Ipperwash

I have a summer home at Kettle Point/Ipperwash Beach. It is the closest place to heaven on earth.

There is nothing like the feel of sand between my toes as I walk along the shoreline from Kettle Point to Army Camp Road. Along the way people stop and talk, dogs run free while they play along shoreline, kids build sand castles and bury themselves in the silvery sand. The smell of Coppertone and the feel of the heat from the sun on my skin bring all my senses to life.

Ipperwash is a peaceful place, a sanctuary and escape from a crazy capitalistic world. People know you by name. They wave when you drive by, they care. They are a community of souls.

Today I celebrate the return of Ipperwash Provincial Park lands to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nations!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/12/20/ipperwash-ont.html

I'm counting the full moons until I go back and escape from my crazy real life. I'm waiting to taste the pickerel again, have a beer at Wally's, ice cream at the Sunset Grill, one of Norah's butter tarts, bread from Points Preference and oh let's not forget the best fries in world from the chip wagon at Al's.

Most of all I'm waiting to watch the majestic sunset over the Point. That's the memory that carries me through the winter months.

April is my return month, in the meantime Happy Holidays!

Clouds of a Falls Prevention Strategy a la Denton Welch...

The purpose of my Q-TIPPS blog is to discuss quality issues and continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiatives in the healthcare sector. Therefore, I will make every effort to apply CQI principles in my discussions. I welcome and encourage your ideas, suggestions, comments, and feedback.

I was humoured by a comment posted under the alias of Denton Welch to my first blog. The author self-proclaimed him/herself to be persnickety and rightfully so, as I recall the “My name is Joe” lyrics to be the same as his/her recollection. I must admit that I retrieved the lyrics that I posted from the ‘everything’ website: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1332352.

While Denton is considered a great miniaturist in English literature, he unfortunately never reached the ‘Mr. Darcy’ status of Jane Austen. Unlike the characters depicted in Austen or Denton’s novels, I have not had the privilege or luxury of picnicking in fields, looking round country churches, or exploring the overgrown parks of once grand houses. I have one similarity with Denton as a bicycle also hit and injured me. I suffered an open triple compound fracture, unlike Denton's outcome, I am not lame and I lived.

This brings me to the Patient Safety Movement...This movement has gained incredible momentum throughout Britain, Australia, U.S.A & Canada. The Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA) and the Joint Commission have made “Falls Prevention” a required organizational practice for accredited organizations.

Ironically in Denton’s novel ‘A Voice through a Cloud’ patient falls and the healthcare practitioner’s poor response/action were alive and well in 1950 and suggests that the healthcare sector has taken far too long to address this serious issue.

“One day a specialist was in the ward, examining a patient, when the patient fell down in front of him in a fit. The patient was a fat middle-aged man; he shrieked and trembled and rolled on the floor, as if he were wallowing in mud. It was a terrifying and grotesque sight, but the specialist watched it with a smile on his face. He neither raised the patient up nor prevented him from cutting his head on the corner of the bedside locker.

When at last the convulsions had subsided and the patient, with blood on his face, looked up bewildered, the specialist's smile grew even more Buddhistic and bland and he said in a fluting voice, so that other people should hear, 'Well, I must say there's one improvement this week - you're falling so much more gracefully!’ “

Thumbs down to the ‘specialist’. ‘High fives' to CCHSA & The Joint Commission for moving the patient safety strategy forward. Finally, ‘thank you Denton’, for telling it like it is. Sadly, falls are still relevant on the eve of 2008. There is no room in healthcare for falling gracefully.

P.S.

Alias, I like your hat!

From bedside to curbside...

Recently someone asked me why I left critical care and how I ended up in Quality Management. I had a good answer at the time, however, I found myself asking the same questions. It has been a Darwinian evolution of sorts.

After a period of self examination I decided it came down to our old camp song "My Name is Joe" and to my friend Cheryl's tireless rant and hence the birth of my nickname Jo. Never say no and my need to always try to find a better way of doing the same thing.

I dedicate the rant back to Cheryl and celebrate the road less travelled.

Lyrics

Hi, my name is Joe And I work in a button factory I have a wife and a fam-i-ly.
One day my boss ... he said Joe "Are you busy?"
I said NO.

Can you press this button with your RIGHT HAND. (You start repeatedly pressing a button with your right hand and saying doot, doot, doot. Keep the movement with your body parts while you sing the next verse)

Hi, my name is Joe And I work in a button factory I have a wife and a fam-i-ly. One day my boss ... he said Joe "Are you busy?" I said NO.

Can you press this button with your LEFT HAND. (Continue previous movements, but start repeatedly pressing a button with your left hand and saying doot, doot, doot. Keep the movement with your body parts while you sing the next verse) ......

Continue until: right leg, left leg, nod your head, butt, stick out your tongue, turn around

Hi, my name is Joe And I work in a button factory I have a wife and a fam-i-ly. One day my boss ... he said Joe "Are you busy?" I said YES.