Round Robin of Harm

Round Robin of Harm.

The first section of this particular blog is called an Introduction, the Second is called Round One:

This one as noted above is called Round Robin of Harm.

I was not surprised to read today that Israel has asked D.T. to intervene on their behalf. Here are a few of the things that I have heard and experienced. "Hillary Clinton gave away 500 million dollars of my money." I was non plussed considering the source I said "Really? I did not know you were worth 500 million dollars. He sputtered and said, "my tax dollars. She gave to the Palistinians" I could have said many things. Like yeah and what did D.T. pay in taxes didn't he owe a lot in taxes? I guess we may never know. Oh, wait I vaguely remember it was for humanitarian aid and she did not do it single handed. Maybe I am wrong about that. But a friend said to me "how about all the financial aid we have given to Israel?" Yeah, I thought since its inception, I am sure it is much more than 500 million. I decided he was so stupid I could not respond to that.

Or this gem "Hillary is going to take away our guns" this from the russian american dudes. Yikes.
I thought "yeah she will come up to you on the streets of Brooklyn or wherever you live and with her bare hands take those guns right out of your hands. My oh my what will you do then. Sit down on the corner and cry? I continued with my computer billing.

Then there was the porno graffiti  of Hillary that my co-worker saw and when she did, she told them point blank...that is not appropriate and you have to shred it immediately.

There was so much other verbal rubbish strewn about I felt like I was in a cesspool, a swamp, a rhetorical sphincter of  pseudo analytical thought that was meant for shot gun reactions. Fits and sharts they would be. Get your adult pampers for this crap. Except that it harms. These are thoughts like C Difficile Aureus the latest permutation on the disease state that is resistant to antibiotics to such a degree that CDC and others have issued guidelines and warnings to be notified.

On the way home tonight, up the stairs on the walkway to the other train and I heard a gang of people coming up behind very loud and did not know what the heck was going on. Right next to me a Muslim woman in garb. I did not notice her at all until then, maybe I sensed her fear. I instinctively grabbed her by the elbow and said let's go fast keep going move fast lets go straight. She had head phone on but heard and listened  and looked at me. I turned to see they were either drunk or something. I said to her they are goofing around but I suggest that when you hear that kind of stuff ...just keep going fast and away. You never know. Oh I was wearing the pin thing on my hat which means I will help out. Maybe she put herself next to me for safety.

May I have compassion on myself and take heed.

Evolution of Harm End of Round One

How do I put into words the most perverted rhetoric I heard in that facility? I really can't do it justice.
I heard grown men yodel about what a good leader Putin was. I heard those same men banter and defame Hillary. These were colleagues in health care. Not the ranting or raving of demented patients.
I overheard such crazy stuff as I tried to concentrate on my notes, my patients and the billing.
It was so off the charts that I could not wade into that morass of ugliness. The two young men I think were born here but their families are Russian. They were standing up for Putin when out of the blue one woman who was born in the Soviet Union started shouting them down. Then another. It was beyond belief in a way. Such  different factions in a small room and it was about our U. S.  elections which were coming up.Those born in the former Soviet Union were telling the boys who weren't that "you don't know what it was like. You don't know what you are talking about. Why don't you go there and live for a while and see." Oh it was bad.
Throughout this ugliness I  did not tell anyone who I would vote for. Even though I was asked. My reply was "that is my business. It is a private matter." That still did not keep me safe from the roiling turmoil of emotions that were just all over the place. Keep in mind this is a place of work. I am there part time but during the electioneering I had a more extended period there.
I wish I hadn't. It gave me a window into blue collar thought about this country. I have always been a blue collar worker. Those shouting matches cracked open the background of grievances that I had heard in other parts of this country. I knew we were in trouble.

This is the country I was born in and I have not other to go back to. Nor do I owe allegiance to another country. Or would I use my vote to bring into power someone who I think would fulfill my single pointed agenda for another country if it proved unhealthy for the whole of this land. I wish that ethos was at work for those whose primary agenda is to will power to a foreign land. Even if they never lived in those other lands, but think or were otherwise propagandized to believe that they need to please those around them by getting on a bandwagon either in religious or other sanctified ways to feel they belong to something powerful.

Donald T. knew this angle and worked it. He opened the gates so that some oaf at work who prays every morning and wears a yamulka can look at my crotch and shout "dirty rotten stinking Hillary"
over and over until I turn look him in the eyes and ask him if he has any daughters.




