My Family

One of the faces of the uninsured that I have not talked about is in my own family. My 29-year-old son is uninsured.

He is a professional pilot working as a flight instructor at Western Michigan University. He works as a contract employee, so he is only paid for the hours he works and he has no benefits.

He loves his job; he has found real joy in teaching young men and women who will go on to fly for airlines, cargo companies and industry. But he lives without healthcare insurance. I live in fear of what that could mean for him if he were to become ill.

He will be subject to the mandate in 2014; but he will also have the opportunity to buy healthcare coverage with the tax credits that will be available.

The uninsured rate among young adults was 27.9% in 2011, a decrease in recent years due in part to the ACA provision allowing them to remain on a parent’s private health plan until age 26. The change in coverage for this age group accounted for about 40% of the overall decline in the number of uninsured. However, young adults continue to have a high uninsured rate compared to other age groups.

 

 

James and Diane (Rodosalewicz) Copeland as told to Liz Webb

“They saved our lives!” Diane said of the staff and volunteers at St. Peter’s Free Clinic as she turned her smiling face and swept her arm toward the staff and volunteers in the basement of the St. Peters Episcopal Church. 

 

James and Diane Copeland moved to Hillsdale County in 2002 from Sumpter, MI near Belleville, looking forward to their retirement in a house that Diane loves and that is surrounded by twenty acres of land on which James hunts.  After settling here, James was completing his 20th year of work at the Kmart Distribution Center in Canton, Michigan, driving back and forth to Hillsdale.  Unfortunately, when Kmart merged with Sears in 2005, the Canton Kmart location closed and James lost his job.  The work that was done in that center is now done in Chicago.  Previously, James had worked at Firestone in Wyandotte for 15 years before that business relocated to Kentucky.

 

When his unemployment from Kmart ran out in 2006, James applied for a seasonal mowing job at the Hillsdale County Road Commission.  In a pre-employment medical check, a doctor told him he had high blood pressure and since he had no insurance and no doctor, he came to the St. Peter’s Free Clinic for help with that and Diane came with him.  Volunteers at the clinic found that both of them had extremely high blood pressure:  hers was the highest ever recorded at the clinic.  

 

The job James has at the Road Commission is going well and they asked him to join them for five months this winter to do maintenance work for 25 hours a week.  But he still has no health insurance and so they come to the clinic regularly for blood pressure checks and for the medication to control it.

 

In explaining how they came to Hillsdale, Diane repeatedly said, “God brought us here.”  She went on to explain that when they would drive out to look for a house, they repeatedly drove by the same place.  It had a pond out back that was appealing and when she walked in the door she said, “I knew this was my house.”  It needed little fix-ups that James could do.  “The bones are good.”

 

The property they live on provides much of their food through gardening and hunting.  They can tomatoes and freeze green beans.  James advises that “Jade green beans are the very best.”  They especially love spaghetti squash, asparagus, and black raspberries, as well as pears and apples from their trees.  They catch fish in the pond and eat any squirrel, rabbit or venison that James shoots.  “We can make that nickel squeak,” said James.

 

When James and Diane were both working in Belleville (she as a letter carrier at the post office for ten years), they loved to do some vacation traveling with family to Yellowstone, the Tetons, Branson, Missouri, Dollywood, Florida, Boston, Colorado and Niagara.  These last few years have been economically challenging for them and they have not been able to travel.

 

Diane said, “This medical clinic really helps us.  I love to make short bread and bring it in for the workers.”  These patients really appreciate the care and treatment they receive at St. Peter’s Free Clinic.

 

 

Who are the Uninsured?

The uninsured are not "lazy" individuals; according to these statistics, all but about 20% of the uninsured are in a family with one or more workers - either part-time or full-time; many of these individuals are working more than one job just to make ends meet.

Most of the uninsured are in families living on the edges - having to make decisions about food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare. They cannot afford all those "luxuries" (food, clothing, shelter, healthcare) - the very things we take for granted every day.

Gregory Boyle has this to say : "Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it."

