Put my fellowship training at @CallenLorde to excellent use this morning teaching forensic nurse colleagues about PEP (and also, incidentally, poppers).
@hannahmsays And the federal government which continues to restrict the ability of providers at federally qualified health centers and VA facilities from being able to provide abortion care even if we are willing and able.
Q: Why are waits at emergency rooms so long?
A: Because the rest of the healthcare system is failing.
The patient did everything right, but the healthcare system did them so so so wrong.
🧵…
They call their PCP, but can’t get an appointment. So they turn to the ER.
They call their specialist, but the call line (automated, no human to respond) says go to the ER.
They try to pick up their new medicine, but it’s 3x their monthly rent $ and they already work 3 minimum wage jobs…so they turn to the ER to get a dose of medicine.
They try to get their imaging done, but can’t get the prior auth approved. So they come to the ER to get it.
Their employer won’t let them take a sick day without a work note (and the ER is the only thing open they can get into TODAY).
They need to see their doctor in the clinic, but can’t afford to take time off work to go, much less arrange childcare, and the ER is the only thing open when all those conditions sync up.
They lost their job and now have no insurance and can’t see their doctors anyways. So they come to the ER.
The list goes on and on and on…
Healthcare reform is not about healthcare — it’s about economics, corporate greed, lobby dollars, transportation, housing, politics/policy, culture, and more…
if my body is going to insist on keeping the score the least it could do is occasionally give me a little update on what the score is??? I don’t feel like this is an unreasonable ask.
“people deserve to feel safe in their own city” yes! obviously! and “people” includes those made to live perilous lives due to an ever diminishing safety net and increasingly open social derision and viciousness
Something is very wrong with health care when patients are going bankrupt, hospitals are in the red, doctors are unhappy, costs are going up, life spans are going down, innovators are struggling & Big health insurance seems to be the only group that is consistently doing well
Methadone is the only medication for which one must travel for miles every day, stand in line, give a urine sample in front of staff, and swallow the medication while being monitored.
There's simply no evidence to justify these strict conditions when the alternative is a potentially fatal overdose. Its stigmatizing, inhumane and shows the prejudice towards people with substance disorder.