I’ve been thinking about SOS, shingles, and the v-word.
Mark is a passionate advocate for patient safety and the use of bar codes in hospital dispensing. He has become the "go to" person for hospitals to consult when safety issues and readmission rates begin to increase. Given that hospitals are over 50 percent of a nation's health budget, savings in hospitals increase budgets for primary health care.
SOS is the worldwide signal for distress. When originally used in 1908, the letters did not represent words. Rather, the characters were chosen for the ease with which they could be telegraphed and deciphered via Morse Code. The signal employs perhaps the least ambiguous combinations available: dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, and dot-dot-dot.The maritime call letters quickly evolved into an acronym for “save our ship.” War veterans of the greatest generation also told us how SOS was borrowed by sailors to describe their daily portions of creamed chipped beef on toast a.k.a. sh*t on a shingle, a dish my mother occasionally served, except with hamburger and under a different alias. Here’s a recipe in case you were deprived in your childhood. Mom was what we Christians typically called a godly woman. Knowing my readers, I’m sure a few are disappointed that I used the s-word while others are wondering why on earth I had to bring God into the equation. Maybe I can wiggle out of this awkwardness into something less controversial and throw out the v-word—that would be vacc*nation. Relax. After witnessing my mother’s war against the virus, I’m committed to a détente plan involving two strategies. First, I bank on mom’s persistent advice: “Pray that you never get the shingles.” Second, as soon as I learned that the shingles vaccine was available (2006), I was among the first in line to get the shot. The Institutes of Health notes that in clinical trials, the vaccine reduced the risk of shingles by better than 50 percent. It may also reduce pain, they say, in people who still get shingles after being vaccinated. I cared not that my insurance didn’t cover the injection. It was the easiest $300 I’ve ever put on my credit card. If she were here and knew of friends who couldn’t afford the shot, Juanita certainly would have prayed for them and probably would have slipped them two Ben Franklins. SOS: stave off shingles. DISCLAIMER: The above is merely my opinion. I am not a doctor but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. What do you think? Mark Neuenschwander aka Noosh |
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