An Experiment in Compassion

Josh is an actor. So are the people heaping verbal abuse on him. See how the ordinary shoppers respond in the following video:



Food for thought: How would you respond if you saw an individual with developmental disabilities being verbally or physically harassed at a local store, restaraunt, park, school, or other place in your community?

H/T Real Choice and Mommy Life

One Year Anniversary of Late-term Abortion Provider George Tiller Death

Monday, May 31 - Memorial Day, this year - will mark the 1 year anniversary of abortion provider George Tiller's murder.

Pro-choice activists have been paying tributes and are planning memorials. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has read or will read a Tiller tribute statement on the Senate floor today.

For a donation of $75 the TX Equal Access Fund "will deliver a handmade card, flowers, and a basket of goodies" to your favorite abortion provider on May 31. Why not instead deliver flowers to the women and families of women who were injured or killed during supposed "safe and legal" late-term abortions at George Tiller's clinic. Where's their concern for these women and their families? Does their concern not extend beyond the woman's abortion?

The George Tiller Abortion Fund has been established to subsidize late-term abortions. However, I think it's important to keep in mind that often in the case of a theraputic late-term abortion for health reasons or poor prenatal diagnosis, the woman has often been has been given a worst-case scenario and feels that she has run out of options and she may have been told that an abortion is the best option by her doctor despite carrying a wanted pregnancy. Rather than abandoning these women to despair and hopelessness and feeling they have no choice but to have an abortion, instead let's give them a support system, medical resources, and options. Instead of supporting the George Tiller Abortion Fund, instead consider donating to organizations such as Be Not Afraid, Prenatal Partners for Life, or your local prenatal hospice, establish a community outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis, create a database of community resources for those with special needs children, purchase and distribute Ashli McCall's book "Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum" to families and doctor's offices, sew memory blankets or create a comfort basket for a family facing neonatal death or infant death, or offer to help a family by bringing meals over or assisting with errands. To this end, we can help support and comfort families through their challenges, grief, and sorrows and healing journeys.

Picture credit: Jill Stanek

Nun Excommunicated For Allowing Abortion : NPR

Nun Excommunicated For Allowing Abortion
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
http://npr.org/

Last November, a 27-year-old woman was admitted to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. She was 11 weeks pregnant with her fifth child, and she was gravely ill. According to a hospital document, she had "right heart failure," and her doctors told her that if she continued with the pregnancy, her risk of mortality was "close to 100 percent."

The patient, who was too ill to be moved to the operating room much less another hospital, agreed to an abortion. But there was a complication: She was at a Catholic hospital.

"They were in quite a dilemma," says Lisa Sowle Cahill, who teaches Catholic theology at Boston College. "There was no good way out of it. The official church position would mandate that the correct solution would be to let both the mother and the child die. I think in the practical situation that would be a very hard choice to make."

But the hospital felt it could proceed because of an exception — called Directive 47 in the U.S. Catholic Church's ethical guidelines for health care providers — that allows, in some circumstance, procedures that could kill the fetus to save the mother. Sister Margaret McBride, who was an administrator at the hospital as well as its liaison to the diocese, gave her approval.

The woman survived. When Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted heard about the abortion, he declared that McBride was automatically excommunicated — the most serious penalty the church can levy.

"She consented in the murder of an unborn child," says the Rev. John Ehrich, the medical ethics director for the Diocese of Phoenix. "There are some situations where the mother may in fact die along with her child. But — and this is the Catholic perspective — you can't do evil to bring about good. The end does not justify the means."

Ehrich adds that under canon or church law, the nun should be expelled from her order, the Sisters of Mercy, unless the order can find an alternative penalty. Ehrich concedes that the circumstances of this case were "hard."

"But there are certain things that we don't really have a choice" about, he says. "You know, if it's been done and there's public scandal, the bishop has to take care of that, because he has to say, 'Look, this can't happen.' "

A Double Standard?
But according to the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer, the bishop "clearly had other alternatives than to declare her excommunicated." Doyle says Olmsted could have looked at the situation, realized that the nun faced an agonizing choice and shown her some mercy. He adds that this case highlights a "gross inequity" in how the church chooses to handle scandal.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, shown here in 2003, declared that McBride was automatically excommunicated because she allowed a patient at a Catholic hospital to get an abortion. But some say her quick punishment stands in stark contrast to the protection many pedophile priests have received from their bishops.

"In the case of priests who are credibly accused and known to be guilty of sexually abusing children, they are in a sense let off the hook," Doyle says.

Doyle says no pedophile priests have been excommunicated. When priests have been caught, he says, their bishops have protected them, and it has taken years or decades to defrock them, if ever.

"Yet in this instance we have a sister who was trying to save the life of a woman, and what happens to her? The bishop swoops down [and] declares her excommunicated before he even looks at all the facts of the case," Doyle says.

