Chicken Breathers

I grew up down in Cambodia, CA. Went to high school over in Oxnard, CA. Could always get me a decent burrito down on A Street and was fairly comfortable venturing into La Colonia as long as I had a buddy with me.

How does this all fit into the health care debate, you might ask?

Well, my pal Joe at work tells me the story of his son-in-law, who's a firefighter down in Oxnard. It seems those guys go out on so many medical emergency calls -- as opposed to fires -- that they actually have a firefighter slang term for them.

They call them "chicken breathers," as in...
"...Chee can't breathe...."

More on the same topic here...

Among the hidden costs of the health care crisis is the burden that fire departments across the country are facing as firefighters, much like emergency room doctors, are increasingly serving as primary care providers.

About 80 percent of the calls handled by Engine Company 10 are medical emergencies because the firehouse serves one of the city’s poorest areas, where few residents have health insurance, doctors’ checkups are rare, and medical problems are left to fester until someone dials 911.