 

TO UNDERSTAND HARM: Introduction

I am here with you post election. It is the so called holidays, the end of the year thankfully. But no one knows what the new year brings except uncertainty. Harmful things have happened to me and others during the run up to the poisoned election. The runoff of that ill tasting emotional turmoil has continued to spawn more plots and twists than could have been imagined in some of our worst nightmares. Many try with varying degrees to unwind the ball of yarn, peel back the layers of onion,
look back and forward in attempts to make sense of the non-sensible. The things I know for sure are the things that happened to me in one work situation that lasted for one year and a few weeks before the election. And like others, I am unraveling what appears to be preposterous but has a resonating truth that I was not aware of even though I knew that something very odd was happening.

So here it goes. I worked in a nursing home in Queens which serves a lot of ethnic Bukharan Jews. There is a day care center for people from that community. I loved watching the dances, parties and enjoyed the good nature and old world friendships over backgammon. I often wondered about the wars and other experiences they had back home in the former Soviet Union. I did not work with them as they were bused in from their homes just for adult day care. On occasion one of them was a patient on my roster.  I found they were a somewhat closed community and I did not intrude. It was like an invisible line that would not be stepped over. In my research I found that the Jerusalem Post carries articles on the Bukharan community here in NYC.  It also has articles of fake news regarding Hillary Clinton and others. Which helps me to understand some of the hate filled rhetoric I heard in that facility.

The entire facility was kosher and they fed everyone including their employees which is a rarity these days. I felt a sense of being taken care of because of that. It is run by Ashkenazi Jews. This is important to know. Two separate Jewish groups who are sometimes at odds with each other were there. I didn't understand what really was going on. One ran the facility and the other rented a place for adult day care within the larger facility. It all seemed to work. I noticed the Bukharan group did not seem to be overly religious. I live in the lower east side of New York City and am used to religious Jews. So to see these two groups together was novel to me. I knew nothing but love. I don't know why I wrote that, but compassion is the default for myself and others.

 TID BITS in the Ever Changing Field of Health Care

Have you ever wondered when researching a prospective job opportunity at a  nursing home whether there were lawsuits against them? And have you noticed there was no information about that? Well, there wasn't. Because people who put relatives in nursing homes signed contracts that would bind them to mediation and arbitration rather than be able to sue in a court of law or even file a law suit.  Therefore, there would not be any public record. 

That will change on November 1st. I encourage you to read the article below which explains the importance of having the ability to do that. I do have to add here that there will probably not be nefarious lawsuits initiated. One reason is that it is expensive another is that any self respecting judge will not accept lawsuits that have no merit. For a number of years I worked as a para legal and saw how court cases are initiated and handled.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/business/dealbook/arbitration-nursing-homes-elder-abuse-harassment-claims.html

SUBTLE EASE

Cognitive Ease could be a subtle taste of Samadhi. A vision, a realization of the dharma of every day things which in themselves are miracles. This release into ease removes obstacles created by our belief in our own thought fallacies. We cling to our beliefs and won't allow ourselves the whole picture. This bias stifles creativity when our thought processes are poisoned by too much shotgun thinking and not enough reasonable thinking and vice versa. Out of balance there seems no middle way for us. No matter what, to some, they will not listen to reason if it does not align with their beliefs. Those beliefs exist as distractions because they are considered expedient. They are easy to remember, categorize, repeat and adhere to. These adhesions are scar tissue that impede movement to balance. There is no ease of thought, movement, creativity, consciousness. We are anchored perhaps mired in thought processes with closed doors, or partially opened ones that we slam shut in fear, maybe we are ignorant and walk right past the door not listening or seeing that little sliver of light. We strain our sensations with garbage and overload our thoughts to believe fallacies are true. We suffer and create more suffering. Emotions created by this poverty drain the cognitive bank account. There is no ease and we are exhausted, tired by the fight we have inherited from the karmic thought fallacies.  We have destroyed the knowing of ease in every day life by accepting and promoting the lazy orientation to all things for the subtle nature of every day being.

A POTPOURRI on THE TREATMENT FLOOR

If you read the last post I wrote on working in the the real world of health care, you may wonder why anyone would. For any answers to that, ask around. See what other clinician's say.

I love being an O.T. even though the world of Health Care is ah, unhealthy. I have a master's degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling and have done Health Care Chaplaincy at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC along with certificates and long term education, too numerous to go into now. That said, I am still going to keep learning and I know that every time I step onto a clinical floor, I will be prepared to be observed.