Ehrich agrees that sexual abuse can't be tolerated. But he says neither can McBride's actions.

"She said, 'Yes, you can kill that unborn child.' That's a heinous act. And I'm not going to make a distinction between what's worse. They're both abhorrent," Ehrich says.

Ehrich says the nun can be admitted back into the Catholic community by going to confession and repenting. McBride still works at the hospital in another position. Whether she is allowed to remain in her religious order, Erich says that is up to the Sisters of Mercy.

I don't know, I think every effort should be made to save both mother and unborn child with close monitering and treatment with medications in a hospital setting. However, in this case, it sounds like moderate to severe pulmonary hypertension, also known as Preeclampsia and Eclampsia. According to E-Medicine/Medscape: Eclampsia and Preeclampsia it appears terminating the pregnancy via emergency delivery is indicated in a later-term pregnancy in addition to medications to stabilize her blood pressure and reduce seizures (with every attempt to save both baby and mother), however delivery wasn't possible here, and so perhaps this was one of those rare cases where there were no other options and terminating the pregnancy via a theraputic abortion was necessary to save this woman's life. In the case of an ectopic pregnancy, the principle of double effect comes into play. However it's also important to note that this case was an exception, not the rule for abortion as theraputic abortions for endangerment to the woman's health only comprise 1% of all induced abortions. I'm no longer a practicing Catholic, so I don't know the specific guidelines for theraputic abortions necessary to save the mother's life. *Sighs* And how the Catholic church has handled the cases of sexual abuse is one of the reasons why I'm no longer a practicing Catholic.

H/T to my younger sister, "T"

Singing a'cappella

A while back, my sister told me about a great new up and coming a'capella group called "Straight No Chaser"



If you like "Straight No Chaser," you might like the following up and coming group, University of Oregon's all male a'cappella group "On The Rocks" Their version of Lady Gaga's song Bad Romance is especially great.

Hiatus Interrupted

As you may have noticed, I've taken a recent hiatus, sans an occasional entry or comment on other's blogs. Recently I've started working again in direct care with the developmentally disabled, now for a different agency. Also, I was in the process of completing my CNA (or nurse aide) certification, which I'm happy to say, I completed 105 contact hours of training (lab/lecture and clinicals) and passed the state certification exam this morning. I hope to return to writting again, although it may be infrequent due to a hectic work schedule.

Please Help Spread the Message of Teen Suicide Prevention

1,800 young people under age 20 take their own lives each year, most because of untreated depression. Tragically, only 1 out of every 3 depressed teens receives treatment. AFSP developed More Than Sad: Teen Depression to help students recognize depression in themselves or their friends, promote help-seeking and demystify what treatment involves. In 2009, the film was recognized as a Best Practice in Suicide Prevention. What’s needed now is to make sure that it gets used in high schools across the U.S. Our idea is to recruit 2,000 teachers to participate in one of 10 hour-long webinars, aimed at introducing them to the film and helping them understand its importance as a suicide prevention tool. Following the webinar, teachers will receive a complimentary copy of the DVD and instructional materials for use in their schools. Our intention is that this project will empower high school teachers to play a crucial role in preventing the loss of young lives to suicide.

About American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
AFSP is a national nonprofit engaged in research, education and advocacy to prevent suicide. We also reach out to people living with mental disorders and suicide loss. Our highly acclaimed film, More Than Sad, educates teens about depression, the leading cause of suicide.

Update:
Voting Ended April, 30 and AFSP was a finalist to receive $50,000. Thank you for your votes!

Donating Bone Marrow Can Save a Life

A while back, Keep Calm and Carry On provided information on becoming a bone marrow donor and bone marrow donation here, here, and here. Blood stem cells taken from the bone marrow or blood of a matching volunteer donor can be used to treat a number of conditions and can be life saving for people with diseases of the blood, bone marrow, or certain types of cancer. It only takes 5 minutes to do a buccal swab to determine if your tissue might be a match for someone in need of a transplant.

Often times when individuals think of bone marrow donation, they think having having to be put under anesthesia and having a long needle draw bone marrow out of a bone in their hip. However, I'm happy to say that the process has improved there is another option to donation. The other option is to administer certain drugs (which unfortuantly may have flu-like side effects) which stimulate the release of stem cells from the bone marrow into circulating blood. An IV is inserted into the donor's arm, and the stem cells are filtered out of the blood. The procedure is similar to donating blood or platelets.

Today I went to the local university student center and did a buccal (cheek) swab to see if I might be a donor match for a bone marrow transfusion for two local girls in need
Ailing sisters still need a donor match | thestarpress.com | The Star Press
and was added to the National Donor Registry.

