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| - I've been to this "mini-hospital", as I call it, a handful of times now. (It's okay, I know it's actually called an Urgent Care Centre). The first time, it was my husband's incredibly inflamed gout in his foot. We had to grab a taxi from our downtown apartment, but with the Sheldom M. Chumir being only blocks away, it's a very convenient location indeed. I was surprised at how long it took in the waiting room...not only for almost 2 hours with Rob, but when they called him in, there was another almost 2 hours before he came back out. This is what makes it like a hospital hehe.
The second time I was there, I had eaten a moldy cheeseburger (not on purpose, I discovered it halfway through eating) so I fell into a tearful fit before deciding to go to "the Sheldon" to get my stomach pumped. I went to triage pretty quickly because of my obvious frantic state, but after waiting 45 minutes "backstage", the doctor told me I shouldn't get horrible, life-threatening food-poisoning from a little bit of mold (and I didn't).
The third time was for Rob's gout again. If you don't know, Gout is a swelling and irritation of joints around bones, often caused by too much sodium in the diet; it causes severe swelling of the joints, and in this case, it was in Rob's toes, so his foot was so swollen, tender & painful he could barely stand much-less walk! Again, we waited awhile, but I remember them giving him an icepack for his foot.
They also have very nice security staff. While Rob was backstage--as I call it--I decided to go get a treat from a vending machine. I put the coins in, but the chocolate bar got stuck halfway down. It costs $2, so I wasn't prepared to just leave it....so I went to ask for assistance and this young male security staff was more than willing to give the machine one good hit and out it came :) Much appreciated.
Oh, and there's a Good Earth Cafe at the other end of the corridor and to the right. If you are coming with the patient, I reccomend bringing cash for snacks, an MP3-player, and a good book ;)
If you are the patient, make sure you bring your Alberta Health Card and photo id. Feel at ease, though it seems like days ae going by in there, they do pay close attention to each patient and will get you in on a priority basis.
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