Sometimes a story just jumps out at me, not so much for the overall purpose but for the contributions of the people they interview.

Right now there’s a story on CNN.com (Link) about a billboard a guy put up depicting the smoldering Twin Towers and the phrase “Don’t Vote For A Democrat.” Argue all you want about whether or not the guy is exploiting dead people to sell a song on his website, but there is a part that caught me in particular. This is from the article:

Mike Meehan, a St. Cloud, Florida, businessman who paid to post the billboards in the Orlando area, said former President Clinton should have put a stop to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda before 9/11. He said a Republican president would have done so.

“I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we’d had a Republican president at the time,” Meehan said Wednesday on CNN’s “American Morning.”

Now maybe it’s just me. But George Bush was President when 9/11 happened, so a Republican WAS a President at the time. And Bush had about eight months to take care of bin Laden and didn’t. Even if you wanted to argue that Clinton should have done more, how can you throw out the fact that Bush didn’t do anything and he had warnings of potential imminent attacks?

I think the guy might be missing something. “I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we’d had a Republican president at the time.” Where was he?

I attempted to go see Pat Benatar at the AMP in Northwest Arkansas Saturday and got to enjoy some of the storms that the folks at Rocklahoma suffered through earlier in the day.  I got to see how AMP management deals with storms and was thoroughly unimpressed.

Local meteorologists had been predicting storms to cover pretty much the entire day.  There were dark clouds in the area several hours before the event.  The show was supposed to start around 7, with the headliner going on between 7:30 and 8.  When we got there, a sign said Pat would be on at 8:15.  Fine.  I figured since there were still well over 1,000 tickets available for the small venue ten minutes before we left the house that maybe they were stalling for more people, but I couldn’t say.

After Pat’s opening act, the storm came.  And it was one thunderbumper of a storm.  A guy came on stage and said they were powering down to wait out the lightning.  Meanwhile, the little structure that was covering a smaller stage on the lawn blew off, the AMP (which is a big tent) started to shake, and the place where parts of the AMP are brought together over a lighting truss started coming off and the stage got drenched. My mother looked up at the steel and lights above us and got scared so I moved her to the outside part of the tent (thanks to the guy who’s name I don’t know who helped me lift the wheelchair over an obstruction, you were a big help).When we saw the sky we made the decision to make a break for it and I ran to the car so fast mom swore the wheelchair didn’t touch the ground.  We were SOAKED.  But we made it home without catching a cold, and I got to experience what it’s like to run through rain so hard and fast that you simply can not breathe.

The weather was not the AMP’s fault.  How they dealt with it was.

Like I said, storms were predicted throughout the day.  We knew they were coming.  Now, if I were running an outdoor music event in a big tent, and I knew storms were coming, I would do the following:

1.  I’d use sandbags or some other method to try and funnel any water  away from the seating area so hopefully it wouldn’t flood.

2.  I’d have a laptop with a wireless card or at least a computer waiting in JC Penney so I could keep an eye on the radar.

3.  I’d make sure the tent pieces above the stage were pulled down into the truss instead of just connected to the top of it, so if there was wind it wouldn’t separate as easily.

The people at the AMP did none of those things.  Water rushed into the seats within minutes of the rain starting.  I put mom back in her wheelchair so her feet at least would be out of the water.  As I said, the tent above the stage started to come apart while we were there.  And as we were leaving, a security guard said they were trying to find access to radar.  Knowing that storms were coming, they should have made sure they already had access to radar.  In my opinion, any outdoor venue should have it built into the budget to have some method of checking the weather at any time.

That wasn’t the only problem we had.  Whoever set up the parking situation must have been on something.  If you turned into the first row of cars and got to the end without finding a space, you could not turn to go to the next row.  You could not exit.  Your only option was to do a VERY interesting job of turning around (like we did) or drive backwards several hundred feet and hope no one was behind you (as I saw a few attempt to do).  Plus, a woman told us to park in a handicap spot, but there weren’t any that I could see anywhere in the general vicinity.

I thought the whole thing was handled poorly overall.  Add to that the fact that the people at the AMP handle advertising like they hate it (ie you’re lucky if you even find out about a show…we saw one commercial the night before and a friend said she might have seen an ad in the paper.  Not even any signs around town.  It’s almost like they don’t WANT you to come.  Maybe that’s why over 1,000 tickets, not counting the lawn, were left when we left the house).

So that’s a Heart concert I’ve missed due to a bronchitis/flu that kept me off the airlines and a Pat Benatar show that storms shut down.  2008 is not my year for concerts.

