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I wish to share with you some of the Feedback comments posted on the online edition of Hernando Today in response to the Sunday column ‘Holiday’s ER sign a farce” printed two weeks past. [Note: The editor’s use of ‘Holiday’ was an aptly placed, but apparently ignored, descriptive word.]
Posted by (Rached): “Dental pain is not an emergency. The patient already was on pain medication. Paying $1 to be seen by a medical professional is typical of patients who think the world owes them. Go to a walk in clinic next time. Oh wait! They make you pay, don’t they?”
I bet a whole donut to a donut hole that (Rached) is not among the 32 million people meant to receive medical coverage from the healthcare reform bill. Might not (Rached) be one of many Americans who are reliant on the gracious benefits of the biggest of all federal entitlement programs – Medicare – that keeps her healthy, wealthy and selfish?
Being that “Dental pain is not an emergency”, time wouldn’t have been ill-spent and the hospital wouldn’t have been short-changed $1,999 for a butt injection of antibiotics and a script for amoxicillin if Pat had been made fully aware of what, and why, he was up against in a waiting area adjacent to an Emergency Room. (Rached)’s comments were pointless.
Posted by (mickster): “There is no excuse for being rude to the registration clerk. Unless you are dying, if you are rude or entitled then you wait longer. This column is incredibly irresponsible journalism, presenting a very skewed opinion that is one-sided. Before you write your next piece about an ER, talk to the people that work there about what they are dealing with on a day to day basis.”
The clerk was there to take a name, address, telephone number and alternate contact. She did her job, as do customer service reps at phone/cable/credit card companies, all of which are easy targets of consumer discontent and anger. Of course, no one ever gets upset that the first point of contact can’t identify and resolve a situation with a flick of a switch or a few taps on a computer keyboard. The (mickster) dipped below the ballast line of the column, which was more about relating an experience rather than expressing an opinion.
Posted by (DoctorSmith): “If they told you up front the wait would be 3 to 4 hours, why are you complaining that it took 3 to 4 hours? Seems like they were up front an honest with you. There are other hospitals in the area with ERs. Did you call those to see if they had a shorter wait time?” No, but Pat did. The person at Oak Hill Hospital couldn’t provide the slightest hint of how long the wait might have been. (DoctorSmith) needs a more temperate thermometer.
These posts were puppy dog yips compared to emails received from RNs and a CEN. Although critical of the column, it was because they interpreted it as being inconsiderate of the professionals in the rooms beyond the waiting area. At no point in the column did I hint there was a lack professionalism of the caregivers. As stated, once in triage, the necessary care was resolved in fifteen minutes – ten minutes of which were spent making sure Pat had no adverse reactions to the injection.
One of the emails was from Nurse Kelly. Before reading the full text, a neighbor who works at BRH suggested she is a head nurse in the ER. Later, when I actually read parts of the text, I saw it signed, “Peace and God bless, Kelly J. Conner, RN, Sunrise, Florida”. I thought, what’s with a professional on the other side of the state making comments on what was strictly an experience in Hernando County?
Checking the other emails, none suggested they were sent by a local reader. I went back to Nurse Kelly’s email and found the paragraph, “Also, so you know, this is how emergency room nurses across the country are responding to your article: www.facebook.com [followed by a series of words, letters, numbers and special characters].
“WHAT?!?!,” I exclaimed aloud. Facebook? One of the many social pit-stops in the twilight zone of the Internet?
Out of curiosity, I clicked and found myself directed to the Facebook sign-in/sign-up page. I don’t go there. I refuse to give out my email address and set up a password to be a part of, or subjected to, the invasive nature of online sites that cannot guarantee my secured privacy. They appear to be as big, or more of, a threat to our privacies than how Big Brother government has been portrayed.
The emails should have been sent to the editor of Hernando Today, whose readers were the only ones meant to read about the experience. Perhaps this time someone will offer responsible responses to educate our local residents. I can’t relay the info I received from the emails. While one nurse mentioned there are 5 categories used to determine the order of attention, another mentioned 3 levels. Too, there were comments about why a patient’s self-described pain level is often discounted.
