Week Three (SOC 490)

“…the United States as a whole is performing well below the standards of health, efficiency and care that are realistic and have been achieved in the most successful U.S. states and other developed nations.” – Universal Healthcare

Startling as it is the U.S. isn’t the top nation when it comes to healthcare. It actually ranks 15^th overall in the best national healthcare systems.  The top two are France and Italy, is that because they have universal healthcare, who knows? However, whatever Italy is doing, sitting at #2, we should mirror.  They have a lower infant mortality rate than the U.S., among other aspects. 

What are the Italians doing more of that the Americans need to start doing?  I’ve only been here for four and a half weeks but already I can tell that Italians walk far more than Americans do.  They use a lot of public transportation which cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions which makes for cleaner air.  In Rome they drink water from the aquifer, which probably cuts down on the amount of chemicals in their water supply.  They tend to eat healthier overall too.  Their mean is leaner, their cheese and dairy products are fresh daily, and their snacks tend to be less greasy.  All of these things cause a healthier nation.  Not only that, but everyone has access to healthcare.  Even the homeless people, who sleep on the benches in Termini Station, can go down to the hospital and get help if they need it.  Maybe that’s the secret…  

We visited the Museum of the Mind last week and the Museum of Medical Art this week and each of them show the past of medicine in this nation.  The Museum of the Mind was an old psychiatric hospital, one that tried to help those with “diseases” of the mind.  Things that everyone thought were incurable or untreatable.  The only issue with this hospital was the fact that they sometimes found people they thought to be ill, who weren’t.  After spending so much time in close proximity to these people, the ones that were well, developed paranoia, and even some other diseases.  The Museum of Medical Art was cool too, it was all the old instruments and aides that they used in hospitals back in the day.  It showed things like preserved babies and other medical discoveries that were interesting.  It was cool to see the progression of the medicine of Italy.  

A child scratched this on a wall while in the psychiatric hospital.

Old gynecological stir-ups.