Nurse Healers by Kate Loving Shenk

Silencing Nurses Will Backfire

The Amanda Trujillo RN case prompted me to resurrected my Nurse Healer Blog. Amanda was fired for giving information about a Liver Transplant consult to her patient. This does not bode well for the patients of the world, for nurses, the majority of whom are women, or for the Health Care System.

Nurses are bullied by doctors, nurse administrators, Big Pharma and the Health Insurance Companies, all because Corporations have taken over health care.

Is this what you thought would happen when you entered the nursing profession?

The iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S is here and today was the day of its launch! Here where I live, the phones weren't sold out. But plenty of people were visiting the Apple Store and they were buying the iPhone 4S as well as a brisk iPad business ..

This picture was spontaneously taken outside my window, and place right here in this blog post, right on the iPhone, itself.

I am taking the phone to Wall Street to take live video. And after that, I will use the phone to promote my new book: "Prayers To Heal."

I need to think about exactly how I should be doing that.

But this weekend, I refuse to think about my book. It is already completed in the world of spirit. So I will allow it to have a life of its own!

My friend Joel is meeting me and we are going to see Thich Nhat Hahn together for a day of mindfulness. I know I am in for a change. I know not what it is, but that is the beauty and the healing of it all.

Peace.

Kate Loving Shenk

Tax Exempt Babies

Money: The Great Tempter

When I was a new Labor and Delivery nurse, I was shocked to learn of the number
of labor inductions scheduled at year's end for the sole purpose of saving a family
money on their IRS return.

Yet for the seasoned Labor and Delivery nurse, this is simply an occurrence that
happens and is apart of the territory.

This is one of the many practices that take place in Obstetrics, and is just another Ho-Hum
addition to the growing number of unquestioned conventions in the American practice
of medicine.

As an example, the fact that health care practitioners don't seem to question and are
indeed apathetic to the Health Insurance Industry control of medical practice; or
the fact that 50 million people don't have health insurance in this country; or that in
five years, health insurance won't cover people at all and everyone will be paying out of
pocket for medical care, with health insurance companies still exerting all of its control,
denying claims and care.

But  I digress.

The modern world has created a society where people look to convenience and
choice as opposed to the natural harmony and synchronization of mother, placenta
and fetus doing their magic to create the birth of a healthy baby.

While I accept what a parent chooses in all matters, and  serve their hopes, wishes
and dreams, my job is to look at the risks and benefits of theses choices and help
guide where ever I can.

The practice of timing tax deductions by inducing labor or scheduling Cesarean deliveries
may put mother and child at risk, in some cases, life threatening risk.

One Australian study estimates that 12 percent of births are scheduled to take advantage
of a cash bonus offered to parents on or after July 1.

Late in the 1990's, a new tax credit was introduced in the United States for babies born
on or before 12/31.

This year the grand total a person is eligible to receive is $3800.00.

Researchers estimate that this tax law increases the probability that parents with babies
with due dates in early January bump the date of delivery to the end of December
by a rate of 26.9 percent.

This trend continues to this day with more and more babies born when it's convenient
for the parents, and the tax code.

Parents need to know that what appears to be a financially prudent decision may have
costs that no one is emphasizing loud enough.

The birth process is speeded up with Pitocin (a synthetic form of Oxytocin, the natural
hormone  that stimulates the onset of labor) or other labor inducing drugs, causing the
onset of heavy painful contractions. This in turn often leads to the patient requesting an
epidural, which may slow down contractions thus causing the need for more Pitocin
to speed up the process of labor.

These drugs, like all drugs, transfer to the placenta and the baby, often causing fetal distress
in the form of a drop in the fetal heart rate, lower apgar scores, neonatal jaundice, respiratory
disorders, and other complications, all signaling what I call a traumatic birth.

Granted, birth is a traumatic event under normal circumstances. But the conditions I've just
described are becoming more the norm.

Natural childbirth is a rarity.

The World Health Organization and the United States Department of Health and Human
Services as well as other service organizations, through the Healthy People 2010 Project,
seek to reduce the number of Primary Cesarean Sections performed in the US to 15%
or less by the year 2010.

Women: You need to know that you can take an active role in deciding exactly what you
want for your birthing experience.

Tax codes, doctors, nurses or midwives are not the authorities in your life.

You are.

If you truly want to time your birth in order to get a tax break in this fragile economy,
and the temptation is real, then do it and we will help you achieve an optimal outcome.

But please know that the birth of your child is one of  the  peak experiences of  your life time.

Make that the focus of your attention.

