Medical Coverage - It's as Easy as V.Z.P. Part II
Here begins the second part of our Tales to Obtain Medical Coverage in Prague. When we left off, we had enjoyed a fabulous trial run to the hospital where the prescreen testing would occur. Today was the day for the kid's appointments. Last night I spent hours pouring over our maps and the bus website because I just could not believe I would have to take a tram or metro train all the way to Andel for the only bus that went to the hospital. Score one for me, another bus existed and it was local. Well now, instead of getting up at 5:30 we were all rewarded with an extra hour of sleeping in.
So, at 7:33 the three of us boarded a bus at our local Hradcanska stop. Do not ask because I have no idea why we were initially sent through Andel when there is a bus right across the street from us that goes there.
At 7:53 we were getting off at a stop near the hospital to transfer to another bus that would take us 2 stops…and right to the door of the hospital. We could have gotten off at one stop and walked a little more than a ¼ mile to the correct entrance but I was already feeling cruddy from the fasting and the early hour so we crossed the street and jumped on the 167 Bus to go the rest of the way. We got there at 8am and we left the hospital at 10:55am.
The kids’ appointment took forever but only because the Dr. kept receiving & taking calls on his cell phone. Also, he apparently had to type information onto the exact same forms that I had spent time filling in manually – but THEY MUST BE TYPED according to him. We still need the other Green VZP Forms because they have some other information on them and his forms had some slight differences so they were not total overlaps.
Also, they need results from the mother’s HIV tests in order to finish processing the paperwork and get everything stamped and ready to be brought to VZP. Apparently you need to have an HIV Test and bring the results back within 3 days of having the blood work. They could not stress this enough – so hopefully by Friday my results will be in and things will be all settled.
Then they told me to go upstairs and take care of my test and the nurse said she was coming with me. However, she was only walking me down the hall to the billing room (right after the Detsky Reception Area) to make sure that I paid up (1000 cz each child) and got my receipts. They then reiterated the fact that I needed to go up and have the HIV test and be back in no more than 3 days with the results so that they can stamp the paperwork and get the kids finished up. I wonder if people have messed this up in the past and now they feel the need to say it every 5 minutes.
We then went upstairs to the Best Health offices to see about getting my stuff taken care of – they decided to take care of me right away. However, for some reason they thought I already had insurance so they charged me for the HIV test and started filling out paperwork. I then told them I was in the same boat as the kids (which produced a slight nutty and lots of hems & haws from the woman I was dealing with) and she ripped up whatever she had been filling out, started new forms, and then told me that the HIV test would be included in my initial charges and tests. She then proceeded to charge me for my full testing…but did not credit me for the HIV charge she had just performed. TypicalPrague
So she tells me to go out and follow the White Rabbit – I mean line – to the elevator and go up 2 flights to the Interne Recept. I go up there and no one speaks much English at all. They take my forms, start typing up even more forms and filling out paperwork, point to something that shows me my physical is on the 17th, and then motion to the form which tells me to go to the Lab (follow the yellow line) and go to the X-Ray department as well (green line). Both places were on the 4th floor and I could not find a yellow line, so I just returned the way I had come. So I do all this…what fun! The lab administrators do not speak a lick of English but thankfully there was an older gentleman behind me who delighted in playing translator. He was a bit embarrassed to ask, but one of the questions they actually had for me was if I had brought my own urine sample. Oh gosh – I usually carry one around with me in case there is some spur of the moment sidewalk drug testing going on but alas I had not remembered it this morning. So they give me a cup (no plastic bag complete with ammonia wipes), a Dixie cup with 5 labeled test vials, a lab slip, and a ticket with number 555 on it. They point me toward the seats which are by the two lab doors with a Deli-Style LCD panel above them. I look up and they are on Client 124…Oh Joy!!!! Alex decides that she wants to have something to hold onto and steals my client slip. I tell her to hold onto it tightly as we apparently have quite the wait ahead of us. However, Client 124 comes out and it magically jumps to my number so in we go.
The lab tech is very confused by the fact that there are 3 of us – I mean, why wouldn’t I just leave the kids in the hall? Then she takes my paperwork but sees that Alex has the ticket in her hand and is now downright baffled…who is getting the blood taken here?!?!?!?! Alex could just be a very young looking 39 year old right? So after we get that squared away, she decides I can now have a seat and she will take my 5 vials of blood. Then, for everyone to hear, she yells that I now need to go pee in the cup and return the sample. Great – well, I guess it was no surprise to the other 5 patients who miraculously have now entered the room under the guise of also having Ticket# 555 so in I go…leaving Alex & Logan just outside the door because there is really no room for more than one person in there. See I am slowly adjusting to parenting in Prague...kids here are granted amazing independence and I really need to drop my American overprotective take on things.
