Voices of Central Pa

Debbie D’Elia holds an attachment for the abdominal feeding tube needed by her husband Dante (right). Dante has been in and out of four health care facilities since he had complications following gall bladder surgery in January 2009. Photo by Tina Peterson

by Tina Peterson
 

Georgette D’Elia feels nervous in hospitals. Many people do, but she has a good reason for it. Her 89-year-old father Dante D’Elia has been in and out of four different health care facilities in the region over the past year and a half. The care he has received has ranged so widely in quality that Georgette and her mother, Debbie, are often afraid to leave him alone at night in a hospital bed.

The D’Elias live in Altoona, but they now come to Mount Nittany Medical Center because they said Dante always receives very good care there. Like many consumers, they found health care providers they trust through trial and error.

“This is the only place we feel safe to bring him,” Georgette said.

Dante had gall bladder surgery at a hospital in Altoona in January 2009. Georgette said a doctor there forgot to prescribe post-operative antibiotics, and Dante developed an infection that became an abscess. Complications with his feeding tube followed, and he spent the next 16 months going in and out of various hospitals in Altoona and Johnstown.

Debbie and Georgette described care that ranged in quality from unprofessional to incompetent to neglectful.

 The Climate Change Connection
Impacts on National Security, Energy, the Insurance Industry and Natural Resources

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Ed Perry at 814-880-9593 or paglobalwarmingoutreach@gmail.com

WHEN: June 1, 2010 from 6:00 - 8:30pm. Speakers will be available at 5:30pm for interviews.
WHERE: Days Inn Penn State, 240 South Pugh Street, State College Pa.
WHAT: A roundtable discussion on how climate change will affect nearly every facet of our lives.
 

While the US Senate debates a discussion draft of the American Power Act introduced by Senator Kerry and Lieberman on May 12, oil continues to pour into some of the most sensitive fish and wildlife habitat in our country. This oil spill not only highlights the consequences of drilling in the most sensitive areas in our country, but our continued dependence on securing oil from countries that don't particularly like us.
 

On Tuesday, June 1, a national security expert, business owner, sportsman, and insurance industry and natural resource experts will hold a panel discussion on how climate change will affect us in ways that we may not have considered.

by Kathleen Bisset

When families or single people share their homes and lives with developmentally disabled individuals, social care agencies term it lifesharing. Lifesharing includes sharing goals, activities, holidays and daily life with another person. It gives a permanent home to those who may have never celebrated a birthday. It promises love and support to indidivuals who need and deserve them. And it can create long-lasting friendships that transcend social boundaries.

“I think it’s the greatest job ever,” said Nicki Reich, a Rebersburg resident and the only person in the county who has opened her home to someone through the Lifesharing program.

Josephine, 66, and Janet, 42, both with mental retardation, are members of the family for Reich. The family has shared their lives and home with Josephine for 11 years and Janet for six years.

“This is normal for us,” said Reich. “You’re basically adding onto your family. It’s wonderful.”

Three organizations in Centre County provide Lifesharing services: Skills of Central Pennsylvania, Community Service Group and IFC Mental Retardation Services in Huntington County. Skills has placements throughout Blair, Cambria, Clearfield, Huntington, Mifflin, Juniata and York-Adams.

by Suzan Erem

The Mount Nittany Medical Center board of trustees held a meeting May 13 expected to eliminate, once and for all, direct community involvement in the management of the hospital.

The board will call for a vote to eliminate members from the bylaws and articles of incorporation, according to a special notice mailed in late April to members of the hospital corporation.

But the board needs the members to vote themselves out of existence. Members who attend will constitute a quorum, according to the notice obtained by Voices.

“There’s been a long history of community involvement with members of the corporation voting for the board,” said former hospital trustee Susan F. Smith. “This is a drastic change and I think people ought to be aware of it.”

by Tamara Conrad

The Penn State Students for Justice in Palestine have been trying for more than a year to organize an event at which there is a representative for both the pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian perspective to debate the occupation in the West Bank. They have not succeeded.

