It's hard to grasp just how important the public hospital system is until you read a book like "Bellevue". I was already in awe after reading about them implementing the country's first ambulance service, but as I read about their staff's utterly selfless response during the emergence of the AIDS crisis all I could do was sit there and shake my head. The staff accounts of responding to the September 11th attacks and of hauling buckets of fuel up to the 13th floor emergency generator during hurricane Sandy are gut wrenching. Read it.
