Thursday, November 4, 2010
CHCs + BIDMC = Healthier communities
Our hospital is honored to be affiliated with a number of community health centers in the neighborhoods of Boston and surrounding communities (and also one on Cape Cod). Our folks recently produced the following video to provide a representation of how we jointly offer services to people in those communities. I think you will enjoy getting to know the people involved as you watch the video.
If you can't view the view, click here.
If you can't view the view, click here.
Way to go, Mary Jo!
Congratulations to Captain Mary Jo Majors, US Naval Reserve, who today is receiving the Outstanding Woman Veteran Award at the Massachusetts State House. Mary Jo is Director of Clinical Operations at South Cove Community Health Center. Well, she is more than that at South Cove! She is also Director of Nursing, the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, and the Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Coordinator. (South Cove CHC has 3 clinics and serves the health care needs of a population of almost 25,000 primarily Asian patients with limited income and resources.)
The award is presented by the Massachusetts Women Veterans’ Network. Previous award recipients are listed here. Mary Jo joins a very distinguished group!
Here is the summary of her own accomplishments:
Captain Majors has been selected for this award because she is a woman veteran who has chosen to continue to serve with honor in the Navy and give back to her country for over 41 years.
Captain Majors made a commitment to join the Navy as an officer candidate while in college to take advantage of the scholarship program to complete school and serve her country following the sudden death of her father, a WWII Army veteran. She was the first in the family of five to serve on active duty and began serving her country during the Vietnam War. She has continued to serve in the Navy since then and to provide leadership, education, mentorship, and care to service members and their families in both the active duty and reserve components during her many duties and assignments over the years.
She puts “service to others” first and has demonstrated this throughout her career whether it was providing direct nursing care to the many returning wounded Vietnam War veterans at the Naval Hospital in Tennessee, or on special reserve orders to assist with the deployment of active duty staff for assignment to the Hospital Ship Comfort and the arrival of medical reservists to Bethesda Naval Hospital during Operation Desert Shield and Storm, or serving in the Pentagon to help improve the medical and dental programs and benefits offered to members in the reserve or those already retired. She continued this personal commitment to help others in the reserve force during OIF/OEF with support to the reserve command in Quincy.
She also spends many hours every month working with young women who are in various stages of a military career, whether it be as an applicant to become an officer in the Navy or a Midshipman at the Naval Academy; a NROTC Nurse Corps Midshipman attending a local Boston college; a newly commissioned NC officer; or those currently serving their country by providing guidance and letters of recommendation to enlisted hospitalmen to attend nursing school or obtain a NC candidate scholarship, or preparing junior nurse corps officers for career planning and selection boards. She utilizes her skills as a senior woman officer to mentor, educate, and be a role model to guide these women and encourage them to further develop as leaders and outstanding members of the Navy.
She has the reputation of performing her duties with total enthusiasm, engagement, exceptional ability, personal initiative, and dedication to duty and has received recognition of such with additional requests for her service, such as with future involvement with the Yellow Ribbon Family Service Support Center and the Naval Reserve Returning Warrior Weekend programs.
The award is presented by the Massachusetts Women Veterans’ Network. Previous award recipients are listed here. Mary Jo joins a very distinguished group!
Here is the summary of her own accomplishments:
Captain Majors has been selected for this award because she is a woman veteran who has chosen to continue to serve with honor in the Navy and give back to her country for over 41 years.
Captain Majors made a commitment to join the Navy as an officer candidate while in college to take advantage of the scholarship program to complete school and serve her country following the sudden death of her father, a WWII Army veteran. She was the first in the family of five to serve on active duty and began serving her country during the Vietnam War. She has continued to serve in the Navy since then and to provide leadership, education, mentorship, and care to service members and their families in both the active duty and reserve components during her many duties and assignments over the years.
She puts “service to others” first and has demonstrated this throughout her career whether it was providing direct nursing care to the many returning wounded Vietnam War veterans at the Naval Hospital in Tennessee, or on special reserve orders to assist with the deployment of active duty staff for assignment to the Hospital Ship Comfort and the arrival of medical reservists to Bethesda Naval Hospital during Operation Desert Shield and Storm, or serving in the Pentagon to help improve the medical and dental programs and benefits offered to members in the reserve or those already retired. She continued this personal commitment to help others in the reserve force during OIF/OEF with support to the reserve command in Quincy.
She also spends many hours every month working with young women who are in various stages of a military career, whether it be as an applicant to become an officer in the Navy or a Midshipman at the Naval Academy; a NROTC Nurse Corps Midshipman attending a local Boston college; a newly commissioned NC officer; or those currently serving their country by providing guidance and letters of recommendation to enlisted hospitalmen to attend nursing school or obtain a NC candidate scholarship, or preparing junior nurse corps officers for career planning and selection boards. She utilizes her skills as a senior woman officer to mentor, educate, and be a role model to guide these women and encourage them to further develop as leaders and outstanding members of the Navy.
