Big Insight in Little Rock About Our Broken Sickcare System

I arrived at my home in California last evening. The following describes some of what happened after terminating my cross-country 7k Marathon to support Jill Stein. We need Jill for so many reasons ...

Every time I visit my local VA medical clinic in Oakhurst, California or the VA medical center in Fresno, I have the same thought: why can’t our country provide this same great medical care for every American instead of the profit-on-sickness system we have? This is not just an idle thought - I’d produced two videos on our broken health care system* and, for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why Americans who pay more per capita than any other country on the planet didn’t demand one medical system, as do the citizens of the largest member countries in the OECD.

I didn’t get it, that is, until I arrived in the North Little Rock, Arkansas VA Medical Center, a few days ago, and asked to be directed to the ER. What happened in the next 15 minutes, gave me an insight into why Americans continue to accept the worst - and most expensive - medical care of the OECD’s 14 largest countries.

I was on a 7,500-mile road trip in search of millennial student debtors but was suffering severe physical pain last Friday as I drove across Arkansas. I looked for a VA hospital on Google and mistakenly chose Little Rock’s VA long-term care facility, not the main VA hospital. As I entered the building, I was told by a very sympathetic young woman gave me the bad news: the ER was in the main hospital on the other side of town. She quickly summoned a nurse and as we waited I told her about my search for student debtors. She told me she was a student debtor and enthusiastically agreed to take all the leaflets I had on my person to share with other debtors! The nurse arrived and immediately began to evaluate my distress. But, wait, I’ve gotten way ahead of myself.

Three weeks before, I had left my home in Mariposa, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains outside Yosemite, on a mission called the End Student Debt 7k Marathon. My mission: drive 7,500 miles, across the country and back, in support of Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party Presidential Candidate, to tell thousands of students on university campuses - and every millennial I met - that Jill Stein’s first act upon assuming the Presidency would be to cancel 42 million student debts, debts that should never have been incurred to begin with. And to point out that instead of making debt payments to banks, their dollars could be spent in our sagging economy which would give it a sorely needed boost.

So, I left home and proceeded to UC Merced in California, then UN in Reno, then UW-Laramie, followed by UN-Omaha, and so on, across the mid-west including a stop in Kent, Ohio, to talk to millennials and students at Kent State. In addition to driving lots of miles every day, arranging lodging, finding a student center on a strange campus, talking to students and handing out hundreds of leaflets for several hours, then returning to my motel to write a blog**, I still had to eat, sleep, etc. Well, you get it. It was a grueling schedule for a 40-year-old but I’m no longer 40. I celebrated my 80th birthday last January and don’t move quite as quickly as I used to.

The students I talked with were unanimous in their agreement that it was counter-productive to put their generation in hock to be educated, and for banks and the U.S. government to make money off them as they worked so hard for the future. They are the future - and burdening their entry into that future with a huge debt was stupid, short-sighted, dishonorable, greedy, venal - add your own adjective here. Most students know that the average graduate debtor graduates with a $35,000 debt. For many, it was an impossibly large stone to move aside to enter life and pursue their hopes and dreams .

I was thrilled by the eagerness of students to pass the word in their social networks and many asked for extra leaflets. I was especially moved by how many thanked me and shook my hand. It erased any doubts I had about the value of my mission. Imagine, an 80-year-old being listened to and constantly thanked by 20 and 30-somethings! After a while, my message became more pointed as I talked to more of these young Americans. I would finish by telling them, “It’s in your hands. There are enough of you millennials to flip this entire election. Ignore the ridiculous television hype - it’s a vulgar reality show - and focus on getting your fellow millennials to the polls. You have the power to change the world!”

So, getting back to the VA Hospital, what I didn’t mention earlier is that before taking off on September 17th, I was experiencing some pain in the lower part of my right rib cage. Annoying but not debilitating. Not then. The many hours of driving and the stress of the daily grind intensified the pain until, after 18 days on the road and my final campus visits to the University of Delaware in Newark and Gallaudet University in Washington, I finally had to admit that something very serious was happening. I stopped visiting campuses at that point and left Washington, intending to get back to California and my local VA Medical Center as soon as possible. I reduced my daily activities and drove fewer miles but the pain intensified and, finally, brought me to the North Little Rock VA.

