Newsletter Updates
» one wednesday morning
Thursday, February 09, 2006 - John and I saw 20 patients at the Zarephath Health Center last night in the space of 2 1/2 hours, but with the help of 6 volunteers it went very smoothly. Patients waited patiently, knowing that they would get careful, meticulous care. Here is a sample:
- A 38 year old mother of four, whose husband is incarcerated for molesting her oldest daughter (not his) 10 years ago. They had both started attending church and became Christians three years ago. She is struggling to raise the two younger children on her own. She smokes and has a bad family history of heart disease. I did a long overdue pelvic exam and tried to encourage her to take care of herself.
- A 38 year old man with chronic hip pain--needs a total hip replacement, the x-rays are impressive. Can't move, can't work. No money. His wife actually has insurance which covers him--but they call this "pre-existing," and refuse to pay for the surgery.
- A 38 year old patient with numbness, weakness and pain in his right leg. He has a herniated disc and degenerative spine disease-- can't work. John gave him a cortisone injection which will hopefully work. But he needs a good neurosurgeon.
- A 40 year old single mom with two kids who had been in SCHIPS (Medicaid) but lost it because she got a temp job (without benefits). She had a sinus infection--we gave her the medicine and sent her on her way.
- A 42 year old single mom with spina bifida, who has two children, ages 12 and 15. Her husband left her when the kids were 2 and 5, but she has managed to get and keep jobs over the years. She was laid off in August, 2005. She had Medicare at one time, but since she went off it for a period of time, they want her to document every month that she was insured or pay back Medicare premiums before they will allow her back into the system. That could be $1000's of dollars. She is frustrated that the "system" encourages people to get disabled and stay there. She loves to work. She is wheelchair bound, has severe esophageal reflux, and has not been treated for the past 6 months. I had samples to give her quick relief.
PBS is actually doing a documentary on "Money and Medicine," and are following this woman around to see how she copes. I spoke with the producer last night, too late to mobilize his camera crew. But they'll be back in two weeks to film us. I told him about Antigua-- another documentary in the making!
Now I'm off to my day job-- where people pay me. I'm not sure which venue is more satisfying. We need to keep working on finding solutions to the problems out there-- but it is very clear that the government is not good at solving them. Alieta Eck, MD