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Our national shame

Posted by nyceve on June 5, 2008 - 5:30am

The juxaposition takes your breath away.

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Barack Obama, an African-American, becomes the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party and will likely be the next President of the United States.

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More grim information about the tragic realities of our broken healthcare system. In a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation we learn:

Race and place of residence can have a staggering impact on the course and quality of the medical treatment a patient receives, according to new research showing that blacks with diabetes or vascular disease are nearly five times more likely than whites to have a leg amputated and that women in Mississippi are far less likely to have mammograms than those in Maine.

 



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And if this doesn't make you wan to weep, in Los Angeles, the second largest city in the richest nation on the planet, if you're poor (or even middle class), healthcare is a luxury not a basic right of citizenship.

 Here's how the New York Times describes healthcare on the South Side of Los Angeles.

 In the richest country on the planet

A City Where Hospitals Are as Ill as the Patients

LOS ANGELES — The patients line up at 6:30 a.m. outside the tidy clinic. Two hours later, when it opens, they will sit and wait some more.

There are 22-year-olds, holding neat piles of pills on their laps, small children whose mothers try to distract them with plastic rattles, elderly immigrants who sit silently, staring at nothing in particular, until their names are called.

And there are nearly 70 percent more of them walking into the clinic, the St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in Compton, since nearby Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital closed last summer.

For thousands of residents of South Los Angeles who had depended on the large county-run King-Harbor hospital, the past 10 months have been a grueling exercise in cobbling together medical care. When King-Harbor was shut by federal officials, it became the 15th general acute care hospital to close in Los Angeles County since 2000, about half of which served residents in South Los Angeles.

In the richest country on the planet

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has proposed another 10 percent cut in the state’s Medicaid program to balance the state’s budget while Congress contemplates a host of reductions to the program that, if approved, would mean $240 million less for Los Angeles.

Just hang your head in shame. Let's go a bit further.

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So where does the money go?

As President Bush's health chief, Tommy Thompson trumpeted millions of taxpayer dollars to help workers sickened by the Sept. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center, even amid complaints that his agency wasn't doing enough.

Now, Thompson's private company has won an $11 million contract to treat some of those same workers — the latest twist in a fitful government effort to determine how many people were made ill by the toxic debris — and to care for them.

The contract awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is aimed at tracking the health of between 4,000 and 6,000 workers who live outside the New York City area, where a separate health monitoring program is in place. The CDC is part of the Health and Human Services Department, which Thompson headed in Bush's first term.

Like I said, just hang your head in shame.

 

 

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Read it and weep . . .

Submitted by nyceve on June 5, 2008 - 5:32am.

Here's to Barack Obama and a sweeping and transformative election.

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Why Not? Everybody in, Nobody out.

Submitted by Donna Smith - S... on June 5, 2008 - 8:48am.

"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not." Robert F. Kennedy

That's what the poster next to my bed said. Sure, it was the late 60s when even in the midst of turmoil and trauma we still had some passion for changing the world and making it better, more kind, more just, more safe.

 

But there are many like me out there -- bruised and battered by the fight but still dreaming of better tomorrows -- we fight on today.

 

The shame we should all feel for our fellow citizens suffering needlessly is that we sometimes wrap oursleves in our own safety nets and fail to wade fearlessly into the injustice of it all.  An occassional rally or letter will not suffice.

 

Will Barack Obama be an agent of change?  It's possible.  Will he be an agent of the change we desire, the change that is just and right for the country?  That will be up to us -- each and every one of us who give a damn -- to make sure the change he now says he believes must come is the same change we fight for every day as patients, as nurses and as citizens.

 

And we're going to bring it on at every venue and in every way we can.  For those too weak to fight, we will speak.  We are the change he speaks of.  We are the change.

 

From Los Angeles to New Orleans, from Chicago to Atlanta, from Salt Lake City to Boston, our good citizens are crying out for healthcare.  Their hospitals and clinics suffer and the people suffer.  The change needed is clear.  Publically funded, privately delivered healthcare -- like that already drafted in HR676 and already co-sponsored by 90 members of Congress -- is the answer.

 

Everybody in, nobody out.  Why not?

 

  

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PUT THE POWER IN NOBODY LEFT BEHIND

Submitted by kathleen orington on January 30, 2009 - 7:13pm.

