Health care is such a chance event. Which is what is wrong with health care in this country. We have all heard the tales of abuses and neglect and bureaucracy and simple acts of dumbosity that have led to health care problems or disaster. But, as a friend of mine reminds me often, the randomness of a system must be measured by how often a result is randomly favorable. Yesterday was, for our family, one of those days.
I live near Boston and work in the city at a large University. My wife works for a big financial information corporation. My son goes to a small school just north of Cambridge. Both I and my wife were able to get our seasonal flu vaccines weeks ago. Sure, there were lines of employees for both of us, but with our insurance card and some patience, we were freely stuck in the arm for our little share of protection.
Not so my son. The schools in my neighborhood have not been running such mass immunization programs, even though they are likely to be hardest hit. At the public schools, worsening budgets have prevented/delayed the effort and in private schools, there is no health care at all except a call home to pick up your child (and don't come back until he is completely well!) Thus, most of these kids rely on public health care events or their pediatricians for such shots.
In our case, the pediatrician was way backed up with only a small drizzle of seasonal vaccine through the fall. He is a great Doctor and has a great practice -- focusing on public health as much as on the health of his own specific clients. Therefore, he decided he would set up shot clinics for clients and non-clients whenever he received a shipment of vaccine. I called the second week of September and was told that the next available seasonal flu clinic time for my eight year old was yesterday -- October 13. I was also told not to expect any swine flu vaccine until November. Kids are incubators and they are not hand washers. This delay worried me. Not a lot, but enough that it was a recurring worry, not just a one-timer.
While we were waiting, some of the people around us -- friends and neighbors -- started getting something like the flu. Maybe it was, maybe not, but no Doctor had the time to tell. "Stay home and don't go back to work/school until you were completely well!" You Know.... But my wife and I stayed healthy and our son dodged the increasing bullets of ill health (in the form of little munchkins) at his school.
October 13 arrives and off we go to the doctor's office/clinic. We arrived early, already behind fifteen other kids. By the flu shot clinic starting time there were at least 50 children in a small little waiting room with their parent/s. It was an amazing scene. Very clearly some of the kids did not have a lot of money or advantages. At least four languages were being spoken. One Haitian mother with two kids balanced on her lap, each wearing misfitting and patched clothes, was reading from a French language bible. Meanwhile, next to her, another mother with a Prada bag was furiously thumb typing on her Palm. The second mother's kids were playing tag between the other folks in the room.... And so on. If anyone was sick, I thought, we are all gonna be at home "until we are completely better!"
Finally, after much organizational confusion and delay, name called, we see the Doctor. Not actually our pediatrician, but a young woman who just joined the practice. "So," she asked my son, "do you want both the seasonal and the swine flu vaccine?" "Huh?" I cleverly said, "This was only supposed to be for the seasonal -- when did you get the H1N1?" "Today, it came in this morning."
Random act in my favor proving the existance of teh randomness of the system.
Choices! "Do you want two shots? Or do you want one shot and the nasal spray for the other?" Doctor M. asked my son. He was ready for this one -- "I heard that the nose-all is more effective, I'll take that." "Which arm?" "Left." jab. squirt squirt. "Which color lollipop?" And we were out of there in four minutes, as my son said, "Fully pig protected."
The point of this story is at least three-fold. At least in some places, H1N1 vaccine is now available. The very randomness of our system increases anxieties where none need exist. Enjoy moments of favorable randomness.
Oh, and I guess I should say, make sure your kids are immunized or else they and you will have to "stay at home until you are completely better!" a lot this winter.