Lately, almost every week, there have been Regulators, Dignitaries, Law-Enforcers, and other wandering eyeballs, that we need to impress, over at yonder healthcare system. Every department wants to look as neat as a pin, and then to top it off, all those wonderful visitors get the best of all meals, and what budget does that come out of, I wonder?

These two poems touch upon financial impact and all of that.

Sisters Charm

Sure, I realize
There’s a tough crunch,
Matching dollars to nursing time
But what about that lunch?

Where visiting dignitaries
Chew the fat and shoot the bull,
Who pays for all of that?
Waiting till all those suckers are full,
With our special gourmet
We catered for you, kind of dinner,
Now please, if you all would score us
As your favorite winner,
In the lottery of favorable comments
On the Who’s-Who list of Hospitals Best,
Come on; just give us a good score
This is not a quiz, exam or a test.

And it’s not about our Surgeries
Or Cancer-Care, or Robotic Arm,
No, it’s all about the catering
And Sister Euphemia’s charm.

Fibril_late;
4/13/12

Like Sheep

Writings twenty years old
Do they still have some funny?
If I publish them, what are the odds
That I’ll make any money,
Pretty low, I estimate
But that’s not the point,
I wrote then, about issues
That I needed to anoint.

Human habits change very little
Despite our technological advances,
I wrote about missed opportunities
And precarious chances.

Since that time, not much has changed
With ethics, morals and actions,
Although I’m inclined to believe
That the Hospital-as-a-business-model
Has led to an impaction,
Where good care and cost-cutting
Have nearly reached a critical-mass,
Where a gentle mercy and kind dignity
Won’t be allowed to pass………..

No matter how many feel-good, call-back
Phone calls are made
Cost-cutting will surely, bury those deep,
Even while our leaders and administrators
Chase Medicare dollars in their slumber…………..
Like runaway proverbial sheep.

Fibril_late;
4/13/12