During a practice before our first playoff game, I improperly caught a softball and jammed my right thumb. It hurt like hell for a couple days but once I could grip and swing a bay I didn’t think much more of it.
Except it’s still nagging me. Granted, I kept playing, and the amount of mobile tweeting and blogging I do probably hasn’t helped either. It’s kind of painful to make a complete fist.
This lead to a discussion at the office and some strong suggestions to go to a clinic.
Being a doctor’s kid, I asked “Clinic for what? What doctor treats thumb injuries in Canada?”
Clinic, actually, is the doctor’s office, and what you go to if you don’t have a family doctor. I obviously don’t have a family doctor here so at some point I may have to avail myself of a clinic. And now I’m wondering if clinics are like bubble tea places. Not all of them are equal.
During the conversation they kept saying “emergency” and don’t go to “emergency” as it’ll be hours before I’m seen, especially since I’m not bleeding profusely from a head wound.
It took a second for the word to sink in.
Emergency.
In the States, an emergency is something that requires immediate action attention. If you need immediate medical attention, you go to the Emergency Room, more commonly referred to as the ER.
How Canadians distinguish “emergency” as the hospital and “emergency” as an event that needs immediate attention on site, I don’t know. Context seems the most obvious answer.
Rather interesting we make an obvious distinction in the States from the start, removing the possibility of misreading context. On the other hand, an emergency requires immediate attention, so does it matter if it’s on site or at the hospital? Still an emergency. Just transported to a hospital.
Interesting indeed.