Need a Doctor? This Anti-Poverty Program Will Get You a Lawyer, Too
This article is several months old, but I think it's a great model program.
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/need-doctor-anti-poverty-program-will-get-you-lawyer-too-n267446
One contradiction in the system that I see is poor patients particularly need documentation of their situation from doctors so they can prove their eligibility and apply for services. However, doctors who serve poor patients are a) usually triple-booked and don't document much, and b) tend to be helicoptering in from privileged backgrounds to give judgmental lifestyle speeches, so they are slow on the draw for diagnosing anything in the first place.
When there are poverty programs right on the premises there is an opportunity to educate the doctors about the *whole* life situation of their patients and the problems they have to deal with. In the past few months doctors or nurses have just blithely assumed I can buy or "save up" for the following:
1) Over the counter medications and vitamins.
2) Pill splitters
3) Blood pressure monitor
4) Good walking shoes
5) Home blood pressure monitor
6) YMCA pool membership
If I give any pushback about not having a direct cash income, the doctor will Authority'splain to me that I "need" what they want me to buy.
This situation is somewhat baffling to me since my clinic has a strong reputation for working with the impoverished segment of the community - it includes social workers, mental health specialists, and "community health workers". Yet it seems none of these people are giving presentations directly to the doctors. One doctor "explained" to me that I should include vitamins in my social services "budget". Huh? Did people on welfare get a "budget" back in the 60s or something?
I would like someone to explain to these people that my number one concern is stable housing: and if reducing stress would contribute to improving my health, then supporting me in that area would be just peachy. But even that is a vicious cycle: if my health was in the zone, I'd be able to work steadily and housing would no longer be an issue. So what I really need is some security about the medical system working with the social system, and not in ignorance of it (or worst - AGAINST it). If that were the case, I'd probably be haunting the doctor's office and the ER a lot less.
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