Disaboom afo49guy Blog

NY violated rights of the Mentally Ill, ruled Federal Judge

afo49guy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:50:00 GMT

Nicholas Garufis.He ruled tha under Federal Law, the state must provide services to the disabled "..in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs", enabling them to interact with people who aren`t disabled as much as possible .

The law suit had been filed by DISABILITY ADVOCATES , an Albany based non profit group.

Cliff Zucker, executive director of Disability Advocates asid : " we`re thrilled with today`s decision.We think it will make an extraordinary difference in the lives of more thn 4,000 people who are now warehoused in institutions when they could be housed in the community"

During the trial. witnesses testified the large homes were, in some respects, more restrictive than the mental institutions they replaced. They told of lines of more than 200 residents waiting for medicines and residents having virtually no privacy.In addition, the homes foster " learned helplessness " because residents are not allowed to cook, clean, do laundry, or manage their own finances.

In his decision, Judge Garaufis said Disability Advocates proved that almost all its constituents were qualified to live in supported housing , including apartments scattered throughout the community.New York State has 380 adult homes.Some house as many as 200 people.

The decision stated that the state failed to show it would cost more to provide services in a community setting than in an adult home.the juge estimated it would save the state an average of $146.00 per person, in Medicaid costs.With over 4,300 people currently living in lage nurssing homes, the savings was estimated at at least $ 627,000 .

with this ruling, the state office of mental helth must propose a remedy. Disabilty Advocates will be able to critique it.The judge will then issue an injunction spelling out the changes the state must make.

Jill Daniels, spokeswoman for the state Office of Mental Health, said the agency was reviewing the ruling.She said it had no immediate comment.

Judge Garaufis`s ruling seems like very good news indeed for people who were being warehoused in institutions.But only time will tell whether NYS OMH will comply with the spirit as well as the letter of this ruling. Based on some things I have observed, there appears to be room for doubt. There was an incident which occurred in early 2008, which may well cause an intelligent person to question how well the NYS Office of Mental Health performs its duties, the wisdom and compassion of a county judge, the performance of the NYS probation department and a great many other things as well. ollie

A LETTER TO ALL 535 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

afo49guy — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:32:00 GMT

Dear all 535 voting members of congress....

It is now official: you are all incompetent folols. Below you will find proof.

The US Postal Service was established in 1775- you have had 234 years to get it right;it is broke.

Social Security was establsihed in 1935- you have had 74 years to get it right: it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938- you have had 71 years to get it right; it is broke.

The War on Poveryt started in 1964-you have had 45 years to get it right; One Trillion dollars of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to " the poor"; it hasn`t worked.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965- you`ve had 44 years to get it right; they`re broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970- you have had 39 years to get it right;it is broke.

Trillions of dollars in the massive political payoff called the TARP bill of 2009 shows no signs of working.

And finally to set a new record: "Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009! It took good, dependable cars -the best some people could afford- and replaced them with high priced cars -people who couldn`t afford to are now making new car payments- mostly Japanese models so a good percentage of the profits, from the sales, went out of the country. And lastly, the American taxpayers are now going to be saddled with paying yet 3 billion more dollars of our governments experiments to make our wallets even thinner.

So, with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves "services" you shove down our throats are failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system? 15 % of our economy? Are you crazy?

Truly the inmates are running the asylum! Maybe we need to let others in on this brilliant record before 2010 and vote against the rascals who are screwing this country up so badly!

Note-a friend PJH sent this lette to me. ollie

NYS Assembly Bill will allow doctors to provide retainer MEDICAL CARE

afo49guy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:29:00 GMT

Doctor John Muney set up a flat fee, $ 79 a month medical practice formula for making health

care medical private practice formula for making health care AFFORDABLE and patient friendly. NEW YORK STATE REGULATORS saw it as a self - styled insurance and forced him to shut it down.

The bill would permit Dr. Muney to practice " retainer medical care " strip away insurance company costs and red tape and make everuday medicine more accessible and less hectic.

In WASHINGTON STATE a version of this legislation became law ,after passing overwhelmingly in the state house of Representatives that defines retainer practices like any service for which you would pay a monthly fee.

