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Ever Been to the Health Department?
By The Changeling | March 3, 2008
Have you ever visited this health department office on Nostrand north of Myrtle? When I used to live in the Manhattan, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop by the health department on Ninth Avenue to get a flu shot, but this place looks so uninviting that I’m not so eager to visit. Over the past year I’ve gone to this place twice, but unfortunately both times it was closed.
The day that I took this picture I tried to peek inside to get a feel for the place, but I can’t see much through the window grating. I can see that there are a lot of aloe and snake plants on the window sill. I hate snake plants.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I’m curious about you guys. Where are you from originally? What do you do for a living? I appreciate your coverage about the random, cool, and not-so-cool stuff in Bed-Stuy while I chow down on lunch or procrastinate at work. Please tell us more about you.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 pm
never been to this DOH site. I went to the one on Flatbush and Fulton for a TB test. It’s right by LIU. Maybe folks should try there as it seems to be a bigger and busier place.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Thanks for the recommendation. I know the one you’re talking about. It’s across the street from the car wash. I used to pass that DOH office frequently. I’ll check that site out the next time I’m over there.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
This site doesn’t look too healthy, does it?!?
March 4th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I’ve been to the one on flatbush for an HIV test (I go every 3 months, like clockwork, so it would cost a bundle if I went to my normal gyn) and it was absolute hell. The wait was 4 hours even though I got there 45 minutes before opening, the staff was super rude and inconsiderate, plus when I was in with the nurse taking blood the receptionist WALKED IN TO THE ROOM and started talking about a date she had the night before. Confidentiality my ass.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Changeling are you a freelancer of some sorts and work for yourself, and use these clinics? Some doctor’s office can be just as odd.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Carmen: Try the Ryan Nena free clinic in the East Village or one of the community health centers that works with HIV positive patients. They will undoubtedly be more alert to confidentiality concerns, because their funding depends on it. Everyone deserves better care and respect than what you received in Flatbush.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Lina- thank you for the suggestion. I also felt like I was totally looked down upon because I wasn’t engaging in “risky behavior” when the woman asked my about my history. I told her I just go every 3-5 months as a habit and she looked at me for about 3 seconds before clicking her pen a few times and scribbling something. Like I was wasting her time.
If I wasn’t so self-aware and hell-bent on getting it done all the time I could totally see how an experience like that would deter people from EVER going again…which is a shame. The service is there, paid for by the taxpayers (ie ME and all of us) and we should take advantage of it, especially over something this important.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:23 am
I think we have a rather nice one on Throop ave near Putnam across from P.S.44
April 29th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for that information, Irving. It turns out that the Health Department pictured above doesn’t do flu shots or exams or any of those things. I was passing by the other day and the door was open so I went in. The front room is filled with desks/computers and the people working there told me that this is the Health Department but their focus is pest control. So it’s the rat patrol that works out of this office.
December 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Try this website (http://www.freehivtesting.org/hiv-testing-locations/). The staff are very polite and the wait is nothing compared to that of the DOH. They dont do any testing in brooklyn, but they’re pretty much everywhere else.