the IV pole and the tree in vermont

Today I was talking with the executive director at my work--a large, urban community health center serving primarily low-income and Latino patients-- we were talking about compounding pharmacies or something like this. He told me a story from the early part of his career, when he ran a community health organization in rural Vermont. A patient of theirs who was receiving chemotherapy treatment had to travel to nearest hospital on Mondays, spend the night, receive treatment, go home, return Thursday, spend the night, receive treatment and then go home again only to do it all again the next week. My boss and his colleagues, deciding that this was clearly not only only ridiculous but seriously affecting the patient's quality of life, took the matter into their own hands. The clinical staff obtained the man's chemotherapy medication and set him up in a lounge chair outside the health center, hanging the IV bag from a tree. Instead of spending the majority of the week traveling to receive treatment, the man and his wife sat outside in the sun, the IV bag no doubt swinging from the tree in a Vermont summer breeze. The patient's health insurance company refused to pay for his treatment, stating that even though clinical staff administered and monitored the medication, because it took place outside of the buildingit was no longer covered. My boss and his staff fought with the insurance provider, eventually losing. They decided to cover the cost themselves, and the man continued to receive treatment under the tree.

This story touched me, not only because of my father's current treatment, but because the anecdote really summed up the kind of public health professional that I want to be.