Someone once said that there is no word in Irish, or Hiberno English for that matter, that would even come close to the sense of urgency expressed by the Spanish word and concept of ‘mañana’.

It’s true. Look at it: the Taoiseach of our country asks his Minister of Health to get in touch “without delay” with us, on 10 March. 16 days later, on 26 March, nothing has happened. It’s like as if the Department of Health operated in a very different time zone.

Today, at Leaders’ Question Time, Gerry Adams raises with the Taoiseach Pádraig’s case, the insurance mess and the lack of neuro-rehabilitation services available to patients such as Pádraig, and the Taoiseach “will bring the matter to the attention of the minister”. It seems to me that the Minister is not listening. – If you want to listen back to Gerry Adams’ question and the Taoiseach’s answer, click here. (I hope to have the video available soon.)

Today, Snámh Phádraig was introduced to listeners of RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta on the popular afternoon show Rónán Beo@3 by Aodhán Ó Deá who is organizing this mad, crazy swim off the coast of every Irish county that’s got one. Over just two days in April. Click here for more information on the swim (or if you would like to join). Click here to listen back to Aodhán and Rónán.

We’ll keep up the pressure on the insurance, and will be doing something on what I consider to be misleading advertising: I don’t believe for a minute that they have ever even considered paying out anything even near the €6.5 million they use to advertise and sell their policies.

I kept the best for last: Today, Pádraig did what he had done a few times over the past days – he moved his foot up keeping the heel on the ground (on the foot support of the viva-la-Thekla), with one tiny but very very important difference: he lifted it up when we asked him to do so, and he put it back down, when we asked him to do so, and not just once or twice, but several times. And not just when Pat asked him in English, but also when I asked him in German. And he would have done it as Gaeilge too, I am sure.  It would have been a small step for us, but it’s of a giant leap for him.

Today’s German Music Tip
Klaus und Klaus, An der Nordseeküste (1985). They reached number 21 in the German Top 50 in 1985: An der Nordseeküste sind die Fische im Wasser und selten am Strand. Well,… trust me: this is not a Musterbeispiel for German Kulturgut.

What’s hot
Moving your foot
What’s cold
Urgency in the Department of Health’s Timezone
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch, ich hau’ Dir den Kopp zwischen die Ohren wek! (Dortmunder shouting, in a nice way, at a tram driver who didn’t let him board, instead pulling out of the station.)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

One down – two to go.

Today, the Irish Independent on their website, together with the print edition of the Evening Herald (p. 10) and the Evening Herald online, printed an article by Luke Byrne: “Insurer refuses to pay medical bill for student in US coma”. Tonight, just a few hours after it went life on the Independent’s website, it has attracted 46 comments and was tweeted from that site 184 times.

The absolutely unbelievable part of the article is a statement by Ciaran Mulligan, joint managing director of Blue Insurances, who told the Herald that it was the underwriters, ETI in London, who decided against paying out on the policy. Luke Byrne quotes Mr Mulligan as saying that ‘the wording on the policy had since been changed to clarify that cycling helmets need only be worn on biking holidays.’ And, “We felt that the wording was too ambiguous, so we asked the underwriter to change it. The wording has been changed for this year,” he said.

When, after a week of trying to make contact with the insurance company from the ICU in Cape Cod Hospital, where we did hardly sleep, fearing for Pádraig’s life, in absolute shock at about what had happened to our son, having been asked to send and having sent to them the policy they had sold to Pádraig (yes, I know, it sounds unbelievable), and then being told that they would decline cover – it made our hearts stop and put us into a state of shock.

Now, almost to the day, nine months after the accident, they change the policy to cover casual cycling (with or without a helmet) because the wording of the policy sold to Pádraig was ‘ambiguous’.

Here is some very personal and very hurtful insight and memory: During our last days in Cape Cod Hospital we panicked. We were desperately trying to arrange an air ambulance for Pádraig who was barely in a condition to be flown half way around the world, who had to be fitted with a special helmet (to protect his brain) which eventually had to be taped against the stretcher on the tiny plane, after it had taken the best part of two hours to maneuver our 2.04 or 6’7″ tall son into this tiny aircraft, with his mother carrying his bone plate from his skull in a large styrofoam container on dry ice on her knees because there was no other space on the plane. We were wondering whether we would be able to pay for his hospital. How much were the operations to fit him with a PEG and with the tracheotomy carried out just a few days before he was repatriated going to cost us? He was on a ventilator, and being looked after by three staff who could not really move in the plane  at all because it was so small. What if something was going to go wrong during the flight via Goose Bay Canadian Air-force Base and Iceland? It was a very risky evac operation, with Pádraig being very heavily sedated, an operation you only would consent to under huge distress.

