DO NOT GET BROKEN!

 

I don’t want this to sound too churlish/whiny here; I am fully aware that taking care of sick and/or broken people is a difficult, thankless job, often poorly remunerated.  I have been told that they do it better in other “advanced” countries/  I can’t comment:  I have been in plenty such places, but was never sick or broken at the time.  I suspect we would be better off with a single-payer health system but, Lord knows, I am no authority.  The only advice I can dispense with confidence is:  DO NOT EVER, EVER NEED REHAB!

I just spent about two weeks in a local rehab center, one reputed to be one of only two such in town which rates 5 stars.  There are a half-dozen or so locally that rate two stars. Judging from my experiences I can’t imagine conditions in a two-star rehab center: is it that Medicare pays Uber to drop you off at the nearest homeless encampment under a convenient bridge?  I shudder to think.

So, my place had excellent PT and OT, ample meals that ranged in quality from mediocre to inedible, complicated adjustable beds guaranteed to shape you into a human pretzel by midnight, and night time attendants that spoke little or no English,  (Sure: they do unpleasant to disgusting work for, I’ll bet, next to nothing – but, still), call buttons that sometimes worked, and so forth, on and on.  Days were tolerable because you could sit in a chair and exercise your mind; nights were hideous, with nothing to think about but aches, pains, and how to get your adjustable bed to allow you to breath!

But, enough: I am beginning to sound like a querulous octogenarian, which I suppose I am.  So again: WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT SO AS NEVER TO REQUIRE MEDICAL REPAIR!