Priority care is not urgent

Its all in the title. I somehow made the mistake that Priority Care on MacArthur was a walk-in triage center instead of a regular outpatient clinic. Yesterday I waited for over an hour to have someone look at my Gout. I couldn't take it anymore so I left without saying a word, afraid that I would offend someone if I spoke. I told them it was gout, and it hurts like hell but it's not life-threatening.

At the desk there is a sign that gives reasons for the delay in being seen, among them are scheduled appointments, blood work, or more life-threatening illnesses. These reasons make perfect sense for a regular outpatient clinic, not my mis-construed idea of a walk-in clinic. I always associate the word "priority" with the meaning for the word "urgent" like they have something in common.

The majority of the five or six people who walked in and were seen while I waited had appointments. Perhaps the doctors who are practicing regular visits here should relocate to a more appropriate facility for scheduled appointments.

The word "Priority" should be removed from the name of this facility because it mislead me into unnecessary expenses, time and suffering.

I finally went to the Memorial center over at Kokemill and was able to get treated quickly. The doctor looked at my foot and ordered an x-ray. He said the x-ray was clear but that other techs would review it and they would call me later if they found something more significant. I asked the person who I thought was the doctor about getting something to reduce the Uric acid in my blood and he said "you really should have a regular doctor because we can't write those kinds of prescriptions."

The "unwashed masses" like myself who can't afford to "have a doctor" must continue to suffer continuously because doctors at these supposed "urgent" or "priority" care facilities can't write prescriptions for anything more than pain-killers? These must be "residents" or "almost" doctors. If this is true, how can they have regular patients who schedule appointments that supersede anyone who walks in off the street, yet they can't prescribe my kind of medication?

My last three visits to Priority care resulted in prescriptions of pain-killers. I guess if they want repeat customers, they have an easy target. Pick on the poor who can't afford insurance. When it gets so bad that I finally qualify for Social Security Disability, the pain will be finally go away for good but the damage to my joints will require extensive surgeries.