Spring

For the last week or so, it's been rather dreary here, overcast, rainy, and cold. It sure didn't feel like Spring. As I looked out the window into the rain yesterday, I wondered if it would be warm in time for Easter Sunday. Fortuantly the weather today turned out to be beautiful, sunny and breazy, with temperatures in the 70's. Even better are the beautiful flowers in bloom. Below are some pictures, taken earlier today, of my grandmother's flower garden.

Easter

Happy Easter!

 

The first two pictures are from online, I'm not sure who the author is.
The rest of the pictures are of a traditional Easter at my Grandmother's house.

April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month

Learn about child abuse and how you can help prevent it..

What Is The Definition of Child Abuse?
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child (source).

What are the Types of Child Abuse?

Child abuse can take several forms (source): The four main types of abuse are physical, sexual, psychological, and neglect(source).

Physical Abuse:
Physical abuse is physical aggression directed at a child by an adult. It can involve striking, burning, choking or shaking a child. The distinction between child discipline and abuse is often poorly defined. Cultural norms about what constitutes abuse vary widely: among professionals as well as the wider public, people do not agree on what behaviors constitute abuse.

Child Sexual Abuse:
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation.(sources: here and here) Forms of CSA include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, displaying pornography to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, physical contact with the child's genitals, viewing of the child's genitalia without physical contact, or using a child to produce child pornography (sources: here, here, and here).

Psychological/Emotional Abuse:
Out of all the different forms of abuse, emotional abuse is the hardest to identify. This form of abuse includes name-calling, ridicule, degradation, destruction of personal belongings, torture or destruction of a pet, excessive criticism, inappropriate or excessive demands, withholding communication, and routine labeling or humiliation (source).

Neglect:
Neglect is the instance in which the responsible adult fails to adequately provide for various needs, including physical (failure to provide adequate food, clothing, or hygiene), emotional (failure to provide nurturing or affection) or educational (failure to enroll a child in school).

Why Does Child Abuse and Neglect Occur?

Child abuse is a complex problem which has multiple causes (source). Understanding the causes of abuse is crucial to addressing the problem of child abuse. Parents who physically abuse their spouses are more likely to physically abuse their children. However, it is difficult to know whether marital strife is a cause of child abuse, or if both the marital strife and abuse are caused by tendencies in the abuser (source). Substance abuse is a major contributing factor to child abuse. One study found that parents with documented substance abuse, most commonly alcohol, cocaine, and heroin, were much more likely to mistreat their children, and were also much more likely to reject court-ordered services and treatments (source).

What Children Are at Risk?

What is the Outcome for Children Who've Been Abused?

How Can Child Abuse and Nelgect Be Prevented?

Some Helpful Links
National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE
(1-800-799-7233)
http://www.ndvh.org/

National Domestic Violence Hotline TDD
(for the hearing-impaired)
1-800-787-3224

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN)
Toll-free 24-hour Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE
http://www.rainn.org/
RAINN is a 24-hour national hotline for victims of sexual assault. Calls to the hotline are instantly computer-routed to the 24-hour rape crisis center nearest the caller.

Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline
National Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)
TDD: 1-800-2-A-CHILD

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
National Hotline: 1-800-THE-LOST
www.ncmec.org/

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
A child advocacy organization in the UK promoting awareness, education, and public change to put an end to child abuse.
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Child Welfare Information Gateway
Topics Covered Include: Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect, Overview of Child Abuse and Neglect, Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect, Responding: The Child Welfare System, and Issues Associated with Child Abuse and Neglect, and Find Help with a Personal Situation. También disponible en español.
http://www.childwelfare.gov/

Prevent Child Abuse America
A not-for-profit organization that has worked for over 25 years with local, state, and national groups to promote healthy parenting and community involvement as effective strategies for preventing child abuse.
http://www.preventchildabuse.org/

Child Abuse Prevention Network
Provides multiple links to child abuse prevention sites, including Army Family Adovcacy Program, Physicians Network, and Family Life Development Center.
http://child-abuse.com/

Child Abuse.org
Contains information about child abuse prevention and treatment, and a method to report suspected abuse cases in the US.
http://www.childabuse.org/

Childabuse.com
Seeks to support, inform and encourage those dealing with any aspect of child abuse, in a positive non-threatening environment. Includes articles by child abuse prevention experts.
http://www.childabuse.com/

Parent-Wise
A clearinghouse of information for facts and strategies for those seeking to keep children safe from maltreatment, such as crisis hotline numbers, parenting articles, and web links.
http://www.parent-wise.org/

Parents Anonymous
Self help groups for abused children and parents under stress
www.parentsanonymous.org/

Coalition for Children
Comprehensive resource for child abuse, lifeskills education, advocacy, media support, legal & expert witness services, research, strangers, safety on the Internet and bullies.
www.safechild.org/