On top of my recent health problems, I lost one of my hearing aids. I didn’t notice it was missing until bedtime when I took them out to recharge overnight. Although I immediately backtracked, it couldn’t be found. Apparently, it dropped somewhere in the ambulance or in the ER examining room and was gathered up with the used sheets.
I did learn one thing–keep checking my ears to be sure the appliances haven’t fallen out.
It took about a week for a replacement to arrive from the manufacturer. It took another week for the specialist to schedule an appointment to program the new aid for me. Fortunately, my hearing loss isn’t too severe, although my telephoning and TV watching were also affected. The specialist met with me on a Saturday afternoon, which should have been his day off. He had another appointment that day, too. He said he’d been very busy lately. Several years ago, he was told there wouldn’t be as many specialists as needed in the future and he believed it had happened.
I’ve noticed it takes longer to schedule an appointment with professionals who deal with old peoples’ problems. Last summer, I tried to have my eyes checked before I had to take my driver’s test in September but I couldn’t get in until winter.
I think the baby boomer generation thought they wouldn’t get old but it’s happening. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are more old people–it has been predictable since schools had to expand in the ’60s. I’ve read in AARP publications there are a shortage of doctors and I have seen in the news that hospitals are short nurses.
It makes me wonder what planners were doing. Incentives could have been offered to encourage people to choose professions where they would be needed in the future. Such professionals can’t be trained overnight.
Do you have trouble making appointments in a timely manner?