The emergency care waiting area ‘Notice’ should be sided with a Disclaimer that explains ER standards and procedures. A Disclosure statement should advise those in need of care that the basic fee to obtain ER care starts at $2,000 so that people can decide if perhaps a doctor visit might be appropriate – during regular weekday business hours. “Oh wait! They make you pay, don’t they?”
An employee at BRH, and x-ray tech who works long hours, sometimes six days a week and often still ‘on call’, prompted my writing about Pat’s ER misadventure. Unless she lied to me, she and nurses were gung-ho for me to explain that the problem lies with the administration, but not the highly educated medical professionals who save lives, cure illnesses, and go home crying because they see patients in excruciating pain or witness a child breathing his/her last breath. Moisture wells before my eyes, too.
Finally, also on Hernando Today’s website: Posted by (nikkinala): “It’s a shame that the cuts they’ve made are affecting service so severe. A little more concern/compassion from the desk clerk probably would have gone a long way.” Thank you for being attentive to the nature of my column.
As to those emails from a bunch of fricasseed Facebook fritters suffering from Disorder Deficit Attention? Securely placed in Yahoo!’s IDCU (I Don’t Care Unit) – Spam.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Holiday ER Not Memorial
NOTICE: Our patients are treated in order of severity of illness or injury and not in order of arrival.
The engraved plaque outside ER 105 at Brooksville Regional Hospital proved to be a farce. Arriving shortly after 4 pm this past Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, the registration clerk in the Emergency Room advised the patient, Pat, that the waiting period would be three to four hours. It seemed excessive considering there were, at the time, but four or five other people waiting for medical attention, none of whom appeared to be in as bad a shape as he.
Pat’s face was swollen, very visibly so, especially his upper lip that had ballooned over a thirty-six hour period when a chipped tooth earlier in the week broke Friday evening. I first saw his condition Saturday evening when he and Lexi, his daughter, stopped by. I was truly shocked. He was in a fog from the infection that had spread to his nasal passages and kept in a fog from taking prescribed pain meds for a herniated disc.
Pat passed out on my sofa so he and spent the night. Zonked out until mid afternoon Sunday, he woke with a series of painful groans with a realization the only option was to go to an Emergency Room.
The job function of the person behind the desk was clearly clerically limited. Her actions led me to believe that she more a front line of defense rather than the first step to receiving medical attention. On this particular day, the priority of receiving care was one of first come, first serve. Even then, the care he received was out of order.
Other ER patients appeared to be in much less discomfort. Each was quick to get up from their seats when called by the triage nurse – one after another, in and out with no obvious ailments. Even after the others had been tended to, patients arriving later were taken out of order, before Pat. Questioning the person at the desk, the only response was she had no control – it was out of her hands.
Up to that point, the loudest wailing in the room came when the electricity went out and her data entries on the computer were lost.
At another point, a mother rushed into the ER with her baby girl, maybe three years old, demanding the attention of a nurse NOW, which she kept yelling. The only response from the woman behind the desk was that a nurse had been advised. By then, she had moved from behind the desk to face a wall, shuffling papers, seemingly to avoid further contact with the screaming mother.
The only words spoken by the little girl: “I need a band-aid.” No panic, no tears. Within minutes, a nurse simply taped three-inch squares of gauze over the wound. Although I didn’t see how severe the gash was, there was no blood appearing on the temporary bandage. The little girl was content as mom pushed her around in a wheel chair.
After waiting three hours, I became a bit testy, verbally suggesting Pat would get better care if he had insurance, were an illegal immigrants or – Pat had to hold back a laugh at this one – he would have been better off seeing a veterinarian!
The woman behind the desk asked why I was being mean to her, as did another person in the waiting room. The problem with the situation was that, at no time did a nurse appear in the waiting room to evaluate ‘the severity of injury or illness’ of those seeking medical attention. The ‘desk person’ was the only hospital employee available. (There was no security guard until 8 pm.)
