Failure to thrive

My time with Americorps and Neighborcare is winding down. With the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day, behind us, I now look to my future with a hodgepodge of feelings and new adventures.

The Dental Integration project, the brain child of my Americorps service, is going smoothly. We are even considering using this model to contact other patient populations, such as diabetics, overdue mammogram patients, annual exams and pap patient reminders. Shifting these responsibilities from medical and dental providers to administrative staff will greatly affect the productivity of our providers. Although admin staff will have more work...

Speaking of productivity, a new project our organization is attempting is increased productivity, measured in terms of patients visits per day per provider. This is essential considering the major budget cuts that just happened both in Olympia and Washington DC. We must increase the number of patients per providers because a) we are seeing more and more patients, b)we get reimbursed and paid for patients who have appointments with a provider, not a nurse or counselor and c) because we can't really afford to hire new providers to make up for the increased patient load. When I think of the word "productivity," I think of factories; the mass production of goods. I don't think of it in terms of check ups and pap smears, but alas, the medical system is a business afterall. While we are in the business of healing and caring from a non-profit standpoint, there are rent and utilities to pay, employees have to eat and feed their families.

With my Americorps service just about done. I'm looking ahead to my future and I don't think the community health field is for me. I have grown fond of the compassionate people and philosophy behind community health centers; the idea of community-based health and making quality services accesible to immigrants, low-income families and other indigent gourps, but it's emotionally exhausting. With the current budget situation and the current political idealogies that threaten medical services for low-income families, it's heart wrenching to know that with every million dollars cut from social and health service programs, thousand of people will have a lower quality of life. We hear about it all the time in the news, but now, these numbers have faces and the impact is felt on a personal level.

I strongly believe with all my heart that access to health care is a right and essential to improving the quality of life of all immigrants, low-income families and minority groups. And I'm a fighter: I have strong morals and I will fight for them. But I'm exhausted and the community health center movement is fighting a losing battle. A battle where only our patients, who are amongst the neediest of our community, are the ones affected.

You think the suits down in Olympia know first hand what it means to cut health services funding? They are not on the battlefield, day in and day out, watching struggling families make ends meet, desperately looking for jobs and trying to feed their kids. And while in this clinic, in this building, we can only really help with their medical woes, perceived health is so intricately woven with self-worth, motivation, perseverance and other psychological and spiritual attributes that allow individuals to not just live, but THRIVE.

But I guess it's difficult for anyone to thrive in this economic climate. College students, small business owners,recently unemployed breadwinners: it's hard enough to get by, let alone get ahead.