The “Welfare grr…” thread brings to mind a book I read several years ago that was written by a doctor who gave up his private practice and moved to an inner-city clinic for a year or two. He details the lives of his patients, and talks a lot about how much a privilage it is to be brought up in a middle class home. The skills we take for granted are just not there in a lot of these lower-income, less privilaged people. Basic things, like taking pills to cure an illness, are difficult simply because the people have no confidence that the pills will help. I’d love to get a copy of the book, but for the life of me I can’t remember the title or author. Anyone read it? I’m pretty sure it was published between about 1994 and 1997.
Well, Athena, this doesn’t answer your question, but you reminded me of something with your mention of the pill-taking.
My charity runs a medical clinic in far Western Nepal. Very remote. Most of the people there are illiterate. When we have to give them a prescription, it does no good to write the dosage on the bag (no bottles available), so what we do is draw circles. One circle for once a day, two circles for twice a day, etc. When it’s something like 2 tablets twice a day, we just put them in separate bags and use the same system. They often still don’t take them right, for the same reasons you mentioned above.
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal
Sorry, Athena, no help here, either. I checked Amazon, but I couldn’t get the search specific enough and came up with over 25,000 books. I hope you get your answer, because it sounds like an interesting book, and I’d like to check it out, too.
I’d just like to add a personal experience I had. I once visited a young single mom who was having trouble coping with difficulties. (She had asked for help from a friend of mine and I was just there to support him.) It was the middle of the night and this poor girl was pouring her heart out to him – What should she do? How could she get past this?
I remember being struck by how difficult her situation was. I realized that if you put me in her place I would never be able to cope even if I still had all the advantages that I had and she didn’t. I was well-educated, healthy, employable – she was none of these things and yet she got by, somehow, day by day.
We took care of some immediate needs for her and I didn’t go back with him when he followed up so I don’t know how it came out in the long run. I only know that the advantages I had that I was aware of were only a very small part of the advantages I enjoyed.
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
Athena:
I don’t know if this is the book you’re thinking of, but it might be:
Surgeon! a year in the liffe of an inner city doctor
Richard Caleel
NY: St. Martins
1998
280 p.
OCLC: 17286701
My best guess so far. Hope it helps.
Veb