Camino Gratitude Portugal

A funny story to lighten your day, and it’s all true!

I’m playing golf with my Turk’s buddies and I hit an awful golf shot into a suspiciously BLACK pond filled with phosphates and fertilizers, and my first thought was, “I should definitely stick my arm in there”?

Tree iguanas were looking at me thinking, “Dude, that’s a bit reckless.” The mental progression here is impressive:

1. One golf ball left for 5 holes? Clearly the logical move is to wade into chemical soup.
2. Scratched arm + mystery pond black water = what could go wrong?
3. Treatment? A “sprinkle” from my water bottle. Medical professionals everywhere faint as I described my logic a few nights later at 2 am in the ER.

Before Colleen drove me to the ER, I experience a Ben Hogan (1940’s Championship golfer) hallucination at 102°. I was shooting the round of my life, until Colleen woke me up as I hit her on a backswing, while she slept next to me in bed.

After receiving multiple days of antibacterial IVs, I am healing and anxious to restart Camino practice before my March 30 flight to Portugal. I have taken Camino walks in the hustle and bustle of my hospital floor. I’ve been issued my own blue nurse scrubs!

As I walk laps around the floor, I notice many ill, lonely, and sad people healing and dying in hospital rooms. Doctors and nurses serve all patients equally well, equality with excellence. Once a patient is admitted to a hospital and provides an insurance card, nurses and doctors process disparate stories of how, where, when, and why patients are feeling poor. I have told my Turks golf-scrape-black water pond-infection story 25 times in four days. Every medical professional wanted my original story of a novice golfer enjoying sunshine and beautiful beaches crashing into a 102° temperature with bright red swollen skin and sepsis. Two young male nurses from a different section quietly entered my room after hours to inquire about my escapade! We were sharing exaggerated golf stories in minutes.

This funny story would never have started if I didn’t have health insurance coverage. About 8,000 year-round Cape Cod residents do not have health insurance but work full time building and painting houses, mowing lawns, and serving food to customers. These 8,000 working residents pay taxes but have no insurance, and would be bankrupt being treated with my infection in a hospital.

But, there is a solution, started by retired Emergency Room Physician Dr. Kevin Bresnahan. He started Barnstable County Bridge Care, a lifeline for lower-income families living within 20 miles of Hyannis, Cape Cod. Since January 2024, this volunteer-run clinic, staffed by two nurses and two physicians, has served nearly 1,000 patients who would otherwise rely solely on Cape Cod Hospital’s Emergency Room for basic healthcare needs. Bridge Care provides preventive care and essential medical services at no cost to patients. Bridge serves all community members, with specific support to the Brazilian immigrant population. Bridge operates at an efficient cost of just $30 per patient visit.
Bridge Care aims to double capacity in 2025 by expanding from two to four exam rooms, adding additional sites, medical supplies, and optometry services, a critical community need. Kevin estimates the $50,000 budget consists of medical and optometry equipment and supplies, facility overhead and insurance costs.
Donations are tax-deductible through their affiliate, the Brazilian Resource Center (501c3). Checks are payable to Brazilian Resource Center (specify “Bridge Care” in the memo) and mailed to PO Box 2153, Hyannis MA 02601.  For third-party donations, notify Dr. Bresnahan at kbres@comcast.net. Any donation amount benefits as per patient cost is $30. Please!

Infection 3 days after sticking my scraped arm in a black pond!