When we hear the word “infrastructure,” most of us think of highways, bridges, airports, water mains….the physical apparatus built and paid for with tax dollars. And that’s accurate–so far as it goes. But most of us fail to recognize both the extent of the “public goods” we support and how essential they are to private enterprise.
In a recent issue of PA Times, the publication of the American Society for Public Administration (yes, I am a nerd), a contributor forcefully made the point that citizens are generally uninformed about the public goods they enjoy, and especially oblivious about how dependent they are on those goods. This expansive infrastructure is the “ecosystem” that supports commerce and business activity as well as our quality of life.
Elements of that ecosystem include clean air, clean public water supplies, street lights, food and drug safety, 911 services, police and fire protection, sewers and wastewater treatment facilities, interstate highways, education, national defense, a currency system, weather forecasting, disaster relief, registration systems for property, births and deaths, libraries, basic research and development, jogging trails, public parks, insurance of bank deposits, air traffic control, airports….the list goes on and on.
There is another “infrastructure” that makes civilization possible–the intellectual contributions of those who have gone before us. Today’s science and technology build on the discoveries of scientists long dead. We learn (okay, mostly we fail to learn) from the histories that have been recorded. We learn from research into the nature of our environments, both physical and social, and into experiments that have succeeded and failed. Etc.
I suppose it’s human to minimize the immense debt we owe to those who have provided the assets upon which even the most “self-made” build. But candidly, I find the preening “look at what I did all by myself” folks pretty insufferable.
And I find those who are unwilling to support that infrastructure, unwilling to “pay their dues,” immoral.
Remember that old bumper sticker that said something along the lines of “When they threw God out of the classroom, guns came in”?
Florida media report that police have broken up a stolen gun sales ring. it was operating out of Martin County, Florida’s Community Christian School.
“Investigators went to the school and following several interviews, determined that one student had burglarized a home on six different occasions and stole five weapons from a safe.”
Money quote: The school is “praying for families who have been affected by this.”
I guess we should all be grateful the students involved weren’t left to the corrupting secular values of a public school classroom.
We are home after what was mostly a great vacation. The hospital in Nottingham released Bob in time for us to make our original flights, and the medication they gave him seems to be working, so all good news. Many thanks to those of you who expressed concern.
Still a bit jet-lagged, but by tomorrow our regular routine–and regular blogging–will recommence.
We had our first (only) encounter with Britain’s National Health Service yesterday.
Bob’s cough kept getting worse, despite the cough medicines and lozenges, and our granddaughter and her partner suggested we take him to one of the NHS’ Walk-In facilities. There were two nearby (we walked from our hotel).
When we got there, we took a number from a dispenser and sat in the waiting room. The system was that the people at the desk would call a number, and you would then register, explain what was wrong, etc., and wait to be called back to be seen. Our number was called almost immediately; when we described the problem, the very nice woman behind the desk put a monitor on Bob’s finger, pronounced his oxygen levels low, and said she was putting him at the “head of the queue.” (She also said that she very much regretted that she would have to charge us for service since we weren’t British. The cost was fifty pounds.)
Bob was called back within ten minutes to see a nurse practitioner. She took a history, examined him, and called an ambulance to take him to Nottingham University’s hospital. She said she might be “over-reacting a bit–I hope so” but “better safe than sorry.” The ambulance drivers were there almost immediately, and I went with him in the ambulance while our granddaughter and her partner drove separately. I can’t say enough about how efficient and caring the EMTs in the ambulance were. They were also very proud of the vehicle itself, which they explained was new, and certainly looked well-equipped to my untrained eye.
We were taken to emergency (they call it A and E, for Accident and Emergency). Again, we were impressed with the efficiency of the process; first, an evaluation and a number of lab tests, then further tests based upon the initial results. Throughout the (very long) day, personnel kept us informed of where we were in the process, why they were doing what they were doing, etc.
The concern was that he was having a pulmonary embolism. Thankfully, the scans ruled that out; however, what we thought was a bad cold (and what the ship’s doctor had shrugged off as a cold or allergy) turned out to be a heart problem that has evidently been developing for some time and had not been detected by his cardiologist on his visit a week before our trip. The doctor explained that his symptoms were the result of fluid accumulation–probably the result of unusual activity on the trip. He was admitted for a short stay so that they can eliminate the additional fluid and he can safely fly home. (Only then were we asked whether we had insurance; a nurse took our information and nothing more was said about payment.)
To say that we had a stressful day would be an understatement. I extended our hotel booking in Nottingham and my son managed to change our flight home from tomorrow to Saturday (unfortunately, we lost those first-class seats we’d used our frequent-flyer miles to secure..). My granddaughter and her wonderful partner pretty much saved what sanity I managed to retain. So at this point at least, it looks to be an “all’s well that ends not so badly” situation.
When you live with an 80-year-old husband with heart problems, you see the inside of a lot of emergency rooms and hospitals. I don’t know whether my experience yesterday was representative, but I was very impressed with the efficiency and thoroughness with which Bob was treated. There were adequate numbers of personnel, and they were unfailingly pleasant and responsive. Our waits were for lab results. Doctors and nurses took time to ask questions and listen carefully…I really could not have asked for better or more reassuring care.
The systemic differences between my previous experiences at home and here really boiled down to two: 1) The clinic and hospital were both in old buildings and certainly didn’t have the physical amenities/decor of most American hospitals. They were clean and well-equipped, but not the sort of plush environments we generally encounter in the U.S. 2) At home, unless he was having a heart attack, treatment wouldn’t have commenced until payment had been arranged–I always check him in by providing insurance information, etc.
As academics like to say, anecdotes aren’t data. But my anecdote says lots of good things about the NHS.
Bob and I are in Nottingham, visiting with our granddaughter Sarah and her partner. It has been delightful–but would be better if Bob didn’t have an increasingly awful cold and hacking cough. We’ll do a first-hand exploration of the British health-care system this morning; flying home with an untreated upper respiratory infection probably isn’t the best idea.
I’ll try to report more on Nottingham tomorrow, but blogging may be spotty until we get back to Indy on Thursday. Meanwhile, I urge you to click through and read this essay from David Frum. As most of you know, Frum was a speechwriter for George W. Bush; since his service in that administration, however, he has been making a lot of sense, with the result that he’s been labeled a RINO by the ideologically extreme members of the GOP.
Frum is a thoughtful and genuine conservative voice, and he deserves to be heard. Whether the movement is too far gone and too rigid to listen is an open question.