Kathleen Orington, RN

'EVERYBODY IN, NOBODY OUT' MUST HAPPEN. AND NOT IN THE MANNER THAT 'LEAVE MO CHILD BEHIND' PLAYED OUT. BUSH USED THE SLOGAN BUT DID NOT PUT THE MONEY INTO EDUCATION SO THAT THE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WHO ARE LEFT BEHIND, COULD BE FOUND, AND POSSIBLY WOULD CATCH UP.

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT WE ALL NEED TO GET MORE ACTIVE, AT LEAST MORE VOCAL...MAKE SOME NOISE...WHAT THE HELL???? WE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE. WHEN BARACK WON OUR UNIT MANAGER SAID NOT ONE WORD ABOUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING, ALTHOUGH ALL THE ANCILLARY SVS EMPLOYEES WERE GRINNING FROM EAR TO EAR. IN FACT, SHE, WHO IS FROM THE PHILIPINES & WHOSE HUSBAND IS A MD, MAKES IT CLEAR,'NURSES ON OUR FLOORS ARE TO BE ROBOTS, WORK ALWAYS WITHOUT BREAKS, AND NEVER TALK POLITICS OR DISCUSS OUR VERY CLEAR UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCE WITH A SYSTEM THAT DOESN'T WORK'.

COME ON PEOPLE...ARE WE ROBOTS? DO WE WORK WITHOUT BREAKS...BECAUSE THE PATIENTS ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN WE ARE?
I DON'T...AND NOW IS THE TIME TO BE TALKING TO EACH OTHER...

LET'S STOP ALL THE BUSINESS AS USUAL, OUR NEW PRESIDENT HAS INSTRUCTED US TO ALL FIND NEW WAYS AND NOT DEFEND SYSTEMS THAT ARE NOT FUNCTIONING. WE ARE ON THE FRONT LINE..WE ARE THE VOICES WHO CAN SHARE THE STORIES OF WHAT WE SEE AND KNOW IS WRONG.

PLEASE, SOMEBODY PUT ON A FRESH POT OF COFFEE....LET'S SMELL IT AND REALIZE THAT FRESH IS GOOD, FRESH IS HEALTHY, FRESH IS WHAT WE NEED. DON'T SUPPORT BUSINESS AS USUAL AND ACT LIKE THE THINGS WE SEE EACH AND EVERY DAY AT WORK CAN BE SUPPORTED...

WHY SHOULD WE? AS IT IS...THOSE OF US WITH ANY INSURANCE CAN LOSE IT TOMORROW. SO, HOW DEPENDABLE AND STABLE IS OUR - YOUR SYSTEM? AND THAT'S NOT TO EVEN GO NEAR THE UNINSURED, THE DYSFUNCTION AND THE WASTE ISSUES. LET'S GET SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE ON THE AGENDA AND ON THE NEWS EVERY DAY...UNTIL IT'S PASSED.

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR STRONG, HOT COFFEE IN YOUR HAND? OK, NOWGO AHEAD AND GIVE YOURSELF THAT BREAK... SIT FOR A MOMENT AND REMEMBER THE OLD ADAGE, 'IF IT IS GOING TO BE....IT DEPENDS ON ME'...

SO LET'S TALK TO EACH OTHER, LET'S FEEL EACH OTHERS PAIN, LET'S COMPARE NOTES. WE CAN START THERE AND IT'S AMAZING HOW THINGS WILL DEVELOP. COME ON LADIES, WE'RE WORTH IT. WE ARE THE BACKBONE OF THIS SYSTEM. PLEASE GIVE YOURSELF THE RESPECT YOU DESERVE. TAKE YOUR BREAKS AND TALK TO EACH OTHER. THEN COME BACK HERE & BLOG.

NOW GUESS WHAT, SISTERS? LIGHT JUST TURNED GREEN. FULL SPEED AHEAD! LET'S MAKE THIS THE BEST RIDE!LET'S GIVE 'EM SOMTHIN TO TALK ABOUT !

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Everybody In...Nobody Out

Submitted by kathleen orington on February 8, 2009 - 2:41pm.

Kathleen Orington, RN
PUT THE POWER IN NOBODY LEFT BEHIND
Submitted by kathleen orington on January 30, 2009 - 7:13pm.

'EVERYBODY IN, NOBODY OUT' MUST HAPPEN. AND NOT IN THE MANNER THAT 'LEAVE MO CHILD BEHIND' PLAYED OUT. BUSH USED THE SLOGAN BUT DID NOT PUT THE MONEY INTO EDUCATION SO THAT THE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WHO ARE LEFT BEHIND, COULD BE FOUND, AND POSSIBLY WOULD CATCH UP.

