Health Care Inefficiency and Ineffectiveness

Since it has been so long since I have written I wanted to share with you a paper that I just finished for school. Let me know what you think!

Health Care Inefficiency and Ineffectiveness.
Health care is one of the most debated topics of our time. It pulls at the heartstrings of some and questions the personal responsibility of others. It has lead to financial meltdowns for some unlucky individuals plagued with unforeseen diagnoses while concurrently increasing shareholders profits whom many have enough money to cover any unexpected health problem. Everyone has an interest in the way that the system works because individual’s health leads to one’s quality of life. It is unfortunate that the current health care system that is in place in the United States is not working in its current form.
The health care system is both ineffective and inefficient in treating the entire population in a way that is affordable to all involved parties and accessible to all residents. The United States spends more money on health care than any other developed country; in 2004 we spent 16% of GDP on health expenditures. We are outspending countries on health care and our population has worse health than those same countries. Currently our life expectancy and infant mortality is lower than these same countries that spend less on health care. This should be a red flag that signals a major inefficiency within the system.
The current system in the U.S. does not cover all residents and health inequalities and disparities are increasingly visible. This is another example of the inefficiency with the money being spent on health care. I believe that with the obscene amounts of money that are currently being spent on health care could be diverted to offer a system that includes coverage for everyone. The countries that are offering universal health care spend less money than the United States and offer coverage to a larger percentage of the population.
The sole funding of the health care system comes from taxpayers. Almost all residents pay taxes in some form that help contribute to various healthcare programs. It actually goes beyond healthcare programs because the taxpayers are also paying the salaries of our elected public officials who receive health care, and with out the taxpayer they would be without a job and healthcare. It is hard to understand how we got to a point where there are taxpayers paying for others health care and be unable to get care for themselves. The taxpayers also end up paying high costs for bankruptcies which were caused by high medical costs of individuals that were either uninsured or underinsured. I believe that this is one of the major inefficiencies in the current system.
I think that the system became so inefficient and ineffective because of the division of care. Care is divided between the public and private sectors. The two sectors have independent goals that complicate the process further. The private sector aims to make profit and the public sector aims to give care to those who can’t care for themselves. Much of the private sector that offers health care are publicly held, for-profit companies that aim to try and satisfy their stockholder and hold their own self-interest above the moral responsibility of caring for others. Many of these companies have spent millions of dollars creating complicated formulas and business plans that allow certain patients to receive certain types of coverage and others with less or limited coverage. They also offer complicated plans littered with exclusions and exceptions that not only intimidate the consumer but make it extremely difficult to get insurance they may need.
In addition to general inefficiencies of the current system they are also quite ineffective at looking at the possible long-term problems associated with healthcare. The Unites States’ culture is run with a concentration to satisfy short-term needs and reward based on instant gratification. This has proven to be ineffective because we have neglected to look at long-term planning. We now have large proportion of the population being elderly, costing us much of our increased expenditures, and a continued increase of the prevalence of chronic disease that we could have better handled through long term planning and forecasting of population statistics. I don’t think that either the public or private sector thought about this current problem until it was too late and an extreme burden on the system. We are now paying the consequences from our absence of long-term planning and stressing an already stressed to the max system.
In addition to overlooking the long term, we have also lessened the importance of prevention. If we have less people in the system then we have less money going to secondary and tertiary care, thus reducing total costs. It costs much less money to fund a prevention program than to treat a life-threatening, preventable disease. Resources are able to be diverted to areas where they will be put to greater use and thus be more effective in helping to treat patients and save lives. This has been adopted by both public and private organizations on a small scale but needs to be deployed on a large scale in order to make a serious dent in the current crisis.
I believe that the government holds the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the health and quality of their people. The constitution states that a primary role of the government is to promote the general welfare of the people and should continue to try and accomplish this. I don’t believe that the government will, nor should, solve every problem, but I do believe that they have the final say in regards in regulating the system, enforcing laws, and making sure everyone has access to care. I believe that the free market has better abilities to offer health services, perform research, and develop technology but they need guidance, regulation, and laws to abide to.
The government needs to set regulations that will reform our current inefficient and ineffective system. I believe that the government should needs to base their regulations on universal coverage and long term planning. They should enforce regulations that provide affordable coverage to all and make illegal to reject coverage of pre-existing illness.
Although the current standing of the health care system is dismal without reform, it has great potential for improvement. It is the challenge of both the private and public sectors to create ways to succeed in offering universal, comprehensive coverage to all who want it. Health care is a hot topic that will be debated as long as there is a health care system. The lens to look through is not one of doubt but of one certainty. Certainty that there is a solution out there to our current health care crisis that doesn’t eliminate the free market or regulations plan to grant coverage to all.

Convenience has saturated my life...

My Blackberry alarm began sounding "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. at 7am this morning, I chose to hit snooze till 7:30am. I just wasn't ready to say hello to the world, and my Blackberry makes it so easy to put off that hello for another ten minutes. Alarm clocks are no longer need, since I can now customize my alarm in order to allow for a easy awakening every morning. Seriously, I can now pick a peaceful song or annoying alarm tone, the number of minutes I would like to snooze every time I hit the button, and the volume of the alarm. Before I'm even awake I rely on technology to start my day for me.

I have been so programmed to think that everything in my life should be simple, quick, and easy that when life throws a wrench in the mix, I easily get frustrated with the lack of smoothness on my daily adventures. I contribute my frustration of trivial set backs such as the stone age speed of an old computer, traffic on a Monday at noon, long lines at Starbucks, and failure of my DVR to record "The Rachel Maddow Show". I contribute my annoyance of these minor inconveniences to the way my life has changed in response to technology and its continuous and seemingly infinite ways to improve and add ease to most components of my life.

After I decide to to take on the challenges of the day, before I am even out of bed and after I hit the "dismiss alarm" option on my Blackberry to stop the 10 minute snooze, I take a look at the emails that have been sent overnight. Most which are spam and notifications of news that media outlets think I would be interested in. Email before I'm even out of bed, who would have thought 3 years ago? I finally put down the Blackberry and make a way to the bathroom to handle my morning bathroom routine, in order to avoid offending people throughout the day.

