What really motivates us?
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
“Our Unusual Christmas Day”
From Yahoo features
http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/%E2%80%9Cour-unusual-christmas-day%E2%80%9D.html
By Natalie Blenford – Tue, Dec 13, 2011 18:23 GMT
Forget turkey and all the trimmings at three o’clock: four people tell us about their unusual plans for Christmas day.
The nurse
Chloë Gillen, 23, is a Staff Nurse in the Parrot Ward at Great Ormond Street hospital in London. She’ll be working from 7.30am to 8.30pm on Christmas day, and has worked on Christmas day for the past two years
“I’ll be looking after sick children at Great Ormond Street”
“I’ll get up at 6am on Christmas day and slip out of my house in South-East London before any of my family are awake. I’ll drive to Great Ormond Street, park the car and be on the Ward by 7.30am.
The children in my ward are being treated for neurological conditions such as brain tumours and some of them are terminally ill, but there’s always a festive atmosphere on Christmas day. Last year, the Fire Brigade came down with toys; a choir popped in to sing carols and the consultants brought their kids into the hospital too. Loads of relatives come down to celebrate with their children, so it will definitely be a full-house!
I help give Christmas stockings out at 8am – we make one for every child – and we help them unwrap their presents. We never do planned surgery on Christmas day, but last year there were a few emergency operations, and if this happens again, I’ll spend most of my shift giving antibiotics intravenously and monitoring post-operative patients. It can be busy and very intense.
I’ll grab a 45-minute lunch break anytime between one and six o’clock. The canteen lays on a Christmas buffet and we get a free voucher so we don’t have to pay, but it’s not as nice as a home-cooked dinner! The last hour of my shift will be spent writing reports, and then I’ll say goodbye to the kids at 8.30pm.
I’ll be home by 9pm, and usually my family is still sitting at the table eating Christmas dinner as they don’t start until 7.30pm. There are 15 people coming over to my parent’s house this year, including my boyfriend, so I’ll grab a plate of food, heat it up and join them.
My mum will start fussing over me, making sure I’ve got enough to eat, and then we’ll open presents. They wait all day to open theirs so we can all do it together, which is very sweet. I’m usually exhausted and will fall asleep on the sofa by 11pm. I’ll have worked 40 hours in three days by Christmas night, so I’m looking forward to Boxing Day which I have off!
My Christmas is definitely unusual, but it gives me a lot of perspective on my own life. I see other people’s reality, which makes me feel lucky. And my family are so proud of me for working in this job, which is really rewarding too.”
The non-Christian family
Esti and David Cook live in Hertfordshire with their three children, Elliot, 18, Shelley, 16 and Joel, 12. Because they’re Jewish, they don’t celebrate Christmas, although they borrow some of the more fun traditions…
“We’ll be lighting Chanukah candles before having Christmas lunch”
Esti says: “We’re a Jewish family and I’ve got my son’s Barmitzvah next year, so we don’t make a big deal out of Christmas, but we get together as a family and enjoy a festive meal.
My brother and his children come over to our house, we have an indulgent gathering with lots of wine, crackers and lovely food.
We like the romanticism of Christmas – the lights, the cards – but we don’t wake up on Christmas morning and say ‘happy Christmas everybody!’
The Jewish festival of Chanukah lasts for eight days and this year it coincides with Christmas, so we’ll light Chanukah candles before we sit down for dinner, once it gets dark. We’ll sing a special Chanukah song, and then maybe Shelley will get a present!
After dinner, we’ll take the dog for a walk and then watch Eastenders, Downton Abbey and all the other Christmas specials. Then we’ll all crawl up to bed about 11pm.
From a religious point of view, the day means nothing to us, but we live in England which is a Christian country, so of course we’re going to join in a little bit. As Shelley says, Christmas is everywhere so we just embrace it.”
Shelley says: “This year, I’ll wake up at 9am and run into my parent’s room to see if they’ve got me a present. I usually get my presents for Chanukah instead – but this year the two festivals coincide day so I’m hoping mum and dad will make an exception!
We’ll watch TV and have a big Christmas breakfast of eggs, sausages and muffins, then I’ll lay the table very nicely with Christmas crackers. I love crackers, and I’m sure that’s the one thing that that every single family has.
We’ll have dinner – maybe a kosher turkey, or salmon with roast potatoes, and then we’ll watch more TV.
I do feel envious of people who celebrate Christmas properly – it’s a nice thing to do, it’s cute. I like everything to do with Christmas. I love the decorations, lights and family time. I do Secret Santa with my Jewish girl friends and I really want a tree in my room!
Overall, I think Christmas has an effect on everyone, irrespective of whether you are religious. There’s always the Christmas spirit around.”
