Medical Care or Medical Carelessness?

On August 1st my father had a stroke. This month has consisted of trips back and forth between NJ and NH along with long hours at the hospital and rehabilitation center. Dad is coming along, but that isn't the reason for this blog. I've been keeping the family apprised of his progress.

Anyone who has had a parent with a life threatening illness understands the stress and pressure it puts on everyone as well as the frustrations of dealing with health care, which IS the reason for this post. If I have one piece of advice for anyone in a similar situation, it would be to keep as informed as possible, research and question if you feel something is wrong or you don't understand something.

The health care workers and doctors we have encountered have been competent, well meaning, very overworked, and all too human. Rather than having a scene that plays out like and episode of house, there have but there have been oversights and minor errors caused by lack of communication. They have been frustrating, if not angering and potentially damaging. I could list each one and what we did to overcome it, but I'm not going to bore or depress you with details that are unique to our case and would do little to assist others. Instead, I'm going to provide you a little story about two musical instruments and a hurricane named Irene that illustrates well the kind of problem that exists.

Dad's stroke was in the cerebellum. He has full mobility and with the exception of some memory loss, he has full cognitive functions. His roommate however, was not as fortunate. His stroke paralyzed his entire right side, a fact this is important to this incident.

During Irene, the rehab center lost power. As a result, all of the patient call buttons were non-functional. In order to remedy that situation, they went to the activity center, gathered up all of the musical instruments and provided each patients with a hand instrument such as a drum, tambourine, cymbals, maracas, etc. that they could use to make noise when assistance was needed.


Here are pictures of the two instruments provided to my father and his roommate. I see some of you smiling already, because you are way ahead of me. Yup, you're right. They gave the maraca to my father and the cymbals to his roommate who has only one functional arm.


'Nuff said?

Co-existing with Beavers

As many of you know, because of the hard winter and wet spring, we've had a problem with the beavers damming up the culverts that runs between the upper and lower pond. We formed a committee that has been researching and experimenting for about a month.

Eliminating the beavers or the dam was never a consideration. This week we will meet to determine what action to take. I've put together a 5 minute multimedia presentation and a proposed solution to present at the meeting. I've also asked for comments from Mike Callahan's Facebook group. Mike is probably the leading expert in the country on beaver pond flow control and has implemented more than 750 solutions around the country. His group consists of a wide range of nature lovers, naturalists, and experts.

Please click here and take a few minutes to watch the presentation. I'll post more as we move forward.

Hampton Beach Sand Sculpture Contest

Last year was our first visit to the Hampton Beach Sand Sculpture Contest, and we plan on making it an annual event. This year we felt that they weren't quite as intricate as they were last year. You can judge for yourself. Below is a video of this year's contest, and this link will take you to last year's video.

Sherwood Samaritans Spring into Action

The Sherwood Samaritans got their first call today, only a few days after the group formed. For those of you reading this who are not part of our condo association, the Sherwood Samaritans is a neighbor helping neighbor organization that offers assistance such as transportation to a doctor's office or other similar appointment, light shopping or house cleaning for someone recuperating, meals for a shut in and even odd jobs and mule work to help the less able.

Today's call was short and simple, but it underscores the need and reason for the organization. Before I tell you about the call, I'll give you the background, which it actually more significant than the call itself.

The day after the meeting, I received an email from Deb, one of our residents. In the beginning of the message, she apologized for missing the meeting, because she did want to participate. She went on to explain that she has just undergone knee surgery, was having difficulty getting around, and couldn’t drive.

She went on to say that she just realized the irony of the situation. She wanted to attend the meeting and needed help, but never thought about asking for a ride until writing the message.

I think that like Deb, many of us are more than willing to give a hand when we see someone who needs help, but are often hesitant or remiss when it comes to asking for it. Having an organization such as the Samaritans visible and available, can help alleviate that problem.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… I started out by saying this was about our first call for help and seemingly wandered off into Deb’s story, but things do come full circle. It was Deb who made the first call.

Deb was having a birthday party for a family member. She and her granddaughter were setting things up and neither one could get the valve open on the helium canister they rented to blow up balloons. It was a simple thing to do. I opened the valve and helped hang a banner. It only took a moment, but it helped a neighbor and made a difference.

She gave me a call, probably not just because of the Sherwood Samaritans, but she was now aware of the organization, because was a neighbor, and she didn’t feel uncomfortable in asking for help. It’s important that Deb and the rest of the residents understand that every member of the Sherwood Samaritans would be just as happy to have come to the rescue. We have contact people on every block and no one should be uncomfortable contacting one of them for help.

For those of you who are members of the condo association and aren’t familiar with the Sherwood Samaritans and how we function, make sure you login to the Members section of MySherwoodGlen.com for more information and a list of neighborhood contacts.

We all need help at some time or another and the Sherwood Samaritans are there for you. No questions asked!