Living where I do, I get a lot of phone calls from organizations doing surveys about various things, usually politics. I just finished one that was all about the new hospital that Loudoun County is considering building. I often find the surveys frustrating because they tend to ask very difficult questions like “Have you heard about (insert claim here)? Do you believe or disbelieve this claim?” My answer, if I haven’t heard about it, is often “I don’t believe OR disbelieve it. I don’t just believe everything I hear!” But of course that doesn’t fit onto their little black and white surveys so I have to fudge and pick something. I find it a bit frustrating.
This particular survey was interesting though because it became quite clear that the issue being addressed was the fact that some people want to build the new hospital in the Broadlands, a very upscale community in Ashburn where I live. Knowing the little I know about low-income people in this incredibly rich county, I think it’s criminal to build a new hospital there when a perfectly good hospital is located just five miles away. A new hospital should be located in an area that doesn’t have one already, and preferably closer to rural or poor areas.
When asked what I felt was the most important area for healthcare expansion, I said mental health services for low-income people. When I first moved here and was trying to find a therapist and someone to provide my meds, I called the Loudoun County Mental Health Services and was told it would take a month to see me, and that that would only be the intake appointment and then it would be another month to see a psychiatrist and get meds. That’s just insane, and not good service, and as fucking rich as this county is (average income here is NINETY-EIGHT THOUSAND a YEAR), it shouldn’t be so hard to get mental health care.
So anyway, I’m finding myself a bit up in arms and ranty about the idea that they would build a new hospital in the Broadlands. I’m glad the County Council turned them down for various zoning issues. I hope the hospital gets built somewhere where it’s really needed. There are tons of options for people with money and health insurance. I’ve gotten the best medical care here that I’ve ever gotten in my LIFE. It’d be nice to give a little of that to the poor folks.
I’m betting it won’t happen, though.
