My dentist plays Fox News on his televisions and being exposed to that can be a kind of mental root canal.
For months, Port St. Lucie’s dialysis patient, Nelson Gibson, brought a cardboard cutout of President Donald Trump to a treatment center to keep him company for his regular three-hour sessions.
No problem.
But a week ago, he oversized his Trump admiration by showing up with a full-size Trump clipping he purchased online.
The life-size Trump smiles and gives a double thumbs up, not only to him, but to the rest of the patients sitting on the 16 chairs in the open treatment room.
And that was a Trump too far away.
Gibson, 59, was told that life-size Trump was not an acceptable “emotional support” item to bring in for his treatments.
“A social worker told him,” This is a medical facility, not a Trump demonstration, “said his son Eric, 30, a local realtor.” He is a politician. “
No, unlike Fresenius Kidney Care.
“We strongly support the ability of all our patients to express their opinions, including bringing personal items to our clinics that offer comfort,” said the company’s medical director, Dr. Robert Koffmann, in a prepared note. “At the same time, we must maintain the safety and quality standards required within our clinics.
“We are unable to allow objects that can create safety risks, infection control problems or interfere with healthcare professionals on the floor of the treatment,” he said.
I can’t imagine that a Trump life-size cutout represents an “infection control problem”. It’s not like the cardboard cutout spent time with Stormy Daniels.
But continue …
“We must ensure that nothing on the treatment plan represents an obstacle to our staff’s vision or creates a barrier or impediment to their workflow by assisting all patients who entrust us with their care,” said Koffmann.
Gibson’s son said that during long dialysis treatments his father sits mostly alone and seeing Trump relaxes him.
“It reminds him that there are people who take care of him,” he said.
The son cited an executive order that Trump signed last year, something called the “Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative”.
Which is strange because that initiative is geared towards moving dialysis treatment in a direction that Gibson has avoided.
Trump’s order provides for the phasing out of the kind of clinic-based dialysis treatments that Gibson is getting in favor of the economically advantageous alternative of having dialysis patients managing their treatments in their homes.
Gibson could do it now, as he sets his Trump at full size for the contents of his heart without anyone complaining. But he prefers to go to a clinic.
“He feels more comfortable knowing that there are professionals there who would help him if something goes wrong,” said the son.
This is a common concern.
Getting home care is not a prospect that many dialysis patients enjoy, because, as reported by Kaiser Health News, it is a complicated procedure that requires non-professionals and their loved ones to use medical equipment without supervision.
“The burden of providing this care should not be underestimated,” Kaiser said. “In a recent survey of healthcare professionals providing complex care to family, friends or neighbors, 64 percent identified home dialysis equipment as hard – putting it on the top of the list of difficult tasks.”
So yes, Trump takes care of people like Gibson. If “worrying” means pushing them towards a cheaper form of treatment they don’t want and may not be able to administer.
Go understand.
But I think Gibson’s son is probably right: the decision to ban full-size cutting is political. At least it should be.
My dentist plays Fox News on his televisions and being exposed to that can be a kind of mental root canal.
So, I can only imagine what a full-size Trump can do for three hours for a reluctant dialysis patient – who, after all, is only there to heal, not to look at the human antithesis of healing.
Frank Cerabino ([email protected]) is a columnist for the Palm Beach Post.