A sad end to a life beset by tragedy. Sylvia Plath's son committed suidice last week. We had just read her poem, "Fever 103" in class a few weeks back, in which she mentions her "Hothouse baby in its crib,/ The ghastly orchid/ Hanging its hanging garden in the air,"
I don't know if I will be able to read that poem again.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Doctors Who Remain
This is an email I wrote to the executive director of our county medical society as we struggle to accrue participants for this year's Legislative Day.
Good morning Stu,
I'm not sure what time your conference call is today. We have our emergency medical staff meeting this evening at 7pm. Thank you for the buttons. I will give these out as well as the 3/3/9 ones that Barbara sent last week.
I understand that the number of respondents here at JTM and SCH have been less than half of last year. But I must say that the ones who have responded have been well informed and continually passionate. I think what you will have this year is a smaller, more focused, less angry, but also less afraid, a more willing group. If this is what MSSNY expects throughout the state, it should inform the message of the rally. Please convey this on your conference call today:
These are the doctors that are still here. That have witnessed the crisis of access in healthcare firsthand. These are the doctors who have stayed in NYS and kept their practices running amid the pressures of high malpractice costs and shrinking reimbursements as well as the most devastating economic crisis to hit our state and this country in our lifetime. The rest are gone. They left the state, retired early, or have left medicine completely.
The ones who remain are the doctors that still care for you and your loved ones, our patients, whether you are in foreclosure or homeless, in network or out, unemployed or uninsured, these doctors will still take care of you, as they always have.
All around us we see loss and ruin. It is incumbent upon the doctors who remain to use the trust, compassion, stability, and hope built into every doctor-patient relationship they have to reflect these qualities and lead our practices, hospitals, communities, and our legislators here, in Albany, and in Washington, DC to a stronger, safer, healthier future. We are the doctors who remain, and we know what we need to do.
Thanks, Stu, for all your hard work.
Good morning Stu,
I'm not sure what time your conference call is today. We have our emergency medical staff meeting this evening at 7pm. Thank you for the buttons. I will give these out as well as the 3/3/9 ones that Barbara sent last week.
I understand that the number of respondents here at JTM and SCH have been less than half of last year. But I must say that the ones who have responded have been well informed and continually passionate. I think what you will have this year is a smaller, more focused, less angry, but also less afraid, a more willing group. If this is what MSSNY expects throughout the state, it should inform the message of the rally. Please convey this on your conference call today:
These are the doctors that are still here. That have witnessed the crisis of access in healthcare firsthand. These are the doctors who have stayed in NYS and kept their practices running amid the pressures of high malpractice costs and shrinking reimbursements as well as the most devastating economic crisis to hit our state and this country in our lifetime. The rest are gone. They left the state, retired early, or have left medicine completely.
The ones who remain are the doctors that still care for you and your loved ones, our patients, whether you are in foreclosure or homeless, in network or out, unemployed or uninsured, these doctors will still take care of you, as they always have.
All around us we see loss and ruin. It is incumbent upon the doctors who remain to use the trust, compassion, stability, and hope built into every doctor-patient relationship they have to reflect these qualities and lead our practices, hospitals, communities, and our legislators here, in Albany, and in Washington, DC to a stronger, safer, healthier future. We are the doctors who remain, and we know what we need to do.
Thanks, Stu, for all your hard work.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
What if the mightiest word is love?
Just for you... a link to Elizabeth Alexander's, "Praise Song for the Day" which she read at President Obama's Inauguration.
And a link to her appearance on the Colbert Report.
Enjoy.
And a link to her appearance on the Colbert Report.
Enjoy.
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