Medisys Montreal review

[sarrobo 18]

 

Anybody interested in another detailed/lengthy Medisys experience review? I thought I would share my husband's, if it will help anyone. Note: He had a history of a mental health problem, so this could be useful to some.

 

Due to the nature of my husband's current job (and the fact that we live in Winnipeg), we weren't able to get enough consecutive days off to ensure we could do the medical and the interview in the same trip. Originally we had wanted to go to Toronto to do the medical because we had air miles to use, but the doctor was going on holiday for 3 weeks so that wasn't going to work. We decided Medisys was our best bet and easily called to make an appointment. His appointment was on Tuesday, March 6 at 1:15 pm. He flew out that morning, arrived in Montreal around 10:40 am, took the 747 shuttle right downtown with no issues (he'd never been to Montreal before). The 747 shuttle let him off a few blocks from the Medisys building, which he found easily. He had time to eat lunch prior to attending the appointment.

 

In the weeks prior to the interview, he checked his immunizations and made sure to get any he didn't have from his doctor here. He also had a blood test to confirm if he had chicken pox as a child.

 

He brought with him:

• 5 passport photos
• a copy of his immunization record
• the results from his chicken pox blood test
• a copy of his medical record/chart from his doctor
• a list of his medications
• printout of the email from the consulate confirming his interview

 

Of note: My husband was hospitalized for a mental health issue 5 years ago (depression/anxiety/stress related). From the research we had done, we knew we needed to bring "written certification including the diagnosis, duration of treatment rendered, and prognosis" as per the instructions, so at the recommendation of his doctor we brought his discharge papers and his detailed medical chart (which included letters from his physicians at the time), which indicated his diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. His doctor assured us this would be sufficient, but apparently this was not case (more on this later).

 

He arrived about a 1/2 hour early, which was good because he had time to fill out forms, mainly a medical history. He was called to see the doctor right at his designated appointment time. The exam was a fairly routine physical and review of his history. As noted above, re: his mental health history, after reviewing my husband's chart and discharge papers, she asked him why he did not bring a letter from his current doctor describing his mental health issue and treatment. Confused, my husband explained that he and his doctor had reviewed his paperwork and felt that it was sufficient as per the guidelines. She seemed shocked because the discharge/diagnosis papers were old (2013/2014, when the problem occurred). She then grilled him quite hard on why he was hospitalized and the causes. He said at first she seemed very abrupt and accusing regarding the letter (the travel.gov site does not specifically say a letter from current doctor), but as he explained his history and treatment she became more sympathetic and understanding. She briefly reviewed the paperwork he brought regarding that hospitalization and the proof of his therapy and medication in his chart, and she said was enough.

 

In short - if you have a history of a mental health issue that required treatment, especially hospitalization, of any kind, no matter how small - bring a letter from your current doctor detailing the history and treatment and prognosis. Her demeanor seemed very strict which struck us as strange. The instructions are not that specific and based on the recommendation from his primary care doctor, it should have been enough and yet it wasn't. Luckily, this did not seem to impact the outcome of the interview, but we would recommend coming prepared to avoid uncertainty and hassle.

 

After this, he waited about 30-45 minutes for a chest x-ray, and again 30-45 minutes for blood, urine, height, weight, etc, from a nurse. He was done in approximately 2 hours, however he had to wait an extra hour to do the urine test (he'd gone while waiting between the phases of the exam and they insisted he needed to wait 1 hour before going again to ensure the urine had been in his system for 1 hour). So that was a bit silly, but not a huge deal. Based on other reviews he had expected to be there longer, but as he had done his vaccinations prior it was a shorter visit. He paid $444 for the exam (lower than the $462 they quoted us when we initially called), and $50+tax for courier to our home. We could have opted to pick up the documents prior to our interview but we weren't sure of timing, so we opted to just do the courier. He was able to fly back to Winnipeg that same evening.

 

They told us about four business days for the results to be ready, and ours took five days. The results arrived at our home in Winnipeg Thursday, March 15 morning via Purolator, having been mailed Monday, March 12. I was actually just starting to get concerned if they would arrive in time when they finally did.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Nice write up!  Hopefully more time on next visit to enjoy some Poutine!!  Was so much easier when i went thru this process as they had more Dr doing the physicals, almost 1 in each province.  

[Ryan H 3,791]

**Hijack post removed; if you have your own question, you need to start your own thread.**

[skaratso 84]

On 3/26/2018 at 12:40 PM, sarrobo said:

 

 

Anybody interested in another detailed/lengthy Medisys experience review? I thought I would share my husband's, if it will help anyone. Note: He had a history of a mental health problem, so this could be useful to some.

 

Due to the nature of my husband's current job (and the fact that we live in Winnipeg), we weren't able to get enough consecutive days off to ensure we could do the medical and the interview in the same trip. Originally we had wanted to go to Toronto to do the medical because we had air miles to use, but the doctor was going on holiday for 3 weeks so that wasn't going to work. We decided Medisys was our best bet and easily called to make an appointment. His appointment was on Tuesday, March 6 at 1:15 pm. He flew out that morning, arrived in Montreal around 10:40 am, took the 747 shuttle right downtown with no issues (he'd never been to Montreal before). The 747 shuttle let him off a few blocks from the Medisys building, which he found easily. He had time to eat lunch prior to attending the appointment.

 

In the weeks prior to the interview, he checked his immunizations and made sure to get any he didn't have from his doctor here. He also had a blood test to confirm if he had chicken pox as a child.

