Category: Health

Health of people related to Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM) & psychology

Sana Cruz, CA hospital emergency care – jammed to overflowing Feb. 2018 — what to do?

Santa Cruz CA hospital emergency care — jammed  to overflowing the last week of February, 2018. What to do?  What to know?

There are two hospitals in Santa Cruz County:  Dominican Hospital — a Dignity Hospital now — located in Santa Cruz, CA  and Watsonville Hospital located in the southern area  of the County.

The population  of Santa Cruz County has grown enormously.   Infra-structure which  supports the population — such as  hospitals and roads — has not grown. Getting around the County is a major problem only getting worse.

Our politicians and policy makers have served the population poorly concerning roads. Do we need another hospital?

Ever feel  seriously ill?  Experience major symptoms?  Think you need to get to a hospital?

What to do:

1)  Go by ambulance.  Hopefully you don’t have to travel to hospital  during  early and late hours (7-9 & 3:30 to 7).

2)   Take your medications with you.  If you are admitted,   Dominican gives generic medications which can be quite  different from those prescribed by your MD.

3) If available, bring a ‘advocate’/ scribe — someone  who can verbalize what your symptoms are to hospital personnel,  who can keep track of who does what to you   and who can write down the  changing nature of your symptoms.

Once you are in a bed in Emergency,  Dominican Hospital provides  excellent care for life threatening, catastrophic issues.

What  to know:

A  M.D. referred to a ‘Hospitalist’ is the person who decides whether you will be admitted to the hospital, i.e., stay overnight in a bed for further tests, proceedures  and observation.

The number of  M.D. ‘Hospitalists’ who see you may be one or several.  This is one reason  why it’s important that your ‘advocate’/scribe can communicate with the medical personnel you come in contact with  — especially the ‘Hospitalists’ and Nurses.

Once you are admitted to a bed in the hospital, your  R.N. communicates with the Hospitalist assigned to you.   The name of the Hospitalist is typically written on a board near your bed.

Depending on how your symptoms change and how impacted the hospital is,  you may be moved multiple times to other Units in   the hospital.

While you are in the hospital, you will   come in contact with many person performing  different  medical procedures.   It may be helpful for you to keep track of time of day, date,  and who performed what procedures on you.   That way you know what’s happening and you can better communicate with your Hospitalist concerning your medical needs.

Dealing with the fragmentation due to the  multiplicity of medical contacts and procedures:

What if some of your medial  issues are addressed but from your perspective other crucial ones are not?   If you and your advocate/scribe and family think that your  immediate medical concerns are not getting met, that more is going on than it appears,  you can request  a Rapid Response Team intervention.  This is a team that will quickly come and  evaluate you  and address your concerns.   If issues arise communicating with your R.N. there is a supervisor for all the nurses in your unit, the  Charge Nurse who can address  your concerns. Other eyes, ears and perspectives from the Speech, Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist may provide invaluable  information and evaluation.

Discharge:   Later on, the  Hospitalist  MD assigned to your case is the person who  “discharges” you,  saying  that  you are no longer experiencing catastrophic symptoms,  and certifying that you are ready to leave the hospital for a lower level of  medical care (i.e., nursing home, home health care, out patient care).

If you do not agree with the  M.D. Hospitalist be sure to speak up and say why.

 Did the M.D. Hospialist actually  meet and talk with you before deciding  to discharge you? Did  the the Hospitalist actually  review  the results of  the medical procedures before making and conveying to you his/her  Discharge decision?    The person in charge of the Hospitalists is the Medical Director for Dominican Hospital.

Dominican Hospital has medical personnel performing ‘”Leadership” functions.  These persons (who are in top management positions)  go around to the rooms and initiate conversation  with patients as to  specific needs and as to  the overall experience.  These conversations can and do  enhance overall  communication.  From the patient’s perspective the overall experience can seem quite fragmented as the patient has so many brief contacts with many medical personnel.  

Dominican Hospital posts what it calls  the experience principles.  A promise to our patients and each other:

Know me as a person.  Connect with me, not with why I am here.

Communicate with me.  Keep me informed about decisions that impact.  Listen to me and respond to my concerns.

Empower me.  Allow me to be in charge of my care.  Advocate for me and teach me to advocate for me.

Comfort me.  Notice when I am having dificulty and take action to help to relieve my suffering.

Work together as a team.  Support each other.  Do what you say you are going to do.

Champion the ministry.  Treasure the mission.  Build and strengthen capabilities of the ministry.

