October 26, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Does the world seem out of whack? I had the third HR/middle-management issue come up this weekend. This one came from far left field. I was texting with Chief Boss and I told her if I wasn’t a happy litter-picker these days, I would seriously quit. I realized all these issues likely have to do with the chaos in the world right now. There is a pandemic going on, with greater than 200,000 COVID-19 deaths and we are entering the third wave and bracing for the headlong collusion of flu and COVID which is fluVID. She has had to deal with 10x greater HR issues. I get it. We are all stressed, and therefore everyone is going a little bit crazy. The three issue are now solved (at least in my mind) but geeze-louise people.

Seriously, trying to help run a department if you want to do it right and just and actually improve healthcare within a large bureacracy is hard. It’s so easy to just sit there, draw your compensation, have your pension grow, complain about late patients, point out that they didn’t come on time and just avoid larger structural issues. But that is the problem right? Large systems breed complacency. And MDs have a higher calling to actually improve health outcomes and to agitate. Unfortunately anytime you agitate or make changes, people get all bothered. And then there are the micro-aggressions that women leaders have to go through. It is so real and painful and unfair, that I can’t even begin to explain.

Having a creative outlet is great! The above was an easy trash art piece I made from a sunscreen bottle and bits of a comb I found on the beach. It’s really funny. There is still sunscreen in it, so I’m not done yet. I’m sure one of the kids in clinic is going to really like it! If not, I’ll keep it for my October decorations.

Anyway, I had a bad stomach cramp yesterday from guzzling cold water too fast last night when I realized how dehydrated I was. It was so bad. My colon seized and I was incapacitated for the rest of the night. I borrowed my daughter’s hot water bottle (super cute one with a Teddy Bear) and the heat eased my belly. I think it was my body warning me to hydrate with warmer water and slowly through the day, and also to turn it off last night. So I went to sleep and used the hot water bottle. My husband had just groomed our 12-pound poodle mix and she was nice and warm and very perfumy clean, but she refused to sleep on my belly! Her body warmth has given be so much comfort in the past. But she was being selfish last night and gnawing on an antler toy Mr. Plastic Picker had purchased for her far away from me.

But I did turn it off last night to use the hot water bottle, but this morning the work is done. I am now in contact with Parents Against Vaping, Students Against Vaping and the American Cancer Society government liason for Southern California. We are working on a local Anti-Flavored Ecig Bill that goes up for vote on Tuesday, and I volunteered to speak on behalf of the local AAP. San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air will also make a stance today, whether it will be E-comments or testimony from our co-founder.

I posted the E-comments instructions on my personal facebook page and SD Women’s Physicians Facebook group. I will gather consensus hopefully from the SDPCA group via text today. We had to wait until today, because we didn’t want to tip off Big Tobacco! Anyway, it’s all done so maybe I’ll sleep for another 30 minutes before a full clinic day. It has been exhausting of late. I think I’m going to take a climate-work break until after the election. I have to work on the video teen PE workflow/mediCAL project, which I’ll work on Tuesday during my home-admin time. Anway, here is the last thing I need to do tomorrow which is to give 2-minute testiomy as a pediatrician about the dangers of flavored ecigs. These are the instructions the County Board of Supervisors gave me via their website after I registered to speak.

Confirmation of Request to Call-In to Comment on Tuesday, October 27, 2020

PRINT THIS PAGE FOR YOUR REFERENCE

When the Board of Supervisors begins to discuss the agenda item you want to comment on, call in to the conference line below and turn off your TV or live stream. You’ll continue to hear the Board meeting after calling in.

Please DO NOT call until the item you want to speak about is being discussed.

1. Once the Chair has announced the item you want to comment on, dial the following number:
   
   (408) 638-0968 or (669) 900-6833
   
2. When prompted, enter the meeting ID:
   
   828 9478 2005, followed by the # sign.
   
   You do not need to enter a participant ID; simply press # again.
   
3. You will be placed on mute until it is your turn to speak. You will be able to hear the Board meeting live after calling in, so you can turn off your TV or the webstream.
4. The Clerk will call you by the last four digits of your phone number. When removed from mute, you will hear a notification that your line has been unmuted. You may need to press *6 to unmute yourself.
5. After you are unmuted, please state your name before beginning your comments. A buzzer will sound when you have reached the time limit. Please conclude your comments when you hear the buzzer.
6. When your time is up or you have concluded your comments, please hang up.

If you have any questions, please call the Clerk of the Board’s Board Operations Unit at (619) 531-5434 or send an e-mail to publiccomment@sdcounty.ca.gov.

And that is it. I really don’t like flavored e-cigs because #flavorshookkids. Saying my piece on Tuesday to make sure this bill passes is very important to me. It’s worth the effort and hopefully less vape pens to pick up at the beach! I did learn yesterday that a good hot water bottle really works for colonic spasms from guzzling too much cold water. I’m going to start bringing my water bottle to work again, and maybe squeeze a bit of lemon in it and sip throughout the day. It’s going to be a long fluVid season.