That's What I Think

From the WaPo: District, Md. Hospitals Often Divert Ambulances

District, Md. Hospitals Often Divert Ambulances; Some ERs Too Crowded To Take More Patients

 

Hospitals in the District and Maryland must frequently divert ambulances carrying all but the most critically ill and injured patients because of emergency room overcrowding, forcing many less-critical patients to travel farther for care, increasing costs and potentially causing dangerous delays…Since 2004, some District and Maryland hospitals have had to divert ambulance traffic with increasing frequency because they lacked the beds, equipment or staff for patients. Some D.C. hospitals diverted ambulances the equivalent of one out of five days in 2008, and some Maryland hospitals' emergency rooms diverted ambulances at least 15 percent of the time last year, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from District and Maryland health authorities…

 

…Different jurisdictions use different criteria about when to limit ambulance traffic. Maryland has two categories -- yellow alerts for when emergency rooms are too crowded to accommodate additional patients and red alerts for when emergency rooms lack beds for patients who require monitoring, such as those with cardiac problems…

 

…Howard County General Hospital was on yellow alert 8 percent of the time in 2004 and 26 percent last year, The Post analysis found. It is the county's only hospital, so during those alerts, ambulance patients might be sent to Montgomery, Prince George's or Baltimore counties. Depending on where the patient is picked up, travel could take twice as long and tie up emergency medical service crews longer than authorities would like. Hospital officials said that despite the alerts, they rarely send patients to other hospitals but that those who are less critically ill face longer waits because of crowding.

 

Hospital officials in Howard said part of the problem can be attributed to population growth in the county, especially among elderly residents seeking care. This summer, Howard General will expand its emergency room for the second time in eight years, adding 18 beds. But that probably will not be enough with 5,500 new homes planned in Columbia and significant growth expected around Fort Meade because of military base realignment in the region. The issue has prompted the Howard County Citizens Association to form a task force to examine emergency care in the county…

Tiny Hero Steers Mom to Safe Stop

As headlines concentrate on the failing economies around the world and continue to bombard us relentlessly, I think we could all use a good news story!

You know you’re sleep deprived if…

You have to get up at 3:30 a.m. daily due to commute to work, and each day is spent wondering when you will see the "light at the end of the tunnel," if ever…

 

Getting out of bed feels like lugging a 20-lb. lead weight alongside each side of your body.

 

You've ever almost backed into your garage door and barely realized it. This happened to me today. Luckily, I looked into my rearview mirror just in time to see that the raised door had suddenly been lowered (at first unbeknownst to me) by the accidental slip of my tired thumb on the remote.

 

You've ever put on one earring, but zoned out and forgot to put the second one on the other earlobe. And you realized this halfway through your commute to work.

 

Wearing cosmetics and hairstyles other than tightly pulled back ponytails are a thing of the past. Who has time to get up even earlier and apply makeup?

 

Coworkers have commented "what a nice photo" when seeing you in a photo on your desk and then asked, "Who is that?"

 

You get a knot in your stomach every time you are rushing to get out the door and striving to be on your way by 4:30.

 

You drop and lose your keys twice IN YOUR CAR while trying to exit and get to your apartment, after your return home from work.

 

You have ever considered taking a catnap in your car in the train station parking lot – "just for a minute" – because you're not sure you can stay lucid long enough to drive home without it. (I haven't actually ever done this though. But the thought has come to mind more than once.)

 

You can hardly perform simple tasks like swiping your credit card in the correct direction at the McDonald's checkout station, in order to get to the soul-sustaining coffee that sits just six feet away on the counter beyond. The clerk looks at you like you have the IQ of a toad.

 

You open your mouth to speak, and it feels like your tongue is still asleep and unable to articulate the thoughts that are slowly awakening in your brain. Suddenly, you feel like you’re doing an impersonation of the character Lennie in Of Mice and Men.

 

You can't find your keys, and they are in your hand (happened to me again yesterday).

 

You feel like you are in a fog driving to or from work, and you really can't remember having done simple things like stopping at intersections or using your turn signal. However, you know you did, or you wouldn't have gotten from Point A to Point B.

 

Your alarm clock goes off, and in a mildly confused stupor, you answer your phone instead. (This only happened once, and that was years ago.)

 

You find yourself rewriting emails 2-3 times, toward the end of the day, to make them coherent before you send them.

 

You envy people who have "normal" hours and feel annoyed when people complain about having to get up at 5, or be at work by 7 a.m.

 

Climbing the stairs in the mornings feels like it consumes the only energy you might have had for the entire day.

 

The train ride in and out of the city is a blur, as you drift in and out of consciousness, head against the cold, rattling window. Even the presence of a person loudly turning the pages of a magazine at 5 a.m. pisses you off royally (I mean how dare they have the gall to be awake?)

