Several years ago the Tulare Board of Supervisors were faced with a dilemma. A major ambulance provider had decided to close their doors. How were they going to ensure that the people of the county had adequate emergency services?
They did something that I believe is too rare in politics today…they got out of the way.
The choice they had to make at that time was simple. Do they take the county to a single provider (essentially killing the other smaller units in the county) or turn it over to the remaining providers to see if they could come up with a solution.
The issues identified were as follows:
* No performance standards for ambulance responders
* You could not assure the closest ambulance responded to a request for help
* Rotation of ambulance providers on ambulance requests in the cities of Visalia and Porterville (This led to scheduling confusion and lower response times)
* Ambulance provider agreements were weak and unenforceable
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors directed staff and county EMS to work with the ambulance providers to achieve an ambulance response system that provided all the following:
* A system that was seamless
* A system that assured that the closest ambulance was always sent to an ambulance request
* A system that included strict performance standards
* A system where ambulance costs were consistent throughout the county
At the February 1st board meeting county EMS staff gave statistics showing ambulance response times and how this public team of people had addressed each of the items the Supervisor’s had requested. The one example that stood out for me was when they talked about the closure of one of the providers. On August 17, 2010 the Three Rivers Ambulance Service closed its doors. Three Rivers is a remote community located in the foothills of the Sierras.
In the absence of this service, four of the surrounding ambulance companies stepped in providing personnel and equipment. The area now has a full time paramedic and much improved response times.
The Tulare County EMS system has evolved into a modern emergency response system, consisting of highly trained paramedics, a centralized ambulance dispatch, simultaneous helicopter response, advanced first responders, a trauma center, a cardiac center, and an aggressive ambulance response system. It has been growing and improving over the past 2 years because the Board was wise enough to set the goal, and get out of the way.
You can find the detailed agenda here:
http://bosagendas.co.tulare.ca.us/MG313646/AgendaFrame.htm (Agenda Item 2)
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Information in a Post Wikileaks World
I’ve been reading some very interesting things about a writer named Brad Meltzer. He writes thrillers and you can only imagine the feeling he had when one day he got a call from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
I learned about Brad (I’ll take the liberty to call him Brad since we are now fellow authors) through this New York Daily News article:
He was asked to join the government’s Red Cell Program. A “Red Cell” (also known by other names) is a group of hand selected people gathered together to look at problems in their own way and come up with alternative solutions. The awesome thing about this is the people they select are citizens, chosen for their out-of-the-box thinking. Brad says CIA and FBI were present but… “there were far more professors and transportation employees, musicians and software programmers - regular people whose names will never be known and whom you'll never hear about.”
This group of about 20 people would be presented with a scenario such as…how would a terrorist attack some publicly held meeting. (Think U.N. or G8 Summit) They would be provided details of location and attendees and then see what they came up with.
I think this whole thing is a great idea.
So what’s my worry? So far they have completed ten reports and another six are in work. I hope they take great care to secure the information contained in those reports. Terrorists aren’t smart but they are like the Borg on Star Trek. They adapt quickly. They don’t need us to do their thinking for them. So – into my story idea file goes the question of how potentially valuable and dangerous are these reports? What if terrorists hacked the system they were stored in and stole them? What if they were leaked or sold to the highest bidder? It will make an interesting story…I just hope it stays in the realm of fiction.
I learned about Brad (I’ll take the liberty to call him Brad since we are now fellow authors) through this New York Daily News article:
He was asked to join the government’s Red Cell Program. A “Red Cell” (also known by other names) is a group of hand selected people gathered together to look at problems in their own way and come up with alternative solutions. The awesome thing about this is the people they select are citizens, chosen for their out-of-the-box thinking. Brad says CIA and FBI were present but… “there were far more professors and transportation employees, musicians and software programmers - regular people whose names will never be known and whom you'll never hear about.”
This group of about 20 people would be presented with a scenario such as…how would a terrorist attack some publicly held meeting. (Think U.N. or G8 Summit) They would be provided details of location and attendees and then see what they came up with.
I think this whole thing is a great idea.
