Utah health clinics are like theater. If you’ve ever sauntered into one, you know what I mean. That day, I walked through the doors battling a minor ailment but expecting to see a scene straight from General Hospital. Yet in place of high drama, there was a hive of activity with obliging receptionists bustling about diligently, nurses smiling at you from every corner like so many Eliza's for the Phantom of the Opera. It is almost Shakespearean in its diversity.- although there are few soliloquies and an abundance of stethoscopes.
Let us talk about the cheerful faces behind the counters--those who never seem to tire of saying "take a seat" fifty times a day! They are the very heartbeat of that whole great contraption, which ticks along like some Swiss watch. I remember waiting, flicking through ancient magazines when a receptionist with all the patience of Job led me through the forms. It was a dance they knew well, matching up the masses to trained professionals in effortless and synchronized harmony.
Do you ever engage in the fine art of doctor-patient repartee? It is a bit like piecing together a puzzle where your two symptoms−—resembling the characters in some mystery story—must live together on the same page. Once I mentioned to my doctor how this cough seemed to take peeks like a drama queen. With a laugh, he said, "Your cough is more of a movie-actress than a villain; we'll give it a grand exit."
Utah’s clinics seem like people and places apart. They even feel somewhat communal. You are made to feel at home, with the atmosphere of having entered a zany sitcom where everyone knows your name—or at least how to pronounce it correctly You will occasionally see the same faces and exchange knowing nods, an entire subculture of waiting-room veterans--adept in the art of endless scrolling on their phones.
Which brings up the subject of physicians. They are detectives—with another set of tools. They will listen intently, occasionally mumbling final thoughts of significance and scratching notes down at a speed only rivaled by teenagers sending text messages. A friend of mine once insisted his doctor could read people's life stories just by looking at their shoelaces, though I should think that was an exaggeration.
No talk about Utah’s health clinics is complete without mentioning technology. Digital records, virtual chats and futuristic contraptions you'd find only in a science fiction story-- they’re all part of the scene. It’s as if Star Trek decided to take a crack at health care and landed on the shores of Salt Lake City.
So the next time a Utah clinic is where your cold sends you, keep in mind: it is not just a place for getting better After all, it's also a small theater where experience, humor, and the professional touch often combine to make us laugh a little while we get well. As the old saying has it: "Laughter is good medicine," but health clinics aren't half bad either.