152 Hours and Still Waiting

Such a simple thing to add an email address but then Skip must be a master of hubris. There is no easy road for us.

The truth from a nurse

On Sunday evening I spoke to Susan Vickers a nurse on leave from the nursing profession. She told me that it takes three months for a resident/patient to become institutionalized i.e. realize that a residential care facility is the best it is going to get and for them to accept the environment. She also said that only ten percent of a resident's support network continue to visit on a regular basis. She described her work as looking after the abandoned. She concurred with management on my banning as I should have only visited Randy never mind trying to be friendly to others. Now I understand the silence I received from GPC management when I said I would like to adult three or four residents so when I visit Randy I can visit them as well. Susan confirmed that the staff doesn't like visitors but will put up with them as they know that after three months there is a 90% chance of a visitor never to return. And in my case it was exactly three months from the time Randy entered George Pearson Centre until my banning. Susan opined that it was okay that GPC gave me hours to visit Randy at times that were inconvenient to me and also that she didn't see the point that Randy was treated in a discriminatory factor in that Randy was being treated differently from other residents as to visiting hours (10am to 10pm)as was posted. She could see no reason why I should stay longer. (Oh how easy it would be when the assisted suicide legislation becomes law to kill the 90% who have been abandoned.) She also said that volunteers are discouraged in residential care facilities as staff doesn't want them to see what is really going on. Only visitors who have blinders on and only focus totally on their family member are allowed. In Open Ward 2 where Randy is there is only one bully allowed 10 to 10; 7 days a week. This bully sucks up to management and has for eight years. He is the one who makes sure visitors do not return. Even residents from other wards are afraid to visit anyone in Ward 2 when the bully is there. The bully discourages visitors and that leaves one less chore for staff to deflect.

96 Hours and Still Waiting

I understand that there is such a thing as weekends for directors but they don't need it they should devote eight hours a day from their 100 hour work schedules to hurry Napolean Ostrow to post their emails addresses. Patients and residents of long term facilities and caring friends have no weekends, evenings or holidays off. We demand equality.

Yesterday outside of Zellers at Oakridge I spoke to a woman who agreed with the 5-Ds and who said an associate of hers was fired by mary.mary recently. The associate was due for retirement after 29 years but mary.mary fired her anyways. Mary.mary could have waited. But no "hubris" why should she care for someone who has had a twenty-nine year commitment to health care.

At the Board meeting Skip told me he had an open door for whistleblowers. Those are not the ones he should be speaking to; he should be speaking to those who have exited the grasp of mary.mary and napolean ostrow. Skip should phone those who have exited and ask them to tea in a highend restaurant or better yet to his home and candidly talk with them. By quickly acting hubrisism should be eliminated by the end of the year. That should be something the Board should be able to tell their grandchildren as their greatest life accomplishment. Skip should be invited to the Harvard Business School where mary.mary got her education on how he was able to end hubrisim within six months and hope Harvard cancel mary.mary's degree. A model for the world BC's Health Authorities will become.

After the church service I attended I walked up to GPC to leave Randy a small gift (a pair of socks) with security. On my way off the property (on the sidewalk)I inquired from a resident (she said she was from Ward 6) if she had seen the GPC video. She didn't know anything about it. Another resident said he knew of the video but hadn't seen it because there was no need as he lived there. I wonder what psychological brain washing degree holder from risk management has told those that ask about the video that the staff tell them that it is not necessary to see it because they live there. Brilliant strategy. Yes, Virginia, there is a recent video of George Pearson Centre on You Tube which everyone who has or who will have anything to do with residential health care should visit. It is such a simple title that it is impossible to miss except Centre is spelled the old fashioned English way with RE and that is why I wasn't able to discover it until last week.
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I am closer in age to 70 than 60 ... remember it is us over 60 that do not have the time to wait for slow change and it is not a prerequisite in our fast moving technological world. I am all for open board meetings being held weekly.

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48-hours and waiting

It has been 48 hours and still Kip Woodward's email address is not on the VCH web page site.

