No Taboo On Tenderness

March 1, 2021Michael 4 Comments

Once again I had a hard time deciding what thoughts to put out to the interworld. I had what I thought an absolutely timely and terrific piece and then all sorts of things came up from politically correcting toys that have no business being the subject of political correctness to speeches espousing incorrectness by people who have no business in politics. Wedged in between were musings on the Golden Globes, the Grammy Awards, and long wait for this year’s Oscars. Then if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been without a phone for the entire weekend which demonstrated how little difference it made in my life but also gave me a brief respite from the onslaught of what has become the extended car warranty spam/scam/abomination.

In the end I decided to go with my first thought even though I had to think so many times before I got there. That first thought was to join the world in celebrating March as Women in History month. There are so many women in history we can make note of, your location, profession, career, passion, and cultural background undoubtedly coloring your idea of the most significant women in history. Marie Curie, Marie Antoinette, Clara Barton, Clara Bow, Cleopatra, Cleo Wade, Sandra Day O’Connor, Doris Day, Sandra Oh; Eve, Sarah, Esther, and Mary. From Lucy to Siri women are history.

gonzales_duffy The women in our own histories will always be the most important women in our lives. Our mothers and grandmothers, aunts and honorary aunts, teachers, coaches, students, and teammates. And for almost everybody, there is that one person you did not even realize would become a part of your history yet found a way to be part of much of your life without actually being there. For me that woman is Mary Gonzales Duffy, RSM.

Sister Gonzales was a Religious Sister of Mercy. She was already a force in hospital pharmacist when I opened the mail and dug out my pharmacy intern certificate in 1975. If you have ever been a patient in a hospital and received a drug while you were there you benefited from some contribution of Sister. Sister Gonzales was one of those women who did not contribute to the history of pharmacy, she is the history of pharmacy, particularly hospital pharmacy. In 1962 working with the Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University School of Pharmacy she established the first postgraduate, academic residency in Hospital Pharmacy. She formalized drug information services, unit dose distribution methods, and pharmacy consultation services. In 1978 she was elected the first woman president of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists (now American Society of Health System Pharmacists). That same year she was honored by Duquesne University at their centennial celebration as one of the top 100 alumni.

More than just a collection of her accomplishments in hospital pharmacy, Sister’s legacy reflects her gentleness and respect for those she served, as a pharmacist, as a nun, as a complete person. Sister was still working during my undergraduate years at Duquesne. Even when she received the Harvey A. K. Whitney Award, what is considered hospital pharmacy’s most prestigious award, in 1971, she was just Sister in the pharmacy moving it from a “service of things to a service of people.” Important women in hospital pharmacy are not uncommon, nor is acknowledging them. By the time Sister received her honor in 1971 she was in a long list of women so recognized going to 1953 in an award established just 3 years earlier. Still, she is the one I remember, the one who taught at the school where I learned, who lead the first hospital pharmacy I saw from inside its walls, the one who encouraged me and other young white coated future pharmacists to serve from the outside those walls.

Sister Gonzales closed her Whitney lecture with, “There are some in our modern society who claim we live in an age of insensitivity. Perhaps we do, but I hope not. There should be no taboo on tenderness. … May we be mindful of the fact that our Creator, who has placed us here on earth to do a work, touches the world mainly through the ministration of human services. We labor in an atmosphere where frequently good must battle evil, where some must suffer and die. May it be our happy task to ease the ways of all those for whom we care. May we be brought to the realization that true happiness is found in the knowledge that a job assigned to us here and at this point in time has been a job well done.”

Hers was a job done well, her job as a pharmacist, as a teacher, as a religious, as a part of history.

SrGonzales

Chúc mừng năm mới

February 11, 2021Michael 8 Comments

If you can’t read that (I can’t either without help) I’ll translate for you – Happy New Year! Tomorrow begins the Lunar New Year celebrations throughout the Asian world. If you’re an ugly American as even the most sensitive of us sometimes are, you’ve called it Chinese New Year for most if not all of your life, if you called it anything, Out in the real world, the Lunar New Year celebrations stretch back to the second century BC during the Han Dynasty. The “Chinese calendar” that begins time with this new year is a lunisolar calendar based on the moon’s cycles or phases in addition to our solar orbit. (A true lunar calendar based solar on the phases of the moon spans 354 days rather than the 365 days it takes to completely orbit the sun – give or take so additional adjustments are made not unlike the quadrennial habit of tossing in leap day.)

