Desiderata

As the Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann says, “Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.”

Calvin Coolidge in West Peoria Helps Haiti

See this article on WEEK-WHOI TV today.

Calvin Coolidge Grade School in West Peoria had an event today at Franciscan Park that raised 2,000 dollars for Haitian Hearts.

The funds will be used for the pediatric malnutrition program in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince.

Haitian Hearts is very grateful for all of the kids efforts and for the very hard work of teacher Hedy Elliot-Gardner, Principal Blumer and the entire faculty and staff at Calvin Coolidge.

Fewer ER's, Longer Waiting

See this article from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Peoria

Physicians Owned by Hospitals

"...most of us feel that any doctor who is an at-will employee of a hospital system fundamentally isn't working for his patients any longer but instead works for his boss (i.e., the guy that can fire him), whoever that may be. A doctor should not willingly put himself in any position where he can be fired by anyone but the patient. To practice medicine as an employee who can be terminated without cause is tantamount to a breach of medical ethics. You are simply giving too much control of your practice to someone who is not the doctor of your patients."

Nick Benton, MD
Emergency Medicine News
May, 2011

Hospital Negligence in the Emergency Department

See this article on emergency department crowding and the concern emergency department physicians have had about this for ten years.

I was concerned too.

Ten years ago I asked Keith Steffen, administrator of OSF-SFMC in Peoria, if OSF was guilty of "institutional malpractice" because of overcrowding in the Emergency Department at OSF. I thought that patient's lives were on the line in our overcrowded dysfunctional Emergency Department in Peoria.

And I doubt things are going just peachy in the Peoria EMS world. See this article from two years ago by Elaine Hopkins.

More on Peoria's EMS soon.

All Three Girls

 

Photo by John Carroll

All three girls were really sick with heart problems.

All three girls had heart surgery.

And by the mercy of God, all three girls recovered fine.

Haitian Hearts thanks all of its supporters for helping all three girls.

Haitian Hearts Has Heart

Photo by John Carroll


See this article written by Pam Adams of the Peoria Journal Star.

A Great Day in Haiti!

 

Photo by John Carroll

Since the earthquake last year, I have been able to work about four months in hospitals and medical clinics in Haiti.

The majority of Haitian Hearts work in Haiti is spent examining common Haitian problems in Haitian medical centers staffed by Haitian doctors and nurses. These problems include malnutrition, parasitic infections, respiratory infections, diarrhea and dehydration, skin infections, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, typhoid, and a wide variety of trauma.

During the course of a week it is not unusual to see a new pediatric heart patient.

During these four months I accumulated eight new heart patients with a wide variety of congenital and acquired cardiac defects who I considered reasonable candidates for evaluation for operative repair.

The kids are from Port-au-Prince and southern Haiti.

Their faces, their mom's faces, their exams, and their echocardiograms always haunt me as the days and weeks go by when Maria and I cannot find a medical center in the United States to accept them for surgery. I think I am on a chronic guilt trip when I know that most of these kids could easily be "cured" in the hands of a skilled and gentle heart surgeon.

Several months ago an organization e mailed Haitian Hearts and told us that they have a grant to operate on 400 Haitian and Dominican children's' hearts during the next five years. The surgeries will be performed by American and Dominican teams in the Dominican Republic.

And this organization wanted to know if I had any kids that needed surgery!

I answered back immediately and sent a clinical vignette of these eight Haitian Hearts patients. I also sent their VHS echocardiograms to this organization's cardiologist in the States.

I will call their cardiologist Dr. C.

Dr. C reviewed the echocardiograms and then flew to Haiti. He was in Haiti right after the return of President Aristide and during the weekend of the presidential elections (March 20, 2011).

To make it easier on the kids mothers, he rented a little plane and flew south from Port-au-Prince to Cayes and examined the kids that we had lined up to see him. ALL the kids were accepted by Dr. C to go to the Dominican Republic for heart surgery in early May!!

Thus, eight of the kids were accepted for heart surgery and when Dr. C arrived back in Port-au-Prince, he travelled to Cite Soleil and examined yet another Haitian Hearts patient, Dusousa.