Allow the ways of the world to recede.

Because they will return again, soon enough.

Kate Loving Shenk

-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator
of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover
Your Calling and Destiny." The book is designed to stimulate
nurses to love their work and to prevent on-the-job-burnout.
Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/blog
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation
Check out Kate's Blog: http://nursehealers.typepad.com
And the Lens: http://www.squidoo.com/katelovingshenk
http://www.squidoo.com/thinkriches
http://doganddolphin.ning.com
http://nursehealers.typepad.com/dog_lovers_unite
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Kate Loving Shenk Nursing Career Transformation Sign Up HERE For Your *FREE* Newsletter For Nurses And Healers Your e-mail address is safe with me--see privacy notice on my website!

http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation/simplenewslettersignup.html

                           

Donna Smith And SiCKO And Our Single Payer Health Care Forum

Donna Smith will join us to discuss the great possibility that Pennsylvania will be the first state in America to bring Single Payer to her citizens. We are honored to have her and many others join us at Roschell Performing Arts Center at Franklin and Marshall College, September 18 from 7-9:30. Please come and paricipate in this great event!!!

Pennsylvania's Single Payer Health Care Plan

Pennsylvania is in a unique position. She has a Single Payer
Health care Bill, HB 1660, that has a great chance to eventually
pass in the House.

Of all the State sponsored bills, this one is the strongest.

This is a solid bill, one Pennsylvanians can trust that insurance
companies will be fully exempt from corrupting.

Democracy For America promoted house parties across the country
November 14, where thousands of people watched Sicko, then listened
to a conference call with  film maker Michael Moore and DFA President Jim Dean
for more than thirty minutes.

Or if people were watching on the West Coast, they tuned into the
conference call before they watched the DVD.

In any case, a certain percentage of watchers had never seen the
movie before, so DFA President, Jim Dean, and Michael Moore were
careful not to divulge key movie points.

I saw Sicko for the third time that night and thoroughly enjoyed
watching it with my Progressives 4 Pennsylvania friends, a handful
of union leaders, and a few liberals I grew up with in my hometown.

The conference call itself was inspiring.

Michael Moore was asked about state sponsored versus federally
sponsored bills, and which did he support. For instance, John Conyers
and Dennis Kucinich have a National Single Payer Health Care Bill, H.R.676.

Moore said we need a National Single Payer bill, thus supported the
Conyers/Kucinich bill. John Conyers has said he supports the bill
here in Pennsylvania, HB 1660.

Having said that, and given the current stranglehold on anything good
coming out of Washington these days, I believe we have no choice but to develop
a model Single Payer Health Care Bill that other States and eventually the Country
are free to adopt.

Another point in the call was how the propaganda machines like to stop all
discourse on a real Universal Health Care Plan that covers all Americans
Minus Insurance Companies, by stating that such plans are Socialized Medicine.

Michael Moore said Single Payer is not Socialized Medicine, but rather is
Christianized, Krishna-ized, Mohammad-ized Medicine because of the impetus
for caring for every citizen in America in a true spirit of service.

The question arose about the supposed waits that people have in the Canadian
health care system, (although Canadians in the movie told us that they really
don't have the waits that the propaganda machines in this country want us to believe).

Moore said that when 50,000,000 people are taken out of the health care equation,
obviously our waiting times at the doctors, those of us with Health Insurance,
will obviously be shortened.

When we add the 50,000,000 people back into the system, yes, we will have
longer waiting times.

Isn't this preferable to making Health Care unavailable to so many millions of
citizens?

Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania has a Health Bill before the Pennsylvania
House of Representatives called Prescription for Pennsylvania.

This bill is losing support with only 8 sponsors as of this writing.

HB 1660 currently has 35 sponsors.

Why is HB 1660 superior to Prescription For Pennsylvania?

HB 1660 guarantees health care protection for all Pennsylvanians thus
delivering quality, comprehensive health care.

Rendell's plan does not.

HB 1660 takes Insurance Companies out of the equation.

Rendell's plan does not.

HB 1660 preserves the rights of patients to choose their own doctors with
out deductibles, co-pays or life-time caps.

Rendell's plan does not.

HB 1660 allows for prescription drug and behavioral health care coverage.

The Rendell plan does not.

Alternative Medical Modalities are allowed in  the HB 1660 plan.

Not so with Rendell's plan.

A comprehensive comparison between the two plans can be accessed at:
http://www.progressives4pennsylvania.com

Progressives4Pennsylvania plans to create teaching workshops about HB 1660
and present these to Labor affiliated groups, retirement homes, small
businesses and other potential arenas.

