Help, advice, ideas needed from other smart canuckers please

Hello everyone,

My planned move to Calgary from Quebec by the end of this coming summer had been unexpectedly rushed due my spouse becoming seriously ill 1 1/2 weeks ago (he already made the move here in early January to begin his new employment).

Because of the urgency of my departure, I am no where near as prepared as I would have hoped to be. I have lots of questions I was hoping to find answers to here. I'm sure I'll be asking lots more as time goes on and am extremely grateful for any advice/ideas you may have to offer.

Prescription medication: Are there some pharmacies that are better than others in general? We went for the first time to SDM this week (figured I could use the optimum card) but, the dispensing fees were outrageous ie. 80$ fees for a total of 300$ in medication. Are dispensing fees charged at every pharmacy or is this just at SDM?

Family doctor: Dh is being followed by a cardiologist and the anti-coagulation centre but needs to find a family doctor asap as well. Any recomendations? Don't think I'm alone here but I always prefer to go by word of mouth over a printed list. A doctor who's pretty knowlegable about heart disease would be ideal if possible. We're temporarily located in the SE quadrant not too far from 17th ave. se and 52nd st. se. I do have access to a vehicle but am nervous about highway driving, especially in an unfamiliar area :redface:.

Dentists: I was in the middle of a procedure at home and need to have it continued here. Anyone have a dentist they love and can recommend?

Grocery stores: So far, I've been shopping at Sobeys, Co-op, and Safeway. I can't tell you how happy I am to have found No Frills today as the prices there are much closer to what I'm used to paying for for groceries. A question about fresh produce though...are there any stores that are better/best in terms of variety, price, quality other than regular grocery stores? Any other grocery stores with plenty of fresh produce that I should be looking for to shop at?

Second hand stores: I've been to WINS (I know proceeds go to a terrific cause but it's still out of our budget at the moment) and the Salvation Army Thrift Store (unable to find what I am looking for there). Are there any other large surface second hand stores not too far away?

Thank you so much in advance for any advice you may have to offer.

prices for grocery store items in western canada are usually about $2 more than grocery stores, so be prepared for that.

no frills is the cheapest place to get your groceries, but also, dont forget that we also have a london drugs and you can stack coupons at that store. this is especially helpful for items like makeup, which you can get for dirt cheap if you have the right coupon combo.

as for the dispensary, dentistry, medical issues... i hate to say it, but alberta is -the worst- place to be either physically or mentally ill. first of all, theres a huge spilt between privatized and provincial health care. if you go with private healthcare, be prepared to pay an arm and a leg. if you go with provincial, be prepared to wait forever and get lower quality care. theres a fee for everything, too. dispensary fees, consultations and follow-ups... the list goes on.
it makes sense to get the best insurance you can, out here. you're gonna need it.

as for thrift stores.... use google maps. theres alot of good ones. and the value village thrift stores here are -amazing-.

hope that helps!

I've found that here in Alberta, Costco has the cheapest dispensing fees. You don't need a Costco membership to use the pharmacy. While I LOVE SDM, I never get any prescriptions filled there as there dispensing fees are one of the highest! Walmart is a reasonable dispensing fee as well...

As for DR/Dentist... Call the Welcome Wagon on yourselves! They will come and drop off a package including dentists/Dr's in your area that are accepting new patients. We just moved here last summer, and on TWO separate occasions, I went to a DR's office that was accepting new patients, brought the paperwork home to fill it out for the family and then no more then a few days later went to drop off the paperwork and was told "Sorry, we just stopped accepting new patients!".... After the WW came, I simply went down and let them know the WW wagon had suggested the place to me and had no issues.

I was in the middle of some dentist work myself, and my dentist back home referred me to his brother office here in Calgary which was downtown. You pay a arm and a leg for parking downtown, and as soon as all my work was completed I switched to someone close to home. Just thought I'd mention that if you're looking at going Downtown for doctors!

