The staff of life: one man's dissent against his government

On 13 September 2009 (with little advance fanfare) it becomes mandatory to add folic acid to Australian wheat flour product at source, excepting organic flour.

An 110 year-old family run South Australian flour mill is firmly refusing to comply and on 28 August issued this letter to all its customers.

Which by an old 1960s yard stick means that civil war has broken out in Australia.

NSW public hospitals once more becoming thought of as a place you go to die?

When I was a nipper a hospital was considered a place you went to die.
By the time I became an adult hospitals had become places where you went to be treated and maybe if you were lucky, cured.
Now as I get even older and read the growing litany of medical errors, I begin to wonder if perceptions are swinging back again and we're once more becoming afraid of hospitals?
Take this old man left on a bedpan for so long in a public hospital that he had to have surgery for the ulcers this disgusting neglect created.
NSW Health Care Commission media releases over the last twelve months don't instill a lot of confidence either. Neither does the growing list of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists etc. who are either reprimanded, suspended or deregistered in this state.
If you want a real scare - just read this May 2009 Medical Journal of Australia article which looked at the chances of survival if a baby is born in a public hospital:
"After adjusting for the same maternal variables, serious adverse neonatal outcomes showed similar differences between the two hospital groups.
Term babies born in public hospitals were more likely to require high levels of resuscitation, to have an Apgar score < 7 at 5 minutes, and to require admission to a neonatal intensive care facility or special care nursery (Box 3).
Perinatal death was twice as likely for babies born in public hospitals.
Even using a composite for adverse perinatal outcome (patients with at least one adverse outcome), the unadjusted OR was 1.30 (95% CI, 1.28–1.33) for public hospital deliveries.
When the adverse perinatal outcomes were compared individually by method of birth, the differences between public and private hospital sectors persisted for all the adverse outcomes studied (data not shown).
For example, for spontaneous vaginal births, the rate of Apgar score < 7 at 5 minutes was 0.9% in the public group compared with 0.6% in the private group.
The differences for forceps deliveries (1.6% v 1.1%), ventouse deliveries (2.1% v 1.4%), and caesarean sections (1.3% v 0.5%) showed a similar pattern.
The rates of perinatal death were similarly lower in private hospitals for each method of birth: spontaneous vaginal birth (0.2% v 0.1%); forceps delivery (0.5% v 0.2%); ventouse delivery (0.2% v 0.1%); and caesarean section (0.3% v 0.1%)...
Conclusion: For women delivering a single baby at term in Australia, the prevalence of adverse perinatal outcomes is higher in public hospitals than in private hospitals."

So Prime Minister Rudd - when are you going to fix this appalling state of affairs?

The one liner doing the rounds in the Emerald City

Events in Macquarie Street - and elsewhere - last week
produced this gem:

"The NSW Government is like IKEA - one loose screw and the whole cabinet falls apart."

Thanks goes to The Fitz Files in The Sun Herald for that ripper!

A WTF moment for NSW Health

Last week if you were placed on hold by the Maclean District Hospital switchboard, along with the canned Musak you would have heard a voice tell you that this hospital had three rooms with en suite and Austar television available for in-patients with private health insurance.

Now Maclean District Hospital is a public hospital in the North Coast Area Health Service and it is sometimes stretched for beds, so it is not unknown for wards to be culled for people to send home so that new (and sometimes more urgent) cases can be admitted.

Which makes one wonder - if a well-off retiree whose insurance is paying out to the area health service and an old-age pensioner on Medicare were to be assessed in such a cull, which one would be sent home?

If you picked the retiree as the patient most likely to be sent home I suspect that you wouldn't get the cigar - human nature and hospital bottom lines just don't work that way.

These three beds are not a good look for NSW Health and definitely not a good look for a Rudd Government seeking to work cooperatively with the states towards a better public health care system.

Mungo doesn't mess about when it comes to L'l Johnnie Howard

This classic Mungo MacCallum phrasing turned up in Crikey last Monday:

"And speaking of past leaders ... John Howard bobbed back up in the bowl last week to give us a bit of advice on, of all things, human rights. Truly the man has no shame.

The Prime Minister whose government incarcerated innocent children behind razor wire until they literally went mad and abandoned its own citizens to illegal imprisonment and torture by a foreign power now warns us that judges and lawyers should not be allowed to tamper with decisions made by politicians elected by "ordinary" people. Any attempt to change our unsurpassable current arrangements would represent the final triumph of elitism and be an abrogation of the very idea of the sovereignty of the people."

Australian society: two faces of the young today

It has ever been thus, that members of the ruling generation think the generation following is less than they were when young.
The truth of the matter is that the best and worst aspects of any society are often mirrored in the behaviour of children.

Here are two examples in the local media on the same day.

The Daily Examiner, 31 August 2009 Click image to enlarge

Good work, lad

ON July 6, my mother aged over 70 years, was walking along Little High Street, Yamba. Her mobility is restricted, and while negotiating the uneven path she fell to the ground, her head striking a parked car on the way down.
She is alright, however was sore for a number of days and had to receive ongoing; treatment to her injured arm.
I grew up on the Lower Clarence, but have not lived there for over 20 years. I am penning this letter to show my family's appreciation of an unknown teenager who came to her aid.
According to my mother the boy was in about Year 9 (14 or 15 years of age). The boy physically lifted my mother from the ground, despite my mother telling him that he would not be able to lift her.
He escorted her to a nearby chemist, being the Yamba Pharmacy, where the staff treated her.
The boy stayed with her while she was treated, and would not leave until he knew that she was alright. For the days following, staff at Yamba Pharmacy treated my mother's wounds. We thank those staff members for the assistance and care they have shown for our mother.
That is not all. What has really impressed me and my family is the boy repeatedly apologised for not being quick enough to catch my mother as she was falling.
If the young boy happens to read this letter, we want you to know that we are very grateful for your help on that day.
Further, you and your family should be very proud of your actions. Thank you.
This comes at a time when the youth of today regularly bring themselves under notice in all communities, for the wrong reasons, but not this lad.
Well done, you have a bright future.

JOCK HENRY,
Mudgee.
[The Daily Examiner, letter to the editor,31 August 2009]

2009 Grafton Jacaranda Festival Queen Candidates

Click on poster to enlarge

The 75th Jacaranda Festival Matron of Honour and 2009 Queen Candidates

Top row: Matron of Honour Christine Hackett & Kim McClymont

Second row: Lorelela Abele & Abbey Browning

Third row: Samantha Dive & Keira Ellingwood

Fourth row: Mackenzie Harvison & Miranda Predo

Bottom row: Alison Smith & Amanda Finucane

The Jacaranda Festival runs from 30 October to 8 November 2009 at Grafton in the Clarence Valley NSW

Jacaranda Festival website