Search

Custom Search

Monday, June 16, 2008

Health Care

Okay, here we go. This is another topic that is near and dear to my heart. Health care!! We hear all the time that there are many people in the United States that are uninsured or under insured. This is a sad situation. We live in one of the riches nations in the world and we can not take care of our own.

I was a geriatric nurse for 10 years before leaving the field, and let me tell you, if anyone is hit hard it is the elderly!!! Care for the elderly has become sad in our nation!!! Our parents and grandparents (in most cases) gave us everything and we forget them as they age.

We are a throw away society! This includes people. When people become of no use to us we dispose of them. I cannot tell you how many people I have taken care of over the years whose family have just dumped them in nursing homes and expected the government to take care of them. The saddest time I would see is over the holidays. We would have gift drives that involve the staff and we would buy new clothes or other necessities for residents. The list of residents in need grew all the time. Many would not have visitors.

Of course some of this is changing with the growing advertisement by lawyers for lawsuits. The minute someone would get sick, lawyers were contacted. Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of healthcare professionals as the word "lawsuit". Now there have been justified cases, but a majority are because of the drive to sue if anything goes wrong. Medicine is not a perfect science, and sometimes people get sick and die. It is part of life. We are not meant to live forever.

Now I do not think there is any easy answer to solving the health care crisis (and that is what it is in my opinion). It will be interesting to see what the presidential candidates will truly propose as election time comes nearer. This will be something I monitor closely.

We need to remember our elderly and our children in this issue!!! More thoughts on this later!

No comments: