Robert Paterson's Weblog

How to handle the "News" of the Swine Flu

Most of the headlines about the flu make people even more helpless and fearful.

Here is how KETC in St Louis is handling it with one of their key partners - the Red Cross

Good advice where ever you live.

It's all about helping people help themselves rather than just panicking them about things they have no control over.

It is about offering context so that they can look at the risks themselves.

It would be great if CBC PEI and the Guardian would get together and help mobilize the broadly based resources on PEI and offer the same kind of help to all of us here.

A Great Divide - Are we living in an evolutionary event for humans? Part 1

I have been wondering what is the difference between people who get the deep meaning of social media and those who don't. I am now wondering as I see the profound failure of all of us to fix our great underlying systemic problems whether, the failure for many to "get" social media is in fact a sign of a wider problem of "World View"?

I wonder also if there is an evolutionary shift underway? A shift between a "Kinetic" world view and an "Energetic" world view? Is the divide merely a cultural one or might there be a physiological difference?

Are there in reality, two species of humans now walking the Earth? Is there a Homo Noeticus?

There is at least no doubt that we are having problems solving massive problems right now. What makes the problems worse are that the very assumptions used in creating the problems are being offered without question as the solutions. At some point, we will all see that we are stuck.

Our world is controlled by the Kinetic POV. Over the last 50 years, a mass of evidence has been gathered to show the Energetic underpinnings of all these systems. But a Kinetic Person cannot "see" the alternative. It cannot exist for their reality. They cannot be argued. So we remain stuck - for now!

I say for now because I see hope in an ever larger pool of people who naturally "see" their world using a larger overlay of perspective that is Energetic and Social. They cross all racial and class barriers. They are often separated from their own family and even spouses as their connection to the wider perspective of energy expands. They know each other the moment they make contact - even online. They cling to each other for support and protection for they know that they are the "Other" that the Kinetics fear the most.

If the Kinetic world cannot fix our problems. Problems that extend into our impact upon the planet itself. Problems that carry our doom as a species with them - energy, food, global extinctions and climate change - then maybe our only chance for a descent versus a collapse will be that there enough people with an energetic world view to lend a hand.

So what makes a person more Energetic - able to see the connections and to feel and project energy? What is it that offers this gift?

I am starting to think that the answer is more than merely cultural - something that can be learned. I am beginning to think that the answer may be physiological and so may then be an evolutionary response.

Jill Bolte Taylor suffered a stroke and discovered a new reality when her "Kinetic" brain was lost to her and she could only access her "Energetic Brain".

With access only to her right brain- she found that she inhabited ONLY an energetic world - where she was dissolved into the universe.

When she recovered access to her Kinetic brain, she found that she could now move between one and the other.

I think the answer is that those who are more energetic have a wider pathway between the two hemispheres of the brain and can travel back and forth as Jill Bolte Taylor can now.

How does this pathway open up and why was it closed.

Julian Jaynes in his masterpiece, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, made the case that prior to "civilization" and very importantly, the common use of the written word, that humans had full access to both hemispheres of the brain. Hence we could hear the voice of the Gods - our connection to the larger group's and locale's energy. Writing and reading demand massive use of the left hemisphere. Over time, as literacy became the norm, we narrowed the pathway. In the 20th century, it must have all but have been closed off. 

We know that many critical aspects of our neural development depend on Use it or Lose it. Any 2 year old can learn any language with no effort. But an 8 year old will really struggle to learn a second - there is a window. This window idea extends to the physical. For instance, if you blindfold a cat for the first year of life, it will never see. The brain connections for sight have to be used during a critical time or they can never be made.

These gains or losses do not have to be experienced directly by the child. For instance any 3 year old will draw using the vanishing point as a perspective. But a 14th century master artist had such a problem with "seeing" the world this way that he had to have a tool to help him.  So, just as a border collie will have herding built in or a Labrador a fondness for water, we seem to be able to pass on some kinds of skills and behaviors.

Changes that affect a lot of people, can happen very quickly. In 1970, there were almost no fat people anywhere. Now there is an epidemic of  obesity. How can this be? Obviously it has some thing to do with our life style and food but what happens to us as people? We cannot have a genetic shift in such a short time. The genes must be there. But why some fat and some not? Why do obese people have obese kids? What can happen is that the on/off switches that control which genes express or not can be inherited. So the parents that have the fat gene expressed can pass this on. We pass on the dashboard.