I just checked Providence Health and find that Geoff Platt is the Chair.
Being a lawyer and an attorney-general for BC for nine years he must know of the 5Ds. Kip was the Chair of Providence Health for four years. Both of these chairs are therefore acquiescing that senior staff manage in such a fashion.

And I was the only public at the open board meeting of VCH on June 8 2011... Senior management is doing their jobs: D3 divide public from management by D5 demoralize the public so they know that whatever they do is futile. I hope each senior management employee gets a big bonus because his performance has been stellar.

I am closer to 70 in age than 60 and those of us who are closer in age to 80 than 70 and those of us who are closer in age to 90 than 80 and those of us who are closer in age to 100 than 90 have the time and the $resources to rapidly change how our medical services are delivered.

Martin Luther King Jr. said: Our lives begin to end when we remain silent about things that matter. And health care matters.
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VCHA Open Board Meeting June 8 2010

Yesterday I went to the Vancouver Coastal Health Board Meeting. It was one of three open board meetings which are open to the public each year. I think it should have monthly open board meetings as there is so much material and if the board meetings happen more often (same date and time and place each month) more people will come. These board meetings should be set up so that they are educational vehicles for the public to learn, to understand, to participate. And the presenters and the Board members and staff should stand not sit when they talk. Sitting hiding behind microphones so no one except the first row can see you is not what I expected. I would like to see who is talking and they all should have name tags. Whispering to someone (security) next to you "who is speaking" is unsettling. I remember getting up in the Q&A period and starting with ... I am closer in age to 70 than 60 but I still can have a voice (or something like that).

I was able to secure a promise from Kip Woodward, the Chairman of the Board, that on the VCHA web page www.vch.ca on the Board Members' page that all the directors' email addresses will be posted bypassing the long hierarchical command of the CEO. He agreed. One victory but then we will have to see how long it takes for it to happen. Napoleon Ostrow (Ostrow looks like Napoleon -- short and stocky)is really in charge as he is the CEO and it will be interesting to see how long since Kip decided this at the Board meeting that this will in deed happen. It is now 30 hours and still no directors' email addresses on the web. D1 is in progress: delay, delay, delay.

Did I mention that I was the only public at the Open Board Meeting although the audience was full of presenters (senior management). Speaking to the converted. It must mean that 1 million people in the Greater Vancouver area is happy with the Health Authority. Happy, happy, happy. This is what I was told by the nursing staff at George Pearson Centre as Randy repeatedly pulls out his trach. I am banned from seeing Randy at his bedside so I do not know how many times he has pulled out his trach or why. But the nurses assured me that when they leave Randy with me for our visits they do not worry about Randy as Randy never pulls out his trach when I visit. One of the nurses also told me that with three visits a week that at least now Randy gets out of his bed three times a week. Does that mean he is confined to his bed when I am not visiting. I asked for a video survilliance but I was told that it was impossible. Why is that in New York State the public interest is paramount to the private interest of employees in nursing homes and cameras are being installed. If I am not allowed to see Randy at his bedside I should at least be able to view him on a webcam.
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Anniversary

Today, June 7, 2011, is the one year anniversary of Randy's injury. A year to reflect upon with regret.
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A Caring Friend

I just came across this video. Please view it. It is on You Tube.

BC's Health Authorities on How to Effectively Communicate with the Public

There are five Ds to effective communication: D1 delay; D2 deny; D3 divide (separate patient from family); D4 discredit; D5 demoralize.

This is after I was told by Dr. Moria Stillwell, MLA for Langara Vancouver, this morning at her compliant meet and greet at the Oakridge Senior Centre, that the Health Authorities are their own governments removed from the jurisdiction of the BC government. I suspect the culprits are the slippery non-profit societies which are taking over everything. We don't have centralized government answerable to the public any more we just have societies (decentralized governments)that can do what they want when they want because they can.

Since the Health Authorities are beyond the reach of the legislature, I hope that those of you who read this and have a video camera will record the You Tube video (i.e. take a video of the video) before the Health Authorities force Paul to take it off the internet.

The couple who promised the flat screen TV never delivered it. So I had to buy Randy a new one. Although it was greatly reduced from its original price, it took a big bite out of my pension monies. I am down to $55.00 for the month and I still have to pay my hydro.
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