After finally talking to the triage nurse, and given the care of a physician, Pat was released within fifteen minutes, just long enough to receive an antibiotic booster shot and a ten minute wait to make sure there was no adverse reaction, during which time a script was written for an oral antibiotic to be taken until he could see a dentist during normal weekday business hours for a tooth extraction.
From the get-go, there was nothing else that could have been done. The needed attention was unnecessarily delayed. There were no emergency ambulances on that day; otherwise the wait would have exceeded the five hours.
An employee assured me that on most days the ER operates efficiently. But the hospital has initiated severe cutbacks in hours, thus coverage. Another hospital employee, who works in transportation services – he pushes gurneys to and from technicians who perform tests to diagnose patient ailments – is retiring soon, at which time the position is expected to be eliminated, leaving the technicians themselves doing the push and pull. Volunteers will offer limited assistance due to liability concerns.
This may lead to longer delays in responding to and evaluating the needed care of patients. My assumption is that this could, in turn, increase overnight admission$.
Unfortunately, the timing of Pat’s needed care was on the weekend, the cost of which was in excess of two thousand dollars. I paid the ‘good faith’ down payment – one dollar.
The engraved plaque outside ER 105 at Brooksville Regional Hospital proved to be a farce. Arriving shortly after 4 pm this past Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, the registration clerk in the Emergency Room advised the patient, Pat, that the waiting period would be three to four hours. It seemed excessive considering there were, at the time, but four or five other people waiting for medical attention, none of whom appeared to be in as bad a shape as he.
Pat’s face was swollen, very visibly so, especially his upper lip that had ballooned over a thirty-six hour period when a chipped tooth earlier in the week broke Friday evening. I first saw his condition Saturday evening when he and Lexi, his daughter, stopped by. I was truly shocked. He was in a fog from the infection that had spread to his nasal passages and kept in a fog from taking prescribed pain meds for a herniated disc.
Pat passed out on my sofa so he and spent the night. Zonked out until mid afternoon Sunday, he woke with a series of painful groans with a realization the only option was to go to an Emergency Room.
The job function of the person behind the desk was clearly clerically limited. Her actions led me to believe that she more a front line of defense rather than the first step to receiving medical attention. On this particular day, the priority of receiving care was one of first come, first serve. Even then, the care he received was out of order.
Other ER patients appeared to be in much less discomfort. Each was quick to get up from their seats when called by the triage nurse – one after another, in and out with no obvious ailments. Even after the others had been tended to, patients arriving later were taken out of order, before Pat. Questioning the person at the desk, the only response was she had no control – it was out of her hands.
Up to that point, the loudest wailing in the room came when the electricity went out and her data entries on the computer were lost.
At another point, a mother rushed into the ER with her baby girl, maybe three years old, demanding the attention of a nurse NOW, which she kept yelling. The only response from the woman behind the desk was that a nurse had been advised. By then, she had moved from behind the desk to face a wall, shuffling papers, seemingly to avoid further contact with the screaming mother.
The only words spoken by the little girl: “I need a band-aid.” No panic, no tears. Within minutes, a nurse simply taped three-inch squares of gauze over the wound. Although I didn’t see how severe the gash was, there was no blood appearing on the temporary bandage. The little girl was content as mom pushed her around in a wheel chair.
After waiting three hours, I became a bit testy, verbally suggesting Pat would get better care if he had insurance, were an illegal immigrants or – Pat had to hold back a laugh at this one – he would have been better off seeing a veterinarian!
The woman behind the desk asked why I was being mean to her, as did another person in the waiting room. The problem with the situation was that, at no time did a nurse appear in the waiting room to evaluate ‘the severity of injury or illness’ of those seeking medical attention. The ‘desk person’ was the only hospital employee available. (There was no security guard until 8 pm.)
After finally talking to the triage nurse, and given the care of a physician, Pat was released within fifteen minutes, just long enough to receive an antibiotic booster shot and a ten minute wait to make sure there was no adverse reaction, during which time a script was written for an oral antibiotic to be taken until he could see a dentist during normal weekday business hours for a tooth extraction.
