Woking Medical Services in Vancouver

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

OH yeah, I had a freaking boatload of stuff with me! Better safe t han sorry I thought. I had everything with me save for my brain -- I was addled as heck afterward. Seriously...

Damn. Now I'm wondering if I should bring the stupid thing.

[Married2009 32]

Damn. Now I'm wondering if I should bring the stupid thing.

You don't plan to take your brain with you???

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[zenaxe 22]

Hi all,

Here is a thorough review of my medical at Woking Medical Services in Vancouver, while it is still fresh in my mind.

I left my place in Langley at 4:40 AM, figuring it would take me an hour to get to the clinic. As it turned out, it only took me less than forty minutes...which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since I got there WAY early, and had time to saunter over to the Tim Horton's on the opposite corner (it's inside the gas station there). Now, here's my first big "word to the wise" when it comes to parking: as mentioned, I decided to drive down, since I live on the outskirts of the Greater Vancouver area, which isn't served by rapid transit. While I don't regret it, it truly is very expensive to do so unless you happen to time it right. By timing it right, I mean that there's a parking lot with a mere six stalls that is RIGHT beside the building (the building is called Burrard Medical Building, by the way...no sign of "Woking Clinic" to be found). These six stalls have their own little parking meter that just happens to offer a daily rate (that starts at 6:00 AM...if you try to punch in at 5:55 you'll be SOL) of a mere $12 for a full day of parking. This is really a great deal. So great that I was kicking myself repeatedly for not noticing that when I parked a mere fifty feet away in a different parking lot that charged me $24 for five hours... So yes, if you're driving there, then try your damnedest to get there around 5:50 - 6:00, get one of those six parking spots and score that excellent day rate. It'll be worth it, since there's a long gap between appointment and results pick-up.

Okay, now that I've gotten the parking logistics taken care of (sheesh...this is shaping up to be a very long review already...), let's talk about standing. After I got my Tim Horton's coffee (it was a mocha, actually), I stood at the front entrance to the building for about fifteen minutes before the next couple came along, shortly followed by another young guy, and then another person or two. Now here's where my experience will likely differ from most others: before 6:00, a guy came in on a bicycle and unlocked the door, asking, "Are you all waiting to get in?" To which we all nodded "Yes..." So he let us in. We all crammed into the elevator...probably about nine of us at that point, plus a bicycle...and cycle man punched the button for a different floor than the floor for Woking. So when we all got out on the second floor, most of the lights were off, and no one was there. But we sat in the waiting room anyhow. I really think cycle man goofed by letting us in. I believe they usually open up later than that, when the Woking staff are already there, ready to give out the numbers.

Anyhow, the staff arrived around 6:15, and seemed surprised that there were several people in the waiting room (up to about fifteen or more now), but went about their business. Right around 6:30 they asked us to line up in the order that we had come in and take a number. I was seated on the far end of the room away from the clinic, but I shuffled over, only to notice that some other woman was taking the coveted Number 1! The clinician asked if she had been the first one there, and this woman nodded and said that yes, she had. HMPH! I knew it wouldn't really matter, since people are called in groups, but still...I was a tad steamed, given that I'd been there fifteen minutes before anyone else... Whatever. No big deal. I got Number 2. As they gave us our numbers, they had us give them our passport and most of our paperwork (except for the photocopy of the passport), then take a couple of forms -- one consent form that you just need to affirm a single sentence and sign it, the other form being a basic checklist of medical history. Once the forms were filled out, we were to return them to the clinicians, then proceed through three sets of doors to get our bloodwork done. There was another waiting room there, and we waited for roughly twenty minutes until they opened their doors at 7:00 AM. They called us in groups of four by our numbers (i.e.: 1-4, 5-8 etc.). I was the first one to actually get my bloodwork done. The lab tech who drew my blood was terse and very clinical. Not much chatter going on there.

After bloodwork, I went back to the main waiting room and waited for another fifteen minutes or so until they called us up, again by group (this time numbers 1-7) to go in for our x-rays. First of all, they put us individually into extremely tiny booths so that we could take our outerwear / necklaces / heavy shirts off...and bras off, for the ladies. Word to the wise #2: guys? Wear a simple t-shirt! You won't need to worry about removing it and futzing with the gown. As it turned out, I had a heavier shirt on, so I had to gown up...and it took me a few minutes (literally!) to actually figure the bloody thing out. Yeah, fine motor skills are sometimes not my forte. Needless to say, I was seventh of the group of seven to get my chest x-ray! The x-ray itself is dead simple. The lab tech (who was also very clinical...not chatty etc.) has you line up against an x-ray panel, asks you to lift your chin and hold your arms close to your body, take a deep breath and...SNAP. And then you're done with that part.

