It’s hard to know how to frame this, since most of you and I’m sure none of our elected officials give a rat’s behind.
We have a problem here in Idaho. It’s not the trans folks recruiting your grandchildren. It’s not the flags flown by cities. It’s not the liberals you despise and would prefer to deport instead of the “illegals”.
It’s about providing good health care to rural and frontier communities. Our legislature has no clue. They could be helping. But they are not. Clueless.
Do you want our rural communities to thrive?
Do you want a young working family to have the security to have a baby in their small town? Do you want small towns to sustain and grow? Maybe you think we should all just move to the big city. Boise, Meridian, Caldwell, Nampa, all so wonderful.
Family doctors have tried very hard to serve this state. Understand, family doctors treat from the cradle to the grave. OB/Gyn’s treat “female” problems including pregnancy, though some have excused themselves from that burden.
Heck, most family doctors excuse themselves from treating pregnancy and birth. It’s a pain. You can’t have a beer or go to elk camp if you are the doctor for an expectant mother in a small town.
But some vital, courageous family doctors do in our small towns. They suffer for us. And what do our legislators do? They further burden them.
Why aren’t we helping these heroes?
Think about it.
Small hospital, barely getting by, can’t afford to recruit or pay professionals, nurses, anesthetists, to do the work. You need a team. Our legislature cuts their funding.
Women are pregnant, they need care. The local family doc does their best. Labor begins. Something happens. Baby needs to come out. Surgery can solve it. Shouldn’t we want these remote practitioners to have our support? So that young, energetic young families can see these small towns as a possibility? Can’t we build a future for rural Idaho? Instead, we protect them from trans people. So brave we are.
Family doctors deliver more babies than OB/Gyns in rural Idaho. Family doctors look at OB care and blanche. Who will help me?
We need to be helping each other here. You folks down in Boise worrying about your avocado toast need to understand a pregnant woman in Stanley, Kamiah, Winchester, Athol, Mackay is in a quandary.
Maybe you think they just shouldn’t be there. Maybe they will think that too. So you just don’t care about rural Idaho. Do you, Brad?
What does our Idaho legislature and our governor think about this?
I’ve told you before I voted for our Governor because he said he wanted to make this a place where our children could thrive.
I have a daughter who teaches in this state, and he just signed a bill that is making her consider moving elsewhere. Shame.
Our elected officials, from the Governor down to our legislators, none are paying attention to the problems we all face.
From housing we can afford, to schools for our children, to day care so we can work, to health care so we won’t go bankrupt, to having a baby in a safe place.
They don’t care.
It would take just a small investment to help family docs be good at delivering and maybe c-sectioning babies in rural towns.
But investment means taxes, and Idaho just wants to cut them.
Our current Idaho leaders don’t want to invest.
Investment means you believe in the future. Investment is the process of deciding what our future should look like. Investment is a commitment. That’s what it means to have a baby.
Why aren’t we investing in having babies in Idaho?
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