Remote Area Medical not so remote this week.
August 16, 2009 by Dusty
Remote Area Medical. These people are saints and angels. They are used to servicing third world countries.
Except this week, they served Los Angeles. You know..SoCal, the land of starlets and movie moguls.
By the time they leave Tuesday, they will have provided roughly $2 million dollars of free treatment to over 10,000 people.
Read that line again. It’s sickening to me because so many more thousands will have been turned away. These were by and large the working poor, some even had medical insurance but had outrageous deductions or their insurance didn’t cover things like dentists and glasses. From The Independant UK via TruthOut:
In the week that Britain’s National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an “evil and Orwellian” example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.
The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.
In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists.
In one of the richest cities in our nation, 10,000 people will be given basic medical, dental or vision care that they would otherwise do without. As Dana Gould says in the video below..WTF??
The video below starts out with a nasty townhall meeting and outside protesters. Lots of folks with health insurance who don’t give a shit about those without insurance. Lots of folks tossing around the words Hitler and Nazi to describe our President that is trying to fix one of the biggest problems to face any administration in the last few decades.
As a native Californian, I am embarrassed and ashamed that R.A.M. had to stop in L.A. It makes me angry that many people on the right can not see the forest for the fucking trees.
It’s a good video..part of Bill Maher’s show this week. Check it out and then see if you can keep your blood pressure down after seeing the fucking idiots bitching about reforming healthcare…then the folks who are grateful that they got to have a little free healthcare to make their lives more tolerable. Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the video.
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[...] right” but as a taxpayer-funded entitlement.But the compulsion wouldn’t stop there. Remote Area Medical not so remote this week. – sirenschronicles.com 08/17/2009 Remote Area Medical. These people are saints and angels. They are [...]
[...] Continued here: Remote Area Medical not so remote this week. [...]
One of the local newscasts interviewed some woman who came all the way from San Francisco, claiming she had not had medical insurance most of her adult life. While I can sympathize with her, I was a bit taken aback by the fact that she apparently had the time and wherewithall (whether merely bus fare) to come all the way to L.A., to in essence, displace one of the Southern California locals who was seeking services. (My understanding is that they had more people seeking services than available resources.)
I really wish the “reporter” would have asked this person some probing questions, but unfortunately that would have required a little thought and effort. In my view the local reporting came across as a “puff piece”, with no in depth background information or follow-up on a serious social issue that has been present for years.
We get the LA channels as well and do watch their news Big Fella. I have to agree with you, the LA news really didn’t spend much time on the R.A.M. project.
Katie Couric did a good piece on it Friday evening, the longest piece in her newscast. I was kinda surprized, but glad.
Dusty´s last blog ..Remote Area Medical not so remote this week.
I gotta say, the unemployed dentist, who volunteered her time for this is exemplary of the really decent, caring human beings who provide these services.
Stan Brock is doing amazing things with very little money. For more on the RAM•LA clinic, please visit http://ramclinic.info/