In our clinical practice we should be aware that someone may be watching what we do. That is good. There are rewards that seem to come out of no where. Last week, a patient beckoned me to come to her. She was not my patient. This is what she said.  "I just want to tell you that I saw you working with a patient and the way you did just made it work for her. That takes a certain type of person and I have to say no one else here has that ability." I thanked her. I made note later that it was a very generous gesture for her as a patient to let me know she observed and felt something good. This is important because I really believe that treatment we give others can have a healthy impact on  other patients in the room. They may be in pain and worried. It is important for us to not have a phony guise of being a therapist, but a genuine interest of who is in front of us. This has happened to me before and my mental note is to say thank you and to tell the patient that it is a very generous thing to give that kind of feedback when you have your own health  issues. I have to thank all my teachers who kept me focused on patient centered care.

I said potpourri and here is a tid bit to gnaw on.  It is a given that our oldest population is discriminated against. Many of you will be working in nursing homes. Remember that bias, conscious, unconscious, latent, overt and abuse and neglect exists. The admonition here is don't be part of it! Do not devalue another human because they are old, frail, in ill health and dying or too difficult. Because in our health system, indeed in our world culture at this time, youth is cherished. On the treatment floor, you will come face to face with your own mortality. The face of an old woman or man may scare you into behaving in odd ways that are shameful. I have seen it. Do not partake.

IN THE REAL WORLD OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS

IN THE REAL WORLD OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS

I will leave the first blog entry and return to that esoteric stream later. As a COTA

(certified occupational therapy assistant), I have logged countless clinical hours. Some 

therapists suggested we need a way to get information to others. They mentioned a

blog and I rolled my eyes Heavenward. Health care is in a fractured state, there is a lot 

of misinformation out there. Here goes.  All sincere and honest help is accepted in this 

endeavor. By the way, this applies to Physical Therapy Assistants too.

Fallacy #1. Don’t believe there are limitless jobs for you. Federal employment 

predictive statistics are usually five years behind actual facts.

#2. Not all people are suited to work in health care. It is a messy business with GASP! 

Sick people. This may seem obvious but not everyone can be a bus driver either. So if 

you go for just a gig, please stay home. Patients need care. Not robots.

#3. The salary is good. Partially true. But in the NYC area you will barely keep your 

head above water. Hourly wages have not increased in about 10 years.

Okay so you have graduated.  Congratulations. Did you pass your licensure? A wise 

word or two here. Don’t wait. Do it ASAP after graduation. I know it is tempting to 

start earning right away and those hungry out sourcing groups like fresh grads to 

exploit.

Did I say exploit? Yes. Be very careful who you work for. Do research. There are 

some unsavory and unscrupulous agencies and out sourcing groups. You should learn 

the difference between outsourcing and employment agencies and how they work 

either together or separately. Again research. More on that later.

In the field, the issue that comes up again and again is that newer grads are accepting 

extremely low wages. Did you really go to school and spend upwards of 50 grand to 

work for minimum wage? If you start out low don’t expect out sourcers to increase 

your wage. It goes in their pockets as middle men and women. If you start to work 

without licensure they will say they will increase your wages after you get it. Hmmm. 

Don’t bet on that. These issues are important for new immigrants who come here.They 

are also very vulnerable to exploitation which can know no bounds.

Do look for reliable agencies who have been doing this for a long time. Twenty years 

is a good number. Experienced placement professionals are extremely important. I 

have found that they follow employment laws, tax laws, and provide good humane 

services to therapists and facilities.

FAST AND SLOW STREAMS

                                           FAST AND SLOW STREAMS                              

Sometimes it is hard to know when to enter the stream. It is only after I am in it that I 

can say how, when, why and where I did. The decision could be fast or slow akin to

Daniel Kahneman’s research and wisdom on how we think or not which include two

systems which I choose to understand as two streams. Impetuous, labored or both. 

The Jewel Mirror of Samadhi is a very old text which has different translations and 

many streams. Yet it flows through centuries. It reminds us that a hairs breadth 

deviation and it is missed. What is missed? Life, the right choice?  Is this a sudden 

or gradual realization? Is it both? It is not merely physical. These are the costs in the 

emotional bank account that include a certain kind of cognitive ease and comfort we 

can exist in.