Law Enforcement & Healthcare - Healthcare Providers, Existing Medicine, & Natural Remedies

Because Haven is a smaller city, the healthcare found here is not nearly as good as something one might find in London. While there are clinics, they are small with limited medical technology. Doctors often make house calls, like in times long past, and natural remedies are more likely to be prescribed than pharmaceuticals.

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There are no big hospitals with things like oncology centers or orthopedics. The biggest hospital your character will find is the local infirmary, which is staffed by doctors and nurses, as well as natural healers. If a character needs serious medical attention, such as surgery or chemotherapy, they are more likely to head to London – just a short ride away on the Tube – than to be treated at one of the infirmaries. However, if it is immediate, such as someone is dying, the infirmary often employs the use of magic to help where their doctors and medicines cannot, though this is risky and does not always work, so do not count on the existence of magic to save your character’s life.

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For prenatal care, see the section on Pregnancy and Birth.

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If your character needs medicine, there are several types available to them. Over-the-counter drugs such as what you would find in any drug store are available in the local pharmacies. Prescription drugs are more hit-or-miss. If it is something that is commonly used, such as penicillin and its derivatives, your character can find it at a local clinic. If the medicine is something that is less common, or that a hospital might have to prescribe, such as Morphine, your character may have to travel to London in order to receive it.

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Natural remedies are something else your character might encounter. Fae, and sometimes other species, often make or sell natural remedies through an apothecary. These remedies are much like what you might find used in history – garlic and ginger to improve the immune system, or a tonic made of herbs that helps with indigestion, etc. Magic is often used in these potions and cures, though it is very slight – just enough to bump up the effect of the remedy. There are NO magical cures for illness. Natural remedies help in a similar fashion to existing medicine, though they do not work as well if the condition is more serious. There are NO magical cures for diseases, and the best way to treat someone with a chronic or fatal illness, such as cancer or AIDS, is through the partnership of existing medicine, modern medical practices found outside Haven, and the boost of natural remedies. This does NOT mean that these things will definitely magically heal a character with a chronic or fatal illness, but they are treatments.