Free Health Care
October 29th 2009 08:57
For several years now, a friend of mine called John Arnold (he's actually a doctor, but we don't let that come between us) and I have been getting together about once a week to chew the fat.
We started out on this journey when I was still working at the bookshop, and could take time off in the morning for an hour-long tea-break. John and I used to meet in a cafe out in South Dunedin (where his medical practice is) and at first the purpose was for me to take him through a discipleship course. He'd not long become a Christian.
After we'd got through the course, we decided to keep meeting, since we enjoyed each other's company. We eventually moved from the South Dunedin cafe to one in town; I can't quite remember why that came about, but John was able to scoot into the city and we met at a cafe/restaurant across the road from the shop when it was in Stuart St.
And then most recently, since I got a job with the Presbyterians and haven't had quite such flexible hours as I had at the shop, we've been getting together for lunch at the Orange Cafe, which is handy for me - though not quite so much for John.
Anyway, all of this is a lead-up to the fact that John's face appears on the front of the weekly freebie paper this week, with a report about how his Health Centre is going to open before the end of the year...all things being equal. The nice thing about the Servants Health Centre's location is that it's within spitting distance of where I work, and not being ones for going out for a night on the tiles, it's likely we'll continue to meet for lunch - as long as the new arrangements don't preclude it.
Not that I'll be going to see John as my doctor; the aim of the clinic is that people who can't afford health care will be able to go there for free. Yup, I said the word, 'free.'
John's been concerned for some time that there are people in the city who can't get the health care they need because it's out of reach of their minimal incomes, and so, along with some other like-minded people, he's been conceiving this idea of a free health centre. I've been party to the ups and downs and woes and joys of this process, and it's exciting to see it finally coming to fruition.
Now pretty much all he's waiting on is some bureaucratic paper-stamping and he'll be off.
We started out on this journey when I was still working at the bookshop, and could take time off in the morning for an hour-long tea-break. John and I used to meet in a cafe out in South Dunedin (where his medical practice is) and at first the purpose was for me to take him through a discipleship course. He'd not long become a Christian.
After we'd got through the course, we decided to keep meeting, since we enjoyed each other's company. We eventually moved from the South Dunedin cafe to one in town; I can't quite remember why that came about, but John was able to scoot into the city and we met at a cafe/restaurant across the road from the shop when it was in Stuart St.
And then most recently, since I got a job with the Presbyterians and haven't had quite such flexible hours as I had at the shop, we've been getting together for lunch at the Orange Cafe, which is handy for me - though not quite so much for John.
Anyway, all of this is a lead-up to the fact that John's face appears on the front of the weekly freebie paper this week, with a report about how his Health Centre is going to open before the end of the year...all things being equal. The nice thing about the Servants Health Centre's location is that it's within spitting distance of where I work, and not being ones for going out for a night on the tiles, it's likely we'll continue to meet for lunch - as long as the new arrangements don't preclude it.
Not that I'll be going to see John as my doctor; the aim of the clinic is that people who can't afford health care will be able to go there for free. Yup, I said the word, 'free.'
John's been concerned for some time that there are people in the city who can't get the health care they need because it's out of reach of their minimal incomes, and so, along with some other like-minded people, he's been conceiving this idea of a free health centre. I've been party to the ups and downs and woes and joys of this process, and it's exciting to see it finally coming to fruition.
Now pretty much all he's waiting on is some bureaucratic paper-stamping and he'll be off.
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