America's greatest war crime as practiced by past and current federal and state administrations has been its treatment of the elderly and disenfranchised. These crimes of physical, emotional, and mental torture closely mirror what has happened on Wall Street and to the economy recently. State-sanctioned Hospital Dumping and downgrading hospital level of care elderly patients from hospital level of care, to skilled and intermediate level nursing care, to assisted living and independent living to nursing home and finally rest home levels of care as sanctioned by Medicare and Medicaid have been taken to the highest levels of semantics, lying, cheating, and greed to justify its means with little chance for appeal, unless one is aware is knowledable and has his or her wits together and can successfully negotiate the four hour window of a hospital discharge, hopefully before the patient dies. Patient confidentiality and HIPPA go by the wayside if a warm body or taxi is available to take the patient home or to a homeless shelter, anywhere but hospital property.
My dad, a Presbyterian minister (now deceased); my sister, a BSN, Registered Nurse with more than 15 years of psychiatric hospital nursing experience; myself, a BSN and retired Air Force Registered Nurse with more than three years experience with Medicaid programs of CAP/DA (Community Alternative Program for Disabled Adults), CAP/A (Community Alternative Program for AIDS), and CAP/C (Community Alternative Program for Children), 60 Patients receiving State Block Grant PCS (Personal Care Services), Supervising the tasks of 52-CNA's (certified nursing assistants), and a Board Officer on a non-profit Board for 8-AIDS related counties, witnessed first hand in 1993 when in separate incidences son/brother was DUMPED from hospital setting and/or group home/assisted living because of Medicare and Medicaid.
Dad died in the early morning hours of an October Sunday, shortly after 9/11. His suite was laid out the night before and the sermon Mom had typed was with it to be delivered at two country churches who were without a minister during his retirement. I shared with Dad's doctor last week how appreciative our family was for Dad's quality of life during the last 15-months of his life. Dad was unaware until his read the family Christmas letter preceding his death, how ill he had been months earlier where the hospital had tried to dump Dad and send him home without any further treatment or rehab. Dad's personal physician advocated for him as best he could to get Skilled Nursing and at least on two occasions I made the six hour round trip on Wednesdays (the "dump day" for Skilled Level patients). At this time, I was a license state assisted living administrator and Director of Nursing at a facility run by a national chain. Despite what I sometimes viewed as "corporate greed" to procure patients who were too sick for our assisted and independent living sections, I was fortunate enough to "know the rules" where Dad was still too sick in his portion of the rehab to either be sent home or to a "lesser" institutional setting. And, as noted, Dad was able to return to what he loved best, ministering. For 21-years prior to going into the ministry as his second vocation, Dad was a funeral director and mortician. He owned two businesses in separate counties which required Mom to get her funeral director's license so that each of the small funeral homes would be guaranteed the state requirements for the display of separate licensures. Mom has shared many times when a persons died, the family would often prefer talking to Dad about their lives and deaths than they would their own ministers. It was not infrequent that patients or their families would request Dad while his was in the funeral business to come to the hospital to have prayer with them. Dad was an elder in the Presbyterian Church and prayed the most wonderful prayers. He knew just how long to time a meal blessing before those of us who were hungry wondered when he would stop. He seemed to be able to get everything in, including things we knew in our own minds we were happy to hear him mentioning because we had forgotten. During those last 15 months, Dad was finally able to share what it was like when his parents died in separate incidences and he and his two brothers went to a Presbyterian orphanage. (That's where he met Mom and they were married some years later.) Dad never talked much about his personal feelings and finally when I asked him: "Dad what was it like when Dr. Johnston first told you that you were too old (16) to enter the orphanage when you first when there expecting that?" Dad's response was: "Son, it was a long taxi ride back to Laurinburg..." and from there was able to unburden his soul about some of the things he had been so quiet about over the years." Without Dad's doctor's intervention, I doubt seriously from my past ER, ICU, and geriatric experiences that Dad would have lived at home a full week after the proposed discharge had he not had the hospital level of PT and OT that home care cannot provide.