She has the reputation of performing her duties with total enthusiasm, engagement, exceptional ability, personal initiative, and dedication to duty and has received recognition of such with additional requests for her service, such as with future involvement with the Yellow Ribbon Family Service Support Center and the Naval Reserve Returning Warrior Weekend programs.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
We are aware of the beauty of life
From the ridiculous below to the sublime, please watch this incredible video about Alice Herz-Sommer, a 107-year old Holocaust survivor/musician. I hope you are able to watch it all the way through and see the context for these very moving final comments:
I never hate. Hatred brings only hatred.
I was born with a very, very good optimism. And it helps you when you are optimistic, when you are not complaining. When you look at the good side of our life, everybody loves you.
Only when we are so old -- only -- we are aware of the beauty of life.
If you cannot see the video, click here.
I never hate. Hatred brings only hatred.
I was born with a very, very good optimism. And it helps you when you are optimistic, when you are not complaining. When you look at the good side of our life, everybody loves you.
Only when we are so old -- only -- we are aware of the beauty of life.
If you cannot see the video, click here.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Fresh. Slow. Too Close. Not Yummy.
Let me start by saying that I enjoy the Longwood Galleria and its restaurants and am a regular patron and encourage others to go there. But what did they have in mind by hiring this billboard truck to drive through the Longwood area to advertise?Why would anyone elect to send a truck through the intersection of Longwood and Brookline Avenues, one of the most congested intersections in the City of Boston?
Traffic congestion is measured by Level of Service, as reflected in the chart below.
As you travel down Brookline Avenue on the route taken by this truck, you approach the intersection of Longwood Avenue. It is rated as Level F in the morning and level D in the evening. Here's what the Level F ranking looks like.
It shows an average delay of over 80 seconds (often over 5 minutes), a volume/capacity ratio greater than 1.0, and a queue of almost 400 feet of vehicles waiting to get through the intersection.There has to be a better way to generate business for these excellent restaurants than by contributing to the congestion.
Convergence
I noticed this interchange on Facebook:
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health economist and management consultant (and blogger) had this in her status bar:
In London meetings all day with UK and US colleagues, arguing about whose health system is worse. It's a draw: it you don't have health insurance or a medical home in the US, then the UK system looks awful great. If you're in the UK and have access/rationing/queueing challenges, the US looks great.
This drew a response from Matthew Holt, of The Health Care Blog fame:
Suggesting that -- in all systems -- a concerted focus on quality, safety, transparency, and process improvement would be well worthwhile.
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health economist and management consultant (and blogger) had this in her status bar:
In London meetings all day with UK and US colleagues, arguing about whose health system is worse. It's a draw: it you don't have health insurance or a medical home in the US, then the UK system looks awful great. If you're in the UK and have access/rationing/queueing challenges, the US looks great.
This drew a response from Matthew Holt, of The Health Care Blog fame:
I am prepared to bet you a nickel Jane that every one of your UK colleagues has private health insurance and doesn't have to worry about said rationing, but no poor Brit goes bankrupt because they're in hospital.
A long time ago, I wrote about how the US and European health systems will eventually converge.
The health systems in these countries are owned and financed by the government and are often appropriately cited for the quality of care offered to the public. Indeed, in debates here in the US, they are often called out as examples of what we might strive for in terms of universal coverage and a greater emphasis on primary care than we have.
[In a nationalized health system, the] appropriation by the parliament is a politically derived decision, just as it would be for any appropriation for a program of important national priority, and it therefore competes with other worthy national programs for resources....
In the face of inevitable limitations on the ability of the national hospital system to offer all services demanded by the public, a growing parallel system is emerging, in which private practitioners offer elective therapies and procedures outside of those supported by the national system.
As I note above, I am not saying one is better than the other. Just different. I predict, though, that the systems will start to look more and more alike over time. Pressure in the US for a more nationally-determined approach. Pressure in Europe for more of a private market approach. It shouldn't surprise us to see this convergence. After all, the countries are dealing with the same organisms, both biologically and politically.
A final note from the Facebook back-and-forth:
Neil Versel asks,
What about cost and quality?
Liz Scherer replies,
One word: oy.
A long time ago, I wrote about how the US and European health systems will eventually converge.
The health systems in these countries are owned and financed by the government and are often appropriately cited for the quality of care offered to the public. Indeed, in debates here in the US, they are often called out as examples of what we might strive for in terms of universal coverage and a greater emphasis on primary care than we have.
