Sheldon M Chumir Health Centre

I have never attended this facility HOWEVER I do work at a doctors office in Calgary and we occasionally receive referrals for sick patients who need care by us and I can tell you that speaking with certain nurses or MOA’s at this facility can be a NIGHTMARE.
I do understand that there needs to be a certain amount of confidentiality in patient care but when you are struggling with the written referral of doctors you should be able to call the particular office and get information in order to unsure the patients safely and care.
I find that the MOA’s (or nurse’s I am unsure of who we speak with) are very short and almost lazy when it comes to helping us contact patients and that’s VERY frustrating and can be harmful in the long run.

Complete disaster. The secretaries will not give you appointments. Therapists are cold and wont return phone calls. And you have to wait 6 weeks for an appointment

This review is specific to Chumir’s Urgent Mental Health department and one of its counselors/​psychologists, Michelle Gour, and of its resident psychiatrist, Dr. Nadeem Bhanji.
Having seen Michelle Gour 3 times without concern, she suddenly began avoiding me and inventing excuses as to why she would not see me. This eventually became her asking her colleagues to lie that she was not in, when her name was on the staff register for the days in question.
If Gour cannot handle sexual trauma and related issues this is one thing, but this was completely unprofessional.
Dr. Nadeem Bhanji is a weird religious evengelist who will dismiss everything you are telling him, and tell you these things, in this order: ‘What would God say?’; ‘You need to get over yourself’; and ‘You don’t really want help’. He is truly the face of our abusive mental health system. Bonus points: he failed to complete a report for a government agency for me that he said he would, which resulted in heavy fines.
There is also a British counselor working in this department who berated me and told me I would need to get over myself and be comfortable around men, as a rape victim.
Bonus points redux: Last night I witnessed a native woman with mental health issues being abused by security with not a word from nurses or this so-​called department for ‘Urgent Mental Health’.
Please do not go here, you will be worse off.

I find it difficult to rate this place, but think of it as a glorified emergency room with slightly shorter wait times and nicer facilities. If you have a non-​urgent condition (and no family doctor) then find another place to go — they are so busy that the only real focus is *urgent* care.
Anyway, the entire process is incredibly streamlined. You walk up and check-​in, get your vitals taken, and then wait for intake. There is even a large display which lets you know how long you will wait to see a doctor. The staff are courteous and helpful and even though it feels a bit like you’re cattle, it is clear that they are trying to make you feel comfortable.
After you’re called into the back, there is another waiting room so be prepared to wait. The doctors seemed to really care about helping people out, but as I mentioned if your condition isn’t urgent then they will give you a prescription and show you the door. Even with urgent conditions, you get the same treatment but a slightly longer look over by the doctor.
In general, this is a full service medical facility. There are a variety of services offered and there is even a family medicine clinic on the 8^th floor. That makes this a one-​stop-​shop in a lot of ways and so definitely a better choice if you have a complex medical condition that medicenters. However, I you have a cold and just want some stronger meds, I don’t think this is the place for you.

I don’t see this place any better or worse than other hospital emergency rooms. The Sheldon Chumir urgent care centre was just as slow as other places. Their waiting room was more spacious and clean though which was good.
Wait time: 3 hours.
Number of doctors on call: 1
Number of Security personnel present: 4

Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre
The Wound Clinic and Home Care Centre (403) 955‑6966
If you go up to the 4^th floor of our wonderful Sheldon Chumir Health Centre, you will find the Wound Clinic, for which you will need an appointment. You will need to be referred by a doctor to have an appointment for this Clinic.
This clinic is primarily for ulcerations and diseases of the legs. More people than you know suffer from such conditions as edema, cellulitis, skin infections and need special attention. I managed to pick up such an infection while hospitalized last spring, and have a «wound» on one leg that just won’t go away!
Usually what is done is your condition is assessed by a nurse, then a doctor will come in and the two of them take pictures of the leg, give you all the information you could possibly want and more, use expensive ointments (such as silver) on your wound, dress it, compress it, and send you on your way.
But that’s not the end of it — no. This is where Home Care steps in and you have a nurse come to your home (courtesy of The Wound Clinic and Alberta Health) 2 or 3 times a week at your mutual convenience. The nurse continues with your care and dressings in the comfort of your living room, takes more pictures, writes up an assessment and generally keeps track of you. If they feel you need IV antibiotics, off you go to the hospital. More often though, is a recommendation to your GP for a course of oral antibiotics.
I have a wonderful nurse, Celine, but this past month we have not been able to get together, so I went back to the Wound Clinic yesterday for an assessment, more dressings and to have more questions answered. My appointment was for 13:00 and I think it was 13:03 when I was brought into the Clinic and led to a private cubicle. These people value your (and their) time; I have never had to wait.
Why do they do this? Obviously there is a need for this kind of treatment, but looking through some reading material they gave me, they are trying to prevent people from having Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clots in your legs such as people who fly for long periods of time are in danger of getting), Chronic Venous Insufficiency which is caused by poor blood flow from your heart — a condition that many sedentary people contract (so watch out, couch potatoes!). The blood slowly leaks out of your veins and into the skin on the lower part of your legs. (the pictures are really gross!) «There is NO CURE for venous insufficiency, but it can be MANAGED» according to the posters that hang in the clinic.
So there you have it. The mysterious fourth floor of the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre unveiled.

After my fiasco with the Foothills I came here the next day. And what a pleasant experience! I was in within 20 minutes and was going through tests and being given an IV of fluids and painkillers. I was still there for about 4 hours, but at least I had been seen and was in a room waiting for results and word from the doctor.
All the staff was super friendly and helpful, both nurses and doctors.
One down side, I had to come back to get more results, and booked an appt for 7. Even though I had an appt I didn’t even see the doctor until 9. If I have medical emergency again I would definitely consider this my first option.

This is a review for the 8^th Floor Family Medicine Centre.
I had to wait a few days before writing this review.
I would not reccommend this place at all. I
nfact you should just by-​pass it and try another family doctor. I have seen a couple of doctors here and they are ok. When I could not see my doctor (she was booked for 4 weeks) for a prescription I decided I would just see whoever so I could get some more medicine.
I waited 40 minutes. My appointment was at 1:30. I arrived at 1:15 and sat down. Another women walked in straight after me, sat down and then was called to see the doctor I was booked for. I assume she was really late and he took her in which is fine. But i ended up waiting 40 minutes. I dont mind waiting 40 minutes if the receptionist is friendly and updates you, but i do mind waiting 40 minutes on my lunch break when I had arrived early, on time and waited patiently for my doctor. I went up to the receptionist and said I couldnt wait any longer and how much longer would he be. I waited another 10 minutes then told her I had to go.
This is when she said «wait I will go and see if there is another doctor that can see you». Dr X swans around the corner and into the room. He was really nice and quick and I was appreciative of that. However this 40 minute wait has happend twice and I get the feeling from this clinic that they dont really care about your time, arent apologetic and just have the mindset off– you’ll see us when you’ll see us which is laughable– I mean I would rather go to 17^th ave Medi Centre in the morning on the weekend and be seen faster than that.
So i booked in to see my actual doctor again a week later. I arrived 15 minutes late ASSUMING she would be at least 20 minutes late, but no I was refused because I was too late. The receptionist kind of laughed at me as though i was deluded for being late and said I would have to re-​book.
I am definatley not re-​booking and taking my files somewhere else.
Im not going to wait 40 minutes twice and then arrive 15 minutes late for them to tell me to re-​book. Really rude, but Im thinking this is just what Calgary doctors are like, their time is much more important, they can be as late as they need to see each patient, but the patient can never be late. oh no.
This place needs to have a system that messages them to let them know how many are waiting, what times they were booked and if the person before goes over there time then let the next one know. I know it exists, because all good medical centres have them.

