Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Medical Care, Health Clinics, & Volunteers

I admit I don't have any easy answers regarding the current health care debate. Like many, I'd be able to point to lots of problems, could complain about the costs, would brag about medical advances of the last 25 years, and while concerned about the scores who don't have adequate adequate health care I still wouldn't have many answers. Complicated stuff for sure!

While traveling yesterday afternoon I heard a radio report about which reminded me of the crowds we served with our mobile medical clinic in west Africa. The report started:

"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, Va., 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."

Find more of the report at Rural Medical Clinic

"The 2009 Remote Area Medical (RAM) Expedition comes to the Virginia Appalachian mountains as Congress and President Obama wrestle with a health care overhaul. The event graphically illustrates gaps in the existing health care system." One woman told of her visit last year that saved her life as the medical team found her gall bladder was enlarged and ready to burst.

It makes me wonder if there are parts of our GA/SC region which might be under served and need a medical mission team.

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