Healthcare Access Taken for Granted
Access to healthcare is something that many Americans take for granted. That includes regular check-ups, immunizations to help prevent common diseases and influenza, and lifestyle factors such as no smoking, weight management, and physical exercise. It encompasses dental care, both routine and in the case of painful problems. Across America, there are 5,010 community hospitals according to the AHA that deliver babies safely, handle broken bones, save lives in the case of heart attacks or strokes, provide emergency care for trauma such as burns and accidents, and where specialists perform surgery and other interventions and treatment for life-threatening diseases. And despite all the mistakes, the high costs, and the wastes, American’s healthcare delivery system stands ready and responds with good – and yes, even outstanding - outcomes – every single day for millions. In 2009, Americans spent over a trillion dollars for healthcare. Although an estimated 50 million of us lack health insurance, there are 250 million lives that are covered. Many of those who lack insurance have the means to pay and understand how to access healthcare providers. We know how the system works.
But not even counted in that 50 million uninsured, uncovered lives are an estimated 3 million migrant and seasonal farm workers in our country on temporary work visas. They are doing backbreaking jobs in sweltering weather and often crowded with multiple families in sub-standard housing as living conditions. Approximately three-fourths were born in Mexico, and the overwhelming majority are non-English speaking Hispanics. These individuals don’t have access to Medicaid because they aren’t citizens, despite the fact their employers pay taxes on profits from their labors. They don’t have access to programs for the indigent sponsored by pharmaceutical companies because they don’t have year-round residency. And even in states where they have access to clinics, they are constantly moving in unison with the seasons for harvesting crops, wreaking havoc with scheduling appointments much less multiple office-based treatments or follow-up to surgery. Such is the plight of migrant and seasonal farm workers in this country, on whom we rely to bring fresh fruits and produce to our own tables at minimal costs.
In October, we took a stab at changing this picture. NAFC teamed up with Natividad Medical Foundation and catch-basin facilities Clinica de Salud (CSVS) for a public educational forum. With generous funding by the Medtronic Foundation and Ethicon Women’s Health & Urology, an evening program was provided with doctors serving as speakers from Natividad Medical Center and CSVS, complete with supper and childcare provided. CooperSurgical and SRS donated pessaries for women with pelvic organ prolapse, as a non-surgical means of intervention.
But the real news is that it’s not just about bladder and bowel control problems. The program was designed to motivate Latinas in particular to take care of themselves and seek treatment when symptoms of any problem persist. We aim to change the mindset that women should learn to look after themselves. We are teaching about wellness, good nutrition, weight management, prevention of highly prevalent illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, and of course, relating much of this to bladder and bowel control symptoms – urinary frequency and urgency, inability to reach the toilet in time, leakage when lifting, sneezing, coughing, or laughing, or fecal urgency and leakage.
All human beings deserve access to quality care. They deserve to understand their bodies and when symptoms of problems represent a situation that is not normal and could become more serious. They deserve to know how to access the system, and they deserve professional attention from trained healthcare providers, regardless of whether they have the means to pay. Whatever we must do in this country – and beyond our borders – to bring standards of care and dignity to the human condition, we must do.
Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of the Susan B. Komen Foundation, the world’s largest breast cancer charity, recently said, “Women have a right to know what is going on with their bodies and make decisions about what to do about it…..” No just some women, I would add, but every woman around the globe, regardless of her means or her circumstances.