Now off we go in search of the X-Ray Department. We go to the first big desk, guessing it is Reception even though there are no signs. We are correct!!! They speak NO ENGLISH whatsoever here as well, take my last slip of paperwork, and point to the chairs. A quick 25 minutes later I am called into the x-ray room. Oh wait, I cannot bring children in there either. The tech (a man of course) gestures to leaving the kids out in the waiting area…ahhhh NO! So he calls over an administrator of some sort and she says “Will Watch, OK?”. Great…first issue solved.
Now, into the room I go. There is this tiny ante chamber where I am told by the tech guy to take off my shirt…oh and my bra as well. Bear in mind, most of my conversations today have been through the ever-expanding game of charades, so watching this guy mimic removing a bra was quite amusing. So I, being the American prude I am, ask if there is a gown or anything to put on. Ha – they are still probably laughing over that one. They were kind enough to keep straight faces as I crossed the room with my arms covering as much as possible. I almost lost it when the tech had to position me against the x-ray machine - maybe he thought my reaction was due to the cold glass panel that covers the machine, but once again I was grateful for the silent peals of laughter they were holding back. The funniest part to this whole thing was that they did not close the door to the ante chamber upon my entrance and disrobing, but apparently felt bad enough for my discomfort when I returned to this area to get my clothes back on and kindly closed the door a few inches for minimum privacy.
With all the testing completed, we were now free to go. I stopped off at the Best Health offices one more time to make sure I had an understanding of the next stage. The woman takes my slip of paperwork from me and says "It appears you need to come in tomorrow, on the 5th, to have your labs and x-ray done, and then you will be all set." So I tell her that they did everything already and comment that perhaps the notation for the 5th meant that I could return as early as the next day for my results? To this I receive a "It could mean that" and I decide I have had enough of playing the Dolt of the Ex-Pat World for the day. Thank you very much for all your help. I will be back in a day or two to figure out the next steps on my own.
So, back I go on Thursday for the HIV results so I can finish up the kids paperwork and go sign them up at VZP – since it sounds like they passed their exams, not that they told me anything. Then I go back in 2 weeks, get the rest of my results and have my physical, and hopefully get passed and then finish up my processing. This is a good thing since Ben has informed me that our Visas are ready and waiting in Berlin...a 'runner' will go get them for us but they will need our passports and Medical Cards in order to get them. I feel like nothing is being done in the correct order or in a timely fashion at all but then again, I still have an American mindset.
On a serious note, all of these dealings have proven a few things to me...
1) America is behind the eight ball when it comes to teaching language skills
2) I clearly need to step up my learning of Czech if I want to survive outside the city proper
3) You all better look out if we ever play Charades on any of my returns :)
So, at 7:33 the three of us boarded a bus at our local Hradcanska stop. Do not ask because I have no idea why we were initially sent through Andel when there is a bus right across the street from us that goes there.
At 7:53 we were getting off at a stop near the hospital to transfer to another bus that would take us 2 stops…and right to the door of the hospital. We could have gotten off at one stop and walked a little more than a ¼ mile to the correct entrance but I was already feeling cruddy from the fasting and the early hour so we crossed the street and jumped on the 167 Bus to go the rest of the way. We got there at 8am and we left the hospital at 10:55am.
The kids’ appointment took forever but only because the Dr. kept receiving & taking calls on his cell phone. Also, he apparently had to type information onto the exact same forms that I had spent time filling in manually – but THEY MUST BE TYPED according to him. We still need the other Green VZP Forms because they have some other information on them and his forms had some slight differences so they were not total overlaps.
Also, they need results from the mother’s HIV tests in order to finish processing the paperwork and get everything stamped and ready to be brought to VZP. Apparently you need to have an HIV Test and bring the results back within 3 days of having the blood work. They could not stress this enough – so hopefully by Friday my results will be in and things will be all settled.
Then they told me to go upstairs and take care of my test and the nurse said she was coming with me. However, she was only walking me down the hall to the billing room (right after the Detsky Reception Area) to make sure that I paid up (1000 cz each child) and got my receipts. They then reiterated the fact that I needed to go up and have the HIV test and be back in no more than 3 days with the results so that they can stamp the paperwork and get the kids finished up. I wonder if people have messed this up in the past and now they feel the need to say it every 5 minutes.
We then went upstairs to the Best Health offices to see about getting my stuff taken care of – they decided to take care of me right away. However, for some reason they thought I already had insurance so they charged me for the HIV test and started filling out paperwork. I then told them I was in the same boat as the kids (which produced a slight nutty and lots of hems & haws from the woman I was dealing with) and she ripped up whatever she had been filling out, started new forms, and then told me that the HIV test would be included in my initial charges and tests. She then proceeded to charge me for my full testing…but did not credit me for the HIV charge she had just performed. Typical
So she tells me to go out and follow the White Rabbit – I mean line – to the elevator and go up 2 flights to the Interne Recept. I go up there and no one speaks much English at all. They take my forms, start typing up even more forms and filling out paperwork, point to something that shows me my physical is on the 17th, and then motion to the form which tells me to go to the Lab (follow the yellow line) and go to the X-Ray department as well (green line). Both places were on the 4th floor and I could not find a yellow line, so I just returned the way I had come. So I do all this…what fun! The lab administrators do not speak a lick of English but thankfully there was an older gentleman behind me who delighted in playing translator. He was a bit embarrassed to ask, but one of the questions they actually had for me was if I had brought my own urine sample. Oh gosh – I usually carry one around with me in case there is some spur of the moment sidewalk drug testing going on but alas I had not remembered it this morning. So they give me a cup (no plastic bag complete with ammonia wipes), a Dixie cup with 5 labeled test vials, a lab slip, and a ticket with number 555 on it. They point me toward the seats which are by the two lab doors with a Deli-Style LCD panel above them. I look up and they are on Client 124…Oh Joy!!!! Alex decides that she wants to have something to hold onto and steals my client slip. I tell her to hold onto it tightly as we apparently have quite the wait ahead of us. However, Client 124 comes out and it magically jumps to my number so in we go.
The lab tech is very confused by the fact that there are 3 of us – I mean, why wouldn’t I just leave the kids in the hall? Then she takes my paperwork but sees that Alex has the ticket in her hand and is now downright baffled…who is getting the blood taken here?!?!?!?! Alex could just be a very young looking 39 year old right? So after we get that squared away, she decides I can now have a seat and she will take my 5 vials of blood. Then, for everyone to hear, she yells that I now need to go pee in the cup and return the sample. Great – well, I guess it was no surprise to the other 5 patients who miraculously have now entered the room under the guise of also having Ticket# 555 so in I go…leaving Alex & Logan just outside the door because there is really no room for more than one person in there. See I am slowly adjusting to parenting in Prague...kids here are granted amazing independence and I really need to drop my American overprotective take on things.
Now off we go in search of the X-Ray Department. We go to the first big desk, guessing it is Reception even though there are no signs. We are correct!!! They speak NO ENGLISH whatsoever here as well, take my last slip of paperwork, and point to the chairs. A quick 25 minutes later I am called into the x-ray room. Oh wait, I cannot bring children in there either. The tech (a man of course) gestures to leaving the kids out in the waiting area…ahhhh NO! So he calls over an administrator of some sort and she says “Will Watch, OK?”. Great…first issue solved.
Now, into the room I go. There is this tiny ante chamber where I am told by the tech guy to take off my shirt…oh and my bra as well. Bear in mind, most of my conversations today have been through the ever-expanding game of charades, so watching this guy mimic removing a bra was quite amusing. So I, being the American prude I am, ask if there is a gown or anything to put on. Ha – they are still probably laughing over that one. They were kind enough to keep straight faces as I crossed the room with my arms covering as much as possible. I almost lost it when the tech had to position me against the x-ray machine - maybe he thought my reaction was due to the cold glass panel that covers the machine, but once again I was grateful for the silent peals of laughter they were holding back. The funniest part to this whole thing was that they did not close the door to the ante chamber upon my entrance and disrobing, but apparently felt bad enough for my discomfort when I returned to this area to get my clothes back on and kindly closed the door a few inches for minimum privacy.
With all the testing completed, we were now free to go. I stopped off at the Best Health offices one more time to make sure I had an understanding of the next stage. The woman takes my slip of paperwork from me and says "It appears you need to come in tomorrow, on the 5th, to have your labs and x-ray done, and then you will be all set." So I tell her that they did everything already and comment that perhaps the notation for the 5th meant that I could return as early as the next day for my results? To this I receive a "It could mean that" and I decide I have had enough of playing the Dolt of the Ex-Pat World for the day. Thank you very much for all your help. I will be back in a day or two to figure out the next steps on my own.
So, back I go on Thursday for the HIV results so I can finish up the kids paperwork and go sign them up at VZP – since it sounds like they passed their exams, not that they told me anything. Then I go back in 2 weeks, get the rest of my results and have my physical, and hopefully get passed and then finish up my processing. This is a good thing since Ben has informed me that our Visas are ready and waiting in Berlin...a 'runner' will go get them for us but they will need our passports and Medical Cards in order to get them. I feel like nothing is being done in the correct order or in a timely fashion at all but then again, I still have an American mindset.
On a serious note, all of these dealings have proven a few things to me...
1) America is behind the eight ball when it comes to teaching language skills
2) I clearly need to step up my learning of Czech if I want to survive outside the city proper
3) You all better look out if we ever play Charades on any of my returns :)
posted by Pam at
1:05 PM
1 Comments:
great post as usual!
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