Dusousa is the 17 month old toddler who is blind from cataracts and is in the malnutrition program in the back part of Soleil. Dr. C and an ophthalmologist examined Dusousa and, believe it or not, Dr. C's daughter who is an ophthalmologist, will operate Dusousa in the States!!

This is what I would call a gran coup d'etat in Haiti.

Thank you, Dr. C., for all of your efforts for these Haitian children.

The Today Show, Widnerlande, and Haitian Hearts

Jenna Wolfe and Dana Roecker of the Today Show aired a segment on Widnerlande's long saga to come to the United States for heart surgery. Jenna and Dana are professional and did a wonderful job.

The Today Show segment aired on February 22, 2011.

You can see it here on the Haitian Hearts website.

Maria also posted an interesting article which described what happened "behind the scenes" regarding the Today Show.

OSF Gobbles Up Some More

OSF Healthcare is affiliating with Rockford Health System.

The Peoria Journal Star reported this today.

See this article.

The new affiliation will be called the "OSF Northern Region".

With this new alliance, will Rockford Health Systems continue to offer oral contraceptives and sterilization procedures under the noses of BOTH Catholic bishops in Peoria and Rockford?

And will OSF Healthcare continue their embargo on their own Haitian Hearts patients who are dying in Haiti now because OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center will not allow them to return to OSF-Saint Franics Medical Center for repeat heart surgery? Will "OSF Northern Region" be part of this medical abandonment of poor Haitians?

How Haiti Can Reclaim Sovereignty---This is a Good Article!

Photo by John Carroll


How Haiti can reclaim sovereignty

After decades of foreign interference, the decision to permit the returns of Duvalier and Aristide is an assertion of independence.

Landon Yarrington
guardian.co.uk Thursday
3 February 2011


Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide may be able to return from his exile in South Africa, after outgoing President René Préval apparently cleared the way for his former mentor to be issued with a diplomatic passport. Photograph: Str/AP
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier returned to Haiti on Sunday 16 January, for the first time since being ousted from power in 1986, and his decision to return home has left many wondering. Rumours continue to circulate about what drew him home, but the question on many people's minds now is, for someone as high-profile as Baby Doc, why hasn't the Haitian government done more to bring him to justice?

In the year since the earthquake, the Haitian government has made a remarkable effort to demonstrate the rule of law. Last March, Laura Silsby and a handful of other Americans were indicted for a kidnapping scandal that drew international attention. More recently, Paul Waggoner, another US citizen, was incarcerated over allegations he kidnapped an injured earthquake victim. So why, people ask, hasn't the Haitian government taken the gloves off and handled Duvalier the same way they prosecuted Silsby and Waggoner?

A different reading on the matter, though, might suggest that justice for Baby Doc's crimes isn't the only issue at stake here.

Haitian sovereignty has been contested, both from within and without, since the country's independence in 1804. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, western meddling in Haitian affairs escalated to a number of flashpoints – chief among which was the US's own invasion of Haiti in 1915. During the 19-year US occupation, nearly every executive decision in Haiti was made "in consultation" with American commissioners, who were usually selected more for their business savvy rather than governmental acumen. The occupation ended in 1934 with a visit from FDR and implementation of his "good neighbour" policy, but Haiti has remained home to a substantial American military, diplomatic and aid presence ever since.

Over the past 20 years, non-government organisations (NGOs) have increased by the thousands. In fact, Haiti has the highest per capita NGO presence in the world – earning it the title "a nation of NGOs", emphasising the virtual substitution of the Haitian state by a non-profit Leviathan. With tens of thousands of non-state actors, the question of national sovereignty indeed looms large. Who runs Haiti? Is it the NGOs, the United Nations, or the government of Haiti?

In an effort to rein in the inflated NGO sector, the Haitian government instituted the ministry of planning and foreign coordination in 1989. NGOs working in Haiti must not only apply for 501(c)3 status in the US, but also register with the Haitian government and the MPCE. The process can be a lengthy one, involving frequent trips to the capital in Port-au-Prince, and is seen as a deterrent by many smaller groups – who ignore the system altogether. This is precisely what gets foreigners like Silsby and Waggoner in trouble.

