I have a confession to make. It's been almost a decade since I last visited a doctor. Well, I did go to the Emergency Room once about a year ago and I have a vague memory of visiting a nearby walk-in clinic maybe 7 or 8 years ago. But that's it. I know for a fact that I definitely haven't had any other doctor visits since moving to Abbotsford.
It's not that I'm afraid of doctors or anything; I just hadn't felt a pressing need to go see one. I did see them regularly when I still lived with my parents, but that was probably primarily because it was my mom making the appointments. I guess that's one sign of a good parent—being extra careful about their children's health. But the other thing is that several various ailments simply stopped after I moved out. And whenever I'd go over to visit, they occasionally would resurface until I went back home. I like to joke that I must be allergic to my mom.
But in any case, in recent months I've been really feeling that regular doctor visits is something I need to get back into. It's important to take care of your health after all, especially so once you get into your thirties like I am. But that's easier said than done, it seems...
There's what looks like a nice little clinic by my house, with doctors listed on their sign as “Family Practice.” So I made a point of adding a visit to the errands I was going out to do one Saturday morning. Well, they were closed and the sign they had put up said they were open again on Tuesday as it was a long weekend. The next weekend I had company and the following weekend I didn't get around to it, so it was three weeks later when I returned and once again saw a “Closed—Open Monday” sign on their door.
I made sure I went back on Monday on my way home from work. Fortunately, they were open this time. That's when I found out that finding a new doctor wasn't as simple as walking in and asking if I could start visiting one of the doctors there. The lady at the reception gave me a phone number for somewhere at the hospital that I could call to find out which doctors in Abbotsford were currently accepting patients. Well, I have a bit of an aversion to calling strangers, so I took to Google instead. That lead me to the web site for the College of Physicians & Surgeons of British Columbia, which has a convenient “Find a family physician” feature. In all of Abbotsford, there are apparently only ten doctors accepting patients. I initially thought that wasn't much, but actually, all that shows up for the next closest cities of Mission, Langley and Chilliwack combined is only a whopping nine doctors. Wow. I guess I should feel lucky to have ten to choose from.
So, I picked one from the list and decided I'd go by that office after work one day. Google Maps appeared to indicate that the address was inside a small mall in town. I didn't remember seeing a medical clinic inside, although I've seen a dental clinic there so I figured I just missed it. I looked around, and found no medical clinic anywhere. I did a quick drive around the block, in case it was on the other side of the street or something. No luck. When I got home, I double-checked the address in case I was looking at old information, and confirmed the address was indeed correct.
I was bored, and one web page indicated they were open later that day, so after supper I went out for a drive to give it another shot. Well what do you know, I found it this time. I wasn't actually in the mall, but attached to the grocery store next door. Same lot, but not physically connected to the mall at all. Glad to finally have found it, I parked and went inside, eager to sign up to be a new patient there.
I should have guessed it wouldn't quite be that easy. Finding a doctor who's accepting patients is only the first step. Apparently, one also has to talk to the doctor for a few minutes to see if he actually wants to accept you as a patient. When I visited an optometrist a few years ago (actually, I see from my records that was four years ago. Probably time to make another appointment...) all I had to do was walk in, say I'd like to see an optometrist, and shortly after left with an appointment for a couple weeks later. I'm not sure why physicians would need to screen their patients, but other medical professions don't.
The next evening the doctor was in (since I didn't think it was worth booking time off work just for a short chat), I came in and asked at the reception if it looked like he'd have a chance to meet with me about accepting me as a new patient. Unfortunately, there were already too many walk-in visitors so he wouldn't have a chance. But she did point out that they now had copies of the clinic's October schedule available to take home, listing when all the various doctors would be in.
He was in again Monday evening, so back I went, directly from work. I get off at 4:30 and he was supposed to be in until 7:00 so I figured I'd have a good chance even if I had to wait for over an hour. Then I saw the “Closed to walk-ins” sign on the door since they were already completely booked up. Oh well. I guess people with immediate medical concerns are definitely more important to see, anyway. But it wasn't a wasted trip, since I had been craving an egg nog latte all afternoon. I had previously heard from a reputable source that egg nog was once again for sale and conveniently, as I mentioned earlier, this clinic was physically attached to a grocery store.
So, what next? I don't really want to keep driving out every few days only to get turned away each time. In the two times I spoke with someone there, it was never suggested that I could make an appointment so I'd always just be in the queue with the walk-ins. I guess I'll have to check out the offices of a few others from the list and make the rounds, going to a different one every day and cycling through them all until finally I get the chance to see one of them. And hopefully, he'll actually agree to have me as a patient.
You know, as Canadians we pride ourselves on having free universal health care. But now that I actually have the desire to make regular use of it, I'm finding the whole process is a huge pain. Well, I guess you get what you pay for.
No comments:
Post a Comment