Sen. Whitehouse Continues Pasta Dinners Here

July 1 at 6 pm

Health Care Community Dinner - The Portuguese American Vasco de Gama Hall, 15 Fenner Ave., Newport, RI
Please bring your family and friends for a free macaroni and meatball community dinner on Wednesday, July 1 at 6 p.m. in Newport to share your personal story about the crisis in our health care system - and your ideas about how to fix it.

Click here to let them know you'll be there. I'll be there. So come already!

Health Insurance for ALL

This is the time to send your message to your two Senators- Reed & Whitehouse. Sen. Reed has come up with an alternate program which does NOT offer a strong public health insurance option.

Want health insurance costs to go down? The only way this will happen is to control drug costs & take some of the profit out of it, along with better management. It needs to be ready on day one. That's what happened with Medicare & the world did not collapse- quite the contrary.

Do it now! Click here:

http://pol.moveon.org/fax?tg=FSRI_2.FSRI_1&cp_id=967&id=16427-4550874-_w9Dynx&t=4

I've spent a LOT of time looking into healthcare costs over the past few years. Strong public option- end of many of our problems, including economic.

"The Health Care for America Now campaign in Rhode Island released a letter today signed by 40 Rhode Island state legislators to President Obama and Congress urging them to pass comprehensive health care reform within the year. The letter, which has been signed by more than 700 state legislators nationwide, urges congress to pass a bill that controls costs, extends coverage to all Americans, and gives all businesses and individuals the choice of buying into a strong public insurance plan." (letter)

Our local Signers:
Sen. Louis DiPalma, Sen. Charles Levesque, Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed, Rep. Amy Rice, Rep. Deborah Ruggiero

Health Care Forum at Brown

I've been interested in health care for a number of years. I rec'd this announcement in the mail on a forum. I won't make it, but perhaps some of you can (these things are ALWAYS in Prov.). Perhaps our local/state rags will even cover it.

HEALTH CARE FORUM AT BROWN UNIVERSITY,
ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2009, SPONSORED BY PDA and AMSA

National and local Leaders to Present on Solutions to Health Care Crisis

Providence, RI – Health Care Reform: Fixing a Broken System, a forum sponsored by the Rhode Island chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the Brown University chapter of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18, 2009, from 7pm to 9pm at Brown University’s Starr Auditorium (McMillan Hall, Room 117) at 167 Thayer Street in Providence, RI. The forum is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

“Over 47 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, millions more are denied coverage, and medical and prescription costs are skyrocketing,” says Brian Hull, Deputy State Director of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America, “something needs to be done to fix the crisis.” Attend this forum to learn more about the problems with the present health care delivery system and listen to what is necessary to bring about the transformational change that will guarantee quality health care for everyone. Hear from a Congressional health care leader’s staff member, a local Rhode Island physician, and other health policy experts discuss the problems and propose solutions, including federal legislation HR 676 Medicare for All (also known as single-payer health care), a bill that was co-authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). Audience participation is encouraged.

Forum panelists include Joel Segal, the legislative assistant to health care champion Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Dr. Tim Cavanaugh of Family Health Services in Cranston, Rachel DeGolia of Universal Health Care Action Network, Katie Robbins of Healthcare-NOW!, and Donna Smith of the National Nurses Organizing Committee.

For further information regarding the forum, visit www.ripda.org. Interested individuals can contact: Robert Malin, PDA’s Rhode Island State Coordinator, 401-497-7419 or robert@ripda.org

Free Antibiotics from Stop & Shop

Projo is running the article today of the nine types being offered: various dosages and forms of amoxicillin, ampicillin, bacitracin, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, erythromycin, penicillin and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (SMZ-TMP). You need a prescription and it's good until March 31. Sounds like a deal to me- beginning today!

Thanks to reporter PAUL EDWARD PARKER

Digital Mammograms at Newport Hospital

I went for my annual mammogram Sat. & appreciated the early call that there had been a number of cancellations & could come earlier.

The actual test takes hardly any time now- ?1o min. at most. The operator uses buttons to manuveur the equipment & received an immediate monitor pic.

Breast cancer is curable if detected early. Every woman needs one! An ounce of prevention & all that. There is now a center in Portsmouth which can do the same. The one in Newport is open 6 days/week. As a rule of thumb, women over 40 need one every year. These tests are said to reduce mortality by 30%. These digital pics along with new software are state-of-the-art.