I don't think that I am alone in my addiction to technology. I believe that people all over the world have become accustomed to a world of convenience where information is at our fingertips, news is now reported on a minute by minute basis, thousands of songs can be carried on an ipod the fits in the palm of your hand, and a hard drive can be carried on your key chain. Its absolutely amazing what has been developed in the technological world in order to help satisfy the market for ease.

I had not even gotten out of the house before I ran into a minor mishap with my love affair with convenience. I had to print a project for school that was due at 9:30am. I plugged in my flash drive to my laptop and began to print my document. I knew I had low ink in my printer but I didn't think that it was out, which i figured out once the printing began. I then took my flash drive to another computer and plugged it in and thats when the frustration started. THe computer I plugged my flash drive into took about 4 minutes to recognize that it was there, another 5 minutes in order to open the document, not to mention every time I tried to switch to a different window, in order to try and make good use of my time while I waited for the document to open, the computer went into sensory overload. I felt like the internal parts of the computer couldn't keep up with the simple idea of closing windows, changing windows, or reading the headlines on The New York Times. My anxiety was starting to get to me because it was getting closer to 8 am, which is when I planned on leaving for school. 30 minutes later I had printed my document and been on my way. I think that it was a combination of an outdated computer trying to multi task, the absence of patience on my part for slow computers, my reliance on convenience, and my fault for leaving the printing job till the last minute.

And yes, the slow computer was a PC. I have recently made the change, like many others, to a MacBook. I couldn't be happier and I think that my frustration with lack of technological ease and convenience has increased since that purchase. The MacBook runs a flawless operating system, much like that of President-elect Barack Obama's campaign for presidency. (I had to get some politics into this non-political blog.) THe computer does everything it is supposed to with no frustration. I can multi-task, search the internet, write a blog, look through photos, and read emails, all with out any waiting or error messages. In fact, before I got dressed I hit the "dashboard" key on my function keyboard and it provided me with the weather for San Diego. I got dressed and left the house.

All this technology and I had not even made it until 8:30 am. We have come to point in time where technology of convenience is a necessity for our lives. Our culture has embraced convenience and it has transformed our society. We have become inpatient and easily frustrated when our technology fails, yet rely on it day after day so that we can try to pack more and more into a period of 24 hours. Convenience has saturated our lives and I'm not sure what they will think of next or how much more convenience can be packed into my life. I'm happy when things go my way and annoyed when they don't. I'm going to pledge to be more patience with the little things because technology can't solve everything in this far from perfect world and convenience only gets you so far.

Could there possibly be an end to my political rants?

As I sit here contemplating my future level of interest in the realm of politics, now that Barack Obama has been elected our 44th President of the United States, I realize that I may have entered a world that I may never be able to escape. In the last year I have become so mentally and emotionally involved in the way that our government works, from the corruption that led us into an endless war to the most recent realization that we can each make a difference.

I think that our great country has reinvested in itself this last week. I believe that the election of a black man to the most important job in the world proves that this great nation can lead the world to a better place. My view of this country has been renewed, I am proud, once again, to be an US citizen. This does not come without a cost. During the last 8 years we, the citizens of the US, have allowed the government to take advantage of us and run our reputation into the ground in order to further their political agenda. The Bush Administration has taken our hard earned money and we have nothing to show for it except for high food prices, an pointless war, a stock market in the crapper, less medical coverage, less regulation, a nationalization of the banks, giveaways to wall street, failing infrastruce, falling home prices, excessive home foreclosures, a rising unemployment rate, and a president that no one trusts. The list is endless, but I have a feeling in my heart that this is about to change.

I have to admit that prior to November 4th at 8pm, I was somewhat of a cynic thinking that the presidential election, going with the tradition of the last two elections, would be stolen for a third time by those that have profited the lies and deceit of the last 8 years. I wouldn't have been surprised if the outcome of the election had gone in favor of John McCain. Just the thought of another stolen election made me ill, but the thought also allowed me to feel what citizens of other countries must feel when corruption takes over their elections. The feeling of a muted voice of a citizen in a environment where democracy is just a facade in order to hide ulterior motives and agendas.

I tried to set myself up for disappointment. Every time a friend, a relative, or a teacher said that Obama had the election in the bag I asked them to watch what they said in order to lessen the jinx-ability of the most important election of my lifetime. I wanted nothing more than the those in favor of hiring Barack Obama as our commander in chief to become over confident, like we had been in the past, only to succumb to defeat. My government had not given me much faith in their ability to be honest and truthful to their employer, the citizens of the United States. Prior to the last 8 years, we have taken for granted our freedoms and rightfully believed that our government would always act in our best interest. We have witnessed that we can no longer keep our guard down and must always advocate, lobby if you will, for our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

When the polls closed and the news stations began to call the election, I couldn't help my tears, joy, and raw emotion. We had overcome the tragedies of the past and entered into what the future will call a defining moment of US History. I cannot place another time in my life where I felt like I did Tuesday night. In an instant everything changed: the world changed their views of America, I had restored faith in my great country, I was excited to think that my voice made a difference, and that we were embarking on a journey that would change the country for the better. Barack Obama is a breath of fresh air that was well needed and long awaited. I had watched him carefully during his campaign and believe that he will be one our great presidents, who will end the politics of broken promises, hidden agendas, and special interests.

Now, I'm not sure I want to escape our country's political system. I think that instead of complaining about the past I will be able to praise the future.

I Stand Corrected

So it looks as though I wrote about some information that was proven to be incorrect. Sarah Palin never requested to ban books from the Wasilla library, thank god.It seems as though she did ask the librarian to what the process was to remove books from the library but never asked to actually ban books. Palin stated that a parent had asked her the very question, and she followed through and asked the librarian the process.

Although, I am still not a supporter of the McCain/Palin ticket (or shall we say Palin/McCain) I am glad that this rumor has been dismissed, and wanted to make sure that I passed that along.

A Book Banner for VP? God, I hope not!