About four weeks ago, my mother, now age 80, who was on two anti-clotting drugs for her heart, had a mild stroke. There was a several hour delay in her ER Triage mostly because there were some assumptions that Mom's "confusion" was related to her Parkinson’s Diagnoses. The type of Parkinson’s that my mother manifests is not of a "confusional" type and the times she was "confused" in the past, have been directly related to hospital acquired c. diff., an incidence of tetny when her potassium was too low, her heart attack without the typical pain, the stroke. My mom's chief complaint this time was "back pain." She has been a stoic woman all her life while my dad was a bit of a whiner when anything painful... different people, different thresholds for pain. I could site my examples of Mom's stoicism throughout her life. Simply put, even for crippling arthritis affecting her mobility far worse than Parkinson’s, the strongest analgesic Mom ever takes is Tylenol. Eventually when Mom was finally seen in the ER, the ER physician, a contract physician who did not know her, recommended admission; Mom's Internal Medicine Physician recommended admission; and while seen in the ER, Mom's neurologist recommended admission.
From history, Mom's pain started either the Wednesday or Thursday before her Sunday admission. She denied having any falls and none were witnessed by the caregiver the family pays to stay with her Monday-Friday from about 10AM to 5PM so my sister can continue to work. Sis typically takes care of Mom by spending the nights at her house and having Mom at her house during the weekends where she takes care of her Mother-in-law with advanced dementia. Sis's daughter (my niece) is a BSN RN working on a cardiac unit and came home on her weekend day's off, Saturday and Sunday to help her mother with Grandma. Mom's pain had progressed to the point where she could not turn from side-to-side in her king side mechanical bed (much like an electric hospital bed) or be transferred by two RN's assisting her at the same time to the bedside commode at the bed level. Finally my niece told her mother, "Mom, grandma needs to go to the hospital..." Later, on learning of Mom's DUMP attempt, my niece shared that her hospital routinely admitted patients who were not as sick a Mom who has multiple, difficult to treat diagnoses.
I was not aware until around noontime that the RN hospital discharge planner was trying to DUMP Mom. She had called my sister twice and informed her that Mom did not meet Medicare eligibility for admission. After being threatened on the second phone call that as Healthcare POA for Mom, Sis could be responsible for her hospital visit, she asked what Mom's doctor had recommended when he found out Mom didn't meet Medicare criteria. The RN had not spoken to Mom's primary physician who I estimated had made his second visit from his office that day to check on Mom and talk with me about her need for various consultant physicians to come in and check her out because of having so many problems, the recent stroke, medication changes with a history of paradoxical reactions, etc. Later, I would be able to put together from the doctor, that the RN discharge nurse caught him at the elevators after leaving Mom's room, informed him that Mom did not meet Medicare admissions criteria and wanted to know if he would give her an order to discharge Mom. The doctor told the discharge nurse he would not give the order that Mom needed to be in the hospital.
This is my first time writing a blog (EVER) so I don't know if I can go back and edit it later... if I can't, because of my own health problems, I may delete it, until I can get it more complete... but the gist was the RN lies by faxing the doctor, after my sister refused to give her permission after the Medicare threat of being responsible for all charges, that Sis was agreeable to Mom's discharge and would the doctor write the order. The doctor called Mom's room (I had stepped out as Mom had finally been taken down for the MRI that had been ordered the day before and house keeping was mopping the room floor), and the care giver answered the phone telling the doctor she didn't know where I was when the doctor asked to speak to me. The doctor told about the fax from the nurse stating my sister had authorized the discharge and the doctor stating he needed to verify that because he felt Mom still needed to be hospitalized.
The caregiver stated she had talked with my sister and knew my sister had not authorized the discharge.
Shortly after seeing Mom's minister outside her door and the green light on the outside of her door indicating an attendant was with Mom, I knocked three times, and finally entered unannounced to hear the words "going home." Mom's caregiver is not her POA and has never been given permission HIPPA or otherwise to share info about Mom.
