Misericordia 1

Today was our first day volunteering at Misericordia, and thus our first order of business was to meet with the executive director of volunteers (Theresa) and tour the campus with her. Before going on the tour she described the history and purpose of Misericordia and let us know what daily life here is like. While most of it was purely informational, she did say something that I think is significant. She mentioned that because Misericordia is a nonprofit campus, they receive about half of its funding from the government while the rest of it has to be generated through fundraisers. Given that the residents here receive quality health care around the clock, we asked Theresa if there's a tuition that each resident has to pay in order to remain at Misericordia. I think we were all expecting her to say that there is a required tuition. But the reality surprised us in a good way. She said that while there is no required tuition, it is expected of every family who has a member living at Misericordia to make regular donations to the organization. Those donations can be any amount. But Misericordia specifically asks that each family donate what they can. Theresa said that while there are some families that obviously don't pay the full amount that they could, there are others who pay more than what is wise because they are so grateful for the services that Misericordia provides. I think this is a novel way to approach these kinds of services because it doesn't mean anyone will be turned away only because they can't pay. So the system prevents discrimination against smaller families or families with low paying jobs. It ensures everyone an equal opportunity because they only ask that you donate what you can.

On the tour of Misericordia, Theresa was still describing daily life in each of the buildings. Again, most of what she said was so purely informational that most of it will probably be forgotten within the next few days. But there was another incident that I think will stick with me for a while. We were in the severe/profound building on campus and Theresa was telling us about how, in Chicago, water used to be a free resource. However, the mayor decided that they needed to start taxing water. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about this decision. A state in debt surely needs the money. Clearly that state should start charging a fee on such an essential resource to help raise them out of debt. But for nonprofit organizations such as Misericrodia, this cost of water was something near astronomical for them. Apparently many smaller organizations had to close their doors because they simply could not afford to maintain a sanitary living environment with such a high price for their primary cleaning material. As Theresa was telling us this story, she mentioned something that their executive director had said to the mayor: "I will never apologize for cleaning a resident who has soiled themselves." Now that I think about the cost of water from this perspective, it becomes clear exactly how necessary water is for organizations like Misericordia. The residents here need a larger amount of water than able bodied citizens because they can't always control their excretory systems, or how often they need to be cleaned, or if they can keep their dinner down. Everyone deserves to live in a sanitary environment and that right should not be taken away simply because this population needs more water on average than able bodied citizens.