I have surprised myself these last couple of weeks by not writing about my crazy addiction to the political events that have made the century, and only 8 years in to it. I have watched the recent political events diligently, my emotions have ranged from extremely entertained to deeply saddened to deeply motivated and to deeply ashamed of the recent mockery of our political system. This mockery has clearly turned this presidential election from a campaign about who is better qualified to lead the leaderless American people to a game of trickery and deceptive actions that all of the US should be ashamed of. We should be focused on strengths of the candidates, each emphasizing what exactly they can do specifically for you and me, not a campaign based on hypocrisy and lies aimed at attacking the opponent.

And on to my points...

So I have been on an emotional roller coaster ever since Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska was chosen as the vice presidential candidate to accompany John McCain on his mission to claim the title of President of the United States of America. I'm confused on where to start since my mind is overflowing with thoughts regarding Miss Alaska. Do I start with discussing her time as a mayor in Wasilla, Alaska turned Governor of the state, or her family values that have resulted in her sexually exploratory daughter who has ended up with a baby bump, no wait, my personal favorite her request to a librarian to ban books (gasp), or a bridge to no where which she seems to manic-depressingly support... or abandon, or finally but not finitely her record of retaliation towards people that stand in her way and don't see eye to eye on her beliefs.

I don't believe that McCain picked his first choice for vice president, I think that he picked Palin because that was his only chance at trying to win this election. McCain is disconnected from Palin, clearly shown from their speeches that they gave at the RNC. Palin's speech was clearly made to the right, McCain's speech was clearly made with the moderate's interest in mind. She mocked Barack Obama as a community organizer who she stated had no responsibility, and McCain advocated community organizing by getting involved in the community to make a difference.



Palin is being used to attract the radical, evangelist, right wing conservatives, which I believe she will do successfully. This despite being a hypocrite and advocating abstinence only education when she proved perfectly doesn't work, hence her daughter Bristol's premarital pregnancy. It's funny because I empathize for Bristol and her boyfriend who has described himself as redneck. To be pregnant at such a young age is going to be tough for her not to mention she will be exploited by the media for a long time, much at her mother's doing. I don't think that her daughter's pregnancy really even matters in the long run in the race to the white house, i just think that it reflects poorly on the republican party and continues to build a case that supports their incredible goals at being the best hypocrites they can be.

Palin has proved that she is a wonderful speaker that engages the audience and a pro at reading a teleprompter. She seems like a loving mother, although I again question her family values leaving her family and her special needs infant to run the country with McCain not to mention in a way exploiting her daughter to the world by accepting this position. Now some may call that a sexist statement but let's all look at this as realists. She is a mother that chose to have 5 children, she should be responsible enough to parent them the best that she can. The case could also be made with Obama and his children, except his daughters are prepubescant.

Although her speech gained attention of the country, it was in my view in poor taste. She lied numerous times about Obama's stand on the issues, and portrayed herself as a scathing women who has an overly inflated ego about her self, and calls herself a pitbull in lipstick. I'm not even sure if that's a positive or negative thing. But she isn't telling the country everything we need to know. She wanted to ban books from library including the Harry Potter series, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and others that you can find at the following link: Books Palin tried to Ban . She supported the bridge to nowhere until she didn't support it. She claims that she said "thanks, but no thanks Washington," for the money to build it, but in fact she took the money and used it in other ways. The state of Alaska had been working on reform long before they were introduced to Sarah Palin, but she seems to accept the reform as her own personal accomplishment done in only 21 months.

I want to see her give an interview to the Press, but unfortunately it seems as though that may never happen. The McCain campaign stated that they are going to focus on speaking directly to their audience, this is a cleaver way for the campaign to cover up what they really mean - they won't leave her vulnerable to more bad press and embarrass her and the campaign with her lack of knowledge on current events and the issues of today.

I feel badly for McCain because I think that he doesn't have control of his own campaign. He is a maverick, but not in this election. It seems that he is being controlled by the Republican machine that has ruined the name of this country and wants nothing more than to continue the same bad policies that support the rich and scheme the poor. Palin as choice for VP may help win him the election but will pave the way for another 4 years of Bush-like politics and a continuous downward spiral of our already failing economy.

A book banner for VP is not the choice the US needs, because we all know that VP is normally a 4 year stepping stone to the presidency. One can only imagine what that would be like.

Guestbook

I'm setting up this guestbook so that I can get a sense of who is visiting my blog. If you will, please stop by and add a comment about whatever you like. Don't forget your name, if your not registered with Blogspot. Thanks for reading!

Couldn't Be More Pleased - In More Ways Than One

I really wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has in some way commented and given me feedback on my writing. I appreciate it more than you may know. I know that we are all busy creating the lives that we live and trying to make everyday count in our own ways, to that - I need to say thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on life and the puzzles that I am hoping to solve. The act of responding to my craziness is even more dear to my heart, I am so fortunate to have people that enjoy my writing, whether or not they agree with my beliefs and feelings. Not to mention, the corrections with my grammar. I have to admit I often post my blogs without proofing them because by the time my thoughts have been expressed, I'm exhausted.

Now, I want to clarify a comment from Don on my previous blog. So the article that I was referencing regarding the book "Obama Nation" was in fact from the Washington Post but it was from their editorial pages. I do believe that their newspaper is more conservative than my liberal favorite, The New York Times, but their editorial authors may not be as conservative, hence the article titles "Par for Corsi" ( Washington Post Article - Par For Corsi ).

Don, Thanks for challenging me with your comments I do appreciate it!

I never imagined that I would have people that actually enjoy my writings, in fact I didn't think that I had any talent in the writing arena until I started this blog. I just wanted to simply express my ideas and hope that I could make a small change in this crazy world we call home.

Thanks again, and hopefully we can all make some kind of small change in our lives that will encourage others to make a change in their lives. Whatever your poison of change may be, do it in a way so that others can learn from you. Although my blogette has been mostly political, my current avenue of change has nothing to do with politics. I am simply trying to lessen my judgments that I hastily make about people. I believe these judgments may be clouding the real light that they are trying to shine. I would love to hear about changes that you are hoping to accomplish or any additional feedback that you have to give. Again, Thank you!

Seriously, Do we want people who support these shenanigans running this country?

