A Light in the Dark

I see from the tribune article [The Jeffersonville Evening News and The New Albany Tribune]that Mrs. Garry continues to be an asset to this otherwise questionable administration. Her fiscal perspicacity continues to benefit those who would otherwise sabotage their own well-being.

I still believe that if she were given the task of overhauling the sanitation issue, even the “gang of four” would probably not be able to subvert or torpedo the plan.

Could we impeach our current administration, clone her and move this city forward?

Flowing bacteria

Our world-class neighbor seems to be having problems keeping the inhabitants out of the fountains.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050929/OPINION01/509290381
Can they not read signs? Do they not understand the risks? The coliform bacteria counts that are high can cause serious intestinal diseases as well as skin infections and a life threatening condition call Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome that has killed children.

How should a community deal with people who choose to disobey the rules? When they get sick, it is you and I and other taxpayers who will finance their illnesses either through Medicaid, risk-sharing with premiums from insurance or lost wages.

My suggestion is to start imposing fines, and hefty ones at that, to get these narcissists to think of something other than there own personal gratification. Their poor decisions cost others time and money and also place others at risk from spread of the germs.

New Albany’s Moral Health

The ongoing saga of the New Albany DVD store continues, as reported by the Courier on 9/27/05 article.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050927/NEWS02/509270365/1025
The legal question they seem to be battling is; “was the store grandfathered before the ordinance?”

My answer to this is “who cares?” The real questions should be; “why did our city and county leaders wait so long before acting?” Surely, at least one of our illustrious leaders knew this was going to be an adult video store prior to its opening and surely someone had an opportunity to address an ordinance before they did.

The most important question is; “does an adult video store make our city and community a better place and how will this store affect the lives of our citizens and children?” I cannot imagine how anyone can give a favorable answer, other than financial gains for the owner, to this question. Selling sex is detrimental to families, marriages, children, communities, and everyone’s moral health.

We are inundated with sex from TV, movies, advertising, magazines, and romance novels. The moral depravity that continues to destroy our families and communities needs to cease.

We need leaders who are proactive and not reactive to situations just like the one reported here. If they cannot or do not have the moral integrity to do what is right, than they need replaced

AM I ALONE HERE

Floyd Memorial Hospital has embarked in a new direction. They now have “Hospitalists.” These are physicians who only see patients while they are in the hospital and do not take care of any patients outside the hospital setting.

If you get admitted through the emergency room and do not have a physician with privileges at Floyd Memorial, then you will be assigned to one of the Hospitalists. They will manage your medical care, consult other physicians as necessary, and send a summary to your personal physician for follow-up care after the discharge. And yes, they will bill you for the services they provide to you.

If your physician currently has privileges at Floyd Memorial, he/she will likely continue to care for you while hospitalized. There may be a few physicians who decide that they want to give up taking care of hospital patients and they may elect to turn that care over to the Hospitalists. It is important to ask your physician about this issue so you are not surprised when admitted. If you are currently looking for a physician in the area, this may be a question you will want to ask.

Hospitalists are reported to make hospital stays shorter in duration because of their efficiency. This supposedly saves money for someone, but as patients, they do not possess the personal knowledge about you that your own physician will have. They have not built the trusting relationship either that may make your hospital stay less stressful.

Only time will tell how they work out.

AN UNUSUAL SOCIAL EVENT

This past Sunday marked another year of a social gathering that has been going on for about 10 years or more. It is quite a spectacle to observe. Men arrive around 5:00 a.m., sign in and register and then are herded through the corridors of Floyd Memorial Hospital to various stations. They end up at the final destination where they will “drop their drawers”, bend over the table and get digitalized; all in the name of prostate screening.

It is a wonderful service and very well organized thanks to the leadership of Mrs. Raake and her staff. From the public perspective, we appreciate the hard work and dedication of the employees that participate in this event. We also appreciate the physicians who volunteer their time and services as well.

As a reminder, the Board of Trustees has a public meeting once a month to discuss the hospital related issues. Although it is rare for any of the public to attend, the meetings are considered open. The next meeting is tonight and is held at the hospital beginning around 5:00 p.m. The current Board members include

Mrs. K. Garry
Mr. Robert Kleehammer
Mr. Von Marshall
Dr. Daniel Eichenberger
Mr. Darrell Mills
Mr. David Atkins
Mrs. M. Garner

Pharmacy overload

Recent news in the Tribune related to the proposed development on Greenvalley Road and Daisy lane stated that “The New Albany City Plan Commission voted to send the proposal to the New Albany City Council with an unfavorable recommendation.” This is good news for those who travel through this intersection. Besides this being very busy, we certainly do not need another pharmacy in this city.

We also don’t need to destroy a nice residential section by building unwanted and unneeded medical offices. The close proximity to the hospital may have some merit, but they are so close, why not utilize the offices that are already available on State Street or work with the hospital to provide offices on their campus. The Hallal building is up for sale and not at full occupancy at the present time and could be utilized.

Destroying established residential areas is the wrong thing to do especially with the poor planning our city leaders do when it comes to traffic flow. Another great example of poor traffic flow patterns can be found on Charlestown road in front of the new Meijers.

Governmental Morality

Has anyone ever thought about government legislating our morality? It's happening in subtle ways and the most recent example has occurred with the start of this school year. Every child entering 9th and 12th grades in Indiana is now required to receive the Hepatitis B vaccination.

You may ask what I mean by this. Every vaccination up until this one immunized children against diseases that could be contracted by casual contacts for no fault of their own or accidents like tetanus. But Hepatitis B can only be obtained through the "high risk" behaviors of IV drug use and sexual activity.

So now, the government is legislating to our families and ultimately telling us that since some choose high risk activities, the entire population must accept the consequences. We no longer have a choice if our kids want to attend public or private schools.

Statistics show that there are far more medical complications in teenage pregnancies and the associated premature births than there are in the much fewer cases of Hepatitis B. So my next question is; will the government eventually require every adolescent girl to receive birth control shots or pills to prevent the complications of this high risk behavior.

When are we, as concerned citizens, who abide by the laws in both the legal realm and in moral decisions going to get our elected representatives to do what is right and not what is politically correct.

I for one am tired of the government dictating morality based on political correctness, special interests, or radical social agendas.

Kickoff posting

As with anyone from my generation, blogging is a new endeavor. I am looking forward to corresponding with the people of New Albany about healthcare issues in and around our city. I have major concerns about the current structure and political issues related to our hospital and our healthcare. We compete with the Louisville service area and I believe we have the potential to excel in many areas but we are hampered by the current shortsightedness of our city leaders, our county leaders, the hospital administration and its board. We need forward thinking people to compete with this rapidly changing environment.