The Distance Is Physical

Trying to fill a prescription now is not as easy as one would think. I spent three days trying to order my medications on line only to find that I could not connect to Kaiser's on line ordering system. I tried using the option of calling in my refill order. The the voice menu they give you requires you to say or type in the prescription order number. Perhaps I simply do not know how to use this function but I could not find a way to give them multiple prescriptions to fill. This is a problem because I need to refill most of my medications at the same time. Adding still more complexity to this is the fact that the postal service does not provide street delivery up here. Kaiser has been pretty good about sending things to my P.O. Box but there have been times when I have received calls from them informing me that mail they have sent to me was returned to them as undeliverable because they used my street address. If my medications were returned to them I would not receive the medications before I ran out. So I had to use the talk to a representative funtion. Furthermore, the pharmacy where I usually go was closed, and I had to place my order with the pharmacy in Redlands. Fortunately Kaiser's menu options allow you to ask them to call you back rather than forcing you to sit on hold for four hours, and four hours is not an exaggeration!

The bottom line is that I ordered the refills on Friday, and I went to the Redlands Pharmacy on Tuesday to pick them up. There was a line outside of the building. A pleasant young lady wearing a protective mask asked if I was there to fill a prescription. When I said yes she told me to get in line. Everyone in line was observing the rules in regard to the distance maintained between people in line.

“You must be pretty busy given the fact that the San Bernardino pharmacy is closed,” I said.

“Yes,” she agreed, “and I'm form the San Bernardino office. Do you recognize me?”

“Not with the mask on.”

She laughed. So did some of the people close enough to hear our conversation. The congeniality of the people waiting in that line was encouraging. Most of the people there smiled and carried on conversations in spite of the physical distance between them and other people in line. It was a pleasant reminder that we are all in this together, and we will get through it together. I should add that people who had earthquake survival kits found them useful.  As one lady said, she was really glad her kit included toilet paper.