today i learned that it's a bad idea to try to kill yourself by swallowing a nail. it is excruciatingly painful and annoying, and it doesn't always result in death. but it looks really cool on xray.
i also learned that certain fast-food joints and certain hospitals have one thing in common - good business sense. actually, they share more than that; both have surly employees and bad food, but i digress. it'd be interesting to find out how much money burger king and mcdonald's make from having playgrounds. it must be a lot of mcdollars.
as for hospitals, southdale hospital generates billions (i hear it's around $10 bill) in extra revenue every quarter just by providing an ems lounge and good food for emt's. other hospitals are catching on, though. it'll be interesting to see how far this competition will go.
what's also interesting is how incredibly lenient minneapolis/st paul are towards alcoholics/homeless. i had a discussion on this topic today with a paramedic that waxed philosophical. in his words (actually not really verbatim, i'm paraphrasing) "some people subscribe to the belief that there is some good in everybody. i don't." which is funny, because to be any sort of health care professional, shouldn't you be rather humanistic in your beliefs? i asked him this, and he didn't really have a good answer other than "it's a job". kinda sad, although i do believe he enjoys his job, to some extent. as for me, i don't believe that there is "good" in everybody, i have a problem with the qualification "good". i do, however, think everybody possesses characteristics that are desirable in certain situations, and i think you can learn something from everybody. to give an extreme example, a murderer would be regarded by most people as "bad", but s/he may be resourceful or creative. everybody has some desirable qualities.
however, getting back to health care, if a person doesn't even want to help themselves, there is no point in trying to help them. this is where our health care system frustrates me. we spend much of our already limited resources on people that have no will to live or just take advantage of the city's services. it's really frustrating to pick up a person, send them (on a $900 ambulance ride) to the ER (at least another $2000) or detox, where they get food, a place to stay, and clothing; only to see them passed out on the streets the next day or on their way to the hospital again.
i also learned that certain fast-food joints and certain hospitals have one thing in common - good business sense. actually, they share more than that; both have surly employees and bad food, but i digress. it'd be interesting to find out how much money burger king and mcdonald's make from having playgrounds. it must be a lot of mcdollars.
as for hospitals, southdale hospital generates billions (i hear it's around $10 bill) in extra revenue every quarter just by providing an ems lounge and good food for emt's. other hospitals are catching on, though. it'll be interesting to see how far this competition will go.
what's also interesting is how incredibly lenient minneapolis/st paul are towards alcoholics/homeless. i had a discussion on this topic today with a paramedic that waxed philosophical. in his words (actually not really verbatim, i'm paraphrasing) "some people subscribe to the belief that there is some good in everybody. i don't." which is funny, because to be any sort of health care professional, shouldn't you be rather humanistic in your beliefs? i asked him this, and he didn't really have a good answer other than "it's a job". kinda sad, although i do believe he enjoys his job, to some extent. as for me, i don't believe that there is "good" in everybody, i have a problem with the qualification "good". i do, however, think everybody possesses characteristics that are desirable in certain situations, and i think you can learn something from everybody. to give an extreme example, a murderer would be regarded by most people as "bad", but s/he may be resourceful or creative. everybody has some desirable qualities.
however, getting back to health care, if a person doesn't even want to help themselves, there is no point in trying to help them. this is where our health care system frustrates me. we spend much of our already limited resources on people that have no will to live or just take advantage of the city's services. it's really frustrating to pick up a person, send them (on a $900 ambulance ride) to the ER (at least another $2000) or detox, where they get food, a place to stay, and clothing; only to see them passed out on the streets the next day or on their way to the hospital again.
posted by wynee at 3:50 PM
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