Anyone who believes in socialized health care has obviously never had the pleasure of being treated at Kern Medical Center, compliments of the State.

I worked all my life, never called in sick, and filed my taxes every year as required by my beloved country. 

I raised two well adjusted children who are now productive members of our society.  You see, when I went to high school that's what I was taught you were supposed to do.

I went to college, but never completed my degree . . . in my case it was just too cost prohibitive to do so.  I jumped around from job to job quite a bit, but there was always food on the table, my kids were clothed, and rent was always paid.

Now, at the ripe old age of 49, I find myself with medical problems that make it impossible for me to work outside the home.  Still, I sell on Ebay and manage to make barely enough to feed and house myself.  But I have no health insurance.

In Feburary of this year my Mother became extremely worried about me because I could barely get out of bed.  She came and loaded me in her car, and off to the KMC Urget Care we went.   12 hours later I left with instructions to take Ibuprofen (which I can't take because I only have one kidney) and to make an appointment with the Medicine Clinic.  And so began my odyssey with our state's own version of socialized health care.

To make a horribly, torturously long story short, it took them 6 months to even order any kind of test other than blood tests.  But oh, how they love those blood tests!  I've lost count now of how many I've had in the last eight months. 

And JUST to get a blood sample drawn you have to park at the west end of the hospital, go into registration, take a number, wait till you're called up to the window so they can print out a gazillion labels and papers, get "admitted," complete with a wristband . . . THEN you have to walk to the EAST end of the hospital where the lab is located, put your paperwork in a basket, and sit there until they call your name.  When you're all done you have to walk back to the WEST end of the hospital again to get back to where you parked. 

Now please don't think me lazy, but there were days I felt so bad it was all I could do to make it back to my car.  I can't imagine how people who are more ill than I am or who have  a broken leg can even do it.

Oh, yes.  And any time I have an appointment with the Medicine Clinic I can expect to wait at least three hours.  This is NOT an exaggeration. 

Have a problem that requires a visit to the doctor???  Don't expect to be able to see him/her in the next two months.  One visit the doctor told me to come back in a month, and gave me a month's worth of medication.  When I went to make my next appointment, the girl told me the first appointment they had available was TWO months away.  I told her the doctor said he wanted to see me in a month and she just said, "Sorry, that's the first appointment we have."  I had to cut my meds in half so I could make it till my next appointment.

Have a problem that can't wait two months?  That's okay, they have Urgent Care for that.  Just be aware that what they call Urgent Care used to be called the Emergency Room.  In other words, you get to sign in and wait until the problem YOU have is more URGENT than any of the other people who are also waiting for urgent care.  Any, of course, any patients brough in by ambulance put you one step further from being able to be seen.

But this is actually what the doctors tell you to do if you have a problem that can't wait until your next appointment.  The last time I went there I waited seven hours before I finally left and went to a walk in clinic the next day.

God help us all if they take that option away from us.

But I will have to say this:  I've learned a few things about the way the system operates, I guess you could call them "insider secrets."  How to get things done a little faster, stuff like that.  Sorry I can't share them here . . . when we're ALL subjected to the same sub-standard level of care, I'll be a little bit ahead of the game.  Lucky me!

One hint I WILL share though ~ stay out of the restrooms there.  They are absolutely disgusting.  Although I have managed to locate the ones that are tucked away in more obscure parts of the hospital ;-)   Someone should really report them to the health department.  Ain't gonna be me though, they might send me to the back of the line. 

And please don't try to tell me it'll be better if health care is taken over by the Federal Government.  You'll never convince me that inserting bureaucracy into any private sector business is a good idea.

If you can watch this and not have it bring a tear to your eye you don't have a heart in your chest LOL

This is really awesome, and shares a wonderful message

www.youtube.com/watch

While walking one evening I crested a hill and saw the lights of a city ~
A city with no hate or contradiction,
A city with no sort of dereliction.
What kind of place was this that I had found?
A place where litter dared not touch the ground,
A place where peaceful sounds were never drowned
By the cries of people living in the streets
Or children who can't get enough to eat?

While walking did I tire and fall asleep?
Was it the beauty that I'd seen that made me weep
When I awoke to find it was a dream
While the world I have returned to makes me scream?

Or while walking did I slip and hit my head?
Could I, for just one moment have been dead?
Was what I'd seen before me just a glimpse
of Heaven, which God uses as he tempts
Poor sinners such as I who wake to dwell
In these dirty, noisy cities here in Hell?

If so, then as I've heard some say
God's good and just in his own way . . .
For in this world of madness  I now find
So many gracious people who are kind.

And in the middle of this soiled city
l search until I find a place that's pretty ~
It's just a park near where I live
But the peacefulness here seems to give
my soul a place where it can rest
from all the questions of this test
that we call life

The beuaty here has calmed my disillusion
And seems to have brought to me this kind conclusion:
The place I'd seen, be it dream or vision
Is not so differfent from this world we live in.

        & nbsp;       &n bsp;       &nb sp;       &nbs p;         ;        Debbie Blanco ~ 1991

I read this phrase, "blind allegiance to Obama," in another post and it reminded me of a couple of comments I heard about the election.

The first was from an elderly gentleman.  He owns a truck dispatching business and had just gotten off work.  I asked how his day had been and he told me it had been slow.   He went on to tell me of how he had voted that day, and said "I'm so glad the election's over!  Now that Obama's in office the economy will pick up . . ."

The second comment was from a young woman and was uttered the day AFTER the election.  She told me she had voted for Obama, then said "I just heard his middle name is Hussein.  Is that true?"  I told her it was, and she said "Oh my Gosh!  What have I done?"

PLEASE don't pick on me for this post.  I just thought it was funny.  Blind allegiance to ANYONE is just plain stupid.