So what’s my worry? So far they have completed ten reports and another six are in work. I hope they take great care to secure the information contained in those reports. Terrorists aren’t smart but they are like the Borg on Star Trek. They adapt quickly. They don’t need us to do their thinking for them. So – into my story idea file goes the question of how potentially valuable and dangerous are these reports? What if terrorists hacked the system they were stored in and stole them? What if they were leaked or sold to the highest bidder? It will make an interesting story…I just hope it stays in the realm of fiction.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Who's Listening
“Truly, thoughts are things…” Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich
The brain is the controller for all of the functions of our body. It also stores memory, both short term and long term. In many ways it is similar to a computer. I have a laptop at home that connects to the internet wirelessly. This gives me access to all of the world’s knowledge and I can tap into it from almost anywhere. It’s very convenient and a marvel of modern technology. The brain too has a wireless function. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp produced by the firing of neurons within the brain. The neurological activity is occurring inside of the skull, but the EEG is reading it from outside of the skull. So if all of the major functions of the brain are to control things internal to our bodies, I have one question about the “wireless” activity of the brain.
Why?
Is it just noise? Is it just overflow from the firing of 10,000 neurons at once, or could it be something more? Could humans, at some time in our past, have had the ability to receive as well as transmit? Were some of us telepathic? At one time, could we do “magic” which today, because of fear and neglect (caused by technology) we have lost? Or is this wireless transmission something we will need in our future? Is it something that will be necessary as we move into the next era of human adaptation?
Thoughts translate into actions, and every thought one has is transmitted outside the body in the form of excess electrical energy. I’ve seen bumper stickers and t-shirts that say, “God doesn’t make junk.” I agree and so don’t believe it is coincidence that our thoughts are sent out into the ether. But if our thoughts are transmitted outside our bodies and we can’t hear each other…then the question begs…who IS listening.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Our Books
I read Mellie’s latest blog about how our house is filled with books and it made me smile.
http://thursday-ish.blogspot.com/
Some of the stories I read (and write) are a little fatalistic. I do wonder from time to time how we would cope if the lights went out. I mean really out. No electricity and no hope of it coming back for a long, long time.
While I was sitting at home eating lunch, casually pondering the end of days, I began to look around me and realized we don’t have a problem. I saw a book on soap making! Then it struck me, we absolutely do have a Library.
Want to know how to paint or draw? Yeah, we have books on that. How to write? Please! A whole section that’s just reference books. Books on aircraft? Check. Chemistry? History? Politics? Check. Space program…Mercury, Gemini, Apollo? Check. Cook books? Pshhht. And I haven’t even gotten to the fiction yet.
Like Shakespeare? We have them broken down by tragedies or comedies or you can borrow the complete collection in one volume if you prefer. I can eye Dickens to Tolstoy to Hemmingway to Twain. Historical fiction, science fiction, romance, mystery and just plain silliness (may Douglas Adams rest in peace, like a Vogon on Pan Galactic Gargleblasters doesn’t.)
I know in my heart that an iPad, or any electronic device like it, will never replace a book. There is something about how a book feels and even how it smells. I have a book in my desk at work. At home I have one by the bed, by the chair where I use the computer, and in my car. Some of you reading this know what I mean. I know you go to Walmart or Costco and you can’t resist cruising down the book isle. And you never get out of Borders or Barnes and Noble without buying something!
One of my best friends complimented me the other day by saying I was one of the smartest people they know. I don’t think I’m all that smart. I think I’m just well read. It’s part of the “using not only all of my own brains, but also all of the brains of those around me” idea. I have a house full of the brains of lots of smart people (and a few smart-alecky ones).
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Mind Machine
What if you could get your mind to do things you had once thought impossible? How would you feel if it took technology to do it? A debate we have had at our writers group is if the technology existed to enhance you mentally or physically, would you use it?
Many of us agree, the majority of people would. Why? Because it’s human nature to want to be better or even as good as we once were.
As you get older your memory starts to go. No ones fault, it just happens. So imagine if you could make an appointment with your doctor and for a fee have the equivalent of computer memory implanted in your brain. You might find your insurance even covers it. The way they see it, if you always remember to take your medicine, you don’t get sick as often. You have perfect recall and the insurance company gets to collect premiums and not pay out as much.
Or, more painfully, a water skiing accident snaps your spine. You live but your body is no longer functional. You can’t even speak. Would it be some kind of miracle to have the technology available that would read your thoughts and through a computer allow you to communicate, perhaps do even more?
In 1982, Clint Eastwood, starred in and directed a movie called Firefox. The movie was about an American pilot who goes to
That was then.