The volunteer
Charlotte Blyth, 37, a practise manager from Crystal Palace, will be volunteering for Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, on Christmas day. She manages the Crisis at Christmas centre at Deptford Reach in South-East London and will welcome approximately 120 guests on Christmas day.
“I’ll be making Christmas Day special for 120 homeless people”
“I’ve volunteered with Crisis at Christmas for the past ten years and I always work on December 25th. I’m up at 5.30am and at the centre by 7am, and I manage a team of 35 volunteers. My day starts with a team briefing at 7am. A lot of the volunteers are first-timers, so I explain that we can have anything from 15 to 120 guests coming to the centre, and that it’s our job to give them a special Christmas experience.
After the briefing, we get to work. We cook breakfast, buy newspapers, open the IT suite, set up the arts and crafts areas and get the Bingo ready. The first guests arrive at 8am, and our visiting experts come shortly afterwards. We have doctors, masseuses, hairdressers, piano players and choirs – they all donate their time to make our guests feel special.
At 12.30, we start cooking lunch. Crisis goes through 4,000 loaves of bread over the Christmas period – there is a lot of cooking to do! My shift finishes at 3pm, and I spend the next hour handing over to the night manager and doing a de-brief.
If I’m not too tired, I’ll drive out to Hertfordshire to see my dad and my sisters for the evening, but often I just go home to Crystal Palace and collapse. Volunteers are too busy to think about giving each other presents on Christmas day, but we do have a big get-together after Christmas where we celebrate properly.
I work at Crisis every day from 22nd to 30th December – I take annual leave from my job to be able to do this. But I don’t see it as a sacrifice at all.
I’m not the sort of person who can sit down and eat a box of chocolates and watch Eastenders – that’s not me. Christmas is about giving and the best thing you can give is your time. Honestly, this is the most rewarding job in the world and I’d miss it so much if I didn’t do it every year.”
http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/%E2%80%9Cour-unusual-christmas-day%E2%80%9D.html
By Natalie Blenford – Tue, Dec 13, 2011 18:23 GMT
Forget turkey and all the trimmings at three o’clock: four people tell us about their unusual plans for Christmas day.
The nurse
Chloë Gillen, 23, is a Staff Nurse in the Parrot Ward at Great Ormond Street hospital in London. She’ll be working from 7.30am to 8.30pm on Christmas day, and has worked on Christmas day for the past two years
“I’ll be looking after sick children at Great Ormond Street”
“I’ll get up at 6am on Christmas day and slip out of my house in South-East London before any of my family are awake. I’ll drive to Great Ormond Street, park the car and be on the Ward by 7.30am.
The children in my ward are being treated for neurological conditions such as brain tumours and some of them are terminally ill, but there’s always a festive atmosphere on Christmas day. Last year, the Fire Brigade came down with toys; a choir popped in to sing carols and the consultants brought their kids into the hospital too. Loads of relatives come down to celebrate with their children, so it will definitely be a full-house!
I help give Christmas stockings out at 8am – we make one for every child – and we help them unwrap their presents. We never do planned surgery on Christmas day, but last year there were a few emergency operations, and if this happens again, I’ll spend most of my shift giving antibiotics intravenously and monitoring post-operative patients. It can be busy and very intense.
I’ll grab a 45-minute lunch break anytime between one and six o’clock. The canteen lays on a Christmas buffet and we get a free voucher so we don’t have to pay, but it’s not as nice as a home-cooked dinner! The last hour of my shift will be spent writing reports, and then I’ll say goodbye to the kids at 8.30pm.
I’ll be home by 9pm, and usually my family is still sitting at the table eating Christmas dinner as they don’t start until 7.30pm. There are 15 people coming over to my parent’s house this year, including my boyfriend, so I’ll grab a plate of food, heat it up and join them.
My mum will start fussing over me, making sure I’ve got enough to eat, and then we’ll open presents. They wait all day to open theirs so we can all do it together, which is very sweet. I’m usually exhausted and will fall asleep on the sofa by 11pm. I’ll have worked 40 hours in three days by Christmas night, so I’m looking forward to Boxing Day which I have off!
My Christmas is definitely unusual, but it gives me a lot of perspective on my own life. I see other people’s reality, which makes me feel lucky. And my family are so proud of me for working in this job, which is really rewarding too.”
The non-Christian family
Esti and David Cook live in Hertfordshire with their three children, Elliot, 18, Shelley, 16 and Joel, 12. Because they’re Jewish, they don’t celebrate Christmas, although they borrow some of the more fun traditions…
“We’ll be lighting Chanukah candles before having Christmas lunch”
Esti says: “We’re a Jewish family and I’ve got my son’s Barmitzvah next year, so we don’t make a big deal out of Christmas, but we get together as a family and enjoy a festive meal.
