what appears quoted below is from the article on p58 in world magazine 9.22.2012 entitled 'beyond the flow charts'. i wept as i read this even though in would choose to die outside a hospital, if given the choice, rather than experience what i call the American Medical Association type of treatment. i don't know if the treatment philosophy depicted in this article is AMA or alternative (probably a mix) but i sense it would give me a much greater sense of what i believe is 'normal', 'good' and 'right'...the kind of care i received from my family doctor, regelman, as a child...human, humane. i have not been to the doctor for years..never in the hospital- other than one visit due to a bicycle accident over 6 years ago. God protected me during the 3-4 days i was in the hospital on that occasion, thru the two operations on my shoulder at jefferson hospital, the rehab experience and an assorted other related visits. however, my already strong aversion- to what i'll classify-for want of a better overall term- as AMA care was reinforced by by the experience. for years, up to the last month, i have listened, with silent and private horror, to what others are experiencing through AMA type 'care'. i have, on one adult occasion in my life, experienced what i understand to be a true human being-not only caring and compassionate, but extremely skilled..an excellent teacher and communicator in the area of expertise- on the other side of my own medical relationships. to add fairness to my assessment i see them, on the other side of that type of relationship, as being herded...as being oppressed by the overall environment in which they MINISTER..an environment characterized in my experience by the feeling that i am just a number, that the 'health care giver' may know techniques and 'formulas' and see drugs as the panacea..
(note: a remedy for all disease or ills)
obviously i am unaware of all the factors, deleterious to health care giving, that they must have to deal with and be conditioned by...or 'get out' of the profession.
this article was meaningful to me to see that there are actually people out there, whether they be AMA (ugh!) or otherwise in orientation, who care enough to help those who cannot help themselves. (the more cynical side of me is thinking that this type of thing will soon be regulated out of existence (other than surreptitious)
(note: done by stealth; secret or unauthorized; clandestine)
by the allied powers-BIG government: pharmeceuticals: big business: BIG whatever or whoever else (ie. appointed or self-appointed BIG shots in every area!
my comeback on this to world is: can you make a list (or 'is there a list somewhere!) of such places in southeastern pa..the world!
for a number of years i was a member of a christian based organization, samaritan ministries (excellent experience with them...my bicycle accident costs of over $70,000 cost me less than $100) but left that several years ago to:
1. make my living expenses lower (a continual quest in every area) IN ORDER TO BE FREE to, hopefully, follow Jesus.
2. to put my 'health care' more squarely on God alone.
3. to do an act that would close every AMA temptation (i have very little savings) and put me in the care of anyone (i could trust!) who would be willing to help me in a limited way.
4. to hopefully move me toward SELF HEALTH CARE, not only necessitated by circumstance but also in a preventative mode ie.
put no food made in a factory in your mouth..no matter what the circumstance;
exercise regularly;
work hard/push yourself to the limit every day;
go to be early and get 7 hours sleep, more only if absolutely necessary (ie. when body is challenged unduly), confess sins as i do them-james 5.15-6 and
put my trust in God 'in whom i live and move and have my being')
..therefore, my flesh-which loathes FULLY DEPENDING ON GOD ALONE (haven't people for millenia done the best they could (those who were His, trusting in Him..looking to be with Him) and when they got sick, died?) wants a list of humans i can depend on.
article by susan olasky with reporting by christina darnell and tiffany owens
'in 2002 an ecuadorian showed up in a hospital emergency room in charlotte, NC.
in broken english he tried to describe the chest pains he was experiencing.
at that time, the hospital didn't have an interpreter.
in frustration the man went home and called his uncle, who spoke good english.
the uncle drove to take him back to the hospital,
but found the nephew dead of a massive heart attack.
that man was 38 and left behind a widow and young son. the tragedy was a turning point for rusty price, his pastor at camino baptist church. price began seeing the needs of the growing hispanic population, and in 2004 his church opened up betseda centro de salud, a charity clinic with a largely hispanic clientele.
first...REACH OUT..CHARGE NOTHING...that story points to a common pattern. across the country, in big cities, small towns, and rural areas. private citizens-often doctors-have band together to set up charity clinics to serve the working poor who don't have insurance. according to julie darnell, a public health researcher at the university of illinois at chicago, about 1200 charity clinics each year take care of nearly 2 million patients. her study included only those clinics that
charge patients little of nothing for visits
do not refuse treatment for those who cannot pay,
and do not bill patients.
