Nurse Healers by Kate Loving Shenk

Day #248 of the 360 Day Blogging Challenge! Your Daily Prayer For Healing-07/07/2010

Dear God/ess, We had our first interview with Jim Douglass 7/6/2010. I managed to finish the book "JFK And The Unspeakable" one hour before the show.

Jim Douglass fits in well with my entire upbringing. The moment JFK was assassinated, my mother said, "The CIA killed President Kennedy."

Almost fifty years later, I find that she was right.

Jim and my mother have more in common. They knew Dorothy Day and Ammon Hennacy, Catholic Worker Activists, both of whom made you feel suddenly exhilarated and touched by many wise thoughts at once.

The Catholic Worker Movement is another thing Jim Douglass and Kitty Loving Shenk have in common. I remember well the thin Catholic Worker newspaper arriving to to our home week after week, via the American Postal Service.  My mom read every issue. Perhaps she even read articles written by James Douglass.

My main question after reading the book and having Jim on the show, is how can I or anyone else ever trust the American Government again? Especially since it doesn't seem to be evolving, at all?

Recently I stepped out of the political scene. It became far too much to reconcile any kind of spiritual perspective with it especially since the governments of the world are addicted to power and are stuck in old ways of thinking: war, nationalism, colonialism, genocide, greed, dishonesty, corruption.

So we don't look to governments for guidance because we will always be disappointed.

Instead we seek out peace in our lives: Love Thy neighbor (as thyself), forgive, reconcile with so called enemies. Strive to see another person's point of view and walk a mile in her moccasins. Listen deeply to what she is saying, not to your opinion or preconceived notion of what you THINK she is saying.

Strive to empty your mind of thought through meditative prayer.

This is how we want to be treated, so this is how we treat others.

Om Peace Amen

Powered By Mukunda22
MoonMooYou: The Collective Wisdom
Giant Squid Open Mike

Single Payer Healthcare Reform In Pennsylvania

via squidoo.com

We rallied for Single Payer Healthcare reform at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg PA on October 20, 2009. (Pictured here is the Rotunda, as seen looking straight up from the inside of that historic building!

Pennsylvania may well be the first State to enact Single Payer in America. The commonwealth wil save 2 plus billion dollars the first year it is put into place.

I am a nurse. The lack of healthcare access and the suffering this creates is one of the number one reasons for burnout in my profession.

Thanks to all the good people who came out and spoke for such a worthy cause, and thanks to the 1,500 people who showed up to show their support.

Yes WE Can!!

Posted via web from kateloving's posterous

Single Payer Minute

Single Payer: Good For The Health Of America

President Lyndon B. Johnson signing Medicare Bill into Law with Harry S. Truman looking on!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Last Thursday, September 18, 2008, Progressives For
Pennsylvania held our second forum on the health care crisis in
Pennsylvania. This time, the focus was on passing Pennsylvania's
HB 1660 and SB 300, both of which would provide health care to all
Pennsylvanians in a Medicare model of health care delivery.

This delivery system is publicly funded and privately
delivered, and includes the free choice of physicians.

I certainly have nothing against socialized medicine, but
just to say, our bill does not fall under that category, which
is publicly funded and publicly delivered.

The first panelist to speak was Jim Ferlo, State Senator
from Pittsburgh, PA., and prime sponsor of HB 1660.

He said that Single Payer is like a prairie fire that once
it ignites you can't put it out, and it just spreads exponentially.

Social reform movements are never easy, Ferlo said, citing
the Safety For Workers Act (Osha), Social Security and Medicare.

He also said that the National Media did not attend our
event because they've been bought off by insurance companies.

Next up was Kathy Manderino, Pennsylvania State Representative
for the past 16 years, and another prime sponsor of the bill.

She said that nothing breaks her heart more than when a
constituent comes into her office after losing her job and health
insurance, with white knuckle fear gripping that person's psyche.

She said that lack of health care coverage (now upwards of
48 million people nationwide and 1,220,000 in PA alone, according to
the latest census bureau results), is a Domestic Threat, similar to a
terrorist attack.

