Live Music Concerts at Pheasant Run !
Fri May 4 8pm
BACK COUNTRY ROADS
Fri May 25 8pm
CHICAGO LATIN GROOVE
Sun May 27 3pm
MIDNIGHT RIDER
Sat June 2 8pm
TOO BAD COMPANY
Ticket Box Office ( 224 ) 944-2591 • www . MainstageTix . com
Artisit and Music Booking in part by : United Talent Coordinators Sigman Brothers
12 illinoisentertainer . com may 2018
Sun May 20 3pm
HEARTACHE TONIGHT
Sat May 26 8pm
HI INFIDELITY
Fri June 1 8pm
Sun June 3 3pm
THIS END UP
Pheasant Run Resort 4501 East Main Street • St . Charles IL 60174 Phone : ( 630 ) 584-6300 • www . PheasantRun . com
EYE ON LONDON
I
f you ’ re a big fan of WFLD-TV News ( Fox 32 ) in Chicago , you might have noticed that their ace investigative reporter Dane Placko hasn ’ t been on the air for about a month . Don ’ t worry . He isn ’ t the victim of budget cuts . He hasn ’ t been demoted . He didn ’ t get hired away by the networks . He just got stuck . In England .
It ’ s a rather strange story indeed . At the end of March , Placko took his two daughters ( ages 13 and 11 ) on an adventure of a lifetime over spring break . They went to London to see the sights , and boy did they .
“ We toured the movie studio where they shot all the Harry Potter movies ,” he explained on Facebook . “ We sat in on a Brexit debate in Parliament . We dodged raindrops for an afternoon at the London Zoo . And we enjoyed the cheesy / gory history tour at the London Dungeon . But during the Walking Tour for Muggles on Thursday , I noticed some blurriness at the bottom of the field of vision in my left eye . Friday it was slightly worse . And when I woke up Saturday I knew I was in trouble . A large shadowy disc had robbed me of most of the sight in the affected eye .”
Thus began the actual adventure , which included a trip they hadn ’ t planned : A trip through the National Health System in Britain . Dane had to have emergency eye surgery to repair a detached retina .
Experiencing the different health care system was something that Dane found quite interesting , despite the scary circumstances . His reporter ’ s mind took over , and he asked questions , observed his surroundings , and made mental notes . It sounded as if he was preparing a report for Fox 32 when I talked to him the day after the surgery . “ The waiting was pretty bad , as advertised ” he admitted on the phone , “ but the surgery was incredibly professional , and it cost a fraction of what it would have cost in America .”
Dane ’ s take on this subject was also of enormous interest in England . London ’ s independent newspaper , the Islington Tribune , asked Placko to compare the NHS to the type of care he might receive in the United States . “ I ’ ve been of the belief [ the ] healthcare system [ in the US ] is immeasurably screwed up ,” he told reporter Emily Finch . “ Drug costs are regularly too high , and treatment is too expensive . There are two classes of service people receive . What struck me about my time at Moorfields ( a specialist NHS eye hospital in London ) was that there was a very broad cross-section of society – people who didn ’ t have money and people who seemed to be prosperous individuals and of all ethnicities . It was more socially representative of the community .”
But Dane ’ s trip didn ’ t include just an unscheduled stop in the international spotlight . The diagnosis from the doctors delivered one other little tidbit of news . “ As part of the surgery , they replaced the vitreous liquid in the eye with a gas jelly that holds the retina in place . I was given a stern warning not to fly for at least four weeks . Otherwise , the gas would expand and
By Rick Kaempfer
make my eye [ could ] ‘ splode .”
The potential of his eye exploding was enough to scare him straight . He knew he had no choice , so he started making calls back to the states . His bosses at Fox were very understanding of the situation . His friends promised to help him with the Cubs tickets he wouldn ’ t be able to use the first month of the season ( Dane is a seasonticket holder ). But Placko still had to figure out a way to get his daughters back home . That ended up taking nearly a week and costing him a pretty penny . The age of his youngest daughter ( 11 ) meant that she couldn ’ t travel back to the US as an unsupervised adult , so Dane had to pay for a “ supervisor ” ( his daughter ' s mom ) to come and bring her home . Doing that at the last second is harder and more expensive than you might imagine .
Dane Plako
And that was just the beginning of his extra expenses . Even though this hardship was brought on by a medical emergency , Dane ’ s insurance wouldn ’ t pick up the cost of the additional lodging and meals . Have you priced hotels in London lately ? Have you stayed there for a month ? “ The surgery might have been cheaper here ,” he confided , “ but trust me , I ’ m making that up with everything else I have to pay for here .”
When I called him in London , he was just getting ready to take a train to nearby York . “ I ’ ve been there before ,” he said . “ It ’ s a great little town , and it ’ s a fraction of the cost of London .” The veteran reporter admitted that he hasn ’ t exactly received an outpouring of sympathy from his friends and colleagues back in Chicago . “ Most everyone has said things like – you can still go to the pubs , right ? There are worse places to be stranded .”
My query to him went a little something like this . “ Let me get this straight , you have no choice – you have to stay on holiday for a month – something no one in America is ever allowed to do under any circumstances – and this has been cleared , nay mandated , by medical experts ?” “ I know how it sounds ,” he admitted with a chuckle , “ but believe me , I ’ d much rather get this eye back to normal and get back to work .” Hand on a bible , Fox 32 newsroom . That ’ s what he really said .