I’ve built two new sites I hope can help some people out.  Several people asked me to separate my ALS blogs to make them easier to find, so I have at ALSCaregivers.com.  I also built MarthasMarauders.com in honor of my mom and to fight ALS for everyone.  So from now on, new ALS-related bits will go to ALSCaregivers.com.

Every election year since I’ve been old enough to vote, I’ve been asked the same question.  It isn’t who I’m voting for, or more importantly WHY, it’s whether I’m a Democrat or a Republican.  I know it isn’t really because these people want to know my political affiliation per se - they just know that in today’s society, nothing else matters.  Not philosophy, not ideals, not where a person stands on an issue.  All that matters is whether there’s a D or an R.

Luckily for me, even though my mother primarily voted Democrat through my lifetime, she always told me that I should focus on what a person brings to the table rather than what letter appears next to the name.  This should be common sense but it’s even more important today.  It all boils down to why I have no political party.

Let’s take a look at what both party’s national committees say their issues are.

Logging on to gop.com, I click on Issues and am told “Welcome back to the Faith & Values Group.”  OK.  Mousing over Issues at the top gives me an actual list of issues, so let’s try a few of my favorites.

Faith & Values tells me the RNC believes in conservative judges who follow the letter of the law, that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, that President Bush is the most pro-life president in history, that the RNC believes in religious freedom with “In God We Trust” as a national motto, that “Under God” must stay in the Pledge of Allegiance, and that the country needs Faith Based Initiatives.

Under Education there is no information under “Working for Education.”  Under “Education Issues” it says the RNC is for holding high schools accountable for teaching all students, increasing reading skills, accelerating math and science achievement in all secondary students, accelerating student achievement, and promoting scholastic achievement.

Under Energy, again there is no information under “Working for Energy.”  Under “Energy Issues” it says the RNC promotes coal, nuclear energy, natural gas and renewable sources of energy, that nuclear power is abundant and affordable, clean and safe, that they encourage clean-coal technology development and that Bush’s 2007 budget proposed $44 million for wind energy research and other alternative resources.

Under Health Care, again no information under “Working for Health Care.”  “Health Care Issues” promotes a standard tax deduction for health insurance, making basic private health insurance available and helping Americans who can’t afford it, and lowering taxes for Americans who now purchase insurance on their own.

Under Jobs & Economy, they promote restraining spending by the Federal Government, promoting economic growth through legislation,”reforming the institutions fundamental to American society, so that they can meet the realities of our new century,” strengthening high schools, strengthening social security, reforming immigration law and using No Child Left Behind.

Moving on to democrats.org, I go to What We Stand For under Our Party.  Under Civil Rights, it says this:  “Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers. Most recently, Democrats stood together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.  On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight. We support vigorous enforcement of existing laws, and remain committed to protecting fundamental civil rights in America.”

Under Environment:  “Democrats know that a sensible energy policy is key to a strong economy, our national security, and a clean environment. Democrats are committed to the next generation of affordable and renewable energy for the 21st century and to conservation measures that will immediately reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

Under Honest Government:  “We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves, starting with real ethics reform.”

Under Healthcare:  “We will join 36 other industrialized nations in making sure everyone has access to affordable health care, starting by fixing the prescription drug program and investing in stem cell and other medical research.  In the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, no one should have to choose between taking their child to a doctor and paying the rent. Democrats are committed to making sure every single American has access to affordable, effective health care coverage. We want to fix the disastrous Medicare Part D and ensure our seniors can afford their prescription drugs.  We also believe in investing in life saving stem cell and other medical research that offers real hope for cures and treatment for millions of Americans. “

Under Economics and Education:  “We will create jobs that stay in America and restore opportunity for all Americans, starting with raising the minimum wage, expanding Pell grants and making college tuition tax deductible. We also believe in budget discipline that reduces our deficit.  Democrats believe that the most effective way to increase opportunity for our families is a high quality, good paying job. The Democratic Party supports fair trade agreements that raise standards for all workers here and abroad, while making American businesses more competitive, and we don’t believe in tax giveaways that reward companies for moving American jobs overseas.  We also believe in balanced budgets and paying down our national debt, while Republicans continue to put huge burdens on future generations by borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from foreign nations. We want to restore the budget discipline of the 1990s that helped eliminate deficits and spur record economic growth.  Democrats know that the key to expanding opportunity is to provide every child with a strong foundation of education. We will also help expand educational opportunities for college by making college tuition tax deductible, expanding Pell Grants, and cut student loan interest rates.”

