Rosie is a very special dog. She is the first judicially approved courtroom dog in the State of New York. Like any assistance dogs, part of Rosie’s duties are silent companionship during difficult times. Rosie works in the court system in New York, where this past June she sat beside a fifteen year old girl in the witness stand. Rosie’s soft coat and sympathetic gaze no doubt provided much needed comfort to the girl, who Duchess County Court judge Stephen L. Greller described as being traumatized and facing a defendant who Judge Greller described as threatening. Going on a 1994 New York appeals court ruling that allowed for a teddy bear to accompany a child witness, Judge Greller allowed Rosie to sit with the young teen as she testified.

The defense for the trial has now submitted written arguments that Rosie “infected the trial with such unfairness”, stating that the defendant’s constitutional rights were violated by the presence of the Golden Retriever. In a New York Times article on the incident, the defense lawyers objection to Rosie raise questions as to how the jury was to know if Rosie was comforting the young girl as she confronted a guilty defendant, or if the dog were responding to the stress of lying under oath. One defense lawyer raising the further point that he was unable to cross-examine Rosie.

The case was Rosie’s first court appearance and ended in a guilty judgement in June, the defendant sentenced to 25 years to life for the rape and impregnation of his 15 year old daughter. Since June, Rosie was part of a second case where she provided companionship to two girls, ages 5 and 11, who’s mother had been murdered. The defendant plead guilty to the killing, when, according to his lawyer, it became clear that the children were going to testify.

The Times article also brings up a case of a developmentally disabled man in his late 50′s who was aided by another courtroom dog in testifying against a man that tried to steal from him. The dog in that case, a Labrador retriever, has made over 50 appearances in court. The dog provided companionship to the man in a situation where he felt completely alone save for the comforting Labrador.

Dogs have been proven to provide comfort. They do not judge people, they do not have any of the judgmental opinions that a person might think other people might feel toward something that is said. They keep secrets whispered to them with unparallelled mastery.  And they have an ability to make people feel more confident in themselves, simply by the silent gentle aura of their own strength supporting the person who reaches out to thread their fingers into the dog’s soft coat.

I think that legal assistance dogs for witnesses is a great idea, most especially when it comes to traumatized children, and would love to hear anyone else’s perspective on dogs in the witness stand.

I found myself on Bloomberg.com this morning as I was idly prowling the Google news feeds on information about senior health care. What did I find that sent me to Bloomberg?

Euthanasia Scare Shows a Tough Sell on Health Care

Bloomberg – Heidi Przybyla – 46 minutes ago?
6 (Bloomberg) — Representative Tom Perriello said he was approached by two senior citizens who were trembling with fear. The source of their terror, …

Yeah, I think you can see why I had to read more on that one, huh? It seems that the two senior citizens in question had been given a leaflet that was supposed to be a copy of Obama’s health care plan.  The leaflet is said to have been given to them by some religious group, but the article fails to say which one it was, nor can I locate a copy of said leaflet online.  I would really like to see this thing if anyone knows where it can be viewed.

I find it a bit incredulous that someone would pass out something to the elderly that tells them that the government is going to start euthanizing seniors because of the difficulty of taking care of them. WTF?!!?!??

Okay, first off, let me point people in the right direction, okay?

I tracked the bill down at Thomas – H.R.676 – United States National Health Care Act or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act (Introduced in House) The link should lead you to the index page for what the bill has in it, if not then go to Thomas.loc.gov and search for H.R. 676 to locate it.

The first thing that I noticed in the bill is Sec. 101 Part B (bold added by me):

(b) Registration- Individuals and families shall receive a United States National Health Insurance Card in the mail, after filling out a United States National Health Insurance application form at a health care provider. Such application form shall be no more than 2 pages long.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t that say that you need to opt in for this program? You are not automatically tossed off your current insurance provider and forced to let the government determine your fate, you pick up paperwork at your doctor’s office and fill out a form (not over 2 pages long) to request to be included in the government’s health care services.

I strongly suggest that people take a bit of time to at least scan the bill before they listen to any of these groups that scream, one way or the other, about what it says. The “they’re euthanizing the elderly!” scare seems to have come from a proposal to allow for people to be reimbursed for a consultation with their doctor about end-of-life treatment and the preparation of living wills. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but… aren’t people that want to talk about such things already talking to their health care providers about those things? What is the problem with a visit for that being a reimbursable expense? And what makes the continued discussion of it by those who want to talk about it an effort by the government to euthanize the elderly?

