VOICE FROM THE NEAR PAST

Siannan has left a new comment on your post "RARITAN VALLEY HOSPITAL SAGA": The post was in March 2010, This came today. It was and is a good story worth reading again.
http://dpotpourri.blogspot.com/2010/03/raritan-valley-hospital-saga.html

Wow. I was just thinking about this place the other day in relation to Millicent Fenwick (there's a name you probably haven't thought of in years). She was the only politician that I remember getting involved in trying to keep RVH open. I grew up literally around the corner from RVH (on Starlit Dr in Middlesex Boro) and have fond memories of the place. I even did a brief stint on the Middlesex Rescue Squad, so I'm aware of what a loss RVH was to the community. I was surprised to find your blog and comments here. Thanks for the memories.

REACTIONARY POTPOURRI

Monday 8:30AM -No Council Agenda posted on Internet site.
10:00AM; NO POSTED AGENDA!
10:55AM: Is there a Council Meeting to night? Must the public go to City Hall to find an agenda. Or try the Library later in the day?
11:30 AM No Agenda posted. The Library did not have its packet by closing time Saturday. Perhaps a trip there will be in order. The Public be Damned.

Do laws protect society? If not why not? Punitive legislation is enacted daily by the Federal , State, local legislatures.Most deal with budgetary matters, the raising and spending of money, But two articles the last two days in the Courier point out the inability of the citizens to protect themselves from those who have little regard for civil rights.

The first had to do with the abandoned buildings, and especially those that are a safety hazard. The recent North Ave. collapse and subsequent $300,000 removal cost born by the tax payers pointed out the magnitude of this issue.

There may be Federal and/or State Laws that address this problem and what the community's legal rights in rectifying problems. The City must have on record Ordinances from time immemorial referring to prevention and treatment of abandoned property, including fines as well as a chain of authority with power to ameliorate the situation. .

The vague it is difficult to deal with it comments attributed to Administration and Councilman Storch in the paper are not satisfactory,

First every ordinance on our books that has not been revoked pertaining to this issue must be collected and collated along with any State and Federal laws. Any legal decisions that impact on this problem should be included. It should be the charge of the Corporation Counsel to obtain this material ASAP or sooner.

A separate Commission appointed by Mayor and Council shall b e given this material with the direction to review and propose "legislation"(Ordinances) that will give a workable solution to this problem. Among questions that must be answered and these are only the tip are; when does property abandonment legally begin? Criteria must be determined or codified if it exists. At what point in time is the owner of record (deed holder) freed of any legal responsibility for the property. Can dummy corporations protect their principles from legal responsibility.

The other problem is the one of a curfew. The Public Safety Director and Corporation Counsel have suggested that they( the laws) don't work and there are legal problems. Once again let us establish a specific Commission and supply it with all needed material and I am sure that this public group will come up with a plan to make our streets safe.

We have nothing but our time to lose by being proactive.

4:00pm: Speaking of time still no Agenda posted on our site!!!

AUGUST 14 POTPOURRI 2010

One gorgeous day. I could do with 365 days like this each year, provided it rained every other night. On the other hand, we in this part of Central NJ have the best weather mix in the country.

Oh yes, we do have our heat waves and droughts, our rare blizzards and messy cold winter days. But we are blessed with four seasons, and only rarely with natural disasters that the rest of the country- and world- suffers from. WE should count our blessings. If only our political leadership matched that level.

I had written that no Councilor had showed up Wednesday night at the Muhlenberg memorial rally. I had left before Council President McWilliams' letter was read. Yes the Council had written to the Governor. Did the Council ever receive a reply? If so it should be read at the next meeting. If not a strong resolution and communication is in order. We can anticipate that the Mayor will never act positively when Plainfield's well being is at stake.

I hope the Council will insist and make public an accounting of the expenses for that Sunday's Town Meeting. Was there radio station paid? If it was news they should have been there in a reportorial status.

