What This Election Means

So now that all the political aftermath has seemed to maybe calm down a bit, let me take a minute to talk about my favorite part about the American Democracy.  Let me remind you I am not passionate about politics in any way. I voted, sure. It's the basic American right. What I felt most passionate about when I was following this election, was which candidate was going to take care of the country's healthcare system better? Thats basically what made my vote for me.

But thats not the point of this blog.


The day of voting, I went after a long day in class/work/orientation. I stood in line like many across the country did that day, and in front of me was an elderly gentleman. I noticed this man was on supplemental oxygen and was alone. He managed to either drive or get dropped off, but regardless made the effort to participate in the election. He then walked all the way into the polling center, and waited in line like the rest of us. What I was pleased to see was that other people in line in front of him, all let him go before them. They also went and got a chair for him to sit in not only while he waited but during the process of actually casting his vote. Other people helped him carry his oxygen machine. The poll director helped him back down the stairs and to his car.

Now I was pleased to see that not only people in my country but people in my community, still have human souls and would go out of their way to make this gentleman comfortable. But what really made me so happy was that this gentleman bothered to come out and vote.

It made me angry to think of how many young and able people don't vote because they're lazy, think their vote won't count, or they don't "believe in politics"....and yet this 90+ gentleman citizen believed enough to make it out to vote.

I don't even care a single ounce if he voted different than me. I don't care whose side he is on. He is on my side because he lives in America, and that is the point. To just participate. To make your voice matter, no matter what you believe in. Thats what election day is all about.


Thats all, simple post today. :)


~WNB


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I'm Sorry Sir, Repeat That Please?

I'd like to start off this post with mentioning that my day started out today, before report, with:

"You're going to have an ICU transfer as a patient today. Patient is not here yet. You can practice accepting an ICU transfer. Also, a patient that will probably be a CAT call (rapid response team)."

my response: "Wait...those are two separate patients?"


I was frightened.


However, despite the day that you can only imagine that might have entailed, one funny/interesting moment did arise from it:


my patient (the ICU transfer, actually) was originally sent down to the ICU due to extreme lethargy and not being arousable. However, his status improved greatly and was able to be sent back up to us a couple days later. Meanwhile, the ICU nurse told me he didn't get much sleep last night (big surprise for the ICU) and that he would probably be tired. So I had to play the fine line game of: Do I let my patient sleep today, or do I continuously awaken him to see if he's lethargic? And if he IS lethargic, is it because he's just really, really tired, or is it because something is wrong?

It turned out that he had so much going on with his medical care today (IVs, lots of meds, assessments, etc. in addition to normal stuff -mealtimes, bathroom times, etc.-) that I ended up waking him up every hour practically anyway.


Well, waking him up for dinner was after a period where he was able to have slept the longest for me (about 90 minutes). So this is what went down:

Me: Mr. Patient? Mr. Patient?

pt: *wakes up*

Me: HI mr. Patient. Sorry to have woken you. Your dinner is here for you.

Pt: Oh okay. Good. * pt sits up in bed to get ready to eat tray*

*I start getting tray prepared and he starts mumbling nonsensical words strung together. I am instantly concerned.

Me: Mr.Patient? Can you repeat that? I can't hear you.

Pt: *pt continues to mumble*

* I am legit concerned now and instantly start going through a very simple mental assessment*....

Me: Mr. Patient- Can you tell me your name?

Pt: yes. Its Ima Patient

Me: Okay, good. Can you tell me where you are?

Pt: In Suchagood Hospital

Me: Okay good. Can you tell me what day it is?

Pt: Friday.

Me: How about the month?

Pt: November.

Me: Good.  (However, I'm still not convinced, because he just *looks* confused)

Me: Mr. Patient, can you tell me who the president is?

*patient nods*: Yes. Oswald.

Me: Excuse me?

Pt: Oswald.

Me: Mr. Patient, can you tell me what year it is?

Pt: 2011.

Me: Okay good. And who is the president right now, in 2011?

Pt: Oswald.

Me: Not quite....Can you describe him for me?

Pt: Um...He's african american...young fellow.


(at this point I at least knew we were on the same page. Sort of. So I quit.)