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT WE ALL NEED TO GET MORE ACTIVE, AT LEAST MORE VOCAL...MAKE SOME NOISE...WHAT THE HELL???? WE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE. WHEN BARACK WON OUR UNIT MANAGER SAID NOT ONE WORD ABOUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING, ALTHOUGH ALL THE ANCILLARY SVS EMPLOYEES WERE GRINNING FROM EAR TO EAR. IN FACT, SHE, WHO IS FROM THE PHILIPINES & WHOSE HUSBAND IS A MD, MAKES IT CLEAR,'NURSES ON OUR FLOORS ARE TO BE ROBOTS, WORK ALWAYS WITHOUT BREAKS, AND NEVER TALK POLITICS OR DISCUSS OUR VERY CLEAR UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCE WITH A SYSTEM THAT DOESN'T WORK'.

COME ON PEOPLE...ARE WE ROBOTS? DO WE WORK WITHOUT BREAKS...BECAUSE THE PATIENTS ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN WE ARE?
I DON'T...AND NOW IS THE TIME TO BE TALKING TO EACH OTHER...

LET'S STOP ALL THE BUSINESS AS USUAL, OUR NEW PRESIDENT HAS INSTRUCTED US TO ALL FIND NEW WAYS AND NOT DEFEND SYSTEMS THAT ARE NOT FUNCTIONING. WE ARE ON THE FRONT LINE..WE ARE THE VOICES WHO CAN SHARE THE STORIES OF WHAT WE SEE AND KNOW IS WRONG.

PLEASE, SOMEBODY PUT ON A FRESH POT OF COFFEE....LET'S SMELL IT AND REALIZE THAT FRESH IS GOOD, FRESH IS HEALTHY, FRESH IS WHAT WE NEED. DON'T SUPPORT BUSINESS AS USUAL AND ACT LIKE THE THINGS WE SEE EACH AND EVERY DAY AT WORK CAN BE SUPPORTED...

WHY SHOULD WE? AS IT IS...THOSE OF US WITH ANY INSURANCE CAN LOSE IT TOMORROW. SO, HOW DEPENDABLE AND STABLE IS OUR - YOUR SYSTEM? AND THAT'S NOT TO EVEN GO NEAR THE UNINSURED, THE DYSFUNCTION AND THE WASTE ISSUES. LET'S GET SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE ON THE AGENDA AND ON THE NEWS EVERY DAY...UNTIL IT'S PASSED.

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR STRONG, HOT COFFEE IN YOUR HAND? OK, NOWGO AHEAD AND GIVE YOURSELF THAT BREAK... SIT FOR A MOMENT AND REMEMBER THE OLD ADAGE, 'IF IT IS GOING TO BE....IT DEPENDS ON ME'...

SO LET'S TALK TO EACH OTHER, LET'S FEEL EACH OTHERS PAIN, LET'S COMPARE NOTES. WE CAN START THERE AND IT'S AMAZING HOW THINGS WILL DEVELOP. COME ON LADIES, WE'RE WORTH IT. WE ARE THE BACKBONE OF THIS SYSTEM. PLEASE GIVE YOURSELF THE RESPECT YOU DESERVE. TAKE YOUR BREAKS AND TALK TO EACH OTHER. THEN COME BACK HERE & BLOG.

NOW GUESS WHAT, SISTERS? LIGHT JUST TURNED GREEN. FULL SPEED AHEAD! LET'S MAKE THIS THE BEST RIDE!LET'S GIVE 'EM SOM'TO TALK ABOUT !
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The greatest patient loss in my 28 yrs as a RN

Submitted by kathleen orington on January 17, 2009 - 12:22am.

