The Impegnativa, one very important Italian document

Perhaps a better title for this post is The Italian Medical system, part XXX .  Seems I could write on this topic endlessly!  It's a subject I get asked about frequently in emails and in conversations with tourists from almost every country imaginable, but mostly from Americans wanting to hear first hand what I think about the differences between medical services here and back home.

I spent a bit of time this rainy morning over at Ospedale Civile while waiting for an appointment with an ear specialist, and that got me to remembering a previous visit to an ear specialist back about 6 years ago.  It was my famous visit to ex-Ospedale Giustinian, over in Dorsoduro, the afternoon I got lost and locked in the bowels of that huge, dark, scary Venetian building and ran into the worker wearing only his underwear. An afternoon I would like to be able to forget, but unfortunately that image is forever etched in my brain.

Last week when I was making this appointment, I flatly refused any and all possible appointment times offered at Giustinian. No, never again. Trust me. Never again. I'll go anywhere else, even to Mestre on the mainland, but not Giustinian. Thankfully this morning finds me at Ospedale Civile in Campo San Giovanni e Paolo.

I couldn't help but do a re-play of that horrifying afternoon in my head while passing time in the waiting room this morning. When my turn was called, I took my place at the sportello (counter) where the intake nurse processed my paperwork. Finished with all that, I asked if she could help me with one other matter.  I've been having a real run around trying to get appointments for injections in my knee for months now, and since Orthopedics share the same office space here I thought I'd just try my luck one more time. I already had an impegnativa (see photo above) for the injections, but for unknown reasons every time I tried to make the appointments, I was given another reason why they could not make an appointment on this doctor's calendar. It has been months, and still nothing. 

I'd discussed this problem with my regular doctor the week before, and she gave me yet another impegnativa for the injections with the advise to try again at the hospital appointment desk. I did try, but was told only my Orthopedic dr. could give this prescription, and I must wait on him.  Yes, I've been waiting. Months. And now the knee has decided this isn't fun any more.  So today, I explain that I now have 2 impegnativas and still no appointments. My regular doctor had also advised me that if I still didn't get an appointment to go take the matter up with the woman who runs the Office of Public Relations. That woman was my next stop this morning, after the ear dr. finished up with me.

The second secretary in the office, who was listening to my explanation of the multi-impegnativas,  turned from her computer screen to face me and told me to come see her when I had finished up with the ear doctor.

Back in the waiting area, I waited for my turn for the doctor. When my number was called, I was
introduced to a fairly young Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. Instead of asking me what brought me to him this morning, he asks what brought me to Italy. I should have been prepared, as this is a very common question, especially in any medical office. I proceed to give him the brief history of Karen becoming an Italian. Why is this so curious?

Next question from the dr. , " Is it true American doctors are all rich? My friend told me this. "
My response: "Doctors in the US do make more than most doctors in Italy, I am sure of this." He turns to his nurse and begins a fairly lengthy discourse on how medical services here in Italy are free or so inexpensive compared to in the US. He seemed quite unhappy with the whole scenario.

As he is examining me, he relays his family story of how his nonno (grandfather) immigrated after the war, how one uncle ended up in the US, another eventually in Germany. The examination conversation took a few more turns, ending with the doctor writing another impegnativa for yet a different examination. As you may have deduced by now, the impegnativa (see photo above)  is like the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket.  This gets you appointments with specialists; blood tests, x-rays and ekg's etc.; and prescriptions. It's a crucial document.

I remembered to stop by that secretary's desk on my way out. She took both of the impegnativa's for the knee injections, looked them over, hit a few keys on her computer and asked me if next Thursday at noon worked for me.  Absolutely yes. No matter what I might have planned for next Thursday, I will be cancelling. There was no way I'd miss an opportunity to get these shots. I asked her about the other 2 dates. She responded, "Don't worry. Get here on Thursday and we'll work all the rest of that out."  I thanked her profusely. She adds, "I remembered you from when you had your knee operated on. The American woman. "

Yes, the American woman. I must seem like a freak show to these Venetians.

