ArmyBlood

This may seem a little techy or political but I think it’s a big step to address some of the top news-grabbing issue of this war. 

The Defense Department’s effort to unify all medical training for enlisted reached a key milestone on July 15, with the groundbreaking of a new medical education and training campus on the grounds of Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The facility and its surrounding complex will include five instructional facilities, six dormitories, headquarters for the Air Force and Navy, a dining facility and a gym once completed. More than 4,000 faculty members and 9,000 students will use the facility. The services plan to implement the consolidation by 2011.

A lot of the innovation that is saving lives every day on battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan is not high-tech tourniquets, robot-armed surgeries, or even miraculously strong substances – it is the change in ideas that encouraged faster evacuation from the point of injury to treatment.  It is the ideas and support of forward surgical teams starting invasive surgeries in intersections and beside houses.  It is the Air Force and Army and Navy working together to identify, treat, and evacuate our troops sooner, faster, and better.  This school will help encourage that and begin to break down the parochial walls that separate our services.  Good stuff all around.

If it’s not Soldiers, it’s students:

Yet amid that circuslike atmosphere, state Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, kept close tabs on S.B. 1651 — a version of legislation he sponsored that carried the extremely unsexy moniker of “technical corrections bill” — and found the time to tout its unanimous passage in both the House and Senate.

The bill, with the original short title of “Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act,” cleared up some unclear legalese about shortening the organ-donation process in North Carolina and lowered the minimum age for donating blood from 17 to 16.

“This one little thing can save thousands of lives,” Folwell said.

Little-noticed legislation may make a big difference

I told my wife about this and she wanted to know if “I thought it was real”, harking back to some real UFO obsessive days of mine.  I said, and say, that if it is, then this is it:

Edgar Mitchell, an astronaut on Apollo 14 and the sixth man to walk on the moon, told Kerrang! Radio this week that we’re not alone in the universe and the government knows all about it.

“I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we’ve been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real,” he said.

Mitchell is more than just a famous astronaut and a scientist. He grew up in Roswell, N.M., site of a famous alleged UFO landing. And, he said, “I’ve been in military circles and intelligence circles that know beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge that yes, we have been visited. …I have been deeply involved in certain committes and certain research programs with very credible scientists and intelligence people that do know the real inside story.”
http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/2008/07/astronaut_aliens_are_real_1.php

 

Shame the government didn’t try readiness instead of crushing civil rights

First Ever National Biovigilance Network in the U.S. Reaches $1 Million in Funding, Prepares for Fall Pilot Launch

Bethesda, Md. – The U.S. Biovigilance Network, the nation’s first and only nationwide data collection program for the transfusion and biological therapy communities, is preparing for a fall 2008 launch of its pilot. The Network has raised more than $1 million in private donations, including an $84,000 contribution by Fenwal Inc., one of the community’s medical technology leaders. It has also secured support from hospitals and blood centers across the country.

First Ever National Biovigilance Network in the U.S. Reaches $1 Million in Funding, Prepares for Fall Pilot Launch

From time to time I am subject to the populist siren song of Lou Dobbs and I do agree with some things he says.  Frequently, I am jolted back to reality by his affiliation with nativist groups or just his general grumpiness toward the left.  Regardless, I was happy to get the call to be on the show for a short interview about VA funding.  The guest host, Dom Giordiano, was great, but I must admit to some disappointment that the Lou himself wasn’t in.

In a further testament to the schizophrenic nature of our government and the role that unreasoning fear plays in the “War on Terror”, a great Greywolf intrepreter is being denied citizenship in the country he sacrificed for.

Polous served as a translator for U.S. Army Col. David Sutherland of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

Polous was “accepted better than any other interpreter by governors, tribal leaders, whomever we needed communication with,” Sutherland said.

In addition to his Purple Heart, Polous earned two Army Commendation Medals, a Combat Action Badge and gold combat spurs.

Decorated Soldier Sues for Citizenship.

