Third World Scene With an American Setting

[babsbunny]

http://www.truthout.org/072809R

Monday 27 July 2009

by: Howard Berkes | Visit article original @ NPR

It was a Third World scene with an American setting. Hundreds of tired and desperate people crowded around an aid worker with a bullhorn, straining to hear the instructions and worried they might be left out.

Some had arrived at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Wise, Virginia, two days before. They slept in cars, tents and the beds of pickup trucks, hoping to be among the first in line when the gate opened Friday before dawn. They drove in from 16 states, anxious to relieve pain, diagnose aches and see and hear better.

"I came here because of health care - being able to get things that we can't afford to have ordinarily," explained 52-year-old Otis Reece of Gate City, Va., as he waited in a wheelchair beside his red F-150 pickup. "Being on a fixed income, this is a fantastic situation to have things done we ordinarily would put off."

[RandySF]

1. Didn't you get the memo?

This is America at its best. Who needs government health care plan when we can have tents popping up all over the place?

[sabrina 1]

2. Who would guess this scene would be found

in the one of the richest countries in the world. USA, no longer Numero Uno in so many ways.



A crowd gathers in the early morning at Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia to receive medical care at a makeshift field hospital providing free care for those in need. (Photo: Becky Lettenberger / NPR)

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. K&R

What this group does is wonderful. Heard they will be in Los Angeles this year. Los Angeles!

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I remember doing this in MEXICO... I guess we are now a third world country

wonderful, and we do have the best health care system in the world, if you can afford it!

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. video

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4256735n&tag=related;photovideo

[sabrina 1]

6. What a wonderful organization. Thanks for this video

Every member of Congress should be forced to watch this together with their uninsured and under-insured constituents at town-hall meetings and asked to explain how they can justify the sinking of the US to third world status on their watch.

To think this organization was meant for third world countries and now spends 60% of its time in the US. And we have greedy, ignorant, uncaring members of Congress refusing to admit there is a problem in the US and slamming the healthcare systems of Canada and Europe and Cuba etc.

I'd like to ask them, would you see something like this in any other developed country? In Canada eg? And if not, why not? This totally blows away all their lies about other nations who actually feel they have an obligation to their citizens.

I emailed 'Sicko' to some friends about a week ago and today I received an email from a friend who is not very informed about any of this. I wasn't even sure if she'd watch it. She said she had watched it twice and cried each time and she is seriously considering moving out of a country that is so heartless towards its own citizens. She's thinking of Canada where she has relatives.

I was happy to see at the end of the video that just this one broadcast resulted in over two million dollars in donations.

Maybe Congress ought to talk to these people who manage to treat over 17,000 patients at a cost of 250,000 dollars. Under our current system, one patient can end up with over $20,000.00 in bills for a couple of days in the hospital. There is simply no excuse not to have a single payer system where every American, like every Canadian, receives the care they need.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. When I was a medic in the Red Cross in Tijuana we used to run

a trauma center with two bays, one ICU with ten beds, two operating theaters, two general wards with twenty beds each, and a twenty bed ER, with fifteen ambulance on one million dollars a year.

I can tell you it can be done, but at times I wish I had an extra half a million. Sometimes at the end of the fiscal year I filled my rig's gas tank for the shift... sometimes twice... and we got a lot of donations. I also bought quite a bit of my own gear, medical, rescue, et al.

We had very strict protocols to decide what tests were done when... but we lived or died on the charity of people.

I remember one story in particular. We treated an American kid, he broke his leg... his parents came to pick him up. The first question was how much? I pointed to the donation box. Dad was a doctor here in California. He looked at me and said, you're kidding me? No billing?

Nope... whatever you can afford to give.

He gave us 1000 bucks, and sent meds from his office, samples that were close to the expiration date.

I may try to contact this group. Might be worth getting my EMT cert back... to help in the front lines.

[sabrina 1]

8. May I ask how you got involved in the work you did in Mexico?

I am in awe of people who devote their time to work like this. Doctors Without Borders, Orbis etc. I would love to do so but do not have any medical training. I have thought of spending a year teaching somewhere that needs teachers. That may end up being here in the US also considering the state of our education system in poor areas.

What a wonderful story about the American doctor. I hope it made him think about the system he is a part of. Amazing how money can be managed when there is the will to do so.

Thank you so much for your post, and I hope you do get in touch with this group. It sounds as though they need as many people as they can get especially with the experience you have.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I was born and raised in Mexico City

we had the red cross come give a class on first aid and CPR, basically basic. We got invited to join up. I was part of the first wave of women who joined the Corp. When I came to study in California I went down to TJ, and joined, I was already trained.

It went from there.

I was also the accidental revolutionary.. or game changer. Recently I found that the San Diego Fire Fighters who saw us women pull hoses and do all that shit, down there with no complaint took that home. We were one of the reasons for women firefighters in San Diego.

Realize I did that also because Mexico received my dad after WW II... so for me service was a way to pay back. Of course I never counted on the flying mosquitoes (Bullets) due to the war on drugs. Or the drug addict chasing after me and partner after we gave him a downer for his drug overdose. He wasn't breathing very well when we met him... Narcan works like a charm, and many other stories.

Since we are at the border, there are many stories of Muricans who went down there for health care as well... even back in the 1980s and 1990s... I guess I saw the tip of the damn iceberg of what we are seeing now.

On edit, yes they do. They need EMTs, so I will probably look into getting my cert again... I let it lapse over ten years ago. So it may be time to get it again, just for things like this. I will gladly volunteer doing this... and the grunt work needed. Sad, I predicted at one point that this would happen in the US.

[sabrina 1]

10. Thanks for the response ~

Realize I did that also because Mexico received my dad after WW II... so for me service was a way to pay back.

What a great way to repay them.

We were one of the reasons for women firefighters in San Diego. It sounds like you've led a very interesting life. Congratulations on your contribution to that.

It looks like you wouldn't have to travel anywhere this time and yes, you were right in your predictions. I have to say I am shocked to see these free clinics even though I was aware of how many people had no access to healthcare here.

I remember a few years ago when I was visiting someone in the hospital and saw an elderly man in a wheel chair trying to fill out forms. He was clearly sick and the effort was making him tired. I spoke to one of the counselors who were there to help people apply for medicaid and asked her 'what happens to people who do not qualify'? Her answer was 'they die'. She said it so dispassionately, at first I thought she was being sarcastic. But she was serious. I remember crying at the time. She wasn't uncaring, but I guess she knew what most of us were just learning about our 'wonderful healthcare system' and maybe she wanted to shock people into doing something about it.

Whenever I argued with Republicans who simply refused to believe that anyone goes without healthcare in the US, I remembered what she said but trying to get them to admit how bad it is, is just impossible. They are so much in denial that it would take de-programming to get through to them.

Again, thanks for you interesting posts and for being a part of the solution ~

[KakistocracyHater]

11. I want ALL our Reps & Senators to have their health-coverage REMOVED

make them pay for it out of their own salaries.

[sabrina 1]

12. I agree with that, always have.

There is no logical reason why they should be covered by the very people they are refusing to cover.