From the get-go, there was nothing else that could have been done. The needed attention was unnecessarily delayed. There were no emergency ambulances on that day; otherwise the wait would have exceeded the five hours.
An employee assured me that on most days the ER operates efficiently. But the hospital has initiated severe cutbacks in hours, thus coverage. Another hospital employee, who works in transportation services – he pushes gurneys to and from technicians who perform tests to diagnose patient ailments – is retiring soon, at which time the position is expected to be eliminated, leaving the technicians themselves doing the push and pull. Volunteers will offer limited assistance due to liability concerns.
This may lead to longer delays in responding to and evaluating the needed care of patients. My assumption is that this could, in turn, increase overnight admission$.
Unfortunately, the timing of Pat’s needed care was on the weekend, the cost of which was in excess of two thousand dollars. I paid the ‘good faith’ down payment – one dollar.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Fight Cancer With Fun
By some miracle, when I reached 50, I decided to have my first complete physical. It was the right thing to do. You know, being middle-aged and all.
Blood pressure, cholesterol, lung x-rays and the physical stress test showed I was in good health. It was that darn PSA level that put a twist in my life. Even though a level of 2.5 doesn’t typically warrant immediate action and even though none of the four pathology reports were conclusive, I made the decision to have a radical prostatectomy rather than seeding and radiation treatments that would have been time-consuming with no guarantee. But I knew something had to be done.
Call me Mr. Lucky. The cancer proved to be seventy-five percent invasive and one millimeter from reaching the urethra. There were some discomforts for the better part of a year but otherwise there were no emotional scars and minimal physical impairments. Fate and Faith were both good to me.
Most cancer patients aren’t as fortunate. For example, mom had cancer in the lower jaw bone. After being surgically removed, her mouth had to be wire shut for a full year on a diet of liquids; milk shakes kept her from losing weight. She never complained but the pain was all too apparent to the day she passed away ten years later from causes other than cancer.
These thoughts on my personal experiences with cancer, including a favorite aunt who died from breast cancer, came to mind as a result of a series of events that began this past summer when I lost the remote control garage door opener. Since I hadn’t bothered to replace it after nearly six months, a friend gave me one as a Christmas gift. Odd thing is that I found the remote opener on Christmas Eve when I got out my ‘good shoes’ to wear to a dinner party. Never mind how the remote got in the shoe box but, once again, after six weeks of not bothering to return it unopened, the gift-giver took it back and was cheerfully given a refund.
Along with the cash back there was a flyer that caught my attention. It was from the place of business that installed my Liftmaster, had an occasion to replace the garage door due to an incident where I, as a passenger, witnessed the crumpling of my garage door as the driver had a moment of misjudgment. And now the remote. Yes, R&R Garage Doors and I have an on-going relationship.
One side of the flyer served as an ad for R&R with a date-limited discount coupon on the replacement of two springs. The other side, also in pink with black lettering, was an invitation to ‘Celebrate the day before Valentine’s Day’ with free admission to a few hours of fun for the family.
Games. Entertainment. Crafts. Prizes. Raffles. For a small donation, kids face-painting other kids which is pretty cool to watch. Kid-stores where they can shop for low-priced trinkets. And, yes, a variety of foods available to quell those mid-day stomach grumblings.
But the special occasion is all about cancer awareness.
What had started out with hopes of attracting fifteen vendors for the event turned into a fanfare of thirty-five participants. Victoria Crowe, two-time cancer survivor who has gone through both radiation and chemotherapy, and co-hostess Victoria Foust, also a cancer survivor, are astounded at the response and what it means to the success of their ‘At the Root of It All’ crusade to assist cancer patients with their special needs.
Sponsored by R&R, the event is being held to benefit the American Cancer Society’s ‘Hernando Gift Room’ where uninsured or under-insured cancer patients and survivors can get free wigs, prosthesis, bras, turbans and scarves. Victoria hopes the fundraiser will make people more aware of their services and that the response will greatly increase the number of visitors to the Gift Room – from August through December there were only six visitors.
