Medical and immunization questions redux

[SonoranSongbird 3]

First of all, has anyone gotten a packet 3 from Vancouver recently that has listed a new doctor who can do the medical in Edmonton? (ie, not Dr Chana, who no longer does them)

Second, I'm not sure whether we will have a new and yet un-reviewed doctor in Edmonton or Dr Viljoen in Calgary, but do the doctors who do the medical generally do titre tests?

Our situation with the immunizations is my fiance had both chickenpox and measles as a teenager (the illnesses, not the vaccines) and we assume he got the MMR vaccine as a child because it would have been required for him to go go school in Alberta, but he has no documentation of that (also we have some question as to the efficacy of it since it obviously did not protect him from getting measles). He went to the Health Department to just get all the vaccines, and the nurse there discouraged him from getting anythging other than the tetnus shot (which he needed because he was way overdue for it anyway). She gave him an immunization record showing he got the tetnus shot and wrote "immune" for mumps and rubella and "had disease" for chickenpox and measles, and she told him if that was not good enough he could come back.

Well, it was $48 to make an appointment because only the main downtown branch had any of the vaccines other than tetnus, so at this point he wants to just get either the shots or the titre test when he goes for the medical. I can't say I blame him--the nurse's attitude seemed to be she would do as little for him as possible and if he needed more he could just come back and pay for another appointment. I know from Dr Viljoen's website that he can get the vaccines there, but I'm a little concerned about the varicella one. The varicella (chickenpox) vaccine requires two shots 28 days apart, so I'm hoping that if he could do a titre at the medical and get the results of that with his other results he can avoid having to wait the 28 days. And I don't know if Dr Viljoen or whoever the new Edmonton doctor is (if there is one) would be able to do that. (He had a severe enough case of chickenpox that we are pretty confident the titer will show immunity to it.)

This process is a little frustrating right now.

[trailmix 77]

First of all, has anyone gotten a packet 3 from Vancouver recently that has listed a new doctor who can do the medical in Edmonton? (ie, not Dr Chana, who no longer does them)

Second, I'm not sure whether we will have a new and yet un-reviewed doctor in Edmonton or Dr Viljoen in Calgary, but do the doctors who do the medical generally do titre tests?

Our situation with the immunizations is my fiance had both chickenpox and measles as a teenager (the illnesses, not the vaccines) and we assume he got the MMR vaccine as a child because it would have been required for him to go go school in Alberta, but he has no documentation of that (also we have some question as to the efficacy of it since it obviously did not protect him from getting measles). He went to the Health Department to just get all the vaccines, and the nurse there discouraged him from getting anythging other than the tetnus shot (which he needed because he was way overdue for it anyway). She gave him an immunization record showing he got the tetnus shot and wrote "immune" for mumps and rubella and "had disease" for chickenpox and measles, and she told him if that was not good enough he could come back.

Well, it was $48 to make an appointment because only the main downtown branch had any of the vaccines other than tetnus, so at this point he wants to just get either the shots or the titre test when he goes for the medical. I can't say I blame him--the nurse's attitude seemed to be she would do as little for him as possible and if he needed more he could just come back and pay for another appointment. I know from Dr Viljoen's website that he can get the vaccines there, but I'm a little concerned about the varicella one. The varicella (chickenpox) vaccine requires two shots 28 days apart, so I'm hoping that if he could do a titre at the medical and get the results of that with his other results he can avoid having to wait the 28 days. And I don't know if Dr Viljoen or whoever the new Edmonton doctor is (if there is one) would be able to do that. (He had a severe enough case of chickenpox that we are pretty confident the titer will show immunity to it.)

This process is a little frustrating right now.

Hey there,

I can only speak of experience from my Husband's medical with the Calgary Dr.

I don't know if the Calgary guy will do a titre, plus it takes like 10-12 days to get it back generally, just so you know (and they would charge you for it), they charge $30 just for the tetanus shot.

I would suggest that your son have the titre before the medical, you can walk in to any walk in clinic and request one and you don't have to pay for it.

My Husband had the titre for MMR, but not for chicken pox. The Dr. didn't ask him if he had ever had Chicken pox - so it wasn't an issue. They say a verbal confirmation of it is good enough.

[Flames9_RN 358]

exactly, ur family Dr can do a titre, and give you any vaccinations that u require. Its just the physical that must be completed by a USA immigration approved dr!!

[SonoranSongbird 3]

Okay, but he tried to get the vaccines and they told him not to, so now he feels like he is going to be running around on a wild goose chase if he tries again rather than waiting for the medical appointment. For some reason I thought the titer results would take only a week, which is about the same time the medical results take, so that would not really help any.

Does anyone have a link that would show the medicenters in Edmonton? I did not come up with it on Dogpile, and I'm trying to figure out exactly where he can go where he will not be told (again!) not to bother because he is already immune. I need to convince him to make another attempt and not wait for the medical.

[trailmix 77]

Okay, but he tried to get the vaccines and they told him not to, so now he feels like he is going to be running around on a wild goose chase if he tries again rather than waiting for the medical appointment. For some reason I thought the titer results would take only a week, which is about the same time the medical results take, so that would not really help any.

Does anyone have a link that would show the medicenters in Edmonton? I did not come up with it on Dogpile, and I'm trying to figure out exactly where he can go where he will not be told (again!) not to bother because he is already immune. I need to convince him to make another attempt and not wait for the medical.

I hear what you are saying. My Husband thought, oh well I'll just go have a chicken pox vaccination - called the public health people - they said no, we don't give it to adults unless they can prove they don't have immunity (ie: they want to see a titre test).

He didn't try getting the shot with the walk in dr.