 

You have to take a catnap each afternoon immediately after you get home, in order to have the energy to remain awake with your significant other, until a whopping daring bedtime of 9 p.m. Oh, and that coveted nap is all you can think about throughout the day, in order to get you through (in addition to the amount of junk food you consume, because it also helps to numb the frustration). You will do anything to get your nap “fix,” and blow off as many errands or plans as possible, in order to make room for it.

 

You can’t be bothered with smiling. It uses too much energy. (I know, I know. Frowning uses more muscles, they say.) It’s just hard to smile when you are perpetually cranky though.

You're excited when you have a legitimate medical ailment, because you are forced to get some much needed rest.

 

The focus of almost every conversation with friends or family begins with them asking, "So how is that rough schedule treating you?"

 

You frequently take chances on the highway and hit 80 mph, in order to arrive at that right moment to catch the train you need, in order to arrive at your destination (workplace) on time.

 

You can wear about 10% of the clothing in your whole wardrobe, because of the 30 pounds you've gained since beginning this "rough schedule." And you wonder how you would ever find the time or the energy to work out.

 

Your significant other is beginning to wonder where his once happy, sexy, energetic girlfriend went.

 

Breakfast, staying awake long enough to leisurely read a few pages of your favorite book, finding time to call or see friends during the week… These are also things of the past, or they must be far and few in their occurrence and be carefully squeezed into that rare hour or two that is planned well in advance.

 

You know that you once had hobbies and a passion for some things in life – umm, what were they again?

 

You stand in a moderately long line for coffee, and then get up there, grab your creamers, forget to get your coffee (aargh!) and have to get back in line to get the coffee you forgot!

 

ZZZZZZZZ……

Newsmap (News Visualization Website)

Being the news junkie that I am, I love this website that updates every few minutes with U.S. and international news topics.

 

http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

Posted via web from Writing on the Fly

Mother Jones: "America on $195 a Week!"

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/01/america-195-week  

"Bob Pollin, codirector of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, calculates that a single person needs about $400 a week, pretax, to achieve even a semblance of economic security—the ability to pay bills on time, eat three square meals a day, and set aside a small rainy-day fund. By Pollin's calculation, tens of millions of American workers fall short of that minimum."

Wow! Living in the suburbs of Maryland, near Washington, DC, that would not even cover the rent that my boyfriend and I pay! And I’m not even sure how I’d survive on that amount, much less “set aside a small rainy-day fund.”

Posted via web from JenBuzz

Welcome to the Bull Pen

Work exposes enough of a person's fears, frustrations and
vulnerabilities. Most of us don't want to be there in the first place,
right? But we also don't want to be homeless, hungry and broke. So, in
order to cope, it helps to create an environment that is conducive to
creating good feelings. Let's face it. A cubicle is not exactly Home Sweet Home. There is only
so much you can do to approach a near sane personal comfort level. Some
people bring in plants, knickknacks or a coffee cup of some special
significance to them. I put up a calendar, a few photos, and sometimes I
change out quotes that serve to inspire or motivate me when I'm having a
bad day.
 
This morning, I found out that somehow our office plans to squeeze in 6
to 7 more employees in the coming weeks. In addition to that, they want
to encourage an increased awareness of office "cross-talk." Our
management announced that they are going to institute lower cubicle
barriers -- replacing the high-walled ones with the type that are more
at desk-level, thus removing even the smallest shreds of privacy that
help some of us to feel more human, and less like gophers.
 
Mmm, nice. As if a cubicle is not bad enough!
 
Someone recently told me that an office set-up with the lower cubicle
barriers is known as the "bull pen" style setting. Sounds about right.

Posted via email from Writing on the Fly

National Anthem sung before a Texas Tech University basketball game

Click here to download:

NationalAnthem-CactusJH.wmv (3966 KB)

Posted via email from JenBuzz

Fake Breasts Washing On Shore Spoof

We are so much more beneath the skin

Just last week a friend of mine was telling me how she's organizing a national contest that involves pianists from a range of different places as well as walks of life. She told me waitresses, laborers, all types of people who are gifted with that type of musical ability will compete during this event next week. I didn't get any more details than that, or the official name of the contest. I believe she is going to be sending me more information, in case I want to volunteer to help prepare for it with her this weekend.

However, that snippet of conversation between us, during a quick snack break in the office cafeteria, really made me do a double take. I guess, like everyone, I have my own ideas of how things are and aren't, and often think people can be neatly categorized into neatly labeled packages. I have to remind myself now and then that just because a person waitresses at a restaurant or shines shoes for a living -- that doesn't mean that what we see is the total sum of who they are.