Our job is to educate Pennsylvanians about our bill, Kathy said.
We have to convince our family, friends, neighbors, card playing partners,
book club members, AARP and local clubs that if Single
Payer is good for the rest of the world, then it is good for us, and why.

Manderino said that if we can't pass Single Payer, than we
must realize that incremental change will bring us ultimately to a
Single Payer system.

Dr. Walter Tsou, the next presenter, and co-writer of the
bill, said that with all due respect to Ms. Manderino, Mitt Romney's
Massachusetts Health Care Plan, and Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont,
Washington State and
Maine not to mention Governor of PA Rendell's plan all have
caved in to Insurance Companies thus driving their States into greater debt.

We cannot spend less money as long as insurance companies
are involved in the delivery of health care, Walter Tsou said.

In the next 5 years, employers will no longer pay for
health care and the burden will shift 100% to the employee under our present
very sick system.

Did you get that, dear Reader?

In 5 years, you will be paying 100% of your health care
costs under the present system. This will more than double the number of
uninsured in this country.

Bill George, President of the AFL-CIO was next, on video,
giving us the pleasure of his passion regarding Single Payer. He said
that the health care delivery system that keeps the Health Insurance Industry
in place is not working. The Health Insurance Companies are the problem with their
CEO salaries, their advertising budget, their ever increasing denial of claims
to pay for their bottom line of greed: this also contributes to our ailing economy.

37 cents to every (health care) dollar is the current health care spending
compared to the cost of Medicare which is 3 cents to every health care dollar.

The single payer alternative would save 32 cents on every
health care dollar.

Dawn Ali, RN, was next, who serves on the Executive Board
of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied professions
(PASNAP). She also co-owned and operated the first African American nurse
owned dialysis facility in Philadelphia for ten years.

She said she sold the business because of the drain on her
energy in always having to fight to get the health insurance companies to pay for
services rendered, which they were constantly trying to get out of paying.

She also said the nursing shortage is largely due to the
impossible working conditions that most bedside nurses have to work
under: mandatory overtime, large patient loads, not to mention the suffering
caused by the refusal of health insurance companies to pay the bills.

Donna Smith, star of Michael Moore's SiCKO, and now
Community Organizer for the California Nurses, said her job with the California Nurses
is to ferret out patient stories and to follow up and advocate for these
people.

She told one story of a 30 year old woman diagnosed with
Chrohn's disease earlier in her life. First she was on her Mom's insurance then
when she moved out, her
pre-existing condition made it impossible for her to get
insurance, and to pay for her mounting doctor bills.

Donna said this young woman told her story before an
audience, saying, "I wonder what I might have become."

The Reverend Sandra L. Straus, director of Public Advocacy
for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, gave a moving talk about Jesus, who
healed the sick and raised the dead unconditionally.

Right-wing fundamentalist so-called Christians fail to be good stewards
to our citizens.

What would Jesus do?

Weston Scott Fisher, third year medical student at Penn State University
Medical College in Hershey, PA, sent out a plea to the audience
to attend the second lobbying day at the State Capitol in Harrisburg,
PA for Single Payer and HB 1660.

14% of all medical students are trained in Pennsylvania, but only 7% stay.
These students lobby the legislators by telling them that if they
pass HB 1660, they will gladly stay and practice medicine in Pennsylvania.

Dr Tom gates followed Wes. He said that our current system of health care delivery
is broken beyond repair.

He said this is due to lack of access and to the fact that 56 million
Americans are medically disenfranchised. They do not have a medical home.
They use only the Emergency Room for care and often when it is too late.

The cost of health care world wide is 4 trillion dollars and the cost of
health care in the US is 2 trillion. America consumes 50% of the health care
dollar, yet we have an ever increasing infant mortality rate and an ever
decreasing life expectancy.

Morton Mintz, media critic and the journalist who originally exposed the
Thalidomide and Dalkon Shield scandals 40 and 20 years ago, said that Single
Payer would prevent 100's of thousands of bankruptcies and yet the media refuses to
cover this amazing story.

Mintz called this a grave sin of journalist omission and neglect.