The fund raiser will be at R&R Garage Doors, 16050 Aviation Loop Drive at the Hernando County Airport Industrial Park this Saturday, February 13 from 10am to 3pm. The Life South Blood Mobile will also be on site for ‘liquid donations’. Victoria and Victoria can be reached at 352-799-3685 or 352-442-9771 or e-mail info@ATROIA.org. Visit www.ATROIA.org for more information.
Few cancer patients are spared the trauma as I was, so uneventful that the episode is barely a memory even though, as with all survivors, it comes with the fear that the disease can recur anytime, anywhere in your body. Cancer does not discriminate against age, race or religion.
Support the fight against cancer. Wear pink – it has meaning.
Blood pressure, cholesterol, lung x-rays and the physical stress test showed I was in good health. It was that darn PSA level that put a twist in my life. Even though a level of 2.5 doesn’t typically warrant immediate action and even though none of the four pathology reports were conclusive, I made the decision to have a radical prostatectomy rather than seeding and radiation treatments that would have been time-consuming with no guarantee. But I knew something had to be done.
Call me Mr. Lucky. The cancer proved to be seventy-five percent invasive and one millimeter from reaching the urethra. There were some discomforts for the better part of a year but otherwise there were no emotional scars and minimal physical impairments. Fate and Faith were both good to me.
Most cancer patients aren’t as fortunate. For example, mom had cancer in the lower jaw bone. After being surgically removed, her mouth had to be wire shut for a full year on a diet of liquids; milk shakes kept her from losing weight. She never complained but the pain was all too apparent to the day she passed away ten years later from causes other than cancer.
These thoughts on my personal experiences with cancer, including a favorite aunt who died from breast cancer, came to mind as a result of a series of events that began this past summer when I lost the remote control garage door opener. Since I hadn’t bothered to replace it after nearly six months, a friend gave me one as a Christmas gift. Odd thing is that I found the remote opener on Christmas Eve when I got out my ‘good shoes’ to wear to a dinner party. Never mind how the remote got in the shoe box but, once again, after six weeks of not bothering to return it unopened, the gift-giver took it back and was cheerfully given a refund.
Along with the cash back there was a flyer that caught my attention. It was from the place of business that installed my Liftmaster, had an occasion to replace the garage door due to an incident where I, as a passenger, witnessed the crumpling of my garage door as the driver had a moment of misjudgment. And now the remote. Yes, R&R Garage Doors and I have an on-going relationship.
One side of the flyer served as an ad for R&R with a date-limited discount coupon on the replacement of two springs. The other side, also in pink with black lettering, was an invitation to ‘Celebrate the day before Valentine’s Day’ with free admission to a few hours of fun for the family.
Games. Entertainment. Crafts. Prizes. Raffles. For a small donation, kids face-painting other kids which is pretty cool to watch. Kid-stores where they can shop for low-priced trinkets. And, yes, a variety of foods available to quell those mid-day stomach grumblings.
But the special occasion is all about cancer awareness.
What had started out with hopes of attracting fifteen vendors for the event turned into a fanfare of thirty-five participants. Victoria Crowe, two-time cancer survivor who has gone through both radiation and chemotherapy, and co-hostess Victoria Foust, also a cancer survivor, are astounded at the response and what it means to the success of their ‘At the Root of It All’ crusade to assist cancer patients with their special needs.
Sponsored by R&R, the event is being held to benefit the American Cancer Society’s ‘Hernando Gift Room’ where uninsured or under-insured cancer patients and survivors can get free wigs, prosthesis, bras, turbans and scarves. Victoria hopes the fundraiser will make people more aware of their services and that the response will greatly increase the number of visitors to the Gift Room – from August through December there were only six visitors.
