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The American Medical System Requires Patience

Shefali O'Hara
4 min readDec 20, 2023

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Being calm, friendly, and persistent gets the best results

Photo by Patty Brito on Unsplash

One thing I’ve discovered — when you are dealing with bureacracy, you need to remain patient and calm even if you secretly yearn to kill someone. You also need to be persistent. What is it they say about squeaky wheels?

Once upon a time, life seemed easier.

When you called a service provider you got to talk to a real person by default. Now, you have to go through a labyrinthine maze of “press 1 for X, press 2 for Z” which seldom gets you the help you want. If you are lucky there is an option to talk to a real person, but the wait times can be insane. When you finally get through to a real person (assuming you eventually do) you might be tempted to harangue them because you are JUST SO FED UP.

Don’t. Keep your temper. Be calm, even friendly.

Remember, the person you are talking to has probably already dealt with several hostile people by the time they talk to you. Differentiate yourself. Be respectful.

Is this difficult? It can be.

It’s is bad enough when your streaming service hiccups. However, stress levels go through the roof when your health is involved. Particularly when you are dealing with something as life threatening as cancer.

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Shefali O'Hara
Shefali O'Hara

Written by Shefali O'Hara

Cancer survivor, Christian, writer, engineer. BSEE from MIT, MSEE, and MA in history. Love nature, animals, books, art, and interesting discussions.

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