It was unintentional but appropriate that enrollment in the Affordable Care Act began the same month as Halloween. The problems in the law’s roll-out have been downright scary.
As I write, however, government officials and contractors are hard at work trying to fix those problems. They expect the repairs to be done by the end of November – right around Thanksgiving, and perhaps that timing is appropriate, too.
The health-care reform law has generated a great deal of controversy and caused great divisions among Americans, and this is understandable given the enormous impact the law will have on so many people. But, as the holiday season draws near, I suggest we go back to the very first Thanksgiving for guidance on how to deal with the profound change the law will inevitably bring.
Historians date the Thanksgiving celebration back to 1621. The Pilgrims had recently arrived from England, from where they had fled to avoid religious persecution. But the brave new world that these Pilgrims had anticipated turned out to be unwelcoming. They settled in an area that is now Massachusetts – an area with a harsh climate and native peoples who considered them a threat.
Many settlers wanted to return to England, figuring that even the undesirable conditions they had left were better than their new situation. But on that decisive day, Pilgrims decided to sit down with Native Americans and celebrate the new harvest together.
We should remember how our founding families faced adversity and strive to adopt the attitude they displayed. Almost three centuries later, we are going through upheavals of a different sort. The Affordable Care Act changed the political landscape, and it is not the only life-changing event of the recent past. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, we were forced to give up many conveniences and even freedoms in exchange for greater security. The economic crash of 2008 – from which we haven’t fully recovered – changed the economy forever, creating winners and losers.
How we face these and other challenges will say a lot about us as a people. I think it would benefit us all, in this holiday season, to do as our forefathers did – to take a break from the things that divide us and think about what unites us; to not worry about what we don’t have, but to take time to count our blessings and to focus on what we do have.
And we have plenty:
We can be thankful for having access to the best health care in the world. Right here in the Triangle, we have some of the greatest health-care facilities and most visionary leaders in the field. We know that, if someone is in a life-threatening situation, they have as good a chance of surviving in these parts than they do anywhere in the world.
We can be thankful that we have facilities throughout the Triangle that provide medical care even for those without ability to pay. At Piedmont Health, we are proud to say that our community health centers provide high-quality medical care to 40,000 people each year – 800 a day. Through efficient practices, as well as through our participation in the federal 340B program, we are able to fill 300,000 prescriptions each year. And we are not the only organization helping to fill this need; free clinics such as the Open Door Clinic of Urban Ministries also play a critical role in meeting the area’s health needs.
We can be thankful for programs that provide much-needed services for senior citizens, such as Piedmont Health SeniorCare, a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Our PACE program in Burlington next month will celebrate five years of providing individualized
plans of care to senior citizens from an interdisciplinary team of providers, allowing the participants to remain at home rather than moving to more expensive and less comfortable institutions. The program has grown substantially and is set to expand to a second facility in Pittsboro.
We at Piedmont Health are thankful that we have been able to serve 1,200 women in our prenatal care program who went on to deliver babies at local hospitals.
We at Piedmont Health are thankful that our Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is able to serve 5,800 people in Orange and Chatham counties, helping North Carolina’s newest citizens to stay healthy and have a chance at a healthy life.
We are thankful for the help and support we have received from health departments in Orange, Chatham and Alamance counties.
Last but not least, at Piedmont we’re thankful for the help and support we have received from elected officials – both Democrats and Republicans. Among the Members of Congress who visit our community health centers regularly are Sen. Kay Hagan and Sen. Richard Burr as well as Rep. David Price, Rep. Howard Coble and Rep. Renee Ellmers. State legislators who are among our regular guests include Sen. Rick Gunn, Sen. Mike Woodard, Sen. Valerie Foushee, Rep. Bert Jones, Rep. Dennis Riddell, Rep. Stephen Ross, Rep. Verla Insko and Rep. Debbie McManus.
Our founding families overcame the challenges of those early days and laid the foundation for the great country that America is today. If we, like them, face adversity with faith in one another and are thankful for what we have, we will overcome our challenges as well.