The Americam Medical Association has supported similar legislation.

http//assembly .state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A07484

This law sounds like a great idea and I would urge all NEW YORK STATE voters to contact their

NYS representative and state senator and ASK THEM TO PASS THIS LAW. ollie

STAND BY ME

afo49guy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:17:00 GMT

When the night has come

And the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we`ll see

No, I won`t be afraid, no I won`t be afraid

Just as long as you stand by me, stand by me.

Ben E. King had a big hit on his hands when he recorded the song STAND BY ME in 1961.

The ideas expressed is nothing new.

During the early part of the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman was deeply troubled by the failures of the Union forces and his superiors incompetence.He was extremely anxious. looked haggard, worked almost around the clock, rarely ate and presented a dsiheleved apperance.Sherman`s harsh but accurate assessment of the Union Army`s utter lack of leadership, lack of realistic planning and distressing lack of perparedness led the smug and complacent to accuse him of having a mental breakdown.A Cincinatti newspaper flatly labelled him " insane"!

It seems as though Sherman`s career had ended when he was assigned to the command of General Ulysses S. Grant.Instead, Sherman found a friend in Grant. Grant was organized, acted decisively, set realistic goals and knew how to win a battle.Instead of shunning or shaming Sherman. Grant encouraged him. They fought together and learned to respect and trust each other.

Later in the war, when Grant was viciously criticized for drunkenness, Sherman leapt to Grant`s defense.

" General Grant is a great general" he said." I know him well. He stood by me when I was crazy and I stood by him when he was drunk : And now sir, we stand by each other always!"

Grant and Sherman made a very effective team and for a long time, were the only Generals who were able to bring President Lincoln any victories.When enemies in the cabinet complained that Grant was a drunkard and demanded his removal, President Lincoln replied: " I cannot fire this man, he fights! Find out what brand of whiskey he drinks and send a barrel of it to all my generals !"

Okay, enough history. C`mon, lets face the music together!

If the sky that we look upon

Should tumble and fall

And the mountains should crumble into the sea

I won`t cry,I won`t cry, no I won`t shed a tear

Just as long as you stand by me

Whenever you`re in trouble

Won`t you stand by me

Oh now stand by me

Oh stand by me

Stand by me

Stand by me ollie

Quinine Sulfate and the FDA

afo49guy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:04:00 GMT

Several years ago I was given a prescription for Quinine Sulfate , 260 MG tablets for leg cramps. They helped then, but I noticed after a while I didn`t need them amymore. I decided to hang on to what talets I had left, just in case.

I`d more or less forgottten about them since they were stowed away and out of sight. Last week, when I spoke to cardiologist and mentioned leg cramps, He said take Quinine Sulfate-if you have any left.If not try drinking tonic water, also called quinine water. Been there,done that - could never drink enough of the stuff to get any benefit from it. I looked it up. Assuming 260MG is an effective dose, and a glass of tonic water contains, at most, 20 MG of quinine, hmm. 13 glasses of tonic water at 20MG per glass - it would take drinking 13 glasses of quinine water in one evening, to fend off leg cramps.

Yecchh, drinking 13 glasses of that stuff means i also ingest a ton of sugar and I would likely be waking every 15 minutes to go to you know where.

Well, it would be nicer to just ask for and get a new prescription for quinine sulfate tablets, but

the FDA has withdrawn it approval for prescribing Quinine for leg cramps. So no doctor in the USA can prescibe it for patients who suffer from leg cramps.I`m sure the FDA had it`s reasons, so I did a little investigating. Seems there were a few people who had conditions that should have told their physicians not to prescribe quinine for them -well, they died. And there were a few people who got into trouble because they thought if taking one tablet before bedtime is good, taking a dozen of them must be much better.Some of those folks got into trouble.

So the FDA decided to ban quinine sulfate for ALL patients that get leg cramps. Now don`t get me wrong, I`m glad we do have an FDA but like all insitutions set up by mortal human beings, at times they make mistakes, and this ruling is one of their mistakes.

Well, I`m not sure where all this leaves me once my small supply of quinine tablets runs out.I checked with a number of pharmacies and none of them is aware of an effective alternate to quinine. There is a herbal concoction that contains only a small trace of quinine, no more than in tonic water. It is expensive and I was told a pharmacy can only sell 21 tabs to a person per month. Even assuming the darned things worked, I guess it forces a person to pick and choose which of the remaining 9 or 10 nights per month they want to put up with leg cramps. Gee, thanks, FDA!