I don't believe I'm the only one who makes snap judgments in this way. I'm kind of ashamed that I do. I just assume that a person working in the auto parts store never went to college or even dreamed of it. I really can't talk, at 35 years old, with no degree to speak of. It just never happened for me. The timing was never right when I was young and wanted it so badly I could taste it. By the time the opportunities were more available to me I was making a good living and needed the full-time salary to survive; so I couldn't just quit to attend school. I tried more than once to attend evening classes, and it interfered with so many other things I wanted to do in life -- which was, well...to have a life. I wasn't able to make that commitment that many other working adults do for years in order to have the honor of a degree bestowed upon them. I don't know if I ever will. I have no energy, willpower, much less mental acuity left at the end of the working day. I jumped in with the best intentions at a few different schools, many times. I've had to put that dream on the backburner. You can't live in this society without working full-time, and going to classes late into the night and trying to rise early is not an option for me.

Anyway...maybe these hardworking people I see in restaurants, or working on construction projects by the side of a busy highway, are more dedicated than I am. Maybe they do what they do just to bide their time as they struggle through long hours of college courses that will, in the long run, send them into careers more to their liking. We can't know everything by the skin on the outside of one another. So I know that I need to work on not assuming I know everything about other people from what I see on the outside.

My friend's mention of this competition really brought this home for me. Maybe some people have menial jobs or quiet, simple lives. But deep inside of some of them, as in everyone, something surprising lives and breathes that might astonish us if we better took the time to know them.

Let's make this improved perception of those around us something that we take to heart, and not be so quick to throw away the chance to meet amazing people.

What Defines Us: A List

Recently I read someone's blog. I don't recall whose it was. But the writer made a list of things that defined her - likes and dislikes, etc.

Because I love scrawling lists and random thoughts on receipts and the backs of index cards, etc. (linear thinking is for the birds), I decided to apply that obsession to a blog entry and slap down the beginnings of my own list. I plan to try to hit 100 items, but so far I've only made it to #29.

1 - I love a challenge, puzzles, crosswords, etc.

2 - My favorite way to drive is across open country, the windows down, hair blowing in the wind and some road trip tunes on the radio.

3 - My favorite date is not a fancy restaurant, but a picnic on a nice day on some soft grass, with nowhere to rush off to.

4 - My favorite item of clothing is a broken-in pair of blue jeans. If I could, I'd stay in worn jeans, sandals and floral blouses all of the time.

5 - When people say, "Shed-U-Ele," I want to shake them in the way you should never, never, shake a baby.

6 - Humor, to me -- that unabashed ability to laugh that shakes a person and those around him or her to the bone -- is one of the most important qualities in a friend or love interest.

7 - I love the electric feeling in the air moments before a late-afternoon or evening thunderstorm, and then the resulting heavy rain that pelts the windows.

8 - I love the smell of freshly cut grass.

9 - I love books so enjoyable that I lose myself in them.

10 - I most want to travel to Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Australia and Prague, and maybe return to Alaska and Switzerland one day.

11 - I want to return for a few days to my humble Alabama hometown of a few hundred residents, just to look around and see what I remember, to come full-circle.

12 - Nothing's as good as a slice of pound cake or warm homemade chocolate chip cookies with a tall, cold glass of milk.

13 - When I first joined the Army, I was the fastest runner out of 60-something people in my platoon and once ran a 6:15 mile.

14 - I collect shot glasses from the places I go.

15 - I'm a Virgo, born on September 15.

16 - On the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, I'm an ENFP.

17 - I occasionally lucid-dream.

18 - My favorite books to read are nonfictional: Travelogues, sociological topics, books about small-town life, like those by Garrison Keillor - but fictional books do grab me now and then, when I need an escape.

19 - I have no qualms about going to any restaurant and sitting at a table for one.

20 - My two passions in life are photography and writing. I think it's because I have always felt that even mundane everyday things are worth recording. There lies the depth of our lives in those small, short moments.

21- I'm not a neat freak, although I play one in my current residence. I don't need to make the bed each morning to be happy.

22 - I placed in spelling bees and French contests in middle and high school.

23 - I used to be painfully shy. It was almost incapacitating until I joined the Army.

24 - I pride myself on seeking to know more and explore more in life.

25 - I wish I got out more and did some walking and sightseeing in the District on weekends or evenings.

26 - I love doing things spontaneously. I'm not very consistent, but I am spontaneous.

27 - I make a mean guacamole. That's about as close as I come to cooking, besides bacon and eggs.

28 - I'd much rather walk a little farther than be the lazy American and go to my car just to drive down a few thousand feet to park somewhere else and get out.

29 - In the past 10 years of my life, I've had sleep paralysis a handful of times. It's weeeiiirrrddd, but totally harmless.