Dominican Hospital’s experience principles are aspirational.  Having your own advocate/scribe can help enormously.

Traveling to and from Dominican Hospital:

Workers from Salinas, CA who start work at 6 am at Dominican Hospital  can get to work in 40-45 minutes. When the Dominican Hospital  MRI machine was ‘down’ the last week of February 2018 it took 45 minutes for an engineer to drive from Aptos, Ca to the hospital  wherein he repaired  the machine in 2-3 minutes.

Dominican Hospial’s emergency facilities are impacted by various populations including 1) a large homeless population which sleeps out ‘in the rough’ and gets sick when it’s wet and cold;  2) a  large population of drug addicted individuals ;  3) 30% of Santa Cruz County has families with children whose first language in not English. And more and more people are coming to the County.

The population of Santa Cruz CA has grown enormously in the last 30-40 years.  There were and still are only two hospitals with emergency facilities for catastrophic medical conditions. The roads are impacted and increasingly it’s more and more difficult to get to and from Dominican Hospital.

You can “schedule’ your trip to the Emergency facilities at Dominican Hospital.   Sudden major health events cannot be scheduled or dealt with by appointment.

What to do?   Start by talking about your experiences ….

Santa Cruz County has two main hospital  facilities and perhaps, given all the changes of the last 30  years, we need an additional facility located in mid-county.  Or perhaps we need  some additional  smaller facilities that are open 24 hours a day and can handle catastrophic issues?

written by Cameron Jackson   drcamearonjackson@gmail.com

 

 

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which RAIL TRAIL best for people living in Santa Cruz County? Still time to tell the RTC what you think!

Which RAIL TRAIL best for people who live in  Santa Cruz County?

Do we want a wide TRAIL  that can handle electric bikes and wheel chairs and walkers or do we want  a narrow trail  along a high fence that preserves the rail tracks for a train that may never happen?

There’s still time for you to tell the Regional Transportation Center what you think.

Measure D — which passed in 2017  — preserves the current  rail tracks and permits only a narrow trail.

Maybe there’s a better solution?  Read and decide.

Click  here   for a comparison of the wide one versus narrow one.

Go to the link below to sign petition.

https://www.change.org/p/santa-cruz-county-rtc-help-build-a-world-class-greenway-in-santa-cruz-county-by-removing-the-train-tracks

Thank you Dana Abbott, a gardener with Aptos Community Garden, for providing information.

written by  Cameron Jackson   drcameronjackson@gmail.com

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eat that pain away? or maybe wipe it away with salve? right here in Santa Cruz (herbs & foods for health)

 

joint pain

Eat that pain away?   Some foods that you can eat for pain relief include horseradish for sinus, blue berries for urinary tract infection, cherries for joint pain and tumeric for chronic pain. Heart burn? Try apple cider ….

Of course check  first with your M.D. for any possible interactions between medications and herbal remedies. Talk to your MD before you start consuming large amounts of any herbal  supplement.   Some herbs reduce blood thinners and affect blood pressure for example.  You can check for possible interactions online.

Or maybe wipe that pain away with a medicinal herb salve?   What about the aches that may be relieved with a salve made from medicinal herbs?   A Santa Cruz teenager has published a book which tells you where you can find the herbs and how  to make a salve for pain relief. His book is available from the Herb Room in Santa Cruz located at 1130 Mission St.  (831 429-8108.  Proceeds from his book go to assist homeless persons in the area.

written by Aptos Psychologist  Cameron Jackson     DrCameronJackson@gmail.com

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

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to sleep and really sleep! Yes it’s possible … what to do …

sleep lke a baby?  Turn off computers, TV, smart phones an hour before –  as devices make it harder to feel sleepy ….

Sleep like a baby?  Try the following suggestions for better sleep ….

Experts have standard rules on what is known as sleep hygiene: The room should be cold but not too cold; it should be dark and quiet; and you should follow rituals that signal it is time for bed. Brushing one’s teeth, putting on pajamas and turning off the lights can be signals to the body that it’s time to secrete melatonin, the hormone that helps humans feel sleepy.

KEEP YOUR BEDROOM DARK AND QUIET.  Use black-out shades, an eye mask, and ear plugs to shut out the world while your body sleeps.

FIND THE OFF SWITCH.  Turn off the computers, tablets, televisions, and smartphones an hour before you go to bed.  Studies show the artificial light coming from such devices can keep you awake and make it difficult to feel drowsy.

