Medical Exam at St. Luke's Extension Clinic (an Immigrant Visa requirement)

On December 16, a day after our 2nd wedding anniversary, I went to Manila for our med.exam together with my 15 months old son and my tatay.
I'd like to share to share our experience to help since i didn't find any posts regarding medical exams for children below 2 y.o. at St. Luke's extension Clinic.

I'm sharing here some of the not-so-common points/info that you can search online on other blogs/forums.

We got an email on December 3 that we already have a schedule for interview at the US embassy in Manila. So it was time to go for our medical exam at St. Luke's Extension Clinic (SLEC) in Bocobo St., Ermita, Manila. There's no need to book an appointment before going there but I strongly suggest to fill up the form/register online then go to SLEC as soon as you can. Bring the printed online form to SLEC to save precious time and effort. You may bring bottled water in a clear/transparent container. I observed that the guards confiscate 'colored' drinks and bottles. I also hid some snacks in our bag for my son but I forgot to bring candies/sweets. You can sneak in bites if you're really hypoglycemic already. lol. Just be discreet. I'm a breastfeeding mom so I get hungry as fast as my toddler does so I ate some of his biscuits. hihi. And yes, a companion is allowed if you have a child with you. Otherwise, you go alone. I prepped for the worst based on what I've read online about how rude some staff are but hoped for the best especially the long queues. I decided to go on Dec.16, Wednesday, since I think mid-week has the least people going there. Most people tend to go to offices on Mondays and Fridays. Also, my period is due the following week so it's better if I go before that monthly visitor comes. If I wait for my period to end before going to SLEC for my med.exam, I'd have to wait for another week as it is what SLEC advises. That's quite inconvenient because of the holidays.

Alas, come our medical exam day, there's a storm and signal no.1 is up for Laguna & Metro Manila. Fortunately, the heavy rains decided to pause for a while that morning. I called SLEC before leaving to make sure they're open and they have doctors, etc. There was light to moderate traffic only. Thanks to suspension of classes due to bad weather.

Some things that added to my anxiety were:
1. i was sickly when i was a baby
2. my son's babybook entries from health center (vaccines) aren't that detailed

During our exam, all personnel we encountered were really nice. I always try to approach everyone with a smile and maybe it also helped that i have an adorable kid with me. hehe. The longest wait on our 1st day was just 1 hour which was before the Physical Exam. Waiting time for me is fine and understandable since they really need to carefully encode everything. As a medical professional myself, I'm actually amazed on how fast they give out results considering the number of patients they have plus the strict protocol/process they need to follow.

Here's a rough summary of what we went through ;)

1st day (Dec.16)

a) arrived past 8am
the guard: present documents asked = passport, online form, interview schedule (email printout) from NVC,

b) at around 820am was called to window J. was asked a few questions and sign some forms. a personnel took our photo via webcam and my fingerprint

c) directed to the cashier. rode the elevator to 5th floor and paid P11,300 for me and P8,600 for my son.

d) around 930am we were called to the Vital Signs area still at 5th: blood pressure, weight and temperature taken by a nurse, after a few minutes was

called to a room for the height and eye/visual acuity test.

e) waited longest here, at 1030am we were called and given numbers (one for me and another for baby). told to wait outside a room, still at 5th floor, until a female doctor called us in for the Physical Exam. I think we waited for a while because there are only a couple of doctors who examines children as well. The same female doctor examined me and then my son. I went in first and left my son with my father outside. I was interviewed (I answered NO to all questions. lol. because that's the truth and some I don't really know. Remember the date of your last period and I suggest abstain from sexual activity before your med.exam. Then, I was asked to remove ALL clothing, wore a clean gown provided and was done with the PE in like 10mins. I don't think vaccine records or a babybook is necessary for an adult. But if you received vaccines just recently, bring the records or medical certificate. The doctor entered info on her computer while I dressed then examined my toddler next. He cried a bit because of the cold stethoscope. hihi. Additional info was typed again then we were sent to 2nd floor.

f) went to 2nd floor, filled up and signed some forms at the counter, submitted our vaccine records/babybooks. At around 11am: initial vax interview by a nice lady in the counter, instructed me to provide a summarized Immunization Record of my son. I said I'll ask from the Health Center and bring the file tomorrow. Apparently, they like to minimize the number of pages/paper on file. They do not want to photocopy all the pages (5) of my son's individual vaccines received. Make sure your immunization record includes the doctor's (or midwife's or nurse's) signature, complete date and name of vaccine given. After a few minutes of sitting again, we were called into a cubicle where a doctor interviewed us about the vaccines, again. A friendly female doctor asked me some questions while typing away on her computer. She said my cute & talkative son will not have the Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) since he was under 2 years old. She also needed the summary of his vaccines (which i need to bring the next day) to finish the evaluation.

g) then we went to 4th floor for my blood exam. No one else was in the waiting area of the laboratory so I was done there fast.

h) went straight also to 3rd flr Chest Xray counter. There was no line too. Lucky us. I brought a hairtie as suggested in one of the forums I've read because you need to tie your long hair before the test could be done. But there were rubber bands provided already inside the dressing room, where I changed into a gown again. Don't wear a dress if you don't want to walk out almost naked. hehe. My son didn't need a chest xray too since he's just 15mos old ;)

i) we checked out past 12nn at the check out counter there in 3rd floor. was asked to come back at 10am the following day.

And first day was done! We were really hungry by this time except maybe my toddler who breastfed and ate biscuits inside.


2nd day (Dec.17)

I thought the process for this day would be faster compared yesterday. How wrong was I. :P

We arrived before 11am. Showed the guard our receipts and he stamped them with IMMUNIZATION. Yay!! I believe this meant we passed the medical exam. I'm not sure though but I was so relieved to see that stamp. I was really afraid they will stamp mine with PULMONARY EVALUATION, SPUTUM EXAM. lol. That would delay us for months!
We went straight to 2nd flr and submitted the Immunization Record, sat, waited to be called. After like 1hr they approved the IR and asked for photocopies (2 copies), i brought 5 copies, gave them 2.. waited.. after a few minutes called for short interview/double check son's babybook. More than an hour passed again until my son's name was called to the vaccination room. He was given 4 shots, huhu, 2 on each thigh. I think this is the common number of shots given to children. I saw older kids who got 2 shots on each arm. Ouch! I was then called as well and given 2 shots, 1 per arm. Not so bad. The nurses were really nice too.
We went to ground floor for the releasing of results, waited,, again... after 1 hr, my son's name was called, his results were released at window D. I had to wait for mine. After more than an hour, my name was finally called at window G. To my dismay, I was asked to go back to 5th flr to have my pregnancy/delivery history re-assesed and encoded because the doctor who did my Physical Exam forgot to put notes on her computer about my C-section. Fortunately, i was prioritized (no need to line up again) and was done in minutes, went back directly to window G and my results were then released.
My toddler got a sealed envelope and a personal copy of his vaccine record. I got a sealed envelope, a CD of my xray and a personal copy of vax record too. We'll bring the sealed envelopes to our interview at the US Embassy on January 2016.

We were finally out of the clinic at 4pm! Starving.. :P

I'm more anxious about the medical exam than the actual interview at the Embassy. Thank God we're done with this step. :)