What a freaking waste. of. time.
I saw my doctor 2+ weeks ago and told her that I wanted to take charge of my d/a. Because Kaiser is insane, I had to wait 2+ weeks for an intake whatever with the psychiatric department of Kaiser.
Today was my intake whatever. I was told on the phone that it would take around 3 hours, so in my mind I was prepped for some intense probing and figuring out of a treatment plan. I expected to leave with a prescription in hand, a schedule set with a therapist, etc.
I got there, filled out 6 pages of rate your depression/anxiety on a scale of 1-10 and blah blah blah. Then a lady came in and said "this is what we offer through the Psychiatric Department at Kaiser" and then shooed us to the lobby to wait for a intake person to evaluate us and come up with our treatment plan.
Went to the lobby (thank goodness I brought my book!) and waited for a while. I got called back and was mentally prepared to instantly like and trust this person and not hold anything back.
We talked for maybe 10 minutes (that's a generous estimation) and she "prescribed" a meeting with a Nurse Practitioner who would prescribe drugs and a meeting with a depression therapist. She tells me to go down to the reception desk to schedule this meetings. I'm thinking that these people are both in-house and I'll be meeting with them today, just like I met with her. And I got myself ready.
Oh no.
The soonest they could schedule me to see the NP was MID MAY.
The soonest they could schedule me to see the depression therapist was also MID MAY.
Is this a joke?!
What do I have to do to get help?! Seriously!
So, screw you Kaiser. People come to you for help now because they're dealing with big issues now - not MID MAY.
What I'm I supposed to do until then?
---
So, I did what any normal (ha) person would do and drove to IKEA to walk and day dream out my frustrations and I bought a basil plant that now lives in our kitchen.
---
And I finished my book, but more about that later.
wow. Did you name your basil plant Buster?
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad to hear. Did you tell them you're in need of seeing someone sooner, or get on a cancellation list, if someone cancels an appointment? Maybe that would get you in sooner. I know they also have free classes that they offer for anxiety, depression, stress, etc. I'm taking one in April. I know you're in need of one-on-one, but maybe that would be helpful too. I really love Kaiser! They're certainly not perfect, but there's a lot of great things about them. I hope to keep my Kaiser even after I exhaust my COBRA.
ReplyDeleteOh Landon, I am so sorry! I hate having to deal with that crap over and over. Your friend Kristin seems to have some good advice. How can I help?! I wish I had some super hot connections or something.
ReplyDelete