Yes, Democrats apparently like writing a lot more than the Republicans do.

Condensing this, it’s pretty easy to say that Republicans are mainly focused on religion (including a federal marriage amendment and banning of abortion), want tax cuts to promote health insurance purchasing, want schools to be accountable, believe in tax cuts for economic growth, and want to strengthen schools to help lead to a better economy.  In general.  Democrats believe in equal rights, finding renewable energy sources, ending government corruption, incorporating stem cell research and making health care affordable, creating jobs, making school more affordable, eliminating deficits and strengthening education.  In general.

Now here’s why, even if I agree with some of these tenets, I can’t accept either party.  For one thing, freedom of religion should be a paramount virtue of the country, including allowing citizens to choose to have no religion.  No one religion should be mandated on the population.  That Republicans consider it paramount to make Christianity permeate government like it does other aspects of life which is frightening even if the religion by itself wouldn’t have to be.

You can not ban abortion until you’ve alleviated some of the causes.  If the causes remain, then we’d just have women and girls dying in alleys again.  We need to fix some of the things that cause poverty, help victims of rape and domestic violence and be more up front about the consequences of sex.  I actually had a teenager tell me she was surprised she was pregnant because she and her boyfriend never kissed, and her mother had told her that was how babies were made.  We need education, not paranoia.  Knowledge is the first step toward better decision making.

Tax cuts won’t help health care when other causes of high prices are allowed to run rampant and corruption is everywhere.  But the Democrats haven’t exactly stated outright what they think would work to fix it either.

Republicans don’t mention anything about civil or equal rights and so we fundamentally don’t agree.  Democrats, who were once the party of the KKK, profess to be all about equality, unless you’re gay of course.  You’re either for equality for all or you aren’t.  You have to take a stand either way.  That’s the only honest way to go about it.

Democrats say they want to end government corruption but don’t say how, and haven’t really followed through before now.  Both parties are inherently corrupt, so that argument goes out the window.

Republicans claim to be fiscally responsible but take great delight in putting the country trillions of dollars in debt.  Democrats talk about pork but they’ve got their own pig wielders in Congress.

I could go on and on but the flat fact is based on what these two parties have become, I could never support either one “just because.”  So that leaves me to try and figure out candidates who have been trained by the system to lie if they need to in order to get a vote.  It makes it hard sometimes to want to vote for anyone, but I will.  I just have to weigh the pros and cons and go for the one who will hurt me and my fellow citizens the least.  That may suck, but that’s our system.  So please don’t ask me what party I belong to.  I am a human being and an American who likes to think about who I’m voting for, and that’s all I need to be.

On our vacation this month, we went through Missouri, Kansas, Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Montana and Washington (might have left one off).  We had to stop many times for bathroom breaks, gas breaks or, on the way back, letting kitty go to the bathroom breaks.  We did fairly well in the Rampvan but Utah was a nightmare.

A Rampvan like ours has a conversion that allows for the door to slide open and a ramp to come out the side so mom can drive her wheelchair out of the van.  It’s a wonderful invention.  However, after driving one, you really take notice of things like speed bumps.  Why?  Because the conversion is lower than the rest of the van and, as we say, would scrape over a petrified ant.

This is how Utah became such a nightmare.  Salt Lake City in particular.  We pulled into Salt Lake because one of us needed a bathroom break and we barely got out of the city alive.  Every driveway we came across had either a big bump, a dip or some other raised bit that would have scraped half the conversion off.  Some of them we had no way of getting over at all.  We passed up endless gas stations because of this until we finally found one we’d only drag across and cause ourselves great stress as opposed to decimating the entire bottom of the van.  Every place we stopped in Utah was like this.

I’m sure there must be some ordinance about how high speed bumps, dips and parking lot entryways can be for regular cars.  But not all cars are regular.  Evening out the entrance would go a long way for people like us, and there are more of us than you might think.  We have to avoid streets with high speed bumps (they can be lower and do the same thing), we have no hope at all against speed tables, and any parking lot entrance with a high ridge or that lowers much on the way in or out at all is no good.  A little height is all right but it doesn’t take much to scrape the hell out of the conversion.

Just a little food for thought if you’re building roads or parking lots or putting in those horrendous half foot high speed bumps.  And all speed tables should be banned.  Allllllll of them.

We had the opportunity to try out a large number of public restrooms on our recent drive through Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.  Traveling with someone in an electric wheelchair can be very eye-opening, especially when said person needs assistance in the stall.    So I’ve put together a list of things builders can do to really make a public restroom handicap accessible as well as some instances of places we liked.

