Plucky Tree
  • Home
  • About This Site
  • Contact me
  • Search Icon
Kinder, gentler healthcare

Kinder, gentler healthcare

2008-01-11

The upside of catching a nasty flu bug on my last week in New Zealand was getting a genuine glimpse inside a health care system outside the USA for the first time. Without getting into the pros and cons of socialized medicine, the experience was profoundly more humane and comfortable than I’m used to:

  • When I walked into the medical facility, they simply asked me if I would like to see a doctor and I said yes. I didn’t have to explain my medical condition in detail in front of a waiting room full of people.
  • I was asked to fill out a form with my name, address, and phone number, along with a checkbox asking if I was a citizen or resident. There was no clipboard with 15 pages of forms.
  • The waiting room was quiet, with no TV blaring, and with comfortable seats. There was a seriously hard-core ventilation system to help keep the air fresh and to help keep everyone from catching everyone else’s germs.
  • When they were ready for me, the doctor walked out and called my name and I walked back with him to the examination room. No triage and waiting for a doctor to arrive.
  • The examination room was very roomy and comfortable, with a desk for the doctor and his computer, a comfy chair for me, and an examination table off to the side. It was very warmly lit, rather than with harsh fluorescent lights. 
  • Filling my prescriptions took less than 5 minutes. Like it should.

It was a completely stress-free experience, which is exactly what someone who doesn’t feel well needs.

Related Posts:

  • Take the antidote: Martijn Doolaard
    Take the antidote: Martijn Doolaard
  • The fluoride wars rage on
    The fluoride wars rage on

health, new zealand

Post navigation

NEXT
Our rules for trips (new and improved!)
PREVIOUS
Random observations on New Zealand

Get Monthly Updates

Recent Posts

  • Take the antidote: Martijn Doolaard
  • Which tree is the pluckiest?
  • Like clickbait, but the stories are genuine
  • “There’s no good music anymore”
  • 2022 in words, pictures, and movies

Categories

  • annual letter (3)
  • apple (1)
  • autobiography (3)
  • birds (5)
  • capitalism (6)
  • economics (4)
  • education (1)
  • food (1)
  • freedom (1)
  • health (7)
  • internet (1)
  • local (2)
  • media (6)
  • mental health (2)
  • meta (1)
  • music (5)
  • nature (1)
  • new zealand (2)
  • peace (1)
  • philanthropy (1)
  • photos (2)
  • politics (3)
  • portland (3)
  • satire (1)
  • school (1)
  • shopping (1)
  • silly (2)
  • stock market (1)
  • tennis (8)
  • think of the children (3)
  • travel (4)
  • writing (1)

Get Monthly Updates

About Me


I’ve been a bird breeder, a bicycle mechanic, bookseller, and a Software Engineer at Apple for 20 years.

Friends tell me I have interesting things to say.

You be the judge.

My Other Blogs

  • Free Range Parrots
  • Tech Reflect
© 2023   All Rights Reserved.