Today ,in Paris, we met a very interesting American named Jim Meyers. Jim had lost his legs well above the knees some 20 years ago.  In America at that time he was surprised to find there was little to no support or medical programs for prostheses for a double amputee.  Mayo had a new program but he could not get in.  So, he went about his life dealing with it as he was.  During his first move to Paris soon after he lost his legs he met a French doctor that knew of a program at hospital outside Paris.  The hospital, the name I forget, said they could help him. For 22 weeks they worked with him everyday.  10 weeks of physical fitness alone.  To use two prostheses above the knees takes a tremendous amount of physical strength.  They set him up with other patients, with an interpreter, to discuss their success or failure with the program. The biggest problem was for the hospital to figure out how to bill him.  Socialized medicine you know and as non-resident he did qualify.  In the end it cost him $11,000 for the whole thing. Whether he was able to pay was never a condition of treatment or mentioned.  Just one fake leg in the U.S. was $15,000 and they did not even tell you how to put it on for that price.

So, when people talk about socialized medicine or “Obamacare” (Just ask one what the real name of the bill is.  They no more know the name of the bill or than is really in it.) this is a true story of a true American. Stories of this nature we have heard many times from French, Italians, Swiss, Germans, etc. But this is a American from St. Pete, FL.

He claims Paris is the most handicap friendly city in the world and he has lived in lots.  I think it is more his attitude and the attitude of the people in the city more than access to every nook or carney in town.

 

This a beautiful city; beautiful people; beautiful art.  But I ain’t hanging this on my wall.....