[Update: tif (a pediatric nurse) was the one who sent this to me. She has put it up on her blog now. You can read her thoughts HERE.]
From an e-mail I received today:
I see variations of this day in and day out at my job in OB. Parents who complain because Medicaid doesn't pay for their childs unnecessary circumcision, yet chain smokes and is covered in tattoos and has a blackberry. The pt. that needs a carseat, so I jump through the social service hoops to get them one, only to help them carry their baby to a new Lexus.The family that takes every piece of linen in the room, the food from the fridge and complains that the Dr. won't write them a prescription for Aleve so their Medicaid will pay for it. It goes on and on. This feeling of entitlement and sloth that the government programs have bred into our society. How do we stop it? Please read the following from a nurse volunteer from Gustav shelter.Val---
Interesting reading from an INSIDER that actually worked endlessly at one of the shelters--a letter she sent to the Times and to Bill O'Reilly.
Dear Editor,
I am a nurse who has just completed volunteer working approximately 120 hours as the clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter in Shreveport, Louisiana over the last 7 days. I would love to see someone look at the evacuee situation from a new perspective. Local and national news channels have covered the evacuation and 'horrible' conditions the evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.
True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and the shelters need some modification At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or irresponsibility) of the evacuees? Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone, charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their child's insulin? Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate free refills on all medicines for which they cannot provide a prescription or current bottle (most of which are narcotics)?
Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot afford a $3 copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the shelter yet they can take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of Vodka, and return to consume them secretly in the shelter?
Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming evacuees so as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer staff and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol and weapons being brought into the shelter?
Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub emesis from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby, watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from the pillow to comfort her own son? Why does it insense me to hear a man say 'I ain't goin' home 'til I get my FEMA check' when I would love to just go home and see my daughters who I have only seen 3 times this week?
Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must find a way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay while the FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire free medications under the disaster rules? Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter is paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during the day as the shelter provides a 'daycare'?
Have government entitlements created this mentality and am I facilitating it with my work? Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian if I hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked for 7 days being called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing for my personal safety in the shelter?
Oblgitory Snopes check
This is why I wonder whether giving out more oppotunities for a free ride is really going to fix the system. I know there are plenty of families that genuinely need help, and obviously programs like shelters during emergencies are important. I am sure this woman felt like she was providing really needed service when she signed up as a volunteer, but that's not how she felt by the end of the week.
After reading this, can you really tell me the problems our country are having stem from and need to be fixed by the system? Or is it maybe something we brought on ourselves through individual behavior and attitudes?
Are these rights people are fighting for or priveledges?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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8 comments:
most people could afford to not have insurance and just pay the darn doctor bill, at least I believe they could. maybe if everyone stopped giving insurance companies money and paid the doctors the insur. companies would change. People still need to use their brains though, how disgusting it must be to see people with such 'luxury' items and then want hand outs. we need to take care of our own selves and stop waiting for someone to bail us out.
I hate seeing people take advantage of the system too. It's tough because the ones doing so drain the resources for other hardworking people who actually need them. My brother is living paycheck to paycheck with a nine month old and refused to collect WIC or go on medicaid because he's too proud and doesn't want to drain the system. I think those types of programs ARE for people like him, someone who works full time and is tries but is having a hard time making ends meet, not someone who sits on their fat lazy ass and collects a check from the government. Instead, my brother is perpetually stressed out and worried about how he's going to buy the next can of formula for his son. Heh, guess you hit on a sore subject. :)
self taught artist - That is not a bad idea, especially for single people. Did you know that if you don't have insurance, you can often get a discount from the doctor, just by asking for it? They already give a discount to insurance companies (mostly because they have no choice if they want to get paid at all) so most doctors are willing to pass on those same savings to uninsured, especially since it means they won't have to deal with another insurance company, which is just as big a hassle for them as it is for us.
casey - I know just what you mean. I've known people in that situation too, which makes the person who jumps through hoops to get a free carseat for their Lexus that much more maddening.
These stories break my heart and make me mad all at the same time. These people obviously have been trained by our government "hand-out policies" that they deserve to be taken care of and are now selfesh and ungrateful. Raising our large family has been a great blessing to us, so far the Lord has blessed and always provided for our needs. We haven't needed the WIC program, but would use it temporarily if we really needed it. We went several years without medical ins. because it was unaffordable when my husband was self employed, but we always paid our doctor and hospital bills ourselves, thankful for the 15-20% discount we received on most bills. We are hardworking people and do our best to provide our family with what is needed and a few wants along the way. We help others in any way we can, giving and donating time, food, household items and money. The blessings have always returned back to us, a bed for the girls here, a couch there, left over carpet, a bag of clothes, a bushel of vegetables from someones over flowing garden, people showing up to help hang sheet rock or haul in the hay before a storm. I couldn't imagine life not being this way for all of us, what a blessing the full circle is when we give then receive.
OH MY BLOOD IS BOILING!!! I come from a small town in the middle of nowhere where there are no social services and no government agencies to bail people out when trouble comes. Where I come from, people take care of themselves, and when disaster strikes, the community pitches in to help - WITHOUT the aid of Uncle Sam - because Uncle Sam doesn't even know we exist!!
Then I grew up and moved to a city where people have learned if they whine and complain and threaten to sue enough times they'll eventually get enough attention so they can go lie back down on the old proverbial cot and let everyone else work their butts off to take care of them!!!
Damn, I still can't figure out why it's the government's responsibility to take care of people to this extent. I mean, how lucky are we to live in a country that will come to your aid in this manner if your home gets devoured by a natural disaster? I can't stand ungrateful people taking advantage of an already awful situation!!
My thoughts are pretty much echoed in Casey and Heather's comments. I commented on Tif's site and Babycenter. Grr.
Wow, this makes me upset. People have such a sense of entitlement. I'd like to think that if I was in that situation, I would be different!
Thanks for your comment on my blog! I am always afraid to leave comments on Babycenter that are overtly religious, but no one got upset so I can breathe easy.
It is tough to struggle with these thoughts but usually the times when we are upset by these things we are probably getting lost in our selves. not that I am calling that nurse selfish, I just think that we need to focus on what we need to do, and also when we have the opportunity, tell people what we thing about how they are acting. It is easy to see when others are not struggling enough, compared to how they are acting, but we never have the whole story. just my thoughts.
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