We spent hundreds of euro on phone bills trying to talk to more than a dozen people in more than half a dozen companies all acting on behalf of Pádraig’s insurers, nobody prepared to make a decision for the best part of a week. Later, and following many email exchanges, a meeting with Go4Less and Blue Insurance, as well as an internal investigation, they would admit that there were some regrettable communication difficulties. – There still are communication difficulties, and there still is an outstanding bill from the hospital of more than US$100,000. And Pádraig has not received one penny out of his ‘five star’ €6.5m policy because of an ‘ambiguous’ wording that has now been changed: not for his hospital treatment, not for his devastating injuries, not for his family’s expenses to be with him – all of which should have been covered by his policy, had it not been for this ‘ambiguous’ wording that has now been changed. Instead, we suffered the most insane and almost unbearable – but utterly avoidable –  distress: first being virtually ignored, than asked for a copy of the policy they had sold to us, then being denied cover in a situation that could not really have been any worse.

I am outraged. They take your money to sell you a €6.5m travel insurance – but they never pay a penny when you most need it.

At the same time:
Today we have achieved the first of our three goals:
No student traveling to the US on this insurance policy will ever be denied cover again for serious injuries acquired when doing
what thousands of young people do:
cycling to work.

Back to Pádraig: he is keeping ok, no major changes. However, today we were called into a meeting with an Oberärztin standing in for the Oberärztin that knows him and has been looking after him so well for the past months. We were told that there was a concern about his bone flap possibly not healing and connecting with the rest of his skull. They are going to do another CT, the first in three or four months, to check this out. While they are doing this, they will also check the condition of his brain chambers including those where cerebrospinal fluid is being produced.

Check out the cover page of Seachtain, the Irish Language Supplement coming with The Independent tomorrow, Wednesday. The crazy swim adventure in ice cold waters off the coast of every county in Ireland with a coast has made it to the Front Page!

What a day.

When the economy went down the tubes, there was a famous sketch on Irish radio with the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (well, it wasn’t really him) who was giving out to some of his colleagues about what was going on. Nobody seemed to be able to do anything right, nobody was going to fix the broken economy. Bertie was really getting annoyed, so annoyed that he finally exploded and shouted “well, if nobody can do anything about this mess, I’ll ring up Joe Duffy meself!” – that is what Liveline and Joe Duffy are about. If nothing else helps, you just ring Joe and he’ll fix it.

Well, today it was Joe (or rather one of his researchers) who rang me.

Joe had heard about Pádraig’s story and thought it was worthwhile sharing with the country. For our friends who are not familiar with Joe and his programme: it is probably the programme with the highest number of listeners in the country, and Joe is one of the highest paid radio presenters. To be completely honest, I looked at this as an opportunity to tell not so much Pádraig’s story, but to highlight the empty promises made by insurance companies and the broken health system that does not care when care is most needed. Both look at victims like an investment. You make them pay, and when they need your help, you bail out.

It was good to hear Pádraig’s friends ringing in to tell Joe and the nation about their support for Pádraig and the events they have organized for him – one of the more unusual one being the swim in every county of Ireland with a coast.

I hope that many heard the story and many are going to ask their insurers and their TDs (members of parliament) about it. There is a question that will be put to the Taoiseach tomorrow afternoon at Leader’s Question time – and we can’t wait to hear whether he will take it and how he will answer it. Since he asked the Department of Health to get in touch with us “without delay”, 14 days have passed.

Today, Pádraig had another visitor from Ireland, a good friend who had basically moved in to Cape Cod Hospital with two other friends, when the accident had just happened. If I look back to that time, we stayed day and night with him by his bedside, because we did not want him to be alone, we wanted to be beside him all the time, he was so frail, so injured, in such a bad shape from this hit by the van to his head, that he could have died at any time. Today, he is reacting to us, he was moving his hand and arms for his friend who had come to visit. Yes, it has taken an awful long time, but we can wait, we have become very modest in our expectations as to the time it will take, but we know that he will make a good recovery, that the clouds will move and let the sunshine in.