This is my 3^rd visit to this location to and the third different day and time.
No matter as everytime is a minimum 1 – 2 hour wait. Apparently, there is a staffing problem here.
The staff are usually friendly enough. The nurses usually explain any results in a language most can understand. They also provide pamphlets regarding services and othe related health topics. Surprisingly, they provide condoms.
The waiting room is a little cramped based on the number of patients waiting. Weekends are apparently the busiest times with the least amount of staff as I just overheard the receptionist tell another patient.
However, the biggest complaint is the lack of parking provided for centre patients so you must either walk, take public transit, take a taxi (oh so cost effective, NOT), or find street parking which is only free on Sunday.
For many of us, walking, taxis, and/​or public transit is not always a cost-​effective viable option. It would be nice if we could use the public parking lot and get a ticket stamped.
Hopefully, they will be able to change this.

I’ve been to this «mini-​hospital», as I call it, a handful of times now. (It’s okay, I know it’s actually called an Urgent Care Centre). The first time, it was my husband’s incredibly inflamed gout in his foot. We had to grab a taxi from our downtown apartment, but with the Sheldom M. Chumir being only blocks away, it’s a very convenient location indeed. I was surprised at how long it took in the waiting room… not only for almost 2 hours with Rob, but when they called him in, there was another almost 2 hours before he came back out. This is what makes it like a hospital hehe.
The second time I was there, I had eaten a moldy cheeseburger (not on purpose, I discovered it halfway through eating) so I fell into a tearful fit before deciding to go to «the Sheldon» to get my stomach pumped. I went to triage pretty quickly because of my obvious frantic state, but after waiting 45 minutes «backstage», the doctor told me I shouldn’t get horrible, life-​threatening food-​poisoning from a little bit of mold (and I didn’t).
The third time was for Rob’s gout again. If you don’t know, Gout is a swelling and irritation of joints around bones, often caused by too much sodium in the diet; it causes severe swelling of the joints, and in this case, it was in Rob’s toes, so his foot was so swollen, tender & painful he could barely stand much-​less walk! Again, we waited awhile, but I remember them giving him an icepack for his foot.
They also have very nice security staff. While Rob was backstage – as I call it – I decided to go get a treat from a vending machine. I put the coins in, but the chocolate bar got stuck halfway down. It costs $ 2, so I wasn’t prepared to just leave it… so I went to ask for assistance and this young male security staff was more than willing to give the machine one good hit and out it came :) Much appreciated.
Oh, and there’s a Good Earth Café at the other end of the corridor and to the right. If you are coming with the patient, I reccomend bringing cash for snacks, an MP3-​player, and a good book ;)
If you are the patient, make sure you bring your Alberta Health Card and photo id. Feel at ease, though it seems like days ae going by in there, they do pay close attention to each patient and will get you in on a priority basis.

I just went to this facility for the first time a few days ago. I impaled my hand onto a metal rod from my coffee maker. It was bleeding quite a bit, and I was in a lot of pain, so my roommate called 911 (who were very rude so that’s another review) The ambulance came, and took me to the Chumir.
This experience was far more positive than any hospital I’ve ever been to! I don’t think they were that busy (it was 9 am) but regardless, everyone was very friendly and caring! Not one bit of impatience which is a staple from health care givers these days. My nurses and Doctor were all great. I didn’t get stitches but left feeling like I had been really looked after.
I feel very fortunate to have such a great facility so close to my house. The building is great and the staff are top notch. Hopefully I don’t have to return again too soon.

We are so, extremely fortunate to have a facility of this kind available to us. I am from a small city in northwestern Ontario. At the time I was living there, there were two viable options if you fell ill:
1. Book a doctor‘s appointment
2. Go to emergency
In Calgary, we are so fortunate to have not only doctors by appointment, but walk in clincs, urgent care clinics AND hospitals.
I got a frantic text from one of my best friends asking me to come and get her, because she was a mess. She was diagnosed with strep throat the day before and was given antibiotics, but she was feeling a lot worse despite a day in bed, tylenol, plus the antibiotics. She had a fever of almost 102 and she felt extremely crappy and in a lot of pain.
I have also had chronic cold/​flu symptoms for the last month, and I am on day 8 of 10 of antibiotics, still not well, so I took this opportunity as a bonding experience to help out my pleading friend, as well as possibly follow up on whether I need another 10 days of antibiotics.
During our four and a half hours at Urgent Care, this is what worked well and didn‘t work:
What worked well:
1. Facility was clean
2. Every person I dealt with (nurse at check-​in, clerk at triage, nurse when I was in my waiting room, AND the doctor) were all SUPER friendly and nice. If you read some of my other medical reviews, you will see that is not a consistent experience, so I was impressed by that. I’m a nice person, so I like dealing with nice people.
3. It is evident they know what they are doing, because they obviously prioritize patients. Poor Marnie for strep, kept getting bumped for heart conditions, or more severe. It was unfortunate for her, but it is also comforting to see that they are on the ball.
What didn‘t work:
1. My parking was $ 16. I understand that building is on expensive inter-​city property, but c‘mon!
2. I saw a doctor (by fluke) within two hours, but my friend never did. She eventually gave up after 4.5 hours and is going to try again when she is better prepared for an even longer haul.
All in all, this is a top notch facility. It is unfortunate my friend didn’t get to see a doctor when she likely needed one more than I did. However, the reasons for it, in my mind, show that they are on the ball.
They were also fantastic at communicating, bringing her glasses of ice and advil to help ease her symptoms during her entire stay.
If you have to go, at least I feel comfortable I am in good hands.

As I was getting up this morning I started with really bad chest pain, after 30min I decided to go get it checked to this place as is close to work, so triage nurse took my blood pressure and said it was not a heart problem, so that was good… then had to wait for about 1hr to get into a room where nurse came in to check blood pressure again and asked if I had been coughing, I said a few times this morning, but that was it. She takes off, after almost 2hrs the doctor comes in, my chest pain is still there and now going to the back, and first thing he says in a cynical way «I’m not sure why you are here in the first place, most people wait about 2 days before coming here».
I was like uh? so I had to explained how everything started and he didn’t seem concerned at all, told me to go home and eat, because sometimes not having breakfast is bad for your stomach, and like any doctor here says, take advil if it hurts! …
So, I give 3 stars because facility seems fairly good, service hmm…, I was again disappointed with doctors (not nurses) here in Calgary, they don’t seem to listen nor care to find out what is really wrong. If this doctor thought my problem was a stomach problem… hmm perhaps they could check that out or even give some sort of advice… not sure I would go back there

No visit to any sort of emergency medical facility is ever a pleasent one, and for the most part that’s the reason people come to the Sheldon. That being said, if I’m not in serious risk of dying (which they aren’t equipped to handle, and wouldn’t simply fire me into an ambulance for anyway) I would always come here first. The process, while still slow (come on, it’s an emergency room) tends to take about half the time of a real hospital, the nursing staff (with one or two notable exceptions — and trust me on the one or two, I worked there for a couple months, I know most of them BY NAME lol) are much more approachable and friendly, and due to it’s relatively new presence, it’s not nearly as busy… in fact, I’ve found people who live and/​or work within blocks of this place, and don’t even know it exists.
A perfect example was a few months ago when I injured my elbow. I went to the PLC and was told the wait would be somewhere between 6 to 8 hours because my case wasn’t urgent enough… so I went downtown to the Chumir. I arrived just after 9pm, and by 10:30, I was in for X-​Rays, and from there I was home within an hour. For an emergency room type setting, that sort of turn-​around is AMAZING. Granted, I’ve seen it a lot busier, and at those times to expect that kind of turn around is far fetched, but I’d be willing to bet good money that on any given day you will have about half the wait time here you will in a major hospital, and that’s being conservative.
The only thing keeping this from being a five star review is that, being downtown, there is a minor ammount of vagrancy. Especially at night, some of the areas drunks and homeless wander in for a place to get out of the elements, and can occasionally disturb the patients… but even then, the Chumir’s security teams are among the best in the city, and are always on top of it.
All in all, I can’t recommend this place highly enough for any medical issue. You’ll get the same quality care (in 90% of cases) that you will at a major hospital, but you’ll likely get it from a much friendlier face, and in about half the time.

