In early April of this year I needed to make an appointment to see the doctor. Since I am among those who are uninsured, I have to attend the county-ran hospital Cooper-Green Mercy (CGM). Make no mistake about it, CGM has some of the finest and competent physicians you can find anywhere. Still, the service leaves many things to be desired as the blog will show you.
Back to the story at hand. Like I said before, I needed to have a doctor's appointment, so I contacted CGM to schedule one. The kind lady on the line informed me that the earliest possible date would be June 15th.
Yikes!
Much to my chagrin, I went on and accepted the appointed for the 15th of June. Yet I had a much more serious conundrum at hand. Unfortunately, I deal with hypertension, which results from both heredity and plain old bad choices & lifestyle, but that's neither here nor there. The problem is that my prescriptions will run out prior to my appointment June. Fortunately, I was able to phone in refills to the CGM's emergency room and they were gracious enough to provide me with my meds to last me until my visit in June.
A few weeks later, a letter from CGM arrived:
Due to a change in schedule, we will not be able to see you 06152010, at 1100 for your (name of physician) appointment. Your physician has asked me to contact you and reschedule your appointment.
Your new appointment is Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 8:30am.
If you have any questions or if you are unable to keep this appointment, please call (hospital phone number).
We are sorry if this has caused you any inconvenience.
Double Yikes!
Right now, expletives are spewing out my mouth at this point. Not only I would have to wait nearly an additional month to see the doctor, but my meds will run out and I was doubting that I would get another refill. I called the E.R. once more again and this time, understandably, I would receive another prescription only if I come to the E.R. to be evaluated by the physician at hand. This meant that I would have been at that place all day just to see the doctor because my original appointment was rescheduled.
No thank you.
I petitioned the Lord in prayer about the situation and He answered in a mighty way. At the Fatherhood Program (http://www.birminghamfathers.com/) where I volunteer, there were some information on acquiring medical help for those who are low-income. I noticed a flier for The Foundry (http://www.thefoundryonline.org/) which treats hypertension. I called for an appointment, in which I got two days later. I was treated for my blood pressure and I have wonderful numbers that I'm embarrassed to say I haven't seen in a decade.
I wrote this to say that if you have medical insurance and your able to chose from where you receive your healthcare from, please be grateful and don't take that for granted. Now, I am by no means negating personal responsibility for my own health; I had to start doing better, plain and simple. I'm just merely pointing out the possible glaring differences between the insured and the uninsured. Also, this is not to put down CGM. As for as I'm concerned, there are a lot of uninsured folks in Jefferson County, so, it's pretty much understandable why they are bombarded with patients.
In closing, I had a follow-up visit at The Foundry and the doctor was pleased with my progress. Ironically, I came home and found yet another letter from CGM:
Due to a change in schedule, we will not be able to see you 07062010, at 0830 for your (name of physician) appointment. Your physician has asked me to contact you and reschedule your appointment.
Your new appointment is Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 1:30pm.
If you have any questions or if you are unable to keep this appointment, please call (hospital phone number).
We are sorry if this has caused you any inconvenience.
That would be three months later and the day before my birthday.
Changes need to be made in the current healthcare system.
Sake's alive...
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