In Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood in the late 1980s, infant mortality was a real crisis, stemming from an equally high rate of teen pregnancies. That's when Debra Wesley joined Mount Sinai Hospital to take charge of its family planning department. And that's when Mount Sinai Hospital started something that the Obama administration wants to make a model for other communities.
Wesley formed partnerships with community organizations focusing on sexual health education and lifestyle choices for middle-school girls.
That work, Wesley said, helped bring down the rates of teen pregnancy and infant mortality and formed the basis for a social services organization run by Sinai Health System that works to address social and economic factors affecting health outcomes.
A growing number of healthcare providers are trying similar strategies. But even as emerging payment models reward keeping people healthy, the initiatives are complicated by the dominant fee-for-service payment structure and a lack of direct financial support from Medicare, Medicaid and private payers.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it's creating the Accountable Health Communities Model, a new grant program that will award up to $157 million in funding to 44 "bridge organizations" to do what the Sinai Health System has been doing—screening patients for health-related social needs, and connecting them with appropriate social services. In this case, it will apply to Medicaid and Medicare patients. It's the first time the federal government will "focus specifically on social needs and learning how community partnerships among healthcare providers and nonmedical social support entities might improve overall healthcare delivery." Depending on its success, this demonstration project could expand Medicaid and Medicare to include great social support.
Innumerable studies have linked communities with high levels of poverty, homelessness, crime, hunger, and unemployment with high levels of chronic disease like asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicinesays in a report on this new program, if preventable hospitalizations of residents of low-income neighborhoods were reduced to the level of high-income areas, there would be 500,000 fewer hospitalizations in the country, annually. That would mean a lot of money saved—less charity care, less Medicaid and Medicare spending, less medical debt for individuals. It could also mean healthier people, in itself a laudable goal.
when people keep saying you are talking in a rude tone of voice and you don’t know what they think is rude about your voice and you keep trying to change your voice but they keep thinking you are talking in a rude tone of voice
… the vehicles have racked up a crash rate double that of those with human drivers. The glitch?
They obey the law all the time, as in, without exception. This may sound
like the right way to program a robot to drive a car, but good luck
trying to merge onto a chaotic, jam-packed highway with traffic flying
along well above the speed limit. It tends not to work out well. As the
accidents have piled up – all minor scrape-ups for now – the arguments
among programmers at places like Google Inc. and Carnegie Mellon
University are heating up: Should they teach the cars how to commit
infractions from time to time to stay out of trouble?
Oh my god the robots are too polite to navigate living in human society.
Flood the roads with predictable robot drivers such that WE figure out how to navigate THEIR society.
This is honestly my favorite part about artificial intelligence. We have to teach our robot drivers to not be too nice now.
The Robot apocalypse will not come to pass by Robots seeing to overthrow humanity as a superior species. It will come from them being Assholes.
This is so hilariously predictable that I can’t believe no one saw it coming
I dig it. Also, all of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.
A droid carrying important information is jettisoned on a remote desert planet. A mechanically inclined loner with a mysterious past finds it, setting them off on an adventure that will see the destruction of a huge weapon and more. Yes, The Force Awakens mirrors the original Star Wars, and J.J. Abrams thinks it had to.
Because nothing says "We have nothing to hide," like "Cameras off. CAMERAS OFF!"
Republican Arizona State senator and former police officer John Kavanagh is introducing a bill in the state Senate that would result in fines or jail time for video recording police actions within 20 feet of them. According to Talking Points Memo:
Kavanagh said Senate Bill 1054 allows citizens to film at 21 feet, which he said is close enough because cameras have improved so much. [...]
Under Kavanagh's bill, a first offense would result in a $300 fine while further violations could send offenders to jail for up to six months, according to the Times.
Kavanagh, who is a retired cop and teaches criminal justice courses at a community college, said it was a "distraction" to have someone filming too close to police.
“Having one or more persons suddenly walking up behind and around them with cameras is a distraction,” Kavanagh said. “The officer doesn’t know if this is somebody who’s a friend of the individual he’s doing law enforcement action against or what."
First of all, Kavanagh’s assertion that video taken beyond 20 feet is as adequate as closer video is ridiculous. We know that video quality can differ dramatically, and several cases have hinged on small details at the absolute edge of even enhanced resolution. The other major issue is audio. Most cameras have terrible audio even within 20 feet. A distance beyond that is likely impossible to pick up all of the important details.
As new initiatives like the Mobile Justice app hinge on recording police and as people exercising their First Amendment rights to record police have entirely changed police accountability, this probably isn’t just an innocuous attempt to improve police interactions.
Last night, Amandla Stenberg came out as bisexual in a powerful message via the Teen Vogue Snapchat:
“I wanna thank Teen Vogue for giving me this opportunity, I cannot stress enough how important representation is, so the concept that I can provide for other black girls is mind-blowing. It’s a really really hard thing to be silenced, and it’s deeply bruising to fight against your identity and just mold yourself into shapes that you just shouldn’t be in. As someone who identifies as a black bisexual woman, I’ve been through it, and it hurts and it’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable. But then I realized: because of Solange and Ava Duvernay and Willow and all the black girls watching this right now, there’s absolutely nothing but change. We cannot be suppressed. We are meant to express our joy and our love and our tears, to be big and bold and definitely not easy to swallow. I definitely believe in the concept of rebellion through selfhood, and rebellion through embracing your true identity, no matter what you’re being told. Here I am, being myself; and it’s hard and vulnerable, and it’s definitely a process, but I’m learning and growing. Thank you for supporting me and doing this, and thank you to Teen Vogue. This is just the beginning, though; we have a lot of work to do for all women of color. We need more representation in film and television. We need our voices to be louder in the media. And not just women of color — bisexual women, gay women, transgender women, mentally ill women. I’m sick of all the misogyny and homophobia and transphobia that I see around me, and I know you are too. Thank you for listening and goodnight.”
