Fact Finding: helping people who need to know
something and don't have time to learn

Not long after the fall of the iron curtain, an American singer recently arrived in Prague lost his voice and needed help diagnosing and treating the problem. The health system in those days was transitioning from the complex and corrupt communist-socialist model to a free-market version and the entertainer, who did not speak Czech, could not navigate these systems on his own.

I was able to find a clinic that catered to the Czech music stars, learned how to cut through the red tape to facilitate his acceptance there as a regular patient, and set up a payment plan that took into account his being a foreigner without a Czech citizen's ID number or health card.

I accompanied him for his weekly appointments, facilitated communication, and researched the veracity of recommended procedures and medicines.

When exercises were recommended to coincide with the medical treatment, I researched possible services and learned how to make them available for a foreigner without state sponsorship.

I facilitated and interpreted at his weekly singing lessons with a teacher at the Prague Music Conservatory and weekly voice training sessions with a coach who worked with top Czech stage actors.