Making your own path

When visiting Pat in Humber River Hospital I quite often looked out from the 12-story window upon this path and wondered what the story was here. Why did its originator pick this particular route and why did so many others follow it? The biggest question of course is why didn’t the landscape architect anticipate this and build accordingly?

I remember clearly at a high school health class held in the cafeteria when our teacher asked one of the students who was seated in the back row at the far right to come to the front. He naturally took the shortest and easiest route to the right. The teacher then asked another back-row student who was seated closer to the left to come forward. He did exactly as the teacher knew he would. He did not take the shortest and easiest but followed the same route as the first. The teacher then used this to discuss many other things about human nature.

I also was sitting in the back row well to the left. I wonder what route I would have taken. I am not going to try to answer any questions posed by the above but just allow you to muse on such things yourself.

Red carpet treatment

I was recently asked by a friend who knew I had been parking at Humber River Hospital what the hourly parking charges were as he wanted to compare them with Etobicoke General Hospital. I confessed I did not really know because I spent the day there and started out paying the daily maximum of $23.00. After about a week, Pat’s doctor said thank you very much for financing the hospital; did I not know that I could get a parking permit? I soon got one and saved a lot of money over the next few weeks. His question prompted me to tell a little story about parking at EGH.

Earlier in January I attended Etobicoke General to have an echocardiogram taken. I always find these sessions interesting as the technicians use some of the same techniques to measure the area of the heart ventricle as we employ in surveying and also because the methodologies are improving so much. The procedure took about 40 minutes and I had to pay for an hour’s parking. I think it cost about $10.00.

I heard nothing back from the hospital or my doctor so assumed everything was OK. And then last Tuesday morning I was called by the hospital who told me that the procedure needed repeating. Don’t worry they said, some of the pictures were not clear, how soon can I come in? “How about now?” I said. They said OK but do not bother going to the ritual of checking in; just come straight to the unit.

Upon getting to the hospital I did as I was told and after telling a technician who I was I was immediately ushered into the lab, all the while being treated like a celebrity with “Sir this” and “Sir that”. Once again things went well and after the task was done the technician said she would try to get my parking paid for. I thought this was highly unusual but they told me I was there because of their mistake and it was the least they could do.

After about 20 minutes, the technician came back and said they could not get hold of the parking department and then she held up a brand new twenty-dollar bill. Would I take this for all my trouble and how would I like to have lunch on them? I said I would donate it back but she said no and so I headed to the cafe. I had a nice lunch of oriental chicken and rice and put the change in my pocket.

Exiting the parking lot I noted that the meal and the parking cost less than $20 and the amount left over probably paid for my gas. This may not be the only time that a hospital actually paid for a patient’s parking but the red-carpet treatment I received will certainly be remembered the next time I make a donation.