Personal Effects

I was at a golden wedding anniversary event the other week (congratulations Sue and Mike) and happened to be in their back garden when their granddaughter looked at the watch on her wrist and said “There is someone at the front door”. How did she know this? She explained the details.

So when I got this week’s topic of Personal Effects I started to wonder if there could be a system called ‘Personal effects’ such as in email as one of the definitions of Personal Effects is things that you take with you.

Now that could cover a multitude of stuff but I’d like to take the opportunity to look at how medical technology has and might affect us. I’m taking the invention of wearable spectacles in Venice during the 13th Century as my starting point for how it has assisted human beings in our everyday lives. 

A brief run through includes pocket watches in around 1590, wearable hearing aids in the late 1800s and in 1949, American biophysicist Norman Holter invented the first portable health monitoring device. And that is about it for personal devices. I’m not counting things like stethoscopes which are used by medical professionals.

Things changed with the development of electronics. We can see this in smart watches used, for instance, in counting steps, in portable measuring devices for various bodily functions, in implanted devices.

But what about future developments. The website techtarget suggests:
Wearable technology is becoming increasingly popular and is set to revolutionize the future. While fitness trackers, smart devices, intelligent clothing and VR and AR headsets have gained widespread approval, the full potential of these technologies has yet to be realized.

The following are some futuristic concepts tech experts have predicted will shape wearable technology:
Energy harvesting. One drawback of wearable technology is that it must be taken off for regular charging. 

Energy harvesting is being researched and could prolong battery life by converting body heat, movement or solar energy into power. Piezoelectricity is one example of energy harvesting where piezoelectric ceramic can convert the body vibrations produced during movement into energy.

Smart contact lenses that contain microscopic sensors could directly cover and move with the human eye introducing the possibility of far more sophisticated capabilities than smart glasses.

AI integrated sensors that help with performing functions associated with thinking are currently being developed. Brain implants that could help people recover from traumatic brain injuries, alleviate mood disorders and assist those with communication disorders.

I was particularly taken with epidermal electronics which because of their mechanical properties resembles that of skin. With this inherent ability epidermal electronics can accurately acquire data without altering the natural motion or behaviour of skin. The thin, soft, flexible design of epidermal electronics resembles that of temporary tattoos laminated on the skin. Essentially, these devices are ‘mechanically invisible’ to the wearer.

And how much more personal and effective is that.

This poem was published in a Poetry Anthology, organised by Christabel Hopesmith, called 'Body and Soul ', to mark 70 years since the start of the NHS. I’m including it as it covers some of the above from both a technological and personal point of view.

It’s never finished

Over a coffee
I wrote up the job.

Replaced ECG lead.
Tested ok. Informed Staff Nurse.

and that was that
which didn’t seem enough
considering
so I added the Staff Nurse’s name
and doodled
an arrow tipped wire
threading my lines
into a cartoon heart
which seemed appropriate
for the Cardiac Catheterisation Suite

and dunked a biscuit

wondering whether
if I’d been the patient
would I be disturbed
by some jerk
trying to chat up a colleague
by reciting the reasons
why platinum was used
in the guide wire
about to go into my heart

or would I give a damn
as long as it was obvious
they knew what they were doing
as long as I knew I’d get back
to family and friends

and if I was that patient
would I have helped the jerk
by saying that platinum
was also an anniversary
so why not celebrate the NHS
by taking someone to dinner

I finished the coffee
and wished I’d thought of that.

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

Read More

An Unlikely Love

I’m going to have to go back to my school days and up until my mid twenties to make sense of An Unlikely Love. In school, and out of school, I could lose myself in books and was obsessed with playing and watching football. Listened to all sorts of music. From what I remember I hadn’t really thought about the future but Mom and Dad said you should include something to do with sciences as well. So, I did and got a feeble Phys/Chem O level.

I left school and had various jobs including Butlins in Pwllheli as Plain Clothes Security, doing a couple years on a Business Studies course, Telephonist at City of London Maternity Hospital, Postman in Bournemouth. Friends from back then, I presume, would have had me down as a literary type, still playing football and spending time on the beach during the day after working as the Night Casualty Porter at Boscombe Hospital.

And that job is where all the above becomes relevant. I was there for five years and during that time a few of the Path Lab technicians who were on call during the night would pop over to Casualty for a chat and a cup of tea. They would take me over to the Labs and I became fascinated by the role they played in the hospital and curing patients, although I couldn’t see myself within a laboratory.

