Wed May 07, 2008 at 00:24:21 AM PDT
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| 15,000 feared dead. 44,000 missing. 1,000,000 homeless. Burma / Myanmar after the cyclone that hit on May 3rd:
And a CNN video report that I can't embed into this post but will link to -- "Death and Devastation in Myanmar" -- extremely moving.
Last I heard earlier today, it looks like the Burmese authoritarian government is thwarting efforts for outside agencies (like the United Nations) and countries to deliver aid and disaster recovery strategy.
Doctors without Borders is already in the country doing other work, and they reported on the situation today:
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have so far been able to assess all areas in the townships of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and are in the process of trying to assess areas outside of Yangon that we suspect may have been harder hit. For humanitarian actors it is essential to have unrestricted and immediate access to all affected populations and regions in order to assess needs and react accordingly.
MSF teams in Yangon began setting up a first emergency response, including distribution of food and plastic sheeting, and water chlorination. In Daala and Twante, two townships with a total population of 300,000, MSF teams witnessed the destruction of 80 percent of houses in certain pockets and up to meter-high flood waters. Under these circumstances infectious diseases such as cholera can spread easily. In these two areas MSF is organizing a first emergency response by distributing food, water, and first necessity items for 5,000 people.
I'd like to start an open thread here about strategies to assist in the post-cyclone relief in Burma. I'll start with the obvious -- donations through relief organizations. I only know of a few right now, please post additional ones in the comments section (or start another blog post).
Organizations taking donations (a developing list):
Donate directly through Google to Direct Relief International or UNICEF
Donate to Red Cross
Donate to World Vision
Donate to Doctors without Borders |
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Tue May 06, 2008 at 22:03:47 PM PDT
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what does this news say about the united states?
Harriett Chapman's eyes filled with tears Sunday as she recalled one of the last conversations she had with her 89-year-old father before he fatally shot himself outside a Greenville veterans' clinic last month.
Grover Cleveland Chapman told his family, "No matter what I apply for at the VA, they turn me down," she recalled.
The next day, the World War II veteran took his own life outside the Veterans Outpatient Clinic at 3510 Augusta Road, said Greenville County Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis.
Harriett Chapman sees her father's April 24 death as his way of sending a message about the medical care offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
While staff at the clinic treated him well, he'd recently lost two battles in a continuous struggle to claim medical benefits, she said.
"He felt like the VA turned its back on him and a lot of other veterans," Harriett Chapman said...
He learned in a phone call on the Wednesday before his death that he was going to have to travel to Columbia for medical tests, although he'd been hoping for a waiver that would've allowed him to get them done closer to home, Harriett Chapman said.
More bad news came hours later when he received a letter saying he'd been denied "100 percent disability," she said. If he'd been approved, the Veterans Administration would have picked up more of his medical bills, she said.
Grover Cleveland Chapman had the letter with him when he shot himself, Harriett Chapman said.
Speechless. Moved to tears. The story isn't completely clear, updates as they come... anyone pondering action (instead of reaction?)
(From the Greenville Times in South Carolina)
and thanks to brandon friedman who posted this at dkos. |
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Sat May 03, 2008 at 16:31:52 PM PDT
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Smintheus at dkos shares two articles from the NYTimes and the Des Moines Register talking about how McCain is twisting the Democratic presidential candidates' health insurance plans. From the NYTimes:
"There are those that want a massive government takeover of the health care system in America," Mr. McCain warned Thursday in Des Moines, as he made the case for his more market-based approach...
"But before you decide to sign on to that kind of a program, go to Canada, or go to European countries that have government-run health care systems," he continued. "My friends, they don't work, they're inefficient, and they end up in a two-tiered system where the wealthiest can afford to pay for their own health care and those with low income sometimes wait six or eight months for a routine kind of treatment. And that's what I'm not going to let happen to the United States of America."
My dear friend McCain:
ALL YOUR LIFE you have relied on the government to provide top-notch insurance to you. When you were a kid, your father was an Admiral and you received health insurance under the military's plan. When you were in the military you received health insurance through the military, and in your many years in office you have benefitted from the comprehensive health insurance packages that the state and country have provided for you, on the taxpayer dollar (read: McCain has not experienced private insurance, and if he has, it has been for a very short time).
Mccain, if you seethingly hate government-funded health insurance so much, you should have long opted for private insurance yourself.
And please stop twisting the Democratic health insurance plans as "socialized medicine". That they are not, to the excitement of many, and to the dismay of many others. There is no room for lies in this very important life-and-death issue facing Americans.