Another visit to the doctor, or an ape in Venice

Yes, there is a hospital in Venice.  It's even possible you may have walked by this building, stopped to take photos and never knew you were snapping a shot of the  Ospedale Civile.  This magnificent marble facade on the front of the Scuola Grande di San Marco is home to some of Venice's grandest lions. And inside the doorway is the home of Venice's medical department, including the Emergency Ward.  This is where I normally go when I have an appointment with my Orthopedic surgeon.  Notice I wrote normally.

Scuola Grande di San Marco, in Campo San Giovanni e Paolo

A few months ago I experienced some unusual pains in my left knee, the one that already has a titanium joint. Sensing something weird was going on, I made an appointment with the Orthopedic doctor. The earliest appointment I could get was not at Ospedale Civile. I'd have to go over to the Lido instead.  

Getting myself to Ospedale al Mare was a whole new experience. Vaporetto to Lido, then the bus to Piazzale Rava (Piazzale what??? Lido is way out of my comfort zone, I had no idea where or what this is).  After asking a few questions at the bus stop, I was assured I was headed in the right direction.  Where should I get off?  I should have known.  Just follow the crowd. Everyone headed to Piazzale Rava is going to Ospedale al Mare.

 Ospedale al Mare, at Piazzale Rava, Lido

The Ospedale complex at Lido is huge, and mostly unusable- old, in ruins.  This far end of it has been  getting some restoration, in fact a brand new radiography department has just opened. Now you can go to Ospedale al Mare for blood work and x-rays, among other things.

I've been out to Ospedale al Mare three times since that first appointment,  including yesterday. I'm a pro by now. And, I have to say, I really like this place. It's fairly easy to get to, and far less crowded than it is at Ospedale Civile. I get in and out of there in way less time than it normally takes to visit the specialist.  And the Orthopedic doctor is one I really like.  I'd been to him several years before when he used to have an office in Dorsoduro.  And, as he recently pointed out, he and I share the same birthday. Not the reason I like him, but it is another factor in the plus column! All things considered, having to go to Ospedale al Mare is a win-win. 

Yesterday I had to return to the dr. for "controllo", which in English is equivalent to a follow up visit. He was going to take a look at the current x-rays and make a diagnosis as to what is causing the pains in my knee.  Thankfully, the verdict was not the dire prediction he had made on my first visit. He was talking a whole new knee replacement then. Fortunately, it is not the joint. Yahoo. Happy Dance time.  He prescribed physical therapy over at FateBeneFratelli. (if you've read some of my earlier posts, you might recall this place).  Ok, thanks, Dr. I'll take that!

Before leaving his office, I mentioned that I need to have another series of Hyaluronic acid injections in my other knee.  He reminded me that he is retiring at the end of this month, that won't be possible.  "Yes, I remember you are retiring, Dr., but can't I make an appointment anyway. Won't there be another doctor here? "  He laughed.   Non so and non mi interessa! "I don't know and I don't care."

I totally get his point. He's counting days to retirement. I wouldn't care either!  Then he adds, "Look, in a while, after a few weeks, just call my house.  You can come after 6pm and I can give you the injections there. You live close to the Lido, that will work fine. But not in July. I'm spending time with my grandson at the beach. "

I'm pretty sure I won't be interrupting his long deserved retirement by popping in for those shots. But...who knows. If I have to go back to Ospedale Civile and can't get an appointment any time soon, I just might. 

Happy retirement, Dr!  I will miss this guy! 

Oh, and there's one more thing I really like about the trip to Ospedale al Mare.  There are these little sidewalk shacks/cafes along the street where the bus drops off and picks up.  Perfect for a coffee (or spritz for all you spritz drinkers) and a cornetto.

