Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s all about love

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I like and am grateful for the part of me that cries while watching movies like the one I watched this morning, for the third or four time, “Love Actually.” I needed a break from a patch of particularly grueling and somewhat consuming writing. A beautiful break it was too! I still have the tear streaked cheeks to prove it.

This 2003 British movie directed by Richard Curtis and too many delightful (and really good) actors to name is, some would say, sentimental, certainly romantic, maybe even corny….but you know what? I love sentimental and I love romantic and I love corny.  And, I love watching people’s dreams come true. It makes me, in a word, happy. Love is always part of happy.

Love answers to its own timing. It is not beholden to any age group or economic class or culture and it cannot be fabricated. Like sunlight and moonlight, love really is everywhere.

To the skeptics and naysayers who poo-poo this kind of thing, who think it or label  as somehow being less worthy, of less artistic value, say, than a movie of gut-wrenching content and proportions, I say, Phooey!

Love and dreams coming true are as much a part of life as anything else. And, like love, I don’t  for a moment think creativity is beholden to any age group, economic class, or culture. It cannot be fabricated. Creativity answers to its own timing – just like love.

NY State’s assault on NYers with brain injuries continues unchecked

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The New York State Department of Health is refusing to release the names of the people  drafting the new manual for the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver.  To his credit, Deputy DOH Commissioner Mark Kissinger has revealed the state’s  opinion of New Yorkers with brain injuries, particularly those participating in the TBI Waiver. He ignores them. He now ignores written requests for the names of those DOH staff (and contract employees, if any, are involved) designing the TBI Waiver Manual. Moreover, the DOH, thus far,  has not honored a Freedom of Information Law request for the names filed by this writer.

The TBI Waiver is a Medicaid program designed to keep those with brain injury disabilities living in the community and to help others return to the community. Kissinger, who has more than once and no doubt will again profess DOH’s desire to work with all stakeholders – has proven that assertion to be glaringly disingenuous. It’s too bad because the likes of the Brain Injury Association of NY State, the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council, Disability Rights New York (the state’s protection and advocacy agency),  the Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition, along with people with brain injury disabilities, their  families a friends, experts in the field of neurology, and more,  are all willing and eager to work collaboratively with the DOH. The DOH is not interested in collaborating with anyone.

Disrespecting New Yorkers  with brain injury disabilities is nothing new for the DOH. Things have gotten even worse under Governor Andrew Cuomo. Several, who have asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal from the governor, have said Cuomo is something of a bully. I’m not surprised. It would be nice to learn otherwise, but actions speak louder than words and given that Cuomo has a well-earned and even admirable reputation for keeping close tabs on all state agencies, it is impossible to believe he is unaware of the DOH’s disrespectful and ruthless treatment of NYers with brain injury disabilities, not to mention the similar treatment the state inflicts on those waiver providers struggling to provide the best services for their clients. There has not been an increase in reimbursement rates for them since 2007 and providers receive zero reimbursement for training their staff in brain injury.

All this brings us back to the DOH’s refusal to release the names of those designing the TBI Manual. I suspect one of the underpinnings for the refusal is this: those developing the manual have no expertise whatever in the brain or brain injury. A sickening and scary truth.

Please don’t think this is the only example of the DOH savaging the rights of New Yorkers with brain injuries.  Until November 2011,  if you filed a complaint related to the TBI Waiver you were never ever informed of the outcome of the complaint. If you were a waiver participant and your rights were denied in some way or you’d been abused or had your belongings stolen by a staff member and you filed a complaint with the DOH, you were never told the outcome of the complaint. The DOH acknowledges this. And, when it claimed to have changed this policy, agreeing to inform participants of the outcomes of their complaints, one DOH official admitted  the DOH was unable to provide the outcomes for the thousands of complaints previously filed. Given the waiver came to New York in 1995 were talking about complaints filed over a span of 16 years whose outcomes will never be provided to the complainants. Interestingly,  the DOH official who openly admitted the DOH was unable to provide the outcomes to these complaints was none other than Deputy Commissioner Mark Kissinger, the very same DOH official who now ignores requests for information New Yorkers legally have a right to.

