Leave the gun take the cannoli (9)

Patient is a derogatory  anachronism.  Those who are in need of emergency care, surgical procedures or even an ordinary flu shot are now referred to by the politically correct term ” consumer”.

Like the old slight of hand artists who ran  shell games in the pre-Disney days of Times Square ,  misdirection is the game plan of  the marketing professions branding  health care.      

Comparison shopping for doctors and medical services is as easy accessing the  websites  devoted to finding a doctor who  discounts procedures.   But buyer beware, in medicine as in the mall, you get what you pay for.  Is it worth scheduling your C-section in  a bargain basement facility?  Should you start a  tonsillectomy fund before you start a college fund for your baby?  

Shouldn’t medical services be part of the non-profit sector rather than big business?                

The annual Boxes of Love Thanksgiving food event at Children  of the City is the only  community service project with all the fun and excitement of a game of Beat  The Clock. 

The first shift of volunteers arrive at noon to help sort hundreds of pounds of canned food  and non-perishables.  They  pack dozens of  bags and boxes of groceries for  families living below the poverty line in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.    

 At three o’clock sharp, the second shift is in place and Daniel Ramos  goes over the game plan.  Dividing the volunteers into three teams he explains that  time is of the essence.   We have one hour  to distribute the boxes to the  clients standing on the other side of the door.   

A former Disney employee instructs the volunteers on ways to make the Children of the City headquarters the happiest place in Brooklyn.   

Each family walks through the threshold to the applause and cheers of smiling volunteers.    Ticket takers welcome guests in Spanish and English.   The families are asked to chose between a canned ham or a frozen turkey package.  Smiling  volunteers carry the groceries and help shepard the kids  outside.  Everyone wishes each other a Happy Thanksgiving  y Felice de Dia de Gracias.    

Children of the City offers a variety of programs to help change the culture of poverty.     

Its that time of year when the world seems overwhelmed by solicitations  from every non-profit trying to pay its rent and offer a service.  Clever copywriters tug on your heart stings reminding you that your dollars can buy a girl her fist doll or feed a hungry family.   Our in-boxes are flooded with requests to help Santa provide toys for good little girls and boys everywhere from down the street  to countries  where you could get killed for celebrating Christmas.  

 Rather than sending that teddy bear  to some third world country,  where a kid would rather have a pair of shoes or a well with clean drinking water, consider  sending a gift to the forgotten “kids”  in the  home.    Alzhemier’s patients and people suffering from dementia have fragile bodies and mysterious minds that often have them thinking and acting like a 6 year old. 

Last year, I visited a nursing home immediately after their holiday party.  Each resident was given a special present, a beige felt blanket wrapped in a ribbon.  My mother thanked the nursing staff profusely and left it on her lap.   Another resident, Marie had a look of disappointment on her face.  I thought she was about to cry.   

The next day,  I asked a few of my favorite 4th graders if they would like to make some holiday greetings  for the people in the nursing home.  They made over 200 cards. 

 On Christmas, I brought my mother  a pile of beautifully wrapped  presents.  I also made sure to bring something for the other residents who didn’t get visitors.    I  stopped by the  local discount  store and bought  a few dozen teddy bears and wrapped them up with big gaudy bows.  The residents were so surprised. They smiled and hugged their teddy bears. 

It takes so little to make some “kids” happy. 

On a good day, running in heels makes about as much sense as running with scissors but I was up for the illogical challenge  to save a child.   Stop Child Trafficking Now was trying to set a world record for a stiletto run in NYC to help raise awareness of the fastest growing crime on Earth.   

The sudden September shower wrecked havoc on our shoes and made 62nd Street and Columbus Avenue a slick mess.   Most of us were more concerned about breaking a heel than breaking our necks.      

The race was short and sweet followed by a walk around Manhattan.  Waiting for the final tally on donations and the offical verdict  about breaking a record took a little longer.

On October 8th, 2009 the official news was posted that the ladies racing in the rain broke the world record for  running in stilettos.   For more information about Stop Child Trafficking Now visit www.sctnow.org

Its not whether I win or lose but  how fast I can expose a corrupt  referee.

From my front row seat at the death panel/health care boxing match, I have witnessed  the disenfranchised go down with a sucker punch.   The elderly are hit below the belt so often that their caretakers have  forgotten that its  against the rules.

