Observations at a Health Fair Part II
A couple weeks ago I posted about my experience/observations from helping out with my med class at a health fair (first one for me ever). Since then we've had two more health fairs so I decided I'd share my observations from those ones as well! (political and nonpolitical observations)
(1) Once again it was amazing how long the lines were to enter these health fairs. I was part of the vitals station (where we measure height, weight, calculate BMI, and then check their BP) so we get the patients first before they go to other stations.....and within 15 min of these fairs starting we were already backed up! To all those who say that our health care is fine I challenge them to come to one of these fairs to see how desperate people are to get any free help that they can.
(2) It was interesting to me that whenever I told a patient that they had high bp most of them told me that "there's no way I have high BP" and would have me check their blood pressure again....and even then a lot were resistant to me telling them that they need to take care of themselves better. I did notice though that most of those patients didn't check their bp regularly and had huge gaps between the last time they had actually gone to a doctor.....which would explain why they have no clue about their current state of health.
(3) The ACA did come up in our discussions quite a bit again....some would ask me if I knew how the system worked. Not wanting to give them false/wrong information I told them that they should try to go onto the website and if they can't figure it out to call the # since there are representatives who would help them. Most who asked about it told me that they would be trying to shop for insurance in the coming weeks.
(4) I met one lady who told me that she now had insurance for the first time ever thanks to the ACA.....and she found all the coverage about the website messup to be hysterical. In fact she thought that due to all this coverage some of her friends who before really had no clue about the ACA were more inclined to listen/research about it and try to get insurance for themselves.
(5) One man told me that he knew he had high blood pressure yet he couldn't afford the medication. He was almost on the verge of tears. It really broke my heart and being a first year med student I really couldn't help him out much with getting any free med samples. Its people like him who motivate me to become a MD so that I can help them out one day.
(6) Now one of the most interesting points in my opinion- when I told me republican friend (also in our med class) about the man who couldn't afford bp medication he told me "Nah....everyone can afford medication. He's probably lying"....once again a reinforcement of how these republicans live inside a bubble in which they have no clue about the struggle of the common man.
Have a great Sunday everyone!
= new reply since forum marked as read
there is a big disconnect in people about what is available for all (usually nothing), and the spiel that we have the greatest healthcare on
the planet.
Again, I extend my thanks to you, first year medical student. Keep up the good work.
