On Friday, immediately
after the Scotland ride I managed to gracefully (not) fall down three steps in front
of the hotel. My left leg was under my right
leg and my left foot twisted in an unusual manner. This was on Friday and I limped along all
weekend with pain when I put weight on it.
 |
| Our Irish guide Tony Boyd never anticipated this job. |
Irish medical
system. With all of the discussion these
days in the US about Medicare For All and the Single Payer System, it will be
interesting to see how the Irish medical system works. Prior experience with the public health system
in Italy was very good.
Health care in
Ireland is two-tier; public and private sectors exist. The public health care system is governed by
the Health Act 2004 which established a new body to be responsible for
providing heath care and personal social services to everyone living in
Ireland. There is also a large private
healthcare market.
After looking
at the x-rays, the doctors in Mallow were pretty sure I needed surgery and they
scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in Cork at 7:30 the next morning.
No charge for this consultation, the two sets of x-rays or the special ankle
dressing which must have used 10 yards of tape. We had another letter of
recommendation.
So Danny, who
owns the taxi company which Kerri works for, picked us up at 6:00 to took us
and all of our luggage from Killarney to the University Hospital in Cork (80
km). Our 7:30 appointment time came and
went; they take patients in order of the severity of the injury, or that is
supposed to be the process. I finally
see "the Doctor" around 9:30.
But I quickly find out this is not just a doctor; this is "the Professor",
head of the orthopedic department at the university and everyone on the staff
bows to him. He doesn't look like my
doctors in the US. He's dressed in what looks
like a fancy Italian suit, complete with a complimentary shirt, tie and breast
pocket handkerchef. No stethescope for
this doctor; he has a leather brief case in his hand. After a cursory
examination he declares that I need surgery, but that timing is not
critical. They can do it today in Cork
or I can have it done in the US. We
discussed the pluses and minuses; we decided to have it done in the US. They converted the x-rays to a CD for me to take
to the US, gave me a walking boot, crutches and a letter for the US doctors. There are no charges for the consultation with
The Professor or the other services.
We're then sit
in the small waiting room of the emergency ward at Cork University Hospital,
Ireland with 5 pieces of luggage and no
place to stay, wondering how are we going to get from Cork to Dublin, change
our existing tickets on Aer Lingus from July 1 to tomorrow and schedule surgery
in Colorado in the next day or two. Now
I know how immigrants feel, although we have less concern about finances than most
of them. Another cab ride from Cork
hospital to Dublin airport is 260km. We’ve
probably spent $1,000 on three taxis in two days.. But we've got everything arranged
through Brenda 's brains and tenacity. We got to Dublin, spent the night in the
Raddison and I'm currently sitting in the American Airlines Admiral Club with a
free but poor gin & tonic. We have
an appointment with a highly recommended ankle surgeon at 2:30 tomorrow, Thursday
in Frisco, Co. - 6 days after the accident.
Life is sometimes strange and unexpected.
I've made a couple
of observations through this process.
The first is
how wonderful the Irish people are. Everyone
we had contact with; waiters, bartenders, taxi drivers were all Irish - intelligent,
articulate, thoughtful and kind. Their
names were Irish - Danny Sullivan and Thomas Murphy. For an example of thoughtfulness - remember the
taxi driver to Cork? He texted Brenda that evening to see how we were doing. I'm sure there are people from 3rd world
countries working in Ireland, but we never saw them; we saw the real Irishman and
they were a pleasure to meet.
The other
observation is from the wheelchair. Most
of us have no idea of what it means to be disabled. No one knows how helpless you can feel. On the other side we don't realize how society
is helping those who need help. For
instance, in the Dublin airport there is an organization OCS, Outsourced
Customer Service, who accompanies wheelchair bound through the boarding
process. If you're flying from Dublin to
the US this requires 2 security checks. Your OCS guide gets you through all of the
steps using their position to get you in front of the lines. I was first on the airplane...A similar
service at the Philadelphia airport is also by a contractor. Until you’re in a wheelchair yourself you don’t
realize how many disabled persons there are and also don’t realize the support
they get. But I hope not to have this learning
experience again.
The conflict
between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is known over here as “The
Troubles”. That may be a good name for
this trip,
I’m supposed to
be leading a bike ride in Ireland at the moment. I’ve turned over responsibility to friends Glenn
Guenterberg and Patrice Van Vleet, two experienced and competent bike tour
leaders. Of course I miss not being
there, but I’ve cycled Ireland 8 times and am glad that others are enjoying it
for the first time.