Of course, there's always the problem of when I cross something off that I then have to do something about later in the same list-cycle, so I have to write it in the list again.
being a female means needing to see 10 different doctors to get a proper diagnosis because they always think you’re exaggerating and/or lying
define proper diagnosis. I mean, does that just mean the diagnosis you want?
no :) it means going to 10 different doctors who disbelieved your symptoms until the 11th found cysts on your ovaries :) which may mean infertility :) sit on a cactus :)
I call bullshit
Of course you do. Like the first 10 doctors. 😒
I call bullshit on the story. If you think you have an issue you should see a specialist not just your PCP.
Like the 4 “specialists” I saw for the crippling numbness in my face and legs I had for over a year while they told me it was “stress”? When it was finally found that I had scars on my brain and spine? Those “specialists” we’re male neurologist who wouldn’t give me an MRI because “women stress too much”. Go fuck yourself.
MY SPINE WAS BROKEN FOR 2 YEARS BECAUSE MY DOCTORS TOLD ME I JUST HAD BAD CRAMPS AND REFUSED TO TAKE XRAYS. FUCK YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. WHEN WILL BOYS REALIZE THEIR EXPERIENCES ARENT STANDARD???? I ALSO LOVE THIS IDEA THAT YOU CAN JUST GO TO A SPECIALIST WHENEVER YOU WANT LOL IF OUR PCP DOESNT BELIEVE US WHEN WE TELL THEM OUR SYMPTOMS THEY ARENT GONNA REFER US TO A SPECIALIST YOU FUCKING MOLDY WALNUT
My parents began noticing something large in my throat, saw a specialist….Guess what? Told me to lose some weight..even though I wasn’t overweight. I would have my period for weeks at a time. Was told that it was teenage hormones and stress.
Two fucking years later I attempted suicide they ran a battery of tests as required and bam! They find out that I have untreated Hashimoto’s. The “thing” was a goiter. Possible symptoms of an untreated thyroid disease is the goiter, unexplained weight gain, and depression. All they had to do was test my blood, but they said young people don’t have thyroid problems. 😒
-Allie
Ten years ago, my mother—who is a pretty tough cookie—started feeling both ridiculously wired, anxious, and incredibly emotional. Every doctor she saw told her she was going through early menopause, even though she was still menstruating. Her health declined to point where she was barely sleeping, losing weight, and crying constantly, which was a huge red flag because my mother never cries. Finally, she went to see another doctor 2.5 hours away who referred her to an endocrinologist. And what did the endocrinologist say? He diagnosed her with one of the most advanced cases of Grave’s Disease he had even seen, and said if she had gone just a few more months without being treated, she could have FUCKING DIED.
Also, it turned out that her thyroid levels had been moving out of the normal range in a progressive pattern for years, but nobody bothered to look at her past test results until after the diagnosis. They would just do a test, see that it was “in the normal range” and leave it at that. She could have caught it before she even had symptoms, instead of basically being accused of having hysteria.
i had a brain aneurysm/hemorrhage ten years ago, doctors still tell me im faking my disability BECAUSE YOU CAN TOTALLY FAKE LIMITED MOVEMENT OF THE LEFT SIDE
My sister had intercranial hypertension which was causing headaches, dizzy spells and loss of vision, and you know what the hospital told her? She was being a hysterical girl and making it up. A few weeks later she spent roughly a month in hospital and had several lumbar punctures to relieve her RECORD HIGH spinal pressure that was causing so much strain on her brain and optic nerves she was being sent blind.
Everytime I see this post (and it’s been a good 5/6 times), it has different stories and experiences of women who have been horribly mistreated by doctors and it just blows my mind that this is so big. It’s absolutely disgusting how terribly women are treated in the medical world and something needs to be done about that.
my friend lea had back pain, then pain in her legs and feet, and then numbness. despite seeing 7 different doctors over 2 years, by the time they found the cancer it was inoperable. chemo and radiation didn’t work. the cancer spread. she died and left behind a 5 year old daughter.
A few years ago I would go through spells where I literally could not stand on my own and I couldn’t get out of bed. I would be freezing and too weak to eat. I would keep having heart palpitations as well. I got up the money to go to a clinic and they told me it was just stress and to basically just work on chilling out. I saved up money for a few weeks to do this and I pretty much get a “chill out” from them.
As time went on it got worse, most noticeably the heart palpitations were happening almost constantly. I went again to a different clinic and was told it was normal and that it was probably stress. They did no tests, and they told me it would “just go away”.
Two weeks later I ended up collapsing going down some stairs, and at the hospital it was discovered that I had such severe anemia that my heart could barely keep up with trying to get enough oxygen to my body. I had developed left ventricular hypertrophy (my heart muscle is too big) and because of them ignoring me and dismissing me I’m at a much higher risk of heart attacks and stroke now.
I went to the doctor with severe intermittent pain in my upper right stomach area that was so bad I had to miss school. Despite the fact that my period has been on a regular 3 month cycle for years, and I still had two months left until my period, my doctor told me it was period related cramps and or indigestion. 2 months later I’m in the hospital getting my gallbladder removed. It was so obstructed that there was gangrene developing my my system.
So…everyone who’s given me shit for that one post (about medicine and equal treatment and shit) can just read this because I’m sick of defending my case.