And finally, our Mayor, Rick Gray stood up during the Q&A and said that if we
can prove to him, by showing him the numbers, how Single Payer would save our town
and every town and city and rural municipality in PA millions of dollars, he's in.

And he will tell all the other mayors in PA.

What he may not know is that the US Conference of Mayors June 23rd of this year
adopted a resolution endorsing HR 676, the National Health Insurance Act, the National
Single Payer bill introduced by Democrat Representative John Conyers of Michigan.

Progressives For Pennsylvania will make a point of meeting with our mayor
very soon.

And the rest, as they say, will be history.

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

 

The Single Payer Health Care Solution In Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is on the threshold of breaking new ground
because of her
Single Payer Universal Health Care initiative, HB 1660 and
SB 300, which,
if passed, will make health care available to every
Pennsylvanian.

Health Care For All PA is taking this initiative to the
next level, which
I will explain shortly.

Meanwhile, the press ignores these Bills.

Meanwhile, the HighMark/Independent Blue Cross (IBX)
merger is building its case.

Meanwhile, Governor Rendell plans to pass PA ABC which
will cover only
200,000 Pennsylvanians, out of the 1.4 million who
currently have no
health insurance at all.

This will make a bad situation much, much worse here in
the Commonwealth.

But no matter how media and corporate monopolies ignore
the inevitable, we
are heading toward Single Payer one way or the other.

Single Payer is publically funded while the Blues are
privately funded.

The insurance companies compete against the for profit
powers represented by
Aetna and United and all the rest while Single Payer is
designed for the
public good.

One enriches shareholders and an elite few while the other
is designed
to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone
here in Pennsylvania.

The IBX/Highmark merger has prompted concern among critics
about
competition in the insurance market and clout the new
company would wield
in setting reimbursement rates for hospitals and doctors,
an article in
Pittsburgh's "Business Times", May 26, 2008 states.

The consolidation of IBX and Highmark is the largest
insurance company deal
ever proposed within any state and will create a $22
billion dollar company.

Our grassroots group, Health Care 4 All PA, supports
Single Payer because it's
the best way to fulfill our mission: to bring quality,
affordable health care to all
Pennsylvanians.

We've decided to protest the merger because it runs
counter to our mission.

Governor Rendell has cut a deal with Highmark and IBX to
help them get the merger
approved in return for their help, financial and
otherwise, in passing PA ABC.

PA ABC replaces Adult Basic which provides health
insurance to approximately
55,000 poor Pennsylvanians.

Approximately 95,000 are on the waiting list and these
plus 120,000 others would
in theory gain access to PA ABC.

However, because there is a 4% annual increase by the
health insurance companies
after the second year, and add to this increased rates for
participants under PA
ABC than they were paying under Adult Basic, you can
safely project that poorer
Pennsylvanians will be forced to lose health insurance
coverage.

People on the waiting list will potentially be withdrawing
their names.

The Governor is not telling us the truth: that at the very
least, PA ABC is
under funded and enrollment ends when the money is spent.

Yet Rendell continues to assert that PA ABC will cover
everyone.

Additionally, PA ABC will also reinstate the State subsidy
for malpractice
insurance which the Governor had withdrawn previously, in
the attempt to gain
support for PA ABC.

Malpractice would only be reinstated, however, for those
physicians who add
the PA ABC patients as enrollees, with payout at low
Medicaid-like fees.

Health Care 4 All PA needs to empower those legislatures
who resist this ploy
by helping them to see that resisting this makes moral
sense.

(Thanks to Jerry Policoff for making available the above
statistics on Adult
Basic and PA ABC. Jerry will be writing a more
comprehendsive article on this
very topic in the days to come).

Governor Rendell is on record as saying he will sign HB
1660 if it comes across
his desk.

Our grassroots efforts have many dimensions. We see the
corruption of the
insurance companies and we see the politicians who pander
to them.

But to date, we have 43 sponsors for HB 1660 and SB 300 in
the State House
and Senate.

Our growing grassroots movement needs to become
aggressively disciplined and
organized to fight the forces of ignorance here in
Pennsylvania.

So we have taken it to the next level which is: Gaining
support for an
economic impact study to outline exactly how much
Universal Access to health
care will cost in the Commonwealth.

