Read Cockeyed Optimists in a Crybaby Culture, a post by Robert Stein on his blog, Connecting the Dots. Using the wonderful old Rogers and Hammerstein South Pacific song, I’m a Cockeyed Optimist as a metaphor, Stein looks at the way our American culture has changed and lost its focus on fairness while chosing the most … Continue reading
Posted in September 2011 …
Reading Glasses and More Reading Glasses
I’ve just finished reading You Can See Mortality Better Through a Pair of Reading Glasses, an essay in today’s Washington Post. The opinion piece, by Janice Lynch Schuster, looks at reading glasses — and how nearly all of us eventually require them — as a metaphor for viewing and accepting our mortality. Writing with irony and … Continue reading
Caring About the Patient While Caring for the Patient – UChicago
The Bucksbaum Foundation has donated $42 million to the University of Chicago to create an institute that concentrates on clinical excellence with a focus on partnering with patients. What a common-sense, and timely idea. Disclosure: I have a graduate degree from U of C. As university president, Robert J. Zimmer comments in the press release: This … Continue reading
Eleanor Clift Writes About Hospice
Journalist Eleanor Clift has written a superb article in the August 2011 publication Health Affairs about the hospice experience of her husband, journalist Tony Brazaitis, in the months before he died of cancer. It’s freely available and filled with astute observations and information — a good read for anyone, but especially for families who may have to … Continue reading
Apropos of Distracted Driving, Children, and Cell Phones
In light of my previous post about the apparent extra protective layer that grandparents have when they drive their grandchildren around, I decided to post this BMW distracted driving advertisement. I believe that telephones and texting play a big role in parents’ accidents these days. I wrote a longer post about the this BMW video … Continue reading
Are Kids Safer When Grandparents Drive?
I’ve just read an thought-provoking research article from the journal, Pediatrics, Grandparents Driving Grandchildren: An Evaluation of Child Passenger Safety and Injuries (freely available, PDF full text or abstract. As a part of this study, the researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School collected insurance data on 11,850 children who … Continue reading
Great KevinMD Post on Medicare Reform
Stop by the KevinMD blog and read Government Austerity with Medicare Reform as a Top Priority. The blog post, by medical student Nathanael Heckman, addresses the issue of medicare reform and life expectancy. Raising the age for eligibility is inequitable, because the rich live longer and the poorer Americans need the care that Medicare provides. … Continue reading
Who Are These People? Health Overhaul Musings
Three cheers for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, that has dismissed cases brought by Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli and Liberty University in my home state, oops commonwealth, of Virginia. Read and listen to the NPR story at the Shots Blog. Read related articles in the New York Times and Washington Post. Who are these … Continue reading
Things We Take for Granted Used to be New!
A humorous, but pithy reminder for everyone — adults, adult children, and seniors — everything we routinely use and take for granted was new at one time or another. The video is a Norwegian Broadcasting Network comedy presentation. Enjoy!
4 Anti-Rudeness Lessons From My Mom
It seems to be in vogue to be rude. From media and shouting television personalities, to drivers, to people’s online behavior, to members of the House of Representatives, rudeness seems to be a part of our daily life. Some people seem to be proud of it. Trouble is, the behavior is mean, nasty, and downright … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 