Okay- a joke:

The Knob

A woman visited her plastic surgeon who told her about a new procedure called "The Knob," where a small knob is placed at the top of the woman's head and could be turned to tighten up her skin and produce the effect of a brand new face-lift.
Of course, the woman wanted "The Knob."Over the course of the years, the woman tightened the knob, and the effects were wonderful, the womanremained young looking and vibrant.

After fifteen years, the woman returned to the surgeon with two problems. "All these years, everything hasbeen working just fine. I've had to turn the knob many times and I've always loved the results. But now I've developed two annoying problems: First, I have these terrible bags under my eyes and the knob won't get rid of them."
The doctor looked at her closely and said, "Those aren't bags, those are your breasts."She said, "Well, I guess there's no point in asking about the goatee."

Health Care Meeting

Lt. Gov. Roberts will be explaining her Healthy R.I. Reform Act 2008 at the Newport Hosp. this Wed. at 6:30 pm.

We wouldn't be bogged down in all these villainous attacks against each other if we had universal health care coverage which the large majority of Americans want. Think how many items would be off the table if everyone had low-cost, good quality healthcare coverage. Let's ALL have the same coverage that the state leislators have which we pay for. Let's ALL have Ted Kennedy's health care plan which WE pay for. Instead of being nickle & dimed & persuaded that everyone should have high-cost, high-deductible coverage, why not change the discussion?

Really, how much lower can we go? Universal health care coverage- because it's time!

Prov. Demo on Wed. Protesting RIte Care cuts

A press release from Ocean State Action. This concerns our district, too.

Community, business and health care leaders will stand together against proposal to cut nearly 20,000 from RIte Care. The broad-based group of leaders will outline why the proposal is financially short-sighted, and harmful to the people of the state

On Wednesday, December 12th at Noon, leaders from business, health, faith, education and the advocacy community will gather at the Capital Hill Health Center, 40 Candice Street, Providence to respond to the budget request sent from the Department of Human Services to the Governor that would exclude nearly 20,000 children and parents from the state’s RIte Care program.

Dawn Wardyga, Director of Family Voices at the RI Parent Information Network, states “We’ll respond to this outrageous proposal to warn Rhode Islanders about the unacceptable economic and human cost this type of wholesale attack on RIte Care will have on our state. There are real solutions on the table that this proposal ignores. The truth is we have seven months ahead to impact state budget decisions and must all work together to demand more responsible, long-term solutions for the people of Rhode Island.”

Organizations participating include: Ocean State Action; the RI Medical Society, the National Association of Social Workers – RI Chapter; the RI Small Business Summit Healthcare Work Group; RI Parent Information Network Family Voices; the Senior Agenda Coalition; the Urban League of Rhode Island, the RI Nurses Association, the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU; the United Nurses and Allied Professionals; the Poverty Institute at RIC; RI Jobs with Justice; the RI Health Center Association, Marriage Equality RI, RI Foster Parents Association, Progreso Latino, International Institute RI, RI Council of Community Mental Health Organizations; Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.


Ivette Luna Ocean State Action Director of Organizing 99 Bald Hill Rd.Cranston, RI 02920401-463-5368

SAY NO! to Tax cuts for the RICH and Budget cuts FOR THE REST!!