 

He brought with him:

• 5 passport photos
• a copy of his immunization record
• the results from his chicken pox blood test
• a copy of his medical record/chart from his doctor
• a list of his medications
• printout of the email from the consulate confirming his interview

 

Of note: My husband was hospitalized for a mental health issue 5 years ago (depression/anxiety/stress related). From the research we had done, we knew we needed to bring "written certification including the diagnosis, duration of treatment rendered, and prognosis" as per the instructions, so at the recommendation of his doctor we brought his discharge papers and his detailed medical chart (which included letters from his physicians at the time), which indicated his diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. His doctor assured us this would be sufficient, but apparently this was not case (more on this later).

 

He arrived about a 1/2 hour early, which was good because he had time to fill out forms, mainly a medical history. He was called to see the doctor right at his designated appointment time. The exam was a fairly routine physical and review of his history. As noted above, re: his mental health history, after reviewing my husband's chart and discharge papers, she asked him why he did not bring a letter from his current doctor describing his mental health issue and treatment. Confused, my husband explained that he and his doctor had reviewed his paperwork and felt that it was sufficient as per the guidelines. She seemed shocked because the discharge/diagnosis papers were old (2013/2014, when the problem occurred). She then grilled him quite hard on why he was hospitalized and the causes. He said at first she seemed very abrupt and accusing regarding the letter (the travel.gov site does not specifically say a letter from current doctor), but as he explained his history and treatment she became more sympathetic and understanding. She briefly reviewed the paperwork he brought regarding that hospitalization and the proof of his therapy and medication in his chart, and she said was enough.

 

In short - if you have a history of a mental health issue that required treatment, especially hospitalization, of any kind, no matter how small - bring a letter from your current doctor detailing the history and treatment and prognosis. Her demeanor seemed very strict which struck us as strange. The instructions are not that specific and based on the recommendation from his primary care doctor, it should have been enough and yet it wasn't. Luckily, this did not seem to impact the outcome of the interview, but we would recommend coming prepared to avoid uncertainty and hassle.

 

After this, he waited about 30-45 minutes for a chest x-ray, and again 30-45 minutes for blood, urine, height, weight, etc, from a nurse. He was done in approximately 2 hours, however he had to wait an extra hour to do the urine test (he'd gone while waiting between the phases of the exam and they insisted he needed to wait 1 hour before going again to ensure the urine had been in his system for 1 hour). So that was a bit silly, but not a huge deal. Based on other reviews he had expected to be there longer, but as he had done his vaccinations prior it was a shorter visit. He paid $444 for the exam (lower than the $462 they quoted us when we initially called), and $50+tax for courier to our home. We could have opted to pick up the documents prior to our interview but we weren't sure of timing, so we opted to just do the courier. He was able to fly back to Winnipeg that same evening.

 

They told us about four business days for the results to be ready, and ours took five days. The results arrived at our home in Winnipeg Thursday, March 15 morning via Purolator, having been mailed Monday, March 12. I was actually just starting to get concerned if they would arrive in time when they finally did.

This largely echoes my wife's experience at with Medisys, except for the mental health issue.

 

Like your husband, my wife has a mental health condition that resulted in hospitalizations in 2011 and 2012 but has been very well controlled on medication since then. When we went for the medical examination, she had prepared a detailed narrative of her psychiatric history and had copies of her medical records on CD which she got from her primary doctor.

When she got to the actual part of the medical examination with the doctor, they talked about her psychiatric history but the doctor did not ask to see either the detailed narrative or the medical records. The doctor said she could tell that my wife's psychiatric condition was well controlled.

 

So, it is not always a given that your records will be looked at. But... always have that information with you just in case.

[sarrobo 18]

13 hours ago, skaratso said:

This largely echoes my wife's experience at with Medisys, except for the mental health issue.

 

Like your husband, my wife has a mental health condition that resulted in hospitalizations in 2011 and 2012 but has been very well controlled on medication since then. When we went for the medical examination, she had prepared a detailed narrative of her psychiatric history and had copies of her medical records on CD which she got from her primary doctor.

When she got to the actual part of the medical examination with the doctor, they talked about her psychiatric history but the doctor did not ask to see either the detailed narrative or the medical records. The doctor said she could tell that my wife's psychiatric condition was well controlled.

 

So, it is not always a given that your records will be looked at. But... always have that information with you just in case.

Interesting! Good to know another experience. All I know this that his wasn't satisfied with the records, but hung up on a letter detailing everything. He said she made him feel quite guilty about it! *shrug* As I have learned with my previous immigration experience to Canada, it almost seems like it depends on the day, person, and the mood they're in that dictates precisely what they're going to want from you

[KristineGB 56]

On 4/15/2018 at 9:14 PM, skaratso said:

This largely echoes my wife's experience at with Medisys, except for the mental health issue.

 

Like your husband, my wife has a mental health condition that resulted in hospitalizations in 2011 and 2012 but has been very well controlled on medication since then. When we went for the medical examination, she had prepared a detailed narrative of her psychiatric history and had copies of her medical records on CD which she got from her primary doctor.

When she got to the actual part of the medical examination with the doctor, they talked about her psychiatric history but the doctor did not ask to see either the detailed narrative or the medical records. The doctor said she could tell that my wife's psychiatric condition was well controlled.

 

So, it is not always a given that your records will be looked at. But... always have that information with you just in case.

Thanks for this you guys. I panicked when I saw i needed a letter. I will try to get one but I just switched to a new family doctor. And my psych is fairly new to me too. Only had 1 sesuskn

[Deric&Alicia 11]

Great post! 

 

I’m not currently on any medications but I have taken medication in the past. Do I need to bring records of my diagnosis and list of medications I’ve taken? 

 

Also, does this cause complications or red flags for my passing the medical exam or getting approved for the visa?