Today was Forry's turn to make his annual visit to the doctor. I think he really liked Thomas, the third-year medical student who is doing his Family Practice rotation at Group Health. Dr. Brennan had Forry get a chest x-ray, thankfully ruling out my concerns about Valley Fever (because he had such a nasty cough for so long last winter).
Due to a very busy office and the extra time with the medical student, we spent most of the afternoon at Group Health, only getting home in time for the Mariner's game. We had been looking forward to this game as it was the major league debut of Taijuan Walker. It was good to see the Mariners give him lots of run support and give him a win for his debut.
The last of our immediate neighbors up here on the hill at Ponderosa Falls moved out today, so we are all alone up here. There are four empty sites immediately around us. We saw a large family moving into one of the cabins below us this afternoon, but that's the only evidence we've seen so far of Labor Day campers.
When we drove by Riverfront Park, we could see them setting up for this weekend's PigOut at the Park. As ubiquitous as the hornets and wasps have been this summer, I'm not sure it's going to be a very pleasant experience with all of those food booths. When we stopped at the Waste to Energy plant yesterday to drop off our recyclables, they were swarming around the aluminum can depository -- trying for the last drops of sweetness I presume.
Showing posts with label Group Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Group Health. Show all posts
Friday, August 30, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
First, Frustration and Then Good Folks and Good Customer Service
Today was one of those very frustrating days. It didn't start out that way as we went into Spokane to the Group Health lab and had our blood and urine tests done. The techs were good and got both Forry and me with their first stick. That's always nice, especially since my veins often aren't very cooperative. Since we had to be fasting for the lab work, we stopped for breakfast and then for a few groceries on our way home.
Then we went to the office to try to make arrangements to stay here an additional two weeks. The lady in the office informed us that they could find no record of the upgrade we bought last fall and that we would need to pay the thirty plus dollars due for electricity for our first two week stay. She suggested we call the K/M office and talk to Adrian Barnes who had sold the two thousand dollar plus upgrade to us. So we went back to the RV and I called him. He answered and said he would call me right back.
I waited an hour, then called the K/M office again and asked for Adrian. The lady said he wasn't available. So I asked if he had a supervisor I could talk to. She said he did and she would connect us. After about a minute and a half, she came back and said neither one of them was available and could she be of assistance.
At that point, I was annoyed enough that I just about blew her off, but she was sort of insistent. So I told her the story about how we had bought this upgrade that Adrian told us would enable us to stay at any of the K/M Parks without paying extra for utilities. After all, we had already paid over two thousand dollars for the K/M, RPI and ROD+ memberships back in 2008. And how, in spite of calling several times, we had never gotten new cards reflecting our new status.
At that point, the lady (who turned out to be named Theresa) said she'd get to the bottom of this and said she'd call us back shortly. And she did! Theresa actually went to talk to Kevin McCloud, one of the K/M owners. He authorized a note be put on our record in their computer system saying that we were not to be charged at any of their RV resorts for electricity! And she said she had called Ponderosa Falls to personally let them know. Then, she apologized for all of the confusion and said that Mr. McCloud wanted to express his apologies as well!!!
We went back down to the office and they verified that the head office had been in contact with them and everything was taken care of -- and commented that we would only be charged $200 for the third and fourth week stay instead of the whole $400 monthly charge she had quoted us earlier!
An hour or so later, we did get a call back from Adrian saying we needed to get in contact with Neskowin Creek (our "home" resort) and ask them to send us new cards reflecting our "Legacy" status! I called them immediately and got nothing but recorded messages. I left a message on three different places on their system asking them to call me. We'll see if they do. I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe they'll surprise me and be as good at customer service as Theresa was!
Then we went to the office to try to make arrangements to stay here an additional two weeks. The lady in the office informed us that they could find no record of the upgrade we bought last fall and that we would need to pay the thirty plus dollars due for electricity for our first two week stay. She suggested we call the K/M office and talk to Adrian Barnes who had sold the two thousand dollar plus upgrade to us. So we went back to the RV and I called him. He answered and said he would call me right back.
I waited an hour, then called the K/M office again and asked for Adrian. The lady said he wasn't available. So I asked if he had a supervisor I could talk to. She said he did and she would connect us. After about a minute and a half, she came back and said neither one of them was available and could she be of assistance.