It’s obvious to me that most places don’t take this very seriously.  They do the minimum they can to get by under the law.  Fine.  But after I’m done here maybe some will understand why the minimum isn’t all that helpful.  Some of these are fairly common sense but as we know, common sense and the law sometimes miss each other.

1.  Toilet seats
People with limited mobility in their legs or backs appreciate the hand rails, I’m sure.  The rails are good to pull yourself up.  However, the emphasis should also be on not having to pull so far.  Higher toilet seats can go a long way.  All of the seats we came across but one were the same height as all the others.  When we did find a higher one, it was like a party in there.  We’re not asking for seats that automatically lift you, that might be a little much.  Just make them higher and we’ll be good.  This also helps the caregiver who has to use body mechanics to lift the person off of the seat.

2.  Space in general
Having one larger stall is fine.  But remember that not all handicapped people can walk or are just down to a small walker.  Some of us have to get wheelchairs in there, plus a caregiver.  We love the restrooms that not only have plenty of space to get a wheelchair into the room itself and around it, but have a stall that the wheelchair can go into and turn easily while also having room for the caregiver to get in and help out.  Just adding six inches to the sides for a rail is really no help at all.

3.  Trash cans
Trash cans are awesome, we all know this.  But not so good when left in the only path a wheelchair can take to get to a stall.  Leaving that path completely open is a big help all by itself.

4.  Sinks
Some people in wheelchairs can get into most sinks while sitting but may have to lean forward a lot, which can cause pain.  For the truly handicap-conscious, one lower sink can be quite groovy.  It’s also helpful for the kiddies.

5.  Monstrously heavy doors
When building a restroom do this little experiment.  If you have to grunt or otherwise heave or put effort into opening the door, what good will it do for a person with limited strength and mobility?  Those huge doors that seems to be on a vaccu-suck are horrendous if there’s no caregiver around.  A lot of these people are still able to go out on their own, so cut them a little slack on that door, will you?

6.  Hotel rooms in general
Here’s a small hint to hotel owners worldwide.  If your room is tiny, the bathroom is small, and you have one hand rail on the wall, you shouldn’t advertise handicap-accessible rooms.  Those are hand rail rooms for those who can walk.  If you want to be cool with the wheelchair program, here are some great ideas:

Put lots of room around the bed, at least on one side.  We need room for a wheelchair to get in there and turn around.  We also need to get past the desk if there is one.  If all else fails we’ll do without a table, so long as there’s good space.

Walk in bathtubs or showers with no lip are fantabulous.  Motel 6 is actually a king in our books for great handicap bathrooms, at least in the four or so we stayed in.  They had showers you could easily transfer someone into with built in benches for the person to sit on, with removable shower heads to get a full cleaning.  Wonderful.  In fact we were totally thrilled with the Motel 6 rooms we used.  That’s only four or five of course so I can’t speak on all of them, but those were great.  The bathroom should also be pretty big, to get a wheelchair in and allow room for a caregiver to transfer someone to the toilet or shower.  Of course, higher toilets also apply here.

No steps up into a room.  We ran into one place we had to just leave because there were two concrete steps in front of every door.  It is not ideal or possible to pick someone up out of a wheelchair, bring them in, and then bring in the wheelchair (ours only weights several hundred pounds), and then repeat this anytime you come and go.  We’re not all bodybuilders.

I know it’s expensive to renovate sometimes, but let me tell you, when we come across great bathrooms, we’re guaranteed to return to that place.  We avoid places we can’t get into, and if more public places went truly handicap-accessible, they might just get more business from those who gave up long ago.

Coming next, our Utah nightmare and small road tips we’d love to make.

Last night on RAW, good ol’ J.R. was drafted from RAW to Smackdown, putting Michael Cole on RAW.  Ross is a tad bit upset about it as you can read here.  If he really wasn’t told ahead of time he has every right to be angry.  Plus, he and Jerry Lawler have had some times together and are very close, so not working next to his buddy at the desk probably hurts a great deal.  I feel bad that it is causing him distress and I hope the whole situation works out in a way that makes the legend happy.

However, on a personal note as a fan, I’m thrilled.

I was hoping that Mick Foley would move to RAW or somehow work the table with J.R.  I think they have the potential to be one of those awesome duos like Heenan and Gorilla.  Few people have loved wrestling more than those two and they know about it.  They could be phenomenal.  I hope the potential of what they can do together helps ease the transition, if it even lasts.

