Life in the Sickest Town in America

[X_Digger]

According to Lindner’s calculations, five of the 10 counties that have the most people on disability are in Virginia—and so are four of the lowest, making the state an emblem of how wealth and work determine health and well-being. Six hours to the north, in Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun Counties, just one out of every hundred adults draws SSDI benefits. But Buchanan county is home to a shadow economy of maimed workers, eking out a living the only way they can—by joining the nation’s increasingly sizable disability rolls.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/01/life-in-the-sickest-town-in-america/384718/

This was my home town. While the author took some license with the facts (Grundy has and has always had multiple supermarkets; 95% of the roads are paved; cell service is ubiquitous, though only Verizon covers the whole county; there is a large hospital and plenty of medical clinics around), it really nails some of the worst conditions.

I say this as someone who got the hell out of town as fast as possible just so that I wouldn't fall into the same pit.

[Suich]

1. Wow!

That article is a really tough read, X_Digger.

I'm glad you were able to get out of Grundy.

I hope you're doing well and I wish you the best!

[Tsiyu]

2. Coal miners are my heroes

The ones around here ( when there were more mines ) would get up hours before dawn to walk over and down and over and down all the ridges and gulfs - for hours - before starting their shifts. Then they'd turn around and walk the same tortuous route home.

They are the bravest.

Local miners didn't take being cheated and exploited. Some gave hell to the scum who owned the mines as often as they could, and with many sacrifices. They don't really trust anybody now.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. The way Republicans would handle this is to kick everyone off of the disability rolls....

See?

Problem solved.

[Historic NY]

5. Endless cycle.

< Locals blame the town’s economic slump on the decline of coal, which they in turn blame on the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations. Several yards were dotted with campaign signs urging passers-by to “Stop Obama/Vote Gillespie.” (Sixty percent of Buchanan county voted for Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate for Senate, though he lost in the state overall.)>

<Virginia rejected the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which would have insured an additional 170,000 people. Because getting to a doctor is hard and expensive, people self-medicate with prescription painkillers, alcohol, and tobacco.>

Sound like an endless circle from little or no education, no real jobs beyond mining, little or no investment in the community. Yup its Obama's fault.....just ask them .

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. They've been told Obama is stealing from them to give free stuff to "inner city blacks"....

The "Obama Phone" is an example.

Now every time one of these people sees a black person with a cell phone they get mad because they think they paid for it.

I'm telling you, Republicans are using the techniques of the mythical Satan. Appeal to everyone's greed and hatred and fear and prejudice to get their votes and they will keep doing it because it works.

[Historic NY]

14. Yes I know the same kind of people.....

taking guns. When you actually pin them down they stumble and say he might. For some strange reason they think Obama makes the laws not the GOP Congress that feeds them this crap.

They seem to think someone else is getting more than them but in truth 38.8% of whites are on welfare compared to 39.8% blacks. http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. Most of them think voting for the President is the closest they can get to picking a boss.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. You may enjoy this clip...

http://server4.whiterosesociety.org/content/malloy/MalloyMemories/Freedumb_isn%27t_free.mp3

[world wide wally]

4. I thought coal was so good for the economy and the workers.. it creates jobs we can't live without

Guess I heard wrong

[X_Digger]

10. Coal (and lumber before that) are about the only industries really possible in an area like this.

There is very little flat land on which to build. Most of the existing flat land is flood plain (multiple floods have wiped people out- so much so that they picked up the 'town' of Grundy and moved it to higher ground.)



This is a good example of the majority of the county- a mountain going almost straight up on one side, road, then creek, then a small slice of land carved out of the mountain on the other side where folks live on small bits of land (and hope that a hard rain doesn't bring the mountain down in their laps).

Not only is flat land scarce, there's damned little in the way of transportation for goods out of the area. US 460 is the largest road out, but it's a twisty steep trip up over Shortt Gap toward the nearest interstate, which is about 90 minutes away.



Rail is how the coal goes out, but there's no station where non-coal rail cars could be loaded.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Some of those places are ideal for wind turbines.

[X_Digger]

17. The mountains tend to trap wind. Only the highest peaks on the edge of the range get good wind.

Summer there is miserable- no wind, no rain, incredible humidity.. then tons of rain and flooding.

Not to mention, the transmission infrastructure would be cost prohibitive (if it's any indication, there are 'hollers' where electricity is still yet to be ran.)

[svip]

18. Not accurate

As a resident of the county of which this article was written, this reply is wholly inaccurate of this county. The weather, and the infrastructure (electricity wise) is just not true.

It is however true that there are certainly areas where broadband internet, and cell phone service are next to impossible to get. That's true of nearly every mountainous area in this country.

As far as this article, it's sadly a pretty accurate representation of this area. Some slight digs (i.e., shopping choices) that were not true, and not needed in the article.

But to me, the article is more about decades of politicians simply ignoring this area to focus more on central and eastern Virginia. Instead, when politicians do pay attention to this area, it is simply for scare tactics about 'saving coal' or something of the sort. These politicians have never focused on expanding industry, bringing in other jobs that would diversify the area, it has always been solely about coal.

Sadly, even with the coal industry dying right in front of peoples eyes, it's still only about coal and nothing else in this area.

