# If you move to Calgary, don't come for the healthcare **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561 "2006-06-06T01:28:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/1 "2006-06-06T01:28:55Z")
I’ve decided to get my tubes tied (well, if my husband doesn’t get a vasectomy before then). I went to the doctor and got a referral to the appropriate doctor. I got the call telling me when the consultation appointment is today - November 27th. Then, after I talk to the doctor (who will probably see me for three minutes and ask me two questions after I wait in his waiting room for 50 minutes for the scheduled appointment), they will book my surgery appointment. They estimate that it will be another six months after the consultation before I’ll be able to get in for the actual surgery. Chances are also good that my elective surgery will be bumped and take even longer to happen.\* Now, you might be asking yourself why they don’t book a surgical time for shortly after the consultation now, and save me waiting an additional six months. I asked myself and the doctor’s receptionist the same question. Well, they don’t do things that way. That would be efficient and patient-friendly, and we’ll have none of that around these parts. I don’t even have the energy to do a good Pit rant over this. It just sucks, and that’s the way it is around here. The politicians keep telling us that they’re going to fix our healthcare system here, but since they’re the ones that broke it, I don’t have a lot of faith. \*Just for the record, critical surgeries don’t happen much quicker, either. Calgary is _not_ a good place to get sick. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/2 "2006-06-06T02:46:45Z")
Damn. Go out to Canmore. I got my gallbladder surgery done in a month or something like that. Anywhere smaller than Calgary you’ll probably have similar luck. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/3 "2006-06-06T03:44:21Z")
Hmm, does that mean you’ll have to stay chaste as a sea horse for 6 month? 🙂 :D&R: I’ve gotten sick a few times some years ago and I haven’t had too many problems seeing specialits and getting major tests done, but I imagine the infrastructure must be having a hard time keeping up with the growth, just like every other kind of infrastructure. ---
**Author:** ![Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gut)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/4 "2006-06-06T03:47:01Z")
That’s really odd. It was only a couple weeks after asking about it that I was able to get a vasectomy. Sorry to hear you have to deal with such nincompoopery. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/5 "2006-06-06T04:26:42Z")
All of my urgent health needs have been dealt with - urgently. Generally I’ve been in to see a specialist within the week, once it was the next day. Sorry you seem to have such bad luck **Featherlou**. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/6 "2006-06-06T04:42:49Z")
Oh, I’m so tough, I go to Calgary for the weather. …in January!! …anyone seen my mittens? burrrrrr… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/7 "2006-06-06T04:59:59Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > Oh, I’m so tough, I go to Calgary for the weather. > …in January!! > > …anyone seen my mittens? burrrrrr… Hah - you think you’re funny, but I feel like a pansy living in Calgary, with its soft, easy winters. ANYway, maybe I should try Canmore, or even Airdrie - this shit is just ridiculous. Maybe I’m going to the wrong clinic, who can’t find doctors to refer to in a reasonable time. Of course, last time I needed surgery (seven years ago), it was pretty much the same story - nearly a year from time of needing surgery to actually getting the procedure done, and that was from a different clinic. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/8 "2006-06-06T05:08:31Z")
Well. What’s your definition of a “soft, easy” winter? ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/9 "2006-06-06T05:32:33Z")
**LOUNE** , Calgary winters are pretty tame compared to most other places in the interior of Canada. The fact that people from other countries actually _come_ here during the winter is testament to that. Not much of a winter tourism industry in Winnipeg or Saskatoon. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/10 "2006-06-06T05:37:14Z")
Huh. I did not know that. So really, how (relatively) warm are we talking? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/11 "2006-06-06T05:45:39Z")
It’s all those chinooks. And the bastards never share them with the rest of us, either. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/12 "2006-06-06T06:01:43Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > Huh. I did not know that. > > So really, how (relatively) warm are we talking? Average winter day is about -10C. I don’t even bother with a parka on those days. We will get about 5-8 days of -30C or colder weather, but there will also be random +12C days in the middle of February. This is what other places don’t get (except maybe Vancouver), and elsewhere will get more colder days in a row. My first year of University in Saskatoon, there was a stretch of 13 days in a row where the temperature was below -40. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/13 "2006-06-06T09:46:15Z")
Move to the US…I believe the current White House plan for sex education in American schools includes the free distribution of [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt) to you womenfolk. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/14 "2006-06-06T09:51:18Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Move to the US…I believe the current White House plan for sex education in American schools includes the free distribution of [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt) to you womenfolk. Ooops…the above Wikipedia link is mildly not workplace safe (I should have scrolled all the way down to check it first)…Mods, please feel free to delete if you feel it crosses the line. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/15 "2006-06-06T14:11:45Z")
> [@kawaiitentaclebeast](#): > > **LOUNE** , Calgary winters are pretty tame compared to most other places in the interior of Canada. The fact that people from other countries actually _come_ here during the winter is testament to that. Not much of a winter tourism industry in Winnipeg or Saskatoon. Actually Winnipeg has a big winter tourism industry, with the Festival and other winter activities. But yes, it is snap-yer-ass cold out here in Jan/Feb ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/16 "2006-06-06T14:13:39Z")
Yeah, that would be a much easier solution. **Gorsnak** , we keep sending the Chinooks your way - aren’t you getting them? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/17 "2006-06-06T14:14:49Z")
Dang it, every time I try to get away without quoting post in reply, someone sneaks in on me. My first sentence was for **DMark’s** modest proposal. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/18 "2006-06-06T14:18:06Z")
You have my sympathy, **featherlou**. I have a friend in Kitchener whose husband was found to have liver cancer; it was more than _two months_ before he actually started receiving treatment for it. And she’s finally been given her surgery date for a hip replacement – she’s been waiting for over a year and a half for it now. Frankly, I’m just appalled that your medical system is in that kind of shambles. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/19 "2006-06-06T14:22:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually Winnipeg has a big winter tourism industry, with the Festival and other winter activities. Hmm, shows you what I know. I spent a winter in Winnipeg and all I did was drink myself into a stupor every day. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561/20 "2006-06-06T17:42:20Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Damn. Go out to Canmore. I got my gallbladder surgery done in a month or something like that. Anywhere smaller than Calgary you’ll probably have similar luck. A _month?_ Please tell me it wasn’t urgent. I went in for a consult with my primary Dr. on a Wednesday, had an ultrasound the next morning, a hydrascan on Friday and my gallbladder removed on Saturday. From ‘my stomach hurts’ to gallbladder out in 3 days. I was in pain the whole time and couldn’t eat so I admit my situation was probably more severe than most, but I can’t imagine waiting a month! What happens if you go in to a hospital with pain and you need surgery? Can you get emergency surgery done quickly? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-move-to-calgary-dont-come-for-the-healthcare/359561.md?page=2)