Getting sick while in Essen on a Sunday proved to be a bit of a challenge. While the Universitätsklinikum Essen was very quick to triage and treat patients, finding pharmacies that had all of the necessary prescriptions was a little more difficult.
Nordstern was one of the pharmacies which had the Sunday opening duty (pharmacies take turns being open late at night or weekends), and they had one of the necessary medications. Nordstern is quite north in Essen, practically in Gelsenkirchen, so about a 15-minute drive out of the city center. Arriving there, I discovered it really wasn't in a nice neighborhood, and because of that the store itself wasn't open. Customers were served through a tiny window in what looked to be bulletproof glass, and the line of customers was quite long. Standing in the cold, looking around every few seconds to make sure I wasn't being marked for a mugging, is not the best path to improved health.
When I finally got to the window, the pharmacist was quick to find my medications, but then told me that because of the way the doctor had originally written out the prescription the medication was self-pay, and couldn't be directly charged to insurance. Fine...but when I tried to hand him a credit card he shook his head again - cash only. Really poor experience, but at least I got everything needed to get back to health. read more
