Trust No One

Where Help is an illusion… LewisGale Medical Center
1900 Electric Road
Salem, VA 24153
(540) 776-4000
If you do not have health insurance, you need to know the following before calling a hotline or asking for help.
You may be sent to a hospital against your will. You are placed in handcuffs and possibly shackles. Your life will continue to get worse. Hospitals are businesses and want lots of money. The stay is about $2000 a day, not including doctor fees. You pay more than the negotiated rates of insurance companies. You want to die. A five minute talk with a psychiatrist costs a month’s worth of groceries. The doctors prescribe medicine you can’t possibly afford. Again, you are charged considerably more than the insurance companies. The phone calls start shortly after discharge. You’re still sick and can’t afford medicine. A disdainful employee calls to inquire about possible life insurance, retirement money, the age of your car, the title of your car, your bank and the amount of money in your checking account. Your car is ten years old and you’re broke. You want to die. The letters start as well. The letters demand payment immediately. The letters come almost daily, sometimes two in one day. You want to die. You call patient accounts. The bill collector tells you to make sure the hospital (Lewis Gale) is provided for in your will. You want to die. No one will help you. Desperate and at your wits end, you call the hotline (Respond). They tell you not to call with that problem. You’re even more sick, can’t afford medicine, forced to sell your house, jump when the phone rings and avoid your mailbox. You berate yourself for letting your guard down. No one will help you and you want to die. Remain silent. Trust no one. Take comfort that life is temporary.