We need the economic impact study because our group is not
a legislative body.

The study does not guarantee passage, but makes the case
for passage.

Keep in mind that Rendell's PA ABC did not have an
economic impact study.

Sounds like it could have used one.

The Casino and Gaming initiatives had no economic impact
study.

The bar is set higher for us.

We've hit every standard and crossed it.

We will not back down.

We will get the money for the economic impact study in the
Autumn of this year.

SAVE THE DATE—June 19, 2008

Health Care for ALL in Pennsylvania Rally and Press Event

National Day of Protest Against Health Insurance Companies

12:00-1:00 p.m.

Capital Steps (3rd and State Streets)

Harrisburg

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

Leaving The Democratic Party

The Democratic National Committee told us over the weekend
of
May 31, 2008 that our votes do not matter. People were
stripped
of their votes by half in Florida and four delegates were
stolen from
Hillary and given to Barak Obama in Michican.

When Jimmy Carter stepped in recently and flatly proposed
that the delegates
from both Florida and Michican should remain unseated:
This from a former
President who goes to third world countries and oversees
elections to make sure
they are fair, was the red flag that was raised in my
consciousness, telling
me to get out of the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party was a party that used to uphold
equality and
a level playing field, but now supports misogyny, has
annoited an
unvetted candidate, and now is telling us that our votes
not only are
irrelevant, but can be taken away and given to the
candidate we had
no interest in voting for.

So for my own sanity, I am leaving the Democratic party.

I am a life long Democratic in a family of active
Democrats for
several generations.

Leaving the party is like giving up a family tradition.

And it's like giving up an addiction, because I'm a
political
junky.

So I turn to the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for
complete release and
surrender.

Step One: We admitted we were powerless over the
Democratic party, that our lives
had become unmanageable.

Since the Democratic party has attempted to morally
bankrupt its members, it is
time to admit total defeat.

Yet as this step illustrates, admitting complete defeat
allows the door
of freedom to spring wide open.

When we admit personal powerlessness, a rock foundation is
created upon which
happiness can be achieved and sustained. Watching the
news, observing pundits
marginalizing and insulting the best candidate to ever run
for President,
means we are powerless over news programs and our lives
have become
unmanageable because of watching them.

Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than
ourselves could restore
us to sanity.

Many of us have become angry and resentful at the
Democratic Party for
stealing Hillary's great opportunity to serve our country.
We are saddened, dejected
and now doubt the integrity of the democratic process.

We fail to touch base with the great inner strength of our
own
Higher Power, and have allowed depression and
demoralization to simmer in our
psyches.

Yet by tapping the quiet meditative living well inside our
hearts, we will triumph
and persevere, just as Hillary has shown us to do by her
demonstrated "Grace
Under Fire."

Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
to the care of God
as we understand Him.

The willingness to turn to a spiritual perspective in
these and all other matters
is the one solacing act that can be repeated again and
again, moment by moment,
one day at a time.

This is an action step: Severing the knot of self-will and
alligning our spirit
to God's will.

The Democratic Party no longer serves me. I now gain my
strength from a
Higher Power which does.

Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory
of ourselves.

How am I responsible for my own feelings of dejection at
the hands of
the Democratic Party?

Certainly the Democratic Party is a non-entity, but my
attitude towards the party
and my life are mine to own.

Step Five: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another
human being the
exact nature of our wrongs.

And that chosen human being will be hand picked with great
care.

Step Six: Were entirely ready to have God remove all of
these defects of character.

One by one, we excise a fault without reservation and give
these over in an
act of surrender, and as we do this, the obsession to
watch the news, and engage
in political drama--vanishes.

And we continue to make progress in the character building
arena thus not
expecting the character defects to be removed immediately.

We do not expect that forgiveness and unity will happen
immediately in the
Democratic party and in fact, this can first only happen
in my own heart.

Step Seven: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

The key to this step is humility VS self-reliance or a
gentle kindliness VS arrogance
and having to be right.

Yes the Democratic Party has let us all down, not only
Democrats, but the whole world
is also watching us and deploring the recent decision of
the Democratric Rules
Committee of the Democratic National Convention.