But that caused me to become really fascinated by the way the monitors in our department could measure the body’s functions. How the medical staff used them and why. I found a course at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) and by getting an OND in Electrical Engineering and crucially using that feeble Phys/Chem O level I was able to be accepted there to study Medical Electronics.

I'd I always pass on that advice from Mom and Dad. Leave yourself choices.

I loved that course, so totally different to anything I had experienced before (and they had a great football team as well) but I’m not going to go into that because on qualifying I managed to get a post at Charing Cross Hospital when I was 31 years old. A post in the National Health Service.

If I loved the course at the Lanch, then I developed a passion for the NHS. It is being part of a team dedicated to helping people. We could be Nurses, Midwives, Care Support Workers, Doctors, Healthcare Assistants, Allied Health Professionals, Admin & Clerical, Healthcare Scientists, Porters & Support Services.

Here are a few quotes:

“Working in the NHS has allowed me to see both children and adults come to hospital, sometimes at their absolute worst, emotionally and physically, to within days or weeks leave looking and feeling better and grateful. I have recently been to a third world country looking at their health care system, which has made me even more appreciative of what the NHS offers us as workers and as patients. We don't truly know how lucky we are to have the NHS.”

Emily - Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation trust

“I love how patients are always put first and how the staff go above and beyond to meet their needs...The NHS makes Great Britain Great.”

Jessica – City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust

“I love working for the NHS as I think it is the most important institution we have in this country. I love helping the patients and working with my colleagues. Everyone is pulling in the same direction and it feels like one big family.”

Scott – East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

              

“The best feeling is when you make any positive difference to patients’ lives. For me, working in a non-clinical area, even the seemingly small actions of easing the administration process or making sure their referral journey runs smoothly can be greatly appreciated at what is often a vulnerable time for many.”

Geethani – South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

“I love being part of a team that works so hard and unrelentingly for people. I'm only 5 years younger than the NHS but I never take this institution for granted. It's a gift and we should treasure it.”

Lynn – Wirral University Teaching Hospital

That last point about not taking the NHS for granted and we should treasure it is why I wanted to write this article. However, it is and wasn’t a gift. People fought for it and now it is gradually being privatised. This has to stop.

As I started at the beginning of things I suppose I’d better finish with an ending of sorts.

Flirting

Flirt:
origin obscure
possibly connected to fleureter
to talk sweet nothing

the icing on my cake
of day to day work
where an ECG is drifting
or I sort out a fault
for the Sister in Charge

hoping I’ve made it fun
knowing the limits
leaving the ward with her smile
tucked in my tool case

knowing the limits
knowing it doesn’t work
when the Staff Nurse is twenty five
and I’m….well…

I’m not.

It’s time to go
the job is changing
and so am I
it’s time to try
shy and retiring.

First published in Pennine Platform, May 2012

Thanks for reading. Happy Christmas, Terry Q.

Read More

An idiot abroad - Keep an open mind.

I have travelled abroad since I was 8 years old.  First trip was only to Belgium with family - we flew to Ostend and had a great time at The White Horse Inn. I has drawn money from my Post Office savings account and bought a traditional Netherlands costume and a costume doll.  I loved the exotic, the new languages, learning to sing and dance to the Flemish Farmer's Dance.  Dad bought me the record. I still remember the some of the words. That was the start of my romance with the world beyond home. I fell in love with new countries, new languages and different cultures.

I have rarely been to the same place twice, ( and not just to avoid the need to apologise for my first visit). I have just always believed that life is too short not to explore and enjoy as much of the world as I can.  I travelled in mostly in Europe until I was 15.  In 1969 I went on a dancing tour to Switzerland as one of a team of  twelve British under 12's. My passport was stamped in France, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein en route.  I still have it.  I went to Lisbon when Portugal was still under military rule, to Yugoslavia when it was still a communist country, to Italy, to Morocco, (where my Dad tried to exchange me for two camels and a rug) and to Majorca, when there was only one hotel in Palma Nova, and very few people spoke English.

For me, travelling overseas means having a complete change from the British way of life. When abroad, I 'do as the Romans do': I eat foreign food, try to communicate in the appropriate language and I get off the beaten track to see how people really live in other counties. I have never believed that everyone in the world should learn to speak English. I love the sound of new words, the challenge of communicating with people who are different from me and seeing their faces light up with delight that at least I am trying to understand them. 