At that point, I was annoyed enough that I just about blew her off, but she was sort of insistent. So I told her the story about how we had bought this upgrade that Adrian told us would enable us to stay at any of the K/M Parks without paying extra for utilities. After all, we had already paid over two thousand dollars for the K/M, RPI and ROD+ memberships back in 2008. And how, in spite of calling several times, we had never gotten new cards reflecting our new status.
At that point, the lady (who turned out to be named Theresa) said she'd get to the bottom of this and said she'd call us back shortly. And she did! Theresa actually went to talk to Kevin McCloud, one of the K/M owners. He authorized a note be put on our record in their computer system saying that we were not to be charged at any of their RV resorts for electricity! And she said she had called Ponderosa Falls to personally let them know. Then, she apologized for all of the confusion and said that Mr. McCloud wanted to express his apologies as well!!!
We went back down to the office and they verified that the head office had been in contact with them and everything was taken care of -- and commented that we would only be charged $200 for the third and fourth week stay instead of the whole $400 monthly charge she had quoted us earlier!
An hour or so later, we did get a call back from Adrian saying we needed to get in contact with Neskowin Creek (our "home" resort) and ask them to send us new cards reflecting our "Legacy" status! I called them immediately and got nothing but recorded messages. I left a message on three different places on their system asking them to call me. We'll see if they do. I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe they'll surprise me and be as good at customer service as Theresa was!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
A Damp Chilly Saturday
It rained hard last night; it drizzled off and on all day today; and now it's raining hard again. It's almost like being over on the coast with that damp cold that feels colder than snow.
We weren't very ambitious this morning, but finally got our act together this afternoon and went into town to run errands. We dropped off our accumulation of cardboard and aluminum at Spokane's Waste to Energy plant. We've found recycling to be one of the hardest things to do as a full-timer. Not too many parks we've stayed at have had recycling bins -- even ones for aluminum cans. So because we can't quite bring ourselves to throw everything away, we find ourselves trying to make space in our tight quarters for bags of cans and stacks of cardboard...
From there we went in to Group Health's Pharmacy to pick up a couple of Forry's prescriptions. I also wanted to pick up a pill splitter as my doctor has asked me to increase one of my blood pressure meds to a pill and one-half. Usually Group Health is bustling, but since it was a Saturday afternoon, only the Urgent Care portion was open. The pharmacy only had a couple of people waiting, so that errand went pretty fast.
Next stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond. Forry has been very happy with the pillow he got there a month or so ago, so I decided I would get one too. Of course, we couldn't get out of that store without picking up a couple of other things and some Starbucks coffee for the Keurig as well.
From there we went out to the Lazy Boy Store to look at their recliners. Forry's chair that came with Auntie Violet is starting to break down, showing its age, and we've been thinking about replacing it. I thought it might be a good time to look while Toad II is relatively empty and could be used to haul a new chair. The only chair that fit Forry (and would fit through the door of the motor home) was only available in dark brown or an ugly sort-of-tan. I had been thinking of maybe adding some color to the coach -- maybe a blue or red chair (all of the furniture in the coach is an off-white). I guess we'll keep looking...
Our last stop on the way home was at the Safeway Store in Cheney. We had to hustle to get the groceries and get home in time to watch the bull fighting.
We weren't very ambitious this morning, but finally got our act together this afternoon and went into town to run errands. We dropped off our accumulation of cardboard and aluminum at Spokane's Waste to Energy plant. We've found recycling to be one of the hardest things to do as a full-timer. Not too many parks we've stayed at have had recycling bins -- even ones for aluminum cans. So because we can't quite bring ourselves to throw everything away, we find ourselves trying to make space in our tight quarters for bags of cans and stacks of cardboard...
From there we went in to Group Health's Pharmacy to pick up a couple of Forry's prescriptions. I also wanted to pick up a pill splitter as my doctor has asked me to increase one of my blood pressure meds to a pill and one-half. Usually Group Health is bustling, but since it was a Saturday afternoon, only the Urgent Care portion was open. The pharmacy only had a couple of people waiting, so that errand went pretty fast.
Next stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond. Forry has been very happy with the pillow he got there a month or so ago, so I decided I would get one too. Of course, we couldn't get out of that store without picking up a couple of other things and some Starbucks coffee for the Keurig as well.
