“Is she okay?” the startled legislative staffer asked, eyes shifting to the adults around him as the trach tube protruding from the neck of a 2-year-old gurgled.In the air-conditioned, marble halls of Congress, you often hear the click of heels as staffers rush from room to room or the booming voices of our nation’s representatives making a pitch for some legislation. You do not hear the gurgle of a trach tube. Until this week. “Let me just suction,” one mom said as a blue-suited staffer’s eyes widened at the strange sounds coming from the toddler in pigtails. “We could see it in their eyes, most of them have never seen a child with a trach tube,” said Elena Hung, one of the moms who on Tuesday walked the halls pushing her child’s giant medical rig, showing Capitol Hill folks the actual kids their wheeling, dealing, backroom bargaining and political gamesmanship will affect in the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act.
Washington Post: Parents of sick kids try to remind Congress what the health-care debate should be about
“Is she okay?” the startled legislative staffer asked, eyes shifting to the adults around him as the trach tube protruding from the neck of a 2-year-old gurgled.In the air-conditioned, marble halls of Congress, you often hear the click of heels as staffers rush from room to room or the booming voices of our nation’s representatives making a pitch for some legislation. You do not hear the gurgle of a trach tube. Until this week. “Let me just suction,” one mom said as a blue-suited staffer’s eyes widened at the strange sounds coming from the toddler in pigtails. “We could see it in their eyes, most of them have never seen a child with a trach tube,” said Elena Hung, one of the moms who on Tuesday walked the halls pushing her child’s giant medical rig, showing Capitol Hill folks the actual kids their wheeling, dealing, backroom bargaining and political gamesmanship will affect in the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act.