I have no idea what the health care plan would do for me personally, although I do intend to read it when I get some time to focus on it and sort through what it says, I can tell you that at the moment I have nothing. I’m one of those non-existant ones that I keep hearing about on television, you know the “Oh there aren’t that many uninsured people in America!” ones. I have talked to a few places about getting health insurance and been told “Oh, oops, no, we don’t offer coverage for your age range where you live.  So sorry.” I can’t afford to go on my own, I’m still trying to pay off the last emergency visit to the local walk-in clinic at $10 a month payments. What happens if something serious happens and I end up in the emergency room? Would it not make more sense that people like me, that can go in for a $100 checkup once a year and stay healthy, to be able to afford to do so than to have a serious condition creep up undetected and end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in care?

I’m a caregiver.  I would rather prevent something than try to clean up the aftermath of ignoring that it is there. I also would like to throttle the dolts that decided it was a good idea to stand on a street corner telling senior citizens that they are going to be killed in favor of youthful 20-somethings.

As family caregivers, we are the first line of defense for our care recipients when it comes to protecting them from things such as the flu, so with the current concerns about Swine Flu going around, I thought it would be a good idea to do a little research about just what Swine Flu is and what family caregivers should know about keeping their care recipients safe and healthy.

Swine Flu, or H1N1 Influenza, is a respiratory disease of pigs that is caused by type A influenza virus. This is a common flu among swine, and is most often seen in outbreaks during the fall and winter months – just as the normal flu season for humans. The H1N1 was first isolated from a pig in 1930, so it’s been around a good while.

H1N1 is, like all influenza viruses, constantly changing and adapting itself. Since pigs are able to carry viruses that affect not only swine, but human and even avian, the pig is a perfect host in which these viruses can undergo alterations that result in a new influenza virus being generated.

While most viruses generated from pigs are the H1N1 virus, there are other types that have been isolated from pigs: H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1

The H1N1 normally does not spread to humans, however, it can happen. Most cases are from direct contact such as “children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry”* The news has said that one of the factors in this outbreak that is different is that the virus is spreading human to human, however, according to the CDC this is not the first time that has occurred.

…an outbreak of apparent H1N1 flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

The symptoms of H1N1 in humans is similar to any flu virus and can include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. The CDC reports that some that have contracted Swine Flu have also reported symptoms that include runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The primary factor with the Swine Flu, according to news reports, is to stay calm unless you would have normally sought medical aid, if you would have gone to the doctor with the symptoms you experience were it normal flu, then go, if you would not have gone to the doctor then you are safe continuing treatment at home. I would suggest anyone that has a care recipient contact the care recipient’s doctor and go with the doctor’s advice, and if you have the flu, take normal precaution to avoid spreading it to your care recipient since the standard flu vaccine is ineffective against Swine Flu.

It is important to note that Swine Flu can not be contracted by eating pork. The process of cooking pork, to an internal temperature of 160°F, kills bacteria and viruses – including the H1N1 flu virus. The Swine Flu is contracted just as normal flu is, through sneezing, coughing, and touching of infected items then touching your nose or mouth.

The CDC has a page of information to help you care for a sick family member at home. Be sure to read the entire page before you need it, then review it if you need to care for a sick person at home. Or print it out and keep it tucked into the medicine cabinet.

The page includes information on how Swine Flu spreads, medications that can help lessen symptoms (check with your care recipient’s doctor or pharmacist on what they can take with their current medications), how to lessen change of spreading the flu to others in the home, and how to care for laundry/dishes/etc in the home.

Basic points to keep in mind are as with any cold or flu:

• wash hands often
• cover up if you cough or sneeze
• use antibacterial hand sanitizers when you can’t wash hands readily
• ask others to reduce visitation with care recipient if they are sick and for up to two weeks after symptoms subside

As stated, if your care recipient shows symptoms of the flu, contact your care recipient’s primary care physician for specifics on what to do in your care recipient’s particular situation, and if you would have normally taken them to the doctor, take them now.

Also, be sure to check with your care recipient’s doctor and/or pharmacist before giving any over the counter medications to be certain there is no conflict with the medications they take – then doublecheck yourself at the Safe Medication website – a medications website by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists®.

* – http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm

For more help see:

• CDC: Facts about Swine Flu

• CDC: caring for sick family member at home
• Safe Medication

My dad’s been going to the shop to hang out the past couple of days, which is not much of a deal, but night before last no one even bothered to tell me that he was going to be staying there overnight. Made for a very very stressful night without sleep for me, because I had no idea if someone was about to head home with him or what was going on. He was finally brought home around noon or 1 yesterday afternoon – just in time for him to get his pills a couple hours late.