My brother and his children come over to our house, we have an indulgent gathering with lots of wine, crackers and lovely food.
We like the romanticism of Christmas – the lights, the cards – but we don’t wake up on Christmas morning and say ‘happy Christmas everybody!’
The Jewish festival of Chanukah lasts for eight days and this year it coincides with Christmas, so we’ll light Chanukah candles before we sit down for dinner, once it gets dark. We’ll sing a special Chanukah song, and then maybe Shelley will get a present!
After dinner, we’ll take the dog for a walk and then watch Eastenders, Downton Abbey and all the other Christmas specials. Then we’ll all crawl up to bed about 11pm.
From a religious point of view, the day means nothing to us, but we live in England which is a Christian country, so of course we’re going to join in a little bit. As Shelley says, Christmas is everywhere so we just embrace it.”
Shelley says: “This year, I’ll wake up at 9am and run into my parent’s room to see if they’ve got me a present. I usually get my presents for Chanukah instead – but this year the two festivals coincide day so I’m hoping mum and dad will make an exception!
We’ll watch TV and have a big Christmas breakfast of eggs, sausages and muffins, then I’ll lay the table very nicely with Christmas crackers. I love crackers, and I’m sure that’s the one thing that that every single family has.
We’ll have dinner – maybe a kosher turkey, or salmon with roast potatoes, and then we’ll watch more TV.
I do feel envious of people who celebrate Christmas properly – it’s a nice thing to do, it’s cute. I like everything to do with Christmas. I love the decorations, lights and family time. I do Secret Santa with my Jewish girl friends and I really want a tree in my room!
Overall, I think Christmas has an effect on everyone, irrespective of whether you are religious. There’s always the Christmas spirit around.”
The volunteer
Charlotte Blyth, 37, a practise manager from Crystal Palace, will be volunteering for Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, on Christmas day. She manages the Crisis at Christmas centre at Deptford Reach in South-East London and will welcome approximately 120 guests on Christmas day.
“I’ll be making Christmas Day special for 120 homeless people”
“I’ve volunteered with Crisis at Christmas for the past ten years and I always work on December 25th. I’m up at 5.30am and at the centre by 7am, and I manage a team of 35 volunteers. My day starts with a team briefing at 7am. A lot of the volunteers are first-timers, so I explain that we can have anything from 15 to 120 guests coming to the centre, and that it’s our job to give them a special Christmas experience.
After the briefing, we get to work. We cook breakfast, buy newspapers, open the IT suite, set up the arts and crafts areas and get the Bingo ready. The first guests arrive at 8am, and our visiting experts come shortly afterwards. We have doctors, masseuses, hairdressers, piano players and choirs – they all donate their time to make our guests feel special.
At 12.30, we start cooking lunch. Crisis goes through 4,000 loaves of bread over the Christmas period – there is a lot of cooking to do! My shift finishes at 3pm, and I spend the next hour handing over to the night manager and doing a de-brief.
If I’m not too tired, I’ll drive out to Hertfordshire to see my dad and my sisters for the evening, but often I just go home to Crystal Palace and collapse. Volunteers are too busy to think about giving each other presents on Christmas day, but we do have a big get-together after Christmas where we celebrate properly.
I work at Crisis every day from 22nd to 30th December – I take annual leave from my job to be able to do this. But I don’t see it as a sacrifice at all.
I’m not the sort of person who can sit down and eat a box of chocolates and watch Eastenders – that’s not me. Christmas is about giving and the best thing you can give is your time. Honestly, this is the most rewarding job in the world and I’d miss it so much if I didn’t do it every year.”
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Kids react: Bullying
A YouTube series that shows a group of children viral videos, and records their reaction. This episode was of more serious nature than their usual programs. I am struck by the maturity of the children.
If any child is getting bullied, and happens to read this:
As cliched as it sounds - do not suffer alone. You are not the first, and unfortunately, nor will you be the last to be bullied. Tell someone. Someone you trust. Different people will deal with bullying in different ways. For a few years in school I was bullied. It was awful. I felt like it would never end. I told teachers, which meant it stopped for a while, then would restart. I wish I went to different teachers. It only ended when I answered back (thanking them for their taunts - that they didn't expect). Now these are memories from a previous time. You will get over it.
More importantly, if you are witness to bullying, do not stay silent. Your silence contributes to the bullying. You are in a position of power. Your silence gives the bullies power to continue what they are doing to whoever they wish. But your voice will take away this power. Speak up. Tell a teacher in private. They won't say who told, and you maintain your anonimity, and thus prevent this from occuring.
