Keep Moving Forward
As soon as the lockdown lifted and we went into Level 3 restrictions we contacted the Immigration Medical Specialist in Auckland to see if we could book an appointment to have our medicals done, our first phone call went surprisingly well!
We explained the urgency of our situation to the receptionist (who we will call the nice receptionist), she believed that the doctor would not have a problem completing our medicals and gave us a couple of suitable dates for an appointment the following week and we were to give her a ring as soon as we had confirmed a date and could book the time off work.
A short while later having decided on the best date, we called the Immigration Medical Specialists again only this time we spoke to a different receptionist (we will call her Karen as taken from the slang dictionary!) this call did not go so well.
Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Keep knocking down walls until someone says ‘yes’.
Having repeated our story to this receptionist she stated categorically and not too politely that Immigration Medicals and chest X-Rays were not essential, and we could not get it done … what the eff?? A heated discussion then ensued where we told her that we had an appointment approved a mere 10 minutes earlier and that she needed to get on the same page as her fellow receptionist, who surely, worked at the same desk!
Begrudgingly and with much tutting, huffing, puffing and other overt signs of annoyance Karen conceded and the appointment was booked but she was happy to reiterate multiple times that we could not get a chest X-Ray completed under Level 3 restrictions.
We may have won the medical appointment battle with Karen, but we had still lost the war! We had to tick all the Immigration Medical boxes which included the medical, bloods and chest X-Rays, we were already over a week into our 30 days and had a further week to wait for our appointment. Now it was time to panic!
There was no telling how long we would be stuck in the level 3 restrictions and until we reached Level 2 (according to Karen) we would not be able to get X-Rays done. It was so frustrating that the Waikato where we lived and which was a different Council District was being thrown under the same bus as Auckland.
We were at Defcon 1 and needed to consider all our options, even the bat shit crazy ones!
Option 1: Operation Sneak into Level 2 Restricted Area.
Mission: Get chest X-Rays completed at a Radiology Clinic in a Level 2 restricted area where full X-Ray services were available including Immigration Medicals.
Tactical Plan: Sneak through the backroads of the Waikato bypassing the Police roadblocks separating Auckland Level 3 from the rest of the country at Level 2 (we may or may not have unintentionally done this previously and know it could work) and deploy all evasion tactics at our disposal to avoid detection.
Chances of Success – LOW
The chances of the evasion tactics resulting in a full-blown pursuit, deployment of a stinger and our subsequent arrest and then cancellation of our Canadian PR Visas – HIGH
Option 2: Operation Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
Mission: Walk in and get chest X-Rays completed at Auckland Radiology even though it is in a Level 3 restriction.
Tactical Plan: Using the art of surprise to our advantage we would walk into Auckland Radiology unannounced and without an appointment and beg them to take our chest X-Rays. The falling to our knees and clinging onto the Radiology receptionists’ legs whilst crying violently could be utilised to heighten the receptionist’s discomfort, embarrassment, and disgust to the extent that they would feel inclined to concede to our wishes.
Chances of Success – MEDIUM
The chances of our begging tactics causing the receptionist to believe that we were mentally unhinged resulting in a call to the Police and subsequently our arrest and sectioning under the mental health act – HIGH
Option two it was then! We had our cunning plan. It was time to buy those knee pads and work on our crying on demand and wailing skills.
I love it when a plan comes together. – The A Team
We went to our scheduled medical appointment the following week and as soon as we walked into the reception and announced ourselves Karen again stated that although we would be able to have the medicals and blood work done, we would not be able to get the X-Rays done …… she had already called Auckland Radiology this morning and checked! Gee thanks Karen!
This made absolutely no sense to us, you could have a close proximity physical examination by a doctor and go to a clinic and have fluids (blood) physically removed from your body by another person under the Level 3 Restrictions, but you could not go to a Radiology clinic where the requirement of physical contact is minimal due to most of the work being conducted by a machine. Either the world or Karen had gone mad!
Within a matter of minutes our medicals were complete, and the appropriate documentation completed by the doctor ready for sending to Canadian Immigration, we bid a fond (yes, I am being sarcastic) farewell to Karen and made our way to Labtests. With the appropriate Covid hygiene protocols completed and our blood samples collected, we were on our way.
Now or Never!
This was it, the moment we had been dreading had arrived! We stood outside in the semi empty Auckland Radiology car park working on our tactical plan, we discussed at length who was going to speak first and who was going to hand over documentation but neither of us could agree who should do what.
In the end we we decided to carry our own documentation, and both speak at exactly the same time …. we could confuse them as well as surprise and embarrass them. With this decided we completed our final checks:
- Synchronize watches CHECK
- Don knee pads CHECK
- Grab appropriate Immigration documentation and passports CHECK
- Prepare our tear ducts by deciding on an image that would make us cry instantaneously (for me that was easy, any wildlife program would do it! Thinking about being married to me did it for Martin) CHECK
Finally ready we walked into the building with purpose and marched up to the reception desk (picture DMX playing X Gon’ Give it to Ya in the Deadpool movies).
After the initial hello’s and can I help you’s from the receptionist we both blurted out that we needed to get chest X-Rays for our Immigration Medical, the receptionist paused for a micro second before telling us it wouldn’t be a problem but that we would need to wait approximately 10 minutes which would give us time to complete the regulation Covid paperwork.
We stood there with mouths agape like stunned mullets for what felt like an eternity! The receptionist broke the silence by requesting our passports and immigration documentation which we practically threw at her in our eagerness to get it across the desk before she changed her mind.
After everything Karen told us, after all the anxiety and stress getting the X-Rays was going to be easy, we were going to be able to complete and submit our Immigration Medicals fully and within the 30 days.
The team at Auckland Radiology were amazing and in no time at all our chest X-Rays were complete and scanned off to join the rest of our medical documentation, out of curiosity we queried with them what Karen had told us about chest X-Rays for immigration purposes being non-essential which they told us was poppycock! They had been conducting all X-Ray services throughout the restrictions and lockdowns.
Karen was misinforming clients, it may have been unintentional, but she needed to be corrected! We had unfinished business with Karen. It may seem petty for us to have walked back to the Immigration Medical Specialists and correct Karen (who was most indignant in her apology non-apology I might add) but the whole experience was awful without needing to be and we wanted to ensure she did not misinform anyone else.
We were lucky, being tenacious little buggers, we refused to take no for an answer but someone else might have taken Karen at her word and given up, believing there were no other options and putting their visa application in jeopardy.
Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. – Harriet Beecher Stowe
For those of you who made it to the end of this post well done and sorry! As a rule I have a general idea about which direction my blog posts are going to go but this one even surprised me! I am both amazed and mystified at the turn this blog took and the amount of mileage I got out of it.