I don't care for your double-talk. Please put your money where your mouth is.
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As a primary care doc at a county hospital, where most folks don't have insurance or have medicaid, it's a DAILY REALITY for people with painful gallstones have to wait 9-12 months for a cholecystectomy (surgery to remove the gallbladder), or where people with severe debilitating neurological disorders have to wait 9-12 months for a first appointment to see a neurologist.
A few of us who traveled to Seattle and Vancouver in 2004 interviewed folks who were going about their daily business in the downtowns of both cities. OVER AND OVER again, I heard about stories like the Canadian who was traveling in America and who tore his ACL (a ligament in the knee) and went straight back to Canada for surgery that same week ($0 in out-of-pocket costs); the woman who noted a lump in her breast, who called her primary care doc's office -- saw him within 2 days, and saw a breast specialist within a week, and was under chemotherapy treatment within two weeks after a mammogram, all for free; or the man who had a severe headache, took a cab to the emergency room, had a head CT, saw a neurologist, stayed in the hospital for two days, and left with just a $40 cab bill.
There are many things wrong with the health care systems in other countries, i'm not absolving them of all criticism. But it shows how absolutely out of touch McCain and his cronies are for spewing garbage like this. It really does. And this kind of talk actually incenses more and more Americans on a daily basis, as they increasingly face the harsh realities of the american health care system and its tiered healthcare systems.
Apparently, McCain also wants to destroy the employer-based health insurance system and force millions of Americans to buy individual private health insurance plans. Again, while he'll never make mention of it, all his life McCain has been provided health insurance through government funding and is COMPLETELY out of touch with the realities of purchasing private health insurance through the uncompetitive markets with no bargaining power and great scrutiny of "pre-existing coniditions".
Again thanks to Smintheus for the link to the editors' commentary at the Des Moines Register:
The proposal [by McCain] should scare the heck out of the millions of Americans who rely on employer-based coverage...Buying individual policies means having your health history reviewed. It means not having the bargaining power and protections that come with being part of a plan offered by an employer. And it's expensive...
The senator is correct that the employer-based system of health insurance in this country isn't working. Businesses are saddled with the high costs of coverage, putting them at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. Insurance shouldn't be tied to jobs.
But the more reasonable solution is to offer everyone what Medicare already offers: health coverage financed by a combination of tax dollars and participant contributions, thus allowing the huge bargaining power of millions of Americans to leverage down costs.
That idea is nowhere near as radical as forcing millions of Americans to shop for their own coverage in a profit-driven, private-insurance sector.
Now we're talking. I like the use of the word "radical" in the editorial, contrasting the radical right wing thoughts on health insurance to the more reasonable solutions on the table (and those that a growing number of Americans are embracing.
(cross-posted at the National Physicians Alliance blog) |
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 at 20:32:19 PM PDT
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Open thread -- your thoughts on this commercial? Anything rub you the wrong way?
(hat tip to Aaaminah for sharing the fact that the commercial exists and Donna for finding the youtube link!) |
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Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 00:31:14 AM PDT
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This is just beautiful.
WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to block the Bush administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid health care for the poor by $13 billion over the next five years. President Bush has threatened a veto, but supporters have more than enough votes in the House to override him, and maybe in the Senate, too.
Two thirds of the Republicans joined every voting Democrat in the 349-62 vote to impose a one-year moratorium, through next March, on seven rules changes that the administration argues are needed to rectify waste and abuse in the state-federal partnership to provide health care to the poor.
Supporters of the bill said the rules would merely shift financial burdens to the states at a time of economic distress while reducing access to health care for the country's neediest people.
The governors of all 50 states, state Medicaid directors and others oppose the rules, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., told the House. "They know the devastating effects these rules would have on local communities, upon hospitals, and upon vulnerable beneficiaries."
Beautiful. The Dems in the House of Representatives gained a spine (by voting in bloc), the Republicans in the House for the most part thought the administration's proposed cuts would be detrimental, and enough votes exist to potentially override any kind of veto President Bush would try to pull on us.
Sure there's "waste" in the system. But shifting the costs of severely needed programs to the states in a time of economic depression is equivalent to saying we don't care if this program is unfunded, period. But who exactly would be affected by this proposed legislation? Apparently more than 48 million people (almost 1 in every 6 people in the US):
The proposed rules would affect programs involving payment to public safety-net institutions, rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, coverage of hospital clinical services, graduate medical education payments and specialized medical transportation to school for children covered by Medicaid.