AVOID CAFFEINE AFTERNOON.  Watch out for hidden sources of caffeine, such as medications, chocolate, and dessert drinks.  Try green tea if you need a pick-me-up in the late afternoon because it only contains 20 mg of caffeine.

NO BOOZE BEFORE YOU SNOOZE.  Don’t drink alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime.  Alcohol keeps you from reaching the deep stages of sleep and dehydrates you, too.  Many people who have cocktails after dinner complain of waking up in the middle of the night.

DON’T NAP.  Napping regularly will disturb your sleep cycle. Avoid sleeping in the day. Keep to 8 hours a night and ideally nothing more.

CREATE A ROUTINE.  Control your sleeping pattern. Going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time every day, with few exceptions works best.

SLOW DOWN.  Encourage everyone in your house (including yourself!) to start winding down at a reasonable hour by doing something relaxing, like reading a book, taking a bath, or having a warm mug of herbal tea.  You’ll feel so much better the next morning.

_________

Aptos Psychologist:  Try reading the phone book sitting in a comfortable chair with a low light before you trundle off the bed.

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

 

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Freedom: free to make your own “dumb” decisions. Wow! [medical insurance, internet usage & FBI Peter Strzok]

Freedom to make your own “dumb” decisions

Freedom … to make your own  “dumb” decisions …  such as ‘do I want health insurance?‘  Under the proposed tax plan, there’s no more requirement that you  must purchase medical insurance. .Young people  will no longer be  saddled with paying for the health requirements of older, more sick individuals.

And freedom …. again  to decide exactly  what you want and don’t want from the Internet.

This week, the FCC voted to eliminate the  two year old ‘net neutrality’ rules imposed by Obama.

So,  for example ATT offers no cost for streaming to customers who use their cellular services and purchase TV Direct.  That was not considered  ‘neutral’ and therefore  illegal  under Obama’s  rules as other service providers did not offer the same ‘deal’.   Now you get to decide what ‘deal’ you can afford and want concerning Internet usage.

Another freedom: FBI agent Peter Strzok’s freedom to send thousands of  texts  his lover attorney Page concerning his intense dislike of Trump.  Attorney Strzok sat in on the interviews with Hilary Clinton — interviews which were not taped. It was Strzok who changed the language describing Clinton’s behavior downgrading it   from “grossly negligent” to “extremely  careless”

written by Cameron Jackson

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

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sleep with your cell phone?

 

cell phone best not in your bed or your children’s beds.

Where to bed your cell phone?  Not next to you — or near your bed — so we hear.

The California Department of Public Health has warned the public long-term exposure to cell phones could cause health concerns, advising citizens to take steps such as keeping devices away from their beds at night.

 

In a statement, state public health officer Dr. Karen Smith declared, “We know that simple steps, such as not keeping your phone in your pocket and moving it away from your bed at night, can help reduce exposure for both children and adults.”

“Children’s brains develop through the teenage years and may be more affected by cellphone use,” Dr. Smith continued, adding, “Parents should consider reducing the time their children use cellphones and encourage them to turn the devices off at night.”

According to a report earlier this year, 45 percent of US children between the ages of ten and twelve own a smartphone with a service plan, while another report revealed that “42% of US children 8 and younger now have their own tablet devices.”

Movies:  For those who want to watch movies on their I-Phone, try the Criterion Channel which is part of FilmStruck so says the New York Times.

_______________________

Aptos Psychologist:

Sleep hygiene issues?   A regular bed time and no noise and little  light the hour before are standard assists for sleep.  Yes – turn off that cell phone.

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com
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Invite a cockroach for dinner? At veterans hospital …

Swat those  cockroach! A veterans hospital in Miami, Florida, was so filthy it required a deep clean and fumigation after the area failed an October safety and sanitation inspection.

The inspection report, obtained by the Miami Herald, found evidence of “grimy drawers and storage racks,” “unrefrigerated foods” and even “insects and rodent droppings.”

The report provided the cafeteria with a number of scores on their following of health and safety regulations, with the establishment scoring zero points on a number of key issues such as the sanitation of storage equipment, keeping walls, floors, and cooking equipment clean, as well as ensuring the employees were not at risk of falling over due to slippery floors.

“There are now no reported issues involving the canteen kitchen,” said hospital spokesperson Shane Suzuki on Thursday. “Out of an abundance of caution … we conducted a thorough extermination, deep clean and re-inspection of the entire canteen.”

Suzuki added that the food of hospital patients were not affected by the unsanitary conditions because their meals are prepared separately from the public cafeteria, known as the Patriot Café.

“We have a completely separate food preparation area for inpatient food service,” he said.

