Life in Vancouver: Grocery shopping and Indian products

Vancouver and it's nearby areas have quite a good amount of Indian population. This makes us Indians a good market and all big grocery stores have Indian products in their shelf. You can go to a Walmart or Real Canadian Superstore or Safeway, each of them will have basic Indian staples. I am staying near Coquitlam/Burnaby so Walmart is nearest to me and next is Real Canadian Superstore which has everything from Rice to Atta to Besan to Toor daal to Mustard oils and Haldiram products and many of Indian spices.

One thing I observed that same product will have different price at different shops. So check the price online and go to store which is nearer and having better price. I use an online grocery delivery app called Instakart which shows products and their cost in respective store. Also you can download Walmart and Real Canadian Superstore and Safeway apps. 

While generic vegetables like potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower, carrot, Cilantro, chilli, bell peppers, spinach and fruits like banana, apple orange etc you can get on any shop. Some specific Indian vegetables like Lauki, Bhindi, Baingan, Methi, Kaddu, Tinde and fruits like mango, guava etc you will find in Indian stores. 

Indian stores prices for vegetables are cheaper than Big shopping giants. But grocery product are cheaper in Shopping malls, may be they can buy in bulk. But still Indian stores have more variety of stuff like different kind of daal(lentils) spices, papads, achhar, pre mix stuff and sweets. 

In my local neighborhood, Fruticana and Sabzimandi have better collection and good rates. But if you can drive to Surrey, you can get more options and cheaper rates since there is a bigger Indian community living in Surrey and nearby.

Costco is also a good place to buy rice and vegetables. Check if something which you like and want to buy in volume, like Rice, Toiletries, Oil, ghee, butter, vegetables, washing detergent, dishwasher detergent, toilet cleaning products and tissues etc. No one can beat Costco pricing and quality, only catch is that you have to buy 6 months supply. Costco is a wholesale shop.

Look for some small Indian or Pakistani or Srilankan shop nearby for emergency shopping of Indian spices or stuff. They may be costly than Big Indian shops but comes handy when you don't wanna drive long. 

Also look for dollar tree or Dollarama, they have products in range of 1-2 CAD. They are not great quality products but still useful for school crafts, decorations, not so critical items. 

Life in Vancouver: Medical Emergency

So this was something which I was not waiting for but had done some preparation. Ofcourse you should be coming with a travel insurance as you enter Canada, preferably 100000 CAD or above. Then till the time you get enrolled to Medical Support Program (MSP) which is 3 Months from date of entry, you should either have an employer provided insurance or self provided. Once you have applied for MSP ok online, you will get a PHN Public Health Number which you can use to access Canada Free Health System. 

I got the taste of this when my wife developed some complications and she needed to see a doctor. Ideal case you should be registered with a Family doctor whom you can contact in such cases. But due to lack of enough doctors, waiting period to get a Family doctor is long and we didn't have a family doctor. I checked if some online tele consultation can happen and called 811, which is medical care number, just like 911 which is for fatal emergencies ( you should dial 911 for life threatening issues which need immediate care). 

Once you dial 811, a operator will take your details like PHN,  name, Date of birth, address and basic issue and then will put you on hold to connect to a nurse. It took my 20 min on hold to talk to a nurse. She listened to the issue and then suggested to visit emergency response (ER) to a nearby hospital. There are urgent and primary care centers and Babylon by Telus which both provide, tele doctor consultation. If doctors are convinced they can give you a prescription on email or send directly to nearby pharmacy where you can visit and collect your medication telling your PHN no and showing ID card.

Tele consultation: 

stationsquare.cortico.ca

On this website you can book a doctor who will call you back and can prescribe medication and send to your preferred pharmacy from where you can pick up your medicines. I have personally tried Dr Chakera who did this for me.

Vivacare.ca : I have not tried but have seen their clinic near Walmart Lougheed Station.

For us, tele consultation didn't work so we visited Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. There is a website http://www.edwaittimes.ca/WaitTimes.aspx which shows all hospitals and ER waiting time. You can choose your hospital based on distance and wait time.

Once you are at hospital, you need to meet registration desk, enroll yourself showing/telling your PHN no. In case you don't have PHN, there are charges. For Canada Residents (Temporary work Force or PR or citizen) it's 361 CAD and for non Canada residents (visitor visa) it's 1275 CAD just to register yourself. That will include basic check up etc. There will be separate charges for procedures and tests. If you are enrolled in MSP and have PHN, no charges. But irrespective of your insurance status, hospital will register you and treat you. They will put a wrist band which will have a patient number and details. There is a parking in basement of hospital which charges 4 CAD per hour or 12 CAD for 6 hours. 

Now you have to wait for doctor to be available and attend you. It may take hours based on how busy it is. Assume it will be 2-3 hours and come prepared with mobile charger, some food or drinks. There may or may not be shops nearby. We reached in parking at 4:00 PM and we were able to see doctor by 8:50 PM. The medical system is free but it's quite delayed. 

The doctor took their own sweet time diagnosing and suggesting medication and tests. He seemed apologetic for delays as it was a Sunday evening and Thanksgiving Eve. He gave us few medicine and a prescription which I can show to any pharmacy and take medicine from there (free of cost but 5 CAD per medicine service charge).

We started from home around 3:30 PM and we're back at 11:00 PM, exhausted and hungry. So moral of story, try to go on weekdays and morning slots. Take food and power bank/charging cable with you. Seats are comfortable. 

Buying medicine is easy, you can go to any nearby pharmacy, I went to Walmart pharmacy. Gave him prescription and he took 20-25 minutes to prepare medicine for me. Saw my photo id and charged 5 CAD per medicine. I have two medicines, one of them 30 tab and other 10 tab, bill was 10 CAD. Dr also suggested some ultrasound which he referred me in system. Someone will call me to set an appointment and then I have to follow up with ER or some walkin clinic to show my reports.