Then last night my sister and her husband showed back up around 10 pm, hung out for a while, then she started looking for the keys to the car she had given mom years back after dad had his stroke. I was puzzled, but once I figured out what she had been looking for (had to ask her) I got the keys (which I had setting by my purse because I was going to be driving said car), and handed them to her. Turned out she wants to take the car and I need to clear my stuff out of it. As I write this that’s been done and they have the car and I am sitting here carless after having thought I had a car for taking dad where he needed to go and for doing the shopping. Silly me.

What the backstory is… after mom died – the day she was buried, we followed her to Anchorage in the white Cadillac. We stopped on the way home and I filled the tank so it would be ready when I needed the car in the spring because at that time the price of gas was supposed to go up still, so at roughly $5 a gallon I filled the tank in the Caddy.

As I was filling it Helen moseyed around and asked me what I was going to do with the car, because she had apparently heard that I had asked my brother about him driving the car when dad needed to go anywhere since I didn’t like driving in the winter and he lives next door. I’ve not driven much, it has bad brakes, I prefer the professional race car driver to be driving in icy conditions rather than me. She seemed to think I was giving him the car, I said to her, “You gave it to mom, I know that. If anyone other than Dad gets it it’d be you.” She replied with, “Oh no! It’s dad’s car, and I want you to keep it and drive it, I just don’t want anyone else driving it because they would ruin it.” We talked for a bit and I made it clear I would not drive it in the winter, I’m not a good enough driver to feel safe on the road with the lunatics that need to relearn winter driving every year, I’d wait for Spring then drive it. She seemed to have no problem with that, car was dad’s and I was to drive it so me and dad had transportation. She made a few hints I should drive some before the snow hit, but I never got the chance to and didn’t really care to drive until the brakes got fixed on it. So I left it parked for the winter.

I kept paying the insurance every month, faithfully, just to be sure it would still be insured this month when I could safely drive it. Car was parked, but I paid the insurance, because I knew I would be driving this spring.

Now, last night… she takes the car away from me. No forewarning, no comment, just searched through things for the keys and without a word on what she was up to took the car. I had to dang near pull teeth before she admitted that yes, she’s keeping it and I have to empty my things and mom’s and dad’s stuff outta it. At first she’d commented that it would be up here a lot so I could get things any time I wanted to, I chose to get stuff today since the car didn’t start last night. They were back around noon today with a wrecker and took it away.

They also have dad down there, which is the second night in a row he’s spent the night down there – in same clothing he had day before yesterday, sleeping on a recliner in the garage rather than them bringing him back home to sleep in his bed. I expected him to be back when they came after the Caddy, but they didn’t bring him home then. Called a while ago, nephew said he had no idea and would have his mom call me back, haven’t heard from her yet though. No idea when, or if, dad’ll be home. Which means he won’t get a chance to rest before I have to go to the Saturday Market deal in the morning to try and kickstart a new home based business to try and earn money to help make ends meet. They were supposed to take dad so I could go get that going, but I’m uneasy now after two full nights sleeping in a chair in a garage. That can’t be good for his health, but I have no way out at this point, I have space reserved (have for a couple weeks now) and everything, all I can do is let them keep him one more night and go to the Saturday Market and have dad brought home tomorrow evening.

I’m not amused at any of it, in case it don’t show. (And this is only the things I can growl about publicly – sheeeeesh).

So, this evening I’ll have my brother drop off medications, clothes and PJs so at least Dad has had a change of clothing down there and something more comfortable than corduroy pants to sleep in. Then I’ll get ready for the Saturday Market I am supposed to be at starting at around 8 or 9 in the morning.

I had planned to take Caddy up to it, now I will be figuring out how to get my quilting things onto my ATV, since my brother has other things he needs to be doing at that time.

Don’t ya just love family? No wonder mom used to watch Momma’s Family and Rosanne and say she watched because it made her feel like her family was normal.

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(And no, I’m not joking – they live upstairs of the garage and he can’t get up there, so he sleeps in recliner downstairs in the garage with the cars when he’s at her place. I don’t like but can’t stop it either cause he wants to see other peoples and they don’t visit him here very much – plus, they let him smoke all that he wants to, I limit him to a cigarette every half hour.)

There comes a point when you are a caregiver when you need to know when to just say “No”. I’ve decided that if someone asks about taking dad down to hang out at the garage today I’m just going to say no. He’s completely exhausted, has hardly woke up today even after he had spent all night pretty much sleeping (only woke me up 3 times I think).

As much as I like him getting out,k since it gives me a break and lets him visit with the people that never come to see him, I need to think about what mom would say if she was here and I know that she would not want him to be going anywhere when he’s this exhausted – so, if asked, I am going to say no.