I just finished watching one of my favorite shows, Countdown with Keith Oberman on MSNBC this evening and felt compelled to write a piece regarding a segment on the show.

Most people are either going to vote for Barack Obama or John McCain in the upcoming election in November. The McCain camp has blatantly lied numerous times, to make Obama look worse in the eyes of Americans, although he will do more for people's lives than McCain. No he won't raise working people's taxes, in fact he is going to lower them for working America and increase them for ALL corporations (the corporations that are currently taking all your money and leaving you with nothing). You can verify that via numerous sources including factcheck.org, an unaffiliated source for political information.

Anyways, the McCain camp couldn't be happier at the moment. They are rejoicing, I'm sure, at the release of the book "Obama Nation" by author Jerome Corsi. This author is a radical right wing conservative who doesn't stop at anything to try and squash the campaign of a politician that wants some serious change. Corsi was responsible for a book full or lies an deceit about John Kerry, the democratic nominee in 2004. He is at it again trying to make Obama sound like a drug-abusing muslim, yet his conservative party is responsible for buying in bulk all the published books, in order to make it seem as though this book is a best-seller. Normal people are not buying this book!

The New York Times has to list the book on it's bestseller list, but it adds a smart asterisk that reports its fraudulent bulk sales.() The Washington Post, a conservative newspaper, also wrote an article stating that this book is anything but a piece of scholarly work. The book has been debunked and discredited by anyone who knows anything about the truth, including those associated with the conservative movement.

Everyday there are new developments that proves that the radical conservative republicans (ie Bush, McCain) will stop at nothing to further their political agenda, an agenda that includes continuing to lie to the American people so that they can put more money in their pockets, at our expense. Although the McCain party is not linked directly to this new book, I'm sure they are linked directly to it's sales which resulted in their number one spot on the New York Times Bestseller list.

The American people can't afford to have another Bush in office for an additional 4 or 8 years, and suffer like we have been for the last 8 years. We are ready for Change in this country, ready for a country that takes care of their own in various arenas. How can we survive when we have McCain in office that has proved himself as a liar in more ways than one? We can't. By the way, did you know that 1 out 5 republican senators are not attending their own party's national convention as a means of distancing themselves from McCain and Bush, and in essence everything the Republican Party stands for. Not only are the American people fed up with Bush and the connotations associated with republican party, so are the members of the Republican Party.

Vote for Change, Vote for Obama.

Does the Government care about the American People at all?

For the last 8 years, Capitalism has been moving farther and farther away from an economic system to a system that rewards corporations with ever increasing profits at the expense of the morals and ethics. These corporations have been allowed, with the backing of our current President, to further their political agenda in a way that we should all be ashamed of. What is their political agenda you ask? Many corporations and industries want lax regulations, or deregulation of their industry so that they can increase their profits in order to satisfy their shareholders. It's not so much that I have a problem with corporations, I have a problem when we say that we live in a democracy, but it has become a cover up for the reality that we live in a place where corporations control our daily life.

My favorite industry is the food industry, not just because I love to eat, and boy do I like a great meal, but because people believe that everything that is sold as "food" is "safe" for them to eat. It's not an absurd thing for people to think, I mean we have a whole government agency that's sole purpose is to protect the citizens of the US from products that are inherently unsafe. They have a budget for 2009 of $1.77 billion dollars (The Iraq War costs the American People about 1.88 billion dollars a day). With a budget as small as that for an agency that governs an essential need for every individual in this country there is no question in my mind that they would fail, the agency has become obsolete and is indirectly controlled by big food industry corporations, pushing their agenda further and further at the expense of the safety of the American people.

The meat industry is a great example of how much power and ability they have to influence the government, and thus the American people. Let's start with the basics of nutrition, another one of my favorite topics. Fat is an energy source that we need in order for our bodies to function, if we consumer an excess amount of fat, our body stores it for future use. There are two types of fats, good fat and bad fat. Bad fat is what would be considered saturated and tran-saturated fats. These types of fats are solid at room temperature, and for this reason are more dangerous that unsaturated fats, good fats. Saturated fats are more likely to clog our arteries and lead to health related heart problems (a major problem in the US) in the future.

The main source of fat in all meat is saturated fat so it is wise to eat meat sparingly. The average American eats half a pound of meat a day, more than twice the recommended intake of protein per day. Eating meat in greater amounts directly affects our future cardiovascular health. Meat is everywhere we go, we have been conditioned to eat meat in greater and greater amounts, well above what our body needs or is good for our body. Heart disease has become the number one killer in this country due to the industry embraces an eat more approach as opposed to the eat less approach.

We are bombarded by eat more meat everywhere we look and it has become the center of every meal due to the meat industry. They solely want to sell their product, they don't really care about what their product does to people after they consume it. They lobbied the USDA, which controls our Dietary Guidelines and Food Pyramid, to exclude any wording on the pyramid that would suggest that meat is bad. They wanted to be represented as equal to fruits and vegetables and severely objected to any format of the pyramid that showed them in a negative light. They believed that it would drastically change consumption amongst the industry. The current groups all proteins together with the same guidelines. This means that meats and beans are grouped together, this is misleading to the average American. Meat guidelines are worded as such: "Choose lean meat" and "if higher fat choices are made, make sure you count those calories in your daily caloric intake." There is no mention of saturated fats and their disastrous effects on health in large quantities.



This is just an example of how corporations and industries control our government and with that we, the American People, are given information that is not as informative as we think it is. The dietary guidelines that are given to us, say a lot about nothing, they are ambiguous, and mostly confuse people, rather than helping people make good food decisions. This has directly affected the health of this nation. We are suffering from an epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and laziness all from this "eat more" approach that we have been conditioned to carry out. We have been trained to expect big portions at restaurants, eat meat at every meal, replace vegetables with potatoes, denounce fruits as a healthy alternative to sweets, and in essence feed the corporations huge amounts of money to continue them to do this and exploit us at our own expense.

This is going to continue regardless of who is the next president, but big corporations will continue to thrive under McCain at the expense of the people but will be slowed under Obama in efforts to help the people reclaim their voice.