Eventually, after being awake for 5+ minutes, he started to go back to normal and was able to recall being confused but didnt know why. But, all turned out well. And Oswald is not the president.

For those of you that don't watch Nick Jr. while you babysit, let me demonstrate the first thing that shows up if you type in Oswald to Google images:

Its a blue octopus.


Need I say more?



~ WNB :)


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Ch-ch-ch-anges

So I'm sporting a new look on the site. Its like buying a new pair of shoes. I'm not quite sure if I like it yet or not. What do you guys think? Its rainy, yes. But so is Spring. And I love rain, so...I'll keep it for awhile and then re-evaluate...  :-)




I am really bothered that Obama just felt compelled to present his birth certificate to the country in order to finally prove his citizenship status. Like seriously, wtf? He really felt that much pressure from our citizens? He felt he had to present it so the harassment would stop? Our country is composed of morons if we pressured him to have to do such a demeaning task. But whatever.


Day 2 of Face-book -free: SUCCESS!  :-)

Finally, Someone Important is on the Boat

Restaurant Nutrition

Ok so, my reading of the NYT daily....well, that's not exactly possible. Unless you have countless hours in your day and take no naps, and have unlimited amounts of time to just sit there and learn things, then maybe, just maybe do you have time to actually finish reading the New York Times.

Usually, on a good day I will read 85% of international news and 95% of National news. But reading it every day has grown to become a very unlikely goal. But I am trying, very hard. I have also picked up the enjoyable habit of reading "The New Yorker" which I find to be very easy to read but also very interesting.

Cool moment of the week:
My professor that I have that I mentioned previously that inspired me to read the NYT- well she was lecturing about environmental health and mentioned a key piece of information and quoted WORDFORWORD articles of information that she could only have learned from a particular article in the NYT that i specifically remember reading a couple of days ago. I had the *OVERWHELMING* urge to act like Hermione and raise my hand and be like, "I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!! YAY!!!" or, "I READ THAT ARTICLE TOO!! LETS TALK ABOUT IT AFTER  CLASS!!!'.

But I didn't. Because really, where would that get me? As much as I want my teacher to know she inspired me to be smart, I can't just raise my hand and tell her that I'm smart now. It doesn't work like that. And plus, no one likes Hermione when she acts like that.

Anyway, lets get to the real purpose of this blog. Oh my god, on a side note, I have so much so say that has happened since Tuesday. Maybe I'll make a separate blog all about that. Do you want to read about that or do you not really care? I think you care. Don't lie.

Anyway, lets really get to the purpose. Upon stumbling upon (bad wording-sorry) the National news in NYT on February 7, a certain article instantly caught my attention and I love when that happens! It was titled "Restaurant Nutrition Draws Focus of First Lady- Expanding the Push for Healthier Eating."

Can we all take a moment of silence to jump up and down and say YAYY!??

*moment*

Ok! Good! This is FABULOUS! I was not aware that Michelle Obama was involved in all these nutrition campaigns. If I were ever a First Lady, this would definitely be the kinds of great things I would do. This is how we are going to reach the people. She has so much power, she is the person to do it. I am so glad she is making the move to do so.

"A team of advisers to Mrs. Obama has been holding private talks over the past year with the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, in a bid to get restaurants to adopt her goals of smaller portions and childrens meals that include healthy offerings like carrots, apple slices and milk instead of French Fries and Soda."

Obama, (M), Also has magnificent plans to lower prices at Walmart for fruits and veggies and to reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt in all Walmart products. This is also fantastic. Sad as it is, but through Walmart is how to reach a large percentage Americans in this economy. If I had to make up a percentage I would say 60%. That is a lot. Walmart is cheaper and even the middle class is sensibly choosing Walmart over higher retailers, especially with the multitude of Super walmarts and their ability to carry groceries. Have you ever noticed that the chips and unhealthy foods are always cheaper than the fruits? A bag of cheetos is cheaper than a carton of strawberries. You can see how its easier for families to choose the cheetos. If Mrs. Obama can effectively lower prices on the right items, we can help families choose healthier foods...even if just the the cheaper cost.