The 3d Brigade Greywolves are one of the greatest units in the Army with caring leaders that both accomplish the mission and truly see to the welfare of their troops.  If COL Sutherland or CSM Felt says this guy fought hard and deserves a chance, then you can make book on it.  Funny how the US will trust that COL to control the fate of thousands of Americans but then not take his word when it comes to a person that looks or sounds a little different.

Despite all the marketing and modern segmentation, psychographics, and sales pitches, two wells remain the deepest:

Blood-donation age lowered in Minnesota, Virginia
Recent changes in the law in Minnesota and Virginia now allow 16-year-olds to donate blood, with parental consent. Twenty states now allow teenagers of this age to donate if they have parental consent, the Red Cross said, and two other states do not require the parental consent.  Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul) (7/1), WDBJ-TV (Roanoke, Va.) (7/1)

The other being, of course, the military. Not what the military collects (a small percentage of the whole), but what is collected FROM the military.  All of this collections of “low-hanging fruit”, while smart, masks the fact that America is not donating blood like she should.  The problem should be addressed and not just band-aided over.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”

–Abraham Lincoln,
16th U.S. president

We hit politicians pretty hard on some of their ideas and the motivations for them. Sometimes they do a little thing that has a big effect in reducing annoyance or straightening out problems, red tape, whatever. In that later category comes HR 6225 and a newly proposed amendment

Bill seeks to ease disruptions caused by military service, from CongressDaily

With family and job disruptions among the biggest concerns of military service members, the House Veterans Affairs Committee approved a bill Wednesday designed to ease some of the problems they face when they leave active duty and return home.

The bill would require colleges and universities to refund tuition for service members who could not complete their course work because they were called to active duty.

It would allow service members to cancel without penalty contracts such as those with cell phone companies.

and more.  You can read about it here:  Bill seeks to ease disruptions caused by military service (7/17/08) — www.GovernmentExecutive.com or go right to the committee’s web site here:  House Veterans Affairs Committee

5. H.R 6225, as amended – Improving SCRA and USERRA Protections Act of 2008 (Rep. Herseth Sandlin)

Provisions of this bill include:

Ensuring that equitable relief is available to all Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) victims when appropriate,

Protecting the student service member by capping interest at six percent during deployments, require institutes of higher learning to refund tuition and fees for unearned credit, and in addition, guarantee our servicemembers a place when they return to school,

Providing a servicemember 13 months to begin paying their student loans after an activation should they decide not to return to school immediately,

Amending the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to cover service contracts to allow our men and women in uniform with deployment orders to more easily terminate or suspend their service contracts without fee or penalty, and

Amending the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to allow a military spouse to claim the same state as the service member in regards to state and property taxes, and voter registration.

Basically, it clears up some real pain-in-the-ass stuff associated with deployments. It doesn’t change society in sweeping ways, doesn’t save or cost krillions of dollars, darn sure doesn’t make any industry special interest happy – it just makes it a little easier on those serving. And that is not a bad thing.

NYT reports on some of the inherent problems with a mostly volunteer service that makes money for top execs:

Problems Persist With Red Cross Blood Services

By STEPHANIE STROM

For 15 years, the American Red Cross has been under a federal court order to improve the way it collects and processes blood. Yet, despite $21 million in fines since 2003 and repeated promises to follow procedures intended to ensure the safety of the nation’s blood supply, it continues to fall short.

The situation has proved so frustrating that in January the commissioner of food and drugs attended a Red Cross board meeting — a first for a commissioner — and warned members that they could face criminal charges for their continued failure to bring about compliance, according to three Red Cross officials who attended the meeting and requested anonymity because Red Cross policy prohibits public discussion of its meetings with regulators.

Read the rest here: Problems Persist With Red Cross Blood Services – NYTimes.com

Although I am sure that they don’t want to even think about the transformation and upheaval of a new business model, splitting off blood collections into a national blood service could be the first step in a more realistic plan for collections into the 21st Century.