help, fires

HELP
no this is not about the movie which i havent seen yet
but its on my next to see movie (afer the movie bernie-more
on that tomorrow)
this is about the help i received that influenced me and
what i did with my life

my family while we were in high school and while i
was in college were probably at or near the poverty level
we did not have a lot of things at home and did a lot
of sacrificing to get through this period of time

those programs that helped me are probably not available
today and today i would have more difficulty making it
through the 4 years of college (married) and 4 years of
medical school (married with one child) and my 3 year
residency program (married with 2 children)

i think about this when i hear all the talk about program
cuts and what effect these may have on some boy or girl
that is in the situation i was in
will they have the same chance i had

i only hope they do

in high school a federal program was established to allow
high school students work at local hospitals in medical
areas with hopes that many would go into the health field
in our group mostly sophomores and juniors that worked
together in the summer and holidays many became nurses,
respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and doctors and
some how one became a lawyer
i was one of the ones that became a doctor

we were exposed to a lot of things during those years
we were paid minimal wages
for me it allowed me to have clothes and shoes to wear
and extra money to spend and save for school

i worked as what is now called a medical assistant in the
hospital but also got to see deliveries of babies, surgeries,
emergency room activities such as trauma, resuscitation, and
also death
this was an important experience for me both financially and
by stimulating my interest in medicine and later provided me
a means to work while in college

when i did eventually make it to college i was married and my
wife she and i both were in school together
we both worked 20-36 hours a week and attended school
full time
i worked in the emergency room as an emergency room technician
skills i had learned while working in the local hospital in high school
we were poor but happy
we also benefit from grants and scholarships that help pay our
way through college
we also had federal loans that we had to pay off later
probably half of our college was covered by federal programs
that probably dont exist now

for medical school we had no money but i went ahead and
applied and was accepted
on day one of school we had no income and only a minimal
amount of loan money available
thanks to one of my older brothers he loaned me enough
money to get started that year
even though my wife she was working we were not making enough
for all the expenses of living and for school

a federal program called the national health service was established
which i applied for and got accepted
it paid my tuition and books and gave me a monthly stipend
my sophomore year i also got a job which was also federal and
state funded which required being on call and working in the
summer time

after graduation from medical school and finishing my residency
program i then had a federal obligation to work in an underserved
area for three years which i did
that program was gutted by president reagan and only partially
exists today

as a physician practicing medicine for over 25 years i have paid in
taxes many times over the monies that were spent on me by
all of these programs
the last ten years i have paid close to $500000 in federal  taxes
a good investment by the feds i would say

so i am a product of these federal programs that are being
wacked away at
i would not have made it without them
how many kids are out there now that are in the situation i was in
will they get help
i sure hope so

FIRES
the large bastrop fire is 80% contained now
however
we are now setting new records for high temperatures for september
it is dry
now the winds are starting up again
this time from the opposite direction-originally they were from
the north
now they are coming out of the south
fire officials are slowing down the rentry to the burned areas
because of these conditions

rain please

the organicgreen doctor