Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Melissa Mia Hall

Here's a scary story - one of the scariest you'll ever read.

And one of the saddest.

And I bet it's one that's going to make you mad as hell, and sad, and I hope it makes you want to do something about it.

Read this story, please, and consider doing what the Tarts at The Lipstick Chronicles suggest.  Call your representatives.  Or write them.

Do it for Melissa Mia Hall.   And for the lives we can still save if we speak up.

If you don't want to make a phone call - email your representatives.  That's what I did and this is what I said:


We deserve the same quality health care you have.

I, and the rest of the country, deserve better than this (please read the link below).

HOW, in this country of ours, can these types of stories continue to happen??! 

And how can individuals in OUR government live with themselves? (you know - the one that is SUPPOSED to be "of the people, by the people, FOR the people, etc.?")

WHAT has happened to us as a society? 

This is NOT the United States I was brought up to believe in.

http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/the_lipstick_chronicles/2011/02/the-least-of-us.html

It might interest you to read the comments following the article.

Kaye Barley
Boone, NC

IF you don't know who your representatives are - go here:
http://www.usa.gov/
They make it easy for you to contact your representatives with forms available at the site.
If you're mad as hell and don't want to take it any more - do this.

5 comments:

lil Gluckstern said...

You are a true lady, Kaye. This is one of the saddest stories I've read, and makes me very angry. Our country is changing into something that is very scary for many of us. And yet, life is filled with joys as well, very hard to balance. So, congratulations on your retirement, and and hold on to each other, and thank you for the pleasures you give.

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks, Kaye.

Laraine said...

Glad you speak your mind, Kaye, whether here or on TLC. No need to apologise to me for strong sentiments nor language. Some people only wake up when their shins hit hard objects.

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

oh golly - thanks, guys.
Another reason why I love the blogging community.
It gives us a place to share our feelings.
This story touched SO many of us.
I did not know Melissa Mia Hall, which was my loss.
It was good that the Tarts at The Lipstick Chronicles brought this to everyone's attention, I think.

Carolyn Thomas said...

Hello Kaye and thanks for urging your readers to take action following this tragic and senseless death.

I too wrote about Melissa Mia Hall. http://myheartsisters.org/2011/02/03/melissa-mia-hall-heart-attack/ Even though, like you, I didn't know her, her story somehow galvanized me in a profound way, mostly because of the ironic timing in this story.

First, I learned of her death through a fellow heart attack survivor during a conversation about the big ABC Barbara Walters heart special, in which she interviewed a number of (white, wealth, male) celebrities about their world-class, state-of-the-art cardiac procedures. You can bet that not one of Barbara's celebrity friends gave a moment's thought to whether they could afford to go to the doctor, as Melissa and 44,000 other Americans do each year who die as a direct result of being uninsured.

Second, her death coincided with a big women's heart attack awareness campaign called "Make The Call - Don't Miss a Beat" in which women are urged to learn the seven most common heart attack symptoms for women (including the chest and back pain that Melissa told her friends about, but mistakenly dismissed as just a "pulled muscle". The campaign also urges women to CALL 911 if any of these symptoms hit - something that Melissa believed she could not afford to do.

Tragic on all counts.....