This week we are off to Charleston, South Carolina to present a keynote speech for the Carolina’s Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society Fall Conference. The primary theme of the presentation will be directed toward creating a market niche through instituting an Optimal Healing or Planetree Environment and then promoting that niche through Web 2.0 techniques. Truthfully, the art (not the science) of marketing and public relations has been a dominant driver in my career, and this presentation will be coming directly from the heart, as I combine my two greatest work passions for a single presentation.

After the Carolina blitz, we are off to the Clinical Breast Care Project off-site with Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Hershey. This year we will celebrate over a decade of amazing progress, advancements, and scientific growth.

COL Craig D Shriver, MD

We will also celebrate our Principal Investigator’s mile-stone birthday, a significant birthday that brings him closer to the age of “Yoda” wisdom. When we began this journey together Dr. Craig Shriver was a young Lieutenant Colonel and I was, well, I was the age that he just embraced at this birthday. Time flies as we work diligently to find breakthroughs and eventual cures for breast cancer. Dr. Shriver has been an amazing partner and friend, and I can only hope that we will have opportunities to continue our work together in some significant ways in the future.

So, what else has been happening? With SunStone Consulting we have been working with Corathers Consulting and numerous regional hospitals to begin serious fiber networking and telemedicine technology for telepsychiatry. How did this come about? A funny thing happened on the way to an economic bailout. Inserted in the $700+ B bailout was parity for mental health coverage and included in that parity is the ability to compensate psychiatrists for their work in telemedicine. Let the networking begin.

Intelli-Surge is doing a tremendous amount of work in the region to assist several local hospitals in their efforts to construct new buildings. The uniqueness of their approach is that hospitals will be able to build thier facilities without necessarily having to come up with the enormous amounts of cash typically required for this work.

Finally, Pittsburgh Gateways is helping several of us to come together for economic development gains for the Greater Pittsburgh region. With their guidance and connectivity we are hopeful that the future will be filled with opportunities for economic stability for many of the start-up companies in our area.

So, off for another round of busy . . . as we do our thing in the air and on the ground.

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There is a very popular book, DVD, and pop culture hit entitled “The Secret.”  Only two days ago I made a 12 hour round trip to Syracuse, New York to speak to a group of Human Resource professionals from New York State.  (It was faster than flying from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to Syracuse.)  It struck me that my presentation could have been called The Secret.  It could be, but truthfully it really is no secret at all.  Most probably it would have been better to have named it “Common Sense.”  

The speech was all about treating  employees as well as the patients.  Employee empowerment,  physical wellness, communications, emotional health, the use of integrative health techniques, employee personal growth, dedication to fun, and, most importantly, the elimination of bullies from the workplace are just a few of the major topics that we discussed with our audience.

Interestingly enough, the outcomes generated from these actions are not only remarkable, they are, in fact, predictable.  Exceptional stability in the workplace with barely a 10% turnover rate; impressive HCHAPS scores,  high employee satisfaction ratings, low infection rates, extremely low settlement rates from lawsuits of any kind, and high profitability created from a word of mouth chain of endorsements that results in enormous increases in the patient count. 

So, it is all about common sense. If you treat your employees with respect, and love, they will do the same for the patients.  If you nurture them, care about them, assist them, pay attention to them, and are open and honest with them, they will do the same for you and for the patients. 

Wanna know more about this revolutionary new way of caring for employees, just give us a call.

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Not long after the attacks of 9/11, the pundits began to attempt to discern their impact on our every day lives. No one fully understood the domino effect of these actions both nationally and internationally. Who could have predicted the over negative blows on all forms of air travel; the economic spin down, the billions in investments needed or reportedly needed to protect us; and finally, the breakdown of our personal freedoms?

Similarly, as we watched the large investment and mortgage related financial institutions begin their minute by minute trip into no- man’s land, we could only shudder with concern over things like pensions, business investment opportunities, ownership of our homes, and the future of our overall economy. As our government began to move from deregulation to government control and ownership, the hollow words of the past certainly rang out like a clapper-less bell.

Allow business and industry to be free, deregulated, uncontrolled, and we will all be better off, or will we? As we see the results of the cheaters, the liars, and the snake oil salesmen, it becomes abundantly apparent that left unregulated our current business culture is filled with those who don’t play correctly, ethically, or reasonably. As the great grandson of prominent and trustworthy Quaker merchants, it pains me to observe the obvious corruption, corner cutting and lack of ethical conviction present in today’s business world. It is reminiscent of Henry F. Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

How will this impact your health? The slide has already begun. As reported in the Wall Street Journal by Vanessa Fuhrmans, “As the credit crunch threatens to throw the economy into a deep slump, Americans are already cutting back on healthcare spending, a sector once thought to be invulnerable to recession.” Visits to physicians, purchases of prescription drugs, and preventive tests are all measurably decreasing. Some people are cancelling their own health insurance to cover the costs of gasoline and consumer goods. Others are just avoiding what they know to be appropriate medications and screenings.

