One of our friends on the Cape reminded me that Thanksgiving is coming up soon, in fact it’ll be Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, November 28th. I had to think of turkeys, immediately. And of Alice Glenn. I emailed the story of Alice Glenn to our friend (who remembers Alice Glenn?:) who famously said during the debate about the divorce referendum here in Ireland that “women voting for divorce is like turkeys voting for Christmas” – or Thanksgiving in the US. I could see our friend smiling in my mind when she read this…

Thanksgiving also remembers me of a song, in fact it is the longest folk song ever recorded, which also was made into a movie.  The story of “Alice’s Restaurant” (no – not Alice Glenn’s) by Arlo Guthrie (Woody’s son), even older than Ireland’s divorce referendum, originated on Thanksgiving, 1965, at the time of the Vietnam war, when young kids in the US were drafted to fight for freedom and democracy, and many (amongst them, Arlo) found a way out – sometimes in quite unexpected ways. (The original song was recorded in 1967, but Arlo kept singing and recorded another live version in 2005 at the Guthrie Center; you can find the lyrics here.)

The bit I like most is when Arlo tells his listeners that they should join the Alice’s Restaurant movement:

“… and walk out. You know, if
One person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and
They won’t take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
They may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them.
And if three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
Singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an
Organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said
Fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and
Walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement.
And that’s what it is , the Alice’s Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement.”

Sometimes you just have to walk out, others will follow, and you might start a movement.

Another friend asked how the Irish and the German health systems compare, generally. Whether I thought that the difference between our experience in Germany and in Ireland originates in cultural differences between the two countries or because of the different levels of funding available. I think it is both: Germans spent more on their health system (10.6% GDP) than the Irish (8.2%). In 2014, 666m euro will be taken out of the health system (some experts say that the total cuts will be closer to 1 billion), and deal a final blow to a system that is already at braking point.

When the CEO’s of the four major hospitals wrote a letter to the director general of the HSE in early November, saying that health cuts are beginning to seriously threaten patient safety (“There is clear evidence that funding reductions coupled with accelerating demand have begun to seriously threaten the quality and safety of patient services.”), the Minister’s response was that he could not comment since the letter was not addressed to him.

People working in Irish hospitals are conditioned by the realities of their work place. Many think that the care and treatment provided to the patients is adequate. As someone who spent close to 4 months in an Irish hospital with Pádraig, I would not blame the people, but the ‘authorities’ who do not guarantee resources, provide control, and implement sanctions where necessary. – Remember the headlines when staff was found not to wash their hands properly? How could it ever have come to that point?

Today, I spoke to the man in charge of the intensive care unit where Pádraig is being looked after at the moment, the ‘Chefarzt’. What struck me was how positive he was about Pádraig’s progress and his very positive outlook. I had stopped him on the corridor (this might ring a bell with friends who are familiar with a similar situation we went through in Ireland), when he was completely unprepared – nonetheless, he showed that he was familiar with Pádraig’s case, he commented on some quite specific questions I asked, and he demonstrated that his doctors have a definite plan for working with Pádraig on improving his situation. It was refreshing, and evidence of a level of attention a patient like Pádraig would, obviously, never get in an acute neuro-surgical ward, such as the one he spent 4 months in, in Beaumont.

The Schön-Klinik in Hamburg is one of Germany’s leading hospitals for neuro-rehab and was, historically, the second hospital in the country where early dedicated and intensive neuro rehab was offered to patients. The Chefarzt in charge of Pádraig is heading up a neurological Intensive Care Unit with 40 beds; there are 49 beds for early neuro-rehab. And listen to this: there are a total of 200 carers/nurses, 45 doctors, 12 consultants, and 72 therapists. – The whole of Ireland has 3(!) beds for early neuro rehab, with a waiting time of one year(!).

Pádraig has been doing well, given the circumstances. He opens his eyes more often then before, his breathing, heart beat, and temperature are all closer to normal than during the previous days – and I am sure that he is very much looking forward to the first visits by his friends starting tomorrow!

Going back to Thanksgiving, Alice Glenn, turkeys, and Alice’s Restaurant. If the turkeys decided to walk out first in pairs, then 3 at a time, and eventually in groups of 50 – they could become a movement – and if we all said “enough is enough”, our movement would impact change. Forget about 12 months – 24 (hours), no more!

Today’s German Music Tip
Spliff, Carbonara (1982)
What’s hot
Caring.
What’s cold
Just everyone for themselves.
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Scusi Segnorina, willst du auch’n Spliff, oder stehst du nur auf Männer mit Schlips?