What I am saying is that events can change our wiring. When the wiring is changed, we can pas on the new wiring to our kids. 

What I would like to do in my next post is to describe my own experience in "waking up. It was almost as traumatic as Jill Bolte Taylor's. Something happened to me. 

I would also like to hear what happened to you too. Have you always been awake? Can you recall an event or a series of events, or maybe something about your early life that created the conditions by which you too woke up?

Health Care - US/Canada? Call a Canadian

My friend Chris Corrigan has made a great offer - Call him if you want to  know more about what it is like to live in Canada with a state health system. I add myself to this list!

We all love to complain in Canada about our system - long waits for non urgent treatment etc. BUT I would like to talk a bit about my experience.

7 years ago Robin's Dad was dying. In his last weeks, Robin went off for what we thought was a routing mammogram. I remember vividly looking up from my breakfast as she went out the door. A routine visit.

We had a wonderful family doctor - Mireille Lecours - the nearest thing to a saint that I know. She got the report back just as Frank was dying. She waited a week and then called Robin in on a Thursday and gave her the bad news. On the Friday we met the surgeon. On Monday Robin had surgery and the full on treatment began.

I have two points to make.

The first is that Robin, as you can see was given an ideal set up. This is not some Soviet System. It remains a very human system - especially if you are really in trouble.

Secondly, all we had to worry about was whether Rob would make it. There was never a moment's worry about the cost.

Ours is not a perfect system. As a nation, we are going to have to address the rising costs. But as a nation we still pay a fraction of what the US does. As people, we do not face ruin as a consequence of being ill. We also have much better health outcomes.

How could keeping the system in America be good?

The Anti Healthcare folks - Funded the same way that the anti climate change folks

If there is a conspiracy - here it is. This is JOURNALISM

Health Care Reform - Be as Rich as Ed!

CNN refused to run this ad

Swine Flu - the Infection Curve - The Risk - What to do

Just a reminder of how an epidemic scales. Slow and easy at the start.  Then the Tipping Point. Then a massive non linear acceleration.

Here is another view of how this works.

Key nodes create centres that are linked. Remind you of anything? Of course the web which is built on the same model. The key is to cut the links or to prevent them from being made. Timing is everything. You have to get control before the Tipping Point. If you don't no one or nothing will stop it.

So finger crossed for us all.

Bit of a mystery as to why such a high death rate in Mexico - about 7% but so mild here so far.

The Spanish Flu was about 2.5%. Seasonal Flu about .01%. If the Mexican ratio stands this would change our world if it got a grip.

I think that the authorities are being smart to get ready. I was very impressed by New York's response today. They are ready.

No prizes for negligence. If we are safe this time, no prizes for thinking that we are OK. With 7 billion people, a highly connected world and an intensive food system, it is only a matter of when not if.

I am going to lay in about a month's worth of food - rice pasta etc. Part of coping is to stay away from people until it passes. Cut the links.

A factor behind the spread of the Spanish flu was the policy of concentration. Getting all the infected to travel across town to a central hospital. Mayor Bloomberg told people to stay at home.

The Mexican Flu - like the Spanish Flu seems to kill the young and the fit. The reason is that a particular type of flu sets of a massive overreaction of our immune system. We in effect kill ourselves. The young and the fit have the strongest immune systems - hence the risk with this type. This is called a Cytokyne Storm

No family Doctor - you are not alone - soon you will be the norm

Stats Canada have announced that 4.1 million Canadians do not have a family doctor.

Almost one-quarter of rural residents reported going to an emergency room, compared to eight per cent of urban residents.

The president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada says walk-in clinics, emergency departments and other alternatives are a good safety valve in the system for those unable to access medical care any other way.

But Dr. Ruth Wilson says they are not the best choice for patients who need long-term management of chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.

About 25% of rural Canadians - code for Islanders - don't have a doctor. Chronic diseases such as diabetes are endemic here.

On P.E.I., 10 per cent couldn't find a doctor, the highest percentage of any province.

Is it possible for PEI to attract and keep more doctors here? I don't think that this is realistic. Fewer choose family medicine. All have huuuuuge costs involved in their very long training. Let's face it folks - they are not coming.

So what to do?

Let's consider a phone triage interface staffed by nurses and some doctors. You are now only a phone call away fro having an experienced person help you though what is going on. It can be staffed centrally and even of Island. Islanders can know that they will get help in a few minutes.

