Day Three - Delayed because of Illness

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?"

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!

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.