His friends and family are his liveline. He is a liveline for us. And he will do wonders, not just for himself, but for all who need treatment and care, and are denied it by “this broken health system”.

Today’s German Music Tip
Elaiza, Is it right (2004). Germany’s entry into the 2004 Eurovision. How did they make it?

What’s hot
Liveline
What’s cold
Resignation
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Et küt wie et küt (Es kommt wie es kommt – From Karneval in Köln)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

On Saturdays, we drive up north (yes, you can go further north than Hamburg!), onto a small peninsula called Eiderstedt and a village called Tating. We check for post, go for walks, try to clear the head. Just before getting into Tating is Garding, one of Germany’s smallest cities – Pat and I have endless arguments over this, she keeps calling it a town! This is all in the middle of nowhere, especially during the winter when there are no tourists. On the way, we often stop in Garding. During the summer, there is the world-famous Musikantenbörse when open air music takes over the whole city (or ‘town’, just to keep the peace:). During the winter, Lütt Matten (Rainer’s Pub – Rainer is one of the main organizers of the Musikantenbörse) is full of smoke, full of people, and full of music: it has live music inside on Saturdays, and sometimes Fridays too. So, we stop by for a pint. Which is where the problem starts. No pints. In a pub! Not even for Guinness. They do have 0.4l or 0.2l glasses yes, but the Guinness looks like cola – not my words, the bar woman’s.

So I asked her did they not have proper pint glasses? Maybe there was some German rule saying you could not sell beer in pints? Liquid had to be measured in liters? – I had completely forgotten that German rules did not apply on Eiderstedt. – She said they were just impossible to get. She thought for a minute and then she said that they had one (!) pint glass once upon a time that someone had brought over from Ireland all the way to Eiderstedt for himself. Then, after a few years, he moved away from Garding – and he took the pint glass with him!

End of story.

This morning Pádraig’s friendly hospital nurses took a different measure. They decided that it was hair-washing-morning. What a difference clean hair makes! Pádraig not only looks so much better, he must also feel so much better with clean hair. And, indeed, he is sitting up very relaxed in his bed, resting, taking in the Sunday feeling. – A friend brought over a set of different stones, together with a book on “Healing Crystals” by Michael Gienger. The set of crystals was very thoughtfully put together, the stones that were selected address very clearly all the areas Pádraig is fighting with at the moment. Not just his physical help but also spiritual well-being. I thought, instinctively, that the book had been written by an Indian guru, when I discovered that the author was German and published it first in Saarbrücken. So much for German lack of spirituality! The stones must work: Pádraig today opened both of his eyes, well – the left eye more than the right one, but he did open the right eye too – the first time in a long time. And there was movement in his left hand and arm; again, not that much – but there was movement.

02 June Run the Mini Marathon For Pádraig More than 30 brave runners have already signed up to run the Women’s Mini Marathon for Pádraig. (Will they run in miles or in kilometers?) Join them today or support their effort. Visit their Facebook site.

Today’s German Music Tip
Unheilig, Als wär’s das erste Mal (2014). This is another really well-know German group that has been around for 15 years. It was founded by ‘Der Graf’ in Aachen, a town at the Belgian border. Unheilig cam 2nd in the German competition for Eurovision this year.

What’s hot
Healing
What’s cold
0.2l glasses
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Jeder Jeck ist anders. (From Karneval in Köln)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

It’s one of the most successful German music groups apparently – although they look older than I will ever feel. They are from Flensburg (north of Hamburg) and appeared on the scene after I left my Vaterland. They wanted this song to get them a ticket to the Eurovision in Copenhagen. Lots of people thought they’d made it because they are so famous. The description of the song on youtube by Germany’s public first TV channel ARD is that it’s a “pathetic folk song about yearning, wanderlust” (here is a German word that is not connected to Germany’s unholy past that made it into English!), “and irrepressible perseverance”.

“Die Sehnsucht trägt uns hinaus, in der Ferne sind wir zuhaus!” If you listen to the music, you’ll hear some Irish connections (they probably wanted it to sound a little “viking”). But really, and in all honesty: Would the Greek’s have given Germany 10 πόντους? Or the Spaniards, or the Portuguese? Never to mention Israel? A German song called: “We will never go down” would probably not have gone down that well in most parts of Europe. And the music? You can see them marching down Unter den Linden with torches singing this song. Really laut.

Somebody pulled the plug and stopped their march over the border from Flensburg into Copenhagen.

