HesperianOn July 13th, Barack Obama announced Dr. Regina Benjamin as his nominee for Surgeon General. As the US health policy debate continues to unfold, Dr. Benjamin is a significant choice for the nation’s highest public health post, having dedicated her career to providing primary health care to the poor and uninsured in rural Alabama. While a doctor accustomed to making house calls in her pick up truck is an unlikely pick for the US’s presiding medical professional, her nomination is a timely and hopeful symbol for health care reform.
After completing medical school and her residency, Benjamin used her own funds to open the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in 1990. Bayou La Batre is a small community on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, in which 80% of the 2500 residents live below the poverty line. While establishing the Clinic, Benjamin also earned an MBA to equip herself with the necessary skills to run a practice which would serve everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. The Clinic continues to be the only source of medical care for this community, and has been sustained through fundraising efforts and the support of Dr. Benjamin’s speaking honorariums as her work has gained increasing national recognition, including a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Rural health advocates hope that Dr. Benjamin’s experience and dedication to providing affordable, accessible health services for rural communities indicates that her initiatives as Surgeon General will speak to the needs of this underrepresented population. The struggle to pay for medical services is a familiar one for many urban and suburban Americans, but some may find it difficult to envision having no ability to access basic care. The National Rural Health Association estimates that only about 10% of American doctors are practicing in rural regions, though nearly a quarter of the nation’s population lives in these areas. In addition, rural residents are more likely to face economic and social adversity, and to have difficulty accessing the transportation they need to reach medical facilities.
While the national conversation about healthcare has been disappointing in many ways, Benjamin’s appointment is an encouraging indicator that the Obama administration is beginning to acknowledge the challenges of both health care affordability and access. Individuals needing the care that is provided free of charge at the Bayou La Batre Clinic are well versed in the difficulties of accessing adequate services and preventative care, but a Surgeon General with a mission to overcome these hurdles has an ideal opportunity to bring them into the national spotlight.
In a recent interview for the National Library of Health’s Changing The Face of Medicine Exhibit on female physicians, Dr. Benjamin spoke to her commitment, “I hope I make a difference one person at a time. By making a patient feel better, by being able to tell a mother that her baby is going to be okay. Whether her baby is four or forty-four the look on the mother's face is the same. I also hope that I am making a difference in my community by providing a clinic where patients can come and receive health care with dignity.
Comments