It is Monday. Nurses clinic today. Even without a physician, it is busy. Many people come by wanting prescription refills for their bottles that have been empty for days, maybe months. We have to turn them away. Come back tomorrow, the doctor will be here tomorrow. Some people check in for something as simple as wanting cough drops – free cough drops.
Tuesday morning. The clinic has not even opened yet and people are already lining up outside the doors. Because there is only one doctor on site, space is limited, and we have to lock the doors within minutes of the clinic opening. Only sixteen people will be helped today. Sixteen. Most clients are able to get prescription refills or antibiotics for respiratory tract infections. But we are just a small clinic operating within a church building. There are a few other clinics like this one, but the tests and procedures we can do are very limited.
I can’t help but think about how this is just a small reflection of a greater need. Biloxi is a small town in Mississippi – what about the rest of the country? How much can we rely on free clinics to medicate and diagnose people in need? And, when it comes down to it, should it be left up to the clinics operating out of churches, schools and old warehouses to help bridge this need?
1 response so far ↓
1 Bob Haiducek // Jun 11, 2008 at 9:42 pm
You are correct. We should not need to help bridge the need. We should simply do what all other industrialized countries and provide the care automatically as a human right.
We need the peace of mind that is felt by most people in other industrialized countries.
Peace of mind comes with Health Care for All with non-profit single-payer national health insurance.
ALL the other industrialized countries have Health Care for All with non-profit financing of health care.
The U.S. spends over twice as much per person as the next highest spending of those other industrialized countries. However, as recently reported in the Journal of Health Affairs 42% of our people are either uninsured or underinsured. This is a tremendous strain, physically and emotionally and financially, on individuals and families and businesses and the nation.
Yet the U.S. is 28th in life expectancy and 19th out of 19 other countries in minimizing preventable deaths.
We need to get the peace of mind … and healthier lives via minimizing preventable deaths … that other countries have!
Based on my life’s experiences and my knowledge from detailed study, I have a very deep appreciation for what “peace of mind” means regarding health care. Most residents in every other industrialized country in the world know what I am writing about when I write “peace of mind”. Those countries have health care is a human right; it needs to be here also via single-payer.
Here’s where I got my appreciation:
travels in other countries
business trips in other countries
medical emergencies in other countries
medical emergency (mine) in southern Germany
medical emergency (my 3 year old son) in northern Germany
medical emergency of my wife’s cousin in England
medical emergencies of additional American citizens in Israel, Canada, etc.
… and more, but I must stop now and save space
discussions about this subject with people from other countries
Canadian friends who I contacted since we moved back to the States
American citizen friend who has lived in Germany for decades
An example of my personal contacts: November 2007 at the International Youth Hostel in Chicago: one-on-one contacts with people from Hungary, Australia, England (2), Singapore, and Canada. EVERY one of these people are amazed that the U.S. has not established Health Care for All with non-profit national financing of health care!
Although I wasn’t there at the table, I related to what that table-full of American citizens said to Michael Moore very roughly half-way (as I recall) into the movie SiCKO; during those 2 segments of the movie those Americans expressed peace of mind regarding health care.
Please take action to get what we need. Go here to the schedule and follow its links for what to do:
http://www.ninenineohnine.org/pages/Schedule_for_Notes_and_Calls
If someone needs more education, then they can go here and read these web pages …
http://www.ninenineohnine.org/pages/Single-Payer_Education
Bob the Health and Health Care Advocate
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