The report’s whistleblower, Scott Davis, who previously testified before Congress over the sub-standard treatment that veterans are receiving, told the Herald that “roaches and food is a consistent thing throughout the VA,” and cited another example of cockroaches being a “persistent presence” at a veterans hospital in Illinois.

According to a report from the Office of the Inspector General on the Illinois facility, authorities were aware that patients were receiving meals containing cockroaches but did not attempt to solve the problem.

In recent years, VA hospitals have been plagued by numerous cases of appalling treatment, which include patients being infected with diseases such as Hepatitis and HIV due to lack of infection control, dead bodies being left unattended for multiple hours, and hundreds of veterans dying on long waiting lists for the necessary care they had requested.

During his presidential campaign, President Donald Trump pledged to fix the wait times and overall problems surrounding the Veterans Affairs and drew up a ten-point plan to reform the department as a whole. In his first White House budget, Trump signed a ten percent increase in spending for the department.

 Suzuki added that the food of hospital patients were not affected by the unsanitary conditions because their meals are prepared separately from the public cafeteria, known as the Patriot Café.

“We have a completely separate food preparation area for inpatient food service,” he said.

The report’s whistleblower, Scott Davis, who previously testified before Congress over the sub-standard treatment that veterans are receiving, told the Herald that “roaches and food is a consistent thing throughout the VA,” and cited another example of cockroaches being a “persistent presence” at a veterans hospital in Illinois.

According to a report from the Office of the Inspector General on the Illinois facility, authorities were aware that patients were receiving meals containing cockroaches but did not attempt to solve the problem.

In recent years, VA hospitals have been plagued by numerous cases of appalling treatment, which include patients being infected with diseases such as Hepatitis and HIV due to lack of infection control, dead bodies being left unattended for multiple hours, and hundreds of veterans dying on long waiting lists for the necessary care they had requested.

During his presidential campaign, President Donald Trump pledged to fix the wait times and overall problems surrounding the Veterans Affairs and drew up a ten-point plan to reform the department as a whole. In his first White House budget, Trump signed a ten percent increase in spending for the department.

“Veterans should come first in the country they fought to protect, and under a Trump administration, they will,” he said at the time.

—————————————————————————

  Firenze Sage comments:  Maybe some NFL millionaires can get off their knees and help those who sacrificed for them.

 
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new CA sexual harassment HELP line – for ALL genders starts DEC 1

sexual harassment HELP LINE in CA

 New CA Sexual Harassment HELP LINE: 323.545.0333

If you got no help contacting Nancy Pelosi regarding sexual harassment — try this resource.

 Hollywood, California-based non-profit organization called Women in Film (WIF) announced this week that it is launching a “sexual harassment help line” on December 1.

The group, which “advocates for and advances the careers of women working in the screen industries – to achieve parity and transform culture,” says the helpline will help by providing legal aid, counseling, and advice to men, women, and youth who have experienced or are experiencing sexual harassment.

The William Morris/Endeavor (WME) talent agency provided seed funding for the sexual harassment help line. However, WIF says it still needs to raise $25,000 to help launch the helpline.

“Since early October, the world’s attention has been focused on the unfolding story of countless allegations of sexual harassment against many powerful men in the entertainment industry,” a statement from WIF  read. “In response, Women In Film is launching a Sexual Harassment Help Line — an integrated program to refer victims of harassment to designated mental health counselors, law enforcement professionals, and civil and criminal lawyers and litigators.”

Southern California Public Radio reported that WIF stated: “Anyone, regardless of gender, can access the Sexual Harassment Help Line at 323.545.0333. The Help Line will go live beginning FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1 at 10 am PST.  It will be open M-F from 10am-5pm.”

The helpline is being launched in response to a multitude of sexual harassment allegations and revelations against mostly men in the film, news, and entertainment industries. In addition to that, years of sexual misconduct have started to surface against politicians, both in Washington and in various state capitals.

____________________

Comment:  Who is paying for this?   How is privacy protected?  Is there followup to see how callers like the service?    There are plenty of mental health professionals that might be interested in helping out. written by licensed CA psychologist Cameron Jackson, Ph.D.  PSY14762     

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

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Ok boys move the plastic ban where it belongs rather than Butte Montana

Rivers that pollute oceans with plastic

 Ok boys move the plastic ban where it belongs – rather than Butte Montana.

China  responsible for 1/3 of world’s plastic which pollutes the  oceans.

Shocking report reveals that 95% of plastic polluting the world’s oceans comes from just TEN rivers including the Ganges and Niger.

