Missionaries and Serving their health needs -- Slate Article


cdowis
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An inteesting article on whether the church is taking care of the missionaries' health needs.  

"Mormons who fell dangerously ill on their missions say the church denied them access to medical care."

 

What have been your experiences with this situation?

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/10/sick_mormon_missionaries_denied_access_to_adequate_health_care.html

Edited by cdowis
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Guest LiterateParakeet

I think that's a crock. First of all, I received medical care on my mission when I got the Dengue. I know other missionaries who did as well.

I think if any missionary felt they were not getting proper medical care, all they have to do is write home about it. Their mom would raise such a fuss! :)

When my son got mugged for the 4th time in 8 weeks, I contacted my Stake President and simply asked, "Can you really assure me that my son is SAFE?"

He called the Mission President who assured him that my son and his comp were being transferred in a couple days anyway. In the many months since, my son has not been mugged again, and he is loving his mission.

So no, I don't believe these missionaries health needs were neglected.

Edited to add: I just skimmed the whole article. What a slanted piece. Complete waste of time as the author clearly had an ax to grind and made no attempmt at real journalism. The article was full of lies and exaggeration.

I'm not doubting that perhaps some missionaries have had bad experiences, but reading the article one might be led to think that is the norm, and I know it isn't, based on my own experience and the experiences of many other missionaries I know. One of the things the article talks about is the lack of mental health care...I was able to talk to a therapist right in the MTC.

I served in South America and the reason you talk to the mission presidents wife is because she know the "approved doctors". You don't want to see just anyone when you are in a third world country. Also if the missionary doesn't have health insurance, the church takes care of their medical care...another reason to contact the mission pres. Missionaries do not pay foreducation out of pocket as the article said.

Edited by LiterateParakeet
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I have only heard that they receive good medical treatment, that the church takes good care of them.  I suppose like anything else there may be goof ups, but I cannot see that the church, and the good people in the church would not get them the best care available.  And pay for it.

dc

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Please note that in the only detailed example he gives... The missionary didn't get the care he needed right away because the mission Mom didn't know and/or believe the seriousness of the condition.  That opens up a lot of questions as to Why that happened. 

 

As well as drawing parallels to regular people having stories about their doctor not believing them...  This raises serious questions about the conclusion the article draws... Is it really worse? or does it from time to time have the same 'issue' as normal health care?

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I didn't run into any issues when I reached out for medical assistance.  I was given approval after one conversation with my mission president.  

 

As with any organization, and as already mentioned, there could have been misunderstandings or "goof ups."

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Guest MormonGator

Total rubbish. The wards take care of their missionaries like they are their own children. I text the ones in my ward all the time asking how they are feeling, if they need anything, etc.

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An inteesting article on whether the church is taking care of the missionaries' health needs.  

"Mormons who fell dangerously ill on their missions say the church denied them access to medical care."

 

What have been your experiences with this situation?

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/10/sick_mormon_missionaries_denied_access_to_adequate_health_care.html

I was taken care of on my mission. I recall signing some form that would allow us to be on church healthcare for up to a year or two after if it could be determined that whatever situation developed during the mission.

however it's mostly falls on the mission president to oversee how it's carried out, and usually with the support of local wards.

I suppose it's possible to get into a situation where both parties had no competency at all in regards to healthcare (in which case i imagine there would be some horror stories).

but that would be the exception not the rule.

Edited by Blackmarch
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Guest MormonGator

The Slate piece really bothers me. These kids give up so much for us and the world in general. I am convinced that everyone, member or not, owes these men and woman a giant thank you.  

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My experience is that 4 family members who had mental or physical issues were sent home to get their health taken care of. Unless my family is highly unusual, I'd say the Church is very concerned about the health of its missionaries. 

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What this article says to me (besides "There goes 7 minutes of your life you'll never get back,") is here's a "journalist"  on a hunt for all the sour grapes he could possibly find to suck on... anybody with an ax to grind, BINGO! - you get airtime! ..anyone else, we don't need your point of view clouding our crystalline polemics trying to convince our readers that there is an epidemic when, in fact, there is none..

 

Skewed "journalism" at its finest.  We might find more accuracy and balance in a tabloid rag..

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I think the primary objective of the article is being overlooked. There is an individual (not the "journalist") with an ax to grind and he trying to start a movement to change the culture of the Church. The healthcare of missionaries was seen as a weak point with amunition to back up the claim (i.e. more than one person complaining about the same issue). There were plenty of "facts" about the Church and missions but the cultural claims of the article are based on exagerations of things I'm sure we've all heard before. I think there was only one item I hadn't heard before. It is those other things that the ex-member wants to fight.

 

I'll tell you, it did clear up one thing for me. Years ago, I vistied the Provo MTC as a guest of a friend. I attended a class taught to senior missionaries and had lunch in the cafeteria. However, during my visit, the instructor pulled me to a room and gave me a five minute lecture about masturbation. It was the weirdest momement of my life. A complete stranger, completely out of context, lecturing me about something so private. The coversation ended and we went to lunch. It creeped me out and to tell you the truth it tarnished my entire perspecitve of the visit. The fact that happened to me tells me just how extreme the practice must be in the MTC and suddenly the article gained credibility in the other outlandish claims. 

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http://janariess.religionnews.com/2015/10/14/are-mormon-missionaries-being-denied-health-care-how-slate-dropped-the-ball/

Denied medical care is certainly not the norm. I'm not going to view the slate article, but from what i've heard others describe it as is basically a mishmash of antimormon complaints.

