I live very near this clinic, and when I found myself experiencing pain in my shoulder and some odd tingling in my lower jaw, I called, made an appointment, and walked up.
I arrived early for my appointment, and even at 10 a.m., there were four or five people in the seats already, so I'm sure I wouldn't even have gotten in near my appointment time. That didn't matter in the end, however, as I soon found myself experiencing some shortness of breath, headache, and pain in my chest and left arm.
I didn't realize when I called that the symptoms I was experiencing were the beginnings of a cardiac incident.
I told the woman at the desk what was going on, and she just nodded and told me the doctor would be with me soon. I was beginning to feel very scared, however, so I walked outside and called 9-1-1. An ambulance was soon on its way, and the dispatcher asked me if I had any baby aspirin I could take. I didn't, so I went back into this clinic and asked the woman at the desk if they had any. She told me that the doctor was very busy, and I couldn't have anything until I saw him. I told her an ambulance was on its way as I was now in need of urgent care, and she stared at me like I had grown a second head and eventually said, "Well, if you want to cancel your appointment, that's your choice."
The ambulance arrived very soon after and I was given baby aspirin, nitroglycerin spray, and hooked up to an IV, ECG, and blood pressure cuff before they took me to the Royal Alexandra ER. The cardiac event wasn't a full-blown heart attack, just a horribly scary incident caused by a combination of stress in my life and a previously unnoticed arrhythmia.
I can't actually review the doctor since I never got to see him, and I never will, now, since I'm so put-off by the clinic staff's absolute lack of response in a moment where I was absolutely terrified and in need of help. The receptionist, however, was definitely not my favourite person on that day. read more
