Healthcare and Literacy: Are They Basics?

   
Healthcare and Literacy Are Basics But…

Not everyone in the United States has access to healthcare or is literate.

Most of us are more fortunate and blessed than we realize… We read and watch about the tragedies that others go through and do our best to be of help, be it through donations, volunteering or other various kind acts.

However, sometimes it is only when you are placed face-to-face with the predicaments others face that you truly realize how lucky you are and how you may have taken for granted the opportunities that you have been given.

To illustrate, this past week at the women’s health clinic where I am working as a social worker intern three days a week, I had the opportunity to meet with a young twenty-one year old mother who speaks only Spanish and is illiterate in her own native tongue. Not knowing Spanish myself, I used a translation service to help me converse with her.

When I first realized that she was illiterate, I found it hard to believe. It’s one thing to read about illiteracy. It’s quite another thing to meet someone who is illiterate. I felt so very sad inside. I don’t know how she manages here in the United States.

It’s one thing to live this way in another country that is agricultural-based or craft-based but it is very different living in our country that is so-knowledge based. We live in such a well-to-do society. We really shouldn’t have a situation in which there are people growing up illiterate…

Another example is a young 20 year old married woman who is pregnant with her first child and happens to be diabetic. While she is working, she is employed in an industry that does not provide healthcare benefits.

This means that she is not able to take her required medication to keep her blood sugar under control. This is putting both her and her unborn child’s health at risk. Thankfully, as soon as she finishes the necessary paperwork, there is a special Medicaid program available that will provide her with the necessary healthcare coverage and medication. However, it is just so sad that these situations have and do occur in such a well-to-do country as ours.

I am full of sadness for people in these situations… there is only so much one person can do as a social worker/intern. So much more needs to be done on a system-wide basis to really improve the situation of the underclass in America.

While we all have our “bag of troubles,” those of us who are blessed with having received an education have opportunities that the illiterate would never even be able to contemplate and those of us who are fortunate enough to have insurance through our employment and/or spouses have a safety net that ensures us a healthier life.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you thought before on how lucky you were to be literate and/or have access to healthcare?

Photo credit: Mckay Savage