I Heart Rhode Island Hospital

I was in R.I. Hospital for three days for an elective procedure (translation: You can see us now while you're still feeling decent, or you can see us later when you're not.) I have nothing but nice things to say. Everyone was polite & went out of their way to assist, when clearly they did not have to. My procedure was clearly (meaning overly) explained by everyone as was my immediate treatment afterwards. I was in surgery ? 4 hrs. I recall being in the prep room with others & the next thing I know someone was asking to me to squeeze their hand & I was wheeled away from recovery to my room. Evidently I was quite entertaining before they put me out but my minds is a blank. Darn! my best moment & it's a goner.
Question: When did Doctors & nurses start to look so young when they used to look so darned old???
The first day and 1/2 after the procedure I was in "Step-Down." This was intensified care with a nurse looking after three patients. Lovely. They were wonderful & I would have thanked them more often if I'd had a voice. Unfortunately I had to have a tube down my throat which gave me the mother of all sore throats. Throat spray was useless, but other pain killers helped. Ah, pain-killers.
The only complaint was that I never had more than 2 hrs. of continuous sleep. While the hallways were sometimes noisey, it was comforting to know that there was life out there. The rooms were private & equipped with medical computers.
When the tube was removed (instant relief) I went into the co-op building. Two to a room, one nurse for 6-8 patients & a CNA. It was noisier, but I had a nice view of the city, especially at night. My partner kept her t.v. on 24 hrs./day - grr! - and much of the time I could hear it - headphones needed here or the supplied hand-control with a lower sound cap . Finally, some kind nurse turned her overhead light off. Care is not quite as close here, but that worked for me. I received instructions from a nutritionist & a social worker. I was there a day.
When I left there was valet parking so that my husband could leave the car out front & come & get me. Good thing because I was unable to do much walking.
The Visiting Nurse Service out of Middletown-Portsmouth has already been here. Love them! I am so lucky to have good health coverage. Other then some co-pays on meds, I won't see many actual bills. When I was younger I rarely saw the Doc., much less a hospital. As one ages, this process reverses & this is when most insurers would like to rid themselves of you. High blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesteral, smoking - all YOUR fault - not.
I'm homebound for awhile letting incisions heal up & hoping that the bruising will leave soon, but I actually feel quite good. My diet has been restricted to purees - yum, puree, but I'm making do quite nicely.
When I could speak, I asked my CNA about her shift schedule. She was just coming off a voluntary 16 hr. shift. Sometimes the nurses are required to do so, too. 16 hours??? How do you actually function for sixteen hours? Doesn't sleep deprivation play a detrimental role here?
If you haven't been to RI Hospital or its environs, it is quite a complex with expansion going on in the area. Hasbro (for children) & Women & Infants are all there. The staff told me that everything is connected underground. It's in South Prov. (I think), just outside the city - easily accessbile by highway. For the bariatric procedure I was having - no go for Newport Hospital.
R.I. Hospital is also a teaching hospital for med students at Brown Univ. I met many students who were working with my surgeon. I like that. Sorry, guess it's the teacher in me. And women! Sometimes things do change for the better.
Thanks for the good thoughts, prayers, etc. It helped.
Forty years of indigestion. And it's just gone. Amazing.
My former heart-patient Frank & I also heart Miriam Hosp. - specialists in coronary procedures!

Newport Hospital & Proposed Merger

**More Update - Andrew Martin's "Newport This Week" with info on the hospital response (joyous, I might add)

**Update - I corrected the article thanks to Jim McCaid of Hard Deadlines. Evidently the heat & humidity affected my reading ability. Thanks, Jim!

"The two hospital groups in Rhode Island, Lifespan and Care New England, have agreed once again to merge, proposing to create a seven-hospital conglomerate that would control two-thirds of hospital services in the state and establish an academic medical center at Rhode Island Hospital." Newport Hospital would be part of this.

The Providence Phoenix has another take on this (archived feature article). What it does see happening is little proof of cost savings & HUGE salaries going to CEO'S & other administration. This system is supposed to streamline testing & results to member hospitials.

"Rhode Island's top health-care execs, whose compensation has soared in recent years, are among the prime beneficiaries of the hospital consolidation trend of the '90s."

Thanks to Projo Medical writer Felice J. Freyer f& Prov. Phoenix Steven Stycos for much of the source info.

Cumberland School Committee Renegs - Maybe

When is a contract not a contract? I guess when you're a school committee. This group seems to have decided to negate the teachers' contract calling for Blue Cross Health insurance & supply Healthmate instead - maybe. Yup, less is definitely better. Hope none of them live on Aquidneck Island. I don't think Newport Hospital is a provider.

Heck, why give them heath insurance at all? Just make the school nurse take care of everyone. And the gym/health teachers, too. Chem class students could also get vocational training at the same time by making/suppling meds. School fairs could sell some of the extras that they made.

And here is a way to keep those schools busy year-round. Turn them into walk-in hospitals. The art teachers (they are quite good with their hands) could perform surgery alongside any sewing teachers that are still around. Mental health care - use Counselors. They have plenty of time. Keep those shop teachers busy making crutches & canes.

Yes, a strive to the bottom, that's the ticket. If they want healthcare, let them go to France. Or Cuba. And they can take those foreign language teachers with them too (they'll need them). Better yet, just give them an apple a day in the cafeteria with the private contractors supplying high quality foods- and charge them for it.

