THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

            Because of the horrendous catastrophe that occurred towards the end of last week I have decided to switch gears a little bit and show the more positive side of our world. If by chance you live in a cave atop some far off mountain and have no clue of what I’m talking about here is a little background. Last Friday an astonishing 9.0 earthquake struck just off the northern coast of Japan causing a large tsunami to strike the island resulting in the deaths of more than 4000 people with that number expected to rise (CNN). There are also over 2200 people still missing or reported injured (CNN).

            Whenever something like this happens it always seems to remind us of what is truly important and allows us to put things in perspective. It is truly heartwarming to see how the entire world has begun to rally around Japan sending their support in forms of teams or money. After only four days donors just in America have raised over $47,000,000 in relief funds (Preston). I love how no matter what is going on in the world when something this devastating happens everyone forgets about their petty problems and asks themselves what can I do to help.

            I know it is so easy to only see the bad in whatever is around you but I think it is necessary to go out and look for the good as well. Because you always hear about the guy who got robbed at gunpoint but never about the person who freely gave.

Citation

Preston, Caroline, and Nicole Wallace. "Donors Give More than $47-Million for Japan Relief Efforts - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the Nonprofit World with News, Jobs, and Ideas." The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://philanthropy.com/article/Donors-Give-More-than/126747/.

"Japan Quake Tsunami." This Just In - CNN.com Blogs. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/16/japan-quake-live-blog-death-toll-expected-to-rise-as-crews-reach-more-areas/. 

MY TRIP TO OUR GREAT CAPITAL

            Well last week was a lot of fun. I had a great opportunity to travel to Washington DC and meet with all the Arkansas Congressmen. I traveled there with Arkansas Surgical Hospital to talk about the Health Care Reform Bill and ways to improve it. The target objective was to have act 6001 repealed from law. This act severely limits the growth of all physician owned hospitals. In fact if your hospital was primarily physician owned and not built with all its medical licenses by the time this bill was passed you can no longer open your hospital.

            Although any physician owned hospitals that were built by this deadline can continue to operate they can no longer add operating rooms or patient beds. Keeping a business from being able to grow only leaves one direction for them to go, down. Our group took that trip in to hopes of having that act repealed and being able to run this hospital like any other, with the freedom to grow and expand to meet new demands. 

            As far as we can tell there was no real justification for this act to be passed. Arkansas Surgical Hospital is in the top 1% in the nation for overall surgical care, orthopedic surgery, and in patient safety. They have also received the Patient Satisfaction Award for Overall Hospital Care in 2011. This all adds up to being one of the best hospitals in its field of care. When presented with this information most of the Congressmen were flabbergasted.

            It is my firm belief that restricting who can own a business when they have done nothing to suggest dangerous behavior is a clear violation of the United States Constitution. My hope is that the men and women we have placed in control will recognize their mistake and take quick action to correct it.