And that’s when something very wonderful happened. As I was being evaluated by a very professional and caring nurse, another person appeared with a mobile unit to take my vital signs. Next, two policeman and one fireman! After that, a doctor showed up, and three others whose role I couldn’t identify but who seemed very concerned. Finally, 3 EMT’s came in with a stretcher on wheels to put me in their ambulance. A dozen professionals, all strangers, were literally surrounding me in answer to my call for help. I looked up from my chair at the concern they personified and had trouble holding back tears of gratitude.

I was transported in the ambulance to the main VA center where, in less than 3 hours, a half-dozen other strangers cared for me, drawing blood, giving an EKG, sending me to the x-ray studio where the technician had waited for me before leaving for the day. The attending nurse had me drink a very bad-tasting milkshake-like potion to coat my stomach and dull some of the pain. Finally, a very reassuring doctor delivered the diagnosis: I had a UTI, urinary tract infection, that could be treated with antibiotics. Thankfully, the blood tests revealed no signs of damage to my liver, pancreas, or gall bladder, all located in the area where the pain was sharpest.

The first antibiotic were administered immediately by IV. Within a very short time a new nurse appeared with a bottle of antibiotics to take with me to treat the infection and I was free to go. (The antibiotics cost $8 and were billed to my VA account.) I told the nurse, my car was on the other side of the city! No problem. She took me to a small office where a very pleasant man made a telephone call, then told me to go outside and sit on a bench and a taxi would soon appear. Five minutes later the taxi came and the driver had my name. Thirty minutes later I was driving my car into a motel parking lot in North Little Rock to spend the night before proceeding west. And, of course, as I checked into the motel, I told  he millennial desk clerk my student debt story. And, yes, he shook my hand!

So, here’s my take on why Americans continue to accept such low levels of medical care. They don’t know any better! They’ve never sat in the middle of a circle of a dozen medical angels in the North Little Rock VA - or in the Oakhurst or Fresno VA clinics - and been so grateful they could have cried. They simply have not experienced a great medical system and don’t believe that one exists, so they won’t demand that all Americans be included in one system.

Such a system is available. We call it Medicare-for-all but it could also be called VAcare-for-all. Yes, our veterans deserve special treatment … but so does every American! Wake up, America, and get mad. Tell those bought-and-paid-for-by-the-medical-industrial-complex Members of Congress to step aside. Then send a doctor to the White House - Dr. Jill Stein - one of America’s most outspoken advocates for one great health - not sickness - plan.

* In a Nutshell: Healthcare 1

https://youtu.be/LWqmzADbG8c

In a Nutshell: Healthcare 2

https://youtu.be/TqFprQYUYME

** enddebt7k.blogspot.com

Final Day of Campus Visits

I'm not one to easily call it quits but I'm experiencing some serious health challenges that need to be addressed and I need to return to California to do that. After 18 inspiring days of talking to students, I'll stop visiting university campuses, but will continue to share the good news among millennials in motels, cafes, wherever my journey West takes me.

The End Student Debt 7k Marathon reached many millennials personally in its first 18 days and the response of 99% of those we talked with was very exciting and inspiring. I truly believe Dr. Jill Stein will be President if millennials share the good news. They have the power, the energy … and the heart. God bless them, God bless Jill and Ajamu, and God bless America.

Days 11-14 - New York City and Newark, Delaware

Times Square, NY on a sunny afternoon.