It is challenging and rewarding. It needs preparation and sometimes detailed planning but my goodness, it has been worth it. In 2005, I went with my husband and children to Turkey on a water-sports holiday and it was great fun but mid-may through I decided that we should get away from the coast and see something of  the country and culture. We booked a two day trip into the hills, found ourselves at Ephesus and there I experienced an encounter with the single remaining column of The Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  On the drive back, we saw the ramshackle home of a widow, who would not survive if villagers did not give her food.

In 2000, recently divorced, I took my children to South Africa and experienced the extremes of vast wealth and real poverty. In 2002 we cruised the Nile to satisfy my own life long fascination with ancient Egypt. While staying in Luxor, we were followed down the road by a man in a horse-drawn buggy who wanted us to go to a market. I wasn't there to shop, so to avoid him, I led the children to the opposite side of the street.  Suddenly, there was a dreadful smell.  I smelt it long before I saw the poor devil coming towards us whose 'galabia' was completely saturated with excrement. None of the locals seemed to notice him. It was just one of many life-changing experiences that have filled me with a love for my homeland and compassion for others.

I am very grateful that by some quirk of fate, I was born in Britain, during a time of sustained peace, into a loving and generous family, in a time of plenty. We are so lucky. My Dad always said, "We have the best climate in the world but the worse bloody weather." My travels have taught me that we have so much more.

We have fresh, drinkable water and enough to bathe in, even enough to waste. We have plentiful food.  Our British produce is wonderful and we have the pick of the best from the rest of the world. We have the best healthcare system on the planet.  So why are we so unhappy? Why do we drink too much alcohol and damage our own health through over-eating and lack of physical activity. Oh, the idiots are not abroad.  They are right here.

My advice to anyone who is dissatisfied with our green and pleasant land, is to go and see how the other half of the world have to live.  Don't go to the Costas, demanding full English breakfast and football on big screen TV's. Go and see some of the real world. Then tell me that you don't have enough, that you are being short-changed by having to pay National Insurance and tax out of your pay. If you are unhappy with the NHS, take up your bed and walk in another person's shoes, where cholera infects the only source of water, where there are no antibiotics and no hope of recovery from most major illnesses. 

Once you have seen how much less green things are on the other side of some fences, then you will appreciate the desire of the down-trodden, the hungry and the war weary to come to our better way of life. I promise you, that no matter what you may believe, our lives are better than most.  This really is the greatest country on earth.

Be Happy

Be grateful you can turn a tap and pour yourself a drink:
In Africa they walk miles for fresh water, you barely have to blink.
Be grateful, there hasn't been real hardship here since 1945:
In Yemen, every day, starving people struggle to survive.
Be mindful that we have a democratic right to choose:
In other nations, all they have is lose, lose, lose.
Be generous, we have so much, we throw so much away.
Please give to the unfortunate who fall along life's way.
Be British and be happy, benevolent and true.
And trust me when I say that life is good for me and you.

Thanks for reading. Adele

Read More

Death And Taxes

"Tis impossible to be sure of anything except Death and Taxes". So wrote Christopher Bullock in his play The Cobler of Preston (sic) first published/performed in London in 1716. It's a phrase that Daniel Defoe elaborated on shortly afterwards in his Political History of the Devil and which Benjamin Franklin made famous in 1789 when he wrote in a widely quoted letter that "...in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."

Death and Taxes became such a resonant phrase that it has been used to name a poetry collection by Dorothy Parker, as the title of several novels (by David Dodge and Thomas Dewey among others) and even a Frank Miller comic.

Of course, in practice the list of things we can be certain and sure of in this world is an extensible one.

To death and taxes I'd straight away add the depressing certainty that there are never enough hours in a day/week/year/lifetime (delete as applicable) to accomplish the things we intend to do. That's true in my case at least and I'm sure it's quite a common frustration. Many years ago a work colleague of mine had a poster above her desk that read: "I have been placed on earth to achieve a number of things. At this rate I'm so far behind that I might never be allowed to die!"