Unbelievable, eh?
But back to the positive. Yay! Time for celebration! More on this piece of legislation to come (H.R. 5613), as the bill goes to the Senate and then to the man himself. We'll send a message -- Dare to veto this! |
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Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:32:29 PM PDT
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| Kameelah is a wonderful blogger who I've connected with recently, and she writes regularly at her blog KameelahWrites. Check this out: in the spirit of taking care of ourselves, last night i had a breakdown in whole foods similar to the break downs i have in other 'health food' markets that extort money from me. really 4 bucks for 2 tempeh burgers!??!?! oranges--3 for 3 bucks!?!? part of taking [care of] ourselves i think has to do with reclaiming our space and our right to eat well without buying food becoming a burden. when i was in south africa i spent very little money on food because i had the time to make my own veggie burgers, could find someone who sold the ingredients or cooked with other people. what happened to our visions of community gardens? what happened to finding ways to grow our own stuff and not relying of grocery chains that capitalize/exploit the green movement to charge 10 dollars for a bottle of juice and a loaf of bread.
reclaiming our health (emotional and physical) is not only about have access to doctors and hospitals; its also about having access to locally-self-grown foods. i know in east palo alto there is a little lot of land folks can grow their stuff on. an old friend from high school use to go with her dad to get the veggies that he would cook up for us for dinner. i want to get back there. what is happening in your parts of town insofar as community gardens and healthy living?
The full post, "Ending the Tyranny of Trader Joes, Whole Foods and Other Grocery Chains that have Commodified the Green Movement" is really worth reading. She makes the links among access to healthy foods, the health of individuals, the wellness of a society, and the need for making these links so that those who are fighting the good fight can keep on, keepin' on. |
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Fri Apr 11, 2008 at 01:12:32 AM PDT
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| This is incredibly funny! Meet the worst animal-headed team of superheroes of our health care system -- Deductibear, Co-Pay Cobra, Denial Crocodile, and Premiums Porcupine! Who's behind this video? A group in Connecticut called HealthCare 4 Every 1. From their website: healthcare4every1 is a statewide advocacy campaign committed to organizing an active, vibrant and diverse network of concerned residents to build public and political support for achieving universal health care in Connecticut. The goal for 2007 is health care that is affordable, available to everyone, and sustainable in the long term for employers, families, health care providers and institutions, and for the state government itself. The inability of thousands of people in our state to obtain health care is one of the most urgent injustices we face. More than 400,000 of our residents are uninsured, and thousands more are underinsured. In the wealthiest state in the world’s wealthiest nation, can we accept residents who must choose between rent and health care?
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Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 19:46:00 PM PDT
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Once in a while, a set of tools or resources comes around that really helps reset the debate, reframe the issue, and is engaging in the process.
"Unnatural Cauuses", a 7-part documentary series that systematically explores the causes of racial and ethnic health disparities in the United States, is a landmark series on public television that is transforming our public discourse on health.
It's playing on public television in the month of April (find out if it's playing in your area, and if it's not, you can write to your public television stations and ask that they play it). As diannah mentioned earlier today, some local television stations are threatening not to play this series, giving unacceptable reasons for not airing it, and you can take action on this. |
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Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 10:23:59 AM PDT
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(Thanks to diannah for sharing this with us, take action and find out if the series is being dropped from public television in YOUR community. - promoted by los anjalis)
Is it really obscene or is the FCC answering to a "higher authority?"
I belong to Doculink, an email list of documentarians around the world. And today I happened upon the message below.
I felt it deserved posting. It reeks of interference where there should be none. |
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Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 00:01:59 AM PDT
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(photo by Karen Apricot on flickr.com)
From an article in the NYTimes, "As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record":
Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960's...
(more after the jump) |
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Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 22:53:07 PM PDT
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 Courage, persistence, justice. A man who embodied all three with great honor -- Dith Pran -- passed away two days ago.
His personal struggle among the larger struggle of the Cambodian holocaust under the Khmer Rouge was the basis of the very moving film The Killing Fields. The New York Times (where he was a photojournalist until his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer), published an article on his life and contributions, and a multimedia piece featuring Dith Pran's last words. Both are powerful.
Dith Pran's photos are phenomenal, and portrayed the true tragedy of what went on in Cambodia. Photojournalism is such a powerful way of informing the world of the horrors that we don't otherwise have access to. At least in the American media, photojournalism in times of recent war (like that in Iraq) is virtually nonexistent.
