’s To the Dedicated Wives

 by: Geoffrey Martyn

In the course of my day at the hospital I come in to contact with a lot of people and I come into contact with a lot of loving family members.

This little paragraph is about the wives…

I am in awe of the real love, attention, loyalty and total dedication I see coming from these often-diminutive women… there to give it their best shot on behalf of their husband. They may not know all the nuances of health care but collectively they represent a solid base of support in rocky seas, complete with a solid portfolio of care skills, learned on the front lines of the quest to raise a good family in times when money was tight and jobs scarce. The following story is fictitious, but written to illustrate some of the issues that confront family member when a loved one is hospitalized.

AGNES …

Agnes is a pleasant lady in her early eighties, her husband is also a friendly guy mid eighties, retired plumber. She is concerned because he is in the hospital and it is in general, getting to the point where he needs his wife’s help to mobilize..This alone would be a challenge for all of us, but more particularly a lady of this vintage. She needs to begin to look at her options, what should she do first ? Let’s see…

1.Review the state of her own health?

2.Figure out where the other family members fit into the scene?

3.Ask at the hospital about how long her husband is expected to be there?

Hmmm…well, let’s say her husband Bill is there because he slipped and fell, it’s his first day in the hospital and he came in through the Emergency Room last night. In my first meeting with her I am struck with two things. She has a lively buzzing energy that keeps her in touch with all the things going on in the world immediately surrounding her and she is totally focused on her husband’s well being. Let’s go back to the immediate questions on hand. Good decision making is based on good information, the first thing that needs to be accomplished is for Agnes to gain insight into the process that now confronts her.

Bill is now within the protective care of the hospital so his immediate welfare is in the hands of professionals. The most useful information for Agnes at this time would be a sense of time frame. Is Bill going to be undergoing surgery? When? How long do people usually stay after such a surgery? What is the most common post surgical course of treatment for this procedure? A caution here: We must take into account that people are individuals, with unique characteristics that will influence the rate of their recovery and their particular response to treatment but having said that, there are general guidelines that a physician is aware of and able to apply to each of his patients. The key question here is how can Agnes best find out what she needs to know?

In the hospital setting the course of treatment is coordinated by the Attending Physician. This doctor may not be the same one that takes care of Bill in the community, the community Doctor is usually called the Primary Care Physician and is the doctor in charge of the patient’s overall welfare, wherever he may be. So sometimes the doctors are one and the same person, sometimes not..Depending upon the particular relationship the patient’s primary physician has with the hospital. So to follow along with the theme, Agnes’ first mission is to have a chat with the Attending MD. How? Well, here are some ideas: Most people think that if they go to the hospital to visit their loved one that they will naturally have contact with the doctor just as a part of being there, when in fact the opposite is often the case. True, they may actually be there at the time of his daily visit but what happens quite often is that the busy MD is not there at the same time as the family for a multitude of reasons. My point here is that a quick phone call to the Doctors office can really help identify a likely time Doctor makes his rounds in that particular hospital ward. Meeting the MD in or around the patients room allows the doctor to give his opinion based upon immediate data, both observed and from the recording in the medical chart which will give such information as results of recent tests and current lab values and vital signs such as patient’s temperature, pulse rate and blood pressure. It also saves Agnes a trip to his office and has more of a personal touch than a phone call. However, calling the doctor in his office is certainly an option if a personal visit is not feasible.

Ok , Bill is now in the process of being diagnosed. Using the example of a fall at home he will almost certainly have an Xray and maybe some other diagnostic imaging tests depending upon the initial results (findings). Let’s say for the purposes of this example that he has fractured his hip and will be needing it to be surgically repaired. In many cases, especially with the elderly, a decision has to be made as to the patient’s ability to tolerate surgery. Among other things Bill’s breathing and heart function and medical history will be looked at to determine the degree of risk.