about 58% of the clinics including some of the biggest,
take no government $.
many target the working poor,
those whose employers don't offer health insurance.
the clinics rely largely on volunteer doctors, nurses, and other medical professions.
some are affiliated with hospitals and universities,
others with churches and homeless shelters.
about 37% are religious.
some are full time and others are open only a few hours a week.
since washington policy makers tend to focus on healthcare from a 35000 foot perspective,
we a world decided to do some ground level reporting on charity clinics around the country.
5 of our writes visited clincs in washington state, michigan, texas, north carolina and upstate new york.
a 6th took a road trip from new york city to baltimore, washing ton, nashville, memphis, new orleans, mobile and atlanta, visiting clinics and talking to people in the neighborhoods around them.
...the charitable work of dan heffernan, 84, founder of hope clinic in ypsilanti, mich., exemplifies..four themes...has been providing care to poor people since the 1960s when, fresh out of medical school, he moved with his family to midland, mich. hef
1. saw camps of migrant workers and decided to help them get to church.
2. soon he saw their need for medical care, so he traveled to the camps with a nurse, carrying bandages and antibiotics.
3. 'once they trusted me, there weren't enough hours in the day to see everyone.
4. hef began holding a weekly evening clinic at his office, starting at 7 pm and continuing 'until we were done.
5. throughout the 60s he ran the clinic, which expanded with the help of about 150 volunteers.
6. hospital administrators saw his dedication and agreed to take care of his poor patients at no charge.
surgeons volunteered.
nurses and x-ray technicians told him,
'dan, if you're seeing them for nothing, we'll do it for nothing/
7. hef learned that clinics need to function as part of a network of care...
here's an example of how it works:
hope clinic sends a poor patient with bleeding to a volunteer gastroenterologist, who finds..colon cancer
the gastroenterologist calls an oncologist he knows who is willing to treat the cancer.
the patient receives good treatment and learns to accept grace,
while doctors have the joy of giving.
(note: the vision! all people in all professions, content with food and covering spend their time, energy and life focus to help others, either only in their area of expertise and/or generally! heaven come to earth...by following God's commandments..so GOOD for all of us but so HORRIBLE to the flesh of each of us that cries out for Self to the detriment of others.)
second...since lifestyles can contribute to illness (FOCUS ON LIFESTYLE), doctors who run patients through their offices as if they were machines needing a little oil are less effective than doctors who get to know their patients :) and talk with them :) about behavior.
many clinics have wellness programs that target diet and exercise. hef still spends two afternoons a week at hope clinic, primarily reviewing records to make sure no one falls through the cracks and he insists upon seeing smokers;
'it crazy to give medication for their lungs and abdominal pains when it's caused by smoking and they keep smoking.
he tells them, 'we'll lick this thing together.
third...charity clinics run on the work of VOLUNTEERS, who seize the opportunity to take time with patients and personally help them. (heffernan says he has learned over the years not to ask doctors to volunteer too often. hope has a regular saturday morning rotation requiring doctors to work once every six weeks, and some doctors have done that since the clinic opened in 1982.
...FOURTH... administrators at nearly every clinic spoke about the freedom to PRACTICE MEDICINE WITHOUT HAVING TO THINK ABOUT INSURANCE OR GOVERNMENT REIMBURSEMENTS. they spoke of the damage government can do and the way it can transform into cash transactions what once emerged out of compassion.
hef saw that firsthand. he ran his free clinic in midland for a decade. then federal $ became available and two neighboring counties applied grants to create clinics for migrant workers in their areas. he says,
they go a $400,000 grant to do what we were doing for nothing.
in this issue we'll show how networks of care work and why many charitable doctors are concerned about washington's expanding role in healthcare.world's oct 20 issue will have part two..an emphasis on why doctors volunteer and how they help patients change self-destructive behavior...nancy pelosi famously said,
we'll have to pass the (affordable care act) so that you can find out what is in it.
our writers this summer found what's in the existing charity clinic network and were impressed.
can we preserve and expand it,
or will we sing a line from an old joni mitchell song:
don't know what you've got til it's gone'?
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