The RN floor manager with Mom with forty years experience and the discharge planner were discussing Mom's discharge with literally the "hired help," and not authorized family. I would learn later that the Manager knew that Mom did not even have a written doctor's order after telling me more than a dozen times, the discharge planner was just doing her job, denying the hospital dumped patients when I gave some specific examples, etc. thusly in my opinion when I was threatened by the discharge planner that I could be responsible to Medicare if Mom was not discharge and my response that she was threatening my sister and our family with harassment and intimidation techniques while not specifically advocating for my mom's health in lieu of hospital guaranteed profit and that the manager was aiding and abetting and acting in collusion by insisting that this RN was just doing her job. Lying by hospital licensed personnel translates as no confidence, etc. in believing anything the hospital might be saying about Mom's care, Medicare, or her family. The hospital was not able to alleviate Mom's pain there. Why should I believe home health could come out and teach family how to give injections, etc. This is not an uncommon incident. The news media and Obama Administration need to do some investigation and bring the fascist profiteering from capitalism while taking torture to its highest level with the nation's most defenseless. People like my still competent Mother are being thrown away every day. The lessons of WWII have not been learned and the uncompleted maintenance floor of the hospital my mom is in, might better be fitted as gas chambers and cremation furnaces as our nations' elderly in many cases would experience less painful deaths. This is more than an individual's outrage, it is a national, under-reported, and ignored genocide.
Greetings everyone,
We are once again calling on Grassroots support to help our president implement his change agenda. Organizing for America (OFA) has launched it's first major action, the Pledge Project Canvass that we're asking our volunteers to participate in on March 21 & 22. For all that you built, help us kick this off right! There is true grassroots activism that YOU stirred up - we still need your help to harness it.
Triple Package (3 people to a room) $185.00 per person Notice: Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem now have a limited number of seats available ........ We have no Inauguration access opportunities beyond those who will be awarded to citizens who ride the buses ....
Hello Change Agents;
Many of you who have worked so hard to get President Elect Barack Obama into the White House have been asking about inagural tickets. Please see the trip below being sponsored by the MLK association, I sent my deposit over a month ago, and I know many others have too. I don't know if they have any seats left, but contact them, it's worth a try.
Also, contact your local state representatives and get on any waiting list they have.
Lastly, go online a google "inauguration" to see if anything come up.
YAY!!!!! Yes, we did!!!
Peninnah
Change Agent 002
MONDAY, JANUARY 19
North Carolina Presidential Inauguration Trip To Washington, D.C. - - January 20, 2009
Various Martin Luther King Committees from throughout North Carolina are sponsoring a bus trip to Washington D.C. on January 19-20, 2009 to commemorate the Inauguration of Senator Barack Obama as President of the United States. Come join us for this historic occasion to celebrate both the King Holiday and the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony. We have room for a limited number citizens. Please make your reservation now. We expect great interest in this trip. Please contact one of the representives shown below.
In Asheville contact: Orleane Simmons (828) 281-1624 E-Mail Orleane In Durham contact: Elouise Watson (919) 949-4249 E-Mail Elouise In Charlotte contact: Delores Reid-Smith (704)335-9380 E-Mail Delores In Charlotte contact: Ahmad Daniels (704)537-1533 E-Mail Ahmad In Fayetteville contact: Lula Gray Crenshaw (910) 488-5549 E-Mail Lula In Greensboro contact: Earl Jones (336) 941-5199 E-Mail Earl In Kinston contact: Theresa Bethea (252) 520-0225 E-Mail Theresa In Raleigh contact: David Prince (919) 368-5767 E-Mail David In Wilmington contact; Monika Daniels (910) 233-5998 E-Mail Monika In Shallotte contact: Fonstena Peck (910) 200-2957 E-Mail Fonstena In Winston-Salem contact: Mutter Evans (336) 971-7852 E-Mail Mutter Statewide contact: Bruce Lightner (919) 834-6264 E-Mail Bruce
ONCE IN A LIFETIME JOURNEY .... GET ON THE BUS ....
A $25 check will hold your seat. Final payment is due anytime before December 1, 2008. Trip package includes luxury bus transportation, hotel room @ the Comfort Inn Hotel & Conference Center, Bowie, Maryland, The Gala North Carolina Obama Reception and tickets to President Obama's Swearing In Ceremony and Inaugural Parade.
