Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Little Perspective


The department that I work for is currently part of a nation-wide study to determine if chest compressions combined with a new device for administering rescue breathing improves the outcome of CPR. It specifically is looking to see if a higher percentage of people who actually stop breathing and lose a heartbeat eventually leave the hospital alive. We already know that the national "save" rate when someone is a CPR is somewhere between 2 and 4 percent. In other words.......usually.....dead is dead. We're trying to see if we can improve on that statistic.
Even though our record-keeping hasn't been so good, the data that HAS been collected indicates that our save rate is up a whopping 40 PERCENT using these new CPR methods. That's incredible isn't it? ISN'T IT?? Well, ok it IS an improvement, but let me share a little math with you. If, on average, we save two out of every 100 patients who is in cardiac and respiratory arrest, a 40 percent increase means now we save three. 3-2=1. 1 divided by 3 is about 33 percent. So it's probably more like 3.5. Don't get me wrong. If you're one of the 1.5 people who are saved by these methods, you're happy for the change. My point is this. Don't get caught up in the hype.
Which of course, brings me to the larger topic. What I'm really trying to address is our current administration (Obama) and our newly proposed health care plan. Here's what I think about it. I haven't a clue. Do you know why? I haven't even READ THE BILL! Every day of every week I hear common folk and conservative talk radio on a rampage about the Democrats and Obamacare. I'd like to let you in on a little secret. Most of what you hear is propaganda. Is some of it true? Sure it is. Is ALL of it true? Please. You're smarter than that, right?
I guess what I'm really trying to encourage you to do is, learn before you criticize. It's no different than religion. If you want to argue your religious stance with me, study first. If you want to argue politics and healthcare, study first. Problem is, I haven't studied yet, so give me time. For the love of God, don't assume this bill or that bill or this plan or that plan is bad just because Mark Levin or Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh SAYS it is. That makes you look ignorant. Their job is to make you believe the Republicans have it right. And maybe they do, just don't take their word for it.
If you think I'm wrong, consider when Bush was president. The Democrats were screaming from the rooftops that Bush and his administration was an idiot. Were the Democrats right? Probably no more so than the Republicans are now. The beauty of all this is that it is EXACTLY the way our founding fathers intended it. It's called checks and balances. Two parties duking it out is precisely what keeps us somewhere in the middle.
To be more precise, I don't think there is any way on earth that the new health care plan can be ALL bad. There has to be some good ideas wrapped up in the thousands of pages somewhere. What I wish is what I've always wished. I long for a day when we stop calling it a bad idea in general because it came from a Democrat......or a Republican. I'll bet there is some good stuff in there. And I'll bet the Republicans have some good ideas that might fit too. Maybe we could actually merge the ideas from both sides and come up with a plan that works for everyone. Face it.....Bush had eight years to do it and he didn't get it done.
It's time we stopped calling Obama a liar because he said this or that in his campaign. He's a politician. Please, please, PLEASE tell me you know Bush or even Reagan didn't keep every promise and probably went the opposite direction on a few. It's called politics. It ain't pretty, but in the long run it seems to work. Obama has paid off special interests with tax money. So did Clinton and Bush and Reagan and blah blah blah.
It's time we got off our high horse and worked together. We're still one country, one people. Maybe we should start acting like it. And for crying out loud......read before you get angry. You might actually learn something.

1 comment:

  1. Hopefully most republicans have shed the party lable and now consider themselves as a conservative. No one wants people who (need) health care to be denied. I do however want all able bodied people to pay for their health care like I do. Government has screwed up everything it has ever take over. Thats the concern.
    Politicians, for the most part, are scum. Senators can serve as little a one term and recieve a full pension for the rest of their life. Why would anyone in their right mind want to work hard at a real job when you can mooch of the taxpayers? To say that Obama just wants to help people out is total B.S. It's all about money and power. The same with most every republican and democrat in office. Ask yourself why the dem's are trying to ramrod this monstrosity of a healthcare bill through. It's for the good of the party not the people. If a persons monthly bills outweighed their monthly income a million fold we would say that the person was irresponsible and out of touch and and should be jailed for intentionally defrauding whomever he had purchased products from. Our government is doing just that and the liberals are following blindly. Its a great plan. If you're against it you are selfish and near-sighted and racist. As written, if passed, it will decimate an already weak economy. Someone has to stand up and tell people that.
    BTW......i'll be in Washington DC for the 9-12 rally and I need a sub:) Shane McWha 32c goodnight.

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