Most of us are so blessed; why then are we so greedy with the resources that could provide healthcare to everyone?

Update on Cindy

I just talked to Cindy. The lump in her breast was biopsied last week; she has breast cancer.

Steven

Steven was a patient here for about four months. He had worked at one of the major manufacturing plants in our community for over 20 years. When the factory closed, he lost his health insurance as well as his income. At the time he came here, he was still receiving unemployment compensation – at a small percentage of what he had been earning.

His health history included femoral-popliteal graft, or in lay language, a by-pass for the major arteries in his right leg. He presented at the clinic with his great toe purple in color, open sores on the bottom of his foot and was only able to walk a few feet at a time. He came in with slippers on – the pain in his foot was so great that he couldn’t wear shoes.

He was started on an antibiotic and wound care for the open sores. An arterial Doppler of the right leg was ordered. The ultrasound showed that the graft was totally occluded – there was very little blood flow to his leg. There was also a hematoma, or bruise in his right groin.

We were able to get him into a Vascular Surgeon here, but he needed more than could be offered locally. We finally were able to get him into a nearby university hospital, where he was treated with IV antibiotics. He ultimately lost his foot, and then lost his leg below the knee. He was fitted with a prosthetic leg, and was managing fairly well, until he fell and broke his hip.

He is one of those people who if it weren’t for bad luck, would have no luck at all.

I have heard that he recovered from the hip surgery, was doing fairly well except for some phantom leg pain. When surgery was done to address that issue, he ended up with a non-healing wound on the leg, and it looks now like he may lose his leg above the knee.

If he had had insurance, he would have gone much sooner to a healthcare professional to address the wounds on his foot. He might have been able to save the foot and the leg. His life would/could have been much different.

Curt

Curt has been a patient at the clinic for five years. He has a history of heart disease, emphysema, high cholesterol and acid reflux. He is a smoker.

He receives his medications at the clinic monthly. He and his wife are taking care of his father for a small amount of money each month. They receive $200 a month in food stamps.

Curt is one of the most polite people I have ever met. He says “Yes, ma’am” – which is unheard of here, though it is something I am a sucker for, having grown up in the south. He is always quiet and well mannered. He usually sits by himself in the hallway when he is at the clinic. He does not go outside to smoke here, because he knows how we feel about that.

He stands out in a crowd because of his good manners.

I don’t know much about Curt, but what I do know is that he has a record for Criminal Sexual Conduct. I do not know his story; I do not know any of the details. What I know is that the reason I know who he is, is because of how he acts every time he comes here. Always like a gentleman.

Healthcare Costs - Food for thought.

I don't know about you, but some of this surprised me. We hear so much about how the cost of healthcare is driven by prescription drugs and malpractice costs (which don't even show up on the gragh, as they make up less than 1% of healthcare cost!)

Cindy

Cindy is a 64-year-old widow. She has been a patient at the clinic for three years. Her income from Social Security is a little over $1,000/month. She pays $400/month in rent.

Her list of diagnosis and medications are fairly typical for someone of her age at the clinic: osteoarthritis, acid reflux, hypertension, dyslipidemia (high cholesterol) and depression. We provide her with the medications she needs. We see her about once a month to refill medications.
Last October she was able to get a Pap and mammogram through the BCCCP. BCCCP is a program funded with federal dollars to provide low-income, uninsured and underinsured women access to breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services. These services include clinical breast examinations, mammograms, Pap tests, pelvic examinations, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) tests, diagnostic testing if results are abnormal, and referrals to treatment.

 Then, around the first of the year, she found a lump in her breast. She came in to see our physician right away. We ordered an ultrasound which confirmed a solid mass 2 centimeters in diameter with a diagnosis of “highly suggestive of malignancy.”

She has seen a surgeon for a biopsy; now we wait for the results. Fortunately, it has been found early and she will have the resources she needs through the BCCCP program.

An Accidental Activist

MichUCan profiled me on their website. How exciting is that!

http://medicaid.michuhcan.org/image/46931294270