I intended to write about the effects of smoking this week - from the perspective of the habit being a killer - as I've been working on a poem on that theme; but when I began to think beyond the health issues to some of the financial implications that lie behind the continued use of tobacco, it didn't take much analysis or research to see that death and taxes are very much interwoven in the fabric of a global industry that is fabled to owe its existence to Francis Drake's adventures into South America in the late 16th century. Drake it was who introduced Sir Walter Raleigh to the habit and Raleigh in turn persuaded Queen Elizabeth to take up and endorse smoking. There is still a brand of tobacco named after Sir Walter.

"And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git" (Lennon/McCartney)

It was claimed in those naïve faraway times that tobacco had valuable medicinal properties and that smoking might be good for you!

Over the next four centuries, the smoking of tobacco in pipes and cigarettes became an almost universal custom regardless of class or gender. More people smoked than did not and there was little understanding of the negative health implications of smoking; hence there was very little concern.

It was only in the 20th century with advances in medical research that some of the health implications of the habit became apparent, starting with the link between smoking and lung disease. The industry took steps to limit the effect of toxins by introducing filter-tipped cigarettes but even then the spin from manufacturers was on improving the pleasure of the experience rather than conceding that smoking was inherently detrimental to health.

As research became more targeted and the medical evidence began to stack up, governments were under pressure from health experts to advise smokers to cut down. They typically chose to address the ethical issue by introducing or increasing the tax on tobacco sales. Shortly after World War II the British government slapped a massive 43% increase in duty on cigarettes and sales fell by 14%. This getting of large revenues from taxing tobacco has always struck me as an ambiguous position at best - and this from someone who smoked for a few years in my early twenties. (I blamed it on the nature of the job - a classroom teacher in a large London comprehensive school. The staffroom was like a fume-cupboard at break and lunch times, swathed in a permanent pall of cigarette smoke.)

As the evidence mounted that smoking increased the risks of pulmonary and vascular disease, that it was a major trigger for the development of cancers, so pressure grew to curb its use and its impact. The TV advertising of tobacco products was banned over 40 years ago as such commercials were thought to make the habit 'sexy' and could influence children and teenagers in particular. In the last 30 years, the impact of 'passive smoking' has been recognised and acted upon. Gradually smoking in the workplace became confined to designated areas, then banned altogether and latterly the same has been true of all public transport systems and enclosed public spaces.

Most recently, legislation has been introduced to force a standardised form of packaging on cigarette manufacturers. Tobacco products are now uniformly branded with the imposition of a series of garish graphic images and messages warning the consumer of the health risks associated with the habit, designed to encourage smokers to quit.

The price of a packet of twenty cigarettes is apparently nearly £10 nowadays. (I can remember when ten Park Drive cost the equivalent of 5p.) So the cost has risen markedly in recent years compared to other consumer items. What has also risen markedly is the cost to the NHS of treating smoking-related illness. One-fifth of all cancers are smoking related and then there are all the other cardio-vascular and respiratory diseases directly attributable to smoking tobacco. The financial impact is thought to run into hundreds of millions of pounds a year, never mind the suffering it causes to individuals and their loved ones. Of that £10 per pack, 70% is tax going into the exchequer; a nice little earner. Death and taxes - I wonder how much of that tobacco revenue finds its way into the health budget.

And so to the poem. I know that many years ago (I guess in the first half of the 20th century) packets of cigarettes used to contain picture cards on a theme - famous sportsmen, vehicles, breeds of dog et cetera as an added inducement for people to stick to a particular brand and try and collect a complete set of footballers, sports cars, hounds or whatever the set comprised. The recent introduction of this generic graphic packaging highlighting the various unpleasant effects of long-term smoking gave me an idea for an ironic twist on the concept. I hope you don't find it facetious or offensive. Of course it is meant to upset, for the intent is a serious one.

The Whole Smoking Set
A different graphic image
adorns every packet.
Ten smoking-related conditions,
ten nails for your coffin,
which one is for you?

Prematurely grey and wrinkled skin?
Gum disease and a toothless grin?
Vascular deterioration, the loss of a limb?
Maybe a premature or malformed baby?
Bronchial disorder is a permanent wheeze
not to mention tumours of the throat and tongue,
lung cancer and cardiac disease.

You may insist it's your right to choose,
that it's all a racket and you accept the risk.

Go on then,
collect the whole smoking set.
Roll up! Strike up!
You might be lighting your way
to a slow and painful death -
but it's one for which we all have to pay!

Thanks for reading. Stay healthy, S;-)

Read More