BLOG: Taking a healthcare message to Washington

On Tuesday, April 15, a group of patients, volunteers, medical personnel and philanthropists connected to Dr. Tom Kim's Free Medical Clinic of America boarded a charter bus, headed for Washington, D.C. The mission: Raise awareness about the need for affordable health care in the United States. 10News Reporter Brittany Bailey went along for the trip, blogging along the way.

Tuesday, April 15

9:30 p.m. Everyone is boarding the bus, dragging on bags, pillows, books and snacks. They're settling in for a long overnight trip to our nation's capital. I look around and wonder about their stories, what brought them to the free clinic, how Dr. Kim helped them. I wonder more what compelled them to take this trip, giving up 26 hours of their time to travel hundreds of miles away from home. I imagine each person would have a different answer. Perhaps by the end of the trip I'll learn a few of them.

10 p.m. Dr. Kim picks up the microphone to talk. I expected a welcome; what we got was a heartfelt thank-you with a clear desire and hope that the trip will effect some change. I learn the planning for this trip began last October, and six months later, it's finally happening. Dr. Kim says the mission is to "get up and do something." He adds, in his life, his career, "This is the moment." I think to myself, this is a man with a passion.

10:20 p.m. Randy Overbey stands up to talk about the mission of the trip, saying it is all about raising awareness for the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have access to affordable health care. The hope is that, in getting the word out, more volunteers will step up to open more health care clinics in the East Tennessee region and beyond. While he said the group did not plan to take a political stand or support any particular program, the group is expected to meet with representatives from several legislative offices, as well as Congressman Jimmy Duncan and Senator Lamar Alexander.

10:30 p.m. I'm told two representatives from Remote Area Medical, or RAM, are making this trip. Right now, on the tiny bus TVs, we're watching the 60 Minutes story that recently drew so much attention to RAM. Perhaps this group is hoping for a similar response.

10:45 p.m. A representative from RAM steps up to speak. He talks about a recent stop in Morgan County, another in Campbell County. At each location, medical staff saw, and in some cases, treated hundreds of patients. The group's leader, Stan Brock, testified before a Congressional committee today. The representative tells the story of an East Tennessee woman who broke her arm on a recent Friday and said she couldn't get the help she needed at the hospital because she couldn't pay the $250 bill. Instead, she was given only a sling. She called RAM Monday morning to ask for help, and group leaders got to work. Finally, four days later, she got the help she needed, but her arm had to be re-broken and re-set. A friend of RAM in Roane County picked up the bill.

10:50 p.m. Dr. Kim gets up to speak again, reminding people to raise an outspread hand while in D.C. Each finger represents something different - one day, one patient, one doctor, one church, one dollar.

10:55 p.m. Emmett Thompson, the director of the Mission of Hope organization, says he is happy to make the trip. He says he's getting more and more requests for help, and he, too, would like to raise awareness about the need. He says the people on the trip are ambassadors for so many people who couldn't come on the bus. He wants to do them proud.

11 p.m. Former Knoxville Mayor Randy Tyree is on the bus, too. He says a community is gauged by the power the citizens have and how they use the Golden Rule. He adds, jokingly, that doesn't mean those who have the gold make the rules. He says this trip is an example of how the people in the state are living up to their "Volunteer" status.

11:05 p.m. We hear from B Ray Thompson Jr. (his family name graces the Thompson Cancer Center and Thompson-Boling Arena.) Dr. Kim introduces the 79-year-old as "the oldest man on the trip," but Thompson is soon the one joking with Dr. Kim. He says he's only making the trip so that Dr. Kim's Korean Mafia (a tongue-in-cheek name for Dr. Kim's associates) will not come after him. Taking on a serious tone, he says Dr. Kim has "the recipe we need for helping people." He stresses the importance of putting aside politics and warns against depending on the government for support or funding.

11:15 p.m. A man named Jimmie Thomas stands up to introduce himself. He says he has a diabetic ulcer in the bottom of his foot. Still, he's making the trip. Two other patients stand up to say they hope they can make a difference for others.

11:17 p.m. A video production student at Pellissippi State University says this trip is more than a class project, it's personal. She says she's one of the many underinsured Americans across the country. She's producing a documentary for her class focusing on the need for affordable health care.

