CodeBlueNow! founder holds public meeting

A new health-care reform group may have the shortest and most ambitious mission statement ever: “CodeBlueNow! intends to change the health care system so it works for the American public.” The group’s founder, Seattle consultant Kathleen O’Connor, brought her message to Spokane recently. She held a public meeting at a North Side coffeehouse.

We heard from O’Connor in this column last year when she awarded a $10,000 first prize for the best plan for redesigning the U.S. health-care system. That contest evolved into CodeBlueNow!, a nonprofit, nonpartisan reform organization.

Fourteen people showed up to chat at O’Connor’s meeting in Spokane. They included activists, Democratic congressional candidate Don Barbieri, a business group representative and a retired doctor.

Retired Spokane schoolteacher Frank Yuse, who won third place in O’Connor’s contest, was there. With great charm, Yuse made sure everyone got a chance to talk.

O’Connor hopes to garner public support and more ideas. Eventually, she said, her group will present a plan to Congress and the White House.

She’s finding consensus among regular folks for a set of principles, she said. The principles include reducing employers’ role in health insurance, decreasing administrative costs and increasing attention to prevention and wellness. People don’t want to throw more money at the problems, she said, but want to do a better job with money already in the system.

It’s important to erase political boundaries, O’Connor said. Contest entrants combined ideas from the right (medical savings accounts) with ideas from the left (single-payer system).

“We’re finding common ground,” she said.

Local control and federal standards – think public schools – were other ideas that arose in the contest entries.

Unlike some reform groups, O’Connor’s organization doesn’t take donations from health-care businesses. Her major donors include the Northwest Health Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She put in $10,000 of her own money toward the contest.

After her road tour, O’Connor plans a big meeting Oct. 12 in California. There the CodeBlueNow! solutions will be refined further. For more information, go to www.codebluenow.org.

Diabetes class

Gonzaga University is offering an online class on diabetes management for nurses, caregivers and people with diabetes. Register online at www.gonzaga.edu/ce.

The class costs $150 and has been approved for 15 continuing education units.

The class is designed to be worked through over 10 consecutive weeks, but can be completed at the student’s convenience now through Dec. 31. The class covers medication management, blood glucose monitoring, motivational strategies and other topics.

Questions? Call GU’s continuing education department at (509) 323-3575 or (800) 986-9585.

Hangover hype

If “Driving While Hungover” ever becomes illegal, you can thank the public relations folks at Spirit Sciences USA. The Los Angeles-based company makes RU-21, a dietary supplement purported to fight the effects of hangovers.

Citing Swedish research, the company put out a press release last week promoting the idea that hangovers may impair driving ability “by 20 percent or more.”

From the press release: “To help law enforcement and safety advocates combat the problem of DWH, Spirit Sciences USA is in the final stages of developing a technology capable of detecting a hangover and measuring its severity. Upon conclusion of a large-scale test Spirit Sciences USA intends to donate over 200 such devices to police departments in the U.S. to study the extent of the hungover-driving problem in this country. The company hopes to have the final product in less than six months.”

‘Fire-safe’ cigarettes

Last week, New York became the first state to require cigarettes that self-extinguish if not puffed. The state law that went into effect June 28 is meant to reduce fires caused by smoking.

Cigarette-caused fires are the nation’s leading cause of fire death. More than 1,000 people die each year in fires caused by smoking, according to the National Fire Protection Association.