I was writing only yesterday about my small aches and gripes. Now I feel more than a bit ashamed for having brought such trivia up at all. The same day, I heard for the first time that my friend Jayme Odgers suffered a stroke last month, which has affected his ability to swallow, speak and work. This is a man who made a substantial reputation for his work in the field of graphic design, and who in recent years has turned his creative attention to painting. It is another sad reflection on our country's health care system--or rather its absence--that Jayme's stroke has landed him in the kind of devastating financial bind that all of us dread, because it could so easily befall us. There is a benefit Exhibition and Sale for him, scheduled to start this Saturday, February 19. It continues through next Saturday, February 26. I trust that those among my readers who are involved with art and artists will find it in their hearts to take an interest in his plight, spread the word, and if possible support the effort to help him last out until his supplemental insurance kicks in, a little later in the year. He should not have to bear with financial anxieties in addition to the physical affliction. Nor, indeed, should any of us. Please pass this on.
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3 comments:
Oh boy does that hit home. With only five weeks away from Medicare and Supplemental I have just incurred over 10K of ER visits and know that my tiny savings and SS will keep me in debt for the rest of my life.
Oh, no, that's just awful. I'm so sorry that you, too, have fallen victim to this dreadful failure of "the richest country in the history of the world" to provide for the most basic needs of its citizens.
Thanks Peter. The experience has been painful and transformational.
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