finding new doctors and dentists

In the process of moving house Roxanne, the perfect organizer, had her finger on the pulse of everything except, unfortunately, researching medical and dental services in her new area -- a lapse which proved to be a painful and humiliating experience for her but could very well have been much worse for her or her young family.

“The move went perfectly, nothing was broken and there were no hassles whatsoever,” says Roxanne, “and I was so proud of myself for being able to re-settle my family in our lovely new home and suburban environment without tears or tantrums.”

“My main worry at the time was how my children would fit into their new school, and to this end I had taken extraordinary steps to familiarize them with their new teachers and playmates long before we moved house, and in doing so they had befriended a few children who lived not too far from our new home -- perfect!”

“Naturally, we had introduced ourselves to our prospective new neighbors before we purchased the house,” says Roxanne. “I was satisfied that we’d all get along -- even though our immediate neighbors were older and didn’t have children at home -- and one lady in particular was very helpful in regard to familiarizing me with all the local stuff, the best place to shop, etc.”

“I was absolutely sure that I had covered all angles and nothing could go wrong.”

“I didn’t worry too much about my husband,” laughs Roxanne. “I knew that as long as I put all of his things in the same place -- in the new study, bathroom and bedroom -- that he’d feel at home straight away. I drew up a location plan for all of his things and when he arrived at our new home on the first night he found everything just as he had placed it in the old home, right down to his toothbrush facing the right way!”

“I did the same thing for the children’s rooms, too,” says Roxanne. “I felt it was important to keep a sense of continuity and familiarity in order to make the transition as easy as possible for them -- but I understood, too, that they were very excited about the move, far more than my husband was, and probably wanted to change their things around to their own liking.”

“I arranged the move to take place on the last day my children spent at their old school taking them there in the morning, spending the rest of the day supervising the removal guys and putting things in their new places, then dashing across town to pick them up after school and drive them to their new home where everything was in perfect order for them – including their usual snacks.”

“Well, nothing did go wrong -- it was the perfect move,” says Roxanne. “Our first month in our new neighborhood was like a vacation, really, it was all so beautiful.”

“And then, perhaps as a delayed reaction to all the excitement I went through with the move, I had a medical and dental emergency necessitating my finding someone local rather driving a long way across town to my old practitioners.”

“The lady next door was very quick to recommend her local doctor and dentist to me and I was happy to go along with her recommendation -- it’s supposed to be the best way to find help, right?”

“Wrong!” laughs Roxanne. “Her doctor was the rudest medical professional I’ve ever come across and her dentist was the most incompetent idiot on the planet.”

“I don’t know whether mentioning the lady’s name to them as the person recommending them to me was to blame for my poor treatment, or whether the lady was giving me a bum steer or didn’t know any better, but I regret bitterly that I never checked out all of the local doctors and dentists before I made the move.”

“I’ve learnt from this experience that the dumbest thing you can do is seek medical or dental attention from total strangers when you are in dire pain.”

“If you’re in a different land or something you may have no option, but when you’re moving to a new area not too far away and you have plenty of time on your hands to check everything out the very first thing you should do is visit the local doctors and dentists to find the best one for you down the line.”

“As soon as I set eyes on the doctor my neighbor recommended to me I felt uneasy,” says Roxanne. “He looked more like a stockbroker than a doctor, a Type A personality, fast speaking and moving and bad tempered. He was rude to his receptionist, blaming her for not getting something fast enough for him, and when I stepped into his rooms for the first time, as a new patient, I was surprised that he did not offer me his hand and welcome me or even smile.”

“Worse was to come,” sighs Roxanne. “He dismissed my blinding headache as trivial, unworthy of his time, and when I brought up another problem, a stomach ache, that might be related, he stopped me abruptly and said he only deals with one thing at a time and if I want to talk about my stomach I should make an appointment to discuss it another day. Hello? I’m accustomed to a doctor who treats me holistically, looking at all angles, someone who treats me with compassion and respect. This guy was a total jerk and even though I left with a script, which helped me -- surprisingly clearing up not only my headache but my stomachache as well, proving that the symptoms were related -- my psyche was damaged. I felt totally humiliated by the experience.”

“The dentist was much nicer, very welcoming, but it did disturb me that he had no dental assistant and was actually glued to his cell phone constantly making and answering personal calls while I was paying him for treating me!” sighs Roxanne. “He was juggling everything -- the suction, the drill and his cell phone – and because of his lack of hygiene I was very lucky not to develop an infection.”

“Actually, it is fortunate that I, rather than my children, had the medical and dental emergency,” says Roxanne. “And it is very fortunate, for me, that my emergencies didn’t end up with permanent damage.”

“Because you can’t really tell what a dentist is like until you’re in his chair, being drilled, I didn’t trust myself to judge a new dentist on looks or manner alone, like I could a doctor.”

“I finally found a new dentist via a recommendation from my old dentist -- he understood perfectly that when families move to a new area they need a new local dentist -- and the new guy is as good, if not better, than our old dentist.”

“Luckily for us, there are lots of doctors in the new area and after introducing myself to several of them, explaining that we’re new to the area and want to find someone we feel comfortable with, I found a suitable guy.”

“I kick myself that I didn’t think of doing this long before we moved into the new area,” says Roxanne. “And, all things considered, maybe the very best way to move from an old doctor and dentist to new ones is to seek the recommendation of the guys you’re seeing now and trust implicitly to do what’s right for you.”

“Asking neighbors to recommend a service provider as personal as a doctor or dentist isn’t really a good idea,” laughs Roxanne. “As much as I’d like to tell my neighbor how lousy her doctor and dentist are, and how angry I am that she’d recommend them to me and cause me so much grief I think it would be far more prudent to keep my mouth shut because what suits her doesn’t necessarily suit me, and perhaps she doesn’t know any better.”