The fund raiser will be at R&R Garage Doors, 16050 Aviation Loop Drive at the Hernando County Airport Industrial Park this Saturday, February 13 from 10am to 3pm. The Life South Blood Mobile will also be on site for ‘liquid donations’. Victoria and Victoria can be reached at 352-799-3685 or 352-442-9771 or e-mail info@ATROIA.org. Visit www.ATROIA.org for more information.
Few cancer patients are spared the trauma as I was, so uneventful that the episode is barely a memory even though, as with all survivors, it comes with the fear that the disease can recur anytime, anywhere in your body. Cancer does not discriminate against age, race or religion.
Support the fight against cancer. Wear pink – it has meaning.
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Politics of the Unemployment Rate
What is her problem? Is she so involved with political posturing that the unemployment rate in Hernando County, currently 14.9% with no indication the upward trend will reverse itself anytime in the foreseeable future, is secondary to some flimflam notation that a hometown community leader should dare initiate dialogue that could create or redistribute jobs in the county?
Recent comments made by Representative Ginny Brown-Waite that election-year politics play a major role in Commissioner Rose Rocco’s intention to hold an E-Verify workshop are very troublesome.
What was the point of Representative Ginny Brown-Waite’s tirade that claims election year politics play a major role in Commissioner Rose Rocco’s proposal to hold the workshop with the goal to ensure Hernando County subcontractors employ legal workers, including documented immigrants, over those who envision themselves with the right to disregard our labor laws? For cryin’ out loud, illegal immigrants have spent the last decade sending mega chunks of our greenbacks back to their countries of origin! Billions upon billions of dollars.
Through the E-Verify system, contractors working for the county would be required to match an employee’s I-9 Form with Social Security Administration and Dept. of Homeland Security files. Although failure of an employer to provide an I-90 Form for each employee can result in fines of up to $11,000 per worker, Employment Eligibility Verification is voluntary unless a contract contains an E-Verify clause.
Rose should be applauded for taking the first of what will be many steps necessary to “make sure we’re hiring people who are legally here and paying taxes.” If it takes an election year to prompt a politician to initiate discussion that addresses an alarming unemployment rate, so be it. Registered voters will make of it what they will.
As American as a family sittin’ at the dinner table eating homemade apple pie, the BOCC voted in bipartisan harmony to place the matter on the agenda in the coming weeks.
The really bad thing about Ginny’s contentious attitude is that some unintended consequences may put into question her chances of remaining an incumbent office-holder.
Case and point being, it wasn’t until I began researching information for this column that I came across the name Jason Sager and his quest to challenge 5-term Brown-Waite in the August 24 Primary Election and become the Republican candidate for Florida’s 5th District on the November 2nd Mid-Term Election Ballot.
An audio-visual engineer, (hear me, see me), Sager embraces Jeffersonian principles of reason, individualism, liberty, limited government and a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson, a most respected and beloved 3rd President of the United States, stated in his First Inaugural Address, “the general principles of our government”, including “the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad;”
Nor would I have known that Sager agrees, in principle, with an initiative, ‘Bring Home the Politicians’, which is meant “…to relocate U.S. representatives directly to our local districts.” Mr. Sager explains it succinctly, “This is an idea to get our Representatives out of the hands of the lobbyists by bringing them to their home offices 75% of the time and only go to Washington to actually do the business of the Congress on the House floor.”
Which brings me to a recent Feedback Letter by Nancy Haynes, a local realtor, who related her contact with a staff member at the Congresswoman’s Brooksville office that lead her to come to the conclusion, “I am not important.” Ms. Haynes had wished to voice a concern that, as lending institutions continue to drag out the process of responding to offers on short sales, it is nearly impossible to get “the real estate market back on track.” With flexibility, when Ms. Haynes requested an appointment to speak with the Congressman, all she got were multiple responses of “not available”.
On the same page that Ms. Haynes wrote of her personal disappointment with Brown-Waite’s staff, in the lower left corner, the wise and witty Manny might have been referring to the Congresswoman when he said, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” In a matter of days, Brown-Waite has already racked up a couple of ‘experiences’ in this election year.