I had to go here for some blood work. I am not sure about onsite parking, but I found a parking meter as there are quite a few surrounding the centre and on side streets.
Going inside I was greeted with crisply painted walls and a sense of a very modern facility. Whoever designed this bldg has found a great blend of a clinical yet friendly feel. It was easy to find the area of the centre I needed to go to as there was excellent, intuitive signage.
My blood work experience was fast and efficient. The woman behind the counter in the room I had to go to were not rude, but not overly pleasant.
Cant comment too much on much else here in this review, but would recommend this clinic to others in the beltline area.

I broke my 5^th metatarsal of my left foot in September, went to the walk-​in clinic in Westbrook mall in the beginning, which they referred me to Sheldon Chumir for emergency. I waited for couple of hours and they treated me — the doctor told me with confidence and positive attitude that the type of fracture I had did not require surgery. He also told me I’ll be back to playing sports within 2 months. He gave me a cast with crutches, told me to come back in 2 weeks and compare with the first x-​ray. I came back, took an x-​ray, but they realized there was no progress. (and it was a different doctor, who saw my x-​ray for the first time, treating me, which I thought was really weird). I came back 2 weeks later again, but found out there was still no progress, instead it was healing in a wrong way. Then they referred me to the Calgary Foot Clinic, telling me that they might rebreak my bone and put pins in my foot. They didn’t even have any sympathy. I was like…“why didn’t you send me to the foot clinic from the beginning if you guys can’t treat me right??” All the struggling and effort with crutches for more than a month was such a waste of time. I finally got my surgery 2 weeks ago, but have to be on crutches for another 6 – 8 weeks during post-​surgery. It’s already November, and the weather started to get real bad these days, and I’ve been slipping with my crutches. If I had the surgery from the start, I could’ve been healed by now, enjoying the Winter. Never go to Sheldon Chumir if you have a broken bone, because they seem to have no knowledge about it. Go to the actual foot docotors please!

I took my mother here one night after she got an infected bite from a neighbour’s dog.
Being that she’s from the generation that doesn’t «believe in» doctors I was glad to finally get her in but that’s another story.
For those who don’t know what «Urgent Care» means it’s a cross between a hospital emergency room and a walk-​in clinic. You get all of the same attention and care as the hospital without the actual title (so I was told by my mother’s attending nurse).
After a wait of about 4 hours or so (not bad by most standards and they had lots of magazines) my mom was attended to, bandaged, given a prescription and sent on her way with all necessary info.
Not exactly how I wanted to spend 4 hours on a Sunday night but the staff were all fantastic, compassionate people who took great care of my mom. And made sure she could take care of herself once she left.

One morning I just rolled over in bed and felt an excruciatingly sharp pain in my left knee. My partner saw the whole situation and immediately handed me a frozen fish from my freezer. It was suggested I should get X-​rays taken at the nearest Urgent Care Facility, which is Sheldon M Chumir. Now the car drop off area into the Care Facility is reminiscent of the futuristic-​like highways I saw as a child when travelling the outskirts of Tokyo. Freshly painted and wide, you could almost smell «clean». The interior of this place looks like they commissioned a graphic/​interior designer. The Building columns inside have stenciled words for «welcome» in foreign languages. There are rows of surreal birch trees on walls. Hmmm where am I? In a Museum? I was interviewed right away, but the line up area could use some serious seating. I was taken into a glass cubical with state of the art medical equipment, again where am I? In the movie the Matrix? My wait however was especially long (6 hours) but when I finally got in, I was grateful with the treatment the specialists gave me. I found the doctor and the attendant to be quite witty. Anyways the verdict was that I had dislocated my knee and that it was back in place and with time and rest I will soon heal. I was so very pleased with the attention, the humour, and the professionalism of the whole experience and I really appreciated the aesthetics of the building as well. By the way about that fish, being the true Filipina that I am, I did fry it up and had it for supper that night.