Emily Taber
Contributing Writer
Health care: “The maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health, through the provision of medical services.” This is the Google-provided definition of healthcare and typically what most people think of when they hear the term. To say the least, there is so much more to it than simply this definition.
Photos by Caroline Alm / Arts & Entertainment Editor
Nine of Keene State College’s Alternative Break members packed our bags and set out to Kilmarnock, Virginia, where we would then volunteer at The Northern Neck Free Health Clinic [NNFHC]. The excitement was evident and energy was high as we set out on this trip, an experience none of us would never forget.
Because the NNFHC is a free clinic and primarily run by volunteers, the communication and organization was lacking — no one seemed to be on the same page as to what was going on and what needed to get done, which made finding things to do a challenge at first. This in itself was astonishing to me: that a place so important and relied on by so many could be so unorganized and confused. Then it hit me — this isn’t a doctor’s office like I’m used to or have ever seen before. It doesn’t have the means and endless resources sitting there ready for the taking; it doesn’t have the luxury of consistency like other health care offices do. It was easy for us to place judgments on the way it was run because it was not something we all experience or deal with every time we go to the doctor’s office. We are accustomed to whipping out our insurance cards and not having to worry about it. For those of us who have health insurance and doctors who treat us with respect, we are truly privileged.
The second day we were there four of us got to go to the town over in Middlesex, Virginia, where they had screening and pharmacy pickup set up in a church for patients who were unable to get to the actual clinic. While there, we sat in on an eligibility screening — this was where everything I had heard about the health care system really became a reality for me.
As I was sitting there watching the screening take place and learning how to do it, the person across from me was sitting there waiting to see if they were eligible or not. When I reversed roles and thought about how I would feel if I was in their chair and not mine, I realized how scared and nervous I would be — yet these people swallow their prides and acknowledge the fact that they need help in order to take care of themselves and their families. They sit there answering every question cooperatively and handing over all of their private financial documents for everyone to see. Getting health care and being taken care of shouldn’t be a privilege, but a right that every human being has.
Once the screening was over and the patient left, the person conducting the screening then made a very racist comment as if it were nothing and went about their day completely not phased. Although I knew racism still happened, being born and raised in New Hampshire, I have never really encountered it personally — I was taken back. Not even one minute after the patient left the room, judgments and racist comments were being placed on them simply based off of the information provided in the screening.
While the Google-provided definition of health care is true, it is simply not that black and white — it is many different shades of grey in between. It is disheartening to see how difficult and contradictory the whole health care system truly is. So many of us take for granted the things we have and are available to us, yet there are others in the world who would love to be in our shoes.
You can hear and learn about health care and how it works and this and that five times over, but you won’t truly understand it until you’ve experienced it or observed it directly. That is when things come to light and the light bulb in your head goes off, and hopefully you will take action rather than simply talking about it.