So, how many of us have moved to a new city and waited a lot longer than we should have before finding a new doctor/dentist/etc..? Yup, me too. I plan on visiting my doc/dentist once a year during our trips back to visit Ashland. And that's just because if I don't, no one will write my Zoloft prescription for me.
This, however, is not a possibility when traveling with an infant. Turns out, they need frequent "well-child" check-ups, for lots of good reasons. Including the vaccinations that I completely support anyway, but also make international travel safer. On a slight tangent: it even makes it into the Bay City Times that Ashland has a ridiculously high rate of unvaccinated children in their schools. My mom sent me the article with the dateline highlighted so I wouldn't miss it. When I was pregnant with Kaylee, they made sure I got my whooping cough booster because, as a teacher in the Ashland School District, I was the "highest risk patient" my doctor had seen in a long time (her words, not mine).
Back to the point...
I hate finding new doctors. When I found a doctor in Oregon, it was by looking up providers who accept our insurance, and then finding a clinic with a variety of doctors at it, so I wouldn't have to go looking again. When I picked my Ob/Gyn for the pregnancy, it was basically the same thing, with the added incentive of knowing which hospital our insurance preferred we'd deliver at and going to the associated Ob/Gyn practice, where one of their docs is on-call at the hospital every day. I've really hated to have to pick a doctor. It's gotten easier with time and experience, but finding a pediatrician? Still kinda in the dark about that.
When Cirque goes to a new city, the cast and crew receive a "city book" that contains information like maps, shuttle schedules, show schedules, ideas for sightseeing or places to go on your day off, and local doctors/clinics. Since this was the first time we were experiencing this, we expected that the suggested clinic, which advertised "multiple specialties [including] pediatrics... accepting walk-ins or by appointment" would have multiple doctors on staff, have an office set up for pediatrics, and would be the right place to make an appointment. Clearly (in our minds), if our Tour Services were listing them as a contact, they would be an office that could handle any of the troupe's members, including the ~30 accompanying children, as new patients.
Since Dylan needed to make an appointment that would fit with his schedule, I let him make the call. I had already looked at the clinic's website and thought it seemed fine, especially in conjunction with the information in the City Book. He called, they asked all the right questions: did we have a copy of her vaccination record, etc. An appointment was made.
We got there (a whole 'nother story about trying to get a rental car and ending up in a cab) and were already unimpressed and a bit worried about the suitability of the clinic. It was just a small store front in the middle of a neighborhood in Venice, and the signage out front was really more focused on the Urgent Care nature of the clinic. Then we're checking in at the desk, and I see the business cards, and finally realize there's only one doctor on staff. Clearly, not a pediatrician, not even really a family doctor. I think the card said Emergency Care Specialist, but I can't remember. We stuck it out though, until they called us in to the exam room. But after having her weight done fully clothed, and her height measured by laying her on bent part of an adult-style exam table and having the MA just mark the general location of her head and foot with a pen, then measure between the marks (also, kind of generally), I gave up and we walked out, notifying the front desk that we had been under the impression there was a pediatrician on staff and we wouldn't be staying.
Was it a sketchy clinic? Not really. Not if you're an adult who broke their toe and need an xray, or you have a cold and don't have a regular doctor to see. For my baby, it was NOT good enough.
Fortunately, another email had come from Tour Services shortly after we made this appointment with the name of a pediatrician from a pediatrics office with a twenty year history and a lot of good recommendations. This name came from one of the moms who had already been there. With a bit more research - more than just the practice's website this time - we made an appointment for the next day.
And it went very smoothly. We walked in, and it was clearly a pediatrician's office, with a front desk person who knows kids and parents, knows how to handle them, and was very welcoming. There was a Well Child waiting room, toys, and pictures everywhere of the hundreds of kids and families that had been treated by the docs at this practice. When we entered the exam room, it was clearly the right environment, the nurse was great at weighing/measuring the kid, adding our records (vaccinations, growth charts) to their records, etc. The doc spent time getting to know us before examining her. And the exam was gentle and efficient. Very, very glad we walked out of the first clinic and made this appointment instead.
Now, I have a cranky kid (two shots today), but peace of mind. Lesson learned: do more research, don't blindly follow the City Book.
Kaylee says, "squee!" as she watches me type this up, when she should be in bed, but apparently she has other ideas about bed time tonight after having slept all afternoon.
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