  • Scientists analysed data on plastic from 79 sampling sites along 57 rivers
  • Their results showed that 10 rivers account for the majority of plastic 
  • Eight of these are in Asia, including the Yangtze and Indus rivers
  • Targeting these rivers could halve the amount of plastic waste, experts predict

More than half of the plastic waste that flows into the oceans comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

The only industrialized western country on the list of top 20 plastic polluters is the United States at No. 20.

The U.S. and Europe are not mismanaging their collected waste, so the plastic trash coming from those countries is due to litter, researchers said.

China is responsible for 28%, the U.S. for only 1 percent.   While China is responsible for 2.4 million tons of plastic that makes its way into the ocean, nearly 28 percent of the world total, the United States contributes just 77,000 tons, which is less than one percent, according to the study published in the journal Science.

THE 10 MOST POLLUTING RIVERS

Yangtze East China Sea Asia

Indus Arabian Sea Asia

Yellow River Yellow Sea Asia

Hai He Yellow Sea Asia

Nile Mediterranean Africa

Ganges Bay of Bengal Asia

Pearl River South China Sea Asia

Amur Sea of Okhotsk Asia

Niger Gulf of Guinea Africa

Mekong South China Sea Asia

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  Firenze Sage:   All the plastic beachcombers can now head to the Ganges where real pollution exist

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Wake up Aptos, CA churches: Go out to the people! Ashes to go? Wafers & prayer & jam tarts to go at the farmer’s market?

 

Ashes to go. Why not wafers and prayer to go?

  Wake up Aptos, CA  churches! Go out to the people.

One place to go is the Aptos Farmers’ Market.   Ashes to go? How about   Wafers and Prayers &  Jam Tarts to go   at the  Aptos Farmer’s Market?

farmers market

How about home made cookies from St. John’s Episcopal,  Resurrection Catholic , Christ Lutheran  and  First Baptist — made  with love & sealed with a church sticker?

 Why sell baked goods only at Christmas time?  People want cookies all year  long! People love home made pasta sauces. How  about    Tomato Preserves?   And Church cook books? Many  Aptos  churches have Women’s Guilds and those organizations  can talk to each other and work together.

   And, how about a  Prayer Station — next to the jam jars  —  where people can ask for prayers for someone they love and miss  now serving in the military?

 Why not?  Don’t wait for people to come to you.  Go to them. People need healing.

prayers available at Farmers Markets?

Looking at all those gray heads sitting in the pews  it’s clear that congregations are aging.  And shrinking.

It’s  time to go out to the people rather than hope that they — somehow — will come to your “campus’ aka “community”.

Research shows:    churches that say they have a strong sense of identity and mission have a higher level of vitality.

So what’s the mission of your church?  What’s the sense of identify that makes your church distinctive?

It’s time to  ‘invest” connecting  with people outside the church premises.   Go where people actually congregate.  Engage people on their turf.  Where are they? At Farmers’ Markets.  At the Garlic Festival and the  Santa Cruz Fair.

 Did you know that hospitals are doing exactly that?  Because hospital In-Patient services have become so expensive, hospitals are offering all sorts of services on an Out-Patient basis.

  Hospitals are investing outside their walls.  They are following the patient.

 See article in The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, September 26, 2017:   Hospitals Invest in Outside Clinics.  Per that article,  Peggy Seasborn, vice president of strategic growth for Dignity Health [owner of Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, CA] said joint replacement seemed impossible a decade ago.  Now Dignity Health is able to replace hips and knees outside the hospital  in a limited number of cases.   People are bypassing the Hospital.  Since 1994 the has been an 80 percent increase in outpatient admissions whereas Inpatient admissions to Hospitals has remained flat or decreasing.

It’s time that local Aptos CA  churches ‘invested’ outside their walls.     Go out with a sense of Mission and Sense of Identity and engage with people. On their turf.

One near to Aptos,CA  church that does ‘go out and  find the patient’  is  Santa Cruz Hope Church located in Soquel, CA and Scotts Valley.

If Hospitals can think ‘outside the box’ —  so can Aptos  churches with  a strong sense of Mission and Identity.

  How do people experience healing?  Numerous ways:  prayer, music, singing, laughter, listening, and sharing are some ways.   In what new ways can  your church share the Healing Love of Christ? And reach out ….

 It’s time to leave  those church buildings ….

 

________________________

written by  licensed Psychologist  PSY 14762 Cameron Jackson    DrCameronJackson@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

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