The Thursday Night Weekly Health Care Series is published every Thursday. It is meant to provide a forum and encouragement for people organizing for positive health care change.
While trying to draw my blood for the clinical trial I was enrolled in, the research site's head physician looked at me and remarked:
You know, I am not so sure that enrolling you into a study that would require an infusion every two weeks is such a good idea.
I had to agree.
Not having very good veins to begin with, I am used to difficult moments with phlebotomists. But at first, the pronouncement from the doctor really shocked me. After all, one of the reasons I was even a trial subject at this site was expressly to get me into the new clinical trial that was an infusion of HIV-meds every two weeks. Since my current regimen of HIV meds had not worked for the previous two years, this gateway into a new regimen was one of the only promising possibilities for me.
After the last vial had been drawn, the doctor then walked out of the room. All of the sudden, though, he returned.
Those of us who care about health care reform in America have different goals. Barack Obama wants to make health insurance more affordable and available. Johm McCain wants to, uh, cut taxes or something. Many of us, me included, would like to boot the private health insurance companies out of the business and institute government-sponsored single payer health care.
The question for single-payer advocates is, how do we get there? It often seems impossible in today's risk-averse Washington. Fortunately, liberals have a long-time champion who has provided an answer: Ted Kennedy. The recent diagnosis of Sen. Kennedy's malignant brain tumor offers Congress and the American people the chance to properly honor this great lion of the Senate by following his lead and passing the most important goal of his political career: universal health care.
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series.
Tonight's installment is intended to be a primer, if you will, on Medicare D and also Medicare C, aka "Medicare Advantage." I thought it would be helpful, however, to first give a brief bit of background on Medicare A and B.
It is important to remember that Medicare is an insurance plan that functions in our healthcare system as a payor for services rendered, and that there are eligibility requirements for Medicare. You, or your spouse, needs to have worked for at least ten years in a job that has paid into the system, or you need to have been diagnosed with a permanent disability or diagnosed with kidney failure requiring dialysis to qualify. This article provides some good background.
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series.
Tonight it is back to first principles with: "What is Public Health?"
As you will see if you read on through, it has a lot to do with SHIT.
Public health is science art and practice of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society.
While public health is comprised of many of familiar health disciplines -- such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, nutrition, social work, environmental science, education, administration, and behavioral science -- its activities focus on communities and populations rather than individual patients.
Doctors usually treat individual patients one-on-one for a specific disease or injury. Public health professionals monitor and diagnose the health concerns of entire communities and promote healthy practices and behaviors to assure our populations stay healthy.
"Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time." (attributed to former Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop)
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Senator Jeff Bingaman's office (D-NM) just called ten minutes ago to inform me that the Senator HAS included all provisions of the moratorium on Medicaid Rules in the supplemental funding bill on Iraq. The president may still shut down public hospitals, emergency rooms, teaching hospitals and school based health clinics as planned, but he'll have to pause the war to do it!
Let's see if he vetoes! More to come under the rainbow (i.e., fold).
I have lived in relative secrecy with an eating disorder for the past seventeen years. My disease has manifested in every range of the spectrum from anorexia, bulimia, purging, to compulsive overeating. At times it may be apparent to the outside world but mostly it is an internal battle that that is waged in my mind. My symptoms are fluid, depending where I am on that spectrum. But what is constant is the desire for control, feelings of low self-esteem, shame, and isolation. My struggles are not unique. Statistics show that up to 7 million females, and one million males are suffering from an eating disorder in the US. We are your sisters, mothers, neighbors, teachers, waitresses, doctors: eating disorders do not discriminate against race or class. Chances are you know someone who struggles. 5%-20% of all untreated anorexics will die from their disease (many taking their own lives) and it carries the highest death rate of all mental disorders.
My hopes in writing this diary is to raise awareness for those who are not affected, and to assure readers who are affected, that they are not alone.
StrangeAnimals has posted the latest in the Thursday Night Health Care series, an outstanding contribution on preventing childhood obesity. This problem is epidemic in our society, and threatens to shorten the lives of millions of Americans who just happen to be shorter than most of us right now.
The advice in this excellent diary isn't just for kids, either. All of us with a bit more upholstery than we might prefer can benefit from the wisdom Dr. StrangeAnimals offers.
Head on over and check it out. You and a little person near you might be glad you did.
*THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series*
Today in this country one out of every five meals eaten by children is a fast food meal. Combine this with the knowledge that American children spend an average of almost five hours each day in front of some sort of screen, and it should come as no surprise that the percentage of overweight and obese children has tripled in just the past twenty-five years.
Roughly one-third of American children are now overweight or obese. Minority children, and children from poor households, are even more likely to tip the scales. Today’s generation of children is facing the likelihood of being the first in modern history to live shorter life spans than their parent’s. This is nothing less than a national tragedy in slow motion.
Once rare in children, one-fourth of new cases of type 2 diabetes are now diagnosed under age 21. Of children born in 2000, one in three are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime; nearly one in two if a person of color. What are we doing to our children?
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series
I first diaried the Bush administration's surreptitious effort to shred our public health system through obscure Medicaid Rules Changes in December of 2007. At the time, I had been frantically calling local and national papers to draw attention to the story. No one wanted to pick it up. So I travelled to Washington DC to collaborate with Marty Sonnenburg, a film-maker I met on the web, and he shot this YouTube video for me:
We posted it on Daily Kos, ePluribus Media and My DD (we figured we'd alert the Hillary crowd, too), as well as on progressive blogs in key Republican states. Find out how it played out, and how you helped to save the day after the jump!
dadanation has just given us an amazing diary about his experience in an HIV clinical trial. It is a glimpse into the human heart, and a wonderful lesson in the real courage people find facing battles against illness. It is the latest in the Thursday Night Health Care series, and offers an unique perspective you won't want to miss.
If you're tired of spitting bullets at ABC, and want a break from the latest oscillations in the presidential polls, you won't find a better palate cleanser. It's worth the read.
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series.
The Thursday healthcare series is intended to help you make meaningful changes and choices in your life.
I hope in some small way, my contribution this evening will help achieve this noble goal.
Sadly, I'm going to be discussing the choices we all may face in dealing with a terminal illness.
If you can bear to read everything, you'll find at the end several resources which may help you assist someone facing imminent death.
This diary is not meant to depress or scare you. Just to let you know that whatever problems you're dealing with, and God knows, we're all facing daily challenges, be grateful that your reality does not resemble what I'm about to descibe.
I'm going to tell you about a very young woman who is dying of breast cancer. Yes, I know, it's not pleasant to write and it won't be easy to read. But please stay with me. Maybe it will give you a renewed passion for life, no matter the problems you are facing.
[THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT is a new series started by TheFatLadySings. In it we seek to find ways to effect change in the health care system. Tonight, we observe that change begins at home. This diary is an update of one a few of you old timers might remember.]
"Did you ever smoke?"
That's a common response when I ask my patients to quit smoking. No, I answer, but I've been trying to get people to quit for more than 20 years, so my experience with the topic isn't that much briefer than yours. In those decades, I've evolved an approach to the subject which is slightly different than the usual. I've been able to help quite a few smokers quit who haven't been able to any other way.
There are many ways of quitting smoking, but there are also a finite number of challenges smokers face and ways of dealing with them. It helps to look at these analytically, to find your strengths and use them to your advantage, and to take advantage of past experiences in trying to quit. Please share your experiences and stories to help your fellow smokers.
THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series
I'm happy to help TheFatLadySings launch this Thursday series to highlight a major issue in America, and a "top three" issue in the upcoming election right behind the economy and Iraq.
I write fairly frequently about both health and public health issues. For SCHIP diaries, go here. For health reform posts, try here. For bird flu/H5N1, try here. For pandemic preparedness, go here. And for those getting started, Health Care Discussion Links might be a good place to look.
I am a community organizer in the health care field. I was asked to put together a weekly series on health-related issues for DailyKos. The series will appear every Thursday evening at 5:00 pm Eastern time, and will offer Kossacks who are working to promote positive changes in our health care system the opportunity to discuss their issues and strategies.
I would like to encourage individuals who are working towards change at the local, state or national level to contribute diaries. Comment threads will be used to network and to share organizing stratetgies. I am going to recruit community organizers who are unfamiliar with the joys of blogging to participate as well. DemFromCT, nyceve, Dallas Doc and dadanation have generously agreed to contribute the first diaries to the series.
This series is intended as an organizing tool. Together, we can create healthy communities!