Yet holding on to these resentments is only harming us.

So I humbly ask my Higher Power to remove the judgments
and move on.

Step Eight: Made a list of all the persons we had harmed
and became willing
to make amends to them all.

Yes, I must forgive all of the hateful Hillary Bashers,
and make amends wherever
appropriate.

Step Nine: Made direct amends to such people wherever
possible except when
to do so would injure them or others.

I have been amazingly self-controlled during this election
season. The only
one I need to make amends with is myself!

Step Ten: Continued to take a personal inventory and when
we were wrong,
promply admitted it.

Using the "spot check inventory," as Bill W. suggests, at
any time of day or night,
especially at days end, where we take credit for things
well done, and take
note of deficiencies in need of repair, will slow down the
pace of living,
and give us a more reflective attitude.

The Democratic Party served a purpose in my life and in my
parent's and grand-
parent's lives, but now it is time to move on.

Step Eleven: Sought through prayer and meditation to
improve our conscious
contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for
knowledge of His
will for us and the power to carry it out.

This Step is self-explanatory.

Step Twelve: Having had a spiritual awakening as the
result of these
steps, we tried to carry this message to other political
junkies, and to
practice these principles in all of our affairs.

Writing out the Twelve Steps of Political Junky Anonymous
has soothed
my mind and quieted my soul.

Whatever happens is most certainly a learning experience
for all of us.

Turning to Spirit, walking in nature, hanging out with my
dogs is the
greatest experience of all, the greatest Unity of all,
far, far removed
from the Democratic Party.

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

 

Honoring My Grandmother

My grandmother was a suffragette. And today is her birthday.

She'd be 115 today.

Her name was Amelia Loving.

I honor her memory this election season by raising my own
consciousness regarding sexism in our society, especially
rearing up now in the Clinton/Obama battle for the
Presidency.

The term women's suffrage refers to the economic and
political
reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to
vote — to women. The movement's origins are usually traced
to
the United States in the 1820s.

Women received the right to vote a full 100 years after the
Black Man, in 1920.
 
The answer to which country was the first to give women
the right
to vote in national elections is usually credited to New
Zealand.

Today women's suffrage is considered a right (under the
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women),
although a few countries, mainly in the Middle East,
continue to
deny voting rights to women.

Women in New Zealand were inspired to fight for their
voting rights
by the equal-rights philosopher John Stuart Mill and the
activism of British
feminists. In addition, the missionary efforts of the
American-based
Women’s Christian Temperance Union gave them the
motivation to fight.
There were, in fact, a few male politicians that supported
women’s
rights, such as John Hall, Robert Stout, Julius Vogel and
William Fox.
In 1878, 1879, and 1887 amendments extending the vote to
women
failed by a hair each time.

In 1893, New Zealand became the first major self-governing
country
in the world to give women the vote.

Although the Liberal government which passed the bill
generally
advocated social and political reform, the electoral bill
was only
passed because of a combination of personality issues and
political
accident. The bill granted the vote to women of all races.
New Zealand
women were not given the right to stand for parliament,
however,
until 1918.

In 2005, almost a third of the Members of Parliament
elected were
female. Women recently are also in prestigious positions
such as
prime minister, Governor-General and the Speaker of the
House of
Representatives, and chief justice.

In sharp contrast to New Zealand, the United States has
only recently
elected a woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who
oddly, from my
point of view, does not support Hillary Clinton for
President.

As Hillary Clinton moves to secure the popular vote, with
the help of her
loyal supporters, including myself, we all have had to
look at the ugly
reality of hatred towards women in our American Society.

A You Tube Video, depicting Hillary as a witch, a *itch,
showing the likes
of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews spewing hateful,
sexist slurs
that honestly hurt all women, and these examples were
representative
of many months of such bashing: Sent me directly to my
local NBC affiliate
to protest media bias, and to say that I was boycotting
the station.

I held a sign that said on one side: Stop Media Bias!!

On the other side of the sign: Media Bias Suppresses Votes!!

Also, my companion wore a white plastic bag that said:
Count Every Vote!!