So Much To Say, Not Enough Time.

Wow, I have finally finished an incredibly demanding 8 weeks of summer school. The 8 weeks consisted of 4 units of Physiology, which I worked my ass off to get my A in the class, and a National Registry Emergency Medical Technician Class which was 6 units, A in this class as well. So since I spent the summer learning, you can infer that I had little time for anything else, I neglected my life, my friends, my family, and of course this blog. But I'm back with an immense amount of ideas that will hopefully show themselves in the next coming weeks.

In the next couple weeks, I will be relaxing and trying to get used to life with out a job, and with that...no money. I have had a job consistently since I was 16 years old, and completely forgot what it felt like. I'm excited, to say the least. It will be short lived since SDSU starts on September 2, and I will be taking on 18 units during the Fall semester. And if all goes as planned, this will be my final year at San Diego State and will begin to move on to bigger and better things, like nursing school - an adventure in itself.

Time for a bit of catch up!

Ok, so I know it's been a while since my last post and I'm feeling the need to express myself and keep everyone up to date with my crazy/busy life. So, let's chat about what's new. I'm coming up on my last year of school before I finally get awarded a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a minor in Marketing. But, although I should be thinking about summer and enjoying the warm sunny weather, that is the last thing that has been on my mind.

I am stressed out as normal, anyone that knows me well knows that sometimes I take on a little too much. This summer has been the definition of "taking on too much." I am currently taking 10 units of class in 8 weeks, which is absolutely insane! I am taking a physiology class which has come to take over my evenings Monday through Thursday, sigh. But the class that I am the most excited about is my EMT-National Registry Class. So an EMT is an Emergency Medical Technician, like a paramedic but with less responsibility. This class rocks! It is some serious hard work that leaves you rewarded with skills that give you the ability to save lives. I am already impressed with the amount of knowledge that I have learned. I find myself constantly asking people to take their blood pressure and their pulse. I have a burning desire to give someone CPR, although I don't wish any heart problems or cardiac/respiratory arrest on anyone. Although, it's surprising that heart disease has taken a hold of so much of the population, you would think that there would be peeps dropping like flies everywhere you go. I also have a questionable desire to shock someone with an AED.

As you can see, I am so amped that this class is going to teach me things that I will be able to use on a daily basis once I really enter into the Health field. I have decided to apply for jobs as an ER -tech or as an EMT on an ambulance, after I complete this class. So excited! If you haven't already figured it out, my days in the insurance business are numbered. I'm actually giving my notice to the Gecko tomorrow, you know all good things come to an end. The job came with good and bad, good being I got paid great for it. Bad, outweighing the good tenfold, stressed out, ripping people off, and getting yelled at constantly about our policies, let me tell that people over the phone have absolutely no shame, none! My next blog might be about all the ridiculous calls I've ever had, and there has been a lot. It was a good job while it lasted, I never thought I would know so much about auto insurance and driving laws in my wildest dreams, so if you have any questions at all in the future about insurance, I would be happy to help.


Anyways, stay tuned. Much Love! Muah

Micah

It's Been a While... So let's talk about Food

I just returned from an amazing trip to Las Vegas, and it is so much more clear why they call the place Sin City. This town has vices at every place one looks. My personal vice that was fed while on my delectable trip to the city of lost wages was eating. I really love food, really I do. I am constantly amazed when I meet people that have little interest in something so essential to our existence.

Food was everywhere in Vegas, not only an opportunity for the casinos and hotels to make some serious money, but an energy source to keep those all night gamblers and party-goers moving and spending money. For myself, I lost all self-control when it came down to the choices I made about where to get my much needed energy in order to keep up with my fast paced weekend. I was surrounded by places to eat, advertisements for prime rib buffets, fast food joints, and meal deals everywhere I went. No wonder I lost all self-control, I was inundated with the idea I needed to eat, eat, and eat some more. And their marketing absolutely worked, I ate it all.

Most people who know me would probably describe me as a relatively healthy eater who has some weaknesses for a great plate of food. I try to eat foods that are as natural, for lack of a better word, as can be, the less chemical additives the better. I believe food should be quality, not a product sold by corporate America to make money. Often, these products resemble food but are so pumped full of special "ingredients" that help cut costs for business in efforts to increase profits. The end product may resemble food but in fact lacks benefits for the consumer and increases health risks.

You may even call me a hypocrite of some sort because Sunday morning in Vegas I broke all my personal eating rules and it resulted in a chain reaction of broken rules for the rest of the day. It began with an walk to McDonalds, a place I probably had not eaten at in over a year. I don't eat there for a number of reasons, the main reason being that I feel they directly aid in some of the most preventable health disparities affecting people around the world. McDonald's was the first chain and acts as leader for the rest of the fast food industry. So I tried to put the fact that I hate McDonalds on the backburner and tried to remember the fact that I was super low on available funds. I surrendered to my old school favorite breakfast item: the sausage egg mcmuffin. It tops the chart with over 450 calories and 27 grams of fat, dam!

A couple hours later, as soon as that blood sugar dipped I began to crave a grilled cheese sandwhich. At this point I was seriously questioning my judgment, because I hadn't had these kinds of unhealthy food cravings in a long time. But figuring I was very well-behaved in all other areas on my trip to Sin City, I craved and gobbled one up. I proceeded to the pool for some sun and relaxation in the pool. A couple hours later, I was craving junk again. At this point I was really wondering what was wrong with me, but now that I look back I think I may have been thinking I was hungry but really just thirsty for some H2O. I decided on a hot dog from the pool side cabana, which I should have known then was a BAD decision. I had been thinking about one since I saw a Nathan's Hot Dog stand in the New York New York Hotel. I caved and received a cold hot dog not once but twice. Yup, sent it back after it came to me cold, and it was luke warm the second time. I should have known then not to eat it, but I did. At this point, my friend Charlene was definitely questioning my ability to make any important decisions for my self. And if you thought it couldn't get worse, it did. At the airport I ate half a burrito that was filled with delicious goodness of chicken, cheese, rice, beans, and sour cream.