For the thousands of unregistered groups who enter Haiti each year, theirs is a mission unbound by Haitian laws and "red tape". I met one of these groups in northern Haiti last November. Mission Discovery is a Christian organisation that specialises in short-term mission work in Jamaica, Kenya, Haiti and other countries in the global south. For a nominal fee, participants get to spend a week or two painting churches, providing ESL seminars, or, less frequently, hosting mobile clinics. While well-intentioned, mission work like this hinders real progress in impoverished areas – it's unsustainable, and unsustained – and tends to benefit the missionaries far more than the locals. Worse, it's unaccountable.

After a rainy night, I happened on a dozen American Mission Discovery travellers tossing candy to Haitian schoolchildren in a muddy street. Parents who were looking on were appalled as their children became covered in filth on account of these foreign missionaries. A friend and I went over to tell the missionaries how inappropriate and offensive their behaviour was. We learned it was their first trip to the area.

The clamour drew the attention of the town mayor. I told the missionaries it would be good for them to speak to the mayor, but they couldn't be bothered. Finally, I demanded they stop to introduce themselves. The two Mission Discovery leaders reluctantly agreed and greeted the mayor through an interpreter; the mayor, for his part, regretted not meeting the group sooner and asked why they hadn't tried to see him first.

This may not seem as outrageous to some readers, but consider the analogy a friend made. Imagine a team of Cuban doctors deciding, uninvited, to open a hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or a group of Canadian missionaries building an orphanage in New York after 11 September. How would the American public react to this? Would Americans interpret this as an act of saving grace – or an insulting violation of national sovereignty?

Interestingly, Haitians often say they are oblije, or compelled, to enter relationships with the thousands of registered and unregistered NGOs in their country. On one hand, they desperately need the services many of these groups provide; at the same time, they have no control over the terms or conditions according to which that "help" or "aid" gets doled out. It's a case of "beggars can't be choosers" writ large, and many Haitians feel they lose autonomy and pride in the whole exchange.

This is a scenario millions of Haitians encounter everyday, and the implications of it speak to the predicament the country now faces over Duvalier. The decision whether or not to prosecute Duvalier is an important synbolic way the Haitian government can assert sovereignty. Thus Haitian President René Préval has insisted charges will be brought: "Duvalier had the right to return to the country, but under the constitution he also must face justice." In other words, Duvalier is a Haitian first, an alleged criminal second. He belongs to Haiti as both citizen and offender. Duvalier's return offers the state a historic chance to pursue justice on its own terms and schedule, and in front of an international, if sceptical audience.

The same dynamic applies to ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose return to Haiti from exile in South Africa, many believe, would threaten political stability in the country. Préval is said to fear recrimination from Aristide, and has – until now – remained steadfast in denying him a chance to return, under pressure from France, Canada and the US, all of whom helped orchestrate his removal in the first place. Now, however, Préval is apparently offering his former mentor permission to come home.

One can only speculate why the Haitian government would even entertain the thought of allowing Duvalier or Aristide a homecoming, but it's clear the decision is Haiti's alone. Préval's actions toward the two former leaders make a powerful statement about Haitian sovereignty. More than Duvalier's fate or Aristide's possible reappearance now rides on whether Haiti can assert its independence.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

Peoria's Emergency Response and the Heavy Snow Storm

The snippet below is from the Peoria Journal Star during the snowstorm that hit a couple of days ago.

It is interesting from the standpoint that Mr. Rand, Executive Director of AMT, is positioning his ambulance rigs with the Peoria Fire Department (PFD) during the blizzard.

For years Mr. Rand has been against the PFD advancing their life saving services for the people of Peoria and Mr. Rand did not want the PFD EVER to be a transport service for sick or injured patients. Mr. Rand and AMT have had the support of the Peoria's three hospitals which have hospital administrators on AMT's Board of Directors. AMT, hospital administrators, and the Project Medical Director (physician in charge of all ambulances in the area) have taken this issue to the Peoria City Council multiple times over the years to keep the ambulance transport monopoly in the hands of AMT and out of the hands of the PFD. (And the Project Medical Director actually received a salary from AMT for his services.)

Transportation of sick people is a profitable business, and with the help of the hospitals and the doctors that control ambulances in the area, AMT has been successful in keeping ALL of the transport for AMT.

Now, with the snow storm, AMT is bunking down with the PFD. The PFD still cannot transport patients and only one station can give advanced life support medications.

I believe Peorians are actually WORSE off in the blizzard because AMT is now not in their usual locations and will respond when the PFD does. The "divide and conquer" concept has been weakened. The PFD and AMT will arrive at the same time now (at least from four locations), and AMT will be the only agency in ALL of Peoria (except the North Adams Fire Department) allowed to give advanced life support medications or transport the patient.

What happens in times like this if the PFD is the FIRST to arrive at a home where there is a life threatening problem? In other words, if AMT is tied up somewhere else, what happens?

As usual, the PFD cannot administer advanced life support drugs (except the North Adams Station) and not a single PFD station can transport the patient anywhere. The patient us supposed to wait until AMT arrives...and sometimes patients do not have time to wait. They may be too sick and not have the luxury of even a few minutes.

These are hard concepts to understand. But AMT understands very well and so do the Peoria firefighters who face this situation every day with very sick and injured Peorians. But money is involved and so is conflict of interest in the Peoria business community.

And please see this article I wrote two years ago regarding the conflict of interest and monopoly of ambulance services in Peoria.


Here is the article from the Journal Star yesterday:

Ambulances get closer

In response to the storm, Advanced Medical Transport hired extra paramedics, technicians and dispatchers, and added more ambulances to its fleet to make sure residents get the help they need in case of an emergency.

"Let's just say we're kicking it up a notch everywhere," AMT's community relations director Sharon Kennedy said. "You want to have plenty of extra staff. People don't stop getting sick because of the weather. Babies don't stop being born because of the weather."

A first for the company is working with the Peoria Fire Department to place four of its ambulances strategically at fire stations throughout the city. Several more ambulances will be stationed at AMT's headquarters on Sterling Avenue to respond to calls of service from there.

"When they go on calls, they will be working in tandem with us," Kennedy said of the Fire Department personnel. "That's more hands to carry people if you have to shovel their driveway or walk. It will allow our vehicles to be clean of ice, and keep the engines warm and the cab warm for the crew members, as well as keep the back warm for any potential patients."

Housing the ambulances inside the firehouses also will help maintain medications and other drugs at safe temperatures. The ambulances are stationed in South Peoria, Central Peoria, North Peoria and Northwest Peoria.

"That's the first time we've done that," AMT Executive Director Andrew Rand said. "We think it'll be better for patients and certainly improve our response times. We'll be driving in fire truck tire tracks."

OSF May Close Pharmacy that Dispenses Contraceptives

See this article in today's Peoria Journal Star.


A quick historical look at OSF’s contraceptive policy:

In the mid 90’s OSF Corporate in Peoria hired Catholic bioethicist Joe Piccione.

Mr. Piccione was hired by OSF to create a contraceptive policy that would allow OSF physicians to write prescriptions for oral contraceptives for patients. OSF was very concerned about losing money if their own OSF physicians could not write prescriptions for oral contraceptives.

So Mr. Piccione along with other OSF leaders met with The Catholic Diocese of Peoria and Bishop John Myers and “created” a new policy.

This policy allows OSF physicians to write oral contraceptives from an OSF office. But during the few moments the OSF physician is writing the prescription, he is not considered an OSF employee. And the second after the prescription is written, the physician is immediately reinstated as an OSF employee.

This sounds laughable and would be if it were not true. This policy still exists today for OSF physicians throughout the entire OSF Health Care System.

Mr. Piccione was quoted in the Peoria Journal Star in the mid-90’s that this anti-Catholic policy would “get our hands dirty”.

Why OSF wants to follow “ethical and religious directives” now in Galesburg is anyone’s guess.



