[Sca-cooks] Kind of OT: Christmas food drives

[Sue Clemenger]

We have two hospitals in town, and the one I usually go to (Community)
has now added this "triage" area to its NowCare area (which is for
non-threatening or non-fatal illnesses/injuries).  You talk to someone,
and if your medical problem is more urgent than you thought, or you've
got other medical problems, you get whisked right over to the ER, which
is just down a hallway.  I've been there a couple of times for
infections, or migraines that won't go away, or for stitches in my hand
when I cut it on a can of cat food (still have the scars--managed to get
an artery!)
I've never had anything but competent, respectful help, and I've never
had to wait that long, either, and it hasn't mattered a whit whether I
had insurance or not (although I do now, thankgod).  Of course, I don't
live in a big city or anything.  We're only about 60,000, not including
surrounding area, and even then, we're the second largest city in the
whole state! ;o)
I was insurance-less when I got severely ill several years ago--I had
just started a new job, and was about 2 weeks away from being covered by
the health plan.  I ended up with over 30 grand in bills, but I worked
with the hospital, doctors, and every one else to come up with a payment
plan.  It's surprising who's willing to work with you if you're up front
about it, and honest.
Our biggest medically-related need for lower income folks, locally, is
dentistry (preventive or otherwise), but I've never had to deal with
that, myself.
--maire

Terry Decker wrote:
> 
> >In the old days, before the implementation of HMOs for those on
> >assistance, it wasn't uncommon to sit in the ER for 8 hours or more with a
> >sick kid on a weekend, because there was no alternative and the kid had
> >nothing lifethreatening.
> >
> >-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
> 
> It is still not uncommon according to some nurses I talked with.  During the
> Known World Costume Symposium, I had to take Margaret to the emergency room.
> We got fairly fast service because it was potentially life-threatening, but
> there was a steady stream of people with minor problems which could have
> been better served for less at (available) out-patient clinics, but the
> clinics cost money and the emergency room was required to serve the indigent
> without fee.