For produce, I really like Superstore. I'm not sure if there is one close to you, but they automatically price match all the other grocery store in the area so you can make it a one stop shop. If No Frills isn't a close proximity to it, you can always bring in the No Frills flyer and they will price match it with no hassle.

As for thrift stores, I live in the NE and haven't found anything worth while :(

Welcome to Calgary!

I am about an hour and a half away in Red Deer so not much help for you, I just wanted to say welcome to Alberta and I hope you get settled and Your husband gets the care he needs, it must have been a difficult move for you Here is the link to Alberta Primary Care network, hopefully you will be able to find a doctor. .https://www.needadoctorcalgaryandarea.ca/Default.aspx.Good Luck

Thank you so much everyone for your replies :-).

We finally found a fantastic family doctor for dh. We went to see him for the first time yesterday at his office in the airport of all places, lol! We were so relieved when he told us he had another office in the SE so that's where we will be going from now on.

RandiL, your ideas are a great help. Thank you for your reminder of stacking at London Drugs. There one right near where DH goes for his bi-weekly blood test so it will be convenient for us. All I have to do now is read up on how stacking works here. I buy extremely little cosmetics (maybe 1 eyeliner and face cream per year?) nor do we buy much packaged items. I'm not too sure if stacking will be very useful for us but, I will go to LD to see what they sell all the same.

Dispensing fees aside, Calgary has Quebec beat by a longshot when it comes to medical services. The treatment my husband received, as well as support for our family, while he was hospitalized was beyond incredible! When he was awake and able to speak, Dh kept repeating, "if this had to happen, I'm glad it happened here." I have to agree with him.

SuperMel, we'll be going to Costco from now on to refill the prescriptions :top:. I'm still having a difficult time wrapping my head around dispensing fees..especially when SDM charged 10$ for a single dose of anti-biotics (what was left of dh's prescription that he started in the hospital). Had I have known, I would have asked a nurse for the last pill :rolleyes:.

I'll also have to remember to pick up the No Frills flyer before heading to Superstore. I found the latter does indeed have a much bigger and fresher selection of fresh food. Thanks again. Oh, and I found a great thrift shop (for clothing anyways) near Sunridge Mall just across a ways from Costco. MCC Thrift store on 32nd st. NE. I left home with only a few items of clothing shoved into a backpack :redface: so thrifting is going to have to do me until I can arrange to have our other belongings shipped here.

Almost forgot to ask...what's a Welcome Wagon?

ThriftyGranny, that's an excellent link, thanks for sharing. I hope others who may need it will also see and use it too. I imagine it will be a while before we're settled but folks here make it easier to adjust. Everyone is so friendly and helpful :-).

welcome wagon is actually super helpful! :)
you can check oout thier website here:
http://www.welcomewagon.ca/index.php/en/

Welcome Wagon is there to help with all the civic information you may need to familiarize yourself and your family with the local community, including:

• Letter from the Mayor
• Local map
• Transit information
• Recycling information
• Library
• Local recreation centre
• Newcomers club

Welcome Wagon Representatives also personally recommends local community-based businesses (i.e. grocery store, beauty salon, drug stores, hardware stores, etc) who offer gifts and services to the relocated consumer.

Thank you RandiL!!

Welcome to Calgary!
www.kijiji.ca is a fantastic website to buy things for an excellent price. They also have a "free" section. Calgary has alot of affluent people who want to get rid of something they don't need but don't want to fill up the landfill, so they put an ad on kijiji to give it away.
As you may have found out, LD has alot of food products as well, so you can look for coupon stacks for food items you use.
The local library can be a great resource for you as well. Besides books, there are magazines, cd's, movies you can use for no cost. There is a small fee for the card itself I believe.
For clothing and some household items, Value Village can be good. If you sign up for their SuperSavers card (www.valuevillage.com), they will notify you of upcoming sales (ie 50% off, B1G1 etc). Beware, it is very busy on those days!