Health Care For All Americans started with a vision that Pennsylvania
birthed and now shares with the nation.

John Edwards is the only candidate running for President who has a plan
to deliver health care To All Americans without the interference
of Insurance Companies.

He needs Health Care Reform Activists to work with him.

He cannot do it alone.

And neither can we.

Kate Loving Shenk

-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator
of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover
Your Calling and Destiny." The book is designed to stimulate
nurses to love their work and to prevent on-the-job-burnout.
Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/blog
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation
Check out Kate's Blog: http://nursehealers.typepad.com
And the Lens: http://www.squidoo.com/katelovingshenk
http://www.squidoo.com/thinkriches
http://doganddolphin.ning.com
http://nursehealers.typepad.com/dog_lovers_unite
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kate Loving Shenk Nursing Career Transformation Sign Up HERE For Your *FREE* Newsletter For Nurses And Healers Your e-mail address is safe with me--see privacy notice on my website! http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation/simplenewslettersignup.html

A New Age of Feminism

The February issue of Playboy magazine hit the stands this
week. An Airforce sergeant holds the dubious honor of centerfold
celebrity stardom.

Her name is Michelle Manhart.

Ms. Manhart is mother of two, whose husband is also in the
airforce. She trained in the Air force law enforcement academy
and the K9 program, soon racking up a long list of medals
and commendations. She served in Kuwait on the second anniversary
of 9/11, got a bachelor's degree in political science from the
University of Northern Iowa, and started on a master's degree.

Her childhood dream was always to be a Playboy model. And
her wish has finally been granted.

When Manhart told her superior officier about the Playboy
pictures, she was taken off the job.

"The staff sergeant's alleged action is not representative
of the many thousands of outstanding airmen who serve
in the US Airforce today."

Manhart now has a lawyer.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Manhart said last week.
"By no means did I see anything wrong in what i was doing."

My sister and I were discussing this on the phone last
evening. We decided that The New Age of Feminism is here.

In simple terms, feminism is the belief in social, political
and economic equality of the sexes, and a movement organized
around the belief that gender should not be the pre-determinant
factor shaping a person's social identity or socio-political or
economic rights.

Our grandmother was a suffragette. Feminism as an organized
movement appeared in the late 19th century in a number of countries,
and agitation for votes for women became increasingly visible and
vocal at the beginning of the twentieth century. After the granting
of suffrage, women's movements turned to other issues of social
reform and equality. The two world wars changed much of the world
and with it the perception of women's work outside the home.

After the Second World War, feminism entered a second stage or
wave with campaigns for reproductive rights and removal of
discrimination. The United Nations created an office to
represent women's rights. Since then feminism has continued to
reinvent and redefine itself to adapt to a changing world and
a diversity of cultures.

"When we were young, women did not serve in the military
nor did we want to serve, because we were pacifist--at
least everyone we knew were pacifist," said my sister.

"We, our generation, thought Playboy bunnies were sexist
pigs, starting with Hugh Hefner," I said.

I see things differently, these days.

I see Manhart's actions as an extention of the bravery she
displays by her service to our country. Women all over the globe are
oppressed and abused. 90% of the nursing workforce are women,
who are hostile and aggressive to one another, especially
to new nurses coming in.

So when Michelle Manhart decided to live out her childhood
dream, little did she know that she resurrected Women's
Liberation to a new level of expression.

Her right to uninhibited free expression translates to a
greater level of freedom for women everywhere, in the long run.

The military, for starters, will drop the double standard.

Maybe after I'm gone from this physical plane, Muslam
women will drop their veils, the Widows of India will be
given the freedom to remarry, Taliban women will be given
the right to a good education.

The list goes on and on........

The freedoms that American women enjoy are light years
ahead of what women in third world countries experience.

And Michelle Manhart's story just dropped the barriers
even further.

For that, I am grateful.

Kate Loving Shenk

-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator
of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover
Your Calling and Destiny." The book is designed to stimulate
nurses to love their work and to prevent on-the-job-burnout.
Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/blog
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation
Check out Kate's Blog: http://nursehealers.typepad.com
And the Lens: http://www.squidoo.com/katelovingshenk
http://www.squidoo.com/thinkriches
http://doganddolphin.ning.com
http://nursehealers.typepad.com/dog_lovers_unite
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kate Loving Shenk Nursing Career Transformation Sign Up HERE For Your *FREE* Newsletter For Nurses And Healers Your e-mail address is safe with me--see privacy notice on my website! http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation/simplenewslettersignup.html