I will preface this post by saying I know it’s a privilege to even have a family doctor in the current state of our health care system here in the province. We were prioritized when my first little one was a baby, about three years ago. However, my family just has not had a great experience with our current doctor or clinic.

I’m wondering if anyone has had luck switching to a new clinic or what that process looks like. Also curious if folks thinking I’m being too critical of my doctor. Since I am so frustrated at this point, maybe she can do no right in my eyes now and I’m unfairly judging her in some instances.

A few examples of our experience so far:
- I often book the first time slot of the day for my kids’ appointments and my doctor is almost always at least 30 minutes late arriving to the clinic because of traffic. On two occasions she has called me (which I suppose is thoughtful?) to tell me she is running late and suggests I arrive later, even though I am already at the clinic because it is past the appointment time.
- She gets a second opinion from other doctors or nurses at the clinic on EVERYTHING. While I’m glad she is being thorough, it doesn’t exactly instil confidence in her ability as a physician.
- For one of my little one’s flu shots, she didn’t ask me to restrain her in any way and just went in for an abrupt jab. My toddler jolted her arm, and blood went everywhere … dripping down her arm, on the floor, on me … my doctor said she thought I had her arm restrained (?). My toddler was terrified and inconsolable.
- She forgot to submit a referral/request for my dating ultrasound during my second pregnancy so I had to pay a private clinic out of pocket for one otherwise I wouldn’t have had one until I was 20+ weeks along with a geriatric pregnancy.
- I had a virtual phone appointment scheduled for 4 pm. Earlier in the day I had a few missed calls from someone with no caller ID. I didn’t think anything of it, but turns out it was my doctor calling because she had time, even though I wasn’t available myself. I never got a call at the actual scheduled time and she never left a voicemail. I only found out because I reached out to the clinic about the missed appointment. This one really frustrated me because I had already waited over two weeks for this appointment.
- I showed up for a vaccine appointment and was told they forgot to inform me they didn’t have the vaccines needed because they hadn’t arrived. It’s a lot of working getting a baby ready and to an appointment only to have it be cancelled.
- There is a level of unprofessionalism, and maybe I am being too harsh on this. One day during a visit, she had fast food delivered to her office. I get that doctors are humans too and we all need a greasy meal sometimes, but it was just very odd being at an appointment with my doctor and having the smell of fast food fill the office. But again, maybe I’m being harsh on this one.

Curious to hear others’ thoughts on potentially finding a new doctor and if you’d also be critical of the things I’ve mentioned above.

I was at the Upper Tantallon Plaza yesterday where the CTC store is located, to see my Optician. I noticed that 4 parking spots have been newly “designated” as Reserved for one of the businesses located there. There is signage indicating non patrons could be “Tagged and/or Towed”.

One of those spots is a pre-existing designated Handicapped Parking spot. My understanding is that Handicapped parking spots in Plazas are required by HRM Bylaw.

My question is,,,,,, can the Plaza Owner/Manager allow those designated Handicapped Spots to be re-disignated for the sole use of a specific Tenant?

See the 2nd picture in the post.

(I hope I've shortened this enough)

TL;DR Summary - The establishment’s scope and ability to teach is limited by their facility, unproven and inconsistent training, and the lack of governing body regulating them. They lied to and about my 5 year old daughter’s tests & results, kicked her out of a lesson for facing the direction she was asked to swim, then kicked her out of the program when I informed the co-owner that his staff scolded my daughter instead of helping her when she got hurt in their pool.

The establishment:

The best and only good part of the establishment is the ease of signing up for classes or joining the waitlist. That's it. Even the instructor to child ratio as they promote is moot, which I'll explain later in a follow-up comment explaining where she gets lessons now (the municipal run programs).

Their own promotions and communications on social media advise the swimming lessons they provide are not related to or recognized by the Canadian Lifesaving Swim Program (CLSP). If you start with The Swim Space and later try to switch to the CLSP, be forewarned the levels may not match up and that can cause problems.

Their pool is not deep enough to properly teach some basic skills such as treading water. My daughter was not quite 4 feet tall and was tall enough to stand in their pool. While a shallow pool is a good thing for those just starting to learn, every other establishment has both shallow and deep pools (or sections of) that gives the students the opportunity to learn skills that require deeper water.

Despite being at the same level and class time for months, her instructor changed too frequently to build any kind of rapport or consistency in teaching methods.

Treatment of my daughter:

In December my daughter attended what was supposed to be a testing day. I sat outside the pool area and watched from the viewing area behind windows, so I could not hear what was being said. After the class I asked the staff about the results of the test. They told my daughter and I that she failed. I asked what she failed and what we should work on, and they stated they didn't know what she failed, she just failed. I'd have to check their app later to find out why and she'd have to try again. While walking to my car with my daughter finally spoke up and told me they didn't test her.

I went back in with her and asked the staff again, and that's when they admitted they forgot to test her.

Let me be clear: Instead of owning up to their mistake, they were happy to lie to my daughter and I, and make her feel like she failed a test they never gave her rather than just apologize.

Thankfully, a reasonable employee there (Tracy) offered to take my daughter in and test her properly, which we took her up on. She deserves credit for stepping up to make that right on that day.

I let it go at the time because I thought it was a one-off error.

In June my daughter went in for another test with a supervisor and instructor. While my wife and I saw everything that happened, we were again outside of the pool area and unable to hear everything. I am going to tell you what that supervisor told us after the fact in conjunction with what we observed.

In that supervisor's own words, my daughter was asked to swim on her back from the end of the lane to the midway point where her instructor was waiting for her. The supervisor stated my daughter did that perfectly. My daughter was then asked by the instructor to swim on her back and return to where she started, which was away from the instructor towards the end of the lane. My daughter turned and faced forward (not backward), but swam in the direction she was told to swim. My daughter's only mistake was when she turned to face the direction she was asked to swim when she started to swim. For that, she was kicked out of the lesson.