After taking the time to write that down, I am almost not even able to comprehend what I did to my body that day by eating all that nasty processed fried food. It almost leads to me agree with the food extremists that say fast food is addicting, once you start it is very hard to stop. It was a cyclic system that started with the ingestion of a sausage egg mcmuffin dropped blood sugar followed by a craving of more greasy junk food, and it continued until I was too disgusted with myself to even dare to put one more piece of any kind of food into my body.

Anyways, I start my diet tomorrow, not necessarily to lose weight, but to get my body back onto track with my healthy lifestyle. The lifestyle that is full of locally grown fruits and vegetables, unprocessed foods, food lacking of chemical additives, and all-in-all much more tasty, delicious foods that are beneficial for my body instead of hurtful.

Glad to be back!

Micah

Overcoming a Legal Addiction

One third of my life was spent on consuming and feeding an addiction. One can really only speak of addiction, or understand addiction if they themselves have been an addict. I spent that eight years living my life around this addiction. Everyday I woke up in the morning and could not wait to get my first fix and after my next fix, this continued day after day. This repeated almost everyday for eight years. My drug of choice was nicotine, cigarettes. Just like any other addict, I relied and depended on my cigarettes for everything, really I did. I equated them in someway to every portion of my life. I needed one with my coffee in the morning, I needed one as soon as I was done with any meal, in the car, before work, after work, before class, after class, when i was having a bad day, a good day and almost any other time that my body required it or when I was bored and had nothing better to do. I was in love, with an intangible object that I couldn't live with out.

Cigarettes were my friend that I relied on when I was having a bad day. Biologically being prone to some mild bouts of the blues and some anxious tendencies, cigarettes were the perfect prescription. They were definitely a way of dealing with the hardships of life, even as an adolescent and as a young adult. Just like any other addict, I was able to escape whatever was troubling me and retreat to a place where I was accompanied by one reliable friend that never betrayed me and was always loyal, a cigarette.

The only positive thing about this addiction is that people are able to go about their everyday lives, with only minor judgment against their character. Cigarettes and other tobacco products don't destroy a person's lives like other drugs, but they really can make life a little harder, especially in the world that is becoming more and more health conscious.

I had tried to quit smoking cigarettes more times than I can count on both hands. Every time I tried it was the hardest thing that I had ever tried to do. The thought of living with out cigarettes consumes your life the minute you decide that its time to leave your best friend in the past and move on with your life. I would become extremely anxious and grumpy hours after my last cigarette, as my body tried to function minus the steady levels of nicotine in my blood. I was scared to quit for so many different reasons and on so many different levels.

The day I decided it was time to quit smoking was one in which I had lunch with my father, a long time cigar smoker. Although I don't think I quit for a couple weeks or even a month after this lunch, I knew it was time. He said something to me that has stayed with me every since. I can't remember where we were eating, but I know we were talking about my future in the health industry. At the time of our lunch, I had recently decided to incorporate Public Health into my degree at San Diego State University. And with that decision, I started to think about how hypocritical it would be for me to be an advocate for the health of the community as I smoked my heart away addicted to cigarettes, essentially committing myself to an array of health problems in the future. My father also said to me that at some point in the future it would be important to someone else that I not be a smoker, whether or not they ever knew me as a smoker. It made sense to me then, but makes that much more sense to me now.

I quit smoking cigarettes on August 14, 2007 and have just passed the six month mark, the longest I have ever gone. It has been surprisingly easy. I realize now what my father meant by the importance to someone else that I not smoke. I know things now that I was oblivious of when I smoked. I never realized how badly I smelled until I quit. Everything that I was associated with stunk like a dirty, stale ashtray: my clothes, my breath, and my car to name a few. Even with the application of a perfume or smelly lotion, the ashtray smell remains as a potent reminder of your disgusting habit. Smoking also puts a delay on every daily activity. As someone who was a heavy smoker, I needed my nicotine fix before I went out with my non smoking friends. I always thought I was imposing my addiction on their time, but I didn't care I had to have one. And it really came to occupy my time in all sorts of ways. I never had so much time on my hands until I quit.

With quitting, I had to find new ways to spend my time and try new routines to keep my mind from wandering back to the thought of cigarettes. I wore the patch which saved me from the dreadful withdrawal side effects, but that didn't take away from the psychological side of addiction. I had to develop new ways to cope with life, since I used cigarettes as a way to calm down from a stressful day or a way to relieve my anxious mind. I began counting the days that I had not smoked a cigarette and took one day at a time. I soon lost track of how many days it had been, which had to have meant that I was thinking about cigarettes less than before. Everyday became easier and soon I felt the benefits of being a "non-smoker". A term that I still have a hard time associating with myself, since so much of my life I reluctantly considered myself a "smoker". I can't say that I will never smoke again, but I can tell you that I am happier without them, something a year ago I never would have imagined.

An addiction to tobacco is just like any other addiction, except that it is legal and is more socially acceptable than other addictions. I think about cigarettes every day, and I don't think that may change anytime soon. Lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and stroke are all influenced by smoking cigarettes and an addiction to tobacco and are some of the most preventable diseases that we encounter today. It is a shame that most people live for today and not for the future, since it is the only thing we have.

Confession

Wow, it has been a long day and I have a confession to make. But first, let me give you some background.

I have been blessed this year with the generosity of so many people. This generosity has allowed me to be able to work only three days a week (Sunday, Thursday, and Friday for those of you who don't know) and really focus on school. This semester, I'm enrolled in school with a total of 16 units, and I have to admit I'm not sure that this semester is going to be that difficult.

Since I am one of the older people in my classes,I have almost turned into a professional student, I get the feeling that I'm in enrolled in easy classes since everyone around me dreams of fake id's and enjoys the newly found comfort of living away from Mom and Dad. I'll keep you updated on how "easy" these classes as the semester progresses. Going off on a tangent, let me reel myself back in.

Now, most of the week I am very relaxed and able to really hone in on some activities, that i never had time to do before. Only after studying, of course. I have taken up cooking, exercising, cleaning, and writing to name a few, which have all become a therapeutic outlet for me. Except for days like today.

