A penny for your thoughts

The current government is a master at deflection and wedge politics. In this budget they are attacking retirement funding, destroying environmental protection regulations, cutting funding to the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, stifling dissent by attacking environmental charities who have spoken out against their agenda, attacking the unemployed, increasing the unemployment rate in Canada by laying off thousands of workers, and making it harder for Canadian retailers to compete with the US.   The National Council of Welfare will have $1.1 million cut, which eliminates this valuable agency standing up for social assistance recipients.  There's nothing targeted for the many thousands unemployed in Canada's manufacturing sector.  Workers, employers' contributions to group sickness or accident insurance plans will need to be included in an employees' income in the year the contributions are made and not in some cases when the benefits are received. This is expected to generate another $100 million a year in revenue for the federal government and will mean higher taxes for workers.

All of these attacks on the social fabric of Canada and all the buzz in the mainstream media is about the loss of the penny, and how we as Canadians can spend more money in the US.

The mainstream media has also, at least in BC, not given much time to the opposition leader to express his views, I am not sure about the rest of Canada--we live in isolation in BC sometimes. More air and radio time and press, has been given to the Liberals than should be warranted for a third place party. The radio, TV and press in BC appear to fawning over the government and not asking tough questions.

I was wrong about the government linking eligibility to life expectancy in this current budget, but I still think they will try to implement this idea in an upcoming budget.

How sad, when the current government is slowly and systematically tearing down our social fabric, we are distracted by the pretty penny.

A peanut joke for my grandson and new names for Boomers

 Some Canadian humour for my Australian Grandson.  Two peanuts were walking down the street. One was asalted.

On  a slightly differenct topic, I am not the only one who think that my age group needs a new name to desribe us. For another perspective on this read this article:

New term for Senior Citizen needed: Baby Boomers may apply, Posted on February 15, 2012 by bcrowley

Barb  is the founder of an online social network for Baby Boomers www.snabbo.com and you can follow her on twitter at @snabbo.

Barb is ahead of me in the online world as you can follow her on twitter, and I am not there yet, although I am hearing interesting things about the twitterverse. Barb has an interesting online social network, so if you have time I recommend you join her and read her views.

Attitudes toward hosptial overcrowding

Seating in the lunch room at work, eating my lunch I listened to younger colleagues talking about the treatment their parents received in the local hospitals. One of the men talked about his mother and how she was kept in Emergency for six days before she was moved to a quieter section of Emergency and this was happening as she was dying. Another young man talked about how his father was in emergency for five days before he was able to get a bed, which he had for a week before he died.

What struck me was the apparent casual acceptance of this level of care given by the hospitals,  by the families. In their conversations these young people appeared to accept that this level of care in a public hospital is the new normal.

Back in the 60's my aunt died in a hospital hallway while awaiting treatment, but at that time there was a huge outcry and outrage by the community and steps were taken to ensure the quality of care was better for other patients in that hospital. Today that appears not to be the case. We accept poor care, we accept the excuses given by overpaid administrators, we accept the under staffing of our hospitals, because we accept the myth that there is a problem with funding of health care.

An example of this change of attitude can be seen from the following:

It’s a good bet that overcrowding like this is going to happen again in the not-too-distant future. So, what can a individual do themselves to avoid adding to overcrowding in British Columbia’s hospitals?

Likely the best thing to do is to avoid visiting the hospital at all by preventing yourself from injury.

After all, Preventable injuries are the #1 killer of British Columbians between the ages of 1 and 44 (Preventable.ca). According to 2004 data, “Preventable injuries cost each person in BC $665 per year“.

Lack of beds is common complaint about B.C.’s hospitals, and with each bed comes a cost. The financial costs of preventable injuries could be spent on new hospital beds or other areas that could benefit the health of British Columbians. Not becoming a patient in the hospital not only helps your heath, but can possibly help the health of others.

The above was written by  a registered non-profit organization, The Community is governed by a board of directors representing organizations including the BCAA Road Safety Foundation, Insurance Bureau of Canada, London Drugs Ltd., BC Ministry of Labour, Pacific Blue Cross, TELUS and WorkSafeBC. In addition, The Community’s work is made possible through the financial and in-kind support of over 30 other companies and organizations.

Overcrowding and ambulance diversion

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding has reached crisis proportions. Many factors are blamed, but, regardless of the cause, the bottom line is that EDs are gridlocked. In most systems an overburdened ED can place itself on "bypass" status, forcing ambulances to divert to the next most appropriate facility. As more hospitals go on bypass, patients accumulate at the remaining facilities until those facilities are also full and no one is accepting patients. Ambulance crews drive in circles and make multiple phone calls while patients suffer delays to definitive care. When an overcrowded ED finally accepts them, ambulance crews are often forced to wait in a corridor with their patient until a bed eventually becomes available. This is increasingly the norm in the Greater Vancouver area.

Source:  http://www.cjem-online.ca/v2/n1/p36  written by Karen Wanger MD, Emergency medical services controversies in British Columbia, Department of Emergency Medicine, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC; Regional Medical Consultant, BC Ambulance Service

The situation at Royal Columbian Hospital is reminiscent of last March, when the facility's Tim Horton's coffee shop was turned into a makeshift ward to handle patient overflow.
Fraser Health acknowledges that the situation is "not ideal," but says early January is typically one of the busiest times of year for hospitals due to seasonal illness and weather-related injuries.

"What we have is a congested hospital site where we need to make use of available overflow space, including hallways and patient care areas outside of the rooms," spokesman Roy Thorpe-Doward told CTV News
.
But critics say the situation puts undue stress on patients, and warrants an immediate response.
Source:  http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120104/bc_overcrowding_royal_columbian_hospital_120104/20120104?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

A Riddle to keep you awake

Only 5% of Stanford University graduates figured it out!Can you answer all seven of the following questions with the same word?

1. The word has seven letters.... 

2. Preceded God... 

3. Greater than God... 

4. More Evil than the devil... 

5. All poor people have it... 

6. Wealthy people need it.... 

7. If you eat it, you will die. 

Did you figure it out?

Try hard before looking at the answers

Did you get it yet?

Give up?

Brace yourself for the answer.... 

The Answer is: 

NOTHING! 

NOTHING has 7 letters. 

NOTHING preceded God. 

NOTHING is greater than God. 

NOTHING is more Evil than the devil. 

All poor people have NOTHING. 

Wealthy people need NOTHING. 

If you eat NOTHING, you will die.