First off, making the appointment. He initially called and was told that he had to speak to the doctor himself to make the appointment. That turned out not to be right. But he has different staff people to handle his regular practice and the medicals. If the person who handles scheduling medicals is not in, you have to either call back when she is or try playing phone tag with the doctor. Anyway, my fiance called back when the right person was in and got an appointment for two weeks later.

He found Dr Viljoen to be very pleasant, didn't even really say anything about him having a doctor 'tude. He asked about why he was immigrating and how we met and even laughed at my fiance's jokes (what he told me was "if you joke around, he will be friendly").

The exam was pretty straightforward (he listened to his chest and did that thing where they thump your chest while listening to the stethoscope). Then he sent my fiance on his way to have the X-ray and bloodwork. He told him he could call on Monday to see if his results wer ready, and sure enough they were (a total of four days, or two business days, because his appointment was on a Thursday).

When he got back to Edmonton, there was an email telling him our appointment is May 27!!

Great news- glad the medical was a good experience. Congrats on Interview too!!

Wooooooooohooooooooooo!!! Congrats on the interview date!!

Yay for the interview date! It's almost all done for you guys!

Auscultation and percussion? Not that I'd know anything about it. If you do it right, you can even hear the ocean.
A great medical and an interview. Can I interest you in a game of three-card monte, how can you lose?

Well, strip poker won't work, as I'll be following Len's advice and packing no clothes to take to the interview!

Oh, dear. If you are following Len's fashion advice just remember that you will be going through a metal detector so it might be best to forget about the chains and handcuffs. Whips are OK or so my sister tells me.

Hi all,

I just had my medical in Calgary with Dr. Viljoen last week, and wanted to add a couple of things to this forum. First of all, I probably called the wrong number about four times. The 'medical' number is 242-0504. This number has just changed, and is not posted on the website. So everytime I called, I was told to call the 'other' number to get the medical receptionist.

Secondly, make sure you bring cash! As it says, no credit cards are accepted. I asked about writing a cheque, but I was told cash only.

As a native Calgarian, I had no problem finding either location for blood work and chest x-ray. However, I agree that the map was not all that clear. If you are from out of town, and want specific directions, please feel free to ask and I'd be happy to send you some! Between the three stops I had to make (medical, bloodwork, and x-ray) there was a fair amount of waiting. Bring a good book and expect that it could take you nearly half a day (my medical was for 9:30am, and I didn't get home from it all until 12:00)