We’re all going to die. With the ever-changing weather going from sunny 50s to usual the Binghamton gray and salmonella in peanut butter, I’m surprised we’ve made it this far. Influenza and various other sicknesses are spreading like wildfire. Whether it’s weather or salmonella, it does not discourage students from littering the waiting room of Binghamton University Health Services.
Friday was the first time I ever stepped into Health Services and I instantly understood the rumors and frustrations. Health Services was tedious; the 10-hour wait could drive even the sane mad. Even the waiting area was even a trick; I thought I would be taken care of instantly after they called my name, which is the semi-truth. Apparently, there is an extra waiting area nestled right in the hallway where the doctors are located. If I calculate correctly, then I would have to say that I lingered in the larger waiting area for 30 minutes in order to be accepted into the hallway waiting area to linger another 10 minutes. If they were trying to tease me, then they succeeded. It isn’t necessary for people to wait in the second waiting area when there is an empty seat in the doctor’s room. Yet I understand the wait could have been much worse; after all, one of my friends came in a few minutes after me and had to wait two hours just to enter that hallway waiting area. After 9:30 a.m., Health Services becomes an overcrowded cemetery, with an endless line of individuals waiting to be evaluated. Unless you want to die waiting, I suggest making an appointment.
Another incident that left me disgruntled with was the face mask that the doctor gave me. Though, there weren’t many patients waiting for treatment in the hallway, there were enough to make me feel utterly retarded for wearing a face mask. I’m sure other patients were coughing and infectious, but I was the only one forced to wear one at the time. I had an immature yearning to scream, “I don’t have SARS!” The doctor could have given me the mask in the room when I was being treated; instead, I had to sit in the open so that people would glance at me furtively and nervously inch away. Indeed, a friend looked at my mask while leaving and said, “Wow, you look really scary.” Thank you Health Services for making the situation look more dire than it really was.
Finally, after the doctors were conversing among themselves about nothing particularly important, they decided to treat me. Don’t get me wrong, the receptionists and the doctors were extremely friendly people, but I wish they would not act as if there weren’t a line of patients that need to be treated. I also do not understand why I had to bounce back and forth between two doctors. It was irking because after I saw one doctor, I would return to the hallway to wait to see the other. I think I saw the walls longer than I saw the actual doctors.
At least I can say, besides the hassle of waiting and being construed as a SARS victim, that I did walk away with the meds — and that’s all that really matters.