But back to Dith Pran. His life-long hope was to have perpetrators of war crimes in Cambodia tried for their crimes (2 million people were killed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge). Pol Pot, the head of the Khmer Rouge, died under "house arrest" in the 1990's. But preparations are finally underway for trials for the other leaders of that regime.
On a final note -- Janet Wu wrote about Dith Pran in the Boston Globe yesterday:
"I often wondered how, without outward anger or hatred, he so calmly campaigned against the guilty, many of whom had escaped into the jungles, eluding justice. Dith Pran was the opposite of the man who nearly killed him. For the last two decades of his life, Pol Pot hid like a coward in the jungles bordering Thailand, protected by a cadre of brainwashed teenage soldiers. Dith Pran stood firm. He never fled. He never wavered in his quest for justice."
A lesson for us all. |
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Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 10:44:10 AM PDT
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| To all of you who were at the National Physicians Alliance and American Medical Student Association meetings this weekend in Houston (in person or in spirit), thank you for the prescription of inspiration! There is so much work to do, but together we can bring hope and promise to our patients struggling along in this sick care system (borrowed from Jocelyn Elders, who was terrific!). |
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 13:42:48 PM PDT
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We think that insurance companies and their Murder by Spreadsheet ways as the primary cause of the healthcare crisis in America. True, for profit insurance causes a great deal of suffering and death.
That isn't our only problem. Unfair Pricing is a serious issue made worse with cost shifting; which is defined as:
A dynamic relationship between reductions in payment rates to a hospital by a public payer (i.e. Medicare & Medicaid), and increases in rates to patients with private insurance and those who are uninsured.
Cost shifting attempts to recapture the profits denied by public insurers's limiting charges. The results are artificially high "retail" fees. Insurance company's combat these tactics by capping the maxaimum they will pay for any service by saying the provider's fee exceeds their Usual and Customary Rate or UCR. Anyone without the protection of an insurer capping fees by using limiting charges has to pay the sticker price or suffer, or suffer and die. |
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Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 12:57:54 PM PDT
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(welcome new user make_a_difference, who sparks just the kind of conversation we should be engaging in! - promoted by los anjalis)
[Crossposted from daily kos at the suggestion of a visitor there... first time here!]
In recent months, I've had an unusual "up close and personal" look at the way the minds of some state-level policymakers work through my job. The issue I am tasked with supporting them as they explore is early childhood education; but follow me on the flip to see an analysis of how we get from point A (the miserable and unconscionable situation we are in now with health care...) to point B... a more humane way of administrating health care in this country.
If I have time to follow nothing else on dkos, I read NYCeve's diaries. It was one of her latest which forced me to take the time to give you this essay/diary. |
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Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 23:54:07 PM PDT
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(We welcome hansie to the Cure This community, thanks for your honesty and reflection. - promoted by los anjalis)
I find myself eight months out of residency and struggling with what it means to be a doctor in our society. It seems as though there is a dichotomy between society's definition and my view of what being a doctor should mean. A doctor is someone who practices medicine, and medicine is a means of achieving health. So ultimately, we need to define what it means to be healthy. I resonate with the American Heritage Dictionary definition of health as "a condition of optimal well-being." Health touches upon all aspects of one's life including not only daily routines but also the underlying social, emotional, and spiritual impact that those daily routines have on oneself and others. Health is a way of life that encompasses physical comfort, happiness, as well as spiritual development. Hence, "living healthy" is something we should all strive for.
How do we do this? How do we live healthy? As doctors, we are trained to restore health in treating illness and injury once they are already present. Somewhere down the line, with increasing societal pressures to be better, faster, and smarter, we lost sight of health restoration and began to focus on disease elimination, assuming that the two were equivalent. The art of clinical judgment and sense of well-being wane as we rely more on diagnostic tests and technology. We treat patients as if they were prisoners to their diseases, treating lab results and radiographic findings instead of seeing the patient as a whole person. Sadly, much of our society has grown accustomed to this state of disempowerment and people no longer take responsibility for their condition. Instead, the liability is placed on the physician, leading to a medical system run by fear of litigation, bringing us back to the dependence on diagnostic testing. This downward spiral of healthcare leaves me frustrated, dissatisfied, and empty. I can't help but wonder, is this really medicine? Is this what I got myself involved in after twenty three years of schooling?