But Anna Baltzer, a Jewish-American author and activist for Palestinian rights, told Voices in an interview that debating the issue is nonessential to the movement for Palestinian rights.

“In terms of the actual facts on the ground,” Baltzer said, “they’re not debatable.”

The Students for Justice in Palestine brought Baltzer to speak at Penn State in April. Baltzer, a former Fulbright scholar, documented human rights abuses and supported Palestinian-led non-violent resistance to the occupation while volunteering with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank.

The segregation in the West Bank goes further than apartheid in Africa did, Baltzer said. In South Africa, black Africans were limited to 14 percent of the land; today Palestinians are limited to 7 percent in Israel, said Baltzer, author of “Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories and Photos.” The percentage is similar in the West Bank, she said.

Palestinians are getting pushed out of the West Bank, because the Israeli government and in essence the U.S. government, are paying Jewish people to move onto more Palestinian land, Baltzer charged during an interview with Voices. Pennsylvania’s share of total U.S.

by Hannah Abelbeck

In a Harris Poll online survey of 2,320 adults conducted in March 2010, 25 percent of the respondents said they believed that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president."

Our U.S. Representative, Glenn “GT” Thompson, won’t say that President Barack Obama is ineligible, but he has concerns.

“There are no certificates that can be produced, and that concerns people,” Thompson told Voices. “The constitution says, ‘Only natural born citizens.’”

Voices asked why the fact that Hawaii has produced his birth certificate isn’t enough to address these concerns. Thompson replied, “I’ve not seen any evidence of that.”

Thompson said he has asked a supreme court justice about the issue. Thompson said that the question of eligibility is “pretty much a settled issue because it’s been to the Supreme Court.” The birth announcement about the birth of “Barry Obama” in a Hawaiian newspaper had also eased some of his concerns, but he said “I’m not sure why [Obama] has not [produced his birth certificate].”

Before he became our representative, Thompson was the Chairman of the Centre County Republican Party.

The Centre County Republican Party promotes local “Featured Activism Organizations” on its website. One is the 9-12 Project of Central PA, an outgrowth of FOX News personality Glenn Beck’s “We Surround Them” television specials. The Centre GOP’s page directs constituents to the local group’s webpage and Glenn Beck’s site. While they have chosen to feature the group, they have also posted the disclaimer, “Featured organizations are not affiliated with the Centre County Republican Committee.

by Lou Hass

Is growth essential to the Centre Region’s prosperity?

The problem with urban expansion is that most of us perceive it through myopic eyes. We recklessly barge ahead looking at tomorrow or next year or even the next decade without somehow sensing, or perhaps ignoring, the long-term consequences of our decisions. We fail to recognize that, barring natural catastrophes (droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, etc.), humankind has advanced to the point where, for the most part, it is capable of not only controlling its own environment, but that of the entire biosphere as well. This is indeed frightening because if we destroy the latter, we will surely obliterate ourselves.

Despite its sophistication, the human community, in general, still perceives itself as being totally separate from, rather than an integral part of, the biocentric norm. As a result, the archaic notion that anthropocentric growth represents progress stubbornly persists.

One of the most foreboding aspects of anthropocentrism is the realization that many of our influential leaders belong to a consortium of shortsighted, “progress-minded” individuals whose collective interests reside in aggressively promoting growth—not for the common good, but for purely personal gain. Without batting an eye, these are the individuals who would strip a mountain naked, blast its heart out and ultimately crush the pieces to make a roadbed. These are the “public benefactors” who would hack down an ancient, majestic oak simply because it is in the way and “has stood there long enough anyway.” These are the illustrious “patrons of progress” who would wittingly destroy the life of a stream to build a dam, a road or a bridge.

http://www.MarkFiore.com Dogboy and Mr. Dan are back, this time talking about the stock market, Europe and debtor nations! Will Dogboy and Mr. Dan ever see eye to eye? Take a look at government meddling and regulation and find out! A Mark Fiore political animation.

Political cartoon by Tom Baker 2010