What is the possibility of a mind/machine interface? I recently watched a video that sent me down a path of wonder. A woman named Tan Le is part of a company that has developed a Mind/Computer interface. (Look her up on Wikipedia and check out her TED Talk.) She demonstrated a simple headset (one that could read brainwaves -- EEG) and some software, that allowed a person to quickly manipulate objects in a virtual environment using just their mind. Imagine for a moment what that could mean. It starts with computer games where you can move objects and characters just using your thoughts. That’s how they introduce it because that will reach around the world and that is where the money is, but that is not the real power of this invention. In my waterskiing tragedy above, that person could communicate and even use a wheel chair just through mental commands and facial movement.
While watching this short video I imagined a myriad of possibilities (both good and bad) that this technology represents. I need to go now and write them down – since I don’t have that perfect recall implant…yet.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Made the big time!
As a writer you have to celebrate the little victories. I've not won a major award but I did just make the Xomba quote of the day through one of my posts.
Quote of the Day
"If you want to sit around your house in your underwear playing Xbox all day getting high…go for it."
Check it out here: http://www.xomba.com/user/allen_james_100
Grin....
Friday, August 20, 2010
How About That Constitution...
We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
In case you don’t recognize those words, they are the preamble to our Constitution. I wrote this from memory – so by all means check me and see if I missed a word or misplaced a comma…it will do you good.
The Constitution is the document our government should live and breathe. It defines their powers and who we are as a nation. How many of our Congress critters do you think have actually read the Constitution? How many have studied its origins or the people who wrote it?
When I look at their behavior, I can’t imagine many of them have bothered. At one point in my life I took an oath to defend those writings and what they stand for against ALL enemies foreign and domestic. I like to think I know what it is I am protecting…
Some say the out of control government we have today is given that right through the General Welfare clause of the Constitution. Well, anyone who has not read the Constitution or studied its history would say that. Just so you understand, let’s look at what the founding father had to say about “General Welfare.”
From Fedralist 41: Written by James Madison:
“Construe either of these articles [He is talking about the Articles of Confederation.] by the rules which would justify the construction put on the new Constitution, and they vest in the existing Congress a power to legislate in all cases whatsoever. But what would have been thought of that assembly, if, attaching themselves to these general expressions, and disregarding the specifications which ascertain and limit their import, they had exercised an unlimited power of providing for the common defense and general welfare?”
James Madison argued that a General clause is followed by specific restrictions upon the government and always was intended to be that way as seen in the original Articles of Confederation.
Our government has no constitutional authority to dictate our healthcare, education, or environmental conditions. That was always intended to be left to the States.
I recommend that everyone educate themselves on what our governments role should be and think hard about what you should do this coming November. Do your homework!
You can find the Fedralist papers in their entirety here:
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm
And the next time you are watching MSNBC ask yourself if you really want that to be the sole source upon which you make a decision that will shape our nation.
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822
In case you don’t recognize those words, they are the preamble to our Constitution. I wrote this from memory – so by all means check me and see if I missed a word or misplaced a comma…it will do you good.
The Constitution is the document our government should live and breathe. It defines their powers and who we are as a nation. How many of our Congress critters do you think have actually read the Constitution? How many have studied its origins or the people who wrote it?
When I look at their behavior, I can’t imagine many of them have bothered. At one point in my life I took an oath to defend those writings and what they stand for against ALL enemies foreign and domestic. I like to think I know what it is I am protecting…
Some say the out of control government we have today is given that right through the General Welfare clause of the Constitution. Well, anyone who has not read the Constitution or studied its history would say that. Just so you understand, let’s look at what the founding father had to say about “General Welfare.”
From Fedralist 41: Written by James Madison:
“Construe either of these articles [He is talking about the Articles of Confederation.] by the rules which would justify the construction put on the new Constitution, and they vest in the existing Congress a power to legislate in all cases whatsoever. But what would have been thought of that assembly, if, attaching themselves to these general expressions, and disregarding the specifications which ascertain and limit their import, they had exercised an unlimited power of providing for the common defense and general welfare?”
James Madison argued that a General clause is followed by specific restrictions upon the government and always was intended to be that way as seen in the original Articles of Confederation.
Our government has no constitutional authority to dictate our healthcare, education, or environmental conditions. That was always intended to be left to the States.
I recommend that everyone educate themselves on what our governments role should be and think hard about what you should do this coming November. Do your homework!
You can find the Fedralist papers in their entirety here:
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm
And the next time you are watching MSNBC ask yourself if you really want that to be the sole source upon which you make a decision that will shape our nation.
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822
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