Advocating for my mother means being prepared to jump in the ring at a moment’s notice to take on the heavyweight bully of the week.  I’ve been knocked out by insurance companies.   And    I’ve gone a few too many rounds with a sarcastic nursing home staff.      But I won’t back down.   I win some.  I lose more.   

My victories are  few and far between.  By packing every punch with research I made her doctor rethink the use of a controversail drug that left her catatonic.  And as long as my mother  is not suffering physical pain, and is lucid enough to recognize me,  no one will ever pull her feeding tube out again.    

`     

A wave of guilt washed over me as I sat in the  New York Cares office listening to   Ryan  Walls and Executive Director Gary Bagley  extol the virtues of volunteering with senior citizens.   The projects that New York Cares provide to hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living centers are a Godsend to the lonely and fun for the volunteers who sing,   record life stories and play parlor games with their  surrogate grandparents.   Even though volunteering among the octogenarians makes me feel young, I  rarely make the time to do it.

I drop in regularly at the Sparks Of Life project at Methodist Hospital to socialize over breakfast with Alzheimer patients.  Team Leader Barbara Blechman always bakes a diabetic friendly coffee cake and goes out of her way to pair me up with an Italian or Spanish speaking patient. The Methodist staff is always pleasant and smiling.  The posters on the walls of old movie stars and music from the CD player stir up memories and keep the conversation flowing.  Time flys at this project.

I always feel a little blue when I leave the beautifully decorated halls of Methodist.  I think of my mom who is in another  facility across town that has all the amenities of a Turkish prison.      

I used to volunteer at NYU Rusk Institute until I had a panic attack during a Bingo game.  Every time I would turn the wire cage,  all the little bingo balls would fly all over the place.  I feared that the lady in the corner who survived Auschwitz and a stroke would go down with B11 embedded in her cranium. Team Leader Allan Sih tried replacing Bingo with Trivial Pursuit and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire   but senility proved to be an obstacle.  

Of course, my favorite hospital is Lutheran Medical Center in Sunset Park. Even though the ER is always busy the staff is always courteous and patient.  Everyone there greets you with a smile.  The nurses treat everyone like royalty.     Whenever my mom is a patient there, I sleep well.  I know that there is always someone to feed her and talk to her.  And she really loves the “Musicians On Call” who  sing and play guitar in her room.  I always feel sorry for her when she is discharged and sent back to her rehabilitation warehouse in the high rent neighborhood.  

 I visit my mother in her little death panel room everyday.  I used to bring her a can of Ensure and  gelato until  she was put on a feeding tube.  The walls  in here room are gray.   Everything I  brought in to brighten the place up has been stolen along with her rings and a plastic bottle of Holy Water.  On a good day most of the people who work there are rude. 

 Last week, they got my mom out of bed for a special event in the day room.  All of the residents were treated to ice cream.  My mom wasn’t allowed to have any ice cream.   She sat there watching and crying.  She was still crying that evening when I arrived.

If an elementary school teacher excluded one child from an ice cream event and made that child watch, she would be charged with causing unnecessary mental stress and emotional abuse.  Nurses and nurses aides are part of the same union as teachers and para professionals so I wonder why they aren’t held to the  same standard.             

 But, as Bob Dylan once sang “it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why” so I’m devoteding all my free time to asking the appropriate authorities to create a better monitoring system for end of life care.             

Children of the City stepped up their anti-obesity initiative with the  help of their friends at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, New York Cares and Radio Disney.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers graciously donated their time and energy to organize two events to benefit Children of the City.  In an effort to foster goodwill and teamwork Pricewaterhouse Coopers offers their employees a chance to assemble brand new bicycles for underprivileged kids.  Children of the City president and founder, Joyce Mattera and I had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Rhodes the coordinator of this operation at the Millenium  hotel in Manhattan.   

The Elvis version of “A Little Less Conversation” was blasting though the hotel auditorium as I made the rounds to thank the amateur mechanics and answer questions  about Children of the City.      Mr. Rhodes had announced to the crowd that they only had an hour and a half before Joyce and I would bring in a few kids to see their bikes.