Refund Disclaimer The $25.00 deposit is required to secure and hold our hotel rooms and is non refundable. It will be extremely difficult to obtain rooms in the Metro D.C. area during Inauguration Week. Sending the hotels a deposit assures that we will have rooms. If, for whatever reason, we cancel the hotels will not refund the deposit. Please look at it as an investment for a spectacular opportunity.
N.C. Obama " From The Dream To The Promise " Gala Reception Hosted and organized by BTA & Associates Public Relations (919) 833-6394 or toll free 1-888 833-5003 E-Mail BTA & Associates
Obama Inauguration Registration Form Departure City ____________________
Name: _____________________________________
Phone: ____________________________________
Address: _________________________________
City/Town _________________________________
E-Mail Address: _________________________________________
# Seats Needed _____
# Rooms Needed ____ Non-Smoking ____ Smoking ____
Names Of Guests In Room # 1
______________________________ ________________________
______________________________ _________________________
Names Of Guests In Room # 2
Depost Sent: $_________ Date: _______________________
Gosh, I really haven't had time to blog or read the blogs lately but I want to share with you what Andrea and I are doing to kick off GOTV in Fayetteville, NC. We are hosting a "Barack-O-Ween" Dinner at our Campaign for Change Headquarters on Friday, Halloween for the Obama Field Organizers, Democratic Party Candidates Organizers and Volunteers. Our Trick or Treat Bags include the following. Feel free to duplicate this or make your own Treat Bags! :
“NOW, LET’S GO OUT AND CHANGE THE WORLD!
Dear Fellow Democrats, Obamacans and Independents, My name is Donna Mansfield and I have been asked to be the Regional Coordinator for Women for Obama. Some of you know me and some do not, so allow me to take a minute to introduce myself. I am a resident of Fayetteville, a wife and a mother to a wonderful 6 year old. I came to Fayetteville via the US Army and have been actively involved in our community, currently as Board Chair for the Partnership for Children of Cumberland County ;. I was very active in the Primaries on behalf of the Obama campaign and was a Alternate-Delegate to the Democratic National Convention this year in Denver. I am writing to invite you and any other women you may know to join our Women for Obama team here in Fayetteville. Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change will rely on Women for Obama participants like you across the state to make a difference in this historic election. I know that as women we wear many hats and have many different responsibilities but I urge you to become involved and voice your support for Barack Obama. Below I have listed an overview of what we will be doing to help Barack Obama's campaign succeed here in North Carolina.
Commissioner of Labor
Mary Fant Donnan
http://www.maryfantdonnan.com/home/
Mary Fant Donnan is a program officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Donnan serves as primary point of contact at the Foundation for its community economic development focus area. Donnan grew up in southwestern Virginia, is a graduate of Davidson College, and received her masters degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Adelaide in South Australia.
Prior to joining the foundation, Donnan served as policy analyst and director of research and policy at the North Carolina Department of Labor. Her efforts there focused on workforce and economic development. One particular initiative she led developed a statewide project on Individual Development Accounts - a strategy for moving low-income families to self-sufficiency through homeownership, small business development and education. Donnan has held the position of development director for the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research as well as serving in the public schools as a music teacher.
Donnan has served on the boards of the North Carolina Community Development Initiative, Partners for Homeownership and is a member of the Winston-Salem Community Development Funders' Collaborative. She was a Friday Fellow through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative, is an American Marshall Memorial Fellow through the German Marshall Fund, is a graduate of Leadership Triangle and has been active in her church and neighborhood associations. She carries ongoing interests in music, family, gardening, and home renovation.
Wait, don't yawn. This is a critical vote. It's a shame it has to be decided at a time when voter interest and participation are certain to be notoriously low. The state urgently needs a change of perspective in the labor department, and that will require a change of face. It's supposed to be a watchdog agency with sharp teeth. But under incumbent Republican Cherie Berry's leadership it has cozied up to business and industry at the expense of worker safety.
