Thursday, August 09, 2007
Our Own Sicko
No, this entry is not about Michael Moore's movie. But the movie could have been about this entry.
We have a group of regular customers at our bookstore. Many of them don't buy a lot, but they are welcome as long as they don't trash the place, disturb other customers, sleep in the chairs, or otherwise cause trouble. From time to time we also have some homeless people who spend much of the day in the store, and again, as long as they are well-behaved, that's fine.
One guy, until recently, came almost every day, usually in the afternoon or evening. We know he was homeless, because after we close, we would sometimes see him sleeping on the bench outside the store as we went home, and the morning crew would see him there when they came in. I don't know the guy very well. In fact, I don't even know his name, but from time to time, most of us have had short conversations with him.
I should point out here that aside from the fact that he obviously hasn't bathed in a while, he's very inoffensive. We have never seen him drunk, or under the influence of, well, anything. He doesn't even fall asleep in the chairs. He's very polite and has never, as far as we know, asked anyone for money. He doesn't hang out on the corner asking for handouts, either. I don't know where he gets his food, but he really doesn't ask us for anything. Once I offered him some leftover chicken from an event we had, and he just asked if he could have some milk from the cafe. Unfortunately, the only milk we have is for coffee drinks, otherwise I would have bought it for him myself.
From the conversations we've had with him, it's apparent that the man isn't mentally disturbed or unintelligent; in fact, one of our associates said he seems bright and well-read.
There is one thing that you can't miss about this guy -- one of his lower legs is clearly, well...in trouble. It's bandaged and so swollen he has to cut his pants open, and he gets around with the aid of a walker. I am not exaggerating when I say the leg is probably almost a foot in diameter. I had thought maybe he had a condition like the Elephant Man, but that apparently isn't the case. One of my co-workers learned that he has an infection in this leg.
Needless to say, this man has no money for medical treatment. Without money or insurance, he can't get treatment because the condition is not life-threatening. So he just hobbles around, waiting until the infection gets bad enough that it might kill him, at which point some hospital will be forced to take his case. I'm not a doctor, but I would guess the "treatment" at that point will be to amputate the leg and put him back on the street, where he will then have even more difficulty in staying alive.
I just think there is something fundamentally wrong when we're spending trillions of dollars on bridges to nowhere, vouchers for private schools, no-bid contracts to provide our soldiers with inferior equipment, public relations campaigns for NOAA, and massively complex and costly highway exits that are neither wanted nor needed -- yet we can't treat an infection on one man's leg. In fact, if the guy is receiving public assistance, it would probably cost a lot less to fix his leg and help him find a job than to keep supporting him, which we will surely have to do if he loses the leg.
We haven't seen the gentleman for a couple of weeks, and we feared the worst until someone saw him at the bus stop the other day, leg still attached. If I see him again, I'm going to try to get to know him better.
We have a group of regular customers at our bookstore. Many of them don't buy a lot, but they are welcome as long as they don't trash the place, disturb other customers, sleep in the chairs, or otherwise cause trouble. From time to time we also have some homeless people who spend much of the day in the store, and again, as long as they are well-behaved, that's fine.
One guy, until recently, came almost every day, usually in the afternoon or evening. We know he was homeless, because after we close, we would sometimes see him sleeping on the bench outside the store as we went home, and the morning crew would see him there when they came in. I don't know the guy very well. In fact, I don't even know his name, but from time to time, most of us have had short conversations with him.
I should point out here that aside from the fact that he obviously hasn't bathed in a while, he's very inoffensive. We have never seen him drunk, or under the influence of, well, anything. He doesn't even fall asleep in the chairs. He's very polite and has never, as far as we know, asked anyone for money. He doesn't hang out on the corner asking for handouts, either. I don't know where he gets his food, but he really doesn't ask us for anything. Once I offered him some leftover chicken from an event we had, and he just asked if he could have some milk from the cafe. Unfortunately, the only milk we have is for coffee drinks, otherwise I would have bought it for him myself.
From the conversations we've had with him, it's apparent that the man isn't mentally disturbed or unintelligent; in fact, one of our associates said he seems bright and well-read.
There is one thing that you can't miss about this guy -- one of his lower legs is clearly, well...in trouble. It's bandaged and so swollen he has to cut his pants open, and he gets around with the aid of a walker. I am not exaggerating when I say the leg is probably almost a foot in diameter. I had thought maybe he had a condition like the Elephant Man, but that apparently isn't the case. One of my co-workers learned that he has an infection in this leg.
Needless to say, this man has no money for medical treatment. Without money or insurance, he can't get treatment because the condition is not life-threatening. So he just hobbles around, waiting until the infection gets bad enough that it might kill him, at which point some hospital will be forced to take his case. I'm not a doctor, but I would guess the "treatment" at that point will be to amputate the leg and put him back on the street, where he will then have even more difficulty in staying alive.
I just think there is something fundamentally wrong when we're spending trillions of dollars on bridges to nowhere, vouchers for private schools, no-bid contracts to provide our soldiers with inferior equipment, public relations campaigns for NOAA, and massively complex and costly highway exits that are neither wanted nor needed -- yet we can't treat an infection on one man's leg. In fact, if the guy is receiving public assistance, it would probably cost a lot less to fix his leg and help him find a job than to keep supporting him, which we will surely have to do if he loses the leg.
We haven't seen the gentleman for a couple of weeks, and we feared the worst until someone saw him at the bus stop the other day, leg still attached. If I see him again, I'm going to try to get to know him better.
Labels: homeless bookstore work health rant