[In a nationalized health system, the] appropriation by the parliament is a politically derived decision, just as it would be for any appropriation for a program of important national priority, and it therefore competes with other worthy national programs for resources....
In the face of inevitable limitations on the ability of the national hospital system to offer all services demanded by the public, a growing parallel system is emerging, in which private practitioners offer elective therapies and procedures outside of those supported by the national system.
As I note above, I am not saying one is better than the other. Just different. I predict, though, that the systems will start to look more and more alike over time. Pressure in the US for a more nationally-determined approach. Pressure in Europe for more of a private market approach. It shouldn't surprise us to see this convergence. After all, the countries are dealing with the same organisms, both biologically and politically.
A final note from the Facebook back-and-forth:
Neil Versel asks,
What about cost and quality?
Liz Scherer replies,
One word: oy.
Suggesting that -- in all systems -- a concerted focus on quality, safety, transparency, and process improvement would be well worthwhile.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Election Day Thoughts
On the eve of Election Day, here are some thoughts about John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, as remembered in a 40th anniversary speech by Bill Moyers. I hope the very good people who lose in tomorrow's balloting will keep up their fights, whether they are incumbents or challengers. They, especially, deserve our thanks for participating in our election process.
At his most eloquent, when he talked about the ‘rebirth of a nation’, he admitted that the notion might seem “wonderfully optimistic” but he quickly assured his audience that a successful rebirth of our country would involve severe labor pains. "We may howl with pain,” he said, "before we do what needs to be done.”
He also told us, “Don’t pray for the day when we finally solve our problems. Pray for freedom to continue working on the problems that the future will never cease to throw at us.”
I learned from him that the best way to live in the world is to imagine a more confident future and to get up every morning to do what you can to help bring it about. “Don’t let the vast superstructure of civilization mislead you,” he said, “Everything comes back to the talent and energy and sense of purpose of human beings.”
... LBJ appointed John to head H.E.W. on the very next day after announcing that he was sending ground troops to Vietnam. In the Rose Garden the president said to his new cabinet member, “Whatever happens in Vietnam, we’ll not fail to pursue the Great Society.” But two years later John went to the LBJ ranch in Texas to plead for larger appropriations for his programs. The president turned him down and instead cut even more from the budget as it was. Gardener responded with a muted anguish that pained the president. As they were about to get out of the car, LBJ put his arm around him and said, “Don’t worry, John. We’re going to end this damned war and then you’ll have all the money you want for education and health and everything else.”
It was not to be. In an emotional private meeting one year later, Gardner told the president he was resigning: “In an election year you deserve the total support of every cabinet member and a cabinet member who doesn’t think you should run shouldn’t be in the cabinet.” Face to face, he said: “I believe you can no longer pull the country together.”
That’s the kind of man he was. He gave up his position but not his principles. He left the government but not the fight. And he founded Common Cause because he didn't want to sit on the sidelines. "Everybody’s organized but the people," he said. "Now it’s the citizen’s turn.”
At his most eloquent, when he talked about the ‘rebirth of a nation’, he admitted that the notion might seem “wonderfully optimistic” but he quickly assured his audience that a successful rebirth of our country would involve severe labor pains. "We may howl with pain,” he said, "before we do what needs to be done.”
He also told us, “Don’t pray for the day when we finally solve our problems. Pray for freedom to continue working on the problems that the future will never cease to throw at us.”
I learned from him that the best way to live in the world is to imagine a more confident future and to get up every morning to do what you can to help bring it about. “Don’t let the vast superstructure of civilization mislead you,” he said, “Everything comes back to the talent and energy and sense of purpose of human beings.”
... LBJ appointed John to head H.E.W. on the very next day after announcing that he was sending ground troops to Vietnam. In the Rose Garden the president said to his new cabinet member, “Whatever happens in Vietnam, we’ll not fail to pursue the Great Society.” But two years later John went to the LBJ ranch in Texas to plead for larger appropriations for his programs. The president turned him down and instead cut even more from the budget as it was. Gardener responded with a muted anguish that pained the president. As they were about to get out of the car, LBJ put his arm around him and said, “Don’t worry, John. We’re going to end this damned war and then you’ll have all the money you want for education and health and everything else.”
It was not to be. In an emotional private meeting one year later, Gardner told the president he was resigning: “In an election year you deserve the total support of every cabinet member and a cabinet member who doesn’t think you should run shouldn’t be in the cabinet.” Face to face, he said: “I believe you can no longer pull the country together.”
That’s the kind of man he was. He gave up his position but not his principles. He left the government but not the fight. And he founded Common Cause because he didn't want to sit on the sidelines. "Everybody’s organized but the people," he said. "Now it’s the citizen’s turn.”
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