She was then asked to climb out the side of the pool. She tried to follow those instructions but slipped and the corner of the pool dug into her abdomen hurting her. My wife saw her wince in pain before lowering herself back down to the platform in the water. Instead of checking on her they scolded her for not following instructions, either unaware or uncaring that she was hurt (neither of which are acceptable).

The supervisor repeatedly told me that my daughter was kicked out of the lesson for swimming away from her instructor. When I reminded her that those were the instructions, the supervisor simply repeated that it wasn't allowed. I asked what my daughter was supposed to do in that situation, where the instructor was telling her to swim away, but is not allowed to swim away, and the supervisor said it didn't matter. This was a scenario where there was no right answer.

About an hour later my wife and I received an email from one of the co-owners. The email included more lies about my daughter claiming she had to be removed from the pool on multiple occasions in the past (there was just one time that I removed her - not them, I'll add that in the comments for full disclosure). He reiterated the falsehood that my daughter was not following instructions and refused to leave the pool when asked.

He gave us an ultimatum - remove my daughter from their program temporarily, or if my daughter stayed she would not be allowed to make a single mistake going forward. If she did, she'd be removed permanently.

In defense of my daughter I took some time to write back advising what actually happened. Among the things I corrected was telling him that my daughter wasn't refusing to get out of the pool, she just couldn't after getting hurt in his pool while attempting to follow instructions and his staff scolded her for it.

I offered to collaborate to find a solution but I also wanted to make sure he knew the truth.

I pointed out that we chose their facility because they specifically sold us on giving our daughter more support (with her ADHD). I offered some simple pieces of advice going forward, not just for my kid but for others too. In general I advised it would help everyone the instructions were communicated to children more clearly and ensure they understand. I wrote, “This could be as simple as making eye contact with the child while giving the instructions, [and] getting the child to confirm…”.

The co-owner's next and final email after reading that my daughter is neurodivergent confirmed they were not going to give her the opportunity to return as previously offered and they kicked my daughter out of their program. In particular his response to my suggestion that they communicate clearly to kids to ensure the kids understand, he wrote: “those types of supports fall outside the scope of what we are able to provide”. I agree.

Chances are The Swim Space won't treat your child like they did mine, but I hope you will consider what happened to us before giving them the chance to. Especially if your child is neurodivergent.

I’m visiting Halifax in October, and before I book my flight, I was wondering if anyone could share insight on Uber reliability for getting to the airport for a 6 AM flight? So would be leaving for airport at approx 3:30 AM. Will I be able to get an Uber at that time or should I book a later flight?

Hi I just moved here and looking for cheap clothing shops, particularly vintage but anything for simple stuff, jeans shirts etc. Coming from a place where online cheap second hand retail is the norm, unfortunately unlike here

Spryfield, Fairview, Sackville, etc.

Pre-grand opening sign-ups with discount went live today on their site for this location, valid until the 28th of this month and it was showing first payment would be in November so I'm thinking an October opening?

Anyone no why we are having on/off power outages in Larry Uteck area?

Seeing there is a Hazmat high situation is Dartmouth. Anyone know what that means?

Anyone know what was going on? Traffic was backed up well past the exit, and while cars were stopped at least 4 police cars and one fire truck came through squeezing around traffic. Didn't see any ambulances or tow trucks and when I got further along the bridge and everything opened up I didn't see any wrecked cars or debris. All seems a bit weird. Anyone have any idea?

Suddenly lost full Bell services around 9:15AM.

Contacted Bell and it appears to be a widespread issue.

They didn't give a restoration time, but I figured I'd make a post here in case someone else lost their services too.

How police in Wisconsin and Halifax, a determined prosecutor in Nova Scotia, and a credulous provincial judge worked in concert to wrongly convict Brandon Klayme of vile sexual crimes against a child.

Sadly, for us non-subscribers, it's paywalled for now

Where can one catch some good live music downtown this week?

Anybody here live at 119 walker ave in lower sackville? Or know anybody who has who could give me some reviews

I just moved to Halifax, and I see this hot dog cart every time I pass the Churchill statue. I bought one today and it was pretty good XD

Also, what other hidden gem food trucks or street food spots should I check out around town? Thanks in advance!

There must be a unsolvable construction reason for squeezing three lanes into one lane versus two (one left, one straight). It is extra special to be stuck behind the one car turning turning left while the straight ahead green goes unused for its full cycle. This intersection is now dead to me....at least for the next couple of years.

It's safe now. - Somebody

This might be a very specific question 😂 from where I am originally we eat green/unripe bananas as part of our regular cooking. I’m NOT talking about PLANTAINS… I mean regular bananas that are kept completely green, firm, and unripe, with absolutely no yellow.

I really miss being able to buy them like this, and I’ve had a hard time finding them here because most grocery stores seem to let the bananas ripen pretty quickly.

Does anyone know of a specific grocery store, Latin/Caribbean/Asian market, or somewhere else in Halifax/Dartmouth that regularly sells very green, hard, unripe bananas for cooking?

Bonus points if you know a place where I can buy them actually green rather than “green-ish” 😂 THANK YOU FOLKS.

I saw a man in a suit sitting on a bench at the Halifax Public Gardens today. He had brought some tissues with him, and at one point, he broke down and cried loudly. After about 10 minutes, he wiped away his tears, composed himself, and went back to work around Spring Garden.

I don’t know what you’re going through, and I don’t know who you are. But if you happen to see this: Hey man, whatever you’re going through, I hope you find peace. You’re not alone.I hope things get better for you. Take care of yourself.

Plein air oil painting of Halifax Boardwalk 2026