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Salud: To Your Health (blog by Stan)
In my daily walks through the city of Matanzas, I pass by lots of make-shift gyms where young people are pumping iron and doing aerobics. Kim and I have our make-shift gym as well, two yoga mats in our little apartment. We’re finishing up our 11th month here in Cuba, and for both of us, it has been the healthiest stretch we’ve had in many years (with only the very occasional water-born digestive challenges). Strike it up to the yoga, or the daily doses of coffee and fresh fruits, or the 2 to 3 miles a day we walk to get from here to there, or the flood of prayers from people back home; whatever the cause, we are glad to raise a toast to our buen salud and give thanks to God.
When you’re in a different culture, you can’t help comparing and contrasting the various aspects of daily life, and the general health and well being of our two country’s populations has been one of the comparisons that has most fascinated me. Here’s my observation (strictly non-scientific, with no polling data to count on): by many
indicators, Cuba has us beat hands down. For one thing, I have not heard people talk about any of the variety of mental illness epidemics that plague our teenagers and young adults. And the children seem healthier here. Kids play stickball and soccer in the streets, unsupervised, with no fear of stranger danger or gang violence or drug pushing. I suspect you can credit their capacity to play and create their own fun to the lack of technology; at least up to now they have managed to avoid the addictions to Facebook and texting and tweeting and Play Station and viral videos. In contrast, running around and playing outside seems healthier. So it drives me a bit crazy to read that one of the priorities our country is pushing for in the new diplomacy with Cuba is more internet access for the Cuban people.
The Revolution has instilled in people the notion that health care is a fundamental human right to which everyone should have equal access. Cubans can’t wrap their heads around the concept of health care as a privilege, not a right. It is unfathomable that some people get rich from other people’s misery, that
health care is an engine for generating profit. But, in one sense, the Cuban government has profited mightily from health care. The political and moral support they enjoy worldwide (such as in the annual U.N. votes condemning our blockade) has been earned in large part from Cuba’s generous sharing of its medical resources all around the world. Wherever there is a health crisis, be it an earthquake or flood or tsunami or an outbreak of the ebola virus, Cuba’s Henry Reeve Brigade of medical professionals is usually the first on the scene. Interestingly, this brigade, which is nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, is named for a young American doctor who came to Cuba to fight in their war of independence, and lost his life in that war. Even so, the U.S. is the only country in the world to have turned down assistance from the Henry Reeve Brigade, offered after hurricane Katrina. Some of our citizens do benefit from Cuba’s medical system, though; over 100 young people are now enrolled in the internationally known medical school in Havana, which trains physicians from all over the world. These U.S. citizens are recruited from the poorest inner-city communities of our
country, and they get a debt free medical degree in exchange for a commitment to return to their communities to serve. Feedback from the inner-city hospitals confirms that graduates of the program are well-prepared to practice medicine, with one exception; they don’t receive any training in gun shot wounds. They have to learn that on the job, back in the U.S. emergency rooms. My good friend Isis, a forensics doctor (the Quincy of Cuba) attests to that lack of experience here. She rarely gets a chance to run ballistics tests.
All is not hale and hearty here, though; by other indicators the U.S. beats Cuba hands down. The most visible example is water quality. Instead of pushing for internet access, I wish our country’s diplomats would be pushing for water treatment systems and good plumbing. Contrary to the myth, Cuban people are not altogether immune to the contaminated water they drink every day; many people suffer from water-born illnesses. A second example is elder care. To paraphrase an old movie title, Cuba is “no country for old people.” The “hogar de ancianos” (old folks home) is probably akin to the “county home” or “poorhouse” our nation offered the impoverished elderly before the New Deal. Not a pretty sight. One final observation: it seems ironic to me that a country dedicated to perfecting its society based on scientific expertise would base its diet on pork and sugar, with the predictable outcomes of rampant heart disease and diabetes. While Ché and Fidel had no trouble nationalizing all the big industrial farms after the Triumph of the Revolution, they failed to consult the scientific experts on how to convert the cane fields and hog farms into a utopian agricultural experiment designed to feed people a well-balanced, healthy diet. So let’s raise a glass and toast the possibility that our two cultures could learn something from each other: Cuba could teach our children how to play and our young people how to enjoy life and our adults how to value health care as a human right accessible to all, and we could give them good plumbing and assisted living centers and a good salad bar. Salud.
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Bro Jerry
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Anxious
I have really enjoyed your and Kim's Blogs, but I am really looking forward to hearing the many stories first hand next week. I am planning on coming to Dave's Wednesday and bringing you home Thursday. Is that correct? Can't wait. Love to you both, J