Blog, Blog, Blogging Along

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) said, "Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead."

As one of my former CEO's used to take great pride in saying, "The secret is there is no secret."

So, who would'a thunk it?  Readership of this blog is increasing dramatically. I suspect that we will see even more activity this week-end as people tune in to find out what happened at Friday and Saturday's Health System Board meetings. 

Okay. So, I'll just tell you that the secret is there are no secrets. 

As stated in my previous blog postings, the various Boards of the Health System will vote individually to either refuse or endorse the new by-laws for the new Health System model at their respective board meetings over the next few weeks.

Alternative plans have been proposed, discussions have taken place, but the ultimate decision making power in this situation rests with the individual members of the various boards, and that's all there is to it.

Finally, in the "Facts from Florida" column.  Here's one of the most disconcerting things that I heard at my ACHE course last week.  If you are a child today, there is a 30% chance that you will develop Type II diabetes.  One third of our children today will be afflicted with Type II diabetes and the devastating impact of that disease.  Now, besides the fact that we are overweight, underexercised and nutritionally bankrupt, here's one of the other reasons why: We are spending 2.2 trillion dollars this year on health care in the United States and only about 4% of those monies are being spent on preventative medicine.

Think about it. 

Comments

[Cathy C]

Hi Nick,
I haven't been to the website for awhile, and what a joy to read it and keep updated on all the Nick/WRI developments. Since today is President's day, your hint of a female visitor for the celebration of Joyce Murtha Br Care Cr is very appropriate ! :)

I will be sending you an email about a promising young graduate of Dartmouth who would like to visit WRI. Keep up the good work. I am sorry about your friend Jack. Cathy

[Mike Soisson]

Nick,
I love the maxim, "the secret is that there are no secrets" but we both know who that CEO was ....

Best of luck to Windber Medical Center and congratulations on all the great things you all have accomplished!

Mike

[Greg Olsen]

There are two important things that are helping to cause this problem with children today. One, is that they have no adult supervision, and I mean grandparent supervision, which is often more effective than parental. The other, is that children do not live where they can walk to another place such as school, or the park.

The elderly have been taken out of the lives of our children for the first time in human history. When the first nursing home opened, the first child got away with a essential slap on the wrist from an attentive, wise, and caring grandparent.

We have created a new condition for children and elderly. We have made them both captives where they live. Children need a ride to everyplace, all day long. The elderly are shipped to warehouses, where they give up the will to live, in part, because children are absent.

Mr. Jacobs. I see that your involvement with Planetree is more developed than when I first met you just after Christmas, two years ago. I have also noticed that "Community" is one of their core components, but that it is given the least amount of description and seeming importance. I have taken the initiative to correct that for them by developing a community-centered health care and housing philosophy that expands the role of the community in health care. It allows the elderly to stay in town, in their home, where they can watch and interact with the children. It permits the children to live in an active community that, by its nature, permits them to stay physically engaged. Basically, it allows the natural tendency for humans to congregate and take care of each other's needs, back into a natural order. I call it PatinaCare.

We have talked about this before. I would love to reengage in this conversation with you.