Several days later, the folks in Florida sued the DNC
(Democratic National Committee)
for not settling this problem of vote suppression long
before this.

It took a few days to organize the protest, and one other
lovely woman
was there, as well. Several newscasters came out and got a
statement, but I don't
know if it was aired or not, since I no longer watch the
station!

It was raining, and it was a cold rain.

People passing in their cars beeped their horns in
sympathy to the cause.
One elderly gentleman bought us a cup of coffee and
cookies. He said, "Thank
you for what you are doing!!"

Hillary has stood up for Women's rights for 40 years, long
before she ever
met her husband, our former President, Bill Clinton. And
now, she has opened
a dialogue whereby a National Gender Re-education is
taking place.

And she is not going to give up. Her supporters continue
to give her money.
We continue to protest Locally and Nationally for equal
representation for
every man, woman and child.

We will carry her all the way to the convention, just as a
person is carried
after she wins a major seemingly insurmountable challenge.

My grandmother nods approvingly.

But this fight does not end here.

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

 

 

Congressional Testimony On Single Payer House Bill 1660 In Pennsylvania

My name is Kate Loving Shenk of Nursing Career Transformation. com and a Staff Registered Nurse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

As a Health Care Professional, I see people who are between jobs, who are in retirement, or starting a new business, or who want to go back to school, or move from one job to another; and they lose health coverage in the process, sometimes with catastrophic results when accidents or acute health conditions occur during these times.

When people fall in these categories of the uninsured, health care workers, patients and taxpayers all have to pay.

From my perspective, when a patient arrives at the hospital with a large brain stem bleed because of a major stroke after he stopped taking his blood pressure medicines when his retirement plan unexpectedly dropped his health insurance, and we resuscitate him just long enough for his family to arrive and say their goodbyes; And this and similar situations occur where patients between jobs and in retirement are forced to cut back and consequently die as the economy worsens, suffice to say, Nurses and Doctors see these sorts of examples all the time.

Burnout in my profession results because of a profit driven health care system that isn't taking care of anyone, and Nurses and Doctors are left to pick up the pieces.

Or take the example of a man between jobs without health insurance, with a job interview the day after his car slipped on black ice, was flown by helicopter to an area trauma unit, and spent 2 ½ days in Intensive Care before he was moved to a regular hospital room. He sustained major injuries to his spine, including fractured and compressed vertebrae, and shattered discs.

This man was incapable of attending the job interview, of a job he was favored to get, and now has a huge hospital bill after major surgery to his spine, transport by helicopter, and an extended hospital stay.

Or the example of an 89 year old woman, Merle Kuznik, who broke her right hip after suffering a major stroke on her left side. The nursing home she was in insisted that Merle Kuznik apply for Medicaid to pay for expenses not paid by Medicare. When the paperwork was not completed in a timely fashion, local Constables showed up to her nursing home room, with guns visible but in their holsters, and told her she would have to go to jail for 3 days, if she did not pay.

Merle's daughter Mary Beth went to KDKA TV and told the story which the station covered, but Merle was emotionally challenged by the duel threat of incarceration and economic collapse.

Our bill, HB 1660 pays for long term care and does not involve the bureaucratic paper work that was created ultimately by health insurance companies to deny payment to consumers. If HB 1660 was in place, Marybeth and Merle wouldn't be going through this degrading experience.

The question is, how many other of our elderly as well as most people between employment, are having similar experiences that are the worst kind of humiliations in what is NOT a civil society until we get a single payer system instituted in our country?

Meanwhile, the health insurance industry continues to lobby to protect their position and profits, while the system they've created continues to disenfranchise more and more people in this country every year.

I would be remiss if I did not talk about single mothers in this scenario. I spoke to such a woman whose yearly income is $18,000/yearly, but because her ex-husband had insurance that covered little if anything, her 2 children did not qualify for schip.

She went to her state representative who gave her poor advice: To ask her ex-husband to drop his insurance, wait 90 days, and reapply to schip, not taking into account that her ex-husband was court mandated to have such insurance.

Consequently, her out-of-pocket medical expenses continue to mount because of a system that allows too many single mothers to fall through the cracks.

