I am away from TV for extended periods working 24/7 and rarely have the chance to connect to TOTV. I am now FINALLY here for a short rest and had the chance to read through this very revealing and today very relevant thread. I am quoting many posters, though I have deleted what I perceived as political comments that are inappropriate not only on TOTV but also concerning this public health issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexaninVA
(Post 954843)
... Besides, the classic DC game is to appoint a “czar” which takes the heat off the senior leaders and make many credulous members of the public think that “ok, they’re finally doing something.” It’s pretty sad to watch actually but it seems to work every time.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid
(Post 954182)
... Based on past performance of czars I remain cynical and suspect.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid
(Post 954487)
... Did the other czars get their job done??
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Though there were appointees by presidents to posts without necessity of Senate confirmation, the first "czar" called by that revealing name was Carlton Turner, the "drug czar," appointed by President Reagan. Since then there have been many such appointees, with President George W. Bush topping the number at 49, followed by President Obama at 44. Yes, it would be an interesting research project (perhaps some doctoral candidate's thesis) to study the effectiveness of this position.
Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
(Post 954490)
... It is my belief that more than any other kind of smart person, a physician is needed now to coordinate all of the efforts on THIS ISSUE. Many physicians are in the top one percent of our population in intelligence and they are certainly as smart if not smarter than most lawyers, and many of them too, have attended fine schools like Georgetown and Harvard....
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Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
(Post 954181)
... But what I think we need is a person who knows medicine and knows how this disease is spread and has run a large medical facility like Walter Reed. Georgetown and Harvard are quite impressive, but what we don't need is another danged lawyer-politician who isn't quite clear where his fibula is.
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I respectfully disagree in that the solution will not be based solely on "intelligence" but rather in the ability to manipulate and control. Personally I am suspicious of doctors who become politicians. I consider service as a physician to be one of the highest and most respected; who is more associated with healing than a doctor? Politics? Well, let's not get into that, though we can keep in mind the old saw: "Pro is to Progress as Con is to Congress"!
Seriously, doctors' most important role is NOT as administrators, coordinators, managers, even dictators. The most recent CV I'm able to find online of the CEO of our Villages Regional Hospital was Timothy Hawkins, who served in this capacity (more specifically "CEO Villages Regional Hospital, Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer, Central Florida Health Alliance") until 2012, whose educational qualification for this position was an MBA degree (that is, business administration) and NOT a medical degree. His job was to operate a program, not do patient care. No doubt, he utilized the services and relied on the expertise of doctors to perform his job, just as the newly appointed "ebola czar" will likely do. But the job involves far more than treating patients!
Quote:
Originally Posted by janmcn
(Post 954194)
Ron Klain's job will be as manager of all the government agencies involved in the Ebola virus outbreak. No one has suggested that he would be treating infected patientsl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnyatlast
(Post 954662)
... Janmcn already identified what this choice is--a "a political operative", and explained above how "a political operative is the perfect choice" for that very purpose:
"Who would you appoint if you wanted someone to coordinate all the government agencies involved? Who would you appoint if you wanted to cut through all of the government red-tape? A physician or a businessman would not be able to do this, but a political operative is a perfect choice."
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid
(Post 954712)
... A better chioce would have been Senator Frisk...he is a sitting senator....he is an MD....he knows the medical community....which should be driving ANY political actions....
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Yes, I agree; a "political operative" is an appropriate choice, much more so than a physician, though of course it has to be the right political operative. Since the person occupying this post primarily has to deal with a multitude of governmental agencies, not simply those concerned specifically with the medical sphere (e.g., CDC, NIH, and so forth), based on her or his experience cutting across agencies and, if needs be, juggling and even forcing cooperation is something a political operative CAN do, whereas this would presumably never have been the bulk of the career experience of a doctor.
If the last poster above is referring to Senator Bill Frist (not "Frisk"), he is not a "sitting senator," having left office in 2007. While it certainly was his right to choose what to do with his life, it seemed to me at the time he ran for and was elected to office that his departure from medicine was tragic. Our country certainly needs cardiothoracic surgeons more than more politicians....
Quote:
Originally Posted by cologal
(Post 954971)
... People are calling for a travel ban but there are no direct flights...if we stop all travelers at the airport we have no facilities in which to keep them for 21 days. All the quarantine stations were shutdown long ago....
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I keenly remember in the 1980s when these quarantine stations were closed down, as were many chronic care mental health hospitals, with patients turned loose and who frequently became homeless and problems in other ways. Though I didn't live through the influenza pandemic of 1917-1918 during which millions died, I knew of family members and parents and grandparents of friends who did, some of whom died. I knew it was bound to happen again (and this is not to say necessarily that it will be ebola) and was flabbergasted at the shortsightedness of doing this. Now there is the possibility of the chickens coming home to roost based on the stupidity of the shutdown of these quarantine stations....
Quote:
Originally Posted by cologal
(Post 954689)
There has been another virus epidemic ... thousands of people died before anything was done. Already Obama is being hammered when there have only been 3 people infected and only one death. Care to guess how many died the last time before that President acted?
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I had been working my way through this long thread, waiting to see if anyone had the courage to bring up the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, during which time the leader of the Western world treated this terrible disease as a moral issue rather than as, well, the terrible disease it was--and still is. And yes, thousands and thousands died, including much of a generation of creative and artistic people. It was a tragedy AND a travesty! And though I cannot remember who or what year, a speaker at a convention subsequent to the 1980s who was stricken with AIDS spoke passionately about the need to recognize this dreaded disease for what it was. Sad to say, but again the chickens coming home to roost....
And, sorry to say, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a political operative, I'm not even a businessperson, and concerned as I am, no, I have no solutions to offer.