Although… I like the idea of wanderlust, of never giving up, of yearning. I am almost sure Pádraig wouldn’t like the music, but what this song is about would be right down his alley.

He is working on this right now: the only way is up for him. He is trying so hard and he won’t give up. He won’t go down. I can only image what it is like to be in bed for months on end – and the will power he has to keep going. – He was good today, pretty relaxed. It seems that his legs have reached a state where they are not getting thinner or thicker, so finally, they were able to order his specially adapted and fitted pressure socks to help him with the thrombosis. Although weekends are quiet here staff-wise, they managed to sit him out in the viva-la-Thekla which was really good.

Please – check out the upcoming events Pádraig’s friends have been organizing. They are truly amazing:

There are less than 2 weeks to go for Irene and Lynn to swim a mile for Pádraig in the National Acquatic Centre in Dublin on 04 April at 7pm!

Here is what one of the two ‘master’ swimmers wrote in an email  last week:
On Christmas Day my ‘darling’ husband gave me the most unromantic present ever, he had registered me for the ‘Swim a mile challenge’. As most of you know I am no fish! Since the New Year I have taken the plunge and started to train. My first lesson was with the impatient Fergal and I managed to put my face in the water and swim 5 meters but not at the same time. I have trained hard since and in the process I have provided lots of entertainment for onlookers and fellow swimmers.
I think this is a heroic effort that deserves your support.

The next event on the calendar after that will be the incredible swim around Ireland. There are still a few last places left for Snámh Phádraig: if you would like to swim for a few minutes off the coast of every county in Ireland with a coast over two days (12-13 April 2014) check in here.

Today’s German Music Tip
Santiano, Wir werden niemals untergehen (2014).

What’s hot
Wanderlust
What’s cold

The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Schweinerei

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

An (even) older colleague once told me, that the best thing that could happen to you in work was that ‘they’ ignored you, ‘they’ being the bosses in our place of work. Can you believe this? I thought that was incredibly funny. I had always wanted to get their attention because I was doing really important work that would change the course of the world. I wanted them to share my enthusiasm, my energy, my believe in a better future! In my mind, it was easy: I just needed to get their attention, a minute of their time, and they would see the power of my ideas and back me up with the power of their office.

Until I managed to get their attention. And learned my lesson.

So here it goes for those with a low frustration threshold: If you want your job to be more or less uncomplicated, you *are* much better off if your boss doesn’t even know that you exist. Because bosses will rarely encourage your enthusiasm (unless you happen to support the same cause as they do in which case they will give you loads of work and then claim all the glory), but they will always blame you when things go wrong, and they will most certainly not tolerate you ‘waisting’ resources on what they will most likely see as your personal hobby horses. – Or am I too cynical?

Looking back at last week and, in fact, the past months of my experience with the Irish Health System, the senior consultants and the civil servants there must have made the same experience in their jobs as I did in mine. So now, they are so used to situations that are really intolerable to anyone else, that they don’t understand what all the fuss is about when people are outraged. They don’t understand what all the fuss is about and refer to white papers and all sorts of plans. They celebrate a ‘wonderful day’ when long overdue replacement buildings are announced, rather than the expansions that are so desperately needed.

Young people of Ireland: please, take over our country, as quickly as you can. If we old people don’t want to leave voluntarily, send us into exile. There is too much frustration around, and too little enthusiasm, hope, energy and believe that things can change – that it is people, your family and friends, compassion, and happiness that *really* counts, and not ‘looking good’, not having loads of money, not spending more time at work, not being really competitive pushing others out of the way, not the economy.

A high heart rate would usually be a reason for concern. Not today. Pádraig was just trying very hard to move. For the first time (there are a lot of ‘first time’ things happening these days!) we saw him moving his feet when sitting in the viva-la-thekla (remember it?). Not a lot. But he did: lifting up the front of his right foot, and turning his left foot out towards the left. I think he might be getting ready to surprise the Ärztin usually overlooking his care when she comes back in a bit more than a week (she is away on holidays). – We know that it has always been a few steps ahead and a few steps back, so we’ll stay calm this time too and won’t get too excited. But I think it’s all good signs, even though we are still talking about tiny steps…

Today’s German Music Tip
Vicky Leandros – Theo, wir fahr’n nach Lodz (1974). Disco with Ilja Richter. It’s incredible, but I can remember this! The lyrics are almost better than the music (if that is possible).