Yeah the link to them is hard to find, but anyway here it is:

http://www.medicentres.com/Clinic/edmont2.htm

[SonoranSongbird 3]

I don't even know why immigration requires the chickenpox vaccine. I've never had chickenpox and no one has ever suggested I get a vaccine for it.

He went to the local health unit and they could have given him the tetnus shot, but did not have the MMR or chickenpox vaccine on hand so they told him to get an appointment to go to the main one for the city. That's where the nurse told him he did not need to bother with the vaccines (except tetnus, the one vaccine he could have gotten at the local health unit to begin with). I guess if he had been more insistant, she would have told him to get a titre test like they told your husband.

Anyway, thank you for the link.

[Gypsyangel 11]

I was in the same situation, not having any immunization records. I decided to get the titres. It was easy ... went to my family doctor. Of course, she didn't know what the requirements were for U.S. Immigration, but I had brought a print-out of the requirements for my age group (I think I got them from the Seiden site).

She wrote up a request for the blood lab and they took the blood. The results were sent back to her and they called me and said I was good for everything. I picked up the results which I couldn't really understand, but I brought them to the medical and everything was fine. I did need to get a tetanus shot at the medical for $40.

The titres took about a month to get results, but that was over Christmas, so you could probably get it faster.

[TheATeam 0]

My titres here in Edmonton were done SUPER quick. I think they took less than a week. I was actually really surprised when they phoned me to tell me that they were ready. They got here faster than my vaccination records from the health unit.

If he has a family doctor, I'd really recommend going to them to get the titres ordered, that way it doesn't cost any money, and usually if you explain the situation there is no problems getting the titres done. In fact, my doctor didn't want to even give me the tetanus shot. My vaccination records say I had my last one in 1996, but my titres say that I need a booster in 3 years and not before. So, hopefully that will be okay.

Most doctors don't want to give you a vaccine if you don't really need it. Thank goodness for that. It's actually not a bad thing, but I can see, in this case, that it's really frustrating!

I'm sure everything will work out just fine!

[MrsCat 6]

I was in the same situation, not having any immunization records. I decided to get the titres. It was easy ... went to my family doctor. Of course, she didn't know what the requirements were for U.S. Immigration, but I had brought a print-out of the requirements for my age group (I think I got them from the Seiden site).

She wrote up a request for the blood lab and they took the blood. The results were sent back to her and they called me and said I was good for everything. I picked up the results which I couldn't really understand, but I brought them to the medical and everything was fine. I did need to get a tetanus shot at the medical for $40.

The titres took about a month to get results, but that was over Christmas, so you could probably get it faster.

Same thing here. I called my doctors office and explained what I needed since I had no vaccination records. He gave me a piece of paper for a titre test. I just had it done yesterday. Took two minutes. I asked the technician and she said it takes about one week to get the test back. Your doc will call you with the results, and let you know if you need something.

Also had a chest xray for some reason. I explained about TB, and since my brother (rez life ) was postive a few years ago. Felt it was a good precaution before going to the panel physician. That took 10 minutes as well. I'll bring those to the panel physician as well.

[SonoranSongbird 3]

He does have a regular family doctor, and I think that may be easier than dealing with the health units or medicenters, less beaurocracy.

I think part of his concern is that he could get the titre and then get to the medical and find out it isn't good enough as proof and need to get the vaccines anyway after all that. But I see that there are at least a few people who used the titre results and got approved, so I will just tell him that.

[TheATeam 0]

Also, when he gets the results back, at least here in Alberta it will say NEGATIVE, or POSITIVE. What they're checking for is immunity. If it comes back that he's not immune his doctor will tell him and then they can arrange for him to have the vaccination done then. I would suggest definitely making a follow up appointment to discuss the results of the test and then get any necessary follow up vaccines if needed. That's what I did and it worked out really well.

[Carlawarla 1]

By all means have him go to his family doctor. There would be no reason why the titre test wouldn't be sufficient proof. There is no better proof! Best of luck to him in this endeavor!

[SonoranSongbird 3]

That's what he is going to do. Thanks, everyone. I don't know why we decided he needed to go to the health department instead of his own doctor to begin with. I think he was able to get in at the first place he went without an appointment and we assumed they would be more likely to have the vaccines on hand.

Now we are just waiting for Canada Post to hurry up and deliver packet 3.

[ChasingAmy 0]

That's what he is going to do. Thanks, everyone. I don't know why we decided he needed to go to the health department instead of his own doctor to begin with. I think he was able to get in at the first place he went without an appointment and we assumed they would be more likely to have the vaccines on hand.

Now we are just waiting for Canada Post to hurry up and deliver packet 3.

I called a walk in clinic and they said they don't do titre test there. I have a letter stating what shots I have but no official vaccination record. where should I go to get the titre test or will the letter suffice for the medica?

[Carlawarla 1]

That's what he is going to do. Thanks, everyone. I don't know why we decided he needed to go to the health department instead of his own doctor to begin with. I think he was able to get in at the first place he went without an appointment and we assumed they would be more likely to have the vaccines on hand.

Now we are just waiting for Canada Post to hurry up and deliver packet 3.

I called a walk in clinic and they said they don't do titre test there. I have a letter stating what shots I have but no official vaccination record. where should I go to get the titre test or will the letter suffice for the medica?

Is your letter from a Doctor? Does it have his office letterhead? Did he sign it? I'm sure that would suffice if that was the case. Why didn't he put it on a vaccination booklet?

Did the clinic say who does do the titre test? I'd phone around, maybe it was just that clinic that didn't. Are your shots up to date?

Edited July 23, 2008 by Carlawarla