Public Health

Stolen computer, health care reform, football, losses and hope

November 11, 2008

A Thief in the Night—or Early Morning

Someone stole my wonderful Fujitsu Lifebook, the only computer that became one with me and an essential part of my life. Friday morning, I walked into my office and immediately noticed that my docking station and computer were gone. Usually, I take my computer home but knew I was going to be tied up Thursday night and so I left it. I realize I am not the first person whose computer has been stolen, but it is a really miserable experience. On top of everything else, it is really awful to have to spend funds on a replacement. My message receivers may find a lot of typos in the next week, because I have become unused to the immense keyboard on the ThinkPad (compared to Lifebook).

Health Care Reform

Now that we know who will be President, the public health community should mobilize with other groups to assure that finally, we develop a rational approach to health care in the U.S. Of course, this won’t work unless it is bipartisan. I just read a very astute report from the Center for American Progress and the Institute for Medicine as a Profession. The authors stated several goals for health care reform.

  • Safety: Avoiding injury and harm from care that is meant to aid patients.
  • Effectiveness: Assuring that “evidence-based” care is actually delivered by avoiding overuse of medically unproven care and underuse of medically sound care.
  • Patient-centeredness: Involving patients thoroughly in their care decision-making process, thereby respecting their culture, social circumstances, and needs.
  • Timeliness: Avoiding unwanted delays in treatment.
  • Efficiency: Seeking to reduce waste—low-value-added processes and products—in all its forms, including supplies, equipment, capital, and space.
  • Equity: Closing racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic gaps in care and outcomes.

It is an excellent report that covers issues related to informatics, quality of care, patient activation, population health, reimbursement and several other topics. The report makes a strong case for enabling electronic medical records. I was pleased to see the strong focus on patient activation and patient centeredness. I’d suggest reading it if you haven’t already. Our School should be prepared to help the reform process. We all have a stake in it!

Okun Symposium

Friday Nov. 7th, about 125 people gathered for a scientific symposium to celebrate the life of the late Professor Dan Okun by focusing on several issues related to water and its access around the world. I was able to stay for the first few talks. Once again, I was impressed by how prescient Dan was in thinking ahead to today’s water challenges and needs. I was moved by how many of the attendees had been touched by Dan as their mentor, teacher and colleague.

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Football

It was a packed stadium again for the Saturday football game, and lots of dignitaries were there, including Senator Burr, Governor Easley and Governor-Elect Perdue. But the real attention was down on the field where our team beat Georgia Tech. Hey, we are getting pretty good!

Losses

Ron Davis, MD died last week at age 52. Ron was a remarkable and courageous person who led the Office of Smoking and Health, under Surgeon General Koop and was President of the American Medical Association in 2007. He was a tireless advocate for anti-smoking causes. At the end of his life, after having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a death sentence, he showed his courage in another way—by writing honestly, personally and compellingly about his struggle with cancer. His death is a great loss. We also mourn the passing of Albert (Bert) Loro, PhD, who died about two weeks ago at age 59. Bert was known fondly to many here in Durham and Chapel Hill not just for starting the behavioral weight management program at Duke more than 20 years ago but also for his community service, love of life, commitment to the environment and much more. Both these men were known for going the extra mile for people, for their integrity, for being good listeners and good people. They’ll be missed. As a late 50-something, I’m noticing that these untimely losses seem to be coming more quickly.

Hope

Still, there is a lot to be hopeful about. As a person who grew up on “I think I can, I think I can” from The Little Engine that Could, I want to believe that irrespective of who we voted for, we can embrace the mantra, “Yes, we can,” and set about fixing what must be fixed in this country.

Happy Monday. Barbara


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The views expressed in this blog are Barbara Rimer’s alone and do not represent the views and policies of The University of North Carolina or the Gillings School.