May the 21st, Virginia, USA
After a sleepless night…
It was not because of Covid-19 but…
How does one navigate the American healthcare system?
What do you do in the middle of the night if somebody is having excruciating pain? What do you do when you are in the US and know that no doctor is going to get out of bed and come to your house to attend to you or your loved one? Where do you go and how do you get there?
Call 911 is what all the answering machines of all the doctor’s offices or hospitals tell you…or more exactly , if it is an emergency call 911…
But how do you know when it is an emergency… how can you, who is not a medically trained person know (besides an obvious heart attack or stroke)?
Is excruciating pain an emergency?
And if it is not a life and death issue why would you want to bother people who are often volunteers to attend to your medical needs in the middle of the night, should you not let them attend more pressing issues, like a shooting, a fire, a death threat…? Why call the rescue squad with all of its flashing lights which is going to wake up and alarm the whole neighborhood?
Bewildered!
For some reason, I thought that not living anymore in a so-called third world country I could count on the American super advanced scientific knowledge, state of the art technology, know-how efficiency…etc, for medical needs…especially in the light of all those advertisements on TV of smiling and professionally looking doctors with their satisfied and healed patients ( or customers ?) who now look so happy because of the miracle drug they were given, or the miracle surgery they underwent….!
I am sorely disappointed!
I guess I will go back to my old method of dealing with pain and medical needs….
PRAYER!
(At least it is free and you don’t get a recorded message with 15 different options to choose from, and if you have the wrong accent, the machine does not tell you again and again…sorry I did not get that, could you repeat?)
PS: Of course, when you do get to a professional health care worker, they are usually very good and very caring… but to reach them is like having to run a marathon …. and I did not even mention the cost…!
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