It is unfortunate that many of the readers take everything that Plainfield's bloggers write as racially and religiously offensive. Read some of the commentaries. This is a regrettable knee jerk super sensitivity attitude which may have been justified 40 years ago in Plainfield. but not today.

The four main Plainfield bloggers may not be African-American, I defy anyone to prove that they are racially, ethnically or religiously bigoted. One may have political overtones, but there are always facts to back up his postings. The other two are often dedicated investigational and reporting items that affect the community's integrity. I will state categorically that I have no reason to defend my belief that all are equal. For those who doubt these words, let the shoe fit and look unto yourself.

I probably will not have an opportunity to review for comment Monday night's Council Agenda. As of noon Saturday it was not on the city site, and even if it were, the Library closes at 1PM Saturday until 9AM Monday. WE need tighter control of how our tax dollars are spent (wasted?) and prioritize for community safety, health care, education and all those resources that make a town a desirable residential community.

PORPOURRI THOUGHTS

T'was a dark and dreary morning, Friday the 13th. And it started out that way, Half way up the window the cord on the big shade jammed leaving only the bottom half of the window visible. Fixing shade cords now a days is not one of my forte.

Mark Spivey did not have a story in print in this morning's Courier. Cory Storch(who is Stokes?) has not yet posted an answer as promised by Dan to Jerry's 'Bridgeway" post. Lindsey Lohan, unlike normal mortals, has her jail time cut short.

An Israeli Arab is arrested in Atlanta as the Serial stabber just as he is boarding a flight out of the country. Somebody will make an issue about either (a) is is an Israeli, or (b) he is an Arab. No one will remark that there are Arabs that are Israeli Citizens and that none of these facts have the slightest importance or significance in that these stabbings were hate crimes and all the victims were black.

All in all if one could be depressed, there is enough news and non-news to haste n the disease. Forest fires in Russia, the air in Moscow is unbreathable, Floods in Iowa and thousands drowned in Pakistan. Earthquakes in Ecuador, unknown damage. An Iceberg adrift off Green land bigger than Manhattan Island, and this blog.

To cap it; this one of the latest JAMA covers is an allegory.

The Legend of John Brown -Jacob Lawrence(1917-2000) American

Do the bayonets symbolize the deaths that resulted from the freeing the slaves cause that he championed with his bloody Harper's Ferry Raid and the ultimate Civil War that accomplished it. That war probably had the highest casualty rate in history and was the prototype of modern warfare. What is your take?

Sadly as I write this there are Congressional Leaders advocating amending the 14th Amendment's first line"All persons born---in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof ,are citizens of the United States,-to exclude the children of "illegal immigrants" Is this not an ultimate and dangerous evidence of bigotry in our cosmopolitan society?

10:00 AM add: Today's Star Ledger has an article on the Youth Council's appeal Monday night a to The Council for support for more evening programs at the school gyms. In the articler ther eis the following statement: Police director Martin Hellwig praised the open gym nights, but doubted whether it would extract teens from gang involvement. “I think this initiative isn’t so much about addressing the gang problem,” he said. “It’s the issue of trying to get youngsters who are not involved from going that way.”

Is not that the hope ? Once again authority loses sight of the long term goal instead of a bandaid.

CHINA'S HOSPITALS

We could have it worse, give us the time.
(From todays New York Times)