It all started last night, When I made the mistake of going to happy hour at Rock Bottom last night with Wei, my roommate and his friend, Kassage. Happy hour was fun besides some anxious distractions from seeing an ex-boyfriend, at least I thought it was him. I was too chicken shit to actually make any eye contact to verify that the back side of him actually matched the front that I wouldn't look at. That's really beside the point. I was delirious and really exhausted from the night before when I stayed up late doing nothing productive, I should have been studying. So back to happy hour, we had a couple drinks and it was time to go home. Came home, was in bed before midnight, and then the sound of the dreaded alarm this morning.

I hit snooze a couple times, thinking, in sleepy/dream-mode, that I had so much time before school. The next thing I know it's 8:15 and I have about ten minutes to get out the door so that I could make it to PH 290, Health Professions and Organization, on time. An hour later, after a short stint on the freeway, a pop in to Starbucks (yeah, I did make time for a venti coffee w/ cold soy), a search for a parking spot, and a short walk later I was in class listening to a lecture about "Health People 2010."

I made it through PH 290 and was off to Microbiology lab, uhh. Still tired, the coffee only mildly perked me up, but I was running on no food. It's eleven, now and I'm putting on this dreadfully tacky white lab coat and getting ready to "play" with some E. Coli. Great, I have only had coffee, not one bite of food, my cognitive skills, not to mention motor skills, are declining at a rapid rate, and I have to "play" with E. Coli. I was just hoping that none of it got into my body, so that I wouldn't have to toy with the idea of having to "pray to the porcelain god" for any period of time. We used samples of it and placed them in some cool jelly looking stuff, so that it would grow and we could examine it next week. Lab is 2 hours and 40 minutes long. By the end of lab, my coffee has completely worn off, I can't really think straight and I am starving. Not to mention, I'm starting to get cranky and very grumpy.

I get out of lab at 1:40pm and now I have a race to work. It's the first day of the week that I have school and work, and I had been dreading it since I got out of work Sunday night. I have to be at work by 2:15pm. Now, this means that from the moment I get out of lab, walk half a mile to my truck, wait in traffic to get to the freeway, drive from the college area, all the way to Poway in 35 minutes. Almost impossible! Did I mention I was starving? I know I'm that hungry when I start yelling at people in the car for almost no reason. It just seemed like everyone was driving super slow and trying to their best ability, to make me late to work. I was a grumpy girl today!

Ok, so It's 2:01pm and I'm getting off on my exit to work and still have about 5 miles to drive to get to GEICO. Great, 14 minutes to get to work, change into "work appropriate" business casual clothes, clock in and start checking, what I found to be 75 emails waiting for me. Of course, I hit about 80% red lights on Scripps Poway Parkway, or what Charles likes to call, SPP. Just my luck I start getting more upset. I finally make it work, I get a front row parking spot, which always brings a smile to my face, and I run in, looking like a bag lady. I'm carrying my school bag and work clothes, and trying to find my badge to get me into the building. I run through the turnstiles, up the steps, and finally to my desk where I end up clocking in at 2:18pm, pretty darn miraculous. I drop my stuff and go change, and all i can think about is eating. Charles tries to talk to me, and I have to hold off on that, so that I can get some food in my body and prevent a snappy, short remark from exiting my mouth.

Since, I only had ten minutes in the morning to get ready I didn't have time to make my lunch. As most of you know, I haven't eaten "fast food" in about 6 months, maybe more. Besides,the occasional Bean and Cheese burrito from a local taco shop, hmmmm. This is when the confession you have all been waiting for comes in. There is one small detail that I left out on my way to work. I stopped at Taco Bell. I used to eat Taco Bell maybe 5 times a week, at the height of my fast food diet. Ironically which at that point in my life, I was surprisingly too skinny. Now how does that work? I went through the drive through, on the way to work and ordered too much food, my eyes for food were enormous. Like a good girl, I ate it all. Finally, a sense of energy rushed through my body. This was later followed by a sick feeling, a combination of nausea and a fever, at least it felt like it. Was it the Taco Bell or E. Coli I started to wonder. But I have to confess, that my crunchwrap, crunchy taco, bean burrito and diet pepsi were quite tasty in my moments of exhaustion and starvation.

All though the food was good, I would have to admit that, I will not be making a habit of the Thursday trip to "the bell". I feel much better when I eat fresh unprocessed foods that really give my body the vitamins and minerals that it needs.

The rest of the day turned out be much better than the first half. I had another coffee, a triple venti soy latte, to combat the continued feeling of exhaustion and take my mind off the dead battery in my phone. I spoke with some nice policyholders at work, and got to help some fellow co-workers with their calls.

As I write this last sentence, I think about getting to sleep so that I don't have another late morning, have ten minutes to get out of the house, and end up with a meal of Taco Bell later in the day.

Much love,

Micah

To clone or not to clone? That is the question.

Many of you that are around me on a daily or even a weekly basis have realized that I talk about food a lot. Food has become a great topic of interest for me. It is quite amazing the things that not only go into our food, but the way the politics of food works.

We all have to eat to stay alive, we don't have that choice. We do have the choice about what we put into our mouth. I think that most people have no idea, nor do they care about what they eat and the industry that supplies this food to you plate.

One thing that I find intriguing is that we we may soon be eating the meat of cloned animals, if not already are. (There is some debate in regards to if these animals have made it into our food supply yet, if it has it is most likely in dairy products.) The FDA declared Tuesday, January 22, 2008 that cloned animals and their offspring are safe to eat. The first animal that was cloned occurred in 1996, Dolly the sheep. Funny how the acceptable cloned meat to eat currently excludes sheep, even though they have been cloning sheep longer than any other animal. Do we really have enough information about cloning animals to make the judgment that they are safe to eat? I'm not sure we do, as it is a relatively new technology.

I'm not sure I would eat cloned animals, at least not knowingly. I watched this movie in my History of Sexuality class, Evolution: Why Sex?, which discussed the aspect of genetic variation and how it is necessary for survival of a species. It addressed the subject with the description of these cute little fish that live in pools in the rural mountains of Mexico. There are 2 types of these fish, one type the produces offspring via the "normal sexual" route, and the other that produces little ones asexually, yup. . . asexually. What was interesting about this movie was not only that there is a species that produces offspring asexually, but the fact that these cute little fish that produced offspring with the absence of sex were infected with a parasite at a higher rate than those that produced little gametes via the traditional male/female interaction.

