It Hurts Just a Little

Betsy

I got a card from m old friend and mentor Mac. Mac is short for Mc Intyre an MD who took a chance on me years ago and hire me to be the psych counselor for a new medical delivery project he was organizing in South East Idaho back in the early 70's. Mac is a work of art, Mac is a whole book waiting to be written Mack is a national treasure who is now waiting away in a long term care facility in North Carolina—but all this is another blog entry, if not a book which I hope is written at some point in time but not right now. Mac is the person I write to each week, Mac is my commitment. I wrote my mom weekly before she passed and I decided to keep the practice up with my old friend. Anyway, in his response from last weeks letter mentioned a nurse practitioner who worked with our project. Betsy was young and attractive and from Vanderbilt. The Clinics were staffed by young idealists all trying to make a difference, some professionals like Betsy, we had VISTA's and me hired on some Idaho work program.

I did some searches for Betsy in hopes of being ale to give Mac an update on the beguiling Betsy. I of course found her right off. She is still in Boise, still in medicine a certified flight nurse, which I think is pretty cool—actually I sort of thought she would be a physician by now. Anyway, my research kicked out a 1973 article describing the project with images and names. I was excited to see this document, this document is the closest thing I have seen to a history of project. I am so glad that the piece is written but with some hurt I noted there is no mention of their counselor, affectionately know as Shrink.” Like I never existed on the project like I never was. It's really not a big deal, I am not that insecure. I know I was there and I know I contributed and I know that Mac and Jose our Physicians Assistant know I was there—I rode shotgun everyday, week in and week out for fifteen months. I don't know if the others will attest to my being there but it doesn’t matter. It's just weird to be so invisible.

This link will take you to the article...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1616027/pdf/healthservrep00043-0013.pdf