2018 has not been a great year for us, and especially for Ann. It was compounded on Friday night when she slipped and fell in the bedroom. She fell heavily and hit her head on the corner of a cabinet. She was bleeding from the wound, and stunned. I telephoned for an ambulance and made her as comfortable as I could. Fortunately the bleeding stopped. The ambulance had difficulty in finding us (as we live in a field) but George, who runs Santa Barbara Resto, got into his car at midnight and guided the ambulance to us. What a great fellow.
I followed the ambulance to Polis Hospital and then to a nearby private clinic for X-rays. Then it was back to the hospital for stitches and cleaning up. The X-rays, thank goodness, showed no breaks. We arrived back home at 2.30 a.m. and I finally got Ann to bed. We were both awake a few hours later and I sorted out pain medication for her. Fortunately the pills knocked her for six and she slept for hours and hours.
Two days later she is still discovering new bruises and is in a lot of pain. But no permanent damage has been done, and she will recover ... but I suspect it will take a couple of weeks. Looking on the bright side, if she had landed a couple of inches to the left, she might well not have made it.
So we are both looking forward to a new year, and will trust it will be better than this “annus horribilis”. Davie will arrive on 5th December for a week and that will raise all our spirits, including those of local bar owners who will undoubtedly see an increase in turnover.
I was really sorry to hear this and hope Ann recovers quickly.
ReplyDeleteWe'll be living permanently in Cyprus in just a few weeks (we have Argaka/Polis on our shortlist) and this type of thing reminds me to prepare including getting good healthcare. We're planning to take on private healthcare and from reading widely on the internet think we'll go with Atlantic. Would you share who you use and do you find them good to deal with?
Also I'm aware you can have private ambulance cover or public. Do you use public and would you use them again after this experience?
We don’t have private health insurance as we qualify to use the public hospitals and doctors. So I cannot comment on that aspect. If you are planning to use a private ambulance service, then you need to find out in advance whether they are staffed with “paramedics”. The Polis Hospital ambulance is staffed by a driver and a nurse, and on the two occasions we have used them we have been very pleased. Although Ann tells me that the ambulance hasn’t got any springs, and so not the most comfortable ride.
ReplyDeleteThe new National Health Scheme starts in 2019 and that is funded by compulsory contributions from income or pension. It starts off at 1.9% and rises to 2.9% a year later, so you will need to factor that into your calculations.
Ann is battered and bruised but that will improve in the next couple of weeks.
Good to hear you've had a good experience with the Polis Hospital ambulance.
DeleteUnfortunately I don't think we'll initially qualify for the Cyprus NHS and we're not old enough for an S1 so I think we'll be using private for a while. I understand that to be eligible for the NHS you need to be:
- Cypriot citizens. Not us.
- European citizens residing and working or having acquired the right of permanent residence. We won't be working and we understand we won't become permanent residents for 5 years.
- Third-country nationals who meet the requirements of national law. By getting in before Brexit day we understand that we'll keep EU rights so this one isn't us either.
- Those dependent on the above