We are currently down in Bellingham pursuing a little medical care in the enormous medical complex that is housed there. I'm used to being around hospitals, but that was two decades ago, and the changes in those intervening 20 years have been amazing. There's the hospital and then there's dozens of buildings surrounding the hospital holding all kinds of specialized facilities, some belonging to the hospital, some not, but a place for every organ, every individual system, every conceivable need.
This stay at St. Joseph's (we're in to the 2nd day and Ed is the patient while I'm the family member) has been very good so far, given that one is dealing with a hospital. We have no complaints whatsoever; although we might be unhappier if things weren't going well. But it is reassuring to feel that, despite the isolation of Pt. Roberts, that there is good medical care accessible, although you do have an hour's drive to get to it. But once you're here, you are here.
The other benefit we have come to more fully appreciate is the fact that Point Robert's Wellness Clinic provides not only initial wellness care but also, and even more important in this case, connection to physicians. If it were up to us, I suspect, we might still be phoning around trying to get a physician to accept us as Medicare patients. Or at the very least, trying to find one who would accept us and about whom we had any reason to feel confidence. Virginia, the Saint of the Wellness Clinic, did that work for us. And those who set the Clinic up originally had the foresight to make sure that that service was part of the foundation of the clinic. At least as far as I understand it, St. Joseph's-affiliated physicians are in some way obliged to accept referrals from the clinic. We have surely had that be our experience, and are very grateful for it.
It's one thing to say that a hospital has to accept you in the Emergency Room, but they only have to do it until you are stabilized. After that, you might well be on your own, even with insurance. Having assured physician access means a lot.
Showing posts with label wellness clinic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wellness clinic. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
End of the Year
End of the Year
The January All Point Bulletin is out with its recap of what we’ve all been through this past year in Point Roberts. Although it's been a kind of crushing year for many, many people, the Point has come through pretty well, I’d think. The library and the Parks Board got their levy increases, and there is a move afoot to try to encourage the County to do something about restoring the dock/boat launch at Light House Park. All good things. More of Lily Point was conserved and it appears that the historic remains will remain where they historically have been. There have been deaths of course, perhaps most notably, that of Irene Waters, but that is the truth of every year. And we haven’t lost anything --other than dock and the curbside trash collection--that we formerly had, although one of the banks is looking a little poorly.
The newspaper also has a bunch of cheerful letters, thanking people for good things that came to pass recently. And then, at the very end of this letter string, there is a downer: a letter, initially about the Aydon Wellness Clinic, which the letter writer is hoping will soon go out of existence, because, apparently, it is a great burden on his existence.
Of course, many other people—probably most residents of Point Roberts-- find the clinic very helpful, find its staff knowledgeable and resourceful and able to get them to more complex health care when it is needed. Thus, it’s a little hard to sympathize with whatever personal burden the letter writer feels about the clinic’s existence.
Not content with hoping for the end of the clinic, the letter writer takes on health care reform as well, which he also hopes will go out of existence. I spent a lot of years working in and around health care, so I’m pretty sympathetic to those who are frustrated with how the ‘system’ (or ‘no-system’) works. But our letter writer’s grievance is largely that he is going to have to buy health insurance, even though he’d rather spend his money on gym membership and natural food supplements. But he’s not going to buy health insurance, he says.
Well, I doubt if he’s discovered the secret of eternal life, either in gyms or health food stores or organic vegetables. But I certainly hope that he’s willing to follow a life of true principle such that when and if he should experience the ominous chest pain that might precede a heart attack, or the strangely slurred speech that can appear as a sign of stroke, or the grievous loss of blood and the intense pain that can occur after, say an accident involving cars or in homes with guns...well, I hope he proceeds immediately to his gym for a workout, or calls his health food store and asks which supplements can be delivered to him ASAP. The unprincipled alternative, of course, would be to get himself to a hospital, where the rest of us will have to pay his bill.
The January All Point Bulletin is out with its recap of what we’ve all been through this past year in Point Roberts. Although it's been a kind of crushing year for many, many people, the Point has come through pretty well, I’d think. The library and the Parks Board got their levy increases, and there is a move afoot to try to encourage the County to do something about restoring the dock/boat launch at Light House Park. All good things. More of Lily Point was conserved and it appears that the historic remains will remain where they historically have been. There have been deaths of course, perhaps most notably, that of Irene Waters, but that is the truth of every year. And we haven’t lost anything --other than dock and the curbside trash collection--that we formerly had, although one of the banks is looking a little poorly.
The newspaper also has a bunch of cheerful letters, thanking people for good things that came to pass recently. And then, at the very end of this letter string, there is a downer: a letter, initially about the Aydon Wellness Clinic, which the letter writer is hoping will soon go out of existence, because, apparently, it is a great burden on his existence.
Of course, many other people—probably most residents of Point Roberts-- find the clinic very helpful, find its staff knowledgeable and resourceful and able to get them to more complex health care when it is needed. Thus, it’s a little hard to sympathize with whatever personal burden the letter writer feels about the clinic’s existence.
Not content with hoping for the end of the clinic, the letter writer takes on health care reform as well, which he also hopes will go out of existence. I spent a lot of years working in and around health care, so I’m pretty sympathetic to those who are frustrated with how the ‘system’ (or ‘no-system’) works. But our letter writer’s grievance is largely that he is going to have to buy health insurance, even though he’d rather spend his money on gym membership and natural food supplements. But he’s not going to buy health insurance, he says.
Well, I doubt if he’s discovered the secret of eternal life, either in gyms or health food stores or organic vegetables. But I certainly hope that he’s willing to follow a life of true principle such that when and if he should experience the ominous chest pain that might precede a heart attack, or the strangely slurred speech that can appear as a sign of stroke, or the grievous loss of blood and the intense pain that can occur after, say an accident involving cars or in homes with guns...well, I hope he proceeds immediately to his gym for a workout, or calls his health food store and asks which supplements can be delivered to him ASAP. The unprincipled alternative, of course, would be to get himself to a hospital, where the rest of us will have to pay his bill.
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