By ERIC TIMMONS
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jan 26, 2011 @ 08:48 AM
Last update Jan 26, 2011 @ 08:08 PM


GALESBURG —

The pharmacy operated by Hy-Vee at OSF Galesburg Clinic will almost certainly close in March because of an argument over the sale of contraceptives.

If the lease is terminated OSF would not be allowed to bring a new pharmacy into the clinic for the next two years because of an existing agreement. A notice of termination has been given to Hy-Vee.

OSF recently took control of the clinic, which includes a pharmacy run by Hy-Vee. Jon McKee, a spokesman for OSF, said Hy-Vee's corporate office had not responded to efforts to negotiate a new agreement. McKee said OSF would like to see the Hy-Vee pharmacy remain in its current location.

However, employees at the pharmacy have been told it will close March 4. Hy-Vee spokeswoman Ruth Comer said Hy-Vee had an "ethical obligation" to fill prescriptions for contraceptives.

OSF is operated under Catholic ethical directives, which would not permit the sale of the oral contraceptives available at the pharmacy.

The health care group, which is owned by the Peoria-based Sisters of The Third Order of St. Francis, took control of the Galesburg Clinic on Oct. 31, renaming the facility OSF Galesburg Clinic.

Customers of the Galesburg Clinic Pharmacy contacted GateHouse News Service to express their discontent about the likely closure of the business.

Comer said all of the staff working at the Hy-Vee pharmacy at the clinic would be offered new posts.

She said Hy-Vee had had discussions with OSF about the pharmacy and that Hy-Vee was not prepared to back down from its position that it should be allowed to supply contraceptives to its customers.

"That's not acceptable to us as a condition," she said.

Comer said the lease for the pharmacy likely will be terminated in March. She said there had been no attempt by OSF to renew the lease agreement.
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Please see this article written by my brother Tom and me in 2008.

Speed Bumps

Photo by John Carroll


January 24, 2011

Sacramento seems like a really nice city.

The fog in the morning is serene and beautiful and the illuminated white state capitol building at night is stunning.

Many of Sacramento's streets are wide and have "undulations". In the Midwest we call them "speed bumps". In Haiti these bumps are called "police lying down".

When we have been driving here, my seven year old son Luke likes to warn me from the back seat that we are approaching a speed bump. When he spots one, he will holler out “speed bump”, and I will slow down.

I then over-politely say "thank you" and he says "you are welcome" and giggles. This ritual can occur many times over several blocks in Sacramento and Maria seems to handle this “guy humor” quite well.

Yesterday, seven year old Widnerlande who was seated next to Luke in the back seat, would join in on the “speed bump” warnings and gleefully chime "you are welcome" when I thanked them for their warning.

This morning we all got up at 5 AM because Widnerlande’s heart surgery is being performed today.

On the way to Sutter Children's Center Widnerlande happily shouted out "speed bump" as we approached another undulation in Sacramento's dark streets.

To hear her little happy voice from the back seat made me sad. I knew that in several hours Widnerlande would experience another huge bump in her short life. But we needed to force her over it, even against her strong seven year old will.

This little girl has survived intense tropical storms, hurricanes, kidnappings, political unrest, a diabolical earthquake, and the deadly cholera that was infecting 4,000 people each week in her Haitian valley. And she survived malnutrition and poverty that we can barely understand.

And she did all this with a hole in her heart that has kept her in a state of semi-compensated congestive heart failure.

I calmed myself by rationalizing that she will be able to live through our surgical assault.

Widnerlande has passed many speed bumps in her life. And as she is lifted off the operating table this morning by many gentle hands, she will have more hurdles to pass during the next few days.

But we all know this girl will get over them some how.


Thank you, Maria and Valerie, Gertrude and Rachel and Joanna, Frandy and Jim and Jane, Garren, Tiffany and Representative Aaron Schock, Sutter Children’s Center nursing staff and child life specialists, and Drs. Nasirov, Juris, and Crockett, and Crystal, and Helen and Steven and Rose. And a special thanks to Widnerlande's fearless mother Magalene for keeping her close and keeping her alive against almost impossible odds in Haiti.

