The Health Snare of Health Care produces a Health Scare

Tamiwho? Tamiflu to be exact. I had a brief brush with our health care system this weekend, and now I remember why I'm reluctant to pop a pill when I'm not feeling well. Let me explain, and I should also preface this blog by saying I'm currently reading The Maker's Diet, and Mountains beyond Mountains. Both books dance around the issue of health care, one in the United States and one in third world countries. What begins to frighten me the most is that, the health care we pay so much for in the United States seems to be slowly regressing to that found in countries where structured health care systems do not exist.

We had friends come in for a wedding this weekend and Anthea slept by me on Friday night. She said she hadn't been feeling well over the past month and due to her symptoms, nurse Megan thought she might have a sinus infection. I could tell Anthea didn't sleep much through the night, so in the morning she decided to go to the doctor.

I drive her to Westlake Medical Center and we walk into the emergency room-yes I realize it wasn't an emergency, but this was her only option on a Saturday. I sit down and start to read my book, The Maker's Diet and seriously, I'm reading this section.....

"While I am thankful for all of the wonderful medical breakthroughs and excellent emergency medical care available in this country, you might want to know that according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, doctors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S., causing 250,000 deaths every year. I know it seems as if I have an ax to grind, but I don't. Most doctors are sincere, hard-working professionals who try to do their jobs well. However the American Health care system is not healthy. It is downright unhealthy at times because it has skewed its entire care system toward dispensing health out of a drug container."1

I'm also halfway paying attention to Anthea talk to the male nurse about her symptoms and I'm thinking, "she needs to give him her current symptoms, but she also needs to let him know she's been feeling crappy for a month and that she was puking last week. " Then she starts to tell him this info and he cuts her off and says, "are you experiencing those symptoms right now?" and she says, "No, but I'm trying to give you all the background of my illness," or something like that. The guy just says, "I don't need that, please just stick to the symptoms you are experiencing right now." So now Anthea feels belittled and makes her answers short and quick so she can stop talking to this jerk of a nurse. Does he have all the facts? No. Does that matter? Apparently not. Concern #1.

After she sits around for a while, they call her into a room that is just across the waiting room and leave the door open. 10 minutes later I hear, "Sarah," look up at Anthea and she mouths "I have the flu." Hmmm, great. So I'm thinking, we're probably all gonna get the flu and then Anthea says, "do you want him to write a prescription for you?" Heck Yes, I do!!!

So the very nice doctor writes 4 prescriptions for all of the girls that have encountered Anthea's flu virus. Anthea ends up dropping $100 co-pay for the visit and we drive to the pharmacy to pick up her prescription(s) plural. Yes, ladies and gentleman-along with Anthea's Tamiflu and steroid something or other, sweet Doctor "Westlake"(I call him that because I hope the only reason he hands out prescriptions like candy is because he deals with high-maintenance Westlake patients all day long) has written a prescription of Vicodin for flu-ridden Anthea.
VICODIN, people! She didn't fill that one of course, cause she didn't just have major surgery of any kind!!!! The whole encounter with the brusque nurse and drug happy doctor was unsettling on so many levels.

Needless to say, yesterday I felt like total crap. So I go to get my prescription filled, cause like everyone else "I can't afford to get sick." This term seriously rang true when I went to pay for my Tamiflu and the technician casually said, "That will be $50.00 Ms. Michel."

"Um, did you not get my insurance card? That can't be the co-pay"-me
"That actually is the co-pay Ms. Michel, Tamiflu is expensive."-pharm tech
"Is there a cheaper version I can get?" me
"No, this is it." pharm tech

As I'm paying I overhear her speaking Spanish to a nice old man that doesn't speak English whose prescription wont be ready until tomorrow. I can tell he's had a hard day's work, his fingers are full of dirt and his face is weathered from the amount of outdoor weather he's had to endure. And i cant help thinking, "Would this man be able to afford Tamiflu?"

Faith Poverty Round Table

Caritas of Austin hosted the Faith and Poverty Round Table. This forum takes place once a year and allows members of the Austin area faith community to connect with one another as well as learn tangible skills to fight poverty in Austin.

I learned a lot, and the steps I feel called to take are to

1. Call the Austin area Food Stamp Outreach Coordinator and have him train me how to help others apply for food stamps (52% of Austinites living in poverty don't use this government allocated money because they don't know how to apply).
   
2. Then, I'm gonna find the nearest food pantry (you can find the nearest food pantry to you by going to austinfoodbank) and volunteer there while also encouraging those who visit the pantry to let me help them apply for food stamps.

Here's what I learned today:

Poverty in Austin

• 2007 Federal Poverty Income Guideline is $20,650 a year for a family of four.

• Center for Public Policy Priorities (a great resource for poverty stats/facts) cppp.org estimates the living cost in the Austin area to be $53,080 to cover basic needs for a family of four. People, that cost is MORE THAN DOUBLE the Federal Poverty Income Guideline.

• In Travis County 38.6% of households headed by unmarried women with children under five live in poverty. Any change in their family income or expenses threatens their ability to make ends meet.
  

Hunger in Austin

• Food Pantries
• The lack of evening hours and very limited hours on Saturdays when pantries are open pose a serious challenge for the working poor in accessing food.
• Food pantries have an adequate supply of food, but there are shortages of dairy products, fresh produce, and fresh or frozen meat. Shortages of these items could impact the nutritional health and overall development of adults and children.

• Food Stamps
• 52% of Texans who qualify for food stamps do not use the program because they don't know how to apply.
  
• Now food stamps come on a card much like any bank card. So no more stigma/embarrassment attached to using food stamps at the grocery store.
  

• 13 of the 24 Travis County zip codes with high poverty levels do not have a food pantry or hot meal services. Basically that means 75% of people in poverty don't have a food provider in their zip code. That's 6,946 people, PEOPLE!

Mental Health in Austin

Wasn't even talked about at the poverty round table because there is a huge lack of mental health initiative in Austin and all of Texas. If you have any stats on mental health, please comment. Mental health is a serious issue (and several individuals experiencing it cannot get the adequate help they need and end up homeless or in jail, which is absolutely not where they belong.

How You Can Help

• Call
  
• 2-1-1 is the dialing code statewide for FREE access to information on health and human services, community organizations, disaster relief resources, faith-based services, and volunteer opportunities. CALL ANYTIME! they're always open.
  

• Volunteer
• at a food pantry or with a Basic Needs Coalition agency to provide much needed services to people living in poverty such as clothing, food, rent, utility assistance. Visit basicneeds-ctx.org.
  

• Support
  
• public policy intitiatives that crate real solutions for adequate healthcare, childcare, living wages, education and disability assistance. Visit cppp.org for more info.
• the cause you care about by donating your time, talent, or treasure (money, people)

• Get Trained
• to help those in need, apply for food stamps. Stephen Beasley, Food Stamp Outreach Coordinator can be reached at 512-684-2119 and will train up to 10 people at a time on how to fill out food stamp applications for FREE

• Advocate
• tell your friends, coworkers and state representatives about the issues and how to combat them
  
• pray-it's powerful people
• ACT and others will act with you!