The Lunar New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, this year on our February 12 and marks the beginning of year 4718, the year of the Ox (or Buffalo, Bull, or Cow). Over 2 billion people from mainland China to Brunei, more than a quarter of the world’s population will celebrate the turning of that calendar page . The greeting I began this post is in Vietnamese where the celebration westerners call Tet will begin with a day devoted to the immediate family. (“Tet” translates to “Festival”) The lunar new year celebrations can last up to 14 days ranging to the first full moon after the new year. For as many cultures that celebrate the Lunar New Year there are that many variations on the celebrations. In Vietnam Tết Nguyên Đán (Festival of the First Morning of the First Day) may last only 3 days.

We would do well to emulate the Asian cultures celebrating this new year. Unlike the western new year the Lunar New Year is not marked with discounts on mattresses and major appliances., there won’t be insincere promises to resolve to do better, be better, live better for the next 12 hours or until the first sign of temptation comes along, and the first morning won’t be welcomed with a hangover headache from over celebrating on the eve of the day most likely to be on the road with a drunk driver. Lunar New Year celebrations typically revolve around family: the immediate, the extended, and the helpers. Traditions likely include sharing tokens of good luck and prosperity and homes brightly decorated and filled with scent of long held traditional family foods. Think of Thanksgiving without Black Friday mixed in with a little Christmas and a bit of the Fourth of July (fireworks, everything is better with fireworks!).

If you’re looking for a reason to celebrate this weekend and you’re not already one of the aforementioned 2 billion, grab the ox by the horns, gather round the family, and wish each other long life, good health, and prosperity to all!

Chasing Groundhogs

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021Michael 6 Comments

20210202_083853

For Twelve days I chased that groundhog, that rodent brought to me …

Twelve handlers handling
Eleven chipmunks chatting
Ten marmots munching
Nine ground squirrels chomping
Eight gophers going
Seven woodchucks chucking
Six lemurs lounging

five – hollow – trees! 🐾

four woolen mufflers 🧣
three top hats 🎩
two fur-lined mittens🧤

and a shadow for him to later see 🕳

Prepping for Phil

February 1, 2021Michael Leave a comment

Phil

Happy Groundhog Day Eve! I’m not gong to try to post links of all the GHD related posts I’ve written. There aren’t enough electrons and bits or E-ink or whatever makes things visible on these screens to do that. Trust me that there have been a bunch and you can search for them, even the one that actually is moderately educational. Okay, so there is one link for you.

Here’s another link for you. You see, unlike some of the more “intelligent life” on this planet, Punxsutawney Phil knows the danger of going out in crowded conditions and is encouraging everybody to celebrate his coming out for 2021 remotely. You can see him accurately predict the coming of this spring livestream on the Visit PA site starting at 6:30 am EST, Tuesday, February 2. (My prediction is six more weeks of winter.)

Come back here tomorrow for a special Groundhog Day post, Real Reality style, 2021 edition.

Strength to Love

January 18, 2021Michael 5 Comments

Boy I had a time coming up with today’s post. I started thinking I should do something lighthearted. It’s been a while since I’ve been particularly light about anything and the world certainly could use a break from its self-seriousness. Then I thought I should do something for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the second of many reasons each year for banks and post offices to close while the rest of the country celebrates by buying new washer/dryer combinations or king size mattresses for the price of a queen. Then there’s the whole inauguration protest combination thing going on this week. Personally I think Twitter was about 1400 days late in pulling that particular plug and it goes to show people will believe anything they read online. And how can we let a week go by without paying homage to the real ruler of the world, Orthocoronavirinae betacoronavirus-2. In the end I decided to do what I do best and just ramble.

Let’s start with the good reverend doctor. Although I have not yet today opened a paper, wood based or electronic, I’m certain somebody somewhere has managed include the word “dream” in a headline, photo caption, or lede. Dr. King said more than that one phrase we associate with him almost to the exclusion of all others. I particularly like “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” from Strength to Love, a collection of his sermons published in 1963.

The whole idea of of needing strength to love is so appropriate for today. Nearly 50 years after it appeared in print we are still struggling with how we mark the measure of mankind and the concept of loving our neighbors (no exceptions). We are clearly in a time of challenge and controversy and if you want to rise above the pack of animals – or crazy people dressed in animal skins – that man has become, you must accept the challenge to rise above the controversy, set it aside, and move on.

So I’ll offer a challenge that I know many if you don’t even need to hear. Let’s get through this week without saying anything negative about somebody who you don’t agree with or who doesn’t agree with you, whenever discussing anything stick to the facts rather than “alternate facts” and think three times before committing anything to writing – particularly electronic writing, smile at a stranger even knowing they can’t see it under your mask, and love your neighbor.