In other news, I’m soon going to post some new ALs articles, one on how contractors/designers can make restrooms truly handicap accessible and one on our vacation and the issues that came up surrounding our rampvan and other bits.  Stay tuned.

Well, I went on vacation to Washington and Oregon, thinking my mother, myself and our friend would just have a fun time on mother’s requested trip. Thought maybe I’d bring home a t-shirt or a mug or something. Well I don’t do things halfway, do I?

When we arrived at our friend’s house in Yakima, we were introduced to a little kitten who might be the most adorable kitteh in the world. She’d been found after her mother had been killed. By the time she was found, all of her bothers and sisters had died because mom wasn’t there to help them go to the bathroom or feed them. This one kitten remained, and our friends saved her and got her healthy.

Unfortunately their other cat became very moody about this so when they saw me and the kitteh get so attached to each other, the offer was made, and I drove cross-country with a seven week old kitten. I named her Stormer and she’s family now.

Yes, after Stormer of the Misfits. From the cartoon Jem. I never said I wasn’t a little off.

I was just going along on my merry digital way when I came across this from CBSNews.com:

“The Vatican insisted Friday that it is properly following Christian tradition by excluding females from the priesthood. And it issued a new warning that women taking part in ordinations will be excommunicated.”  (Link)

Now maybe I just don’t understand.  I just have a hard time figuring out why women would want anything to do with organized Catholic/Christian religions to begin with.  A belief system that uses allegory to help people along the way of finding a divine sense within themselves and opening themselves up to understanding that the world is about more than just one person, I can buy that.  I totally support it.  But a religion organized to strip away the spirituality behind the stories, and that puts immense effort (and takes great delight) in making a hierarchy among human beings to ensure the dominance of only one part of the living spectrum, I don’t see any use in that.  As a woman, I have absolutely no desire to have anything to do with a group of men bound and determined to eliminate the female side of the spiritual whole and to subjugate women perpetually.

I feel bad if a woman wants to be a priest and honestly believes it’s a calling because I’m sure it hurts to be told they’re not good enough all the time.  But maybe this is a chance to break away from the iron grip of literalistic self-serving dogma (self-serving of course to the ones who get all the power out of it) and re-find the path to balance.  For balance there has to be male-female, dark-light, good-bad.  And finding that sense of balance, of understanding the inner meaning behind starting out unknowing and abused, dying to the idea that self is all there is, and resurrecting to the possibility that we’re more than just what our bodies are carrying around is really the entire point anyway.  Nobody needed to tell me that.  And whether you call that inner/greater divinity God, Christ, Buddha, or Bob The Baker, the journey and what you make of it is what matters.  Not what some guy on a power trip, and would really like your money, says you have to believe.

On September 27, 2008, I’ll be captaining Martha’s Marauder’s in the ALS Walk To D’Feet ALS here in Arkansas.  If you want to join our team or be a virtual walker and just donate, you can at the Martha’s Marauders page on alsa.org

It hit me pretty hard to find out this morning that Michelle Meldrum had died last night of what I was told was a cystic growth on her brain that cut off oxygen and blood flow.  I don’t even know what that means or what kind of growth, how long it was there and more importantly, why the hell?

Most of you know about my love of bands like The Runaways and may not have thought I was into Phantom Blue or Meldrum, but I came to The Runaways through Lita Ford.  Albums by Lita, Vixen and Phantom Blue were the ones I played when I practiced rock star poses with my guitar in front of the mirror.  They (as well as Heart) were the ones I put on when I started learning drums.  When I wanted to pretend I was a huge rock star I swung around my Les Paul or my bass to those three and only a few others.  And when someone asked me what my entrance theme would be if I was a wrestler, I said either “Through Shattered Eyes” or “New World Order,” both songs by Meldrum.

Phantom Blue’s “Built To Perform” is still one of my favorite cds.  As I drove to work today I put it in and got misty-eyed when “My Misery” came on.  I was hoping like hell Meldrum would hit my area soon.  Michelle will be missed.  Every time I look at my guitar.

Just in case you wanted to know, Host Department sucks. Really, really bad. I spent last night moving my stuff to a new host that I am SURE can be better. They’d pretty much have to shoot me to be worse than HD.

In other news, I added a demo of “You Were Gone” to the MySpace player. It’s about losing someone in war and knowing just when it happened before you’re even told. It was inspired by someone who said she suddenly felt empty one night and the next day she was told her husband was killed in action.

Well I just finished mowing so I have to go try to breathe through my nose again. Tally-ho.

