Shot over to my local Rx to get the booster and hopefully final jab of my triad of COVID-19 vaccinations. She who wielded the needle was an ace with the hypo. Bela Lugosi himself couldn’t have delivered a more subtle nip.
While I waited out any allergic keel over, I went about finishing a sketch I had begun while awaiting my turn for the needle.
In came a gent in heavy garments suitable for a day 35 degrees cooler. As he bent to settle into the chair next to me he let rip a sonic boom from his intestinal bellows. Make yer self comfortable my brother. Fortunately, those heavy layers created a baffled terrarium that only allowed the aural signature of flatulence to escape. Unmasked he was quickly reminded to do so by the pharmacy staff. Up he got and to the window he went. “Miss?! Excuse me. Miss?”
“Please have a seat. We’ll be right with you.”
He returned and resettled only to get up within a few breaths to again glide to the counter and ask for attention.
This time a staff member engaged him and tried to get some pertinent info from him, in particular where he was currently residing. Info uncertain, he reseats himself. Rose to give a different address.
He is told his medication isn’t prepared, please be seated and we’ll call you when it is.
“How long will that be?” Told, he said he would wait outside and be back shortly.
Health professionals have to deal with a very wide range of needs and conditions. I want a system that can. And I neither want nor support a system incapable of meeting those in need irrespective of their circumstances or ability to pay. This, to me, is a hallmark of a ‘healthy’ society.
The resources necessary to develop and maintain a strong, highly capable system of research and healthcare should be a top priority of any society or country that proclaims itself to be advanced, caring, a champion of freedom, liberty, defenders of its citizens. I want the country of my birth, citizenship, that I live in, to provide care for a human being in medical or psychological need and to get that care regardless of their ability to pay for it. It’s called infrastructure. It creates cohesion. It is an important measure of our capability and greatness. I will be posting this on several FB sites. Some may remove it because it violates their notion of political statement. So be it. I will mention those sites that do, and why I feel that my statements constitute reportage in which image and text give fuller understanding of the dynamics observed and clarification of that perspective.
Drawn with a Faber-Castell Black Leather Essentio fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook.