Sickness part deux...

So, now I have a respiratory infection. I couldn’t breathe, had a hacking cough, my head and ears felt like they would explode from pressure, and my nose felt like I had rubbed about four layers of skin off. And, after another trip to the hospital, where I couldn’t even be seen (there was only 1 doctor and 6 pregnant women with complications as well as 4 toddlers with varying respiratory problems from what I could make out), I went to a private clinic. Although private clinics cost money, trust me it was a lot better than the hospital. I was in and out in like 20 minutes; he gave me some prescriptions, prescribed bed rest and let me go about my merry way. I took the medication right away (hard core antibiotics, very nasty green cough syrup, and a lovely pill that contains some combination of what amounts to Tylenol with like sudaphed I think that makes me very happy). I am spent all yesterday in bed except for when I ate and showered and today I feel much better. There’s less coughing, less blowing of the nose, and thankfully the pain is only a memory.

The staff at the house had a good time making fun of the memories that I would be taking home about Nicaragua. They keep telling me the same story about a girl who came who didn’t speak any English and who was scared of everything and everybody and who had to be sent home because she became so sick from what they call “tristesa,” basically loneliness. As I tried to assure them that isn’t my problem, but instead like the doctor said, my immune system was so weak after the stomach infection that it was easy to catch something especially in the packed ward at the hospital.

I also had a long discussion with the staff about the hospital conditions here in Nicaragua. The local paper La Prensa ran a huge article about the state of the country’s hospitals claiming that they were only at 30% capacity that they needed, there are not enough doctors and nurses, and that quotes the President as saying that several hospitals are in such ill repair that the best option is to tear them down and start over because they are so antiquated. They are building a new hospital that is supposed to be state of the art but its not going to be finished until 2010. Plus, Arturo, one of the staff, informed me that if you have to have surgery here, they still use chloroform! At which point I said that if I have to have any surgery they better send me straight to the states whether I am conscious or not! He also tells me that there are nice hospitals but they are not free like the one that I went to because they are private and only foreigners can afford to be seen there. Why is it that improvement in areas like health care always make it last to those who need it the most?

The poor struggle with more serious health problems because they are less likely to gain preventative treatment for minor issues. By the time that they do seek treatment they usually require some advanced medications and/or treatments for things that could have been easily preventable. When President Clinton first came to office he promised to reform health care to create universal coverage for Americans. And, the first lady, Hilary Clinton, worked diligently to pass that coverage, but unfortunately their efforts were doomed to failure from the beginning. I can’t help but wonder where we would be if they had succeeded.

I know many people will think I sound sanctimonious, but let me say this. For the last 5 years, I have been one of the more than 42 million Americans without health insurance. I have had to hope and pray that a major illness didn’t hit me, rely on clinics and over the counter meds more than routine or preventative care, and when seriously injured (such as when I pinched a nerve in my neck) weigh the cost of an x ray for something that I knew wasn’t broken versus the cost of not going and hoping that it would get better on its own (I didn’t get the x ray). I am hardly poverty stricken, nor do I look for sympathy here, but I would like to point out that I know what its like to be without health insurance and the costs that weigh on you (like monthly allergy medications or the costs of paying for the sinus infection that will inevitably develop if I miss my dose). And, I have to hope that whoever is elected in the next presidential election that universal health care is on the table and that it makes it past the partisan politics that dominated our last go round.

A nation at best can be defined by how it treats the least of its people, not its best. For too long, I think many of us have forgotten that the American dream is about equality for all, not just for some. It's not about me, it's about us. I think that we can best serve our country and ourselves by remembering that we are united in this progress together as one nation and that where one person suffers oppression or indignity that affects each of us as well. Universal health care, a quality education system, and improved economic opportunities don’t just benefit the poorest among us; it is good for our country as a whole and good for each of us in turn.

And, remember that we are global citizens, not locked behind impermeable borders, but a part of the changing global environment and we also need to expand these kinds of opportunities outside of America’s borders into the rest of the world. As I can personally attest the hospital conditions that I experienced were so sad and tragic, but for many people here, they could not afford the 200 cordobas that I had to pay to visit the private clinic (much less the cost of medication which was over 400 cordobas), and the hospital is truly their only option when they need care. In the hospital the power went out twice for more than a hour each time and for several hours there was no running water. They provided no soap, no toilet paper, and no drinking water for sick patients. It was extremely sparse in the ward and assistance only came from the families of other patients. Without them, I wouldn't have fared half as well as I did.

I am really tired (having multiple illnesses in one week will do that) and so finally I will end with this thought from Proverbs which I hope will lead us forward: “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.”