There's Some Good News and There's Some Bad News

Well, the good news is that I had a delicious sandwich for lunch. The bad news is that there was bacon on that sandwich, and if someday that contributes to my having a heart attack, I'm not too encouraged by the trends in emergency room care.

Emergency room waiting times are up to an average 30 minutes! And up to 25% of heart attack patients wait 50 minutes or more. Less than 20% of visitors to emergency rooms are thought to be in need of immediate care, by the way. Wow, people sure are stupid!

It turns out that ERs are closing as usage is rising. There just isn't room for patients. Resources and time are used moving patients around when they are needed treating sick people.

Dr. Art Kellermann, a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, uses the analogy of an airport having planes parked all over the runway, but it's more like airports having planes parked all over their runways as airports are shutting down across the country.

So, if you think about how terrible it is to fly now, just remember that it'll be like that if you need emergency care, but it's like an airport where people go and clog up the lines and have keys and change in their pockets when they go through the metal detector and they sit in the seats at the terminal and they stand in the way as you try to board the plane, and they even fly sometimes, even if they weren't really going anywhere. Plus people who are flying to Hawaii pay the same as those flying to the next state over. AND you're pants are open in the back so everyone can see your butt.

Read the depressing article in Forbes, if you really want to.

More Cheddar, Anyone?

Well, the Green Mountain State has done it again. Vermont not only has the best schools, but also the healthiest residents, based on criteria developed by the United Health Foundation and the American Public Health Association for its ranking of the 50 states. Half of the top ten are in New England.

Those criteria include, but are not limited to, obesity rates, access to health care, cancer incidence, child poverty, smoking, and heart disease. Southern states, not surprisingly, are the fattest, stupidest, and most likely to smoke. Well shoot, that right thurr is a big surprahs.

Read the article in Forbes right here.