"They’ll be jobs building the wind turbines and solar panels and fuel-efficient cars that will lower our dependence on foreign oil and modernizing our costly health care system that will save us billions of dollars and countless lives.""Modernizing" our costly health care system?- President Barack Obama's First Press Conference, 9 February 2009
Here's a small sampling of our health care system that needs modernizing, right here in the Chicago metro area:
You decide, is our health care system in desperate need of modernization or is this just self-stimulatory behavior?
Prentice Women's Hosptial, Northwestern University Hosptial, Chicago, IL
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL
University of Chicago Medical Center, and Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Sherman Hospital, Elgin, IL
Edward Hosptial and Health Services, Naperville, IL
"We find ourselves in a rare moment where the citizens of our country and all countries are watching and waiting for us to lead. It’s a responsibility that this generation did not ask for, but one that we must accept for the future of our children and our grandchildren.
The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose. That’s the test facing the United States of America in this winter of our hardship, and it is our duty as leaders and citizens to stay true to that purpose in the weeks and months ahead."- President Barack Obama, 9 Feb 2009
-Wes
3 comments:
Wes,
Bravo! Your point is well made. We have the medical arms race amongst our various healthcare entitities that will no doubt be slowing now that the economy has hit the skids. I just drove by the gleaming new addition to Luthern General hospital that looms over Dempster Ave as well.
Unfortunaely, it is an uneven modernization that leaves hospitals in the Chicago area like Mercy, Mt Sainai, and Loretto without their own projects due to an inordinate burden of caring for the poor and an inability to advertise their gleaming new, waterfall enhanced lobby, like the players you mention. The only one you mention that doesn't reside in a more well to do community is The University of Chicago who I am sure you have read is busy trying to keep those pesky uninsured patients out of its emergency room by sending them packing to community clinics. I believe they have plans for a water feature of their own called a moat that will surround their hospital, with a drawbridge that will be raised when you flash your insurance card. A perfect partner for the hosptital where you and I ply our trade.
I don't know, I thought he meant modernize healthcare so that it is more costeffective (in a good way of course), everyone gets coverage, and the payment systems were symplified. Maybe I am being naive or overreading. I assume the real estate/concierge issues in healthcare are more related to "improving the experience" and reminding everyone how much more important the institutions are than you, a mere mortal, who happens to be sick.
catherine
From viewing the Future of Sherman Health website and blog as well we passing by the new Hospital on Randall almost everyday, they are clearly demonstrating their dedication to improving health care in the greater fox valley area. http://thefutureofsherman.wordpress.com/
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