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From: tjs@cbdkc1.UUCP ( Tom Stanions)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: prevention <---> treatment
Message-ID: <1049@cbdkc1.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Jul-85 16:04:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbdkc1.1049
Posted: Wed Jul 17 16:04:42 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Jul-85 08:54:31 EDT
Reply-To: tjs@cbdkc1.UUCP ( Tom Stanions)
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 81



A while ago someone said on the net that it was a waste of time for doctors to
spend time on prevention.  I think that many people feel this way, health is
cheap until we have lost it.  I found the poem that follows in a book and
thought that it might interest the net-folks:






                     THE FENCE OR THE AMBULANCE

        'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
                Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant:
        But over its terrible edge there had slipped
                A duke and many a peasant;
        So the people said something would have to be done,
                But their projects did not at all tally:
        Some said, "Put a fence round the edge of the cliff";
                Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."

        But the cry for the ambulance carried the day,
                For it spread to the neighboring city;
        A fence may be useful or not, it is true,
                But each heart became brimful of pity
        For those who had slipped o'er the dangerous cliff,
                And the dwellers in highway and alley
        Gave pounds or gave pence, not to put up a fence,
                But an ambulance down in the valley.

        "For the cliff is all right if you're careful," they said;
                "And if folks even slip or are dropping,
        It isn't the slipping that hurts them so much
                As the shock down below - when their stopping."
        So day after day when these mishaps occurred,
                Quick forth would the rescuers sally
        To pick up the victims who fell off the cliff
                With their ambulance down in the valley.

        Then an old man remarked:  "It's a marvel to me
                That people give far more attention
        To repairing results than to stopping the cause
                When they'd much better aim at prevention.
        Let us stop at its source all this mischief," cried he,
                "Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally;
        If the cliff we will fence, we might almost dispense
                With the ambulance down in the valley."

        "Oh, he's a fanatic," the others rejoined;
                "Dispense with the ambulance, never!
        He'd dispense with all charities, too, if he could:
                No, no! We'll support them forever.
        Aren't we picking up folks just as fast as they fall?
                And shall this man dictate to us? Shall he?
        Why should people of sense stop to put up a fence
                while their ambulance works in the valley?"

        Thus this story has beautifully told
                How our people with best of intentions,
        Have wasted their years and lavished their tears
                On treatment with naught for prevention.

        But a sensible few, who are practical, too,
                Will not bear with such nonsense much longer;
        They believe that prevention is better than cure,
                And their party will soon be the stronger.
        Encourage them, then, with your purse, voice, and pen,
                And (while other philanthropist dally)
        They will scorn all pretense, and put up a stout fence
                On the cliff that hangs over the valley.


                                        Joseph Malines





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