In China’s Hospitals, Battlegrounds of Discontent

SHENYANG, China — Forget
the calls by many Chinese patients
for more honest, better-qualified
doctors. What this city’s 27 public
hospitals really needed, officials
decided last month, was police of-
ficers.
And not just at the entrance, but
as deputy administrators. The
goal: to keep disgruntled patients
and their relatives from attacking
the doctors.
The decision was quickly re-
versed after Chinese health ex-
perts and academics assailed it,
arguing that the police were pub-
lic servants, not doctors’ personal
bodyguards.
But officials in this northeastern
industrial hub of nearly eight mil-
lion people had a point. Chinese
hospitals are surprisingly dan-
gerous places to work. In 2006,
the last year the Health Ministry
published statistics on hospital
violence, attacks by patients or
their relatives injured more than
5,500 medical workers.
“The relationship between doc-
tors and patients is really tense,”
said a 25-year-old cardiologist at
Shenyang’s 4,000-bed Shengjing
Hospital. A 29-year-old neuro-
surgeon echoed that sentiment.
“I think the police should have a
permanent base here,” he said.
In June alone, a doctor was
stabbed to death in eastern Shan-
dong Province by the son of a
patient who had died of liver can-
cer. Three doctors were severely
burned in northern Shanxi Prov-
ince when a disgruntled patient
set fire to a hospital office. And a
pediatrician in Fujian Province
was injured after leaping out a
fifth-floor window to escape angry
relatives of a newborn who
had died under his care.
Over the past year, families of
deceased patients have forced at-
tending doctors to don mourning
clothes as a sign of atonement for
poor care, and organized protests
to bar hospital entrances. Four
years ago, 2,000 people rioted
at a hospital after reports that a
3-year-old was refused treatment
because his grandfather could not
pay $82 in upfront fees. The child
died.
Such episodes are to some ex-
tent standard fare in China. The
government said in 2008 that more
than 90,000 disturbances occur
every year, and Chinese officials
at all levels of government are al-
ways on guard against unrest that
could spiral and threaten the Com-
munist Party’s power.
And doctors and nurses say the
strains in the relations between
them and patients’ relatives are
often the result of unrealistic ex-
pectations by poor families who,
having traveled far and exhausted
their savings on care, expect med-
ical miracles.
But the violence also reflects
much wider discontent with Chi-
na’s public health care system.
Although the government, under
Communist leadership, once of-
fered rudimentary health care at
nominal prices, it pulled back in
the 1990s, leaving hospitals largely
to fend for themselves in the new
market economy.
By 2000, the World Health Or-
ganization ranked China’s health
system as one of the world’s most
inequitable, 188th among 191 na-
tions. Chinese consumers were
footing 60 percent of the nation’s
health care bill. Nearly two of
every five sick people went un-
treated. Only one in 10 had health
insurance.
Over the past seven years, the
state has intervened anew, with
notable results. It has narrowed
if not eliminated the gap in public
health care spending with other
developing nations of similar in-
come levels, health experts say,
pouring tens of billions of dollars
into government insurance plans
and hospital construction.
The World Bank estimates that
more than three in four Chinese
are now insured, although cover-
age is often basic. And far more
people are getting care: accord-
ing to the World Bank, hospital
admissions in rural counties have
doubled in the past five years.
“That is a steep, steep increase,”
said Jack Langenbrunner, human
development coordinator at the
World Bank’s Beijing office. “We
haven’t seen that in any other
country.”
Still, across much of China, the
quality of care remains low. Al-
most half of the nation’s doctors
have no better than a high school
degree, according to the Organi-
zation for Economic Cooperation
and Development. Many village
doctors did not make it past junior
high school, yet they are fully au-
thorized to prescribe drugs.
Primary care is scarce, so pub-
lic hospitals — notorious for rais-
ing costs — are typically the first
stop in cities, even for patients
with minor ailments. One survey
estimated that a fifth of hospital
patients suffer from no more than
a cold or stomach flu.
SHARON?LaFRANIERE

MRMC

More than 30 dedicated citizens observing the 2nd anniversary of the closing of Muhlenberg Regional Medical centered, rallied in the parking lot corner of Park and Randolph Wednesday night calling for the restoration of Muhlenberg Hospital.

Despite we are in the eighth month of the Christie era it seems that at this time the new powers that be in Trenton have little interest in the Plainfield area communities' health care.

Although during the first 45 minutes of the rally the Mayor and the Council members were conspicuous by their absence, Assemblyman Green, Assemblywoman Stender and Freeholder Kowalski each briefly addressed the attendees.