That's one reason why the Democratic nominee needs to be a strong leader. Voters must pick between the top two vote-getters in the primary, and they face a confident choice. John Brooks, 71, is a former labor commissioner ousted by voters in 1992 after the state's worst industrial accident – a chicken plant fire in Hamlet that killed 26.
He has proposed solid reforms, but voters would be better-served seeking a commissioner who is fresh to the office. Mary Fant Donnan, 51, a program officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, is a smart, capable choice. She served as director of research and policy for the Department of Labor under former Commissioner Harry Payne, the most active labor commissioner the state has had.
Ms. Donnan says she would use quality, timely data about injuries and risks when making resource decisions. She lists her priorities as stronger enforcement of worker safety rules and making the department more consumer friendly. She says she would work to resurrect the state's ergonomics standards, requiring employers to address hazards likely to cause repetitive motion injuries. She favors preventive education programs for employers.
Another asset: She is measured and precise in her demeanor and thinking, and she brings a big-picture view that would be beneficial in shaping labor department policy.
People who work for a living should consider the stakes in this runoff. An Observer investigation into poultry processing in the Carolinas uncovered how lax oversight and loopholes in rules have allowed that dangerous industry to exploit workers and underreport crippling injuries. Yet her department's appalling record did not bother Ms. Berry, the incumbent. "We're going to keep doing what we're doing," she said. That's unacceptable. A change in leadership is essential. Choosing a Democratic nominee is the first step. We enthusiastically recommend Mary Fant Donnan for labor commissioner.
John C. Brookshttp://www.brookslaborcomm.com/
EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Served 16 years as N.C. Commissioner of Labor.Attorney, J.D. Degree.First Administrative Officer of N.C. General Assembly.Former Member, Occupational Safety and Health Law Committee,Section of Labor & Employment Law,Public Co-chairman, American Bar Association.International Association of Governmental Labor Officials,Former Member, Executive Committee.Former President, National Association of Governmental Labor Officials.Former President, National Apprenticeship Program.Former Chairperson, National Occupational Safety and Health State Plan Association.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
President, Eastern District North Carolina High School Student Government Congress and graduate of Greenville High School, Greenville, N.C.Morehead-Cain Scholar, U.N.C., Chapel Hill.J.D. Degree, University of Chicago.Law Clerk, Justice William H. Bobbitt, N.C. Supreme Court.Staff, Governor Terry Sanford, Office of Race Relations.Administrator, N.C. Mayors’ Cooperating Committee.Staff Attorney, North Carolina Fund [Statewide anti-poverty program.]Chief of Staff, Maryland Constitutional Convention.First Administrative Officer of N.C. General Assembly.Executive Assistant to the President, Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention.Served 16 years as N.C. elected Commissioner of Labor.Staff Attorney, Industrial Commission, N.C. Department of Commerce.
Today was an exciting day with the endorsement by Al Gore! It was well needed news after the sad announcement of Tim Russert's death.
With the endorsement by Al Gore and the deployment of the Obama Fellows this is going to be a great and busy summer as we work towards the Convention in Denver. Please just remember our State wide candidates need our assistance and help as much as Sen. Obama. If we cannot and do not elect a filibuster proof Congress all the hopes and dreams we have of making a change in our Country will not happen. Please take a few hours out of your week to Canvass, Phone Bank, hold house parties, or write letters to the paper for our other Democratic Candidates.
Do you feel like you honestly can't make another call? Do you feel like you are canvassed out? Well just remember that our competitor is not tired. Her team is fighting tooth and nail, to shrink Senator Obama's lead here in North Carolina. We have the opportunity to let the rest of the country know that we want and believe in change. We have the opportunity to shut down all the nay sayers. I can remember hearing Senator Obama saying in South Carolina that this was not going to be easy. He said that there will be those who do not want the change that he will bring, so they will fight hard to try to ensure he doesn't win. That is where we come into play. Each of us has the power to ensure Senator Obama's victory is huge on this Tuesday. If you really believe in this movement that we are apart of, please dig deeper. We have 5 days to give it our all! Let's get Fired Up here in Fayetteville and make this thing happen! Can we do it? ....YES WE CAN!