It`s always interesting to talk with pharmacists. I also learned that lack of oxygen to muscles is one of the causes of leg cramps. Hmm, I sometimes suffer from times when my oxygen level drops down to levels where it becomes a problem. At night, it has been established that my oxygen levels drop to a point where they call me to wake up. This condition is called sleep apnea. I use an oxygen concentrator at night. Since i rarely sleep more than 4 or 5 hours per night, maybe I need to get on the concentrator earlier in the evening.

Well, if I`m home, I can handle that, I guess.It does mean being tethered to the O2 concentrator by a plastic line that ends up going into my nostrils

On the other hand taking one quinine sulfate tablet before bed means I don`t have to be restricted to home or be tehtered to the O2 concentrator until I actually lie down to sleep.

I guess I can learn to fake the symptoms of malaria so I can get quinine tablets.Or purchase 50 gallon barrels of quinine water and attempt to distill the quinine in it into a more concentrated substance. Or maybe I can move to Canada, where I could obtain it legally by just requesting a prescription from my physician.

Sigh, you know I ain`t gonna do any of that. Instead I`ll do what generations of Ollies before me have done in situtations like this, which is bite down on the purest, softest lead bullet they can get their hands on and grin and bear those nasty ole leg cramps. Aargh!

TIPS FOR CAMPERS

afo49guy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:26:00 GMT

Last week there was a thread discussing Camping. This is something I just came across in today`s newspaper.

CAMPERS SHOULD TAKE PRECAUTIONS AGAINST BEARS.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ( the DEC) wants to remind campers to take care to prevent unwanted encounters with black Bears.

Basically, their advice ammounts to: IF YOU LOVE THE BEARS, DON`T FEED THEM.

Once bears learn they can obtain an easy meal by raiding bird feeder, garbage cans, dumpster, tents, vehicles etc their behavior changes and they may become bold, agressive and assertive in their search for food. Encounters of this nature may lead to tragic consequences for both bear and human. A FED BEAR IS A DEAD BEAR. The NYS DEC will try to relocate a bear that has become a problem, but such bears often return to their original location or repeat the same behavior in a new location.In such cases the DEC often has to kill the bear.

Specific recommendations can be obtained at www.dec.ny.gov./animals/7225.html

More information about bears is available at http/www.dec.ny.gov.animals/6060.html

In addition to packing "bug dope", matches, etc a little info on how to store food to keep it and more importantly, yourselves safe from bears probably wouldn`t hurt either. ollie

Pain Scale Pt 2

afo49guy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:12:00 GMT

Note: I broke this into 2 parts because i`ve lost my posts twice before and I`d rather have part of it appear than lose nearly the whole thing.

Revised Pain Scale for this particular Adult Male.

1) like experiencing wrath of grapes, hops, barleycorn, sugarcane, etc.

2) like experiencing a kick in the shins.

3) like gettin a sunburn on nose, ears, arms, chest, back, legs, back of legs.

4) like getting slightly burned while lighting up the barbeque.

5) like having to ask wife" Honey, WHERE did all the over the counter pain relievers go?

6) like a SINGLE kick in testicles

7) like MULTIPLE kicks in testicles AND ribs.

8) like you find yourrself reluctantly coming to the conclusion that perhaps you should swallow your pride and GO TO THE EMRGENCY ROOM!

9) like getting shot!

10) like part of your brain tells you" GOD is angry with me and giving me a foretaste of my afterlife unless I reform "!

I realize this chart won`t work for children, and #s 6 &7 don`t happen to ladies And I slso know not all men would assign the same descriptions to the numbers either. This is just a starting point for further discussions if you are interested.

ollie

Pain Scales Pt 1

afo49guy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:56:00 GMT

I`m sure most of us have been exposed to those little charts, or PAIN SCALES that have numerical values from I through 10 and have the little smiley>>>>frowney faces accompanying the numbers.I`m somewaht less than impressed by them since they seem to be so imprecise and subjective.

I think a far better system would be a device that would allow health care providers to feel exactly what you feel, in the exact location you feel it and at the exact intensity you feel it.However, whenever I mention the idea, people tell me it would be impractical, too expensive, unneccessarily cruel and would be likely to drive people out of the medical profession. I suppose they are right , but still ........