What’s hot
Exile
What’s cold
Frustration
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch, nu tu ma’n bissken Butter bei die Fische!± (…. and watch what Google Translate has to say to this:)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

Happiness comes from buying and consuming if you believe the advertisements, from beauty and fame, if you believe the celebrity press. If you are a politician, or a journalist, it’s the growing economy.

Action for Happiness commissioned a poll in the U.K. and this is what it found: 87% of all adults preferred the ‘greatest overall happiness and wellbeing’, only 8% preferred ‘greatest overall wealth’. When asked about the three changes that would most increase their happiness and wellbeing ‘my relationship with my partner/family’ came our first with 80%; ‘my health’ came out second with 71%. ‘My money and financial situation’ came a distant third with 42%; only 4% picked ‘my possessions’ and ‘my appearance’. The lesson: most people prefer a happier rather than a richer society – “we should spend less time focusing on the size of the economy and more time to help people live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives”.

And yes, today is the U.N.’s International Day of Happiness!

The lesson for me is that my intuition and Pádraig’s friends are right; frustrated consultants, power-hungry politicians, competitive health-service economists are wrong. When will the ever learn?

Today, Pádraig had three visitors from Ireland. And again, what a contrast between these young people, full of energy, humor, hope, dignity, common sense, love, and compassion, and what I have got to know as the establishment dealing (or rather *not* dealing) with Pádraig’s condition and that of his compadres. Really, I cannot wait for Pádraig’s friends to take over the country and I hope it’ll happen sooner rather than later! I’d trust these 20-something-year-olds and their sense of right and wrong any day.

The man himself was really alert and good today. Squeezing hands, lifting up his right arm, cooperating really well with his oral hygiene.

One really fantastic detail I forgot to tell when I was writing about the GCS. Nurses, doctors, and consultants who were quite negative about Pádraig’s chances to get better in the US and in Ireland (therefore representing one of these ‘bad investments’ – as if we were dealing with bad banks instead of with sick people!!!), all noted that when they were shining a light into his pupils, they did not contract, they did not react, they did not move. Well, according to his doctor, they now do. Keine Frage. Überhaupt gar keine Frage!

Interesting case of man with brain damaged who is pleading with the HSE to allow him leave Beaumont Hospital and go home. Another interesting case at the European Court of Justice and the HSE’s withdrawal of cover for a man in a German Hospital: ECJ Advocate General says HSE not entitled to end treatment funding for quadriplegic Irishman in Germany.

Finally, check out the special edition of The Late Debate on RTE Radio 1 with Cormac Ó hEadhra allowing us to tell Pádraig’s story (from last Tuesday, 18 March 2014). We were quite disappointed by the lack of engagement at a human level by the panel; there was a sense of resignation and resort to ‘strategic plans’ that we have heard about so often by now. They do not really offer any viable solutions to fix “this broken health system”, for which “we” are certainly not to blame, as suggested by one of the panelists.

Seochtain had another article on Pádraig yesterday.

Today is day 10 of our wait for the contact “without delay” by James Reilly’s Department of Health requested by the Taoiseach.

Today’s German Music Tip
Jan Delay, Liebe (07 March 2014). – One of Germany’s coolest singers with his latest song to be published on 11 April 2014)`
“Ich hab’s Euch hundertmal gesagt: das iss ‘ne Rockplatte!!!” (02:00)
“So viel Liebe für Hamburg…” (02:10)

What’s hot
ECJ
What’s cold
HSE
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Pustekuchen!

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

I promised myself an early night. And I will keep that promise.

I haven’t listened back to last night’s late debate yet, that’ll have to wait a little while until I’ll find some time – it seems that I’ve lost it, time, it’s gone, and I can’t get it back, can’t find it anywhere. It’s not the first time that has happened to me. It is, to be honest, almost the story of my life. Chasing time.

One very strong feeling I took away from last night is that if nothing else helps, time will bring a solution. We got quite a few messages echoing our own feelings about the disappointing stance of some of the panelists during the Late Debate programme. They seemed to move at the same level as the civil servants that prepared the Taoiseach’s response to us. And the consultants from the NRH. They are all good people. But they have been worn down by “this broken system”.

Pádraig was doing well today. Two new things happening: the physios put Pádraig into a new position on his side, with his oxygen markers staying in a Nisht. And he will be getting a new tracheostoma that will make it easier to experiment with a a speech speech wale. – He’s had , aign,

Here is my second promise tonight: I will not be worn down. And I will keep this promise too.

