Incompetence. I can't stand it. We all experience incompetence on a daily basis: cashiers who give you the wrong change, drivers who block roads by attempting to parallel park, professors who make you copy a page of a proof before realizing it doesn't work or hairdressers who hack off an inch of your bangs after you specifically tell them not to do so. To me, an economics major, incompetent people are inefficiencies. They waste our time, money and energy.
OK, perhaps this is a little too highbrow. Maybe the problem isn't "them" but "us." Our society has become too hungry for money and too obsessed with time. We've lost touch with humanity. OK. Fine. I can understand that.
What I abhor then are incompetent people who have important jobs where mistakes are costly and potentially life-threatening. I am talking about healthcare and, more specifically, Dick's House.
I've wanted to write about Dick's House after each horrific episode I've had there. But each time, my rage fizzles out. I am angry with myself for going there again. Why was I foolish enough to believe that they would do something right this time? How could I have forgotten to tell the Safety and Security driver to go to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, not Dick's House? And each time, I say to myself, "This is the last time. I will never go to Dick's House again!"
The horror stories are infinite. From mixing up prescriptions and ordering unnecessary procedures to crookedly reattaching fingers and casually distributing antidepressants and sleeping pills with little follow-up, Dick's House is at fault.
I must be boring you. This is not news for anyone. I mean, we all know that when we have those awkward reunion dinners with old trippees or freshman hall mates that one only need to bring up the topic of Dick's House for the table to erupt with conversation. If there is anything we can unite and agree upon on this campus it is that "We hate Dick's House!"
I was searching TheDartmouth.com for other columns complaining about Dick's House. The last one I found was from 1997, nearly five years ago. In the column (The Dartmouth, Jan. 24, 1997, "We Deserve Better"), Laura Mannix '97 says, "it's recently dawned on me that it is up to God to help any of us who rely on Dick's House to diagnose and treat our illnesses." I also unearthed a cartoon from 1995, "Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel," that caused uproar when it dedicated a series to criticizing Dick's House. Apparently, Dartmouth students have suffered from poor healthcare for many years. Now I understand why nobody writes about Dick's House anymore. We have just come to accept it. We chuckle and laugh amongst ourselves, knowing that it is the easiest way to deal with all the frustration we feel. After every trip to Dick's House, we debrief with our friends as if we had just completed a difficult mission or undertaking. And then we all promise ourselves that we will never go to Dick's House again.
There are many things that are seriously wrong with this. The most obvious is that we pay $1,000 premiums for our health insurance plans, and we deserve better healthcare. But the insurance company that administers our DSGHP shouldn't be too quick to kick back and relax. They could really be at a loss too, paying for all those unnecessary prescriptions and procedures. There is something wrong when we hesitate to get help for broken bones, torn ligaments and critical burns. We need to get help when we are so sick we can't get out of bed or so depressed that another day seems impossible.
I must say that Dick's House tries. And at least they are nice. Since the problem arises from their incompetence, there is seemingly little that we can do. It is highly unlikely that we could replace all the health professionals with more qualified ones. I figure that the only thing we could do is to let them know about their mistakes in the hope that they will listen and try to improve.
So, while searching through the Dick's House website, I found a page for feedback. I was actually surprised when I found it. Quite distressingly, it seemed geared toward the construction of the website, rather than its health services. In fact, there were two spaces for writing, labeled in order, "How can we make this website better?" and "Please enter any other questions or comments you may have." Does Dick's House even know how angry Dartmouth students are? Do they have any idea why many of us would rather wait nine months to go home and see our own family doctors than go there? There is something wrong when our dining services have a better feedback system than our health services. Larry asks, Larry listens, and students are happy.
Nonetheless, a feedback page is a feedback page, and I wonder how Dick's House would react if their inbox suddenly flooded with student complaints. Would it be the webmaster receiving all of it? The page does say that the emails would be directed to a "member of the Health Services staff." You can even request a reply if you like. We need to let them know. I am sick of laughing about it. It is no laughing matter and it requires immediate attention. Are we willing to wait until we lose someone we care about?
