Mission of Mercy

Congratulations to the dental community in our region on receiving a $20K grant for their Mission of Mercy event.  This event is where dentists, hygienists, technicians and a variety of other health professionals provide free dental care, including extractions, for two days.  The event will occur later this month and it is the second annual.  Last year, individuals came from as far away as the Midwestern US to be seen.  It was a wonderful event last year, and hopefully year's event will be another overwhelming success.

Live Longer

Great advice from www.bluezones.com on how people from all over the world approach life:

1. Move Naturally - Walk, get physical activity naturally. 

2. Purpose Now- Know why you wake up in the morning, have purpose.

3. Downshift - Find time to de-stress.  Enjoy happy hour, rest, nap (not at work).

4. 80% Rule for Eating - Stop eating when you are 80% full.  Eat a big breakfast, eat with others, remove distractions and be mindful of what you eat.

5. Plant Slant - Limit meat to twice weekly.  Eat green, as well as nuts and beans.

6. Drink Alcohol - Enjoy 2 glasses of wine.  Drinkers out live non-drinkers.

7. Connect to a Faith Based Community - Engage with a church, synagogue, or other faith based entity.

8. Loved Ones First - Thrive with positive committed relationships.

9. Right Tribe - Choose healthy and supportive friends.

Numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are no brainers for me.  4 and 5 will require some work.

Infant Mortality

In USA Today this week, there was an editorial on infant mortality and how the US ranks internationally.  Whatever the number, it is always too high.  We need to pull out all stops in keeping pregnant moms healthy, expanding pre natal care and giving guidance to new moms once they leave the hospital, as has been the case in Maryland. 

Now, I have to take issue with comparing the US to other countries.  Infant mortality statistics aren't reported consistently from state to state in the US, so how can we accurately report such statistics between countries.  And, for the US to rank below Cuba, I find that mind boggling.  A few years ago, a relative visited Cuba as part of a special education visit to discuss challenges, successes, etc., related to educating developmentally disabled children.  There were none.  Their idea of the developmentally disabled were children who were blind, deaf or couldn't speak.  The truly disabled don't survive.  (I will leave it to you to think about how that happens.)  So, we are going to compare our infant mortality statistics to Cuba, give me a break.  Also, countries that are now providing "clean surfaces" to deliver children rank better than the US, come on.  Does the US need to improve, most definitely, but don't rank us against countries that consistently undercount, manipulate or out and out lie and then chastise us for it.    Also, the counter point editorial in the same newspaper gives a great perspective on the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the data.

Mobile Hospital

At WMHS over the last 24 hours, we have been using our mobile hospital for mass flu vaccinations of our staff.  The purpose was three fold: getting as many employees vaccinated at one time; to test the mass inoculation process and to put our mobile hospital to the test in the event of a catastrophic event.  As you can see from the photos, it is pretty big at 72 feet in length and 23 feet in width.  It can accommodate 16 patients at a time; it closely resembles a MASH hospital.    However, it actually assembles in minutes.  You roll it out, hook up the air pump and you're done.  It has hookups for HVAC, lighting and electric.  It also has a self-contained generator.  We have used the mobile hospital before to test the assembly, but have never used it for medical purposes, at least until now.  In the first 10 hours of operation, we vaccinated over 600 employees.  Great outcome, so far.

God Speed, Lauren

This afternoon my Naval officer daughter, Lauren, begins a scary, but necessary trip three quarters of the way around the world and across three continents.  She will leave Norfolk, VA, for Detroit, MI.  She will have a brief layover in Detroit and will then fly to Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  After a few hours in Amsterdam, Lauren will then fly to Nairobi, Kenya, and will arrive there on Wednesday night.  Her final LAND destination is Djibouti, Africa, where she will arrive at 1 AM on Thursday.  From Djibouti, she will be flown by helicopter to her ship somewhere east of Africa.  Her final destination is unknown to Mom and Dad and pretty much everyone else.  In fact, her whereabouts for the next 4 months will be unknown to us.  As a colleague said yesterday, when I was in the Army and we were deployed, we were part of a large group traveling abroad, never alone.  I can't imagine the stress around such a trip.  I was going to write that when I was 24, my toughest decision was what I was going to have for dinner or was I going out to party that night.   But then I remembered in reality, I had a pretty stressful job as Assistant Director of Materials Management for a large tertiary care hospital with a multi-million dollar budget and responsibility for a hundred or so employees. I was also finishing my degree by going to school at night.  However, that time in my life was still nowhere near as challenging as to what Lauren has to look forward to.  God speed, "little" Lauren, you are loved and will be sorely missed.

Inconsistencies in All Aspects of Life

This weekend, I attended the Navy / Air Force football game.  Air Force dominated the game until the final minute when Navy tied the game with 19 seconds remaining.  The game went into overtime and Navy had the first possession in OT.  They scored a touchdown, but immediately following the play, the Navy quarterback was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for "getting in the face of the Air Force player" as actually stated by the referee.  According to the Navy player, the  Air Force defender was blocking his way back to the sideline and he told him to" move" in explicit terms.  Unfortunately, a chip shot extra point became a 35 yard attempt against the wind and Navy missed the extra point and went onto lose the game in OT. 

There was another incident later in the afternoon when the momentum of a Clemson defender takes him into the end zone of the home crowd after he successfully defends a sure touchdown pass against a Virginia Tech receiver and he high fives a student in the crowd.  He was penalized for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Virginia Tech went on to score a touchdown after the ball is put on the 1 yard line. The inconsistency comes in when later that evening while watching the Alabama / Florida game, there are hits after the plays were over, hits out of bounds and, at one point, three Alabama defenders standing over a Florida receiver who missed a pass taunting him; in each case, no penalty.  A hard lesson for these players but useful in that such inconsistencies continue in life.  

Take health care; we have to deal with CMS, intermediaries and regulators who take inconsistent interpretations to a new level day after day.  Organizations like CMS, the NCAA and the NFL need to really examine their rules and regulations and do a better job of training those left to interpret them.

The Time Has Come

Starting next fall, WMHS will make flu shots mandatory for all employees.  A significant departure from previous years as our rate of employees being vaccinated has been historically low.  The more the issue was discussed and the more we heard from hospitals in Maryland that have made flu shots mandatory, it became obvious that the time had come for WMHS to make flu shots mandatory for our staff.  We will begin next year, but are using this fall as the notification period for our employees.  Hopefully, this will not be a major issue.  If they have a health issue that precludes such a vaccination then, a panel of clinicians will review the matter and provide a ruling.  All such submissions will be assigned a number so, no one is tempted to give favorable consideration based on who the individual may be or what there standing may be in the organization.  We owe it to our patients to provide the safest care while they are entrusted to us.  We also owe it to our families and each other.  I got my flu shot yesterday; join me in getting your flu vaccination today.