The complicated logistics and energy output around our "attendance" at the first NON-debate required a couple days of catch-up to get us back on track and we had time to ride a tourist bus around the Big Apple for a couple of days. We continued leafletting and had an occasional extended conversation, once in the Port Authority Starbucks with an executive of Wells Fargo. This 40-or-so male glanced at our leaflet then delivered a total justification of everything the bank had ever done. It was refreshing to meet an honest banker! We learned that it was the millions of folks who lost their homes since 2008 that had devastated the economy not the bankers who had pressured millions to assume mortgages beyond their ability to pay and who had gambled with OPM (other people's money). When asked if he agreed that the Wells Fargo Bank president should go to jail, as Senator Elizabeth Warren had suggested, he said, no, the thousands of employees who had carried out the orders to create false bank accounts should go to jail. When I said, the economy would benefit greatly from student debtors being forgiven their debts and being free to spend their money in the economy instead of having bankers put it in their vaults, he had no response. See how much you learn when you hand out leaflets! P.S. He left without picking up the leaflet.

Today, we talked with hundreds of students at the University of Delaware-Newark. And for the second time since we started this journey, we were asked to stop leafletting and leave the building. It's always disappointing on a university campus, "a place of learning," to find the administration so opposed, so threatened by ideas, that they would stop an old man from trying to help students cancel their debts. Of course, like the Wells Fargo banker, their hands are not clean; they have a very clear interest in this matter of student debt.

Just before we left Newark, Delaware, we stopped in a Starbucks to use the Wi-Fi and gird ourselves for a drive through the rain to Washington, DC. As we were leaving, I talked with our last students, two young women, and they got so excited about Jill Stein canceling their debt that they offered to hand out leaflets. I gave them what I had on me and told them I had just passed the baton to them. They were now responsible for contacting the other 24,000 UofD students with the good news. They eagerly agreed!

Day 10 - New York - the 1st 2016 Presidential Non-Debate

Democracy in action at Hofstra University - First 2016 Presidential Debate - Dr. Jill Stein not invited

If you don't believe our democracy is in trouble, you weren't with the American citizens trying to express their free speech last night at Hofstra University on Long Island. They came to peacefully express their concern for $15 an hour, the climate, Black Lives Matter, LGBT rights, many other issues and, of course, to question why Dr. Jill Stein was not on the debate stage. We were herded by hundreds of men with guns into a small area, perhaps a half-mile from the debate hall. I'm guessing (I wasn't close enough to confirm this) the debate auditorium is one of those buildings on the far horizon in the photo above.

It was necessary to park at least 2 miles away and, after walking at least a mile, to be faced with this long, purposefully slow line to go through airport-type security screening with scanning machine, emptying pockets, etc. - all to make sure the people in the auditorium a half-mile away from the demonstration point were safe! 

If you had a backpack (to carry water, cell phone, etc.) you needed to throw it in the garbage or you couldn't enter. If you had a pet dog, no enter.  And, of course, dangerous selfie-sticks and e-cigarettes were verboten. There were many groups with senior citizens but they were not allowed to bring in coolers with water. Bathrooms were not provided at the demonstration point; you had to return to a purposefully distant point a half-mile back to access a porta-potty. No water was available on a warm New York night. And, when you finally left the demonstration point, dehydrated, you were not permitted to simply retrace your steps. Three more long blocks were added to return to your car.

Our hero, Jill Stein,  came to Hofstra earlier in the day and was escorted off campus by more men with guns. Instead of being arrested and shackled to a chair for 8 hours (as she had been 4 years earlier), Jill chose to speak on social media during the debate and this morning, on DemocracyNow.org, to answer the questions Trump and Clinton answered the night before. (See my youtube video: Jill Stein: Shackled!)

Day 9 - Danville, Pennsylvania

We’ve seen nothing but trees since we got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - no complaints after living through 6 years of California drought!

As we made our way through the trees, we remembered our stop earlier in the morning at Kent State University in Ohio and of the terrible events of May 4, 1970. We recalled that 4 students were killed and 9 injured when Ohio Army National Guard fired into a crowd of student protesters. The terrible events of that day added fuel to the growing national pressure to stop the pointless slaughter in Viet Nam and Cambodia.

It's time to free our students from more insanity.