Oops. Make that two more things I really like. I get to see an ape or two while I'm out there. Ape. A-P-E. Ah-pey.  The Piaggio Ape is this tiny little truck you see all over Italy, even here on the Lido.  The name ape, which in Italian means bee, refers to the work ethic of this little gem.    I want one.

Not quite all quiet on the southern front

Did you notice my title is a little take off on the famous "All Quiet on the Western Front" ?  I really wanted to use Western in my title too, however, I'm writing about events on the south lagoon here, so I had to do a slight modification.

The other day a friend of mine emailed me with a request to see more posts about my rowing adventures. It was perfect timing, cause we'd had a doozie of an experience just a day before!

Ever since the interim mayor passed a new law banning dragon boats from the Grand Canal, we've had to do all of our rowing in the south lagoon.  Before his brilliant move, we did a fair amount of our practices in the central part of Venice on the canals of the  Dorsoduro and San Polo districts, as well as the Grand Canal.  To get to the south lagoon, we have to cross the Giudecca Canal.  It's not fun.  This canal is used by all the big cruise ships, the car ferries going back and forth between Lido and Tronchetto, and all the bigger boats hauling tourists between Tronchetto and San Marco. The canal is full of boats going willy nilly, so lots of waves. Big ones. We're out there bobbing around like a cork! Trying to cut across this canal is not easy, it's always the worst part of our practices.

Once we get over to Giudecca, things get much easier. We do a quick row down a canal to cut through to the south lagoon. Once in the lagoon, we usually row out to either San Servolo or San Clemente islands, and then do lots of sprints between the bricole.  Bricole are the poles marking the channel (see photo below for an example).  Boats have to stay inside the channel markers where the water is deep enough. Outside of the channel markers the lagoon can be quite shallow.

Usually, rowing in the lagoon is a very peaceful, calming experience (unless it's sprint time, that is).  I have come to love being out on the lagoon. I've also come to love the rowing, itself. When I first started, I was terrible at it.  Now, the movement is second nature. I get in the boat and my arms seem to just know the position they are supposed to be in to properly hold the oar, and to keep in time with my team mates.  We're a well oiled machine, each in sync with the other.  And that is a beautiful thing. 

Friday, we had a moment that was not so beautiful.  We were rowing along nicely when out of no where, the lionesses at the front of the boat started screaming, and frantically rowing backwards. Those of us in the rear of the boat had no clue what was going on, but we sure felt the effects of it as the boat tipped to the right almost dumping us all into the water, and then it tipped even more to the opposite direction. I thought for sure we were going overboard. We all did. Nothing like this had ever happened before, I had no idea what was going on or why.  It took a few minutes to get settled, and we then saw what the problem was.  The two rowers in the first seat noticed two bricole that were rotted and broken off, only barely visible at the water level because of the height of the tides at the time. We almost hit them. If they hadn't seen them and back paddled quickly, we all would have been in the water. Fortunately, we all were wearing life vests.  I swim, so it wouldn't have been a problem, however there are a couple of lionesses who don't swim.  

Happily, most of our rows are non-eventful!

(The culprit!)

Today's row was without incident. We rowed completely around San Clemente island, a first for us. Usually we row to it, then turn around and row back. You can see from my photo below how clear the water is. It's quite shallow, I can touch the bottom of the lagoon with my paddle.

We were quite excited today, as this was the day our brand new salvagente arrived.  Salvagente- here's your new Italian vocabulary word for the day! Salvagente is what you call a life jacket or life preserver.  Salva gente - literally save people.  Here are the lionesses in them.  Wow, what a difference these make. Our other salvagente were quite bulky and uncomfortable. These new ones are cut very differently under the arms. Their design fits so much better, making rowing a lot easier. We are pretty happy lionesses. Simple pleasures!  And we probably needed those salvagente today. Crossing the Giudecca canal in both directions was trecherous.  Going across, we took on more water than we ever had before. We had to stop and bail out. I wasn't in the boat 5 minutes before a wave hit me and I was completely soaked from head to toe.  Our feet were covered with water by the time we hit the other side of the canal.  On the way back, a tour boat refused to give way to us, even though the "rules of the road" say all motorized boats must give way to any rowing boat.  The guy knew it, but wouldn't stop. We almost hit him. There was quite a bit of loud, nasty words exchanged between our helmsman and that driver.