11:19 p.m. Beverly Watt, a patient at the clinic, says, for her, "the clinic means hope." She says she and her husband were asked to pay $540 per month for health insurance. It was simply too much to pay. She's grateful she's getting the help she needs from Dr. Kim's clinic. For the next several minutes, patients and volunteers alike stand up to share their personal stories and reasons for making the trip.

11:30 p.m. Bettie Morales says she and her husband are both patients at the clinic. She recounts a story from several years ago in South Carolina. A little boy named Chucky had a terrible fever at church, and she held him throughout the entire service. She says the boy got sicker, but the hospital refused him treatment because his parents didn't have the proper insurance. The boy later died, with the autopsy revealing his appendix had burst several days before his death. Morales says this "trip is for Chucky and all the children like him."

11:35 p.m. The lady sitting in front of me offers me a cereal bar. I ask about her story. Her name is Kathy Williams, and she is 48 years old. She baby-sits her grandchildren and isn't able to work. She has diabetes and hypertension, and she calls Dr. Kim her "lifesaver." She started coming to the clinic several years ago. During that time, she found a lump in her breast that turned out to be benign. She also had gall bladder surgery. She says someone connected to the clinic paid her nearly $3,000 hospital bill. To this day, she doesn't know who that was.

11:45 p.m. The overhead lights are slowly disappearing. Most seem ready to settle in for the night, curling up with pillows or leaning over books. I think I'll end my clickety-clacking on the computer for the night.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

6:15 a.m. We're here, making our way down Constitution Avenue. It seems it was a restless night for many, and it was freezing on the bus!

6:30 a.m. We learn we've arrived early, and the building in which we're supposed to meet doesn't open for another hour. We pull off the side of the road and wait. One of Dr. Kim's friends passes around tangerines.

7:15 a.m. We start up the bus and head toward the Rayburn House Office Building. I learn this is Kathy Williams' first trip to Washington. I wonder how many others are experiencing this place for the first time, too.

7:30 a.m. We park. It's time to begin our journey here.

8 a.m. After making our way through a massive security line, we find our banquet room, our home for the next few hours while we take a breakfast break and meet with legislators and their representatives.

8:20 a.m. Alex Roche tells me he has no real connection to the clinic or to Dr. Kim. Instead, he heard about the trip during church announcements at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church (Dr. Kim's church.) He says, as soon as he heard about it, he wanted to come.

9 a.m. I talk with Polly Banks. She tells me about losing her insurance and going months without the medication she needs for her diabetes and high blood pressure. She calls Dr. Kim her hero. Still, she hasn't seen an eye doctor in three years. She says her former doctor stopped seeing her when her insurance ran out.

9:20 a.m. A representative from Congressman Zach Wamp's office stops by to learn about the mission. He promises to report back to his boss.

9:30 a.m. Sen. Lamar Alexander arrives to speak to the group. He says Dr. Kim and his associates know much more about the issue than he does, saying he doesn't know what to do to fix the problem. Dr. Kim takes the senator to task, jumping in to say, "Yes, you do. Build a free clinic in Maryville." The group claps.

9:35 a.m. Congressman Jimmy Duncan, who is hosting the group, arrives. He talks about his desire to see an improvement in the health care system, adding the burden can't fall solely on the government.

9:50 a.m. Congressman Duncan leads the group on a special tour of the Capitol Building. We take the special subway there from the Rayburn Building. I had expected an underground train; instead, it was basically an open tram that took us just a few hundred feet. The congressman led us through Statuary Hall, the Rotunda, and the special Capitol Prayer Room, which the public rarely gets to see.

10:30 a.m. The group walks out onto the Capitol steps. The moment has arrived. The patients, doctors and volunteers unfurl a large banner reading, "50 million Americans need dental and medical care." They raise their hands in Dr. Kim's five-finger signature salute and then clap.

11:20 a.m. After chatting and snapping pictures, the group is headed back to the bus. Many say they hope the success they feel translates into more help for more people. They've traveled far from home to make their voices heard. Now, they're waiting to see who will listen.

9 p.m. The bus arrives back in Knoxville. Everyone is safe and sound.