I have never had so much support for anything I have done in my life before, ever. The majority of this support comes from young people most of whom I did not know just a few months ago. It is Pádraig and his friends who are the future. Most of the participants of last night’s programme, most of today’s politicians and HSE bureaucrats will soon be history.

In the meantime, and until they take over, we’ll just have to prepare the ground for them. Protect the most vulnerable.

It’s almost two o’clock in the morning. And I’m not even having a good time, as one should if you stay up that late. It’s almost one o’clock back home in Dublin. – I’ll have to fake the time of this blog so that it looks like as if it had been written on 18 March, just before midnight. You will forgive me, I am sure.

Tonight, the “Late Debate” on RTÉ Radio 1, the first radio channel of Ireland’s national broadcaster, dedicated a full hour to Pádraig’s case. To “this broken health system” and to an insurance “system” that promises a 6.5 million cover, but then doesn’t pay the bills.

We spent a lot of time preparing for this hour and then did not manage to get half of the points in. The lesson I learned: right at the beginning, no matter what the first question is, you just ignore it and state your most important point.

“It is said that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. The Medical Independent reports that when it comes to providing appropriate rehabilitation services, Ireland is neglecting its duty of care.” (June Shannon, 14 July 2011)

1. The National Rehabilitation Hospital’s consultant in charge of Acquired Brain Injury co-authored a report which clearly states that “Access to rehabilitation is a basic human right. European legislation makes it clear that people with disabilities should have access to appropriate rehabilitation” and “All those needing rehabilitation should have access to it. This holds also for those with extensive or multiple disabilities.”

2. Neurorehabilitation services in Ireland are recognized to be the worst in Europe. And even if the improvements being sought were implemented, they would still be worse than those in any other European country with the exception of the UK. For example “we currently have 7 consultants to serve specialist neurorehabilitation needs across the whole country. But even if we had 50 we would still have the lowest number per capita in Europe with the exception of the UK. And if it increased to 150, we would still be behind countries like Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia. In other words, what we are really aspiring to is not to have services that any country could be proud of, or even services that are mediocre – but to be the second worst country in Europe for neurorehabilitation.” (Chris Macey, Chairperson NAI)

3. There are just three beds allocated to the disorder of consciousness programme in the country’s only rehabilitation hospital. Aoine Carroll, National Clinical Lead for the HSE’s rehabilitation medicine programme: “It is very labour intensive because we have such a shortage of beds. We can’t justify any more beds because you can make the argument that it is a much better investment of resources to invest that time and effort into individuals who are going to increase their functionality, reduce care costs, hopefully get them home, get them back to work. These are individuals who will never get to that point, so we have to limit the number of beds that service to three.” – Dr Carroll seems to see patients as an investment: if you don’t provide a return, we’ll ditch you. Dr Carroll, neurorehabilitation “even” for severe cases, is not primarily a question of investment, but a question of ethical and legal obligations. ETHICAL AND LEGAL OBLIGATIONS!

4. A highly prestigious scientific publication, the Cochraine review, published a report on “Multi-disciplinary rehabilitation for acquired brain injury in adults of working age (review)” in which the authors stated:
“For moderate to severe injury, there is ‘strong evidence’ of benefit from formal intervention. For patients with moderate to severe ABI already in rehabilitation, there is strong evidence that more intensive programs are associated with earlier functional gains.” Meaning that there is widespread scientific agreement of the question of rehabilitation, of formal intervention.

Consider this:

• We wrote a letter of complaint to the Patient Representative in Beaumont Hospital and never received a reply.
• We wrote a letter to the Taoiseach who in turn asked the Department of Health to get in contact with us “without delay” – over a week ago. We have not heard from them yet.
• We are raising what has been known for a long time, what is blatantly obvious, and what nobody cares about: the dignity and the human rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. Ireland is neglecting its duty of care.

The answer: white papers, strategy papers and implementation papers. Stuff, civil servants like.

But lets make it concrete, graphical: what about the lack of funding to buy a headrest for a wheel chair; to buy cotton buds to conduct proper oral hygiene; to buy equipment for each patient so that it doesn’t have to be shared, so that it doesn’t spread multi-resistant bacteria? What about dislocated shoulders, bed sores, and dropped feet? What about the lack of personal hygiene, not getting your hair washed for months, being put under severe risk by doctors not washing their hands before and after they examine you? What about being cared for in an acute hospital environment when it is clear, that, without the shadow of a doubt, you should receive early neuro rehabilitation?

