Dr. Helms had not given the ok to do so. Even though Dr. Helms told me on the phone the day before that Stephanie would give me the results. She said she would call me back the following day (Thursday).  Long story short, she NEVER called, even after I left her a message. I was livid and scared to death!  Friday rolls around, & I don’t know if I should go in to have more blood work drawn, because Stephanie won’t call me back. I assume it’s the best thing to do considering one day of results has been lost and we need to know if things are progressing  after bleeding while pregnant. I get to the office, & there is no blood work order for me. The phlebotomist gets up and asks Stephanie for the okay. Stephanie walks into the room where I am sitting, acts like I’m not there says, “OKAY” & walks away. I ask the phlebotomist to bring her back in, because I need information.  AGAIN, she tells me she cannot give me ANY information, but will call me later that day.  Well, SHE NEVER called!

Let this sink in-I have a sensitive medical history with pregnancies, I’ve experienced bleeding, my blood has been lost, & I have NO idea what is going on because no one will call me back! That takes me into the WEEKEND, where all I am thinking is the worst.

Monday afternoon, Dr. Helms finally called me back, & acting annoyed, she indicated that my levels were fine, & that it appears things were progressing fine. She was ready to hang up, but I had more questions. I asked if I could go back to work, & she acted like that was a stupid question & said, “Well, we don’t have all these pregnant women on bed rest. Of course.” Then I asked when I should be seen by her, especially for an ultrasound. She said, “Well, we don’t do ultrasounds in the office anymore, but there is nothing to see anyways.  And, scheduling will have to talk to you about this, but we don’t switch doctors in this practice.” Mind you, I was seven weeks pregnant, and a heartbeat should be detectable at that time, & in previous pregnancies had ultrasounds & 5/6 weeks to assure viability.  At that moment, I realized that they felt like I was an annoyance, and that they did not want my business anymore.  There was no care or concern for me or my child.

I called another Doctors office, and they got me in the following day, where they did an ultrasound, and I saw my healthy baby with a heartbeat. That office wanted me to come back weekly to assure everything was fine and that the heartbeat was still there. This office showed such care and compassion, that I cried.

Unfortunately, I had another bump in the road, and needed to speak with Stephanie about an urgent matter after all of this. I dialed her extension and she shockingly answered. I asked my question and gave her my name.  When she realized who I was, she put me on hold for 10 minutes, came back and said, “I’m really busy right now, I’ll have to call you back.”  I’m sure you can guess what happened, SHE NEVER CALLED ME BACK.

Being pregnant is a scary and emotional time, but when you add complications and previous health histories to the mix, those emotions increase tenfold. I don’t need someone to baby me or to hold my hand, because that is not my personality at all.  However, I would like a doctor to show care and compassion, and more importantly to return my phone calls and keep me informed.  If calling to get my results is annoying to you, then you need to find a better system or assistant who can stay on top of that communication.  No one should ever have to go A WEEK to get simple test results or a phone call back from their medical provider.

Dr. Helms and Stephanie make a terrible team of medical professionals who fail to communicate and show any care or compassion for their patients. In addition, the office no longer has an ultrasound tech, and will send you out of office to have those done, making care even more complicated.