Cavities and Rants
So glad I like my dentist….
Well, I had a small cavity filled today. I would love to know just how many mothers develop cavities in the first 6 months of their babies lives! Or maybe I am the only mother who doesn’t have time to floss and has an insatiable need to eat sweets post-partum….ok, so pre-natally too…. My dentist rocks though. Just found out that he and his wife were married in the same church as Chris and I and that I grew up near his wife. He has an office closer to us in South Austin, but I prefer to catch him in his Bee Caves office. It is so serene and the drive is beautiful! Who would think that going to the dentist would be relaxing?
Rant of the Day
What is causing this health care crisis? Free care provided to those who can’t afford it, malpractive suits, mismanaged hospitals? I know there are several reasons and it is a complex problem. I think one easy fix would be to offer free or really cheap preventative care. If people get their annual physicals it might help to curb all of the illness. This country seems to wait until problems are BIG and COSTLY to take action and even then the solution becomes highly politicized. Usually it is all about marketing in the end - which side can best market their idea to the public. What ever happened to being proactive? I think that we need to work harder to educate people and reinforce that education. In schools we teach health and then serve terrible food at lunch and offer horrible snack choices at lunch. Additionally, we offer people food stamps where for some categories, the are limited to the lowest quality items for their family. I know that they are lucky enough to get food stamps, but I would say allow them to buy a healthier orange juice and don’t pay for Oreos.
Huh, so I was checking the Texas WIC site to back up my previous statement - they may not pay for Oreos. I found that there is a Farmer’s Market program where people can get stamps to shop at Farmer’s Markets - I think that is awesome. So goverment wins one there….
So I guess I have to just poo-poo the schools and the companies that push that crap into the schools….
Beautiful Weather
Looks like Spring has come to Austin. We haven’t gotten to enjoy it fully with all of our illnesses and whatnot. I hope that all passes and that the Spring sticks around for a while…
Posted in Uncategorized | 
March 22nd, 2005 at 9:21 am
The only defense I can offer for the schools is they’re already having to decide which of the 3 R’s they can afford to promote, so if they can save or even make money on food, it helps for their core. It’s not a good tradeoff, but they’d get slammed either way. And of course there are many instances of just mismanagement of money, but this is still a serious financial decision for many places. This problem needs to be addressed, but in conjunction with a wider plan to improve the system (as you say about the rest of the health care issues).
March 23rd, 2005 at 10:01 am
I think your idea regarding preventative care is a good one, but unfortunately providing preventative care will only do so much for the working poor. We need much more than that to fix the health system and the health inequalities of this country. For example, giving a family with low-income preventative care will not override the fact they are working in some of the most dangerous jobs, living in the unhealthiest and most unsafe neighborhoods and homes, and deal with more stress on a daily basis than high-income people and families (long-term stress weakens immune system). All these factors contribute to poor and chronic health problems and honestly I don�t think this society wants to spend the resources to fix these problems. We live in a society where newborn black babies are much more likely to die than newborn white babies and most of that is an economics and access to quality of care issue.
March 25th, 2005 at 2:59 am
I’ll give an Amen to LLG.
And, I’ll just comment that food stamps and WIC are entirely separate services. For those unfamiliar… food stamps can be used for any food (as long as it’s unprepared)… so Oreos and frozen pizzas and fresh produce and bread and granola bars are all okay. But, prepared foods like deli sandwiches, deli fried chicken, and donuts from the bakery are not okay. (In Seattle, you can use food stamps at many of the farmers markets and public market stalls as well). WIC, on the other hand, is only for families. WIC allows only certain basic health staples at an affordable cost, like whole grain cereals, milk, beans, etc. Food banks also offer low income folks basic food “commodities” that the government buys at a cut rate and distributes to local food banks like rice, flour, peanut butter, beans, fruit, powered milk, etc. There are a plethora of these reactionary programs for hungry people living in poverty, but none address the underlying question of WHY people are poor.
And totally unrelated… I saw an editorial cartoon this week lamenting the health care crises, where the politician in question realizes the easy solution “guess we should subsidize fast food.” I honestly think that’s the hardest I’ve laughed all week!
Hope you’re well!