If you are the bully. Take a long hard look at yourself. You may be hurting. Or hurting others may temporalily make you feel better about your self. But I'll warn, life has a funny way - what goes around, comes around. There is nothing brave, big or remotely popular about being mean. Others will dislike you for it, and will forever remember you in a bad way. You do not need to be like that. Being nice doesn't mean being weak. It just means being nice. You will feel good about yourself when you are caring and polite towards others. It's hard work to get that point from where you are now. You will need to rebuild trust with others. But in the long run, is well worth it.
And if a teacher is reading this - take bullying seriously. Those 'little' disagreements are part of a bigger picture, having a long term impact on the children in front of you. They will carry through those memories and experieces into adulthood. You are in a position of great responsibility helping to raise society's next generation of young adults. Some of my best teachers instilled a sense of social responsibility in myself and my peers. Some of my worst teachers took no interest in even the teaching itself.
If any child is getting bullied, and happens to read this:
As cliched as it sounds - do not suffer alone. You are not the first, and unfortunately, nor will you be the last to be bullied. Tell someone. Someone you trust. Different people will deal with bullying in different ways. For a few years in school I was bullied. It was awful. I felt like it would never end. I told teachers, which meant it stopped for a while, then would restart. I wish I went to different teachers. It only ended when I answered back (thanking them for their taunts - that they didn't expect). Now these are memories from a previous time. You will get over it.
More importantly, if you are witness to bullying, do not stay silent. Your silence contributes to the bullying. You are in a position of power. Your silence gives the bullies power to continue what they are doing to whoever they wish. But your voice will take away this power. Speak up. Tell a teacher in private. They won't say who told, and you maintain your anonimity, and thus prevent this from occuring.
If you are the bully. Take a long hard look at yourself. You may be hurting. Or hurting others may temporalily make you feel better about your self. But I'll warn, life has a funny way - what goes around, comes around. There is nothing brave, big or remotely popular about being mean. Others will dislike you for it, and will forever remember you in a bad way. You do not need to be like that. Being nice doesn't mean being weak. It just means being nice. You will feel good about yourself when you are caring and polite towards others. It's hard work to get that point from where you are now. You will need to rebuild trust with others. But in the long run, is well worth it.
And if a teacher is reading this - take bullying seriously. Those 'little' disagreements are part of a bigger picture, having a long term impact on the children in front of you. They will carry through those memories and experieces into adulthood. You are in a position of great responsibility helping to raise society's next generation of young adults. Some of my best teachers instilled a sense of social responsibility in myself and my peers. Some of my worst teachers took no interest in even the teaching itself.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Sunday, December 04, 2011
UK govt plans to release patient healthcare records to private companies
Dear UK govt,
An essential part of healthcare provision is the guarantee of confidentiality. This principle stems centuries. Patient data is not a 'product'. It is not available wholesale to be sold to the highest bidder. It is confidential personal information. It does not belong to anyone other than the individual in question. This information is given to a health care provider in confidence, and with the understanding that this personal information is used to help the individual patient. That personal information is not to be utilised for any other purpose.
If the patient is informed about a specific research, and they actively choose to be a part of this specific research, and they give informed consent specifically for this purpose, then it is ethical for their personal information to be used for that specific research, and solely for that research. This system already exists.
I stress, healthcare is not a business. It is a service. Hence, National Health Service - not National Health Business. The 'Facebook' approach to personal information is not an ethical approach. I hope those in government have enough common sense to realise this. If they do not have the sense to realise this, I hope those in the legal and justice profession would be kind enough to explain this to the politicians.
Kind regards,
A Doctor
The article below
NHS Records Access For Life Science Firm
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/nhs-records-access-life-science-firms-034859906.htmlNHS patient records would be shared with private health care companies including firms which test on animals under new government plans.
David Cameron will promise closer links between the health service and the life science sector in a speech tomorrow.
The Prime Minister is expected to say that the controversial industry could become a powerhouse of the British economy if regulation can be eased.
It currently has an annual turnover of £50bn and already employs 160,000 people across 4,500 companies.
It is thought the proposals would also give private firms more freedom to run clinical trials inside NHS hospitals.
However patients' groups are unlikely to support the move amid concerns about confidentiality and the security of people's details.
A government spokesman said all efforts would be made to protect the privacy of patients:
"The life sciences industry is of vital importance to the UK economy and we are committed to greater collaboration with the NHS to ensure that patients can get faster access to valuable treatments.
"All necessary safeguards would be in place to ensure protection of patients' details - the data will be anonymised and the process will be carefully and robustly regulated.
"Healthcare charities, researchers and clinicians are calling for this action in order to improve research, innovation and the development of medicines in the UK."
The decision is also likely to be unpopular with animal rights groups who would be unhappy with firms who test on animals being granted access to NHS information.
Mr Cameron's speech is also expected to outline plans to grant cancer sufferers and other seriously ill patients early access to new drugs before they are fully licensed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)