In case you haven’t noticed, I do a lot of complaining about the difficulty of finding doctors who know how to treat complications from spinal cord injury. From our perspective — meaning those of us with SCI here in the United States, the causes are evident: medical schools that ignore or bypass SCI as a specialty, a complete lack of medical clinics for treating chronic SCI, pervasive cultural bias about our quality of life, too few accessible exam tables and other diagnostic equipment, and meager funding of medical research aimed at understanding the consequences of our lifelong condition. There are more reasons, but you get the idea.
But there is another side of the coin. When you compare our situation with the global SCI population — especially in poor and developing countries — we are truly fortunate.
Take a country like Sierra Leone, for instance. A church I am associated with has been supporting basic medical needs in a community in that country for more than 20 years. Here are some eye-opening, even astounding stats to consider: As of a year ago, Sierra Leone had one pediatric surgeon to serve the entire nation’s population of 7.5 million people. Most people go without health care altogether. Women’s health care is especially lacking. For contrast, in my state (Oregon), we have one doctor for every 321 people. In Sierra Leone there is one doctor for every 33,000 people.
These stats are based on basic health needs. Imagine if you lived in Sierra Leone when you sustained your SCI. Ambulance service in most areas is nonexistent. During the rainy season, dirt roads in rural areas are impassable. Chances are you would not have made it to a hospital — if you could even find one within hundreds of miles.