WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' HEALTHCARE!At free clinic, scenes from the Third WorldDoctors and dentists volunteering their services at the Forum see scenes like those in impoverished areas overseas.
By Steve Lopez
"Do you want to see the tooth?" Dr. Mehrdad Makhani asked me Friday morning at the free clinic being staged inside Inglewood's Fabulous Forum. "Come. I'll show you."
Jenny McLean, 36, opened her mouth and Makhani aimed a little flashlight in there.
"You see here?" he said.
The area around a back tooth was red and swollen, and McLean's eyes were teary with discomfort. She'd endured the pain for more than a year because she's had neither insurance nor the money for a dentist since losing her job as a social worker.
It was a story repeated hundreds of times last week at the Forum, where a nonprofit called Remote Area Medical had brought in volunteers to treat legions of the uninsured.
"Here, look at this," said Makhani, pointing to a second tooth that would have to be extracted and yet another that needed a root canal.
Makhani pointed me to another dentist. "Talk to him. He's worked in Brazil."
That would be Joseph Chamberlain, a Westwood dentist who said he's done charity work in Brazil, but not in conditions like this.
............
1 comment:
It is just beyond sickening. Between what we as a family go through daily to hang on to our private insurance, which is breaking us, and what I see, hear and have to try and fix at my job with the countless calls of folks looking for help, it's enough to make you want to pull all of your hair out.
Best medical care in the world...my ass. Only to the elite and rich.
Post a Comment