Caring For The Uninsured in Wise County, VA (Assignment Desk)

This weekend, as congressmen, staffers, and lobbyists clamor to pass a bill to provide health coverage to the 75 million under or uninsured, volunteer doctors and nurses will be busily working to help those without access to health care.

This free clinic in rural Virginia will provide free care to hundreds, many of whom will not receive any other medical attention until the same time next year.

The Wise County Remote Area Medical clinic will set up its makeshift examining tents at the Virginia/Kentucky Fair Grounds. Last year, the 20-bed clinic saw more than 1,500 patients in two and a half days, and the volunteers treated cases of diabetes, cancer, and dental infections.

"If you go down there you will see this from a different perspective," says Wendell Potter, a former health care executive who is now speaking out against the health care industry. Potter changed sides in the insurance battle after witnessing the Wise County clinic two years ago.

Presumably, our leaders on Capitol Hill will be too busy marking up the bill to go down there, but we still want them to see this from a different perspective -- your perspective.

If you, or someone you know, will be at the Wise County health clinic this weekend, either as a volunteer or as a patient, we want to hear from you. Tell us about your experience, about the treatment you receive and about the other people who attend. What do the volunteer doctors think about the heath care system and how to the patients want their elected officials to address? Send your stories from Wise County to us at [e-mail].

Comments

[just2quixotic]

01:14 AM on 07/21/2009

If we learned nothing else from the bailout of Wall Street, when the Congressional Messaging system melted down from all their constituents yelling at them not to do it, we learned that it is not their constituents that our Congress Critters listen to. It will be the same here. We can yell and scream that we want single payer, but that does not mean that they will pay any attention to us.

[LeLoup]

04:31 PM on 07/20/2009

We need a team; a team of cameramen and journalists, ready to post a YouTube documentary of that weekend. HuffPo maybe?

I say a YouTube, because no one in the Korporate Media will touch a story like that with a 20-feet pole. It would ring too true for their taste, and their paymasters would not be happy.

Have we gone so low in the USA that those who are supposed to bring us the news won't do so because it is only about the suffering of ordinary people, as opposed to the tribulations of the rich and famous?

[Samalabear]

04:11 PM on 07/20/2009

I would love to see Wendell Potter talk about the health care bill. I think he'd be the first to say that it is a feast for the private insurers that will ensure that we never have single payer. Of course, that's because it's not a health care bill, it's a health insurance bill. A health care bill is a strong public option, meaning Medicare for All -- no mandates, no insurance subsidies, no restrictions on individuals or businesses joining, an end to traditional Medicare and Medicaid, and ready to start on day one -- not 2013.

[tlgeiger62]

03:43 PM on 07/20/2009

If Congress fails to pass healthcare reform, we need to deman that their TAXPAYER FUNDED health insurance is removed. And then we need to break out the torch.es pitch.forks.

If those old geezers (who I'd bet have plenty of pre-existing conditions) are forced to fend for themselves getting insured, maybe they'll see the light.