Can you do that? Do you have the strength to love?

You’ve Got a Friend in the Pharmacy

January 11, 2021January 10, 2021Michael 4 Comments

Tomorrow is a special day for me. Almost as special as Groundhog Day (and if you read this blog for any of the last 8 Groundhog Days you know how special that day is). January 12 is National Pharmacists Day. It’s special to me because even though you might think I could make a decent living on the goofy blog circuit I actually have a professional side to me and for over 40 years have hung a hunk of paper from the state’s board of pharmacy declaring me to be one of them. Pharmacists not groundhogs.

National Pharmacists Day is an opportunity to recognize all pharmacists for their contributions to the nation’s health and health care systems throughout the country regardless of their practice settings or specialties. Yes pharmacists work in a variety of health care settings and do sit for specialty boards in a variety of conversations from psychopharmacology to eldercare.

Pharmacists trace the root of the profession to ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Recipes for remedies have been found on papyri dating to the 15^th century BC. In the 1^st century AD, the Greek physician Dioscorides wrote his five volume textbook on the practice of medicine and the use of medical substances and remedies. Pharmacy and medical students may more readily recognize its Latin translation De Materia Medica. It would another 700 year though until individuals took on specific roles of preparation and dispensing of medicaments that we associate with the specialty of pharmacy when the Taihō Code defined this role in 701 at the end of Japan’s Asuka Period. The roles of pharmacists and physicians would sometimes separate and sometimes blur through the first half of the second millennium. In 1683 the city council of Bruges formally separated the practices and passed an ordinance forbidding physicians from filling medication orders for their patients.

MortarBefore In the United States, Benjamin Franklin is credited for creating an autonomous apothecary within the Pennsylvania Hospital which opened in 1754 in Philadelphia. Although apothecaries were operating in the North American colonies, the pharmacist physician separation was not the standard practice as it was becoming common in Europe and England. Franklin’s insistence on the establishment of a separate service for the hospital was seen as an opportunity for drug research and development as well as to manage and dispense a fragile inventory.

Since 1754 pharmacists have taken more diverse roles, formally specialized, led development, and revolutionized education. Still the pharmacist is a dispenser. Whether of medications or information, whether to ambulatory patients, hospital staff, nursing home residents, fledgling students, or even to the International Space Station, pharmacists’ role is to give. Pharmacists embrace that role regardless of where they practice and continue to hone their skills and define their roles.

If you should happen to cross paths with a pharmacist tomorrow, join the dozens of people who even know this special day exists and wish him or her a Happy National Pharmacist Day!

Happy Old Year

December 31, 2020December 30, 2020Michael 2 Comments

Thirty days ago I issued a challenge. That sounds pushy. Let’s say 30 days ago I made a suggestion and intimated I would do it too. “It” was recall one positive, happy thing that happened this year each day during December. The purpose was to demonstrate that although 2020 might not be the poster year for The Best of Times, it is far from The Worst of Times.

Did you? Were you able to recall a mere 30 happy memories of all your recollections from this year’s 366 days? I did and I was. The only change I made from my proposed plan was instead of starting the day with a happy memory, I wrapped up my day with the positive reminiscence. I was thus able to share it with my friend every night. To being able to tell somebody else about the positives of the year animated those memories and kept the memory machine in tune for the following day’s offering. Another happy side effect of holding my pluses until day’s end was that it gave me the entire day to decide which memory I was most interested in sharing that day. Yes, by the second week I found myself in the unanticipated although hoped for position of having multiple merry memories.

This year was one nobody expected regardless of what your Facebook friends tell you. They nor anybody else, except perhaps a handful of world class immunologists saw this year’s great pandemic coming. That same group of friends, unless they also doubled as meteorologic oceanographers likely didn’t expect 46 storms across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. (Thirty for the Atlantic, its most active recorded season and 16 in the Pacific, its least active.) Even the most studied sociologists couldn’t have predicted protests in every state and many nations against over a dozen different issues and conditions. Yes, this year was filled with misfortune. Still, there were the fortunes of 2020. The difference is that the majority of the good times were held individually although if individuals got together and pooled their happy times that would be a powerfully positive pack of people.

I hope you spent December recalling the good of 2020. Spending the month knowing at least some part every day would be a spent thinking happy thoughts may be the most positive memory I’ll have of 2020. And a significant challenge for 2021!

