TOUCHED BY LYME: Lyme education outreach for San Francisco cabbies
Robin Krop, a San Francisco Lyme activist, finds herself riding taxis several times a week, because she has a bad hip and bouncing buses are too uncomfortable. Before she gets in the cab, she asks the driver if his shock absorbers are in good shape. If he says they are, then she gets in and instructs him to take only the most smoothly surfaced roads (she knows which ones they are) so it will be easier on her hip. At that point, he usually says, “What’s wrong with your hip?” And she answers, “I have Lyme disease. Have you ever heard of it?”
Usually, the answer is no. That’s when she tells the driver, “I didn’t know about it either….”
She tells them her health took a big nose dive when she was bitten by a tick 30 years ago in Big Sur, California, though she didn’t know she had Lyme until about five years ago. “And I know of seven cases of Lyme that were acquired right here in San Francisco,” she says.
Robin has honed her educational message to a short burst that can be delivered in a cab ride, and, if the driver is interested, she hands out a quarter page flyer she carries with her with more information. Bottom line: you, your family, and your pets are all at risk. You have to protect yourself from ticks.
Some of the drivers have never heard of ticks or Lyme disease. Others know someone with Lyme. Every once in a while, she says, the driver may start asking urgent questions.
“If I’m not in a hurry and the driver isn’t in a hurry, I may end up talking to him for half an hour after we’ve arrived at the destination,” she says. “Sometimes, the driver is worried about symptoms he or a family member may have.”
Robin’s doesn’t talk Lyme only to cab drivers, of course. She’ll talk to anybody who will listen, including members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. And she’s not afraid to take that message to the streets. That photo up top shows her holding a bullhorn in front of SF City Hall. It was snapped during last fall’s San Francisco Lymewalk. Plans for the 2011 Lymewalk are already underway. If you’re near San Francisco, and want to get involved, click here to email her.
Dorothy,
another great article on my online friend, ROBIN; kudos to you robin!
she keeps me informed of her activism, but this one i had to hear of from another source. way to go robin!
bettyg, iowa lyme activist/friend/lyme group leader 🙂
WOW! I'd love to have those little flyers! (I did have magnetic signs made up for the car that say "Denying Lyme is a Crime"(reaction to them has changed a LOT in the last year or so) I'm an old 60's activist but my son, daughter and I have all had Lyme for a couple of decades and our medical and government system here in Canada is intransigent – no Lyme here, no treatment here! So days when we can get up and run an errand we feel lucky. Government is starting to cover their butts now and there are little signs in some doctors' offices warning to do Tick Checks (like they have had in Vet offices forever). I keep telling my vet that I wish I could disguise us as dogs so we could get treatment….I HAVE to get those little explanatory hand-outs!!!
I just checked back here – Dorothy, thx for writing up the story of my past five years! And thx, Betty and Madeleine, for your appreciative comments! Madeleine – I first typed up 1/8 page slips which said Plague Alert!! with websites listed on the back. Then I wrote up 1/4 pg ones – one version in general and the other with some local info, and both with websites listed at the bottom. I also have a 1/2 pg size for bulletin boards. You can reach me at sf_seal@sbcglobal.net – thx!