Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Day 18: I experience the amazingly thorough and observant Canadian Health Ministry

To register the children for school, I was required to provide their immunization records. No big deal, the same is required in "The States" (as they say here)
What is different is that they don't keep the immunization records in the schools, you take them to the Health Unit to keep. Also fine.
This requires a trip to the Health Unit (which is a really great place. I wanted to take photos, but thought it might be frowned upon.)
Our first trip was a great learning experience.
Lesson learned? Don't park in the parking lot. You can go in, but can't get out until you feed $5 into the gate. $5 in coins. Two toonies and a loonie. Coins that I didn't have.
Which meant backing up and re-parking my monstrous Suburban (Canada apparently wasn't designed with hulking American vehicles in mind) and walking to a variety (convenience) store for change.
I usually don't carry cash, but luckily brought some along that day.

When I got home, the very efficient person that I dealt with called to inform me that something was amiss with Emma's records.

Side note - Emma noticed the discrepancies herself on the way to the Health Unit. I hadn't noticed them, and obviously the school in Utah didn't notice (or care, maybe) so I told Emma not to worry, let's just go with it.

They noticed.

After a call to the pediatrician in Utah and several faxes back and forth, we finally had some records that looked right.

Today I made the trip to the Health Unit again.
The GPS thingy that I rely heavily on? Its battery died on the way and I didn't have the cord to plug it in.
How better to learn my way around than to be lost?
After a lovely tour of the city and many times around the block waiting for a parking spot that didn't require a ransom, I finally presented the immunization records to the incredibly thorough nurse who called me before I had even gotten home to tell me that something was - again- amiss.

The problem this time, the lovely nurse Joann explained, is that the MMR vaccine was given too close to the date the Varicella vaccine was given, which is bad because blah blah antibodies blah blah blah may not be immune blah blah if there was an outbreak blah blah twenty day suspension from school...

Joann! Please just tell me what you need me to do!

In conclusion: Emma needs to get some shots :(

1 comment:

  1. Poor you, poor Emma! Those days where you run around at everyone else's bidding? Hate 'em.

    At least they don't call us "The Colonies" like they do in Britain. :)

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