It took a full year of rehab before he could walk and talk again. The last 10 years of his life, his deficits were R side hemiparesis, he walked with a brace, a cane, had no use of his R arm or hand and he talked with a speech impediment. Still he refused to give in and all he wanted to do was get back into his architectural projects. He was a virtual saint. He practiced his passion for a total 25 years and died in 2003, at the age of 50, of endocarditis. He was truly the victim of that special brand of US Health Care Disparity. Do you know that brand? It is a type of health care disparity that does not even feel threatened by a fully insured, well educated and highly accomplished, black professional male patient. A disparity which ruled that Dennis was not worthy of standard care, in spite of his ability to fully comprehend, should he be given the patient education he needed. This MD gave no pass to his client who had a valve replaced a few years before, due to rheumatic fever. This MD instead, joked about coumadin being rat poison; tested the blood levels only every 3 – 6 months and did not adjust the dosages. In other aspects of care, this MD was highly apathetic to his only African American patient. Such a negligent brand of health care resulted in my husband suffering a massive stroke early one morning while at work. He was the first person into the office, and at about 7:00 am, he lost sensation to his arm, fell off his drafting stool, was unable to speak and could not pull the phone to him, to call for help. He suffered a 100% preventable massive stroke. This occurred in 1994 - because the MD was not giving my husband his Coumadin results and not adjusting the dosage. The MD never was held accountable, never came to the hospital or saw my husband again. He simply told the hospital, when reached at his office, “Oh, he was noncompliant…that’s what happens when they’re like that”. My husband was a highly intelligent, introverted male who believed his MD had his back and would never consider missing an appointment or miss doing what the MD told him to do. In retrospect my husband said that he wished the MD had only one time said, “I think you are noncompliant” because my husband said that he would surely have asked for further information and proceeded to look for another physician.

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Health Care -White Privledge Is So Pervasive That We Overlook It

Submitted by kathleen orington on January 17, 2009 - 12:33am.

My husband died very abruptly, after he’d been having monthly visits to the same MD at the same HMO for over 4 years. His recurrent sepsis was not taken seriously and no tests ordered to find the etiology. In fact, he was hospitalized 2 times in the 2 months before he died. Each time he was given antibiotics and the bums rush - out of the hospital within a few days. I kept telling his MD that something was seriously wrong and he needed tests and to be transferred to the main branch hospital owned by this HMO…but the MD would not agree. I later learned this facility rewards it’s MD’s with annual monetary bonus’ - based on such criterion as low rates of hospitalization for it’s HMO members. That last hospitalization, in which I tried to demand that my husband be given the quality care that he needed and was paying for, was met by the MD again, in a very chevalier manner, stating , “Not to worry. Your husband will be going home on Monday (2 days away); he’s going to be just fine.” My husband was given all sorts of medications, but nothing improved. Finally, another MD came to consult at the ICU and he asked for the PT/INR’s. It turned out that none had been ordered the entire week that he was an inpatient. When a stat test was done, it showed the INR was 4 times normal value and therefore my husband had begun to stroke. Of course, we were not told any of this…I found out when I asked for the records. There were no tests done and we didn’t even have the endocarditis diagnosis, until just before he died. This came, after he was rushed by helicopter to another hospital, but it was too late. My husband was conscious until the last moments of his life. He and I wrote his obituary together and he requested that a memorial service be held for him at the family & community development center...a building which he’d designed. He was one of the strongest men who ever lived…didn’t even shed a tear when the MD told him there was nothing more that could be done. Can you imagine how he felt those last few days, fully aware that he had been given a death sentence without ever committing any crime? I asked him once, aren’t you even going to cry…I couldn’t stop. He answered, “Maybe during the night when no one is around. “ This African American male had spent his entire life fighting against the odds and was so fiercely proud that he would not give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him with his guard down, regardless.

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How do we measure the loss to society when wrongful death occurs

Submitted by kathleen orington on January 17, 2009 - 12:39am.

I sometimes wonder: ‘How many other persons of great accomplishment or even of great potential are stamped out needlessly by this ridiculous health care system?’ The US health care system works only for those who reap tremendous profits from its existence. This dysfunctional system is so diseased, so terminal, that it’s stanching decay begs to be disposed of. Surely, we can convince others that doing an autopsy and finally burying the beast, is the logical next step. A new system, as described in the study must be born.
What are we waiting for? We are the ones we have been waiting for. Let's change things up.

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My Blog about Wrongful Death

Submitted by kathleen orington on February 3, 2009 - 7:21pm.

Kathleen Orington, RN
I'm still navigating this web site & am not sure I know how it works. I was startled to find that you printed my blogs. Or maybe they aren't printed, just typed here and waiting.. We are in desparate and radical times. As Martin Luther King said, "Of all the forms of inequity, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
I am curious to know if anyone saw or responded to my blogs. This site gives us the opportunity to look at & tell our stories, not have them throw away...like so much garbage...when that 'trash' represents our stories that must be told... we can't just forget those we loved but especially when their death probably would not happen in any other type health care system.

EVERYBODY IN...NOBODY OUT...LET'S PUT PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS!!!

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