In the book, One Nation, Underprivileged Rank indicates that families wave their way in and out of poverty depending on the occurrence or non-occurrence of detrimental events (e.g., job loss, family disruption, or ill health). In December of 2007 and January of 2008, I suffered one silent and a second violent heart attacks totally incapacitating me to the point of a quadruple by-pass and reconstruction of my left ventricle. Recovery was a long and painful journey only made possible by outstanding medical care, good health insurance, and a strong social support network. The bill was over $367,000.00, on which, I am still making payments on the costs not covered. Fortunately, I had a good job with a sufficient disability pension. Adjustments had to be made to the family budget but we were never in jeopardy of losing our home to foreclosure or having to skip meals to pay bills.
Over the week-end I took ill to the point of forcing myself to go to the emergency room of a hospital to seek help. Because of fears of infections and their possible devastating negative effects on my health personally, medications were prescribed. My out of pocket costs, after an insurance deduction, was $60.00. If there had been a lack of coverage, the medications purchased would have been over $450.00. I do not incur costs for emergency room visits.
It is easy to see the negative effects or inability to afford to seek competent health care for those living on the edge or in poverty. Simple illness requiring after-care is out if reach for many. The poor are forced to use hospital emergency rooms as "free clinics" because hospitals are required by law in Illinois to provide the minimum necessary care to those who do not have insurance. The incident that inspired the law was a boy suffered multiple gun shot wounds and was "dumped" in the drive way of a hospital emergency room that was not a trauma center. The E.R. personnel summoned an ambulance from the Chicago Fire Department to transport this individual to Cook County Hospital for treatment. The summoning hospital staff did not even provide the minimum of "care", like they really did, to sustain life. The man died of his wounds prior to the arrival of the ambulance.
What of the poor? What of the aged? Is this the way a civilized society shows the proper treatment of it's members? Is this the way the most powerful nation on the face of the Earth wants to be seen in the International community? the United States has no room to sanction other nations for "Human Rights" violations until they rectify what is happening to their own. The central question that keeps surfacing in this class, "What is the obligation of government to care for the needs of its citizens? If an obligation, to what extent?"
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Day Two Out to Dinner
In my GES - 346 class, Global Chicago, Dr. Grammenos, along with his wife and daughter, had us meet at an Eastern Indian restaurant named the Indian Village located at 2546 W. Devon Av. We were instructed to observe the ethnic majorities on our way to the eatery. I was not only observing activity outside the restaurant but sine reading Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Making It In America I was cognizant of activity inside the restaurant. The food was exotic tasting, since I had never tasted that cuisine before. The conversations were interesting and enjoyable. I was struck initially by the ease of obtaining food in an urban center if one possesses the money to pay for it. Second, the servers all used small wheeled carts to transport the dinners to the tables and bus the dirty dishes to the table. I ensured that I added extra money to the tip to bring the total tip to 25% of the bill. I wondered about the pay scale for employees on the drive home. I did not interview the manager but I will at our next dinner location, Ethiopian Cuisine in Uptown!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Day One Interview of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theiss
Today I had the honor and privilege to sit in the Courtroom
of the Supreme Court of Illinois located at 160 N. La Salle,Chicago,IL and
hear the views of Justice Mary Jane Theiss. The main courtroom is located in
Springfield,Illinois. A working courtroom is also located in Chicago, Cook,
Illinois. The Cook County (Illinois)
Criminal Justice System is the nation's largest unified court system. Each year
it processes and admits more than 100,000 people to the Cook County Department
of Corrections (CCDOC). One may question the relevance of a Supreme Court
Justice to the issue of the Hungry & Homeless. Rank charges us to see these
people in OUR daily lives. How does a Supreme Court Justice from a very
isolated community view the Hungry & Homeless. When asked for a definition
of justice, Theiss sought to answer in the ethical sense and stated that people
who work with her call her by her name - Justice! This was a statement grounded
in humility rather than arrogance. Theiss offered that the law must be decided
in a state of justice- that state being that righteousness and mercy
are commingled. A knowledge of the persons that these decisions are to
affect are not of strictly the elite in their business contracts. A working
