Tuesday, April 27, 2010
There is still a lot to be done
Consider this report from the AP on the efforts of Remote Area Medical in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Remote Area Medical
National Association of Free Clinics
They began arriving before dawn on a cold, misty morning, people of all ages lining up by the hundreds, some in wheelchairs, others hobbling on crutches, many of them missing teeth, all of them seeking the same thing: free medical care.There may have been a health insurance bill passed a few months back but there are still many, many people who need help until Congress gets rid of the Republicans and does something good for this country. It wasn't too long ago that National Association of Free Clinics filled this same building with the same kind of volunteer effort to help people. This time it is Remote Area Medical which was founded to help people in primitive third world areas and has now found the need in the richest country on Earth to be just as great. Until we can destroy the GOP and deliver this country from oppression please give something to help their efforts at the links.
It was a scene that could have been playing out in a Third World country or perhaps some place like post-hurricane New Orleans, except that it wasn't. It was unfolding in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, and the hundreds who showed up weren't refugees of a disaster or a civil war, just mainly working people without health insurance.
One of them, Kenny Gillett hadn't seen a doctor in two years, not since the 47-year-old welder lost his job and insurance when his employer went broke.
Adriana Valenzuela, a self-employed and uninsured cosmetologist, brought an 8-year-old son with a mouthful of cavities. Frank Carodine, a friendly white-haired man of 57, who rolled up in his wheelchair, said he had lost parts of both legs to diabetes, which was now ravaging his right eye. He needed glasses.
"I've got coverage for my diabetes, I go to a clinic, but it doesn't cover eye exams," he said.
Remote Area Medical
National Association of Free Clinics
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