Five kids were picked for the mini field trip to Manhattan, even though all of the students in the Create Success Summer Program would receive a bike the following day.  The kids were completely overwhelmed to see so many bikes in one place.  Jocelyn, a fourth grader, asked for a microphone so she could address the crowd.  She expressed her gratitude on behalf of all the kids.  The crowd was stunned when they realized that these bikes  would be the first ones that many of the kids would ever ride or own.  Of course, the kids invited everyone to come to the Children of the City headquarters and eventually they did.

Last Friday, Pricewaterhouse Coopers employees took a day off to hang out at the Children of the City headquarters in Sunset Park.  They  joined New York Cares program manager Whitney Hampton  and her volunteers  to host a carnival  with music provided by Radio Disney.

The kids played games, painted and ran relay races with the financial services staff.  Later,  DJ Deanna Fernandez and her Radio Disney Road Crew taught the kids a few dance moves.  They could have danced all afternoon but the weather interrupted the fun just before their parents arrived at 3 pm.     

A sudden summer storm  dampened the red carpet   outside of Tribeca Rooftop, as paparazzi and reporters  clamoured for  Gwyneth Paltrow’s attention  as she  walked  into Children of the City’s annual benefit gala.  Hosted by local ABC meteorologist Bill Evans, the Champions of Hope benefit shone a spotlight on the  noble  non-profit trying to change the culture of poverty.

The guest of honor, Gwyneth Paltrow, spoke eloquently about the organization before  the press and the 400 plus guests who came to support the organization.  She graciously spent quality time with several  teenage girls receiving services from Children of the City.     Ms Paltrow and Mr. Evans   went out of their way to focus  attention and admiration on Rosa, a 9th grader in the guardianship program.  They allowed Rosa to speak from her heart about all of the things Children of the City does to keep her safe and healthy.  

Overcoming a sad and difficult early childhood,  Rosa is an optimist.    She speaks respectfully about her biological mother who has been unable to  care for her since she was 5.   She sings the praises of her warm and loving foster family, mentor and tutors.   Her gratitude toward the organization and its sponsors was so  sincere that Rosa received a thunderous  round of applause that made her the biggest   star of the gala.         

Fun and free were the buzz words of the River 2 River Festival’s Big Draw event at the Bosque in Battery Park.   Under the guidance of artist Eva Mosher, participants learned about changes in Manhattan’s coastline while creating a temporary public art project. 

My New York Cares team took over the pedigogal duties as I set out to find the  huddled mass of tourists who were returing from ferry rides to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.   The official name of Mosher’s environmentally based project was “Paths of Desire” but it seemed a little too salacious for  Bible belt visitors and kids , so I put my unique spin on promoting it. 

I hailed three young men on skateboards and asked them if they’d like to try.  I explained that you had to stir the bottle like a martini then flip it over and squeeze  gently so that the recycled water would stream through the tiny holes at the top of the bottle.  One of the guys handed me his skateboard and said “show me.”  I hopped on and got about six yards from my starting point before I tried to navagate a circle and fell off.  This turned out to be a blessing in disquise as it captured the attention of   the everyone  waiting for the next ferry.

“Does anyone want to  be a New York artist for the day? Its free and its fun.”  I called out.   Immediately, I had about a dozen takers.  For most of the day I sought out families with lots of kids or children in chairs.  So often kids who are mobility challenged miss out on the fun public happenings.   I figured out a way to tape a few bottles onto the armrests and handles of a  little girl’s wheelchair.  Her mother watched with pride as her daughter created  some spectacularly beautiful patterns on her path  through the park.       

Children of the City kicked off the summer with a health fair disguised as a block party. Kids spent the afternoon examining dinosaur bones on the American Museum of Natural History’s mobile exhibit, while their parents learned  the importance of physical and financial health thanks to  representatives from Health Plus, Turning Point, and TD Ameritrade. 

Jude Maragliano, and his  associate Russell, form A M N H’s educational department  patiently answered hundreds of questions as the kids observed replicas of  ancient  bones.     New York Cares volunteers helped the kids transition from the exhibit to sack races, watermelon eating contests and variations on  ring toss games.    They also grilled hot dogs and passed out fresh juice and healthy snacks to over 500 families living below the poverty line.