America Felling it's People

First I have to say, when reading this blog/journal etc, its not about the grammar, or sentence structure, it’s about what I am writing about. So if anybody reads this try not to trip it.
In the line of work that I do, the work is intense, but much needed.
I just came back from a conference, that’s main focus is about research with giving dental access to people who are low to now income and HIV positive. I met some amazing compassionate, caring people (who I personal feel are way over worked).
I heard many stories. This research project is going on in 15 locations in the U.S. I strongly have to say, is so not enough!
The stories I hear made me so angry, sick and disgusted at this country, I am a shamed to say I was born in.
I heard stories of how people had to travel for miles (like 70 or more) to go and see a Dentist. That is if they were lucky to get in. Many places do not take Medical or other medical insurance for the poor. The ones who do, most of them are way over booked (like a 2yr wait!) or have stopped taking clients all together. I talked to this one sweet older woman; I think she was from North or South Carolina. She told me of how one couple she works with had to save up for months in order to have money for a hotel room and gas, to travel those long miles to have a large number of their teeth pulled (which the dentist did all in one day, dentist really don't like to do, because it is hard on the body, let alone if your immune system is compromised.)I heard many stories such as this one occurring all over the United States.
Another thing that has happed is what little dental clinics that our out there that work, not just with HIV clients but with all people who are low to no income, is that many of the clinics have closed, due to budget cuts to the poor. I heard this from People in New York, Miami the Carolinas, Texas, Philly, Boston, and San Francisco. And not every site was at this conference. In San Francisco, I think there is only 1 place that works with clients who have no insurance (One place in the whole entire city!)
Even when you have the medical insurance that is offered if you are low to no income, many if not most dentists will not take it. And the ones who do, good luck on getting a good/decent dentist to do your dental work. I have heard many a horror story about Western Dental. I even went there once because I had a tooth that was bothering me. It was one of my back bottom molars. They pulled it out when they did not need to. Because of that I had to have the top tooth pulled, because it was growing and had nothing to grind itself down on. So it was starting to bother the bottom gum where the first tooth use to be. My story is a very tame one.
Many times when you try to get seen by these dentists, at the very least you have to wait 3 hours to be seen. Not most of these visits that people make to the dentist are not for just a dental cleaning, that are for problems dealing with pain. Many people do not go to dentist, unless it is an extreme emergency. With the clients I see that come to our site, they have broken off teeth, rotten, due to drug use (meth mouth).gums: red swollen infected. I have had some people come in with there face swollen because of abscess, or other types of infections in the mouth, like the stuff you would expect to see in 3rd world counties. One guy, when I was finely able to get him in to see the dentist. I was told I got him in just in time, before the infection went to his brain, and killed him.
The thing is people don’t really think about dental stuff that much until something happens. Well if you have the privilege of having dental insurance you can go when ever you find the time, at the most you may wait an hour. People don’t think about how someone’s dental issue might be so painful they are unable to eat, or sleep. Now if you have health issues like HIV, where it is hard to keep weight on, or you need to have food in your stomach in order to take you meds, this is a big problem. And the stories I have just mentioned are not just random cases, I see and hear about a lot of them! And it is only going to get worse, due to the fact that they are taking what little dental coverage out of the city/gov medical insurance. I think this is only for adults, I am hoping it is still there for children. (Now the lack of support for our youth is another story).
Now if we are suppose to be such a big super power in the world, and have so much money, why is it our people who have low to no income, are living in what we would think of as a 3rd world country environment? I have wanted to write because I am so outraged; I needed a way to work it out. Also part of the reason I am writing this is in hopes that other people will read this and think about what is really going on. That people will go and see for themselves what is really going happening, not just believe all the stuff main stream media is putting out. To think for themselves instead of believing the lies, myths etc that are being put out in main stream media. I guess it might be my delusional hope for change. I would like to think that if people saw what people with low to no income go through, I would not be the only one feeling the way I do, that the wheels would be set in motion. At least this is what I hope.