July 30th, 2009
As a writer of fiction late in my life I appreciate all of the learning opportunities given to me by the insurance industrial complex, the State of Georgia Medicaid Program, and all of the private manage care contractors who have moved clinical note taking to the next level of justifying financial compensation for life giving services. As a practicing clinician for the past 40 years I was trained to write notes to pass on to other clinicians as a science based method to solve problems and to further the science of healing and prevention of illness. Science based clinical writing has morphed into “health care record keeping” for the financial support of the business not the provision of providing care for broken people. I have learned that there has become a shift in defining the patient as the financially ailing health care system not a sick patient. Sadly my learning curve was too shallow and too slow. In not keeping up with the financial priorities of the now financially defunct Fulton- Dekalb Hospital Authority I was determined to provide patient care for the public not financial care for a public authority my position was terminated. Since my leaving the health care industry for the money managers and lawyers to provide health care for the public I realized that writing fiction was what was asked of me as a practicing clinician. Embellished health care outcomes much like any other marketing venture always trumps reality in selling health care products and services. For several years I provided family preservation services for rural Georgia families at risk . The Georgia Department of Family Services provided contractual funding for my services. I learned very early that to recieve compensation for my work, good writing of the half filed glass of care paid more than plain clinical writing of any half emptiness associated with the real world of family care. Utilizing the learning principle of embellished half full fictional writing I have created the literary character of Fredrick Deal. Fred is a psychiatric social worker and mental health advocate at the mythical Atlanta hospital the Jefferson Eugene Butler Memorial Hospital (named after a civil war hero and post civil war businessman). Fredrick Deal was introduced early on in his career to the affluent very self-empowered women of the Atlanta Women’s Civic Improvement Association including his future Buckhead wife Amanda Reardon providing civic services to improve the lives of Atlanta’ s homeless in the late 70s and early 80s. As I finish up my novel “A Failed State In Buckhead” I am grateful to all of those QA Nurses, Insurance money managers, private contractors working for the State of Georgia for teaching me the basics of writing fiction as I moved from the skill set required to write effective clinical notes to money generating health care records.
I wish you well in your bebaquest journey no matter the path you are on- Bert
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July 26th, 2009
The platform has been built and I have been instructed on the ways to leap into cyber-space. You are a witness to watching one person evolve from a highly functional articulate literary male who has moved from a note pad, manual typewriter, electric typewriter, word processor and now broadcasting my thoughts into cyberspace. This is a beginning of a journey for me I wish to share with you and for a chance we can ask with a collective voice “where are we as individuals respecting each other differences finding common ground to move ahead in the spirit of emotional connection with one another feeling accomplished in all that we do. I am not asking for a large global movement or some dramatic shift in how we as brothers and sisters of the globe relate to each other. I am asking you the reader to play with me in cyber-space to figure out what is going on in the world around us specifically why so many social,economic, political systems have become so dramatically hostile to just plan folk who just want to work for a living and provide for their family members. Plain folk such as you and I who see gaps in how we are treated everyday and how those gaps are reported to us everyday in the western media.
An example of the “gap” I mention is the recent arrest of Dr. Henry Louis Gates distinguished professor at Harvard. Give me a break everyone including the police Sgt. Dr. Gates, and President Obama are wrong on this one. As a 62 year old white male, accomplished health care provider, Sr. military Officer having to stand at parade rest , remaining silent, holding my tongue and my hands to avoid getting arrested when the police officer was in an impossible situation in crowd control and traffic control in very difficult social situation where there was a misunderstanding. If I had not been able to stand down to give each of us a moment to collect our wits I would have been arrested and the members of the Fulton County Sheriffs Dept. of the City of Atlanta would have been in court for violation of their own protocols. ”Come on” Mr.President and Dr. Gates lets get real. You guys are high powered folks no mater your race but most citizens regardless of color would be arrested in that situation. The gap I wish to talk about is why there has been no mention of how most people expect too much from the police department, most police personnel as like the military personnel in the Iraq and Afghanistan are tired of being taken for granite, and most people such myself know that regardless of being right or wrong, law abiding or law breaking the local police authority is always right even if they are wrong, and their wrongs are never righted unless a citizen goes to court and the only people who benefit from any court system today are the lawyers, the court staff who are paid, and the judges who believe they have a role of service to the community but do not understand what community they service.
Gaps in everyone being treated fairly, gaps in the media in their reporting of who is not being treated fairly, gaps in a justice system that treats very few fairly except the officers of the court and the judges the politcal stars of the judicial show is one example of what will be discussed in my blog “bebaquest” other issues to be discussed is gaps in health care and why is it so expensive, socialism versus public services such as sanitation, prevention of communicable diseases, providing quality food and water for our nourishment, and health care who can least afford it day laborers, food service workers, and temporary laborers . In addition to the gaps in health care, public services and the court system “bebaquest will let the reader in on the developing story lines and character development in the development of characters in the book under construction “A Failed State In Buckhead” a story of an idealistic clinician and an Army Reserve Medical Service Corp officer who marries above his station in life and is in a neighborhood of dreams but lives in a pit of disastrous relationships.
Pleased that you still with me at this looking forward to hearing from you as we begin this journey.
bebaquesting
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