Hina in Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Hina in Ft. Wayne, Indiana
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare

Hina’s one of the workers at the hotel—doubles up as back-up front desk and housekeeping. In fact, it seemed like everyone had a hand in all aspects of the operation. Hina’s had what she called a ‘muscle lock’ in her neck, which sounded to me like a cervical muscle spasm, perhaps even a herniated cervical disk—hard to tell. In any case, she’s had no insurance and hasn’t seen a doctor or been to a hospital for it. She remains in pain, housekeeping work is hard, and this is making it harder. She looks warily around. I know that this hotel staff is like family, and they likely wouldn’t fire her for a situation that is undoubtedly compromising her productivity. But in a crueler world (which is quite common), she’d be out, replaced by someone else healthier, but also without insurance. Hina, in a way, is lucky.