Once Agnes has discussed with the attending MD the general schedule she can step back and take stock of the situation. Here are some points she may find it useful to think about:

How much physical strength does she have to assist in her husband’s ability to get out of bed? Out of a chair? Use the restroom? All these functions will come into play as Bill progresses through the system and plans are made for his recovery. Many families attend their loved ones in the hospital under the impression that the patient will remain in Hospital until completely recovered and back to their previous level of function. In fact, while this may occur in certain cases, there very often is a time where the patient is well enough to leave the general medical/surgical level of care but not able to bounce right back to where they were before the event that bought them into the hospital in the first place occurred. It is this gap that Agnes will need to think about as things move forward.

This would also be a good time to look at resources. Who is around Agnes? Friends? Family? Is she a member of any groups, churches, and senior programs? Where should she go to look at her resource options? The place to start while Bill is in the hospital is the Social Work department of that hospital. This may be called "social services" or a similar name.

Finally, some thoughts may be directed towards the home that Bill and Agnes live in.specifically, the suitability of this environment to their continued welfare. Is their home an apartment on the second floor with no elevator? A single-family house at the end of steep driveway? Perhaps the home was purchased many years ago when mobility concerns were not a consideration. All these aspects need some thought, and even if a move to a more mobility-friendly environment may not be feasible, there are some steps that can be taken to increase the general safety of the home environment and reduce the risk of falls. Very often, as a part of the discharge planning the MD can order a service through the Home Health Nursing aspect of patient care. This is called a "home safety evaluation" and is usually conducted by a physical therapist. This service may not be available to all but it is a common way to reduce the risk of future falls. With this service the home environment is reviewed and suggestions are made as to such items as where safety guide rails may be installed or perhaps a suggestion regarding floor coverings that reduce the risk of accidents.

So, to summarize: In the above example, Agnes should:

1. Gain as clear an idea as possible how long Bill may be in hospital and what the general plan is.

2. Take stock of her abilities, resources, family and friends.

3. Utilize the expertise of all the professional medical personnel that are involved with her husbands care in order to gain a clear idea of the best course of action.

About The Author

© Geoffrey Martyn. http://www.parent-care.org.

How we can best help our aging parents? Directed at most of us baby boomers who have aging parents that may need some help. Our site has resources, contacts and the ebook Parent-Care Handbook .

Source: http://www.365articles.com

n Get Ready, Get Set and Go Global

 by: Laurel J. Delaney, MBA

Today, women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men and becoming a major force both in the traditional and the new global e-business marketplace.

In November, The National Women’s Council’s Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise prepared and presented to the 2000 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Conference a case study (http://www.nwbc.gov/oecd.pdf) on successful public and private initiatives for fostering entrepreneurship among women. It notes the significant role women have played in the recent economic prosperity and affirms the fact that "countries with high levels of economic activity and with the highest start-up business rates are the ones where women are well-engaged in entrepreneurial activity." More intriguing still, small businesses owned by women and minorities are focusing more intense efforts on exporting than those owned by non-minority men. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of International Trade, in a statistical report released last year, indicated that "America’s small businesses are big players in international trade — and their role is growing rapidly." Export data analysis (http://www.sba.gov/library/oitreport/oitnov99report.html) shows that 97 percent of U.S. companies that export are small businesses and women own 40 percent of all small businesses (http://www.sba.gov/news/speeches/alvarez112900.html).

Wanna Grow? Go Global!

Women account for 30 percent of the businesses that export more than half of their products. "Women-owned firms participating in the global marketplace grow more rapidly than women-owned businesses that are primarily domestic," SBA Administrator, Aida Alvarez said. "They are more apt to develop a new product or service and expand domestically. At the SBA (http://www.onlinewbc.org/), we have several programs in place to help women-owned businesses take advantage of the outstanding opportunities available through international trade."

Achieving Success a Woman’s Way

Could it be that businesswomen go globetrotting with their products or services more readily than men do because they adapt more easily to foreign countries and cultures? “I think women [have a] natural ability to embrace their work and their businesses as a natural extension of their own family,” says Cherie Piebes, IBM’s Global Small Business Program Director for the Alliance Marketing and Women Entrepreneurs market (http://www.ibm.com/smallbusiness/women). “Research has indicated that women tend to manage from a centralized focal point, while men manage from a hierarchical stance.” A more personalized style of business interaction makes women uniquely equipped to succeed on the international front, where quality personal relationships are key to success. Even though we realize that the ability to stick to a complex business agenda will win our colleagues’ confidence and respect, the emotional sensitivity and the capacity for relationship building that is largely attributed to women can be useful in any business negotiation. National Foundation for Women Business Owners (http://www.nfwbo.org) researchers put it more succinctly: “The fact that we are women, with different challenges and perceptions in the workplace . . . can finally be turned to our advantage, judo style.”