(more after the jump...) |
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Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 19:44:23 PM PST
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Calling undergrad and grad students! As you know, you ARE the future of good health in this country, and KaiserEDU has put you up to quite an interesting task:
The date is November 24th, 2008. You have just started a job as an analyst working on the President elect's health care transition team. The director of the transition team has asked you to draft a memo to flesh out the health priorities for the new Administration on a major health policy issue...
You'll find more details at the KaiserEDU site. You've got almost a month to whip this one out! (deadline March 17th) Too bad i'm not a student anymore. If you're anything like me, you'll be poundin' it out March 16th at 11pm :> |
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Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 18:22:22 PM PST
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Take a listen to the first major story on John Paczkowski's Digital Daily video from 2/22/08 -- what do ya'll think about your google account containing your health records? exciting or eerie? |
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Tue Feb 19, 2008 at 20:21:16 PM PST
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(We welcome user jdwolverton to the ranks of the front-page writers at Cure This, and look forward to many more thought provoking posts by her in the near future. This post is especially timely... - promoted by los anjalis)
Welcome to the Up Scale Hospital Emergency Department. It's the latest thing in New York City health care. Renovating Emergency Departments so they are more comfortable and can accomodate patients who are:
1. Uninsured,
2. Don't have a regular physician,
3. Have an acute condition that really shouldn't wait the 2-3 weeks to get a new patient appointment at a doctor's office.
4. Have a regular physician, but their acute condition really shouldn't wait the 6 days to 2 weeks to get an established patient appointment at their doctor's office.
5. Need care, but can't wait for the doctor's office to open.
It's a good thing. These people are more comfortable while they wait for care, but from another perspective it's just another band aid on the gaping wound created by our broken health care system. |
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Sun Feb 17, 2008 at 15:36:10 PM PST
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(photo by alfr3do on flickr)
Mexico City rolled out women-only buses in January, in its strongest move yet to deal with groping and sexual harassment by men on crowded buses.
In my personal experience in India and in Tanzania and Kenya, the buses in large cities were similarly packed, and the ensuing groping was a daily violation that many women faced. Heck, in a 6 person VAN, groping was an issue, let along in a bus where peoples' legs are dangling out the door and everyone's pressed up against each other. And this isn't a new problem, my mother's generation was also affected by it on a daily basis (and maybe my grandmother's generation too?).
Mexico City's transportation authority and others seem to be addressing this issue from various angles, which is pretty cool. The Institute of Women in Mexico City is pushing forth education for men; the transportation authority is expanding the number of women-only buses, and the authority is making it easier to prosecute perpetrators.
It's so wonderful to see cities making positive strides towards the mental/emotional/physical health of women in this way. |
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Sat Feb 16, 2008 at 18:13:14 PM PST
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Wow.
Nationwide, violence against the homeless is soaring, and overwhelmingly the attackers are teenagers and young adults. In Florida the problem is so severe that the National Coalition for the Homeless is setting up speakers bureaus to address a culture that sees attacking the homeless as a sport. It is the first time the organization has singled out a particular state.
Of more than 142 unprovoked attacks on homeless people in 2007, the most - at least 32 - were in Florida, according to a preliminary count by the coalition and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Nationwide, such attacks rose about 65 percent from 2005.
In Fort Lauderdale a group of teenagers captured national attention in 2006 when a surveillance camera caught one laughing as he beat a homeless man with a baseball bat. The teenagers attacked three homeless men that night and face a murder trial in one man's death. A year later in Daytona Beach, a 17-year-old and two 10-year-olds attacked a homeless Army veteran. One 10-year-old dropped a cement block on the man's face, the police said.
"What could possibly be in the mind of a 10- or 12-year-old that would possess them to pick up a rock and pick up a brick and beat another human being in the head?" said Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. "It defies any rational thought process, but it's also why we felt so strongly we had to do something."
The trust has teamed with the local schools to develop a curriculum for elementary, middle and high schools teaching respect for the homeless.
Advocates for the homeless blame a society that they say shuns the homeless through laws that criminalize sleeping in parks, camping and begging.
"I think it reflects a lack of respect for the homeless that has reached such extreme proportions that homeless people aren't viewed as people," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.
Source: "Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame" (NYTimes)
What's up with Florida's high number of attacks on homeless people? And 10 year olds? Well, it's wonderful that the National Coalition for the Homeless has swiftly moved to address this issue in the schools.
Hmm. But we really must address this issue in a larger system-wide context, kids learn from what they've seen around them. We're teaching our children that homeless people aren't really people through our pervasive state/city violence against homeless people, our habit of jailing/criminalizing them, and the lack of affordable housing and food and other services available to them. |
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