"Health Care in America" 4/4/1997

Here I am again. Doing yet another involuntary sociological study.

  I'm at Health Care for the Homeless in Baltimore City (hch). It isn't as packed as I would have expected. The man who checked me in was cordial, but not particularly bright. Which is not all that unusual in my experience.

I told him he had spelled both my first and last name wrong on the intake form. He didn't correct it. He said that I shouldn't worry because he'll enter it correctly when he puts it in the computer.

By the time my form made it to the nurse, she copied my name (still spelled incorrectly) onto yet another form. She was very high strung and looked anorexic. She couldn't get the sterile cover onto the thermometer and tried 3x! She threw it down and said: "I GIVE UP!" I told her that:

I'D be patient with HER! She finally got the thermometer in my mouth and then didn't wait for it to register. Started to pull it out when it was still only 95 degrees. I pointed to show her that it wasn't ready.

She put me back out in the waiting room with the other patients. They smelled strong of cigarettes and were sneezing. Anyhow-the homeless who present  here are primarily men.  Where are the female homeless?

Author's Note

My journal entry didn't describe anything beyond those initial experiences when I first arrived. But I feel it's pretty powerful anyway!