Tip: Dr Goodman is compassionate, funny, and knowledgeable…read more
Ever since my mom fell and broke her arm last summer, she has been going to a bunch of different medical appointments. She has had good care to the point where she didn't need physiotherapy for her arm because it healed nicely.
Sometimes, you get a special, rare gem of a doctor. It's how I would classify Dr Rusty Goodman, who is a Rheumatologist at the Markham Stouffville Health Centre. It's a separate building from the Markham Stouffville Hospital buildings, but it's a part of the hospital.
My mom got a referral to see Dr Goodman through her family doctor. Her appointment was originally scheduled in January. There was a freezing rain-snow system hitting Markham. I made the executive decision to reschedule her appointment. I called and got a voice message that said that it would be checked throughout the day.
I was pleasantly surprised that a woman, Angela, called me back. She was compassionate and understanding about weather playing a factor getting my parents and me to this appointment. She was great to reschedule a month later, which was today.
Yesterday, I almost missed her reminder call. She was great recording a message. I picked up, as I was cleaning. I confirmed that we'd be there today.
I drove my parents to this appointment. There is parking in front of Markham Stouffville Health Centre. The rate is the same as if you were parking where I have parked for hospital visits. However, it works a bit differently.
At the health clinic, you pay for parking first and display your ticket on your vehicle's dashboard. For the hospital, you take your ticket with you and then find a kiosk to pay for parking on your way out.
There was a parking payment kiosk just outside the door. I got my parents to wait for me inside as I paid. It accepted credit cards and coins. The expiration time was confusing, but I paid the maximum time and displayed the ticket on my dad's vehicle's dashboard.
My dad isn't the best at directions. It's one reason why I accompany them for medical appointment. I hadn't been to this building in over a decade. Yet, finding suite 403 was easy. This floor had washrooms in the middle. There are two elevators that are spacious to accommodate wheelchairs. The fourth floor is the top floor.
Angela is the nicest person. She helped get my mom registered with her health card and a list of medications. She scanned the latter. Perfect!
We got to our 1 pm appointment at 12:40 pm. Dr Goodman saw us early, which was nice.
Speaking with Dr Goodman puts you at ease. He makes you feel comfortable and has a fun sense of humour. He is also extremely knowledgeable.
He gathered a lot of information about my mom. Since my mom broke her arm, she's at a high risk with fractures. We are waiting for a bone density scan, which he eased our minds by saying that it's an x-ray and it's painless.
He also wanted to get blood work from her. I said that she got one done last Thursday. He was able to pull the results up and look at what was tested versus what he wanted tested. He was thoughtful to reduce the number of tubes of blood that my mom needed to do.
He also recommended that my mom get a drug by injection to treat osteoporosis. It would be injected twice a year. He will wait for the blood results and the bone density scan before faxing (yes, it's common in the health realm, unlike my IT realm) a prescription for this drug to my mom's pharmacist.
We also talked about getting calcium and vitamin D incorporated in my mom's diet. She eats yogurt daily, so the calcium is good. We talked about vitamin D. I liked that he shared how he and his wife enjoy riding bikes in the summertime. She is great applying sunblock. However, the sunblock does an effective job blocking out vitamin D absorption that human are generally deficient in this vitamin these days.
Fascinating! I love learning and the personal example that he gave out. There's a humanness about him that I appreciate.
He's a great doctor and a nice man to talk to. He's great eliminating medical jargon that can be difficult to comprehend, especially to my parents.
He had a few degrees on the wall. One of them was from McGill University. It was entirely in Latin. It was fascinating to me. My undergraduate one is in both English and French. My master's is in English only.
If you ever get a referral to see Dr Goodman, you are in terrific care.
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