Listen and You’ll Understand

What really enables a woman entrepreneur to go global? Here’s what two dynamic global businesswomen have to say. “It has been my experience that doing business in any part of the globe is all about listening,” says Deb Armstrong, President of majority woman-owned Kendallville, Indiana-based, A-1 Production, Inc. (http://www.a1production.com), a producer of bushings, hydraulic fittings and machined parts. “Maybe this is why women are the ones working more diligently to increase business overseas. While we listen and observe, we also see that we must be flexible to do business in other parts of the globe, be patient with others and most of all accept and embrace the differences in people,” Deb notes. “Producing a product or service at a good price also helps!”

Relationships Seal Deals

What else brings success to women conducting business overseas? I asked Ms. World Trader of The Year (awarded by the state of Minnesota in 1985) to see if her opinion differed. “Building trusting, quality relationships–something especially women excel–in has been the key to international success for me,” says Yvonne Halpaus, Director of Sales and Marketing for QNET LLC (http://www.ce-mark.com), a quality assurance and international trade consulting firm specializing in CE Marking and ISO 9000/EN 46000/QS 9000 with affiliated offices in California, Wisconsin and Tokyo. She elaborates further: “In the past, when I traveled throughout the world to sell machinery, I prepared in detail to understand the market I was visiting–including the Arab world. I read about the culture, their way of conducting business, visited with our international bankers to obtain economic reports and forecasts. While conducting business, I always made sure to ask questions and not jump to conclusions based on Western viewpoints. I tried to study situations through local viewpoints. Combined, this gave me an edge in negotiations. I seemed to understand or at least be willing to try.” Deb Armstrong jumps in to add: “I would have to say that to me, another reason why we succeed more so than men in the global marketplace is because we are open to differences in methods, practices and meeting people’s diverse needs. Because of my success with global trade (from 1997 grew exports to 10 percent of company’s total sales) and the changes made in the company, I was promoted from Senior Vice President to President in 1999.”

Who Says Women Aren’t Allowed?

This is all great and fine, but what about certain parts of the world where the perception is that women aren’t allowed to participate in business dealings–then what? “When my top sale in the Middle East was valued at $2 million, management stopped asking if they were doing the right thing sending a woman to the Middle East,” says Yvonne. “It became a mute point.”

Whatever Your Business, The World Is Yours

It’s clear that whether you run a service or manufacturing enterprise, the wide-open world of global marketing is the businesswoman’s natural habitat. If you haven’t already gone global, you can start by visiting a few of these one-stop-global-shops that cover everything from how to start your business to how to operate in the global marketplace. Although most of the Web sites are designed for businesswomen, much of the featured content will be of interest to all entrepreneurs.

• AT&T Women in Business (http://www.att.com/wib/index.html)
• Advancing Women (http://www.advancingwomen.com/index.html)
• Businesswomen in Trade (http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/businesswomen/menu-e.asp)
• Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (http://www.fwe.org/)
• Global Funding Community (http://www.seekingcapital.com)
• Online Women’s Business Center (http://www.onlinewbc.org/docs/market/index.html)
• Organization of Women in International Trade (http://www.owit.org/)
• The Enterprise Development Website Women and Enterprise Development (http://www.enterweb.org/women.htm)

About The Author

Laurel Delaney runs a Chicago-based global marketing, consulting and web content providing company aimed toward entrepreneurs and small businesses. She is the author of “Start & Run a Profitable Exporting Business” and teaches an MBA Export Entrepreneurship course at Loyola University Chicago. In addition, she serves as Director of International Development for SeekingCapital.com, a global funding community that facilitates education and interaction between entrepreneurs and investors. Ms. Delaney can be reached at laurel@seekingcapital.com.

Source: http://www.365articles.com