Visiting Kent State the day before I will participate in a protest with Dr. Jill Stein at the first 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University was a strong reminder of why I’m on this 7,000-mile journey. Jill is being excluded from the debate stage, although she is on the ballot in every state but two, South Dakota and Oklahoma, just as students are being excluded from a strong, confident beginning to their lives upon graduation. Instead of their country standing behind them, we're picking their pockets!

I talked with Kent students for much of the morning about the injustice of putting a great burden of debt on their backs when they should be preparing to take leadership roles in our nation. It is a situation just as insane and counter-productive as was the killing and wounding of students in 1970!  America, wake up!

Making profits from student loans, including the U.S. government earning $50 billion annually on student loans and the average debt of 70% of our graduates at $35,000, doesn’t sit well on struggling students. These are difficult times but I’m always inspired by the goodness and strength and hope I feel when I talk with them. My hope is that this sleeping giant - 43 million student debtors - will awaken in time to flip the vote and rescue our country. 

Day 8 - Sandusky, Ohio

Our stop at the Grand Tetons reminded us of the grandeur of the U.S.

How does a man brought up in Cheektowaga, NY end up spending a night in Sandusky, OH, by way of the Grand Tetons? It’s a long, long story that we’ll save for another day, so let’s move on.

Today and tomorrow are slow days on campus for our End Student Debt 7k Marathon so we decided to do some driving to get in position for our New York City arrival and the first Presidential debate. We’ll make a stop at Penn State in University Park, PA on Sunday afternoon and try to catch a few students on our way to the Big Apple.

One pleasure I had today was to speak to the 4-member crew of a Subway off Interstate 80 in Indiana during a lull in business. These young millennials immediately got it and I heard the words of gratefulness I’ve come to expect. Our millennials are all waiting for that spark to ignite their hope and I keep being there to witness it do its work.

Tonight, at dinner in Sandusky restaurant, I spoke with our server, Courtney. A single Mom with 3 children, she drives her children to and from school twice a day, for a total of 4 hours driving, then does the night shift in a restaurant. She took our order and paused to listen to the reason for our marathon road trip. She became so enthusiastic I decided to give her some extra leaflets. As we were completing our meal, she came to tell us she had shared Jill’s good news with the entire staff of the busy restaurant. The spark keeps igniting hope!

Day 7 - Davenport, Iowa

Using corn to fuel our cars has clearly paid off for Iowa. There is corn everywhere! Fields are planted from the edge of the roads to as far as the eye can see … and beyond. While it is not the best use of food nor a good strategy to save our planet, it does point out in a very physical way how an idea can take hold and transform life. As I drove, I kept thinking of how Jill’s plan to make the U.S. 100% renewable by 2030 will create similar changes to our cities and countryside. We already see plenty of wind machines and solar dotting the landscape.

The enthusiastic reception of 99% of the millennials I talked to at the University of Nebraska at Omaha this morning about Jill Stein canceling their debt convinces me that if we were to flood every campus and cafe with volunteers to distribute our leaflets and tell the same story, we could reach those 43 million debtors. Many of the students asked for extra leaflets and promised to broadcast to their social networks.

I simply ask students if they know anyone with student debt. If they say yes, it’s an easy sell. If they say no, I point out that 70% of their classmates have student debt and the average graduate will leave school with a $35,000 debt. And, of course, I tell them that the first thing Dr. Jill Stein will do if she is elected on November 8 will be to cancel 43 million student debts in January. Then I point out that it is all, literally, in their hands and remind them that people under 35 have always led societies to real change. I tell them how important it is for them to put this word out in their social network and, especially, on the Internet. I came away from UN-O glowing from my interaction with these bright, optimistic, hopeful young people. I swear, I’m not going to talk to anyone over 35 anymore!

And then, the cherry on today’s cake. We checked into our hotel in Davenport and there were 2 women, both millennials, behind the counter. One asked me if I planned to visit two local campuses. When I said I had to be in New York to support Jill on Monday, she said she would distribute the leaflets! I immediately gave her 400 from my car and pointed out that more could be printed by downloading the leaflet from this blog. It is truly amazing how hungry Americans are for a real alternative to what is being forced down their throats!