Chong Sun Yin Revisited

This morning, I spent about 3.5 hours being Chong Sun Yin. For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that Ontario Health had got my name wrong on my Health Card and I failed to get it corrected due to systems being down when I last tried.  I had to have some bloods taken, and EKG (ECG), mammogram and bone density scan, all this an outcome of having registered with a family doctor here, she wanted a baseline to work from.

Ontario Health had said I could go ahead and use the card, and just go down to their offices, a 2 bus and subway journey, when convenient to get my name changed. As I mentioned earlier, the last time I went, systems were down. So, for health purposes, I am known as Chong Sun Yin for now.  

When you need to have bloods taken here, you have to go to the labs to get this done, it's not taken at the doctor's surgery. Same as the ECG- done at the same place as the lab. The mammogram and bone density imaging was done in the same building, so I decided to have all these investigations done on the same morning.

I cannot say my experience was a positive one but I am kinda getting bored with moaning about Canada on here.  Suffice to say that the technicians need to learn how to smile. The receptionists too need to learn how to smile, it doesn't cost anything, and it makes such a difference.  I did get a smile out of my phlebotomist, when I mixed up my birthdate...Canadians write the month first, then day then year.

As I am living in an area that is heavily populated by Chinese people, it is assumed that I can speak some Chinese.... this may be so, but receptionists should not assume that all Chinese looking people can speak Chinese! I can speak enough Cantonese to get by, but know very little medical terminology in Cantonese....

Having been on the giving end of the health system in the UK for years, and occasionally on the receiving end, I find myself mostly on the receiving end here.  I was called in for my bone density scan, and the male technician was fairly pleasant, asked me a few questions, whether I'd ever had this sort of scan before, when my last period was, my height and weight. Then he invited me to lay on the couch which had a scanner attached like an overhead arm. He explained that 2 scans would be done, one of my spine, and the other of my pelvis. Very good.. all done and dusted. Waiting times were good, I had arrived an hour early for my appointment as the bloods took less time than I had expected. I was scanned about 20 minutes of arrival.

I then waited for my mammogram, and this was a longer wait. I think the appointment time was for the mammogram, as this time came and went, and my name was not called, even though I was still in a hospital gown. Anyhow, I got called eventually, the technician had called for me in the waiting room, and I was waiting in the changing area... Chong Sun Yin, Chong Sun Yin? she called, I said I am here from the dressing area. Oh, she said and noticed I was already in a gown. Without another word, but expecting me to follow her, she showed me into the room and told me that 4 views would be taken, 2 of each breast. She asked me if I have ever had a mammogram, I said no, as they do not perform them routinely in England until a woman reached the age of 55. No reply from her. Oh my god, woman! Just not much eye contact, no rapport .... she was busy I guess, she was there to perform a mammogram, not chit chat all day, what was Chong Sun Yin thinking??? She was thinking, that the health service in this place stinks, patients are not welcomed or greeted with a smile, patients are expected to be grateful that they given any investigations whatsoever.  She explained what was going to happen, first we will take this view, one breast at a time, you will stand here, head look there, and the plates will squish down on your breast, then the other view, your arm pit here, head there and again the plates will squish your breast, if you hold your breath the pictures will be better.

Now, what she didn't explain or tell me was that she was going to have to manhandle my breasts in order for them to be positioned correctly on the plates... now, I should've known this from my Marie Curie's breast screening course that I did about 5 years ago, but I had forgotten till she started pulling me, not by the nipples thank goodness, but a lot of pulling, shoving of shoulders, clamping my hand on the other breast that wasn't being scanned to hold it out of the way of the plates, etc etc.  I know it was necessary, but she could have prepared me a bit better.  

Perhaps I have become too westernised, where I do not consider any medical, paramedical personnel to be god. They do not have a right to treat my body parts like a lump of flesh, well, I know it is a lump of flesh, but it is mine and you will ask for permission before you pull, push or shove any bit of it! I felt really violated... which is odd for me, because I have no qualms about being naked for examinations, I am very comfortable in my own skin, I do not mind cervical cytology, breast examinations, anything like that is fine as long as I am told exactly what is going to happen.

I was in quite a bit of discomfort, and mammograms can hurt, but I was already hurting from yoga yesterday, not to mention from skiing last week. My pectorals and shoulders were sore after all those planks I did at yoga yesterday... I was not a happy bunny, and could not wait for the whole thing to end. Not once through the whole procedure did she bother to ask if I was ok. The technician did not smile at all, all the time I was in with her.... how can people not smile??? I cannot comprehend, she was a fellow Chinese woman too, I am ashamed to say.

Do the Chinese people in this country put up with this because they do not know any better, or are they in awe of the medical profession and all it's paramedical subsidiaries?  Is it like this for all Canadians? I have come to the conclusion that I have become a sissy whilst living in the UK, and that I need explanations before procedures, and that I am not in awe of blooming medical personnel, and that I respond better if people would just smile and reassure me.

I am borrowing a quote from Choy Yuen, a friend of mine in Malaysia, she posted this on Facebook

Today,give a stranger one of your smiles.it might be the only sunshine he sees all day- H.Jackson Brown,Jr.

I was having routine tests, I wasn't ill. If I was ill and anxious and had to have all these tests, I think I would have sat down and cried........

The health care providers in this place could learn a lot from their colleagues in the UK, but I doubt they will bother, not for the Chinese health workers anyhow...

This is just my experience at one of the private companies providing a service for Ontario Health.......I hope this does not happen in the UK, with the government wanting more and more private providers to serve the NHS.


Update, Jan 5th, 2011.


I have since spoken to some friends about my experience and they said I was unlucky and that the majority of healthcare providers are courteous and friendly and they explain everything.  Sorry Canada, slagging you off like that. In my defence, I did say it was my experience in my neighbourhood which is predominantly Chinese.  I have hope in my heart and happy that others are getting the care they deserve.