Fair Trade Helps

As we in the US are currently on a quest to understand Healthcare, and its availability and need in this nation and worldwide, we’ve sent our feelers out to some other Fair Traders we know.  We’ve recently talked about Peru, our home turf, but now we turn East to Cambodia, where our friend Tom Yesberger, president of Baskets of Cambodia sheds some light into Cambodia’s health care system and how Fair Trade is affecting the health of his artisans.

 We asked Tom to elaborate on Cambodia’s system at large and what coverage, if any does his company provide to its artisan groups. “At Baskets of Cambodia, we pay 80% – 100% of health care expenses- and all our makers know this and are encouraged to report any problems up front. We can do that because health care is probably 1/10 or less of what is it here [in the US], and our makers have no concept of spending days in the hospital on end, expensive medications, etc.- but they are glad to have this umbrella,” he says.

 We were happy to hear that Baskets of Cambodia is able to provide for their workers.  What a cool thing!  But we wondered also what challenges they face:

  “One interesting problem is- doctors in Cambodia will refuse to treat people, sometimes even in emergency situations unless they can pay – so we have to have a staff person or sometimes a foreigner accompany them to the doctor.  In an emergency, they can be treated and just present the bills to BOC later, but non-emergency issues that are nonetheless serious, we are usually involved from the beginning.

 Another problem is- if a maker works with a doctor to inflate the bill which we believe has happened on just a few occasions. That is why we set the limit at 80% and also demand at least two independent opinions- except in routine cases like childbirth, etc.  As well, if a doctor knows things are covered, they will also increase the healthcare to whatever they can afford, or they will only charge 80%,” Tom says.

 Some of the recent cases they’ve helped with have been natural childbirths, C-sections (which they do not encourage except where fully supported), tuberculosis, hysterectomies, tumors, burns, motor accidents, dental care, eye injury, and eyeglass prescriptions.  They also keep a file on each case so they can learn what works and what the most imperative needs are. 

 “At this point, it is an interesting social experiment and will perhaps morph into a program once we have more confidence in the system there. For now, we are trying to locate dentists that we can refer all our makers to, and just trying to choose doctors carefully.  Even with this, some choose to use local healers instead or have their birthing done by a mid-wife in their village which we will pay for as well.  We keep a sizable amount of money in reserve should we face something truly serious,” says Tom.

 Figuring out how to handle artists’ mobility from workshop to workshop or part-timers, Tom admits is also a challenge they face with their program:   “This is a gray area we look at case by case. The other issue is family which is something we have yet to formulate, because the concept of family can be quite outstretched and hard to verify. Generally, immediate children can receive help.  Husbands [or partners] can sometimes be difficult to verify,” he says.

 Even after Baskets of Cambodia had started their healthcare plan, accidents happened. One unfortunate case early on involved the child of their best basket marker, who died of diarrhea.  The problem, if addressed early on, would have been an easy one to treat if only communication had been better. “It was because of that  [incident] that we started telling [all our workers] to let us know about any problems so we could help,” Tom recalls.  “I think any help, advice, education is better than none, and the cost is small….even small efforts make a big psychological differences with our makers. They know we care about their health.”

 Our Q & A reminded Tom that there are issues on their plate that need more clarity, things like pre and post natal care, regular dental and doctor visits.  But the folks at Baskets of Cambodia think one of the most challenging hurdles is expressing the urgency they feel about making healthcare available. “If you have good caring staff to adequately represent our healthcare goals, then this system works best.”

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 We at Fairtradehelps.com Blog would like to thank Tom and Baskets of Cambodia for all the information on Cambodia health care and for how their efforts in Fair Trade are coming to fruition.  You can learn more about the company and purchase their handmade crafts here: http://www.basketsofcambodia.com/ .