Help For the Hapless Expat

Are you bewitched, bothered and bewildered about certain aspects of living in a foreign country? Is your Spanish good enough for everyday interactions but falls apart completely in unfamiliar or tense situations? 

I want to introduce a friend of ours, Jon Graham - patient advocate here in our town of Grecia.

I think my friend Jane has summed up very well what Jon is doing and she gave me permission to post what she recently wrote:

“Jon Graham

Patient Advocate for Expats

jonenfermero@hotmail.com

7055-6968

I would like to introduce a much needed service provided by my friend, nurse extrordinaire, Jon Graham. In fact, if there is one gift I could give to my fellow expats in the Grecia/Sarchi area, this is it.

Jon has been a nurse for 35 years in the US, most recently as a cardiac nurse, but before that as director of nursing in hospice. For the last thirteen years, he has commuted between San Jose, California, and Costa Rica, spending one month working in the US, then living here for the opposite months. He is fluent in Spanish; more importantly, fluent in MEDICAL Spanish, and he thoroughly understands the Costa Rican culture. He has now retired and would like to continue helping people.

Many of you know that my husband and my good friend both died within the last year. Jon was INVALUABLE help and I could not have handled it without him. He has taken my husband to the emergency room while I was gone, was always willing to evaluate treatments, recommended medications to the doctors in the Grecia hospital for Kathleen, which the doctors used. He was able to get past the “dragons” (the guards who insist you can only visit between 3-5), arriving at 7 in the morning to consult with doctors. He accompanied us to Alajuela [hospital] for testing, and was always willing to talk to medical personnel and interpret findings.

Jon is caring, competent, not an alarmist (helpful in terrifying situations), and very willing to help expats, whether they need accompaniment to a consultation, find themselves unexpectedly hospitalized or in an emergency situation, need to understand their options, or need an advocate in the hospital (really important). He has worked with the director of palliative care here in Grecia, who is very interested in having his help with English patients.  His fees are determined by what you need, but are very reasonable. He is very easy to talk with and very fair. I don’t mean to offend, but he has more experience than many of the newer doctors working at the hospitals, and has a way of communicating with them in a non-threatening manner.

So, do yourselves a favor and write down his email, consult with him, because when the chips are down, we are all in a foreign land, and even the best Spanish can fly out the window when you are ill or frightened.”

We needed Jon on Tuesday. Lance had a requisition from his doctor for minor tests at our Grecia hospital. We went there on Monday thinking we could manage. We had already figured out the clinic (mostly) across from the hospital - it’s where we drop off and pick up our prescriptions, have blood work done (I think), and so on. However, the hospital was a total mystery. Lineups all over for who knows what. Signs weren’t very helpful.

So we contacted Jon and he met us the next day at the Grecia hospital, took us to the right lineup which actually was not in the hospital but in the clinic across the road (we never would have figured that out), spoke to the clerk behind the window and we were in and out in no time with Lance getting an appointment for next Tuesday! Jon will meet us there again next week. We can call on him again if we need help with the actual doctor visits.

Here is one thing Jon told us: if you have hospital appointments with different specialists here in Grecia, they are not all in one building. How would one know that except by experience - such as he has.

P.S. Jon has given me permission to post this.