So when is a contract not a contract? I guess when a school committee says it's not.

Short Americans & Why It Matters

There have been a few interesting articles out lately citing a new study on height and it's relevance to society. "The study found that partially because of lifestyle, America has the shortest population in the industrialized world."
For 2oo years Americans were the tallest, but have lost that advantage for the past 50 years. Why should this matter? "A nation's average height is about more than bragging rights. Historians have found height to be about the best single indicator of a nation's success, reflecting not just wealth but overall health and well-being."
Who are the tallest - the Danish who have gained an inch in height for the past years. The average height for men is six feet while for women it is 5'7. " It seems that Americans stop growing earlier than the Dutch due to our high calorie diet which suppresses the human growth hormone. 160 years ago the Danish were 2" shorter than American.
"Scientists have pinpointed two secrets to Holland's soaring population.
First, the Dutch have some of the world's best healthcare, particularly at the stages of life that really make a difference for how tall we end up -- prenatal and the early years of childhood.
Second, they spread the health around. The most well-off Americans are tall, but less-privileged groups across all races bring down the average."
The average height for Japanese men is 5'7 while for American men it's 5'10" and 5'3" for women. "Despite the growing pains, it's nearly all good news for the Dutch. Tall people have lots of advantages: They earn more, they are elected more often, they are luckier at love and they live longer. That's another way America at number 28 in the world for life expectancy just doesn't measure up -- certainly not to the soaring Dutch."
"We conjecture that the U.S. health-care system, as well as the relatively weak welfare safety net, might be why human growth in the United States has not performed as well in relative terms ..."
Not that it matters At All, I am 5'8", my husband 6', & both sons are 6'3, maybe 6'4. It's hard to measure when they're that tall.

Major Candidates on Health Care

I've given you the link for a summary of all the major candidates' (both parties) stand on health care from the N.Y. Times. I like Kucinich. I've always liked him. He's constantly undermined by the press/media who make subtle (and not so subtle) comments on his appearance. I just don't care about that. Feel free to comment.

I believe that health care is a basic right. It comes under "life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness." Without good health, you can't do any of these things. I'm also pretty much fed up with our parents who saved & worked all their lives to leave something to their children and leave them zilch because it's all eaten up with health care costs. My mom now pays for for her meds under the new drug prescription plan than she did before. Thanks for nothing.

I do not care for the recent health insurance programs that the Guv & lege have come up with. Better than nothing? I suppose. But this is the best that we can do? Many preventive tests/treatments aren't covered. In bad health? It's YOUR fault. Meanwhile the richest thousand or so taxpayers get a tax break. I don't get it. How many of these "richest" actually generate income in the state (besides their own). They're easily replaced & maybe housing prices would actually decline.

Americans have repeatedly said that they believe health care is a right & are willing to pay taxes for it. At least we'd get a chance then to actually see/use where our taxes our going. Too often now, we have to remind people what they are used for. Perhaps that's because most of us just don't see it for ourselves, while we do see others provided with what we lack.

The poorest do get it. And that's why some of them choose to stay that way rather than take a job which in the end will cost them more than they receive. If the middle class doesn't get a break, then they wonder why they have to foot the bill for others. And well they should.

Perhaps that's the point, though. If we're all angry with each other, that means we're only out for ourselves. And as a societal basis, this doesn't work well for most. But it definitely works out quite well for a handful who are darn good at persuading the rest of us who are too tired, scared, & discouraged to presume otherwise.

***BTW - The discriminating teen likes Gravel who wants health care vouchers.

Mastectomy Bill in Congress

*Sandra Flowers sent me this e-mail. I thought it was most appropriate to publish as an article, esp. after seeing the movie, "Sicko." I wonder what the policy would be for men losing a part of their body (say, testes)? I'm surprised they have not yet started to do "drive-by" outpatient medicne. You could just remain in your car.


"Hello, everyone!
I just received the following message from a dear friend and I feel that it must be passed on to you folks who know that speaking up for justice is not only our right, but our duty. I have already signed the petition on-line. Please feel free to forward this to all your friends in your address books. " - Sandra

Subject: Please read....Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:39:34 -0400 This will take just a minute. Please pass it on! (written by a surgeon)

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hearthat they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.
A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

Mastectomy Bill in Congress

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important .. please take the time and do it really quick! Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women. Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times.
If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.
Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women, THANKS