A while ago I wrote about my frustration with people who pull their cars in next to my mother’s rampvan, after watching her come down the ramp and knowing she would need to use it again (see that article here). My experiment involved buying three bright orange traffic cones (I bought these) and putting them in the van. When anyone took mom somewhere and there were no van accessible spaces, the van could be parked anywhere with two open spaces. Then the cones could be put next to the van in the empty space needed for the ramp to come down.

So far, this has worked brilliantly. I put the cones at the halfway point in the parking space, close to the sliding door the ramp comes out of. This way people coming in from either side of the space will see them. To date we haven’t had another problem with someone stealing that necessary extra space.

The only thing I’d note is that when they came, the cones smelled BAD. Brand new plastic skunk bad. I threw them in the shower and washed them down good with soap and warm water, dried them, spritzed some Febreze on them and they were good to go. Just in case you buy some and experience the same thing.

We’ve all seen them.  Those commercials that claim Drug A will cure your every condition, and only cause a few minor side effects.  You know, like death. I’ve never seen a commercial that didn’t turn me off, so I decided to write one that might even attract my attention.  The scene is a lovely rolling stream, where a lovely young lady is standing and smiling her biggest smile.

It is important that the lady is always happy. She must annunciate every word with great joy.

Lady:  “I used to have minor ankle pains that caused me great aggravation.  I couldn’t walk long distances or even go to the grocery store!  But now, all of my ankle pain is gone thanks to AnkleFlex 5000!  AnkleFlex 5000 is a combination of pain relievers and anti-inflammatories guaranteed to erase all ankle pain after the first use!  Now, I have no ankle pain whatsoever with no side effects at all and all my dreams are coming true!  Besides the reduction of pain in your ankles, you will also experience these fantastic effects!  My lungs have folded in half, which makes me look 15 pounds lighter!  Without dieting!  There is a slow tumor growing in my head that has cut off my ability to feel sadness, without antidepressants!  And best of all, my liver is EATING itself!”

At this point balloons would fly into the air and fireworks would go off and the lady would giggle before turning back to the camera.

Lady:  “No other medicine will take away your ankle pain, make you happy and make it possible to be totally unaware that your liver is imploding!  It’s AnkleFlex! Get it today!”

Sure you’re still going to die, but at least you’ll feel good about it!

My ideas on health care fall about where all my other ideas do - somewhere in between what the two sides are usually promoting (but never actually start). But I thought I’d respond to someone (who shall remain nameless because he won’t respond to my emails asking if I can quote him directly) who claims that the reason our current system is the best is because everyone has access to it and we can always go to the emergency room if we can’t pay a doctor’s co-pay. Two personal experiences to counter that idea.

A couple weeks ago my mother suddenly got a shooting pain in her shoulder. Fearing a heart attack and also worried because it was the same arm her PICC line is in, I rushed her to the emergency room. She checked in, crying in pain, and I told the nurse up front about her PICC line and my worries that something may have gone wrong with it. That her crying in pain and grabbing at her shoulder couldn’t be a good thing.

Two and a half hours later we finally got checked in. We then waited until a doctor came around, and after spending ten minutes with him, we got to go home over four hours after we’d arrived. And that was with only five people in front of us in line. The doctor was clueless, didn’t check the PICC line at all (which we found out later was infected) and since her EKG was ok, decided the cause must have been a severe muscle spasm. Needless to say we weren’t impressed.

Adding more people to this scenario would be insane. You can’t just tell people, well if you don’t have health insurance you can always go the emergency room. Even (or especially) when the President says it.

Experience number two. A friend of mine has no health insurance because she’s currently attempting to find work again (no luck with extremely high unemployment in her state) and the cost of even a simple policy is far outside of her reach right now. So she’s been trying to avoid needing anything medically related. She got a cist that ruptured and caused so much pain she had to go the emergency room. A doctor came in and drained it and put in something to keep it draining. She came back to have it drained again. That’s it. Ten minutes of total doctor time. Cost for the uninsured: $2400 so far. For ten minutes and a tiny drain and a few pain pills.

There’s no perfection there. Going to the emergency room if you can’t afford insurance in this economy is a one way ticket to a difficult bankruptcy. And asking the uninsured to just go to the emergency room when they have problems is only going to make waiting times and the overall process even worse for the insured with real emergencies. It’s not working, especially in combination with unemployment and closing factories and a decreasing dollar value and rampaging gas prices. So I’m willing to hear arguments about how to fix it, but I will never believe that just going to already under performing emergency rooms is the answer to anything.