Quest Diagnostics reported in this article that the number of tests ordered for the uninsured fell 8% in the second quarter compared with their normal 1% quarterly growth. OB/GYN visits, according to the same article, dropped 6% in the first quarter alone this year.

It’s not just the uninsureds who are cutting back. “A recent analysis of claims from 250,000 people in several dozen mid-Atlantic employer health plans suggests even people with coverage are cutting back on care.” They reported nearly a 19% cut back in elective knee surgeries, a 6% decrease in pap smears, and a drop in prescriptions for anti-depression of 29%. Actually, that one was the most mystifying for me. It would seem that there would be exponential growth in this area.

This particular snapshot of the future also presented this query: “What’s next: Doctors and health-policy experts worry that by delaying care in the short term, patients will end up paying more in the long term if their health deteriorates.” Deregulated health care which will lead to deregulated health?

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The other night I was watching PBS and saw a show about the bridges of Pittsburgh.  As a kid there was a bridge between downtown and the North Side.  When I looked it up on Wikipedia, I found the following story:  The Fort Duquesne Bridge is a steel tied arch bridge that spans the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh. It was colloquially referred to as the Bridge to Nowhere because it was constructed from 1958-1963 by PennDOT, and never opened for traffic until October 17, 1969.

When we look at our own personal journeys, it is sometimes very interesting to trace the origins and destinations of our bridges; where they have been and where they could be or more importantly where they are actually taking us.  The journey always has a series of connectors, confluences, and mergers that were as unpredictable and unimaginable as could ever have been conceived. 

Sometimes those connectors were mentors; sometimes partners, sometimes friends, but more often than not, those people who have had the most influence on our progress and on moving us toward our goals have been people who did not like, support, or believe in our work, our mission, or our dreams. 

Many times, our inspiration came from the power of those people who were most passionately against us than from those who supported us. Bob Strauss in his e-How blog writes:  Like duels and opera hats, the concept of mortal enemies has fallen by the wayside in modern times, and more’s the pity. The fact is, everyone can use a good mortal enemy: there’s nothing like the possibility of being waylaid, fisticuff-ed, and tied to a railroad trestle to make a guy just glad to be alive.

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As very small children, the funniest jokes that kids can come up with always seem to be "poopy talk" jokes.  As we age, it is interesting that we remain shy about our natural functions.  In fact, some people are so shy that they would rather die than say, do, or even think about anything related to their colons. 

The E-mail that I received this week was a challenge to "Take the Test," and, although it was an advertisement, there were enough good points made in that E-mail that I decided to dedicate this week’s blog to Katie Couric.  In 2000, Katie submitted herself to a public colonoscopy on national television.  Why?  Because she had lost her husband at the relatively young age of 42 to colon cancer. 

After Katie’s big adventure, among the 400 gastroenterologists surveyed, the number of colonoscopies performed each month rose from an average of 15 before the Couric exam to 18.1 after.  It was so successful that it is still referred to as the Couric Effect.

As indicated in the correspondence, over 150,000 people are diagnosed with colon cancer each year and at least 1/3 of them die.  Unlike ovarian and numerous other cancers, there are several screening tests available to determine the presence of colon cancer. 

At a meeting last year our Chief of Medicine stated that "There is no longer a reason why anyone should die from colon cancer."

Even though it was part of my suggested battery of tests the year before, my colonoscopy was completed a few months ago.  Except for the fact that I woke up with a few children’s tattoos on my body from our playful employees and a threat that there would be a video at 11, all went well. 

Okay, I will admit that the preparation for the test was somewhat of a drag, but it wasn’t as bad as being a long term patient.

The goal of their E-mail was for us to persuade everyone to use their diagnostics. The quoted website was: www.DoYouHaveTheGuts.com 

The goal of this blog is to get you to think about taking care of yourself.  It is to convince you to love yourself and your family enough to ensure that you all have a future.  It is to get you to be saved by having a colon test, some test, any test. 

If you’re still embarrassed by colon jokes, GET OVER IT.

It could truly be a matter of life or death.

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The other day a very compelling story appeared on America Online (AOL).  I’m sorry that the name didn’t catch my attention, but, in fact, Tony Chen pointed it out to us on his Hospitalimpact.org blog.  Glenn Beck, a correspondent for CNN, had a bad experience in a hospital and then shared that experience. 

What Tony had pointed out was that my recent post on Hospital Impact was also about empathy.  Two of the quotes from that post were:  Maya Angelou who said, "I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."  And: As we move about in our world every day . . . remember that warmth, concern, compassion, and empathy are NOT bad things.

