Up & Coming Weekly

DECEMBER 2-8, 2009 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MARGARET DICKSON, State Representative and Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or call 919-733-5776 or email MARGARETD@NCLEG.NET Being Our Own Keepers by MARGARET DICKSON When our three precious jewels were infants, pediatricians advised parents to put little ones down to sleep on their tummies. The idea, as I understood it, was to keep them from choking in case some milk came back up, as it often does with young babies. Today's parents are advised to do exactly the opposite. Babies now are to be laid on their backs to protect them from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. There is even a handy slogan to remind parents — "Back to Sleep," and North Carolina has actually enacted a law requiring day care providers to lay young babies on their backs. I was reminded of this change in thinking when I heard about two recent changes in medical advice, both of which have caused much more controversy than did how infants should be laid down to sleep. First, there was a change in the recommended age at which women should begin having mammograms, quickly followed by a change in the age at which women should begin testing for cervical cancer. Both changes brought down a firestorm of criticism, much of it suggesting that the changes were the beginning of limiting such medical services, even of rationing them. The news has been full of emotional stories of women who would not have learned they were facing serious illnesses if they had not been tested outside the new recommendations. As if healthcare and healthcare reform is not already foremost in many people's minds, including mine, the firestorm got me thinking about who is responsible for our health. Several relatives in generations older than I faced health issues for themselves and their loved one, with great deference to the health care providers attending them. When we, their younger relatives, inquired what the doctor or the nurse said, they often did not know much because they had asked few questions. Again, things seem to be changing dramatically. Now, when we suspect we, or someone we love, may have a certain condition or when there is an actual diagnosis, we head straight for the computer to search for information about that condition. I suspect this drives some healthcare professionals crazy, since many people will not understand detailed and technical medical information they find and some of it may not be accurate. It is, however, the reality in this age of rapidly expanding information. It seems to me an attempt to take responsibility for our own healthcare decisions the way prior generations may not have done. As for healthcare reform, the huge and noisy elephant in the rotunda of the United State Capital, it is clearly a necessity. We spend more of our resources on healthcare than any other developed nation in the world, and costs are growing so quickly that few of us are going to be able to afford healthcare if we do not get a grip on its costs, and soon. That being said, if anyone really knew how to solve this, it would have been done before now, so the debate rages on. The answers are not clear, and Congress should continue working. If anyone has any doubts, though, about the need for healthcare reform, Ruth Sheehan tells this amazing tale in a recent edition of the News and Observer. Carl Forsyth is the co-principal of a charter school in Durham. The August evening before school opened, he was going over last minute school issues on the phone with a colleague as he stepped out his back door. So engrossed was Forsyth in the conversation that he did not notice the copperhead coiled on the walkway. His first clue was the explosive pain in his foot. When he saw the snake he called 911 and was taken to Duke University Medical Center, where his foot swelled to unrecognizable proportions and the swelling continued up his leg. Sheehan quotes Forsyth. " When it got to my knee, the doctor asked if I wanted to try antivenom. They told me it was going to be expensive." Nothing else had worked and Forsyth was hardly interested in debating the issue, so he agreed. Six weeks after his 24 hour visit the Duke Emergency Room, Forsyth was walking unassisted again and had a bill for a stunning $79,000! Forsyth, not to mention Duke University Medical Center, is fortunate that he has health insurance which covered most of the cost, even though the lurking copperhead did set him back several thousand dollars in uncovered costs. In the greater scheme of things, that must feel like a bargain. I shudder at what the same experience would have been for a young person just starting out in life, like my three precious jewels, or a person looking toward retirement who is under-insured or uninsured. A bill for $79,000 would be life changing and not for the good. This is why we cannot wait much longer for healthcare reform. FAYETTEVILLE 1 - 866 - 942 - 7762 www.plannedparenthood.org/centralnc PLANNED PARENTHOOD Plannin is Powe " Birth control gives me the power to plan my future. " FAYETTEVILLE 1 - 866 - 942 - 7762 www.plannedparenthood.org/centralnc PLANNED PARENTHOOD Planning is Power. 4551 Yadkin Rd.

• Cover