At The Speed of Steve

Japan has been a trip of first…

First time in Asia…

First time speaking Japanese to Japanese People….

First time in Tokyo…

First time in an Ambulance.

First time in a non-American Hospital.

so St. Luke’s Hospital isnt such a bad place, the people are friendly and their ER is open which is nice.

I guess to make things clear i have to give a bit of a refresher on those of you who werent paying attention in school when they taught the Japanese Health Care System

The Japanese have a nationalized medicine system, which to be fair is a beautiful and noble thing to give health care to everyone. kudos Japan. Everyone can go to hospital and get help, most of the time… i say this because when the hospitals are open, they are top notch. but, and heres the kicker, they close. thats right. closed.  as in, sorry come back in the morning.  only a select hospitals have ER’s that are open all night, and even fewer have english speaking staff.  how it works is you call the ambulance and they call the hospitals to ask if its ok to bring you there (this can take some time depending on the night, hospital operation hours are 8:30 - 5).  now once you get there and they are willing to help its A-game all the way. Also you dont have to worry about insurance because everyone is part of the national insurance program, so as long as the hospital accepts that you are ok (Yes some hospitals dont accept national insurance?!?!).

You’re worried now eh? wondering what happened? well if you have read this far i’m honored to know that anyone cares about what happens to me, luckily it wasnt me that needed all this fun modern medical care. it was my boy and roommate Dan T.

this guy:

Sometimes this Guy:

But mostly this guy:

late at night dan’s chest started to hurt, he was worried it might be his asthma so we wanted to go to the hopsital. luckily, it was just muscle tension in his chest and the doctor gave him some anti-inflammatory. hes ok now but it was a good idea we went. also mad props to our dorm manager who went with us to the hospital and translated as best she could.

two days prior we had signed up for the healthcare system (which is mandatory to have) so everything was covered mostly. we still had a co-pay to deal with but to be honest it wasnt that bad. (38 dollars for an ER visit, EKG, and chest Xray. not too shabby)  we were then advised by the ER doctor to see another doctor once the hospital was open again just to be sure (a lung specialist). so we waited like 3 hours for the hospital to open and saw the doctor. he spoke english much better than we expected and was a general nice person (but hey, isnt everyone here).  his vist lasted about a half an hour and he said not to worry, that its only muscle tension, which seems to be the case because dan has been doing fine.  his visit cost us a little less than $2 additional.

now the medical care isnt free, we have to pay a monthly charge  of about ten dollars(based on income, ours is zero). all and all their health care system is very interesting and leaves something to be desired in America.  i dont think the system would adapt well in America,(what with the closing of hospitals)  but it certainly shows its possible.

St. Luke Lobby