ALso on Mrs. Obama's agenda:

• design soda cans with calorie counts
• redesign the food pyramid
• require restaurants to print nutritional information on menus
• design clear "front-of-package" labels to warm consumers about ingredients like salt, sugar and fat

So, all good things.

Now, for my feelings on the restaurant nation:

...Where to even start? First of all, I love to eat out, as do many, many other people. It is a good social thing, when your town has nothing to do (like mine) other than eat out all the time or go to the movies. It tastes Yummy. Its nice to see other people that live in your town. Its nice to eat food that you didn't have to make or clean up. It's nice to be waited on.

But is it nice to feel guilty and fatter the next day? What if you knew exactly how many calories you consumed during that meal, or grams of fat? I can definitely say that going out to eat a lot has put on the pounds.

If we as a country, if Mrs Obama, can figure out how to make restaurants healthy, it has to happen all at once. All restaurants have to do it together or they will all fail. If one chain restaurant "goes healthy" the people will notice a change in food, perhaps, and will shun that restaurant (A) and go to another one (B).  A will take the financial cut pretty hard and B will love all the extra customers, and see no good reason to "go healthy". Soon enough, restaurant A will have to return to its "good" food if it wants to survive. But if restaurants did this change together, if it was mandated by law (which is impossible because this country cant agree on anything in congress), then all restaurants would be equal in the healthy eating boat.

If all restaurants fail, or restaurants overall notice a decrease in business, then we still succeeded. People will have to eat at home and therefore, most likely a little healthier. At least, if anything, they will know what is in their food.  Now by restaurant, I mean chain big restaurants, that you sit in and they bring you food after ordering. Don't even get me started on Fast food. I don't even know what to do about fast foods....But I do know that if we regulate laws on standards of cooking foods in restaurants, we surely have to either wipe out the fast food kings or get them to adapt these new laws as well.

If I ran the country and was involved in this campaign, I would fight to make soda illegal in restaurants.

Okay, everybody gasp. No soda??? What??? I LIVE off soda!!!!

I know, I know. Hence why this is unrealistic. Just because I believe soda is a BIG factor in this country's obesity and I haven't had a soda in over 5-6 years, doesn't mean everyone else is going to agree with me. But think about it. In restaurants, you drink socially...you get refills, you may even drink 2-3 glasses of soda. And diet soda? Worthless. Its still atrocious. If we could get rid of soda in restaurants, think of how much it would help kids, help combat diabetes, and obesity. With the rate of how much people eat out, we could target a big population with this change. And its not like you would be stuck drinking water...you could still have ice tea combinations available (still high in sugar, but better), hot tea's, juice's (for kids)...and, the almighty...water. And Water is free, too. Big incentive. OH! That just dawned on me. What if Ice tea were made free? And soda made more expensive? Is that more of a hassle than making soda illegal in restaurants? THink about it..

I just wish people could be healthier. In my mind there are three groups of people:

• People who eat healthy
• People who know how to eat healthy but choose not to
• People that would like to eat healthy, but do not know how to
• (okay there are 4)- people that really don't care/ want to eat un-healthy

IF we could target that third group....educate America and help those people that want to eat healthy but don't have an education or were never taught how to eat healthy, then this is how we can reach them. By making changes in their lifestyle. By lowering fruit/veggie prices at Walmart, but abolishing soda in restaurants...by taking less saturated fat out of restaurant food...

On a side note- My dining hall at school has been trying recently to put nutrition labels on foods throughout the hall. Well, in my mind, I am even more turned off...For looking at the label for a muffin which I would have guess to be healthy since it was the "Balanced Way- Healthy" muffin of the day, it still had 8 g of Saturated Fat in it...so, needless to say, no more muffins. I think i would have been better off not knowing. How can they call it healthy when it still has that much crap in it?

So thats the end of my ranting....I promise. Sorry for the unnecessary amounts of food ranting.  I hope you found it interesting and maybe helpful.

Do you want to see a separate blog on an update on my life? If you have read this far, you get a major vote. so vote. Because I can write a whole other blog, on many other things that are not so boring. But you let me know. ;)

With Immense Amounts of Love,

A Writer in a Nurse's Body