For over 50 years close I had a intimate relationship with Muhlenberg. I was honored by my peers to be elected more times than any other physician to serve as the Staff President, to act as advocate for patient care and physician rights.

The buildings on Randolph Rd are not just a mass of brick and mortar, but a standing memorial to all those who were born, received care and died there, as well as those who devoted their lives to the care of its patients.

It is a memorial to warm human beings from Isaac the doorman to Jimmy Holmes the orderly who personally treated everyone who entered its portals as a friend. It represents the dedication of caring nurses, doctors, technicians and clerical workers to all who sought care. I can not ignore those members of the Auxiliary Twigs, among them my late wife, who in the 40s and 50s spent hours preparing surgical dressings for sterilization and use. When packaged sterile dressings became available, the Auxiliarians shifted their focus to volunteer duties in the hospital as well as fund raising to help in the care of the less fortunate. Sadly, today much of that loving commitment has fallen victim to legal obstacles.

Muhlenberg was the equal to any and indeed superior to most hospitals in this country, be it medical school or just community hospital. Among other top notch physicians, the Medical Staff included world recognized authorities in Neuro-radiology, Pathology, and Colon Rectal Surgery. The first Colon-Rectal Surgical Residency in the country. was assigned to Dr. Salvatti’s group's practice in Muhlenberg Hospital. Staff quality not the number of admissions was always paramount. Muhlenberg was one of the earliest hospitals to require board certification as a must for staff membership. Other area hospitals including JFK were years later in entertaining such standards.

In the years before Government programs, HMOs and profit oriented insurance programs turned Health Care into a business the hospital was a bastion of warm personal care. Believe it or not the doctors on that staff genuinely cared for their patients as individuals not a case number.

I consider the closure of Muhlenberg to have been a legally criminal action deliberately designed to deprive the population of this area of quality acceptable health care. It is rumored that Solaris plans to sell the property to developers for residential conversion, forever eliminating competition for JFK. this would complete the financial rape of Plainfield's health resources.

We will never be able to replace what once was but it is essential that we the people continue the pressure to reestablish a center for complete acute care within the structure that exists.

COUNICIL MEETING #2

The public session's opening was only slightly delayed while the Council in Executive session interviewed two candidates for I hope either the CFO or Director of Finance and Administration vacancies.

Once again events Monday night reflected how important to the town's actions within the law depends on filling these two position. The "Acting CFO" was unable to give a coherent explanation about an $10,000.00 item paid from the Capital Funds account for services rendered to Culture Heritage. She remarked that it was obviously an error and restitution from an operation line to the capital account would be made. Councilor Storch not Reid remarked that it may have been ab accidental error of picking up the wrong check book the fact remains that where there is smoke there most likely is fire. One wonders how many such instances the auditors may have picked up over the years?

The same issue of CFO was raised by Councillor Mapp when the Resolution addressing the 4.4 million Refunding Bonds came up. Could the City legally meet the conditions stated by the State
to these bonds. Reference is made to functions that only a CFO can fulfill. It was noted that this issue had been presented in March but withdrawn for an unstated reason.

On other business, former Councilwoman Hollis was unanimously recommended to fill the Council's appointment to the Housing Authority. Her sister Councilwoman Rivers properly reclused herself from that vote.

Although, action was not deferred on participation the UCIA Renewable Energy further information was request as to the City's potential liability. This item has also been on the BOE's agenda. Despite assurances that it will cost the City nothing and 50% of income generated by the solar panels would revert to the City.

There is a saying if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Caution is always advisable. It was noted that some municipalities in the county had rejected the proposal.

The Public Saftey director gave a brief overview of legal problems facing a city curfew. On the Housing Authority's properties, curfew regulations can be enforce since visitors are subject to questioning in as much a sthe Authority has a regulation prohibiting trespassing.