More from The Awase Era!
There are so many good times, some sad times,
a few angry times and a lot of fun and
funny times during The Awase Period.
A lot of the fun and funny came from the
job! I was a night shift supervisor (NCOIC)
of the after hours facility which we called
an Emergency Room. I say that, in a way,
tongue-in-cheek because we were anything
BUT a true emergency room. Remember, this
was in 1973! *grin*
Well, a Buck Sergeant back in 1973 had about
as much "pull" as the cafeteria monitor at
your local "Pay 'n' Pack." You've been to
one of those, haven't ya?? You go and pay
a little too much for the privilege of
grabbing a tray, a fork, a couple of napkins
and piling on as much chow as you can? You
"pack" till ya puke - or at least fear that
you will before getting to the sidewalk
outside. Have you ever noticed that many
of these places don't offer milk at the
trough? You can have all the watered down
lemonaid, orange drink, cola, tea or coffee
that you can drink, but NO MILK! Guess they'd
have to add another buck to the cost of
grazing.
They offer a senior citizen
discount too!! Now that's just plain silly!!
How many seniors can there possibly be?
If they've been feeding for a few years at
the "Scarf an' Barf" then they'd never LIVE
to be a senior citizen!! But it's a great
public relations thing!
The guy who's at
the end of the buffet line is always a high
schooler with bad acne and a smile that you
know damned well is on his face because his
boss has threatened him... "if ya ain't
smilin', they won't like ya!! If they don't
like ya, they won't take any of this lousy
ham and steamship round! And if they don't
take that they won't be back!! And if they
don't come back, we don't make any money!
And if we don't make any money your ass is
grassed!!"
So he smiles and a little
dribble drips down from one of those really
big juicy zits! Makes ya wonder.... is that
sweat? Did the steamship round squirt when
he cut.... oh, never mind!!! *sigh*
Anyway, the cafeteria monitor can be a very
powerful and influential person.... after
regular hours, when the bosses have gone
home to their cool ones and their remote
controls. Well, this "monitor" was "in
charge" of the whole danged clinic after
1600 hours - that's 4:00 p.m. to us civilians
! *chuckle* So... here we are - a three
man crew. I had two technicians, a couple
of ambulances, a whole buncha telephones
and even more loose-leaf binders which had
sheets of paper replete with instructions
on how to make every little thing work in a
big clinic after the neon sign comes on for
the night. Oh!! And I had a doc. Remember.
... 1973. Didn't matter what kind of doc
(s)he was, if there was MD after the name
then the name went on the "MOD" roster.
The MOD - Medical Officer of the Day.
The MOD is the person who is responsible for
everything and everyone who happened into
the clinic during his tour of duty. Didn't
matter if he was a radiologist (most
don't deny that taking care of real, sick
people frightens 'em! Especially kids!
So... we used to have generations of people who thought that the medical care facility OWED them good health and that no dollar would be spared to make them Herculean! Don't pay any attention to the fact that you smoke a pack and a half daily and that you're 15 pounds over-weight!
Thank God, the Air Force (and I believe the sister services too) has finally seen the light!! The QUANTITY of care isn't nearly as important as it used to be. Emphasis is now more on QUALITY and responsible use of our resources!! What's that mean now-days? It means that every teen who has acne is NOT ENTITLED to be "healed" by a dermatologist! You can't believe, and I can't remember, how many times in my 28 years in military medicine that I've heard demands that a dermatologist be consulted for plain ol' garden variety zits! Dermatologists can't cure it either!!! Yet, it wasn't uncommon for a parent to want specialty care when their kid's pimples were still there after 2 weeks of doing what "that plain ol' doctor" suggested! And we're not paying for that kind of "demand satisfaction" anymore!! Hallelujah!
Instead, we are spending our dwindling bucks more intelligently and we're doing more for our clients!! We're trying to encourage wellness and prevention instead of intervention after they've already had their heart attack or destroyed their bodies with poor lifestyles!
Well, this isn't about today, is it? This story is about 1973. Fix 'em! Make 'em happy! Get outta bed whenever they demand! Heal!!!
How did I fit into the picture? I wasn't a clinician then... I was a medic. A corpsman. A schmoe! *chuckle*
Most of the docs didn't wanna get up at 4 for a guy with a cold, so what'd they do? They invented technicians who were allowed to look at patients, assess the simple stuff and give them harmless (for the most part) medications - nothing they couldn't have bought in the store... but, Heaven forbid that a military member should have to take his wallet out!! The tax-payer is charged by law to pay his way! Why were we schmoes? Because we stuck our necks out (to say nothing of jeopardizing the outcome of someone who was sicker than we medics were able to recognize!) I think back on those days now and it simply frightens me! *shudder*
There I go again... HehHehHeh... okay! I'll behave!
That mentality has almost gone away!! *sigh* and that is a breath of fresh air! Now-days, the people whom I encounter are better educated, sharper than 20 years ago and are more realistic in their expectations and are generally a LOT more informed and responsible for their health. I think we can thank the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and countless other Public Service initiatives which teach the younger generations of Americans some of the things they need to know to live healthier lives! Now THAT's where the tax-payer is getting his money's worth!!