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I think the primary objective of the article is being overlooked. There is an individual (not the "journalist") with an ax to grind and he trying to start a movement to change the culture of the Church. The healthcare of missionaries was seen as a weak point with amunition to back up the claim (i.e. more than one person complaining about the same issue). There were plenty of "facts" about the Church and missions but the cultural claims of the article are based on exagerations of things I'm sure we've all heard before. I think there was only one item I hadn't heard before. It is those other things that the ex-member wants to fight.

 

I'll tell you, it did clear up one thing for me. Years ago, I vistied the Provo MTC as a guest of a friend. I attended a class taught to senior missionaries and had lunch in the cafeteria. However, during my visit, the instructor pulled me to a room and gave me a five minute lecture about masturbation. It was the weirdest momement of my life. A complete stranger, completely out of context, lecturing me about something so private. The coversation ended and we went to lunch. It creeped me out and to tell you the truth it tarnished my entire perspecitve of the visit. The fact that happened to me tells me just how extreme the practice must be in the MTC and suddenly the article gained credibility in the other outlandish claims. 

 

 

Wait...what? This article cleared up what? You had a weird experience at the MTC which is completely unrelated to missionaries receiving medical care, so it validates the article? HUH???

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http://janariess.religionnews.com/2015/10/14/are-mormon-missionaries-being-denied-health-care-how-slate-dropped-the-ball/

Denied medical care is certainly not the norm. I'm not going to view the slate article, but from what i've heard others describe it as is basically a mishmash of antimormon complaints.

 

How funny. 99% of the time, I have no use at all for Jana Riess. She at least managed to get this one right. Whaddya know?

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I think the "journalist" made a few decent comments in the otherwise terrible and biased article.

 

- "Missionaries who do get sick may be reluctant to report any serious problem to an authority figure, in part because they fear getting sent home early, according to most Mormons I spoke to."... "Another former missionary, Mike, informed me that he and his friends were hesitant to report injuries because they were terrified the mission president would label them “complainers” or “problem missionaries." - In my mission, I would definitely say this was true in some regards.  While serious medical issues were dealt with fairly well overall, there were times that I felt like the health of an Elder was put 2nd place to getting the work done.  To give an example, my district leader was paired with a fairly new missionary who had some extreme health issues that the doctors couldn't figure out the reason for.  He would pass out randomly, and lose blood going to his head (in a bike area no less!).  He had been to the doctor quite often, with no positive results.  While leadership said to report any major issues, the underlying feeling was that he needed to man up and get to work.  This was coming from the zone leaders and assistants, due to the pressure they were receiving regarding getting their numbers up.  It was a big elephant in the room when it came time to interviews and conferences, that wasn't vocalized to the President, because it was "all about the work".  It wasn't the Presidents fault directly, but I feel like the pressure on ALL the missionaries in getting numbers done was the cause of how it was treated. 

 

- "The skepticism emerges from something deeper, as every former missionary I spoke with described it: an ingrained belief that missionaries—who are supposed to be protected by God—could not possibly need the assistance of earthly medical care."- While definitely exaggeratory, there is some truth to this, atleast in my experiences.  I had a sinus infection for over 2 months that I couldn't shake, even with over the counter medicines.  We had a doctor we could call, and when I told him of my condition, the " get a blessing and call me back in a week if you still have issues " was relayed back to me.  Now I don't believe for a minute this doctor truly believed that blessings take care of all medical conditions, but more so, if he puts missionaries off the first time maybe they will just handle it themselves.  Needless to say I called back in a week and told him I wasn't going anywhere until he prescribed me some magical pills to help me out.

 

I don't relate these in anyway to bash the church, again that article is definitely biased and the theme overall is off base.  But we can always improve, and we need to make sure we are taking care of the missionaries that are going out and giving it their all in any reasonable way we can.

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I'll tell you, it did clear up one thing for me. Years ago, I vistied the Provo MTC as a guest of a friend. I attended a class taught to senior missionaries and had lunch in the cafeteria. However, during my visit, the instructor pulled me to a room and gave me a five minute lecture about masturbation. It was the weirdest momement of my life. A complete stranger, completely out of context, lecturing me about something so private. The coversation ended and we went to lunch. It creeped me out and to tell you the truth it tarnished my entire perspecitve of the visit. The fact that happened to me tells me just how extreme the practice must be in the MTC and suddenly the article gained credibility in the other outlandish claims. 

 

If this happened to you then I can understand why you might be a little creeped out.  But implying that because one weird thing happened to you therefore, every other weird thing somebody else insinuates must also be true or ring true is kind of like saying:  

 

I once got hit in the head with a snowball as a kid and I remember that it really hurt.  Therefore I'm never going to ever watch a baseball game on TV because I might get hit in the head with a fly-ball. 

 

 

Emotionally, I guess it kind of makes sense in a weird PTSD sort of mindset, but logically it makes about as much sense as:  2 + 2 = chicken..  which I believe is what beefche was saying also.

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He justifies himself by stating that the church refused to respond to his questions.  It would be interesting whom in the church he contacted, and what questions he was asking.  I can find no way to commenting or giving feedback on this article on Slate itself,

 

I sent an email to the newsroom about the article, so, hopefully, they will respond to the article as they have done with other such articles.

Edited by cdowis
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Wait...what? This article cleared up what? You had a weird experience at the MTC which is completely unrelated to missionaries receiving medical care, so it validates the article? HUH???

Gaining credibility is not the same as validating. The point of my first paragraph is that the article isn't about health care. It is that this one person wants to lead a movement against Mormon culture of which one manifestation is demonstrated in how missionaries are treated when asking for health care.

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