Dr. Antje Heckmann Howard, MD

She is " okay " I wouldn't referral her to friends. She helps with colds etc but when asked questions other than that she seems dismissive.

Lacks knowledge and people skills.

I'm surprised at another review about Dr. Howard that said she was inattentive and sometimes focused on her own issues instead of the patient's. I started seeing her when she was at VIDA family medicine (Owens St.), and continued with her when she left that office and went to another clinic. Dr. Howard has always been very professional with me, and has never volunteered anything of a personal nature to me in the years I have been her patient. She has always been willing to address and research if necessary all of my concerns and issues. If she feels someone else might be better suited to help me, someone outside the realm of family practice, she does not hesitate to refer me to someone else. This includes referring me to a naturopath. I respect the fact that as a family practitioner she cannot be expected to know everything! I also have Hashimoto's along with Fibromyalgia, and CFS. I am not an easy patient to deal with, nor does my body respond to treatment like the average… person's. Sometimes Western medicine isn't the answer and Dr. Howard understands that. I am grateful for her insight and willingness to go the extra mile to make sure I get the care I need, if not from her, then from someone else. I have personally had nothing but good experiences with her.

The office is clean, the staff is generally friendly and helpful, and the reason I started going there was because they supposedly support alternative medicine. I started out seeing Dr. Dacker at this office, but soon found myself detoured to Dr. Howard *every* time I called for an appt. I had been basically been "switched" to Dr. Howard as my "primary care physician" without my consent. But Dr. Howard was always distracted, side tracked, and rarely made me feel like she was actually listening to my concerns. There were even times when I had to listen to stories about her own health experiences during my appointment times and my own concerns about my health were brushed off as inconsequential. I found myself a new practice and was soon diagnosed with Hashimoto's syndrome. My life is MUCH better now that I have a team to help actually manage controlling my health, rather than constantly being brushed off and told I was worrying over nothing.