You wonder if the likes of Kissinger and Cuomo forget they work for New Yorkers. Perhaps they simply don’t care.

NY State’s assault on NYers with brain injuries continues unchecked

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The New York State Department of Health is refusing to release the names of the people  drafting the new manual for the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver.  To his credit, Deputy DOH Commissioner Mark Kissinger has revealed the state’s  opinion of New Yorkers with brain injuries, particularly those participating in the TBI Waiver. He ignores them. He now ignores written requests for the names of those DOH staff (and contract employees, if any, are involved) designing the TBI Waiver Manual. Moreover, the DOH, thus far,  has not honored a Freedom of Information Law request for the names filed by this writer.

The TBI Waiver is a Medicaid program designed to keep those with brain injury disabilities living in the community and to help others return to the community. Kissinger, who has more than once and no doubt will again profess DOH’s desire to work with all stakeholders – has proven that assertion to be glaringly disingenuous. It’s too bad because the likes of the Brain Injury Association of NY State, the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council, Disability Rights New York (the state’s protection and advocacy agency),  the Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition, along with people with brain injury disabilities, their  families a friends, experts in the field of neurology, and more,  are all willing and eager to work collaboratively with the DOH. The DOH is not interested in collaborating with anyone.

Disrespecting New Yorkers  with brain injury disabilities is nothing new for the DOH. Things have gotten even worse under Governor Andrew Cuomo. Several, who have asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal from the governor, have said Cuomo is something of a bully. I’m not surprised. It would be nice to learn otherwise, but actions speak louder than words and given that Cuomo has a well-earned and even admirable reputation for keeping close tabs on all state agencies, it is impossible to believe he is unaware of the DOH’s disrespectful and ruthless treatment of NYers with brain injury disabilities, not to mention the similar treatment the state inflicts on those waiver providers struggling to provide the best services for their clients. There has not been an increase in reimbursement rates for them since 2007 and providers receive zero reimbursement for training their staff in brain injury.

All this brings us back to the DOH’s refusal to release the names of those designing the TBI Manual. I suspect one of the underpinnings for the refusal is this: those developing the manual have no expertise whatever in the brain or brain injury. A sickening and scary truth.

Please don’t think this is the only example of the DOH savaging the rights of New Yorkers with brain injuries.  Until November 2011,  if you filed a complaint related to the TBI Waiver you were never ever informed of the outcome of the complaint. If you were a waiver participant and your rights were denied in some way or you’d been abused or had your belongings stolen by a staff member and you filed a complaint with the DOH, you were never told the outcome of the complaint. The DOH acknowledges this. And, when it claimed to have changed this policy, agreeing to inform participants of the outcomes of their complaints, one DOH official admitted  the DOH was unable to provide the outcomes for the thousands of complaints previously filed. Given the waiver came to New York in 1995 were talking about complaints filed over a span of 16 years whose outcomes will never be provided to the complainants. Interestingly,  the DOH official who openly admitted the DOH was unable to provide the outcomes to these complaints was none other than Deputy Commissioner Mark Kissinger, the very same DOH official who now ignores requests for information New Yorkers legally have a right to.

You wonder if the likes of Kissinger and Cuomo forget they work for New Yorkers. Perhaps they simply don’t care.

My blood’s boiling

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It is rare indeed when I get so angry the urge to be physically violent takes over. I got that angry (and then some) this morning when I read a Facebook post from the person I love and trust the most on the planet announcing he was on his way the VA Emergency Room because he’d received a letter from the VA giving him a hearing date so he can prove he is missing his legs. Michael Sulsona,a Staten Island resident, is a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran. A once (and always) United States Marine. He is an award winning playwright and screenwriter. He lost both  legs above-the-knee during the war in January 1971 when he stepped on a mine. Recently the VA has taken a merciless run at him and, no doubt, many others. First, it sends him notice informing him  it wants to reduce his disability because, it explains, he is only missing his feet. He recently quipped, “Hey, no one whose ever met me has called me the guy who’s missing his feet.” 

