“gemba walk” (lean thinking term) to go to the actual place where value is added + “walkabout” (Australian aborigine) a short period of wandering bush life engaged as an occasional interruption of regular work
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Let me tell you about my awesome brother, Dave. He’s an awesome guy, an awesome husband, an awesome dad, an awesome pastor. He’s an awesome guy. Here’s a photo of me and Dave from a little over a year ago.
That’s Dave on the right, me on the left. Here’s a photo of the whole gang (well most of us) at Dave’s church where he officiated at the wedding for his son Andrew and bride Kayla. This was in December of 2010.
Life was good. Life was great. Then, boom - November 2011 everything changes. Dave is diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. His world changes on a dime - everyone’s life changes but mostly for Dave, and for his wife, Carol. These two people built a church from scratch in the 1980-90s. See it for yourself, go to www.inlandhillschurch.com or to this website about Dave’s current challenge - http://godsgotthis.org. These 2 people have done amazing things for other people. You should see the amazing things they’ve done for the poorest of the poor people in India.
I had the good fortune to visit my brother and his wife in the oncology ward of a very prestigious hospital in Los Angeles. He seems to be getting good care - the people seem to really work hard, and care.
But the system is failing Dave, and it’s failing his feisty wife, Carol. On top of the concerns about life, death, survival rates, drugs, blood transfusions, complications, fevers, rashes, nausea etc. - on top of all that, Carol needs to figure out how to get Dave a drug that he needs to survive. She needs to figure out how to pay for a drug for Dave as an outpatient. While he’s in the hospital it’s not a problem. But the problem occurs when he goes home - to recover, to get strong. There’s a drug made by Bristol Myer Squibb that he needs to deal with the fact that on top of having leukemia, he’s got what is called the “philadelphia chromosome”. The drug is called “Sprycel” (generic name is Dasatinib). The drug company has a website devoted (or so it appears) to helping people to get this drug if they need it - to provide the financial avenues that people need. I’m not impressed by what I have heard and seen about this website. It looks like a lot of “hoops” to me.
The reason why Carol needs to spend her time and emotional energy dealing with this is because there appears to be a “loop hole” in the insurance coverage. In the hospital - not a problem. Out of the hospital - problem. The drug is expensive and they are not poor enough to qualify for Medical or rich enough to pay for the drug themselves. They are like most of us - like you and me - hard-working folks who follow the rules, do all the right things, then are unlucky to contract a rare disease and they must figure out how to get the drug they need. To survive.
Carol has been chasing people around, going from one phone call to another. Faxing this, getting approval for that, waiting for someone to get back to her. Her days are like a ping-pong ball going from person to person. She’s not dealing with a system - she’s dealing with independent parts (people) doing their best (I think) but not working toward a common goal - the patient.
The system (it’s not a system) is failing her and it’s failing Dave. And it’s pissing me off!
My brother Dave was just like you and me. Every day he had is “to do” list and he worked on his list diligently. Now he has one item on his “to do” list - live. Carol has the same item - help Dave live. She doesn’t need the hassle of dealing with the waste and non-value-added activity, the workarounds and the delays to get what the system should be delivering. If it’s happening to Dave, it’s happening to thousands (millions) of others.
I’m counting on the possibility that someone that I know, who reads this tells someone they know about it so that I can help Carol provide some avenues for access to the drug that Dave needs. Help me make the connection for Carol so she can help Dave. I can be reached at steck001@gmail.com or 952-334-3578.
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annielivingstrong reblogged this from gembawalkabout and added:
our healthcare system. It should
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