A far less costly and less radical approach would be to simply revise and improve the current system.I`d like to suggset something on the order of the scale I`ve constructed for myself.Unfortunately I can`t draw, so you`ll have to settle for my attempts to paint a verbal picture.Using your imagination will help in supplying an image for you. end part 1

I like turtles

afo49guy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:29:00 GMT

I `ve like turtles ever since i was a kid.At that time petshops sold tiny turtles and little plastic turtle tanks.

I used to think turtles were just so amusing the way they would tuck their heads and limbs into their shell when they felt threatened. And it was fun to see one lift its head up to accept a bit of lettuce from me.

Some people, who thought they were being really cool would paint their turtle`s shells with enamel.But I soon found out that painting their shells was harmful to them and might even cause their deaths. But some people seemed to care a lot more about having a "cool looking turtle" than about the turtles well being.In those days we were far too unsophisticated to call it abuse, but nevertheless knew it was just a wrong thing to do.

Although I thought I did my very best to provide my turtles with a safe, clean, pleasant environment they never seemed to live very long anyway. One day, I found a much larger tutle in my back yard.I was thrilled. He must have been close to a foot in length and I thought this is a formidable turtle indeed. I brought him indoors, but it soon became apparent he didn`t want to be there.My dad agreed to tke me to park where I released the turtle into a pond.He isappeared in moments, so perhaps the pond was more to his liking, I sure hope so.

But that experience cured me of ever wanting to "own" a turtle again. I reluctantly came to the conclusion that to deprive such a creature of its natural environment was wrong In ways I could not have articulated then.While I still retained my fondness for turtles, I decided to never buy one or 'own" one again.

Sometime in the early `70`s i came across an article by Edward Hoagland. It was TITLED THE COURAGE OF TURTLES. I was intrigued by the title.Despite having always liked turtles, I never thought of them as being particularly courageous. If you mentioned courage and animal kingdom, the LION would be the first to come to my mind.Well. Mr. Hoagland`s article changed some of my thinking, not only about turtles, but about people.To be fair to Mr Hoagland, it`s been a very long time since i read his article and would probably give you a very garbled version of it if i made the attempt.

Not all that long ago, I watched one of those nature specials on PBS. I watched fascinated as they showed a shark attacking a very big ,old, battle scarred ocean going turtle.The turtle was both wise and courageous. Every time the shark approached it, the turtle would bite or attenpt to bite the shark in its gills, the sharks most vulnerable point. After watching a duel that must have lasted at least five minutes, the shark gave up and swam away , no doubt in search of an easier meal.

That tough old warrior, the turtle knew if it fled, the shark would have it in an instant.Instead it decided to slug it out with a fearsome enemy and triumphed. Watching that footage left me with a far deeper appreciation of the meaning of courage. ollie

Patience is a Vulture

afo49guy — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:34:00 GMT

Today I did something that I both looked forward to and was hestitant to do. I went to a sporting event at my club.It`s something we do every year on Saturday , after Memorial Day Weekend as close to May 30th as possible. Why May 30th? The original Memorial Day was established in 1867 to honor the Civil War dead.It was changed in 1971. I preferred the May 30 date, but what an you do?

The event is called a Border Skirmish. A bunch of eccentric old guys - the youngest is 46- get together and some dress in full Civil WAR uniforms and accoutrements, others wear at least a kepi or a louch hat and butternut shirt. We shoot, either orignal or reproductions of the caplock, muzzle loading muskets used in the Civil War. Teams are formed and we shoot various targets a Gong, Ballons filled with water partly filled plasic milk jugs, etc. Keep in mind we are using things which were designed and in a few cases made during the 1850`s and 1860`s.They lack any modern amenities and are are notoriously quirky. To make the conditons closer to waht soldiers in the civil had to face, paper cartridges are made up, with slightly varying ammounts of powder black powder , different style minie balls-conicocylindric bullets, actually, different lubricants to replicate the varying characteristics of the ammuniton 19th century manufacturers provided. Each of the factors mention will signifigantly affect the performance of the rifled muskets.After every 10 rounds, ammunition of a different make is provided just to keep everyone on their toes. All this is just a longbuildup to saying it can be far more challenging tahn it sounds.