---------

See this article and this article describing Widnerlande's situation.

Should OSF-SFMC in Peoria Remain Catholic?

Photo by John Carroll
OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center Chapel, Peoria


OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria has not allowed their own Haitian Hearts patients from returning to Saint Francis Medical Center for heart surgery. Four have died.

This is not consistent with the social justice teachings of the Church. This is not consistent with the mission philosophy of OSF.

OSF has a contraceptive policy that is not consistent with the teachings of the Church. This policy was created by OSF's Catholic bioethicist and The Catholic Diocese of Peoria to allow OSF to remain competitive in the medical market place.

Should Bishop Jenky in Peoria allow OSF to remain a Catholic hospital? Should Bishop Jenky allow these scandals to continue in his Diocese? Catholic hierarchy does not like scandal.

Bishop Olmsted in Phoenix doesn't like scandal either.

See Bishop Olmsted's ruling on Saint Joseph's Medical Center in Phoenix.

Widnerlande to Sacramento

Read Pam Adams summary of the six year Widnerlande saga.

Widnerlande will have her appointment tomorrow in Sacramento and receive a pediatric echocardiogram to see if her ventricular septal defect warrants surgical repair.

Stay tuned.

Haiti Can't Recover....I Want Comments to this Article Please...Do you Agree or not Agree?

Read this post.

Widnerlande Arrives in Peoria

 

After six years, five hurricanes and tropical storms, one devastating earth quake one year ago this afternoon, a severe cholera epidemic that still continues, and Haiti's usual political violence, seven year old Widnerlande arrived in Peoria this afternoon.

With the Greatest Care and Love

Photo by John Carroll


The Peoria Journal Star had an article (advertisement) on the front page on Sunday. It was called "With the Greatest Care and Love".

The article provided a history of OSF from its beginning with the poor founding Sisters from Germany to the present day opulent medical center in Peoria.

Sister Judith Ann Duvall tries to assure Peoria that the Sisters are still in control of OSF through their governing boards. She is the chairperson of all the boards at OSF.

"We are deeply involved in the administration and governance of our health care system, and always will be," Duvall said, "because we came to religious life to give our lives to God by serving the sick, poor, injured, aged and dying 'with the greatest care and love.' "

If this is true, how can the Sisters reject Haitian Hearts patients that need surgery again at OSF. If Sister Judith Ann is "deeply involved in the administration and governance" of OSF, why is she letting OSF's Haitian Hearts patients die?

The Journal Star article then quotes president and CEO of OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center Keith Steffen. One has to stop shaking one's head long enough to read all of Mr. Steffen's scripted quotes:

"The Ministry Development program started by the Sisters allows us to reinforce our heritage as a Catholic, faith-based organization throughout OSF HealthCare system, all seven of our hospitals and our other entities," said Keith Steffen.

Mr. Steffen, who is not Catholic but likes his Catholic pay check, continues:

"Ministry development helps us promote and protect our identity in a society that challenges our Catholic ethical religious directives. It encourages a role of advocacy for the underprivileged, disenfranchised, and the poor, much as our founding Sisters did," Steffen said.

Mr. Steffen, of course, stopped Haitian Hearts patients coming to OSF through a missive from OSF's legal counsel, Douglass Marshall. Haitian Hearts has now lost three young Haitians who were operated at OSF but not allowed to come back to OSF for repeat surgery ten years later. (Two other young OSF patients in Haiti are literally clinging to life right now. Both have been homeless during part of 2010 after the earthquake which occurred one year ago tomorrow. Both have been denied repeat heart surgery at OSF.)

But OSF did build their 280 million dollar Milestone Project during the last decade which includes a bright shiny new Children's Hospital of Illinois that is open to anyone-- unless one is an OSF Haitian Hearts patient.

So, I think OSF speaks with forked tongue with the Journal Star being their main messenger to the public.

OSF will change for the better some day. But it won't be tomorrow. OSF is embedded too well in Peoria and who wants to challenge the nuns? They can't be wrong, can they?