it was her annual visit. However, we learned she has wet macular degeneration in her left eye. An appointment was made with a retina specialist for this Friday. She wanted to wait till next week, so she could "think about this". I said "no" you're going Friday, no ifs, ands, or buts. The sooner she starts treatment, the more sight might be saved.

Mom handed me her checkbook in order to pay on our way out. The charge was a $35 copay for the visit and $35 for a prescription for eyeglasses. I asked why a charge for the prescription. Some convoluted answer about how Medicare doesn't compensate for the prescription. My reply to her was that when Mom goes to her Primary Care Physician he doesn't charge for the prescriptions (plural) that he hands over to her.

WTF, charging for something that the patient goes to the Doctor for.

This past Saturday the intercom rang, the person calling was a friend's mother. (Friend lives 2 floors below me). Mom couldn't get my friend on either the land line or her cell phone. I buzzed Mom in and met her at the apartment door. Two neighbors also were helping her bang on the door. We called the maintenance man, who found that the office did not have a key to get into the apartment. The maintenance man had gone out into the yard and saw all the lights were on, her purse was on the floor and the cat was running around crazy. The maintenance man drilled out the deadbolt. My friend was found on her bedroom floor semi-conscious. Medics came & took her to the hospital. When I saw her on the floor I saw that her foot was black.

Updates from her family culminated with today's fact, she had her leg amputated above the knee. She is fighting an infection throughout her body, low potassium levels, high sugar levels (she has never been diagnosed as a diabetic, it is thought to be trauma induced diabetes), and a wound that is the flesh eating type. She is on a respirator at this point.

She is only 58. Minimally she had laid there for 24 hours.

Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Medical staff at jail votes to unionize
February 14, 2014 11:39 PM

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Medical staff at jail votes to unionize

By Kaitlynn Riely / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Shortly after voting to unionize, members of the Allegheny County Jail medical staff were feeling "pretty jubilant" Friday afternoon, said Randa Ruge, an organizer with the United Steelworkers.

"The next step is getting to the bargaining table and getting Corizon to bargain in good faith and get some changes made in the health system at the jail," said Ms. Ruge, naming staffing issues and health and safety as areas the union planned to address.

The employees, who include physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and psychiatric nurses, voted unanimously that they wanted to be in the same bargaining unit together.

They voted, 64-7, to be represented by the United Steelworkers. One vote in favor of unionization was challenged, that of Sister Barbara Finch, a nurse who was fired earlier this month.

The United Steelworkers have said that she was fired because she was spearheading union organizing. Corizon Health Inc., the firm that runs the jail health system, has said she was let go because her security clearances were revoked.

Corizon, a national healthcare provider based in Tennessee, took over management of the jail's health services in September. Allegheny County signed a contract with Corizon last summer for $11.5 million a year.

Corizon, which in the first few months of its contract seemed to have problems getting medication to inmates on time, earlier this week received a letter from Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, who said she had "grave and serious concerns" about health care and working conditions at the jail.

Ms. Ruge has said that, in the months after Corizon took over, jail employees approached the United Steelworkers union about unionizing, saying they had staffing issues and other concerns.

Corizon, in a statement emailed by a spokeswoman to reporters earlier this week, said "when the union petition first came to light, we told our employees that it was their choice and we would honor their decision."

"We have positive relationships with our employees at our union and non-union facilities," Corizon spokeswoman Susan Morgenstern said in her emailed statement, which she referred to when asked for a comment Friday. "Our position will always be to respect the employees' choice."

Ms. Ruge said the Steelworkers plan to send Corizon a letter Monday notifying the company that they are prepared to bargain, a process that she said is hopeful will yield a contract within the next four months.


Kaitlynn riely: [email protected] or 412-263-1707 First Published February 14, 2014 4:52 PM


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/02/14/Medical-workers-vote-overwhelmingly-to-unionize-at-Allegheny-County-Jail/stories/201402140172#ixzz2tMb83bpr


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from my heart.

to visit me and my 83 year old Mother. My nephew attended college in North Carolina last semester. He is attending again this semester but here at home in Pittsburgh, via on line courses. He would be in NC right now, but he had a melanoma removed 2 weeks ago. It is stage 1, they excised it, did a battery of tests and he just needs follow up with the doctor every 6 months.

I was so happy, as is his grandmother, parents and his older brother. I was even happier yesterday as I saw him pick up the newspaper and read it, all section, though he went to the sports section first. I just wish more young people would look at a newspaper and view it as an extension of all the electronic gadgets they use every day.

BTW while he was reading the paper, he multi-tasked by conversing with me and Mom and answering many texts.