Clinic Escape

I dreamed I was in a refugee camp, and it was increasingly clear that the refugees were shipped out if they were making any sort of trouble. Since no one ever heard from them again, we assumed the worst. I decided that I needed to get out before I was labeled as one of the trouble makers. I scraped together all my coins and a couple of bits of paper money, then cleaned up my clothing, trading several shirts to get one clean white button down shirt. I managed to blacken up my shoes so they looked presentable and made my way to the camp clinic. Once there, I managed to slip out of the line, and into a closet area, where I was able to don a lab coat and walk out unchallenged to the non-public side of the clinic.

The lab coat I had on had a badge that let me leave the camp side of the building and cross into the open side of the building. I got pulled into a room to consult on a case, there was a moment of panic when I thought I would be discovered, but I was able to read the charts and look at the woman. I could see that she was malnourished and pregnant at the same time. I was dismayed to see that on the generic treatment recommendations form, lethal injection was one of the options. The rumors were likely true, then, that a visit to the camp clinic could be one's last. We agreed that the woman needed about 1400 calories a day, and a significant portion needed to be from protein.  (She had a very low iron score on her blood test results.) I suggested an iron supplement, as I knew that fresh greens were in short supply for refugees, and any protein she was likely to have access to would be vegetable and insect protein - lacking in iron. Anemia was a common problem in the camp.

The other doctor complained about making the camp even more crowded, and I joked that it was too bad we couldn't prescribe social integration. I thought I might have blown it at that point, but I could tell the doctor agreed with me.

I explained that my shift was long over and I should go, and with that, I got an orderly to carry my coat back into the dressing room, and declined a cab, saying it was a lovely day for a walk, (Which, if it wasn't in the nineties would even have been true.)

I headed into the nearby town, wondering how I was going to get myself to the coast, and on board a boat to just about anywhere else. I passed a stall that had lots of seed packets for sale, all for mere pennies. I bought a bunch of them, then made the trip back to the clinic. I found the doctor still on duty there, and handed him the seed packets. "Give one to each patient you see today, perhaps we can help fix this ourselves." He agreed and we parted again. This time I left the other doctors badge at the front desk, telling the very bored looking receptionist I had found it outside. She thanked me like this was a common thing and promised to page the doctor to have him pick it up.