“We are all to blame”, said a prominent participant on tonight’s show – to which I would have replied, had I had the opportunity: “No, we are not.” But where have the specialists been, the consultants and doctors who are supposed to stand up for their patients’ rights and dignity?

And now: the best for last. In preparation for tonight’s interview, I checked out Pádraig’s Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The GCS measures Eye Opening, Verbal Response, and Motor Response, and is a reliable and objective way of recording the initial and subsequent level of consciousness in a person after a brain injury. The GCS is scored between 3 and 15, 3 being the worst, and 15 the best. While every brain injury is different, generally brain injury is classified as:

• Severe: GCS 3-8 (You cannot score lower than a 3.)
• Moderate: GCS 9-12
• Mild: GCS 13-15

In Beaumont, it was between 3 and 4 (3 being the lowest possible value). Having checked with his doctor this morning, this value has gone up to 10-11. Pádraig is out of the state when he could not communicate and react, and not in a deep coma anymore.

Take note: even “individuals who will never get to that point, so we have to limit the number of beds that service to three” can make progress – if you leave them with their fundamental human rights, if you treat them with respect, and if you don’t ditch them (because you care)!

Tonight I know two things: (1) Pádraig will most definitely get better, much better; and (2) I will not let the ‘system’ get away with it. This is not about papers, this is about Pádraig’s health, dignity, and human rights – as well as that of many, many others in his position. And the Taoiseach, the Minister of Health, the NRH consultants better take note.

And what the insurance is concerned – who would ever in their right mind buy an insurance policy that promises millions of euro and then pulls out the small print when you need their help? Who would ever in their right mind buy an insurance policy that is obviously not fit for purpose?

It’s three o’clock now. Good night Ireland!

A t-shirt, tailored for Pádraig for a very special day…

We went through the newspapers. We searched the interweb. We asked each and every German we know. We looked at the Litfasssäulen (remember these?). We checked out all poster walls, flyers, and radios ads. Zero, zilch, nada. The only reference was on a Facebook event page which turned out to be from 2012 – and noted that the event had to be cancelled because no police permit had been secured. Hamburgers (the people) are dry. Difficult to get excited. No St Patrick’s Day parade, not even an official party, anywhere to be found. Finnegan’s is the place to go to we were told, but we didn’t try it out tonight.

… not just the t-shirt, but matching shorts, elegantly prepared for easy fitting! Thank you for the huge St Patrick’s Day package!

Instead, we watched the parades on the telly. Ballynamore was the closest the cameras got to Fenagh, where Pat and I spent the past few years at the crossroads, watching tractors and the local dancing school. It was usually wet, windy, and short. St Patrick’s Day is a bit like Christmas. You remember for the rest of your life where you spent it when and with whom. It brings back memories. And you can get quite nostalgic. Michael D. said in a short interview just before the parade that he was especially thinking of the Irish who could not be in Ireland on this very special day.

All the good stuff happening today was on the first room on the left when entering ward 2K. It was amazing how much attention to detail the hospital had paid to turn a good bit of the hospital green for this very special day – see yesterday’s pictures. Today, some even wore some green – and couldn’t have made feel Pádraig being looked after any better.

I just realized that I had misunderstood Van’s song ‘Days like this’ completely, for mangy years. I had always thought he was singing: “Well my mama never told me there’ll be days like this” for some stupid reason (I probably never listened closely, or my English never got good enough), and I always thought it was about disaster, bad things that were happening; when in fact he sings “Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this” and it’s about all this good stuff happening.

When no one steps on my dreams there’ll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there’ll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me therell be days like this

There’ll be days like this.

Lá Shona Fhéile Pádraig a thabhairt duit.

Today’s German Music Tip
Drafi Deutscher, Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht (1974). This is one of the most iconic German hits ever. It came. It went. It returned. It went on and on and on…

What’s hot
2K
What’s cold
Hamburger on St Patrick’s Day
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Today’s quote is for advanced students of German:
“Dafür nuschelt er sich so cool durch seinen Popcorn-Krimi, als könnte er Eiswürfel pinkeln.” (The”Wittlager Kreisblatt” about Til Schweiger, Germany’s cooles Tatort-Kommisar)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events