Let's Get Physical. PHYSICAL!

Happy Halloween!

As A New Parent You Think Your Child Is The Most Beautiful, You Try And Tell Me Different.

Decorating for a 6 Month Old

Oh, and she has a tooth.

Speaking Assertively on A Subject I'm Ignorant About

I just got off of the phone with a certain pediatric conglomerate in the Northwest Arkansas area. Rosalind has a bit of a cough that has been persistent and seems to be bothering her, nothing serious, and she is due for her next well-baby check up. In any case, I called to see if we could get her in to see someone today or tomorrow about the cough. Because of the structure of the pediatric trust this means getting an appointment at the urgent care clinic. While scheduling the visit I asked if we could go ahead and get her well-baby check up done at the same time, this seemed to me like an efficient way of getting things done, after all, they will be weighing her and asking us general medical history questions anyways, why not ask two more developmental questions and measure her height. I was informed that the urgent care clinic and the wellness clinic were in separate buildings, I said I realized this but was pretty sure they had the necessary tools in either building: you know pen, paper, and a measuring tape. I was then told that that just isn’t how it’s done; I asked to speak to an administrator. After being transferred to a voicemail, getting back to the operator, and finally getting someone on the phone I asked what the rationale was for the strict no-diagnosing a cough and asking about development in the same building policy. I was told that the doctors were only allotted a certain amount of time to see urgent care patients and that taking the extra time to complete the well baby check up wouldn’t be fair to afternoon patients. “I see, so it’s about efficiency”, I said. “Yes, exactly” the administrator responded. “So how much longer would it take to finish the well-baby”, I asked. “Probably 10 minutes.” “So this is about efficiency on your side, because having to schedule another visit and then paying for a separate visit is not efficient for me.” “Well I understand that.” “I understand you are running a business and you need to see as many patients as possible and two visits are more profitable than one, right?” “That’s true.” “Okay, thanks.”

A few of things. First, what if my child had a hard to diagnose illness, do the doctors leave mid-visit because their allotted time is up? Second, I didn’t realize doctors were now factory workers. And lastly, this seems to me to be a perfect example of why our health care system needs some change. I’m not advocating what sort of change, (readers of this blog probably have no doubt how I lean politically, but this isn’t about that) but to me this doesn’t make sense. By all means let me know why this is the best way to go or why I’m wrong, seriously I’m not in this field and I don’t really have the knowledge to make that call.

Small Town Football

This week was the school's homecoming. I have never been on the teaching end of high school homecoming. Early in the week I decided to stay relaxed and laid back which proved to be the right choice. By Friday I had only six seniors per class as they were all practicing band, cheerleading, or working on the float.
Another new aspect of the teaching end of homecoming was the "teacher skit" during the pep rally. One of the football coaches recorded a great little song entirely about our specific team and about eight of us teachers performed a dance to it. He rapped it while the other two coaches were his back up "posse." It seemed to go over quite well at the pep rally. The only thing that topped it was the pie in the face competition. The teacher that received the most money in the jar got a pie in the face. I apparently made it into the top few, but lost out to the cheerleading coach/math teacher. She is the perfect combination of loved/hated.
Friday turned out to be a gorgeous early fall day. The perfect football weather. I had promised some students repeatedly that I would go to the game. Sergio and I put Rosalind in her purple Elks finest and went. Other than being a bit on the cold side, it was storybook small town football. Sergio only slightly yelled at a rude fan once. It was justified. Most of my students fawned all over Rosalind. We won.
Teaching is not a bad gig.

All dressed up for the game.