2020 In a Word, or Three

December 28, 2020Michael Leave a comment

Ah, were getting close to the New Year. The way people have been saying they can’t wait for this year to be over you would think there is an expiration date on “the virus.” I put that in quotes because that seems to be how most people are looking at it. At least that seems to be how American people are looking at it and at most other news of the year. A character, a reference, a headline. It didn’t matter how complex a matter was, all of 2020 was a slogan. Health, welfare, politics, social justice, social injustice – all were condensed into a few words, small enough and simple enough to read as a headline, fit on a protest sign, or look spiffy behind a hashtag. Every cause must have hired a PR rep to ensure its message got across to the people without all the distracting stats, explanations, and sometimes facts.

Would you like proof?

Let’s start with the election, that solemn activity undertaken with thought and due consideration for all issues. If yard signs were any indication of the thought that was taken this year we are in big trouble. We could have chosen between “Keep America Great” or “Build Back Better.” What does either mean! But this is not unusual. Spiffy easy to remember slogans are a staple with elections. “I Like Ike” and “All The way With LBJ” didn’t rate very high on the infometer either. What was unusual this year was the trite sloganeering continued, er continues. It morphed from “Get Out and Vote” to “Your Vote Matters” to “Count Every Vote” to “Count Every Legal Vote” to “Stop The Steal.” Duh. Well, “You Can’t Fix Stupid but You Can Vote it Out.”

Protests lend themselves to spiffy slogans. They have to be short enough to fit on a sign in letters big enough to be legible when captured by the news cameras and catchy enough to be remembered after the cameras leave. “Silence Is Violence” is a great example. The pity is how many people did not know the origin of the phrase or its original context. Then it was confounded when the same movements adopted the “Muted” campaign. Think about that.

Lack of context could not stop a good protest throughout the year. We were intent on ensuring others knew we knew that various things mattered, that many peoples names needed said, that just about every ethic group was strong and that we should make America a variety of things again. We wanted to “Defund the Police” but still “Back the Blue,” and we let the world know our demands included “No Justice No Peace” then telling ourselves “Whatever It Takes.”

Neither could lack of facts stop a good protest. Marchers across America on Columbus Day carried signs to “Make America Native Again” or “Columbus Didn’t Discover America, He Invaded It” oblivious to the fact that Columbus never made it to any part of mainland North America on any of his four voyages.

And that takes us back to “the virus.” For almost the entire year a CoViD story was front and center on your favorite news source. We learned how to “Wash Your Hands” even if we didn’t know why we did it that way. We included “Flatten the Curve” in as many conversations as we could then we switched to “Business on Top, Pajamas on the Bottom” when it became clear that curve was tougher than we expected. If we did find ourselves in an intelligent conversation about CoViD and how to deal with it yet still uncertain of how to deal with it, we could fake our way through by looking thoughtful then declaring, “Corona, It’s Not Just a Beer Anymore!” Any attempt to break quarantine was met with “[Fill in the blank] IS Essential” and if that argument failed we turned to “Quarantine the Virus, Not the Constitution.” Apparently logic was what ended up in quarantine.

I will be glad to see 2020 come to an end but not because I think we will finally have put the issues of 2020 to bed. No, I’ll be happy to see it end because then I can finally stop having to listen to people say “I can’t wait for 2020 to end!”

Boy I can’t wait for 2020 to end!

Merry Christmas 2020 Style

December 24, 2020December 23, 2020Michael Leave a comment

Jesus, forgive us for being so distracted on your birthday. Much of the world seems to think we are in the midst of a great suffering. Oh, we’ve had some difficulties this year but nothing that compares with what You will suffer in 30 some odd years.

Everybody wants to concentrate on the bad things that happened and forget You gave us some good times buried in the troubles. Some people have learned to cook and bake. Some have learned to paint or sculpt. A few took up writing. Other people rediscovered books, movies, and puzzles. Through the power of electronics families got closer even as they could not travel to see each other. Those same families discovered eating together could be an event even if the meals were prepared by fancy restaurants or simple diners and delivered or picked up. And we’ve learned who the indispensable really are.

In that You are in the forgiveness business please try to understand that tomorrow while we should be celebrating Your big day, many of us will be complaining about something beyond our control although we won’t admit anything can possibly be beyond our control. We’ll probably stop for a few minutes before we eat, after we toast a Happy Holidays! to everybody we can think of, somebody at the table will mutter a prayer of thanks for the food before them.

Please don’t take too great an exception at that. There are some of us that pray a more often than that though probably not often enough, certainly not often enough but we do try. We really do.

And with than in mind, allow me to say for the rest of us down here, Happy Birthday. Merry Christmas. Many happy returns.

Amen.