After that, you go back to the waiting room. I can't recall how much time passed then. I read through one of those express newspapers, so it was probably about twenty minutes before they called me by name...after they called person who got number one. They ushered me into an examination room and asked me to take all of my clothes off except for my undershorts. So I did, and waited about five minutes. There was a little space heater in the room, so I wasn't too uncomfortable. The doctor came in, and I was a tad surprised it was a woman -- Dr. Langley, incidentally -- but wasn't dismayed at all by it. Just a little surprised given how some men might have qualms about being almost naked during a full physical examination by a woman. Dr. Langley was also quite clinical...just asked some basic questions about employment, where I am moving to etc. I got the sense that those were mandatory questions though -- not chit-chat questions. She examined my arms, then took my blood pressure (120 over 65, which she mentioned was great...though I knew that ). She then stethoscoped my chest, having me breathe in and out as she listened. She examined my ears, snapping quietly beside each one, asking if I could hear it... She used a tongue depressor and looked in my throat. She took a cursory look at my eyes, then had me get up and walk to the corner of the room (which was about one stride away...but I guess they need to determine any abnormalities in stance or something). After that, she had me lie down on my back, while she palpated my legs and thighs, then she had me sit forward and breathe in and out while she stethoscoped my back. Finally, she had me stand up and...yes, gentlemen...pull down my undershorts so that she could check my testicles for hernias. I wanted to say, "Testicular hernias? I haven't seen my wife in a month!" But I don't think she would have laughed, so I kept that little bon mot to myself. And that was it for the physical!

She then had me put my clothes back on and go out to the clinicians one last time to get my height and weight checked (I made a point of asking them NOT to tell me my weight...I know I've gained a fair amount in the past year ), then they checked my eyesight, asking me if I could read aloud the second to last line of letters (which I could), and they pronounced me at 20/20 vision...to which I then said, "Do I get extra marks if I can read the smaller line BELOW that one?"...since I could. But they just humored me with a chuckle, and told me to come back at 1:45 to pick up my results. Sooo...all in all, it took no more than two hours to go through it all. I got out at about 8:30.

So that gave me over five hours to kill! But fortunately, another regular VJer comes into the picture at this juncture. Ali (of Dan and Ali) and I had exchanged several PMs over the past little while, and when I found out that they would be having their interview in Vancouver on the same day I was having my medical, we arranged to get together. I called when I got back to my car (on a borrowed cell phone, since I still don't carry one...), but got her voice mail. So I decided to go on a quest to find a Starbucks (which isn't much of a quest in Vancouver, given that there's literally one every two blocks or so around there), and on my way I got a text message from Ali, saying that she had just woken up and needed some time to get ready etc. So for the next hour and a half, I just wandered around a little bit, sat at a Starbucks for awhile (a different one!) and read another weekly newspaper (The Georgia Straight, for those familiar with Vancouver...), before making my way back to my car before the parking stub expired. I then got another text message from Ali, saying that she was ready, but that Dan wasn't feeling good...so I wound up picking Ali up from outside her hotel, and we went and had brunch.

I know this is supposed to be a review of my medical, but I just have to say: Ali is awesome in every way, shape and form. We're both quite talkative people, and the hour and a half we spent together was non-stop yikkity-yakking about this, that and the other thing. I know that many of you have been the beneficiary of her insight and advice, and in person she is just as sweet, intelligent and just plain cool as you could ever expect. So there's a review of Ali in addition to my medical! I dropped her back off an hour before her interview, and as of this writing, I haven't yet heard how it turned out. Hope it went well!!!

So to wrap all of this up... I killed a bit more time, then parked at a meter near the Woking Clinic (meters cost $3.00 per hour there), and waited for my results. They were a bit later, but I got out of there at about 2:10. They gave me two regular envelopes (one of which is for my own records, the other is NOT to be opened by anyone other than the consulate) and a big brown envelope containing my chest x-ray. I know from reading VJ that they don't need the x-ray at Montreal, but the way the folks at Woking do it (i.e.: stapling the consulate-only envelope to the x-ray envelope), they make it sound like you need to bring it with you.

Overall it was a fairly painless experience. I DID get the feeling of being cattle in a meat-packing plant (just because of the process, not the people involved), but that's okay. I'll be cattle if it gets me to my interview without a hitch. They don't tell you if your medical was "good" or not...but it's safe to assume that if they don't pull you aside, it's all kosher.

So that's it! I've been writing for an hour now, so hopefully some of you now or in the future find this to be helpful!

Otherwise, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask here, or PM me.

Good post - it was interesting to read and gives me a better idea of what to expect especially with lack of signage for the clinic etc. Thanks for the review.