Glenn had a hospital experience that very nearly put him over the edge, and, in fact, due to the pain cocktail that he had received, he admits that he was even contemplating suicide.  Here are some quotes from his article Put the ‘care’ back in health care, featured on CNN.com/health:

"At the hospital I was often treated more like a number than a patient.  At times, staff members literally turned their back on my cries of pain and pleas for help."

He went on to say, "I’ve now seen our system at its very best and I’ve also experienced it at its very worst.  But in each case, the difference had nothing to do with whether the hospital had the latest equipment or whether it looked like the Taj Mahal.  It had to do with compassion.  It had to do with respect.  It had to do with treating people the way you’d want to be treated going through something unfamiliar and frightening."

From the website: ReligiousTolerance.org we find 21 different religious and six different philosophical interpretations of the Christian phrase, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."  Just a few of those are listed below:

Confucianism:  "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you."
-Analects 15:23

Buddhism:  "…a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another:" 
-Samyutta Nlkaya v. 353

Hinduism:  "This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you. 
-Mahabharata 5:1517

Islam:  "None of you (truly) believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." 
-Number 13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths."

Unitarian:  "The Inherent worth and dignity of every person:’  "Justice, equity and compassion in human relations…"

Native American Spirituality:  "All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves."

Shinto:  "the heart of the person before you is a mirror.  See there your own form"

Judiasm:  "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
-Leviticus 19:18

If these were not convincing enough, there are nearly 20 more included from other religions and philosophies like Yoruba, Zoroastrianism, Ancient Egyptian, Brahmanism, and the Baha’i Faith.

How is it that the world embraces this philosophy, that the "Golden Rule" is our guide, yet we permit environments in health care that tolerate the intolerable?  This, my friends, is a leadership issue.  Do not blame the employees.  Do not blame the physicians.  Do not blame the environment.  BLAME THE LEADERSHIP.  Hold the leadership accountable.  Every department manager, vice president, or president who allows this should be challenged, should be confronted, and, if it is not corrected, SHOULD BE REMOVED.

It is not a matter of choice. It is not business. It is human dignity.  Transparency provides the information needed to correct these indignities, and if they are not corrected via change, you have not exerted your God given rights as a human being, and this is one time when compassion should be trumped by accountability!

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Well, I bought two new FAT suits on sale last week, and today one of them wouldn’t fit me.  Yep, after ten years of stable, no weight gain, my middle started to inflate; five, ten then 15 pounds.  I’ve spent more on having my pants let out than I have on gasoline this month.  Pinching an inch would be a dream.  Pinching a Michelin is more like it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I know what I did to cause this, really I do.  It is also clear what I will need to do to reverse it, but it is the holidays, after all, and, for the first time since 1998, I am not limited to eating only the garnishes at all of the parties.  Free at last.  I’m free at last!

The rules had always been the same: Eat breakfast each and every day.  Drink tea for the antioxidants.  Brush your teeth. Don’t miss your Omega 3 fish oil. Get enough sleep.  Make sure you have at least one hobby; exercise and join something where you can socialize at least once a week.  Use sun screen, drink plenty of water and cut out saturated fats.  So, what went wrong? 

I moved from my Ornish Heart Disease Reversal diet to the modified Mediterranean diet; went from working out three days a week to working out two days a week; and, after ten years of abstinence, started eating chocolate and drinking one 200 calorie chai tea a day.  Do the math.  That’s 200 new calories a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month. Add that to the lack of exercise, and it represents a caloric train wreck.  The chocolate?  Well, that easily accounted for at least five pounds of extra me.  Ten years of make-up work in twelve short months.

The problem with having all of this knowledge is that, periodically, it’s important to feel like you are alive, and living can be defined in hundreds of ways.  The more conservative you are, the fewer things you will probably have to do to make things feel a little more wild.  I can’t get away with most of the things that I’ve day dreamed about, but this departure from my diet was major for me.

One of my most vivid memories from my former life was the trip that I made from Pittsburgh to San Diego.  I know I mentioned this a hundred or so blogs ago, but it was almost a primal moment.  As the plane took off, I looked down and saw an M&M between my shoes.  I stared at it for what seemed like hours and then actually reached a point of temptation and desperation that was so intense, I almost bent down to pick it up and eat it. Then I kicked it as far away as I could and realized how pathetic my life had become. 

So, even if my pants don’t fit this year, I have to say that it was an amazing year, a year of personal caloric freedom. 

It’s time, however, to get back into my suits. 

So, I’ll see you at the gym…with my big sweat pants and a pocket full of Hershey kisses!   

Happy Holidays everyone, and thanks for a great year.

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