If experience is a teacher, Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite has learned a few lessons from her own discourses.
If Congresswoman Brown-Waite should receive an open invitation to attend the yet-to-be but sure-to-be workshop on implementing safeguards to ensure contractors hired by the county employ legal workers, it would likely remain on her desk, unopened. Otherwise, an RSVP might lead to another ‘experience’.
Recent comments made by Representative Ginny Brown-Waite that election-year politics play a major role in Commissioner Rose Rocco’s intention to hold an E-Verify workshop are very troublesome.
What was the point of Representative Ginny Brown-Waite’s tirade that claims election year politics play a major role in Commissioner Rose Rocco’s proposal to hold the workshop with the goal to ensure Hernando County subcontractors employ legal workers, including documented immigrants, over those who envision themselves with the right to disregard our labor laws? For cryin’ out loud, illegal immigrants have spent the last decade sending mega chunks of our greenbacks back to their countries of origin! Billions upon billions of dollars.
Through the E-Verify system, contractors working for the county would be required to match an employee’s I-9 Form with Social Security Administration and Dept. of Homeland Security files. Although failure of an employer to provide an I-90 Form for each employee can result in fines of up to $11,000 per worker, Employment Eligibility Verification is voluntary unless a contract contains an E-Verify clause.
Rose should be applauded for taking the first of what will be many steps necessary to “make sure we’re hiring people who are legally here and paying taxes.” If it takes an election year to prompt a politician to initiate discussion that addresses an alarming unemployment rate, so be it. Registered voters will make of it what they will.
As American as a family sittin’ at the dinner table eating homemade apple pie, the BOCC voted in bipartisan harmony to place the matter on the agenda in the coming weeks.
The really bad thing about Ginny’s contentious attitude is that some unintended consequences may put into question her chances of remaining an incumbent office-holder.
Case and point being, it wasn’t until I began researching information for this column that I came across the name Jason Sager and his quest to challenge 5-term Brown-Waite in the August 24 Primary Election and become the Republican candidate for Florida’s 5th District on the November 2nd Mid-Term Election Ballot.
An audio-visual engineer, (hear me, see me), Sager embraces Jeffersonian principles of reason, individualism, liberty, limited government and a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson, a most respected and beloved 3rd President of the United States, stated in his First Inaugural Address, “the general principles of our government”, including “the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad;”
Nor would I have known that Sager agrees, in principle, with an initiative, ‘Bring Home the Politicians’, which is meant “…to relocate U.S. representatives directly to our local districts.” Mr. Sager explains it succinctly, “This is an idea to get our Representatives out of the hands of the lobbyists by bringing them to their home offices 75% of the time and only go to Washington to actually do the business of the Congress on the House floor.”
Which brings me to a recent Feedback Letter by Nancy Haynes, a local realtor, who related her contact with a staff member at the Congresswoman’s Brooksville office that lead her to come to the conclusion, “I am not important.” Ms. Haynes had wished to voice a concern that, as lending institutions continue to drag out the process of responding to offers on short sales, it is nearly impossible to get “the real estate market back on track.” With flexibility, when Ms. Haynes requested an appointment to speak with the Congressman, all she got were multiple responses of “not available”.
On the same page that Ms. Haynes wrote of her personal disappointment with Brown-Waite’s staff, in the lower left corner, the wise and witty Manny might have been referring to the Congresswoman when he said, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” In a matter of days, Brown-Waite has already racked up a couple of ‘experiences’ in this election year.
If experience is a teacher, Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite has learned a few lessons from her own discourses.
If Congresswoman Brown-Waite should receive an open invitation to attend the yet-to-be but sure-to-be workshop on implementing safeguards to ensure contractors hired by the county employ legal workers, it would likely remain on her desk, unopened. Otherwise, an RSVP might lead to another ‘experience’.
Friday, January 1, 2010
A New Year, A New Blog
In continuing the theme of addressing and commenting on local issues, Hernando Hews 2010 is born.
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