From there we went out to the Lazy Boy Store to look at their recliners. Forry's chair that came with Auntie Violet is starting to break down, showing its age, and we've been thinking about replacing it. I thought it might be a good time to look while Toad II is relatively empty and could be used to haul a new chair. The only chair that fit Forry (and would fit through the door of the motor home) was only available in dark brown or an ugly sort-of-tan. I had been thinking of maybe adding some color to the coach -- maybe a blue or red chair (all of the furniture in the coach is an off-white). I guess we'll keep looking...
Our last stop on the way home was at the Safeway Store in Cheney. We had to hustle to get the groceries and get home in time to watch the bull fighting.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Errands
Today was a day for running errands. We had quite a few of them.
Two weeks ago we had taken my Chinese rug into Kirishian's in Spokane to have it washed. It usually takes about a week for them to wash it and then get it dry again. The day before we were supposed to pick it up last week, they called and said that they were going to wash it a second time -- it was that dirty! I tried to get it cleaned before we left last year, but they had been so busy at Kirishian's I couldn't get an appointment. The rug covers the main area of Auntie Violet's living area, so it does get ALL the traffic in and out.
From Kirishian's we went to the pharmacy at Group Health to pick up the prescriptions I had ordered on-line a couple of days ago. While we were there, I took my wrist blood pressure machine upstairs to our doctor's office to compare the readings I was getting with it to the ones the Medical Assistant was getting.
Next it was Bed, Bath and Beyond out on North Division. I wanted to get a new throw rug to put down in front of the refrigerator. The ceramic tile floors are deadly to anything dropped out of the refrigerator. I also like having a rug there to catch the drips from getting ice.
BB&B is a fun place to just browse. Besides bedding and linens and kitchenware, they have a lot of "as seen on TV" stuff. They also carry larger boxes with more varieties of coffees that fit our Keurig coffee machine then you find in the grocery stores. Forry found the water filters for the Keurig he had been looking for as while as a new pillow.
Next stop was over to Spokane Wireless on N Foothills drive. Our Communications Guru Scott Ross has put together all of the wi-fi router, boosters and antennas for Auntie Violet over the years. The antenna and pole we had up at the ranch had blown down and broken while we were gone (which is why I had no internet service there!). We bought a new antenna -- a new improved, and hopefully sturdier model (Wilson Electronics, Inc Multi-Band Omni-Directional Antenna). Forry also got a bluetooth headphone for using his iPhone that should work well with his hearing aides. Besides which, I got a couple of very nice big hugs from Scott!
Our last stop was at Yoke's Fresh Foods to pick up a few groceries. By the time we got back to Ponderosa Falls we were both tired. I was glad I had picked up a baked chicken for supper while we were at Yokes!
Two weeks ago we had taken my Chinese rug into Kirishian's in Spokane to have it washed. It usually takes about a week for them to wash it and then get it dry again. The day before we were supposed to pick it up last week, they called and said that they were going to wash it a second time -- it was that dirty! I tried to get it cleaned before we left last year, but they had been so busy at Kirishian's I couldn't get an appointment. The rug covers the main area of Auntie Violet's living area, so it does get ALL the traffic in and out.
From Kirishian's we went to the pharmacy at Group Health to pick up the prescriptions I had ordered on-line a couple of days ago. While we were there, I took my wrist blood pressure machine upstairs to our doctor's office to compare the readings I was getting with it to the ones the Medical Assistant was getting.
Next it was Bed, Bath and Beyond out on North Division. I wanted to get a new throw rug to put down in front of the refrigerator. The ceramic tile floors are deadly to anything dropped out of the refrigerator. I also like having a rug there to catch the drips from getting ice.
BB&B is a fun place to just browse. Besides bedding and linens and kitchenware, they have a lot of "as seen on TV" stuff. They also carry larger boxes with more varieties of coffees that fit our Keurig coffee machine then you find in the grocery stores. Forry found the water filters for the Keurig he had been looking for as while as a new pillow.
Next stop was over to Spokane Wireless on N Foothills drive. Our Communications Guru Scott Ross has put together all of the wi-fi router, boosters and antennas for Auntie Violet over the years. The antenna and pole we had up at the ranch had blown down and broken while we were gone (which is why I had no internet service there!). We bought a new antenna -- a new improved, and hopefully sturdier model (Wilson Electronics, Inc Multi-Band Omni-Directional Antenna). Forry also got a bluetooth headphone for using his iPhone that should work well with his hearing aides. Besides which, I got a couple of very nice big hugs from Scott!
