Haiti Field Hospital – They Came Prepared Complete with Electronic Medical Records

I think the US would be too busy fighting and marketing over which EHR program to bring from everything I read about how we are handling healthcare here in the US with some dysfunctional decision processes run by business and not necessarily always involving the government. You do have to give Israel credit for being prepared and having a model for care ready to work quickly. At the link below, one of the physicians from the US states it’s almost embarrassing to see what the US has done by comparison in this area. Unfortunately that is what makes the US and our Congress go round, distraction and lack of focus and participation in their own healthcare electronically.

Infections out of Control in Haiti – A Discussion With a Physician from Harvard Medical

I have posted a couple other stories on what Israel has done. They flew in two 747 jets, the big ones. Watch the video and see what they are doing, saving lives without all the other red tape. I think the rest of us need to adopt their model. Last post I did I spoke about the imaging and respirators they have, and now I find out the electronic medical record is part of the program too.

Many Countries Sending Portable Hospitals to Haiti – Israel Sets Up First Operating Room

You just can’t ignore this and help but somehow connect how healthcare reform is taking place here. I.E. Do you think this mobile hospital is asking if they have been consistent on taking their meds, asking about lifestyles and denying service based on those types of questions, no way, but it’s what big business has taught up to do in the US, judge and make decisions as to whether or not the patient “deserves” care. It is a crisis and being handled as one.

If we had a disaster of such multitude here, and we have had them, insurance carriers would be bickering over who deserves and and who would pay rather than focusing on the human side of the issue, good example, remember hurricane Katrina? I say no more as it’s in the news all the time, still. I would like to believe that I live in a country that is going to be there for me in a time of need, and have their act together to do it, but from what has been history here it creates doubts and well all have those for sure. Myself and plenty more I’m sure have little faith in true reform taking place at this point as the soap opera just seems to roll on .

Look further and you see some nice touchscreen Tablet PCs, but so many here in the US are afraid of these, non participants once more. When others have their act together and are truly saving lives and not losing touch with the human element of how priceless life is, others should stand up and take notice. Not that the US is doing anything wrong by any means, but without all soap operas we ingest daily from Washington on the news and all the bickering, we would all be much better off and would possibly even look much more favorable in the world economy without all of this, band together and get the job done. We need folks educated on how technology is changing the world and congressional representatives that can grasp this, and the only way it can begin to happen is via participation and drop the attitude of “it’s for those guys over there”. Hat off to Israel for setting and example and helping the people in Haiti, we can all learn from them. BD

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msnbc.com: Field hospital a model for crisis care