Haiti's earthquake and vulnerable populations

I keep the people of Haiti in my thoughts and prayers.  I pray especially for those with diabetes, hypertension, mental illness and other chronic conditions that require daily medications.  Where are the pharmacies?  Lost in the rubble?  How will these people obtain their medications?  Many will die for certain.

Some people with mental illness will have behavior so deviant and communication so ineffective that they will not be able to describe what they need. These people are vulnerable and members of vulnerable populations.  N.B.: I have not seen descriptions of vulnerable populations that include the mentally ill.

Profiling for Terrorists

If you are Black/ African-American you know that you may look like Africans, Middle Easterners or members of other non-white or non- asian nations. The plan to profile targeted travelers who fit the "look" of a terrorist is disconcerting. Why? I am not a terrorist, but I look Middle Eastern or Ethiopian. My brothers are not terrorists, but they look like they could fit the "look" of the targeted terrorists. Millions of other Americans may fit the "look" of a terrorist.

What does this mean to the average American? It means that at any time an average American can be sitting next to a peron who looks like a terrorist. Is the average American to become paranoid and start to shy away from members of the nation simply because of their appearance? What about the image of businesses? Will businesses not hire someone because he/she looks like a threat? Will banks deny accounts to clients based on appearance?

How far will this go?

Eviction on Cold nights

I recently prepared a petition to evict a man who lives in the room next to the room I live in. He is a nuissance, a threat to others and he is psychologically abusive. He likes to turn the volume of his radio up in the early mornings and to slam the door to the room so hard that the walls shake. He frequently turns the volume up and leaves the building. He has pulled a knife on a neighbor and has threatened a neighbor with a fork.

When the weather became cold, I became concerned. If this man was evicted he would be outside in the cold, the bitter cold. He would not survive in the cold. He is too volatile to stay in a shelter. My conscience nagged me.

It is cold tonight. The man is still in the building-he still turns up the volume of his music, but during the day. He doesn't slam the door anymore and he hasn't yet threatened anyone to my knowledge.

In my heart of hearts, I hope and pray that he remains "quiet" so that he will not be evicted and set out in the bitter cold.

Condoning Mr. Brown's battering of Rhianna

Today I heard on a radio program that young women/girls are sympathizing with Mr. Brown, the singer who abused Rhianna, his girlfriend and I am appauled. By sympathizing with the singer the girls are saying that it is ok to condone battering and negating responsibility of the batterer. With all the strides that women have made in the justice system to support the rights of women in abuse situations, this is a set back. This is abhorrent.

I wonder how many of the girls who are supporting Mr. Brown are in abusive relationships?

Octuplets egregious

On January 26, 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets, after already having six children. Suleman is unemployed, single and lives off of welfare. Having these children is unconscionable. It is difficult enough for a family carrying its own financial weight, that is, not on welfare, to be responsible for eight let alone 14 children. That this women has no financial stability and has opted to have eight children and to care for fourteen is extremely irresponsible and offensive to me.



To question whether she should have been allowed to have the procedures that enabled these pregnancies and to deliver the children, smacks of health care rationing. Who are health care professionals to decide how many children a woman can have and care for? Clearly, when the bulk of the care will come from the State and government, something must be done. But what?



Clearly, Suleman is making fun of our society and thumbing her nose at common decency. Here is a woman who needs to get psychiatric help. She has committed premeditated irresponsibilty. I viewed her website that asks for donations and letters. This is no el cheapo website. This website appears to have been developed by a professional-paid for with what?

Outrageous Drug Costs

2/04/09

Today, drug cost are astronomical. One medicine I take, Abilify, cost $25.00+ a tablet and I take one daily. When the drug manager of the Part D plan I enrolled in changed, my co-pays went from $3.00 for brand name drugs to $75.00 per brand name drug. When I hit the doughnut hole I expect to have to pay more than $500.00 per month for all of my ten medications from April onwards.

I am frustrated and angry. I am on a fixed income and supplement my income with freelance writing to the tune of $700 per year, sometimes. Still, I cannot afford to pay for my medications. I am angry at having to take the medications and I am angry at big Pharma for charging so much for the medications. There is no generic for Abilify available in the States.



So, I have applied for the patient assistance program of Bristol-Myers-Squibb to obtain free Abilify. I realize that I may not be eligible, but I plan to appeal.



I am only one of millions of people who are unable to afford their medications and people who have to often choose between meds and food and rent.



In a country where many phsician surveyed said they watch House, MD, Scrubs, or E. R., it seems to me that at least one episode ought to address this clearly financial and ethical issue.



I seem to remember the Kings County Hospital slidng scale and reduced prescription costs. Let me see I am eligible for the sliding scale and reduced costs.



Of corse, I have to chuckle and wonder if buying stock in Bristol Myers Squibb would make any of this easier to bear, but then if I could afford to buy stock I'd probably be able to afford the meds, but then maybe not.

Drug Maker's Push Leads to Vaccines' Fast Rise

The article entitled Drug Makers' Ouch Leads to Vaccines' Fast Rise in the New York Times (Wednesday, August 20, 2008) struck me as strange after having read Medical Apartheid, by Harriet Washington. I kept wondering about the "need" to vaccinate all 12 year old girls with gardasil for HPV infection prevention at school this September. I wondered even more as I read further that neither drug was tested the traditional length of time before it was put on the market. Are our children being used as a drug trial?