Some people will do anything to advance the cause of universal health care in the United States. One dedicated doctor with blisters and sore muscles just completed a rather long walk for the cause--700 miles long.
Dr. Ogan Gurel set off from Chicago about one month ago, intent on walking to Washington DC along the Lincoln Highway to protest the lack of universal health care in our country. Stopping in small towns along the way in Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, he has met scores of people who lack health insurance. He is now taking their stories to the halls of Congress so that beltway insiders can hear first-hand how 50 million Americans struggle to survive without guaranteed health insurance coverage.
Ironically, Dr. Gurel, a 45-year-old Harvard graduate who has worked as a neurosurgery resident and a hospital executive, can relate to many of the people he has met on his walk. He also lacks health insurance right now.
This crusading doctor decided to embark on the Walk4HealthCare because he believes that health care reform is the single most important legislative issue of our generation, and that meeting with real families who have tried to cope without health insurance and to promote their stories using face book, twitter, You tube, and rallies along the way would help policy-makers better understand how average Americans manage without health insurance. "I hope to bring the voice of the people to wider national consciousness," said Dr. Gurel.
Dr. Gurel completed his journey yesterday, when he walked into a DC rally for single payer health insurance, the last steps of a month-long trek. He left Chicago on June 26, walking about 25 miles each day. Along the way, local people met with him to convey their personal struggles to stay afloat without health insurance, and he held spontaneous rallies in small towns. National hotel chains and smaller motels donated places for him to stay, And he accumulated a lot of blisters. As an uninsured physician, Dr. Gurel realized that engaging in this journey put him at risk of an injury or an accident for which he might have to pay a hefty fee to get emergency department care. His surgical training came in handy every night as he carefully cleaned and bandaged the rather large and deep blisters on his feet.
The blisters, the sore muscles, and a few thunderstorms did not deter Dr. Gurel from reaching his ultimate destination: the US Congress. Today and tomorrow, as he meets with lawmakers, he will try to persuade them to pass a universal health insurance bill. He has certainly earned the chance to meet with our elected officials and their staff people.
Dr. Gurel expressed his bittersweet feelings about completing his walk, truly an athletic endeavor. "It is extremely exciting to be done with the walk, but also sobering, because I do feel I have this obligation to bring these stories to the attention of lawmakers.
"The one common theme was that people were frustrated that their stories were not being heard. The motivation for my walk was confirmed that one of the easiest parts of my walk was getting these stories. The most important part is just starting--sharing these stories.
"The walk has ended, but bringing the voice of the people [to Congress] has just started, " he added.
You are a true hero!
Just a note of clarification: while I have consulted extensively to hospital executives, I was CEO of a micro-cap medical device company, not a hospital executive as indicated in the article.
For real stories from real paper (Dispatches & Videos), see http://walk4healthcare.org. Several have been posted already (as of 7/29) and more are coming!
Here's what successful health care reform should look like - http://bit.ly/9QLV8
http://citizensforapublicoption.com/
Speak out!
My story contains national irony because my children's many health issues stem from my residence on an island that had been used as an Army dump for over 80 years (Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland). Because I was exposed to those chemicals--so the genetics team at our hospital tells me--my children were born with their health issues. But now we can't get health insurance for them, because in this country, you can't get health insurance if you have pre-existing conditions. We went bankrupt trying to care for our children.
It is wrong. It is simply wrong to refuse children. And I know my story is not the only one. There are many in much more dire circumstances.
Thank you for this blog.
But our elected representatives already know all this, and yet they wish to perpetuate the fiction that American health care is somehow superior. It serves the goals of their true constituency, not the voters, but the insurance industry executives depending on standing between me and my doctor for their obscene profits and bonuses. They have blood on their hands. Blood for money. And our representatives standing with them do as well.
A lot of people in the U.S. feel like "I've got mine, so why should I worry about you." I can understand that. Here I am in Canada with my national health card in my pocket so why should I still care about the fight back home? Yet somewhere in my mind are those old Sunday School lessons that remind me that we are to love one another and bear each others burdens. Not much room for that kind of thinking in our profit driven health insurance industry.
My husband working in Canada becomes seriously ill, goes to the emergency room and then spends a week in the hospital in Montreal. The cost - $50 - for parking!
My daughter will file for bankruptcy. We will move to Canada.
In America illness or accidents frequently mean financial ruin. While the rest of the industrialized world looks on in sheer disbelief at our practice of packaging medical care as a commodity to be purchased -- for those who can afford it.
In the U.S. the term "socialized medicine" is spoken of as if it were some great evil. What I see in Canada is a country that cares about the health of all its residents. They believe it is right and it is just and that it serves the common good to have a healthy work force. I challenge anyone to ASK a Canadian, a Brit, an Italian, a German, someone from France if they would prefer the American style health care system. You will find that they treasure their systems and would never consider swapping it for the American for-profit system. A for-profit system that is doing a pretty poor job of it, too.
Not only does Canada care about it's own residents, it sounds like they extend that care to visitors too!!!! I wonder what USA does about people visiting here when they fall ill.