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I'm on vacation!
Dec. 20th, 2007 04:05 pmMy Christmas - excuse me - holiday break started today at 12:30 and lasts until January 17. Which is part of why I don't get much summer vacation, but such is life and three weeks of rarely having to go outside when it's cold and miserable out is some compensation.
My vacation would have started at 2:30, my normal end-of-workday, but I had to get Alex to a doctor's appointment and I wasn't sure how the roads would be. It's snowed quite a bit today. I also had to take him to an office I'd never been to before and so wanted extra time for wandering around lost.
Now the whole reason for the doctor's appointment is that he was out sick yesterday and Somersworth schools have a policy that if a kid is out sick, said kid should go to the doctor and get a note to prove that there was indeed sickness. Which means every time my son, who is immune deficient, isn't feeling well enough to go to school, I have to cough up ten bucks for a copayment. Not too bad for me, but I expect it can get to be a real hardship for families without insurance. I doubt it really cuts down truancy very much and just causes aggravation for those with legitimate illnesses. Much like the zero tolerance drug policy we also ran into when ALex had a dental appointment. (His immune deficiency means he has to take antibiotics before every detist visit - even checkups. Since his appointments tend to be shortly after school and he has to take the pills an hour beforehand ...)
Today, the nurse practitioner was in a generous mood. She's familiar with the policy and Alex has been in twice before in the past couple of weeks. So she just wrote him the note and sent us home - no charge. Happy holidays indeed! Ten bucks is not a lot, but I've got little margin these days, so it helps not to have to spend it.
My vacation would have started at 2:30, my normal end-of-workday, but I had to get Alex to a doctor's appointment and I wasn't sure how the roads would be. It's snowed quite a bit today. I also had to take him to an office I'd never been to before and so wanted extra time for wandering around lost.
Now the whole reason for the doctor's appointment is that he was out sick yesterday and Somersworth schools have a policy that if a kid is out sick, said kid should go to the doctor and get a note to prove that there was indeed sickness. Which means every time my son, who is immune deficient, isn't feeling well enough to go to school, I have to cough up ten bucks for a copayment. Not too bad for me, but I expect it can get to be a real hardship for families without insurance. I doubt it really cuts down truancy very much and just causes aggravation for those with legitimate illnesses. Much like the zero tolerance drug policy we also ran into when ALex had a dental appointment. (His immune deficiency means he has to take antibiotics before every detist visit - even checkups. Since his appointments tend to be shortly after school and he has to take the pills an hour beforehand ...)
Today, the nurse practitioner was in a generous mood. She's familiar with the policy and Alex has been in twice before in the past couple of weeks. So she just wrote him the note and sent us home - no charge. Happy holidays indeed! Ten bucks is not a lot, but I've got little margin these days, so it helps not to have to spend it.
