On this day, my permanent health care card in Canada kicked in. It was no April Fools Day joke. It was a sign of life.
I have had a care card number since 1996 I believe. This is what happened. A certain doctor told me to get depro vera. It is complicated and I did get the birth control. At the pharmacy though, the gentleman there asked me what my health care card was. This was in 1996 and I had barely been here. He could not believe I did not have a number. That guy called a certain place and I was issued a personal health number, not a card. I had to begin somewhere and that was where I begun.
When I got caught for cleaning houses without a permit in 1998, the following year I was diagnosed with Bi polar. Because there was and still there is no social services in Kenya, I was not expecting social services here and if I was, I did not know how to access the system. I was ignorant and have always worked for my money, sometimes in dangerous street corners.
Anyway, when I was admitted to the mental hospital in January of 1999 for the first time out of six (2006), they wanted to help me as much as possible. The bill bounced at the hospital and then they pardoned me...then they wanted to be sure I was housed. With the help of a lady social worker who is now retired and a member here, I got my first welfare cheque. It was not going to be possible without a care card number. See how things work?
I was told I had AIDS in Kenya in 1996. I did my first Canadian test in 1997. I did several because of disbelieve. The Cool AID clinic then called the Swift Street Clinic who took me in. They did not require a card to help me out. They may have required a number. I don't recall. If they did, I had the number. They ROCK!
Immigration Canada paid for medication and lab and specialists until 2004 when I got my first care card though temporary. It expired when my work visa expires. I don't think the specialist got paid because he stopped seeing me for lack of payments.
From January 2004 to when I landed in January 2010, I was using my temporary care cards. It is not until April 1, 2010 that permanent care kicked in. I had a taste of some health care in Kenya. It was a benefit at the University of Nairobi where I worked for three years. What I have now can only be God given.
I give thanks to my Beloved husbands job that pays the premiums for both of us.
This was one gift I was not expecting and one that I don't take for granted.
My new health care card has no expiry date.
We have been away from the government system since 2008. We are still disabled and not on the system. Had to get out. I love Ted's system better. Lots of benefits...lots.
I am in the process of being seen in Vancouver at the St. Paul's Hospital. I need a regular HIV/AIDS specialist and now I have enough self worth to access proper care. I love the permanence.
I maintained the same number throughout. Even on the temporary cards, same number on the permanent. That doctor working in Kenya and coming to the conference with me and then heading back to visit his home in the USA had a lot to do with me getting a number. I had to work to get the card with the number on it...goodness.
I can finally go to the lab and see where I am at with my blood. It has been since October 09 without lab work. I was in between cards.
Cheers
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