Our last stop was at Yoke's Fresh Foods to pick up a few groceries. By the time we got back to Ponderosa Falls we were both tired. I was glad I had picked up a baked chicken for supper while we were at Yokes!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Ponderosa Falls RV Park
We have stayed at Ponderosa Falls RV Park many times. It's part of K/M Resorts. Our "home" park, Neskowin Creek (where we are Charter Members) is part of this group. So it's an inexpensive place for us to stay for two weeks at a time. There used to no charge at all, but a couple of years ago all of the parks started charging $2 per day for electricity...
I did notice something when we drove in this time. There is a sign down the road where you make the turn to the road into the park. But, there is no sign where you actually turn into the park. This sign is just inside the lane...
This is the lane going along the hill to the park --
As you drive along a bit further, you can look down the hill into the park and see the buildings --
As you can see, there are lots and lots of pine trees in the park. I am amazed that we are able to get satellite TV coverage from our site!
We made an early trip into Spokane this morning to visit the lab at Group Health and got our lab work done for our appointment with our primary care physician next week. Since we had to be fasting for the blood work, I was looking forward to going over to Frank's Diner for a late breakfast. When we got there, we got the last parking place. It was 10:30 on a Friday, but the place was packed and the line was out the door. There were at least twenty people waiting outside.
Hungry and cranky, we decided we didn't want to wait another hour plus to eat, so decided to just go over to McDonalds. But, they stop serving breakfast at 10 AM! (I've never been able to figure that one out, but they claim they cannot do breakfasts and lunches at the same time.)
We checked out another place we knew over in Brown's Addition, but they were closed. I was getting pretty surly by that time, but Forry finally remembered Knight's Diner out on Sprague. It ended up being the best breakfast I've had in a long time. I had some French toast that was so good it didn't even need syrup. Forry had his usual biscuits and gravy and he said it was good too.
We were so full, we didn't even eat any samples later on our Costco run!
I did notice something when we drove in this time. There is a sign down the road where you make the turn to the road into the park. But, there is no sign where you actually turn into the park. This sign is just inside the lane...
This is the lane going along the hill to the park --
As you drive along a bit further, you can look down the hill into the park and see the buildings --
As you can see, there are lots and lots of pine trees in the park. I am amazed that we are able to get satellite TV coverage from our site!
We made an early trip into Spokane this morning to visit the lab at Group Health and got our lab work done for our appointment with our primary care physician next week. Since we had to be fasting for the blood work, I was looking forward to going over to Frank's Diner for a late breakfast. When we got there, we got the last parking place. It was 10:30 on a Friday, but the place was packed and the line was out the door. There were at least twenty people waiting outside.
Hungry and cranky, we decided we didn't want to wait another hour plus to eat, so decided to just go over to McDonalds. But, they stop serving breakfast at 10 AM! (I've never been able to figure that one out, but they claim they cannot do breakfasts and lunches at the same time.)
We checked out another place we knew over in Brown's Addition, but they were closed. I was getting pretty surly by that time, but Forry finally remembered Knight's Diner out on Sprague. It ended up being the best breakfast I've had in a long time. I had some French toast that was so good it didn't even need syrup. Forry had his usual biscuits and gravy and he said it was good too.
We were so full, we didn't even eat any samples later on our Costco run!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
And on to Spokane...
Forry had an appointment this afternoon at 2:30 in Spokane, so we headed up there just in time for a stop at Arby's before his appointment. We were just casually talking and suddenly realized he was supposed to be there in ten minutes! We quickly took off, drove to the office building, switched drivers, he ran inside and I went to find a place to park.
Then we ran errands: to Group Health pharmacy to pick up a prescription; to Spokane Wireless to pick up a connector for the new booster we had gotten last week; to the AT&T store to see if they could figure out why I am sporadically having such a time -- especially during the daytime -- connecting to the internet; and to Auto Zone to pick up another inverter so that I can use my computer in the car without running the battery down (we've either loaned the one we had to someone or just plain lost it...).
