There's an ad on TV, for an auto company, advertising the new Buick, maybe.
Several young women are driving to a baby shower, and one turns to the other and says, "You know she's having a boy, right?" She asks this question with a facial expression so ugly it makes me shudder. I wonder who looks at these ads, and why they don't re-shoot it with her having a different expression on her face. (Oh, well, maybe it's just me.)
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Friday, June 29, 2018
How hot is it?
It's so hot that the snakes didn't come out today.
At 5 a.m., it was 60 degrees, at 9 a.m. it was 70, at noon it was 80 and at 3 p.m. it is 85. Temperatures are from thermometer outside my kitchen window, so in the afternoon shade. The house temperature is very comfortable now: typically heat level rises in late afternoon, so we'll see. Maybe tomorrow will be an A.C. day.
At 5 a.m., it was 60 degrees, at 9 a.m. it was 70, at noon it was 80 and at 3 p.m. it is 85. Temperatures are from thermometer outside my kitchen window, so in the afternoon shade. The house temperature is very comfortable now: typically heat level rises in late afternoon, so we'll see. Maybe tomorrow will be an A.C. day.
What the...?
And what happened to the heat wave. It seems chilly out: it reads 60 degrees outside the kitchen window.
I wonder what the pay rate is to be in a bucket in the wee hours with your arms stretched over your head, working with a helmet light amidst power lines: no wonder our rates are so high.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Hospital Lies and Lapses
How to tell the difference and does it really matter if:
* you're hospitalized for parts of 6 days, and no one mentions a crucial finding from testing on the first day
* you're told results will be posted on your patient portal. One result appears for one day and then disappears into the ether.
* you're later told, on call to hospital help desk, that pathology reports are never posted on patient portal. You know this is not true, as you have many such postings over the years, the most recent Nov. 2017.
*you're told the posting date is 15 days after receipt, then told 14 days, but the release date on their own home page says it's 7 days.
* the bricks and mortar department of medical records prints out what they say is 56 pages of your requested records, but they are not what you requested and there are only 25 total pages, many of them blank, but you paid for 56
* the staff searches the printer to see if the rest of the pages are there. Maybe they went to someone else?
* you're told that the search was unsuccessful because the medical records person didn't know where to look because she's new here.
* no one knows where some of your records are and have no explanation as to where they went, or how some were deleted from your portal
* the contact information for portal help routes you to a patient advocate who says she's not very familiar with the patient portal
* you are told all patients are assigned a Hospitalist, but though you were there for 6 days, Oops, you were not assigned one.
*you're told the person responsible for informing you of "suspicious mass" would either be the Emergency Room doctor, who referred you for admission or the admitting doctor, a surgeon who was ready to operate if necessary. Although you were in the hospital for 5 more days.
* the nurse from Interventional Radiology brings your lab script to the desk, but after a wait of 75 minutes you ask why the wait and several desk workers finally say the script was not there, no apologies either
* you are referred to the Patient Portal Expert, a white-haired woman who knows less about the portal than you do. Honest.She is unable to open the home page, has incorrect information as to date of release information for results, and is wrong about how the results page opens up.She is unable to link your portal with the hospital's, though it had been working fine for several years up to now.
* not only is much of the staff unfamiliar with patient portals,they are also unaware of the existence of a patient advocate/ representative
CONCLUSION: Hospital pays for expensive publicists who tout the hospital's impressive policies and offerings, but there is a wide disconnect between the ideal and the implemented.
Those who think this is an isolated set of circumstances are probably wrong; many patients are blissfully unaware of what goes on in the dark reaches of the halls of healing.*
* Had I not read on my patient portal, back when it was functioning as it should, I would not have discovered, 2 weeks after discharge, that an important health finding had been ignored so the incompetencies* above would never have come to light.
**At first I thought conspiracy theory: after I notified the hospital's patient advocate, who, contrary to publicized intent, prioritizes the hospital's interests, that no one told me the most important finding, damage control kicks in and postings disappear, even from the medical records department. The hospital's litigation department takes over, expunging potentially damaging material.
That remains a possibility, but one that could well be subsumed by the general ignorance and lack of concern in the atmosphere of the facility itself. Who knows.
* you're hospitalized for parts of 6 days, and no one mentions a crucial finding from testing on the first day
* you're told results will be posted on your patient portal. One result appears for one day and then disappears into the ether.