After each row,  the dragon boat gets washed, dried, and stored in one of the old Salt warehouses at the Bucintoro boat club. Then I make my way to the vaporetto at La Salute.  The short walk to the vaporetto is absolutely joyful now that the weather has gotten warmer. The local  kids are out playing in the campo around the corner from the boat house. Today the boys had a game of soccer going on,

The girls were giving their sidewalk chalk a work out,

 and the priest was giving an outdoor mass for the rest of the kids.  It's a side of Venice  I just love to see.

And, around the last corner as I made my way to La Salute, today I was serenaded by these two  who were happily playing on this little dock over the canal.

So, there you have it. A bit of my rowing adventures. Not quite all quiet on the southern front, but still all good. 

New transportation woes in Venice

In recent months the local news has been filled with articles concerning Venice's increasing transportation difficulties, including more large cruise ships, vaporettos crowded with tourists, and even new limits on kayaks, canoes and dragon boats. Yes, even dragon boats, so I've been directly impacted by the new regulations our temporary mayor put in place mid-April. Fortunately, those stringent rules have been modified a bit, so soon we'll be rowing back on the Grand Canal.

The other day I witnessed yet another traffic issue. I thought surely this would make headline news the next morning.  Our interim mayor needs to get on this problem before it gets completely out of hand.

Double parking in Venice.   (It was in front of a toy store, I can totally understand the necessity.)

My new transportation

I've surprised myself once again, I've gone and done something I didn't think I would ever do. 

I have been content to use my feet to get me from Point A to Point B -and sometimes C most days, supplementing with the vaporetto depending on where I need to get to. Until we moved to Sant'Elena, I rarely ever went over to the Lido. And if I did, I walked once I arrived there. 

This year I find myself on the Lido often. If I need to go to a grocery store, it's actually easier to do it there at the large Coop or the new Conad store (formerly Billa, which, for the record, I miss terribly).  I make it a weekly ritual on Tuesday mornings to go to the mercatino there, and now I've added on Friday mornings as well. Some of our new favorite restaurants are there.  And it won't be long before the beaches are open again for the season. 

Recently at lunch with some friends, who all live on the Lido, I was asked if I kept a bicycle there. No, I don't have one.  One of the women immediately suggested that she give me her old one, which was sitting in the garage now that she had a new one, and her husband was urging her to get rid of it. The only problem was it had a flat tire. I didn't think that was an issue, I was happy to figure out how to get the tire fixed.  I didn't even need to do that, she took it to her local bike shop for me! She'd warned me it was old, and had lots of rust. In my opinion that would be just perfect for the Lido and me! 

The next week we made arrangements for me to come over and pick it up from the bike shop. For 9 euros I had a brand new inner tube, filled with air, and a lovely set of new wheels for me.  

This baby has a bell, 2 baskets, a mirror, a light, a brand new seat, and a fender!  And it's blue, my favorite color even.  I have hit the lottery on this one! 

The bike came home to Sant'Elena so I could have Mike adjust the seat for me. 

I've purchased a brand new bike lock, I'm ready to take it back over to the Lido where it will take up residence in one of the several bike lots in and around the area by the vaporetto stop. My bike will fit right in with it's neighbors- old rusty beach bikes, just perfect for getting around when I want to explore the seawalls along Malamocco or make a trip to the mercatino, or pedal on down to the spiaggia ( beach).  The only thing I need to do is break a bottle of prosecco over the handle bars to christen it!

It's been years since I've biked much, I must admit I'm a bit leery, but with practice I am confident I'll be fine.  I'll be just like Miss Gulch in the Wizard of Oz , except I'll be sporting a huge smile.