I hesitate to go to this years skirmish for two reasons 1) due to various health reasons I just dind`t feel up to something that requires tthat ammount of concentration 2) I`v just accquired a tremor in my right arm. My GP oerdered nerve conduction tests, and a referral to a neurolgist. I`m not going to know anything until late june and perhaps not even then.

My buddies knew i hadn`t been to several of the monthly meetings because of heart problems, but were unaware of the tremor. I wasn`t sure i wanted to meet them with the arm trembling- seems to be getting worse -without at least being able to tell anyone waht it was. I guess I was a little afraid of how they might react to seeing the tremor. I know that this was being unfair to them , but on the otherhand didn`t want to accquire a new nickname either.

The morning was as usual my least favorite weather cold, raining, breezy conditions that amke me very uncomfortable to say the least. Since we are down to just once car now, at least for the time being, and my wife had places to go and people to see, she dropped me off at the club and would return to pick me up when I called from my cell phone.

As it turned out, they were gald to see me, disappointed when I told them I wasn`t going to shoot. but they cheered up a bit when i promised to harass them as much as I was able to. I had a dammned good time, kidding, even making myself marginally useful by scoring targets. When they had trouble hitting the target I would spot where the bullet hit the berm " she`s throwing a mite to the left and a foot low, "etc.This helped them correct their aim.

Before we got to the club , I bought 2 dozen donuts which were- these guys never met a donut they didn`t like .By the time events wound up, I was knocked out even though I had done absolutely nothing demanding.

What was nice is that although they must ahve seen the trembling, nobody commented on it or treated me any differently then they always do. I owe them a debt of gratitude for that.

Well, if you`ve gotten this far, youre probably thinking waht does any of this have to do with the title.?

When my wife picked me to bring me home she asked what did they say about the ttrembling. I replied, nothing. Then I said that I couldn`t wait until the end of June, when I might get an answer. Based on research I`ve done, I have a suspicion of waht it may be but would like an ANSWER! She probably said" Patience is a virtue" but waht I heard was patience is a VULTURE. Vulture, I instantly liked that although I knew it was slightly wrong. Saying Impatience is a vulture that`s gnawing away at my innards is more accurate, but I think I `m gonna stick with PATIENCE IS A VULTURE. ollie

Do you ever suffer from Febrile Ursinitis?

afo49guy — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:11:00 GMT

This is something I came across several years ago by an anonymous author.

Febrile ursinitis comes from the Latin words for fever - febre and bear - ursa and Inflamed -itis. In English it would read feverish bear inflamation but sounds better if you say Inflamed Bear Fever.

Symptoms included but are not limited to:

1) A desire to drop out of the human race and dwell in a cave.

2) A desire to hibernate until next spring accompanied by a paradoxical inability to sleep more than an hour or two at a time.

3) Every bone, joint ,muscle and nerve seems to loudly and insitently protesting grievances, either real or imagined.

4) A craving for honey, prefarably over buttered toast.

5) A tendancy to communicate in monosyllabic snarls, grunts or gestures.

6)A total lack of interest in activities requiring planning, strategy, forethought, insight, preparation. patience, empathy, forbearance, and cooperation with other living creatures.

7) Nearly irresistable urge to rearrange the face of anyone foolish enough to intrude on your consciousness.

8) Inability to communicate complex thoughts verbally.

9) Need to look at something which identifies you to other human beings.

10) Disinterest in thinking complex thoughts.

11) Numerous disturbing, annoying, not satisfactorially explained pains and problems with sitting, standing,lifting, reaching, carrying and even lying down.

12) A realization I have much in common with our 1984 Buick. We are boyh big, old, heavy, battle scarred, dented, rusty, stiff jointed, unsightly, slow moving, clumsu, fuel inefficient, with many parts that no longer woek as intended to, much repaired, but never really fixed and weak hearted. We are both wheezy, hard to start in the morning, produce unintended creaks, groans and bad smells, prone to overheat, do not function well in cold weather, stubborn, cantakerous, and in need of constant coaxing in ordeer to do anything.

13) Got a revelation that i have become irrelevant, and invisible, regarded as unable to contribute anything of value anymore.

14) Being much more comfortable being alone than in the company of other human beings.

15) Your signifigant other no longer bothers with " honey do lists". Instead they leave bribes of honey on toast in an effort to lure you out from wherever you have found a sanctuary.