I have been working at an urban health center that serves the poor and underserved in Atlanta for 3 years now. In making this decision to work here, I desired to learn a lot about complex medical diseases and hopefully make a difference in showing my patients they deserved quality medical care, even if they couldn’t afford it. What I was not prepared for was a daily position of advocacy and really needing to “fight” for my patients to receive proper medical care.
Mr. Smith (name has been changed to protect patient privacy), is one such example. If there is one thing I accomplish at this current medical center, it is that this man gets the surgery he needs.
Mr. Smith, a 52 year old African American male, first came to me because he was having some hip pain. In our conversation I immediately noticed his sweet demeanor, kind smile, and quiet determination to continue to work through this pain he was experiencing. As I asked more questions, I found out that he was a janitor at a church for the last 25 years and the church did not provide him any health insurance. He didn’t mind though, because he really has been healthy and not needed any medical care. For 25 years he has been moving tables and chairs for church banquets, cleaning Sunday school rooms, and vacuuming the church floors. Throughout our visit he made it very clear that he wanted to figure out what was happening with his hips and return to work as soon as possible.
Well, this hip pain turned out to be a very serious condition called Avascular Necrosis, which is basically a deterioration of his hip bones that can only be fixed by getting hip replacement surgery. For the next 6 months, Mr. Smith’s hips rapidly worsened till finally he was unable to walk and came to his appointments in a wheelchair. He is now unable to work and his brother had to move from New York to help care for him, and I was unable to get him the surgery he needed since he did not have insurance.
We are now in the process of applying for disability, so that maybe he can get disability insurance and possibly get the surgery. Mr. Smith always is the one to remind me that he will return to work as soon as he gets this surgery.
As I watched him deteriorate every month, I found myself enraged with the injustice of the situation, even angry at the church for not helping this man who faithfully served the church for the last 25 years, and fighting for this man’s right to continue to work as a janitor (something that he loved). I call the head of the surgery department monthly to plead for the importance of the surgery, I fill out pages and pages of disability papers, and I strive to keep Mr. Smith’s hope alive that the surgery will happen. Now I know that this is not the church’s or medical institution’s fault—this is just a situation gone bad with no one person to blame.
As I was thinking about him this morning and thinking that a whole year has now gone by and he still has not gotten his surgery, I do not feel like a failure, I have tried, I have persisted and I have fought and will continue to fight for this man, and I know that he is thankful for someone fighting for him when he was unable.
I think we all have someone like this that we know in our life, someone that needs a voice, and needs someone to jump on their side and fight for something with them. Maybe it is just for that person to not feel alone, or maybe it is for justice to prevail in their life. Who is this person in your life? What will you do today?