In sharp contrast, a health care system which includes full and unlimited medical, dental, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, home nursing, mental health, optical, substance abuse, hospice, long-term care, emergency transport, physical and occupational therapy, will free all of us to make full contributions to our families and to society. Malpractice, another overwhelming stress contributed to a health care system in crisis, will fade.

America will be able to compete in the Global Economy. The stressors I have described will vanish. HB 1660 has the singular capacity to bring the haves and have nots together for a common cause that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and America desperately need. By having a Civilized Medical System in place, as Chuck Pennacchio calls it, we can serve our population of patients with a clear conscience. These are the greatest gifts of all.

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

Misogyny Is Alive But Never Well

Misogyny Is Alive and But Never Well

Gender and race in Politics: Is it real? Is it important?

Is it a distraction? Is it a way to divide and separate
people
from important discourse and meaningful discussion?

Or when someone blurts out a statement that is innocent
enough,
and then is twisted and pigeon-holed into race and gender
stereotypes , I have to wonder--are these statements
bringing
controversies out of the proverbial closet and making
people
look carefully at themselves?

Or instead of looking at themselves, allow buttons to be
pushed,
become angry and take to making self-righteous commentary,
as
Keith Olbermann did the other night in response to
Geraldine
Farraro's remarks that started by saying that if her name
was Gerald
instead of Geraldine, she never would have been chosen to
be Walter
Mondale's running mate in the 1980's.

Why does Keith Olbermann, who denies making an endorsement
of
either candidate, seem to be endorsing Barak Obama?

Olbermann didn't make a commentary when a woman on Obama's
campaign staff
called Hillary a monster.

And why? Because he wasn't angry enough. He is siding with
the
obvious media favoring of Barak over Hillary.

I was also guilty of not liking Hillary.

Again, this dislike was key for me to look more deeply
into who I
am as a woman.

Why wouldn't I support a thoroughly capable, brilliant and
experienced woman
to be our next President?

She's a woman with years and years of political experience
that spans prior
to her marriage to Bill Clinton.

Is the reason I wouldn't support her BECAUSE she is
thoroughly capable and
brilliant, and I am afraid I am not?

When I disliked Hillary, I projected these insecurities on
to her.

Now that I love Hillary, I project my own capabilities and
brilliance
outside of my self, to her.

Funny how love works.

Frank Marafiote, in the Hillary Clinton Quarterly, wrote a
great piece called:
"Women Who Hate Hillary Clinton."

Marafiote says that professional women hate Hillary
because no matter what
they've accomplished, Hillary is smarter, has earned more,
and has "mashed
more men" than they have.

Professional women feel that their accomplishments pale
beside the likes
of Mrs. Clinton.

Marafiote says that feminists hate Hillary because she is
living proof
that for women to get ahead in the world, they must
subjugate themselves to
the white male power structure, use their married name,
change their hair,
clothes and values to make it in a male dominated world.

Why do country club Republican wives hate Hillary?

According to Marafiote, these are the women with expensive
degrees from Vassar,
Smith, Mount Hilyoke and Wellesley who for years coasted
on their
inheritance or the support from their wealthy husbands.

And who are the people who love Hillary?

White, middle aged, middleclass men. These men love
Hillary's
competence, as compared to the incompetence that surrounds
them and all of
us in the work place all day long.

Hillary's the one they thought they married 20 years ago.

And she's far less threatening than their own wives who
are statistically
more than likely to leave with their children, their homes
and their bank
accounts.

So why do I love Hillary?

Because she is gutzy, beautiful, brilliant and resilient.

She will bring those qualities out for all women, if she
is our next President.

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

Objections To A Single-Payer Plan In America

Objections To A Single-Payer Plan In America

1) The government can't run anything. I don't trust the government.

The current gang in Washington may be a good reason not to trust
the government to do ANYTHING right.

However, Medicare and Social Security are  good examples of  systems
that run well and on time. People receive their checks the same
time every month and health care is provided: on time.

2) I'm a free market person and don't want any part of "socialized
medicine."

