2/5 Andy D. 5 years ago on Google
This
review
is
for
the
Portland
VA's
ER,
the
system's
only
urgent
care
facility.
When
you
sign
up
for
health
care
from
the
VA,
you
are
assigned
a
primary
care
practitioner
(PCP),
likely
to
be
a
nurse.
If
you
are
sick,
it
usually
takes
at
least
a
few
days
to
get
in
to
see
this
person,
who
then
mostly
farms
you
out
to
specialty
clinics.
After
that,
and
weeks
of
phone
tag,
clinic
appointments
are
then
scheduled
for
several
months
later.
Though
it
is
not
well
advertised,
the
emergency
room
downtown
is
the
only
place
for
"emergent/urgent
care"
in
the
VA
system.
Your
PCP
might
begrudgingly
refer
you
there
for
urgent
or
weekend
care,
but
you
can
go
there
without
the
referral
as
long
as
you
are
in
the
system
--
and
possibly
even
if
you
are
not
in
the
system,
though
I
do
not
know
that
for
sure.
The
ER
is
located
just
to
the
left
before
you
enter
the
lobby
on
the
ground
floor
of
the
main
VA
building.
Inside
the
VA
lobby
itself,
there
are
usually
dozens
of
sickly
looking,
mostly
elderly
vets
sitting
on
chairs
and
staring
out
at
the
gray
concrete
parking
lot
and
buildings.
By
contrast,
inside
the
ER
waiting
room,
there
is
usually
nobody,
or
maybe
a
handful
of
people,
glumly
watching
(or
ignoring)
the
ubiquitous
Fox
News
Channel
while
wearing
the
annoyed
and
confused
expression
common
to
almost
all
patients
in
the
VA
system.
There
are
over
a
hundred
thousand
vets
in
the
Portland
metro
area,
and
though
only
a
fraction
are
in
the
VA
health
system,
the
inoccupancy
of
its
only
urgent
care
facility
seems
perplexing
--
at
first.
You
sign
in
at
the
desk,
where
two
people
sit
serving
nobody
for
98
percent
of
the
time.
For
the
first
occurrence
(out
of
about
a
hundred
to
come)
you
are
asked
to
confirm
your
name
and
numbers.
You
are
given
a
wristband
to
wear
with
this
info
as
well.
There
must
be
a
horrible
history
of
patient
mix-ups
underlying
this,
but
it
grows
tiresome
when
every
person
asks
these
questions
repeatedly.
The
check-in
person
asks
you
why
you
are
there
and
tells
you
to
take
a
seat.
This
is
when
you
start
waiting
for
long,
random
periods
of
time.
It
is
quiet,
except
for
the
outraged
babble
on
Fox,
as
you
wait
for
a
half
hour
to
three
hours
for
your
name
to
be
called.
You
are
first
summoned
into
a
small
closet
off
the
waiting
room
where
a
hostile
nurse
will
take
your
vitals.
Woe
to
you
if
you
have
not
had
your
flu
shot
that
year,
as
all
ailments
and
injuries
are
then
squarely
on
your
head.
The
pain
scale
you
are
asked
to
rate
yourself
on
makes
no
sense,
as
the
description
for
Level
8
says
you
are
too
sick
to
get
out
of
bed.
Since
you
are
here,
it
seems
your
pain
level
could
not
possibly
be
more
than
7,
unless
you
were
wheeled
in
barely
conscious.
Regardless,
you
get
nothing
for
the
pain.
They
may
send
you
back
to
the
waiting
room
or
you
might
get
a
golden
ticket
to
finally
enter
the
ER
bay.
This
is
like
no
other
ER
you
have
ever
been
in.
Among
a
handful
of
patients,
there
are
a
dozen
or
more
staff
talking
leisurely
among
themselves
in
the
dark
roomy
space.
You
are
shuffled
into
a
curtained
room
for
another
long
wait
to
see
an
actual
doctor,
which
we
all
recognize
as
the
norm
of
the
American
health
care
system.
If
you
are
getting
a
knife
wound
stitched
or
a
boil
lanced,
I
trust
them
to
do
it
competently.
If
you
show
up
with
an
immediate
life
threatening
condition,
this
process
would
be
accelerated.
If
you
are
there
for
urgent
care,
though
--
such
as
severe
flu,
pinched
nerve,
or
due
to
an
emerging
follow-up
symptom
which
your
PCP
advised
you
to
come
for
--
you
are
treated
with
some
degree
of
indifference
or
worse.
There
will
be
long
waits
for
any
tests
and
for
any
prescriptions
and
it
will
be
hours
before
you
leave,
having
received
a
minimal
level
of
care
and
a
referral
back
to
your
PCP
to
begin
the
process
all
over
again.
Like
me,
you
may
be
getting
your
VA
healthcare
for
free
due
to
the
poverty
wages
of
working
full
time
in
our
tremendous
economy.
However,
like
the
military
institution
itself,
you
are
a
name
and
number
and
nothing
more.
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