When it comes to veterans who’ve experienced the flat-out horror of combat, I don’t give a damn who you are; I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Liberal, Libertarian, Independent, Tea Party, Coffee Party or no party, you (and I) are well-advised to show respect (I think most Americans do) and treat them with respect. Don’t even think about pretending you understand what they’ve been through.You don’t because you can’t. And, when you see any of them getting brutalized by the system, like the entire country is seeing now in the latest disgrace of veterans suffering and dying because of bogus Veterans Administration waiting lists, you should speak up.  Also, if you think the mistreatment of veterans goes on under this White House’s watch only, you’re dreaming. It’s gone on for years under Republican and Democrat administrations.

Were there justice for veterans like Michael, never again would they have to worry about receiving quality healthcare in a timely manner. Never again would they have to worry about having enough money to pay the bills and function comfortably in life. Never again would any of them find themselves in the humiliating position of having to prove the wounds of war, particularly when those wounds are so glaringly evident.

With the Northern Berkshire YMCA, it’s a problem of leadership

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As reported here on April 25 the Northern Berkshire YMCA in North Adams is putting the healthy and safety of its members and staff at risk. Given what’s transpired since, there is little reason to believe real change is around the corner.

The problems:

  • There are no phones or emergency buttons  in any of the locker rooms that would allow a YMCA member to get help in the event of a medical emergency in a timely manner. This means, Mr. Ihne and the YMCA’s board, headed by board president David Brown, are telling families that if their children are using the boys or girls locker room and something goes wrong: a fall, a seizure, some other medical emergency, they better have a cell phone on them, stay in emotional control, and call 911, or, as Mr. Ihne said in an April 17 letter to me, they can yell for the lifeguard (who very likely would not be able to hear them).
  • After the United States Department of Justice inspected city-owned buildings for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) violations,  a  2012  settlement was reached. Since the April 25 piece the family locker room has been upgraded to ADA standards and grab bars have been put in half of the men’s shower area. Steps in the right direction. However, neither Mr. Ihne or Mr. Brown will say when grab bars will be put up in the other shower areas and the bathroom stalls throughout the building. They’ve been asked repeatedly.
  • And, as reported here on April 25, an individual took suddenly ill at the YMCA early one weekday morning losing control of his bowels in the pool area and in the locker room area. When YMCA members the next day noticed the area had at best been damped mop but was clearly not cleaned and disinfected, Mr. Ihne and Mr. Brown refused to say what protocol had been followed. Mr. Ihne declared a protocol had been followed but as of this writing, refuses to tell members what the protocol was. Given that the badly sick individual took ill in the pool area all locker rooms as well as the pool area should have been cleaned and disinfected.

If you thought the fact the city owned the building would prompt the city to take action, think again. Mayor Richard Alcombright has said he has great faith in Justin Ihne, the YMCA’s executive director and a major part of the problem.  Councilwoman Nancy Bullet said it is an internal matter. The office of State Senator Ben Dowling has, to its credit, been attentive to the situation.

Mr. Ihne and Councilwoman Jennifer Breen are in a league of their own. When Mr. Ihne (as well as the council members, Mr. Brown and others) were sent two  pictures (see below) of the entrance to the men’s sauna, only inches from where some of the man’s fecal matter had been discharged, pictures taken after Mr. Ihne said the area had been cleaned, Mr. Ihne at first denied the sauna entrance was anywhere near the problem. When he was told he was wrong, that those of us who were there saw the fecal matter right in front of the sauna door, Mr. Ihne responded with a burst of stellar leadership and announced he was blocking this advocate’s emails. However, Mr. Ihne was thoroughly outdone when it comes to outlandish and, frankly, childish responses, by Councilwoman Breen. She signaled her concern for the health and safety of the Y’s members and staff by asking not to be included in the email discussion. When asked why she did run for office if things like this didn’t concern her, she responded by sending me an email praising Mr.Ihne and calling me names. I’m told this kind of behavior is not out of character for Ms. Breen.

Here are the pictures of the entrance to the men’s sauna taken after the so-called clean-up.

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