If it is serious - then you go into the hospital. With your file!

Plus such a system can then connect you to social help. Much of the treatment and many of the issues for people extend beyond diagnosis and treatment plan. How do you give a 2 year old an injection? How can you lose 40 pounds. How do you cope with a colostomy? See what I mean? It is other people like you that can help you live with the disease not the medical profession.

Now we start to get at the core of the other related problem. Cost.

What really happens now is that you have your 3 minutes with the doc who prescribes a drug. She has no time to hear you nor to help you make the changes that will really make you well. So drugs and even surgery are the substitute. I go to see the knee man this Friday. I do have a problem but if I lost 30 pounds, I would be better! My doctor can't help me with the weight loss but you might!

So today we have the most expensive process possible. You have to leave work, home, your kids and drove to the doctor/hospital. There you meet the most expensive person in the system - the Doctor/Gatekeeper. Who substitutes time with you by giving you a drug or a procedure.

As the times get tougher - surely we have to start thinking about healthcare in a new way?

Chi Chi - A parable for how we die today

Once upon a time there was a shipwreck and 3 sailors made it to the shore of a desert Island.

As they crawled up the beach they were met by a band of natives. The natives seemed friendly but firm as they were taken back to the village.

There was a huge feast that was shared with the sailors - things looked good. But when the meal was over, they were brought before the chief who of course spoke English.

"You have a choice" he said to the first sailor - "Death or Chi Chi"

"Chi Chi" said the first sailor - He was tied to a stake and slowly skinned alive dying hours later in agony.

"You have a choice" the chief said to the second sailor - "Death or Chi Chi"

The second sailor was a shrewd man. This was obviously a trick question. He answered "Chi Chi"

He too was tied to the stake, skinned alive slowly and died hours later in agony.

The last sailor was horrified and knew that there was no trick. So when he was asked what he would choose shouted out "Death!"

"Good choice" said the chief. "But first Chi Chi."

Remind you of how things work in the medical world?

Dying at Home - PEI now allows palliative medication at home

On the left is Dr Mireille Lecours - the nearest to a saint that we have on PEI - she attended both my in laws in their last year and was Robin's GP during her Cancer treatment.

How we are born and how we die is surely a marker of who were are as a culture. We have made both birth and death a mechanical process where all the control has been given up to the profession of medicine. There are cracks in this regime with births and now we are seeing the same cracks appearing for death - at least on PEI.

There has been a change this week in policy that I think will make a huge difference in reclaiming being human on PEI. The government will now pay for palliative care drugs at home.

For my American readers in Canada the government will pay for your drugs only if you are in a hospital. This means that most people who are terminally ill or just dying of old age, end up being aggressively treated in hospital. For that is what they do in hospital, they try and make you better. Hospitals do not do palliative care, they do treatment. There is a world of difference between the two.

The result is that we spend more than the entire prior lifetime spend on the last year of life - effectively doubling the cost of healthcare - and we make dying a mechanical and inhuman matter. I will never forget two nurses arguing over a bit of gear in front of a family member in her last hours. It was as if she was not there or was a lump of meat.

The truth is that for many of us who will be terminally ill or who are simply dying of "old age" there is no cure. What there is, is the opportunity to die with our dignity. To be without pain. To be with our loved ones in a human setting. The best place of course is to be at home.

Until now this was not possible. Until this week, drugs would only be paid for on PEI if you were in hospital.

I think that this is a historic and welcome step - well done all who have ben involved!

The radiology scare on PEI - another perspective

Now we have our own scare and 5,700 images are in question and nearly 5,000 people are involved.

Point #1 - Volume - But as I heard the story last night, I got to wondering - there are 47,000 households on PEI.

10% of Islanders are involved? Doesn't this sound odd to you too? What is going on that so many of us "need" imaging?

Point #2 - Volume - A huge challenge for all rural societies is to have skilled technicians locate in the hinterland. Realistically will PEI ever get a lot of technical talent here? When I say technical talent I mean the ability to interpret complex situations such as interpret pictures and to do complicated but routine operations such as knees. To be any good you have to have talent and you have to have lots of volume.

Why not have a strategy to define a sector of treatment that has to be done in a large centre and send the images there and send the patient there if necessary?

It will never happen that a place like PEI can have a critcal mass of such talent here.