knowledge of all persons is needed. That knowledge does not come from residing
in Barrington, IL, going to work, and driving back to the same location and
socializing with the same people or people like them. They must know people in
a multicultural setting and through our personal life cycle. She has been a
Public Defender, Circuit Court Judge, Appellate Court Judge, and now
sits on the Supreme Court. The strongest message that has been communicated to
her is that people want and deserve a chance to be heard. It reminds me that I
must listen to people and hear what they are saying, not only people that I
agree with but especially those that I don't! Those that make my blood boil by
their very message. She instructed us that we must investigate what people are
running for judicial office and not strictly choose along party lines or the
ethnicity of their last names. She is running for office this year. She deserves
our vote simply because she wears her name very well- Justice.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Poverty's Face: Effects of Great Recession make it harder for kids to succeed
Poverty's Face: Effects of Great Recession make it harder for kids to succeed
Published: Monday, August 01, 2011, 5:00 AM
Children who start their lives malnourished, without health care and emotionally stressed from their parents’ homelessness, poverty and unemployment face huge challenges in succeeding in school and life. A new report (PDF) from the Children’s Defense Fund says that America’s children fared especially badly during the Great Recession, creating roadblocks to success.
Child poverty increased by almost 10 percent between 2008 and 2009 — the largest one-year increase since 1960, according to the State of America’s Children 2011. The report is stuffed with hundreds of distressing statistics that paint a grim picture of how conditions for America’s children have declined.
A total of 15.5 million children in America — one in five — lived in poverty in 2009, the report says. Almost half of all poor children lived in extreme poverty, in families struggling on annual incomes of less than half the poverty level, which is an annual income of $22,050 for a family of four. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of households is at its lowest level in a decade.
Although the number of uninsured children is the lowest in 20 years, one in 10 children still does not have health insurance, the report says. In 43 states and the District of Columbia, more than one in 10 households does not have access to enough food. The number of children receiving food stamps in 2009 reached a record high of 15.6 million. Since the recession began in late 2007, participation in the federal free or reduced-price school lunch program increased by 1.2 million children.
The report also highlights racial disparity; children of color are behind on nearly every measure. Babies of black mothers are almost twice as likely as babies of white mothers to be born at low birthweight. While one in 10 white children lives in poverty, one in three black children do. Black and Hispanic children are significantly more likely than white children to be overweight or obese.
In 20ll, the share of federal funding for children dropped by nearly 10 percent. Food aid and other safety-net programs are at risk in current budget negotiations. As the economy limps along, many families will need help from state and federal programs.
Too many children start life with the cards stacked against them. Poverty, homelessness and hunger threaten not only their health as children, but their potential to grow into educated, successful adults. For the country to succeed, we must invest in our children.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Original Wall Treatments
Take a good look at the wallpaper on this blog site. Lose your job because of downsizing, outsourcing, or technological improvements and your home is no longer yours. You wander to the nearest viaduct for shelter. The wall covering is an original, designed by a local tagger or gangbanger. I live and sleep in a constant state of fear, "siege mentality." Does it turn me into a ticking "time bomb?"
Reaction to homeless students
I was shocked and frightened by two elements of this article:
1) How easily this could happen to us or our loved ones!
2) How these children live in fear that this could be a permanent situation!
The first element we have no control over. It is true that we are just one tragic event away from being homeless. The second echoes of "no hope." I have heard fear characterized by the description as being " that little dark room where negatives are developed." It is our responsibility to provide the way back to the light!
1) How easily this could happen to us or our loved ones!
2) How these children live in fear that this could be a permanent situation!
The first element we have no control over. It is true that we are just one tragic event away from being homeless. The second echoes of "no hope." I have heard fear characterized by the description as being " that little dark room where negatives are developed." It is our responsibility to provide the way back to the light!
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