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Broadband...people will die because of lack of broadband
Robert Gillio MD • Apr 01, 2020
We begged for help 2 years ago. Now it is clear to me . Broadband absence puts our neighbors and health heroes at risk Turn it on for your neighbors.
This picture, video, and article are from the past, courtesy of WHYY PBS, when I was in a leadership position in a small rural hospital. We begged for help 2 years ago knowing that we could not really offer meaningful home management for CHF, COPD, diabetes, mental health or other chronic diseases due to lack of cellular, cable, or WIFI broadband access at speeds that allowed a virtual visit. Myself and others on the medical staff could not practice telemedicine from home. We cannot reach our patients, arrange for an Uber, or find where they live with GPS in our ambulance. Their kids can't go to school now, even with their new Chromebooks or iPADS bought with tax dollars, because their is no access after school and now their is no school
An opportunity for value based care for the whole community provided by visionary DOH Secretary Rachel Levine was lost as the hospital system gave up the fight locally and eliminated the population health position and is practicing fee for service medicine. Their survival is optimizing the profits on visits, procedures, and medications dispensed, reducing staff or other costs where possible, and increasing the number of visits. Without broadband, this drives a business imperative that makes it hard to innovate or change. I hope this works for them because our town and 100's like it must do this to survive. With the pandemic, they may find themselves understaffed and overwhelmed for many reasons. One of which is broadband. Home screening assessments, education, emergency communications, home management versus using high risk nursing homes, and staffing certain roles remotely are all impossible.
I am not a Republican or a Democrat, and I try not to be a hypocrite. . Our Governor gets it. Governor Wolfe is a brave leader in proposing massive funding increases for broadband for all citizens in the state and is treating it like we once advanced electricity access for all Americans. As we recover, find the ways to vote for broadband infrastructure. Push for local decisions on how to spend recovery money, to invest in the infrastructure that would have kept many of our infected patients at home for much of their management and not put in our waiting rooms and clinics to infect our neighbors, vulnerable other patients, and staff.
If you have internet, ask your provider why they did not come down your lane, or cul de sac or challenge neighborhood street, as they went just blocks away past the better neighborhoods or business accounts. They have leapfrogged and cherry picked who they serve. Their economic model is also flawed. Would you pay for 100 gallons of gas a day knowing that most days you will not need just a few. Or electricity or natural gas based on what is available versus what you use. Since you are paying for it now, consider sharing it immediately....so a neighbor can apply for a job, go to school, or access their health portal. Set up a guest wifi with password on your router and invite trusted neighbors or high school students to hitchhike for awhile. You have excess capacity, especially every minute you are not using it. Be a force for heath. Share it.
#ForceforHealth #RachaelLevine #GovernorThomasWolfe #broadband @whyy
The Marstronaut in Training program will begin this spring, starting to prepare middle and high school students for a career that could include being one of the first astronauts on Mars....a Marstronaut. You might want to watch as we humans land there today with NASA broadcasting beginning at 230 eastern.
Photo Credit CSPAN. VIDEO link. TEDTalks Young people are a Force for CHANGE.... Let's have the courage to realize that in our moments of darkness..."there is always light if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it." Its time, young people, to "merge mercy with might, and might with right" and do the right thing to help us show compassion for all, and protect each other leading with the light of our example to wear the mask, get the shot, feed the hungry, and be kind as we come out of this challenge by making it the opportunity to create a new movement.. Be the force for health, for safety, for kindness, for change. Connect withJoin us at @ Betheforce.health .
PHOTO AND GRAPHIC CREDIT: DR. JAY BHATT HEALTH EQUITY IS A COMPLEX ISSUE. If you are not healthy, it's hard to help others or make change. Taking personal responsibility to understand issues YOU CAN CONTROL is crucial. Learn about health literacy social determinants of health, and the history of racism in America with the free Force for Health Advance the Dream Basics Group. Join and take more responsibility for your own health outcomes controlling the things you can as you work for change. #theforceforhealth #advance the dream JOIN HERE
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