So, here's my Canada story for Canada Day.
I spent part of last night in the hospital. First time in many years. It was nothing serious. My toe hurt like hell and I could barely walk, but I figured it would get better soon enough. Still, we have this thing out here called
HealthLink BC which is like a triage system we use to determine if you should go to the hospital. You can use it online or talk to a registered nurse. I tried the online system and it said some variant on "omg go to the emergency room right now!!!". I thought that was a bit dramatic so I called the RN who clearly used the same system I had just used to tell me the same thing the computer just had, but she also threatened me in that matronly RN way with losing my toe if I didn't. As much as I dislike being nagged, it worked. My toes aren't particularly beautiful but they're the only ones I have, so I dragged my butt over to the emergency room at Surrey Memorial Hospital expecting to spend most of the night there.
The hospital itself is quite old, but the emergency building is newly renovated and beautiful. It's a peaceful green with glass block walls to the outside which let in a lot of sunlight. A sign in about 5 languages said to proceed to the red window which I did, presented my government health care card to the front-counter girl, and got a little band put around my wrist.
About 10 minutes later, a pleasant triage nurse came out, asked me what was wrong right there in the waiting room, poked at my toe causing me untold agony, and said I'd be seen shortly. I looked at her a bit surprised and asked, "Shortly?". "Mmm hmm," she said and smiled. I went back to watching one of the TVs they had in the waiting room set to closed-captioning. It's nice to be reminded how stupid TV is now and then.
A bit of time passed, some foul mouthed young guy who looked a bit like Elvis got told to watch his language or leave (he chose to watch his language), and then after about 10 minutes, another pleasant nurse (about 50 but with the body of a 25 year old model, at least when clothed) came by, asked me the same questions, poked at my toe like the first nurse causing me the same untold agony, and told me to go sit at a window and confirm my address and other details. I did that and went back to the waiting area and chatted with a nice older couple. She had sprained her wrist gardening and was in some pain, although she bore it well.
Ten minutes later, the hot 50-something nurse came back and took me to the treatment area where I sat in another waiting area right in the middle of a bunch of curtained treatment rooms with beds. A young trashy looking girl sitting next to me asked to use my phone and, after a moment's reflection on whether I could get a disease from a cell phone, I let her. I passed about 10 minutes there watching other people getting treated, although the doctors were careful to speak quietly enough not to be heard by anyone other than the patients.
At this point, a nice young Chinese chap came by, introduced himself in perfect English as Dr. Wu or Hu or something like that, asked me the same questions the first two nurses had, and poked at my toe just like they had, thereby causing me the same agony they had. He told me I had gout in my toe, gave me some anti-inflammatory meds and told me to take prednisone if it didn't clear up in a day or two. He assured me I wouldn't lose my toe and sent me on my way.
Total time elapsed: under an hour. Quality of care: at least as good as any in the world. Nobody asked me for money. Nobody will. I will get no bills in the mail.
I love Canada. :)