Branson Announces.......Dr. Ben Carson for President!

     I live a short paddle up the river from the "College of the Ozarks", locally known as C of O or Hard Work U.  Here in, Hollister, Mo., a sleepy Ozarks Mountains Hillbilly Town, which sucks up to our  "Country Glam" neighbor, Branson, Mo.  We are a, God Fearing, Right Wing, Ultra Conservative, Christian, Republicans, Pretty Much Happily Stalled in the 19th Century, kind of place.  Yes, we are 99%+ white,  we hate Washington, we are economically sustained by Federal Entitlements, we don't mind that 95% of our citizens live below the poverty line,  we are pissed that "creationism" isn't "officially" taught in our schools, we are rigidly managed by a "5% gentry class",  and we in most all ways we fit the profile of a "Sara Palin Town". 

     Since, literally the 19th Century, our pinnacle "higher education standard" has been our own homegrown C of O.  Hard Work U, is a modest institution, largely sustained by contributions from the most successful of the 5%.  They attract budding Next-Gen Elites from both Dixie and North Dixie.  The younger students are courteous and well mannered products of traditional Americana Values; the older students, somewhat less so. The kids get a cheap education, so long as they get up every morning and milk a cow or make a little jelly.  There parent benefactors get a shot at keeping their "family position" intact for one more generation...plus they often get to hang-out with an unending procession of high profile conservatives who trek to the Ozarks for biscuits and gravy and "mingling with the common folk" publicity.      Now most of these guest, Bush, Schwartzcoff, OReilly, play easily to the narrow range audience.  They are welcomed as a shining stars having risen from the 5%.........but this weeks guest, well that's another story!

     Yes, an early ground-swell endorsement for a Black M.D. Neurosurgeon/Politician from the Hood.  Who knows what this overtly positive reception means.  Perhaps O has been President so long that the Ozarks thinks only a black can be President, or maybe they are enamored by Carson's distance from the prevailing black politic, or who knows, maybe they've been so ObamaCare poisioned that they are just looking for a Policy Doctor to get Medicare out of the red, and into the.......

      I was encouraged to see this enthusiasm for a talented outsider, but knowing the Ozark Gentry, when they actually "VOTE", they usually choose somebody like Billy Long.

Branson's "Hillbilly Health" Hypocrites!

Aging Country Music Tourist's may still be Branson's "mainstay economic engine", but coming up fast is a new challenger......POOR PEOPLE PATIENTS!  While, every two years our heritage obsessed community rushes to vote for freedom and against big government, we live in a precarious local economy engaged in hunting government checks like our forefathers hunted rabbits.  Clearly our most prolific hunters are Health Care Professionals including Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Home Health Agencies, Assisted Living Facilities, Hospices, Doctors, Dentists, Pharmacists, Drug Manufacturers, Therapists, DME Vendors and an assortment of Mental Health and Social Service "Providers".  These upwardly mobil "top 25% citizens" set the consumption standard to which the other 75% only aspire or dream.  The engine that keeps this Health Care Juggernatt running is, of course,..... PATIENTS, and where do they all come from?  Well you don't have to be Google to know that an extreme disproportion of the  patients are coming from the bottom socio-economic half of our citizenry.  Those with huge stress, little education, and meager resource are continuingly being promoted to fulfill their almost obligatory "patient role".  They are tantalized with slick ads,  frightened by inflamatory news, endlessly refered from providers to provider, and inspired to revere disability....all so that Medicaid and Medicare will keep those EFT Bank Deposits coming.  So, anticipating that the Tri-Lakes Area is not likely to run out of poor people to manipulate, and expecting that the Liberals will keep funding "entitlment programs", Branson can still prosper, even with the Country Music Decline.  What the Hell, a Little Hypocracy Never Killed Anyone!

Branson's Liberty Bank Says..."We're Not At Liberty To Make Loans"

 To be reported!

Never Admit You Can't Pee!

     Many years ago I wrote about "Sepsis Infections in Community Hospitals".  Since 06' the performance has not gotten much better.  Anyone who might read this should beware that UTI's are "lay downs" for Seniors in Emergency Rooms.  They probably wont admit you, because, if they do, ObamaCare will penalize the Hospital for giving you a "go directly to the Nursing Home for free card" , but they will likely put you in an ER Holding Area for 47 hours, catherize you, give you $100 in antibiotics and send you home with a bill for $7000.  Two outcomes will then be at hand.  If you don't go "sepsic" and recover, you will probably have a coronary worrying about the outrageous non-medicare covered  hospital expense.  If you get a sloppy "catherizer" and do go sepsic.... well only your estate lawyer will have  to deal with.  Now that I claim Branson as home, perhaps someone can dig up the long ago promised Missouri "frequency reports"

Who's Managing Your Catheter? 
(December 2006)
Just a quick note about a fairly easy way to die. Reuters ran a story today about how poorly the U.S. acute hospitals do in minimizing "bloodstream infections" caused by sloppy catheter practices. Chances are, if your in Granbury and not a patient at Lake Granbury Medical Center LGMC you dont have a catheter in place and your chances of dying are about like everyones . However if you are a catheterized patient in an acute hospital, you may be one of the 80,000 patients a year who get a "blood stream infection" from poor catheter management; and get this, 35% of these people die. According to the report the nations hospital are spending 2.3 billion a year fighting these infections. The good news is that a hospital in Michigan that brought focus to this problem, reduced the infection rate from 17 per 10,000 to "0". I vote for Catheter training at LGMC and a community disclosure of there statistical infection experience.__
Update on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 09:59PM by Dead Generals
I will not offer myself as a volunteer for the recommended training. Perhaps we could entice the three new Docs pictured on the Highway #377 billboard; or at least two of em.
Update on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 08:58PM by Dead Generals
Following this piece I saw some coverage of an effort in Missouri to promote "in hospital" infection control by publicizing data: Here is the main message:
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has completed collection of select hospital-acquired infection data and will post it for each hospital on its Web site starting Thursday. The information's release is part of a broader national effort to promote consumerism in health care. Infection rate information is regarded as an indicator of how a hospital cares for its patients and the general cleanliness of a hospital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 2 million people each year contract infections in hospitals. These infections are responsible for 90,000 deaths and more than $4.5 billion in excess health care costs annually, according to the agency. Lisa McGiffert, senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, said recently that all cases of hospital-acquired infection are preventable and that hospitals are aware of their infection rates. But she said most hospitals have not made their data public voluntarily because they were afraid of being judged by the data. The Missouri Hospital Infection Control Act, which became effective in August 2004, requires Missouri hospitals to report data on hospital-acquired infections to the state. Missouri is one of 15 states that requires hospitals to report their infection rates.
If we wait for the people in Austin to solve our problems, some of us GB's are gonna be among the 90,000. Lets put some heat on the LGMC people
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 09:36PM by Dead Generals in Community Services 

"No Trespassing" in Taney County....literally!