The fellow at the AT&T store was not much help. Of course, the laptop and the aircard worked just fine there! He did pull up the map of coverage for all of the cell towers to see if we had coverage at the ranch and we do. He couldn't figure out why we were having problems. Scott at Spokane Wireless thinks maybe they are putting a new cell tower into service and have powered down the one we use so as not to "blow it out" when the other one comes on line. Perhaps they'll power them both up slowly?
We ended up taking Son Sean out to dinner at Chan's Dragon Inn on 3rd. It's one of the oldest established Chinese restaurants in Spokane. I had seen an ad where they were featuring asparagus this week... The food is typical Chinese, but it sure was quiet there. I don't think it's a real good time to be in the restaurant business.
Then we ran errands: to Group Health pharmacy to pick up a prescription; to Spokane Wireless to pick up a connector for the new booster we had gotten last week; to the AT&T store to see if they could figure out why I am sporadically having such a time -- especially during the daytime -- connecting to the internet; and to Auto Zone to pick up another inverter so that I can use my computer in the car without running the battery down (we've either loaned the one we had to someone or just plain lost it...).
The fellow at the AT&T store was not much help. Of course, the laptop and the aircard worked just fine there! He did pull up the map of coverage for all of the cell towers to see if we had coverage at the ranch and we do. He couldn't figure out why we were having problems. Scott at Spokane Wireless thinks maybe they are putting a new cell tower into service and have powered down the one we use so as not to "blow it out" when the other one comes on line. Perhaps they'll power them both up slowly?
We ended up taking Son Sean out to dinner at Chan's Dragon Inn on 3rd. It's one of the oldest established Chinese restaurants in Spokane. I had seen an ad where they were featuring asparagus this week... The food is typical Chinese, but it sure was quiet there. I don't think it's a real good time to be in the restaurant business.
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Visit From My Brother...
We had a nice surprise this afternoon when my Brother Pat stopped by for a short visit. I almost missed him as I was almost on my way over to Diane's for water aerobics. If I hadn't been running a bit late, I would have missed him entirely! Pat had been checking some fields in the area, so stopped by for a visit and a cold drink. It was really good to see him -- and not just because I have the handsomest brother ever! Pat has a birthday coming up on Thursday, but he doesn't look old enough to be a grandpa, even though he has one grandbaby now and one on the way.
After I got back from Diane's (where we had a really good workout), we headed for Spokane to pick up medications from the Group Health pharmacy that we had run out of -- and didn't have time to wait for them in the mail before we left for Sister Sherry's tomorrow.
We got caught in a couple of heavy rain showers while we were in Spokane. Thankfully I had my purple umbrella in the car! Since it was almost six, we decided to go to Wild Sage for dinner. I had a cup of braised tomato soup that was delicious. Forry decided to have the halibut that was their special tonight while I had the duck breast. It was served with risotto covered with a warm spinach, bacon and pine nut salad. Absolutely scrumtious! Forry's fish was served with finger potato salad. We decided to split a piece of coconut cream cake for dessert. It was served with a little bowl of whipped cream floating on a lake of pureed passion fruit. The tart puree was a great accompaniment and contrast to the sweet coconut mousse-filled cake. The guys at the table next to us commented that it was the prettiest presentation that they had ever seen.
PS Got a phone call from Daughter Mary Mae this afternoon saying my Kindle had arrived! Now I have to figure out when I'm going to get to her house to pick it up...
After I got back from Diane's (where we had a really good workout), we headed for Spokane to pick up medications from the Group Health pharmacy that we had run out of -- and didn't have time to wait for them in the mail before we left for Sister Sherry's tomorrow.
We got caught in a couple of heavy rain showers while we were in Spokane. Thankfully I had my purple umbrella in the car! Since it was almost six, we decided to go to Wild Sage for dinner. I had a cup of braised tomato soup that was delicious. Forry decided to have the halibut that was their special tonight while I had the duck breast. It was served with risotto covered with a warm spinach, bacon and pine nut salad. Absolutely scrumtious! Forry's fish was served with finger potato salad. We decided to split a piece of coconut cream cake for dessert. It was served with a little bowl of whipped cream floating on a lake of pureed passion fruit. The tart puree was a great accompaniment and contrast to the sweet coconut mousse-filled cake. The guys at the table next to us commented that it was the prettiest presentation that they had ever seen.
PS Got a phone call from Daughter Mary Mae this afternoon saying my Kindle had arrived! Now I have to figure out when I'm going to get to her house to pick it up...
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