Good health care more than living close to it

When we bought our home in Naperville, like most people we had a number of criteria.

It had to have so many bedrooms and baths, a two-car garage, a family room and a wood-burning fireplace -- all pretty much mundane stuff and common to a lot of homes here.

It also had to be a place we could afford -- which is not common to a lot of homes here.

We looked for a very long time, and when we finally found a place, it had a couple of advantages we didn't even realize we were looking for.

One was that it was relatively close to the downtown without being a place we couldn't have afforded because it was in the historic district.

And even better yet, while it was within walking district to the downtown, it was even closer to Edward Hospital.

I know that a lot of Napervillians don't like to live near the hospital. Heck, a lot of our residents don't want to live near anything that isn't a single-family house that is exactly the same size as theirs.

But being close to Edward has always seemed advantageous to me, in the same manner as living near a fire station, which we don't, or having a fire hydrant close to the house, which we do.

I was in and out of the hospital a fair amount when I was a kid, and while I avoided them in my 20s and 30s I figured living near one has its advantages -- just in case.

So on that night in 1993 when my arteries decided to demonstrate how clogged they were, it wasn't that long an ambulance ride from the house to the hospital.

And since then, as I've been steadily building up frequent flier miles at Edward, having it handy has been, well, handy.

Obviously, I would rather not have had as many tests, procedures, and operations as I have had over the course of my life -- but that's just the luck of the draw.

But fortunately, I've always managed to have a job where I have had good health insurance, and having seen what the bills have been like for quadruple bypass surgery and an implanted ICD among my other operations and procedures, I certainly thank God for that.

The difference between having health insurance and not having that coverage can literally be that between life and death or making a living or going bankrupt.

For those of us who have good insurance, or qualify for Medicare, and get excellent health care, well good for us.

But as we are reminded every day in the media, including this newspaper, not everyone in this country is so fortunate, and the availability of good health care means more than just living close to it.