Single Payer Insurance is defined as a single government fund with each state
which pays hospitals, physicians and other health care providers, thus replacing
the current multi-payer system of private insurance companies. 

It would provide coverage for the fifty million people who are uninsured.

It would eliminate the financial threat and impaired access to care for tens of
millions who do not have coverage and are unable to afford the out-of-pocket
expenses because of deficiencies in their insurance plans.

It would return to the patient free choice of health care provider and hospitals,
not the choice that only the restrictive health plans allow.

It would relieve businesses of the administrative hassle and expense of maintaining
a health benefits program.

It would remove from the health care equation the middleman—the managed care
industry—that has broken the traditional doctor-patient relationship, while diverting
outrageous amounts of patient care dollars to their own coffers.

It would control health care inflation through constructive mechanisms of cost
containment that improve allocation of our health care resources, rather than
controlling costs through an impersonal business ethic that robs patients of care
so as to increase profits for the privileged few. Single Payer Universal Health
Care would provide access to high quality care for everyone at affordable prices.

3) Canadians have long waiting periods and come to the U.S. for their health care
needs. Therefore, such a plan would make for waiting periods in the U.S.

First of all, ask almost any Canadian if they would trade our system for theirs.
The answer is a resounding "NO."

They may have to wait for elective surgeries, for instance, but
we have to wait for these kinds of surgeries, as well.

Canadians have the option to buy extra coverage to get heroic measures covered,
say in the case of Cancer treatment.

At 9% of their GDP, they are spending much less than we are as a nation.
We, the wealthiest nation on earth, spend 14 % of our GDP.

4) Our country cannot afford to insure everyone.

Our country already has enough funds dedicated to health care to provide the
highest quality of care for everyone. Studies have shown that under a single
payer system, comprehensive care can be provided for everyone without
spending any more funds than are now being spent.

Not only do we have more than sufficient funds, we are also a nation that is infamous
for our excess health care capacity. Typical of these excesses is the fact that there
are more MRI scanners in Orange County, CA than in all of Canada.

With our generous funding and the tremendous capacity of our health care delivery
system, the delays would not be a significant limiting factor in the U.S.

5) Americans do not want "Socialized Medicine."

Socialized medicine is a system in which the government owns the facilities,
and the providers of care are government employees.

In sharp contrast, a single payer system uses the existing private and public
sector health care delivery systems, preserving private ownership and employment.
The unique feature of a single payer system is that all health care risks
are placed in a universal risk pool, covering everyone. The pool is funded in
a fair and equitable manner so that everyone pays their fair share in taxes,
unlike our current defective system in which some pay far too much while others
are not paying their share. The funds are allocated through a publicly
administered program resulting in optimum use of our health care dollars.

A single payer system has no more in common with socialized medicine than our
current Medicare program.

Socialism is a dirty word in this country. Universal health care for all has
been equated with socialism, and much propaganda has been communicated by the
press, by right wing  politicians, by medical groups such as the AMA or anyone
else who has an agenda to keep the 1500 plus health insurance companies a
thriving market with profits that undoubtedly help to pay for their agendas.

6) A Universal Single-Payer would lower the standard of care to a level of
mediocrity for everyone, preventing the affluent from exercising his or her
option to obtain the highest level of care.

Our current system is characterized by essentially two alternatives:
either no insurance with severely impaired access to even a mediocre level of care,
or being insured by a managed care industry that has whittled down what is
available until mediocrity has become the standard of care. Only the relatively
affluent have access to unlimited care.

The generous level of funds that we have already dedicated to health care, 
adding to this a more efficient administration with an exclusive mission of
optimum patient care well above the mediocrity that we now have, lays the foundation
for a universal health care system in America.

A single payer system does not preclude the affluent from paying, outside the
system, for a penthouse suite in the hospital, or for cosmetic surgery or for
any other service that would not be part of a publicly funded program.

But if Americans knew the truth, and would turn off their TVs and use that time
instead to change this country, using the power of grassroots politics, to make
a single payer universal system a reality for all, then we would finally have
the best health care system in the world.

Any group with the passion to change the world, one issue at a time, with a
loving intent, can do it.

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