by Robert Fischer
I’m temporarily displaced from my rustic world and am down in Atlanta where the temperature was a cool 34 degrees this morning. There’s too much traffic and bustle here for me, but I didn’t have a choice. For almost ten years now, I’ve had a pacemaker, and it came up that I needed to replace it with a new one. Don’t know whether it or I will last another ten years!
Every time I have to visit a hospital I come away amazed at the challenges and tasks taken on there. I’m especially concerned about the cost of such services given the enormity of the undertaking and the resources required. This time I was at St. Joseph’s, a Catholic hospital that partners with Emory, the foremost health provider in Atlanta. I was taken back by the great number of people from staff, nurses, administrators and doctors required to make the place work. Further, the computers, machines and equipment required is overwhelming. In short, how are these costs borne? What roles do the private and public sectors play. and how do we cope with with our health insurance?
Happily, my experience has always been positive from the front desk to the OR. The nurses are all sweethearts, in my opinion, and the doctors perform miracles. Just the same, I know that everyone does not enjoy the quality of help I do. I have frequently been in the ER of the local hospital in Dahlonega getting sewn up from a chainsaw cut or something when I was the only person there who had health insurance. More and more, I’ve come to the conclusion that health care is a human right. How could you believe otherwise when you see people who can’t even go to the doctor because they have no insurance or can’t afford it?
Sometimes I do feel like an old dog in winter, especially now given the restraints of the ongoing pandemic and the shorter dark days. The good news is that my new pacemaker is an improved model that will make me twenty-five again!