Soy Carla de la Clínica el Buen Samaritano y recibí una llamada de alguien en su casa...

I sometimes wish I could give people classes on how to communicate well.  After all, I'm realizing that the people who can express themselves clearly and concisely with some degree of confidence generally get what they want in this world.  (It's a generalization, but seriously...think about who you give the most attention to when there are lots of people to choose from.)

I receive a ridiculous number of phone calls every day at the clinic.  I answer the phone whenever I can, but it can ring on up to three lines at once and as a general rule I don't put people on hold and I don't answer the phone if I'm in the middle of another conversation (especially if I'm talking to someone in person).

One of the messages from today said (in Spanish): "Hi, this is (name completely slurred).  I'm calling about an appointment.  Please call me back at (phone number)."  This is a very regular problem of mine.  Usually, if people actually decide to leave a phone number, they say it slowly and clearly.  But no one seems to speak clearly when saying their name, so when I return their call, I usually awkwardly say something along the lines of, "Hi, this is Carla from Good Samaritan Clinic and I got a call from a person at this number but couldn't understand the name on my machine."  Sometimes people hang up because they think I'm a tele-marketer, which is honestly fine with me.  And sometimes people know what I'm talking about and I end up talking to my caller.  But this evening, this is the scenario that ensued:

Woman 1: Hello? (in un-accented English)
Me: Hi, I'm looking for a Mrs. Gonzalez?
Woman 1: Who is this?
Me: This is Carla from the Good Samaritan Clinic.
Woman 1: What is Mrs. Gonzalez's first name?
Me: Well, I don't know. The woman left a message asking for an appointment, but she said the rest of her name too fast to understand.
Woman 1: How did you get my phone number?
Me: Mrs. Gonzalez left it as the number to call back.
Woman 1: ¿Se habla español? (Do you speak Spanish?)
Me: Si (Yes)
Woman 1: O, pues, la familia Gonzalez vive en frente.   Ellos no tienen teléfono ahora.  (Oh, well, the Gonzalez family lives in front of me. They don't have a phone right now.)
Me: Uhhh...¿Sabe qué necesitaba la mujer que me llamó? (Uhh...do you know what the woman who called me wanted?)
Woman 1: Pues, no, pero puedo llevar el teléfono a su casa. (Well, no, but I can bring the phone to her house.)
Me: Okay
(2 minutes later I hear knocking on a door and some muffled Spanish regarding a phone call)
Woman 2: Hello?
Me: Buenas tardes, soy Carla de la Clínica el Buen Samaritano y recibí una llamada de alguien en su casa sobre una cita. (Good afternoon, I'm Carla from the Good Samaritan Clinic and I received a call from someone in your house about an appointment.)
Woman 2: Oh, tal vez fue mi hermana... (Oh, maybe it was my sister...)
(2 minutes later...)
Woman 3: Hello?
Me: Buenas tardes, soy Carla de la Clínica el Buen Samaritano y recibí una llamada de alguien en su casa sobre una cita. (Good afternoon, I'm Carla from the Good Samaritan Clinic and I received a call from someone in your house about an appointment.)
Woman 3: Sí. (Yes)
Me: Uhhh...¿usted me llamó? (Uhh...did you call me?)
Woman 3: Sí. (Yes)
Me: Okay...¿qué necesitaba? (Okay...what did you need?)
Woman 3: Pues, mi esposo me dijo que usted me llamó ayer porque necesito otro examen o algo. (Well, my husband told me that you called me yesterday because I need another exam or something.)
Me: ¿Y cómo se llama usted? (And what's your name?)
Woman 3: Blah blah Gonzalez blah
(She has a very random other last name that I caught the beginning of, or at least enough to finally figure out who I was talking to.)
Me: Oh, sí, usted tiene que venir a la clínica antes del próximo miércoles para una prueba de orina. (Oh, yes, you need to come to the clinic before next Wednesday for a urine test.)
Woman 3: Okay. 
(Click.)


That conversation took at least 10 minutes of a very busy day. If only I had known who to ask for in the first place...or if she had her own phone to use... 


Communication is key, especially in health care.  And it is one of my biggest joys and biggest challenges each day that I'm at the clinic.