The reasoning behind this is because the little fish that have sex donate half their genetic code to their offspring, allowing for natural selection to take place. This allows for genetic variation, allowing genes that inhibit their well-being to disappear over time, and genes that are beneficial to their survival are able to flourish. The ones that produce offspring without sex, do not donate half their genetic code to their offspring, in fact their offspring are exact copies of their mother. This does not allow for natural selection to occur in this type of fish. The little fish, i wish i could remember the name of the breed, that do not have sex used to become infected with this parasite at higher rates than the sexual ones. Over the course of a year, the rate of parasitic infections became equal among the two types of fish. The researchers concluded that this was because the sexual fish started to inbreed and lose their genetic variation. To test their hypothesis, the researchers took fish from some of the other pools in the area and deposited the fish into the area where the parasitic infections where equal among asexual and sexual fish. Not to their surprise, the parasitic infection, again, began to infect the asexual fish at higher rates.

What does this have to do with cloned meat, you ask? Everything! If meat were to be cloned at high rates, than they, just like the fish, would become susceptible to infections and diseases that they may have originally developed immunities to. I also am not sure why we would decide to clone animals for the purpose of slaughtering and eating them, seems like a waste of money to me. Have cows stopped procreating? I'm pretty sure the have not.

The studies that have been completed, the ones the FDA used to base their statement about safety, were one that were administered by cloning companies. I would have to say that this is a definite conflict of interest. This is the tip of the iceberg, when we think about how food companies influence politics, but that is a whole other blog. The FDA also stated that meat products that were from cloned animals would not have to be labeled, but ones that are clone-free would need approval to label their product as such.

Admirers of the FDA's declaration, believe that cloning will help to uniform meat in all areas and provide consistent and better meat, than traditional meat. I don't notice the difference between a filet in Vons versus one purchased at Henry's, unless we are comparing free range grazing meat to grain fed cattle from meat packing plants.

I'll let you make the decision on this one. If you want a change, your voice has to be heard.

Until next time,

Micah

Looking for change

I appreciate everyone response and comments. One thing I want to clarify: I didn't mean to convey the message that we should not give health care to inmates that are incarcerated. I think that if they have medical problems, of course they need to be treated. But, do they need a brand new complex? I don't agree on spending hundreds of millions of dollars of tax payers money to rebuild a brand new health service center in the prison, when many Californians don't have medical insurance and when California can't figure out how to budget their money. The bottom line is that California has some major problems that it is facing economically. We should concentrate more of our efforts on spending our money more wisely.

Looking for Change, Installment One

I figured that since there are some topics that really peak my interest and that I fell quite strongly about that I might as well shares these ideas with others. Hence the start of my own personal blog, yes. . . Micah started a blog.

As most of you know, I am finishing up my Education at SDSU studying Public Health. I can't explain how happy I am that I have found my passion in this world, since I have spent much of my college career bouncing around different majors, different careers, and working hard. After this long stint as an undergrad, I will hopefully be attending a Graduate program to get my master's in Nursing specializing in Public Health. Then I can go on to do fantastic things and contribute so much to society and helping people. Maybe my sister and I can be a little team of health professionals.

For those of you not familiar with the Health industry, let me tell you about Public Health. The easiest way I explain it to people, is by telling them that its health issues that each and everyone of us confront everyday of our lives. Public Health issues encompass both political and social arenas, preventative and treatment methods, and also social and individualistic struggles. It is social marketing of healthy behaviors to the population so that we can contribute to society in great ways. Topics range from the food we put in our mouths, infectious diseases we contract, drugs we become addicted to, and accidents we get into, to name a few. Basically public health is a necessity to the prolonged health of the human population so that we can be healthy contributing people in society.

As we all know, health care is an issue that we are seeing more and more of in the news, especially in a year of a presidential election. But the real issue is that there are millions of people with out health insurance, and we need to figure out a way to correct this. I don't know the best way to do this, do we raise everyone's taxes to support a government based health care program, do we make it mandatory that all employers offer health insurance for their employees, or do we make regulations that medical organizations have to abide to? What I do know is that the current system is in need of definite reform.

I read an article yesterday in the Union Tribune that disturbed me. The article targeted a major prison, San Quentin, in California and discussed its current state. The article was titled, "San Quentin Original Dungeon to be Preserved Amid Renovation," this was not what was so disturbing to me. What was disturbing was what I went on to read in the article. The article talks about the, "Federal court-ordered overhaul of California's prison medical system," yes you heard it right. The California tax payers are not only paying for criminals to live in our prison systems, not only their medical treatment, but a new $146 million primary health service complex at the prison. Does any of that make sense? While there are millions of people in the state without medical insurance, the inmates that are housed at this maximum security prison are not only getting free medical insurance, but the ones footing the bill are law-abiding citizens. Many of these citizens are not able to receive their own health insurance, yet they get to fund a health care system for rapists, murderers, and other criminals. Some how our government justifies building a brand new health facility partly paid by those who can't even get insurance themselves. There is just something so completely wrong about this ass-backward situation, for lack of better words.

To keep this as un-biased as I can, I do need to mention the fact that the hospital currently on the premise of the prison was built in 1885. So it's old! It obviously worked up until this point, or they made other accommodations to satisfy the medical needs of the prisoners. There may even be a different facility that they used and the 1885 facility could merely be just for show. The article, coincidentally, didn't mention that. (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080127/news_1n27quentin.html)

I feel as though the law-abiding citizens that work hard and pay their taxes are getting screwed. We wonder why the state of California is suffering from a financial and economic crisis? We wonder why the Governor has to cut education budgets for Californian children and students or why the cost of living is so high?

Ponder these thoughts, what is that you think or what is it that believe? Maybe we shouldn't depend on politics to make the right choices for us, they don't exactly have a proven track record for doing so.

Until next time,

Micah