One of the only politicians in my lifetime who was attempting to bring high paying jobs to this area was Rick Boucher. Northrop Grumman, CGI, among others, and procured grants to finally get broadband to the vast majority of residents in SWVA. And he did this is his final year in office. Sadly, he was picked off by the 'cap and trade' BS. Ironically enough, what Boucher told individuals about how the government would act unilaterally to slow down the coal industry if cap and trade was not passed turned out to be 100% accurate.

[X_Digger]

19. Lol.. go up in Guesses Fork. Or the head of Enoch's Branch.

I have a boyhood friend who still lives there (across from what used to be the Woosley's convenience store). His mother who lives past where you can drive still has no electricity.

I grew up at the mouth of Squire Branch. The Mullins' family at the head didn't have electricity until I was in high school.

If you last name is Rife, Sutherland, McGlothlin, Hess, or Smith, you might do okay in Buchanan County.

[ChosenUnWisely]

6. This story should serve as a life lesson of what happens when one votes for republicans

One way to look at the story is they are getting exactly what they been voting for by supporting and voting for republicans.

Sure it is a sad story but it is what they wanted, just not the results they expected.

[daredtowork]

8. hmm I think you missed why they voted Republican

See my long comment below. I'm from that area of Virginia and also in the "disability application hell" process now, so I have some observations.

Ps. While I'm not from Grundy, I also got out as soon as possible, lol.

[ChosenUnWisely]

9. Having also gone through the disability application hell I have one piece of advice

lawyer up asap if you want to win.

It took almost 2 years to get it for a family member and it was hell as you said. The nice part was the claim got back dated so they got a nice check with almost 2 years of payments as the first check, which helped greatly. After 4 years on disability they are now working full time again.

What was even harder was stopping the payments after they went back to work and informed SS, it took a letter to my Senator to finally stop the checks from coming after over a year of telling them, SS, that they were back to work! The crazy part was that once the checks stopped SS tried to come and collect over payments and took them to court, the judge dismissed the case and let them keep the overpayments because they documented how they contacted SS every month and told them they were working and SS said OK thanks for telling us and nothing else. The hearing lasted all of 5 minutes with the judge spending 40 minutes bitching at the SS lawyers, mainly for wasting his time and fucking up. Apparently it was a common problem with SS at the time of SS not stopping payments then going back after people when SS screws up. While on SS Disability one can both work and collect the full disability check during a transition period, I think it was 6 months, so if the person tries to go back to work then finds out they can't work they don't have to go through the disability process again. They just tell SS they tried but still could not work.

It is a good program and I am glad we still have it, I fully expect the Republicans to go after it the next 2 years even screwing over those that vote republican even more, which I do not care about at all when republicans get screwed, it is what they voted for, I only care about those that vote for liberals and progressives, everyone else not so much, I just give em, conservatives, what they want and treat them accordingly.

[daredtowork]

7. The sociology of this is fascinating

btw, I'm from this area of Virginia, and I can vouch for the suspicion that everyone is ripping off the system even if everyone is on disability. I couldn't get a florist to sign my unemployment slip there after I had honestly applied for a job at her shop, even though she had just gotten a job supplying flowers for my father's funeral and knew I needed a job for the summer: they seriously don't believe in government benefits for THOU because the guilt for needing them has been drummed in so hard.

I'd like to underscore the part of this article that explains the county voted Republican to "stop Obama" even though it's dominated by SSI/SSDI recipients and suffering from Virginia's denial of the expansion of Medicaid. Is it because they are stupid? Is it because they have been hypnotized by magic tricks of the Koch brothers? No, it's because they felt so bad for living on SSI that they were casting around for who to blame the destruction of the coal economy on: must be Obama and the EPA! (other States might cast this "Obama and immigrants!" or "Obama and the TPP!"...).

Anyway, there is a story in there about the dignity of work. People do want to work. They don't regard the work they are doing as slavery or otherwise being tricked into lining the pockets of the greedy 1%. If they are given a clear path to work, they will take it instead of SSI. By the way, I'd like to vouch that the same thing goes for city dwellers, too. 99% of what perpetuates unemployment in cities where there are jobs that remain unfilled is the *recruiting/hiring process itself*. It's the *gateway* that's the big barrier to employment. The whole process is just filled with too much behaviorial manipulation techniques, violations of integrity, financial impositions and unfair stresses on the poor, an arcane and corrupt emphasis on personal recommendations and self-reporting (inflated resumes and interview "performances" filtered through the biases of hiring managers). Is it any wonder everyone hates the job hunting process, but doesn't mind at all if they are already safely in a job and get "poached" from there? As long as an employer wants you, and doesn't make you go through the "normal" process, it's hard to remember what is so awful about the whole thing. Well, it's awful.

So, let's just posit for a change that people would stampede in the workplace if the indignities around looking for work weren't creating some sort of barrier. And part of this indignity involves the over-specialization that his hidden jobs and keeps the worn-down, impoverished underclass of the long-term, often disabled unemployed running around playing shell games for years on end. This is the well from which people draw their self-respect, especially in Virginia. If the EPA hadn't shut down the coal mines, if Obama hadn't let companies outsource all the good paying jobs, then there would be a good job open right when the hard working person of good conscience needed one. Realistic or not, that is the mentality.

Not sure if that's useful knowledge for future policy-making (please do not electioneer without the policy behind it), just thought I'd point out that I saw a "Red State" key in that article, and suddenly it made more sense to me than ever before. Everything starts with giving individuals a dignified place to stand.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. Some of them are convinced the poor got that way because of sin.