In Jan. my wife presented her paycheck stubs, voter registration card (address was borrowed from a relative), and our marriage certificated which had to be translated by a Mexican notary. The girl who took this information was very kind but not to informative of what we needed to do next.
Today in Aug. we decided to complete the process and arrange for a doctor. We learned that we needed to get to ISSSTE early in order to get an appointment.
The following is a timeline of events today.
6:30am We leave Chula Vista for ISSSTE which is in La Mesa on Agua Caliente near Plaza Americas and La Escondida.
7:00am We walk into the lobby to find about 40 people waiting for a ficha to get their appointment today. We wait in the line, but my wife goes up front to ask if we were doing it right. The man signing people in told us we should be in line 3, not line 4. So we change lines and wait.
7:15am With about 6 people in front of us the man giving appointments tells us that all the morning appointments are filled and we would have to come back in the afternoon at 12 noon. :x
7:45am We learn that we need to go to another office about twenty feet away to open a new file then we can get the afternoon appointment ficha now, but that office doesn't open until 8am.
8:10am The girl in charge of making "expedites" or the beginning folder arrives and we show our credential that we had received in Jan. and she gives us a form to get an appointment.
8:30am We get back in line for afternoon appointments, but my wife goes to the front to ask if we are doing it correctly and shoves the paper in front of the guy. He fills it out and tells us to return at noon. I learned an expression today. People who can not express themselves clearly get poor service. Thus, my wife by speaking up by cutting in line got good service, because she could express herself.
8:30-11:30 Hanging out at D'Volada waiting for our time. 8)
11:45am We go to the second floor of ISSSTE where there is a long hallway waiting room and ask about Dra. Miramontes, the doctor we have been assigned.
12noon No doctor. We wait. People are lined up at her office door waiting to be called in.
12:45pm A nurse came by to tell us the doctora was not here yet but would be there shortly.
1:15pm A portly 60+ bleached blond woman waddles past the waiting crowd of about 20 people. Someone says that is the doctora and she goes into the office and shuts the dooor.
1:30pm People are speculating who will be called first. My wife decides to go downstairs to speak to someone about being assigned a specific doctor who was recommended to us.
1:45pm The doctor calls the first person.
2:00pm The doctor calls my wife's name who has not returned. I go to the door to explain that she just went to the restroom and will shortly return. The doctora says she will put her file to the side and call her later. She then calls the next person and it is me!
2:00 She asks my why am I there, and I explain that it is our first time using ISSSTE and we wanted to set up a doctor for future consultations and service. She explained that my wife would be put on the bottom of the stack and be called last. I explained that we had arrived at 7am for an appointment and we had been waiting since 11:45am to see her and it didn't seem right that she should be put last when we were together.
She asked me again what was wrong with me; why was I there. I explained about my gout and high blood pressure and that I wanted an updated exam. She wrote prescriptions for me and made a lab slip. She said ISSSTE did not have the same blood pressure medication that I was getting in the US, but she would give me something else. The gout medication was the same that I have been taking for years.
2:10 pm My wife opens the door and the doctor attends to her as I depart.
My wife said that the doctora asked her why was she there too. I think this doctor only sees people are sick or in pain that day and want help. She didn't seem to know how to deal with us who were trying to be proactive and arranging for things before we really needed them. The doctora told my wife she didn't have time to eat and excused herself for eating a granola bar and drinking a Coke. Later she apoligized for not sharing with her. :oops:
2:15pm I went downstairs to the lab and was told the earliest lab time they had was Aug. 17 at 7-8am. She listed me in a log book and told me not to eat red meat three days before my uric acid test and blood draw. Also I got a cup for urine the first of the morning on the 17th.
2:20pm I go to the pharmacy room and present the prescriptions and I am given the medications without charge.
2:30pm My wife arrives and she does the same as me. Luckily we have the same date and time for our lab test.
3:00pm Lunch at Los Arcos.
8 hours to set up things and we still are not done!!!
A footnote is that we can only use the ISSSTE in Baja California. If we travel to other states, we need to go to the TJ office and get a travel letter to use it in other states valid for 3 months. If we are gone longer, we can have the other state fax TJ for an extension. Hope we never have to fax anyone for medical care.