* you're later told, on call to hospital help desk, that pathology reports are never posted on patient portal. You know this is not true, as you have many such postings over the years, the most recent Nov. 2017.
*you're told the posting date is 15 days after receipt, then told 14 days, but the release date on their own home page says it's 7 days.
* the bricks and mortar department of medical records prints out what they say is 56 pages of your requested records, but they are not what you requested and there are only 25 total pages, many of them blank, but you paid for 56
* the staff searches the printer to see if the rest of the pages are there. Maybe they went to someone else?
* you're told that the search was unsuccessful because the medical records person didn't know where to look because she's new here.
* no one knows where some of your records are and have no explanation as to where they went, or how some were deleted from your portal
* the contact information for portal help routes you to a patient advocate who says she's not very familiar with the patient portal
* you are told all patients are assigned a Hospitalist, but though you were there for 6 days, Oops, you were not assigned one.
*you're told the person responsible for informing you of "suspicious mass" would either be the Emergency Room doctor, who referred you for admission or the admitting doctor, a surgeon who was ready to operate if necessary. Although you were in the hospital for 5 more days.
* the nurse from Interventional Radiology brings your lab script to the desk, but after a wait of 75 minutes you ask why the wait and several desk workers finally say the script was not there, no apologies either
* you are referred to the Patient Portal Expert, a white-haired woman who knows less about the portal than you do. Honest.She is unable to open the home page, has incorrect information as to date of release information for results, and is wrong about how the results page opens up.She is unable to link your portal with the hospital's, though it had been working fine for several years up to now.
* not only is much of the staff unfamiliar with patient portals,they are also unaware of the existence of a patient advocate/ representative
CONCLUSION: Hospital pays for expensive publicists who tout the hospital's impressive policies and offerings, but there is a wide disconnect between the ideal and the implemented.
Those who think this is an isolated set of circumstances are probably wrong; many patients are blissfully unaware of what goes on in the dark reaches of the halls of healing.*
* Had I not read on my patient portal, back when it was functioning as it should, I would not have discovered, 2 weeks after discharge, that an important health finding had been ignored so the incompetencies* above would never have come to light.
**At first I thought conspiracy theory: after I notified the hospital's patient advocate, who, contrary to publicized intent, prioritizes the hospital's interests, that no one told me the most important finding, damage control kicks in and postings disappear, even from the medical records department. The hospital's litigation department takes over, expunging potentially damaging material.
That remains a possibility, but one that could well be subsumed by the general ignorance and lack of concern in the atmosphere of the facility itself. Who knows.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Caveat Emptor (Even if not an emptor)
I was paying a bunch of bills today, as I've been doing ever since the duty fell to me. We pay online through our bank. I opened the Citi card statement which is in Dave's name, and scanned through the charges. I noticed a charge which I'd wondered about before, a charge of $12.97 from IC *FREESHIPPING.
I think I'd attributed it to some purchase or other on Amazon, where sometimes things are shipped free and sometimes they aren't. Or maybe some other authorized user had incurred the charge. But it was beginning to seem a little too familiar monthly occurrence, and though the amount is minimal in the credit card billing world, I decided today to call and find out what exactly it was for.
Danielle answered, and asked what I was calling about. I asked what the charge of $12.97 was for. Danielle immediately went into a fast-talking explanation. She said it was from a long time ago online inquiry into shipping for ProFlowers, and said I'd never placed the order so she would cancel the account, which by the way I had no knowledge of. Without my saying another word, she quickly added that she would issue a refund from January 2018, for 6 months of charges. I will be receiving a refund of just under $78.
ProFlowers----Shame on you. That is, if you're aware.
I think I'd attributed it to some purchase or other on Amazon, where sometimes things are shipped free and sometimes they aren't. Or maybe some other authorized user had incurred the charge. But it was beginning to seem a little too familiar monthly occurrence, and though the amount is minimal in the credit card billing world, I decided today to call and find out what exactly it was for.
Danielle answered, and asked what I was calling about. I asked what the charge of $12.97 was for. Danielle immediately went into a fast-talking explanation. She said it was from a long time ago online inquiry into shipping for ProFlowers, and said I'd never placed the order so she would cancel the account, which by the way I had no knowledge of. Without my saying another word, she quickly added that she would issue a refund from January 2018, for 6 months of charges. I will be receiving a refund of just under $78.
ProFlowers----Shame on you. That is, if you're aware.
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