the reality tunnel

After being told that the physician to which I was assigned by MDWise under the HIP was no longer accepting patients, and that the person I switched to after that (being told by MDWise that their system listed them as ‘active’ or accepting patients) was also no longer accepting patients, I called another practice.  I asked if they were accepting patients and they asked if I needed to see a doctor or if a nurse practitioner would be okay.  I told them that it didn’t really matter because I just wanted to establish care with someone, get a general physical, and have the sebacious cyst on the back of my neck re-examined.  They took my information, and were able to look some of it up based on my MDWise RID, and then scheduled me an appointment for next week with a nurse practitioner.

I called MDWise to tell them this and they said that care with a nurse practitioner wouldn’t be covered, it had to be a doctor. I called the office back, canceled my appointment and tried to see if any of the doctors at that office were accepting new patients.  They weren’t accepting new patients, so I continued down the list of results from the MDWise web site.  Of the people on the list that I have called so far, 10 out of 20 are not accepting new patients.  Right now I am stalled at waiting to get a call back from one of the doctor’s offices who I was told was accepting patients.

One of the biggest confusions that I have encountered is the fact that many of the doctors on the list that MDWise provided are part of very large practices (the on-hold message at one of the practices said they had over 60 physicians) at the same location with diffrent offices and phone numbers.    It’s very hard to figure out who I’ve talked to already, especially since I’ve been transferred to different offices via the phone system.  The thing that has cleared things up the best for me has been to ask the seceretary “Which doctors do you schedule appointments for? Are any of them accepting new patients?”

I have been pretty frustrated by this process so far.  Last month, I went to a forum about the FSSA privatization and how it has affected people receiving food stamp beverages.  WFHB covered the event and its worth a listen just to see how messed up the program is and how many people have been treated unfairly or just had to jump through a bunch of needless hoops just to get their benefits.  At least there was a general consensus, even by the FSSA rep there that things needed to change.  A lot of people who did get their situations resolved did so with support from their state representatives or senators.  I would really recommend that if you’re having problems with the HIP, that you contact your Indiana rep. as many actually have social workers working for their office who might be able to help you navigate the crazy HIP system.  You can look up your representatives at the state’s Who’s Your Legistator page.

I tried calling the doctor I selected last week to schedule an appointment.  The receptionist said they were no longer accepting new patients, even though I selected this doctor from a list that an MDWise rep gave me of doctors that, according to their system, were accepting new patients.   The receptionist at the doctor’s office said that they hadn’t had very much luck with the HIP so far and that I should try calling the doctors on the list to see if they are accepting new patients before switching through MDWise.

I have gotten my information packet from MDWise but I had to call to get my RID number and assigned physician. Today I got my second POWER account bill from MDWise, but it said I didn’t owe anything. I tried to call my physician to schedule a physical and they said that the doctor was no longer accepting additional patients and that I would need to call MDWise to work that out. So far, my experience with the HIP has been one of a lack of communication, clarity, and knowledge by the people I’ve talked to both on the FSSA side and the MDWise side.

Update:  I called MDWise and was able to speak with someone pretty promptly.  She told me that I would have to pick another doctor and pointed me to the list (actually a search) on the MDWise web site.   She had some trouble pronouncing the doctors names which wasn’t a problem because I had the web page in front of me, but would have been really confusing if I was just on the phone.   She had to list the names because not all of the doctors were accepting patients.  She said that I should pick a doctor and call MDWise back.  She said it would take 3-5 business days to make the switch and notify the doctor’s office and that I couldn’t call the doctor I chose to make an appointment until after that.

I’ve always loved diners, ever since I was a kid and going to Tucker’s this weekend on a trip to Cincinnati made me think about the role diners and other meeting places play as community anchors.  Then I saw the following article about a Rhode Island program for incarcerated youth that has them learning carpentry and other building skills to restore classic diner cars.  This seems cool, or at least useful, and the response from participants positive, but I always have mixed feelings about programming within the prison system, despite my investment in that.

Youthful Offenders Restoring Luster to Diners of Old - NYTimes.com:

“It keeps my mind off the negative,” said Rob (state officials withheld last names because juvenile offenders’ records are not public). “I can say, ‘Yeah I helped make that.’ ”

Rob, who said he had “been in detention a million times,” said he preferred the diner work over some other training programs, like the poetry and rapping workshop, which he said censored some language.

“You can’t express what you want — nothing about drugs, violence, sex,” said Rob, who plans to record a rap album and call it “In Harm’s Way, Volume 1: Talk Is Cheap.” “They just want us to rap positive. But I can’t just be talking about sunshine and flowers and how colorful they are. That’s not my life experience.”

Devin, 18, with a 10-year history of armed robbery and lesser crimes, said he also values the diner program, especially taking apart the stove and refrigerator because, “I always want to break things.”

…

“Building birdhouses like a traditional high school program is not what these kids need,” Mr. Scott said. “We’re actually preparing them for all kinds of skills: there’s ceramic tile in these diners, sheet metal work, plumbing, electrical. You always meet people who want these kids to be locked away, and I respect their ill-informed opinion. But I look at the training school as kind of like Home Depot of the correctional system. We give them the tools, and when they’re ready to use it, they’ll use it.”

…

To keep the cash-strapped state from paying $25,000 to $200,000 to restore each diner, Mr. Scott and Mr. Zilka found partners in Rhode Island. New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Pawtucket concocted New Hope coffee (organic, fair trade, shade grown), and about $4 of each $11 bag supports the project.

Students at Bryant University in Smithfield are creating business plans for each diner. Angelo’s, an 84-year-old landmark restaurant in Providence, will operate the diners, employing offenders once they are released.

“Hopefully, one of them will be able to own one,” said Robert Antignano, the president of Angelo’s.

I’m trying to be better about posting what I’ve been doing lately.  Last night, the book group I’m facilitating through Pages and New Leaf New Life in the “therapeutic” block of the local jail met for the second time and we picked the book that we’re going to read, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.  We did a rough vote and there wasn’t an overwhelming consensus so I’m going to bring in a few copies of the other books that I brought up as options including Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman.

Doing the group is challenging.  Some people are extroverted and seem to love to talk about themselves and their experiences.  Some are the exact opposite.  I feel like we’re also fighting the difficult dynamic of being a “group” amidst a lot of other mandatory groups that the men have to go through all day.  I think, at the end of the day, some just aren’t feeling another group.  People in the block are respectful and quiet, but the whole jail is noisy.  There are lots of interruptions like meds and the church group that comes in to provide worship services without notices.  I’m still getting my balance as a facilitator and trying to make it more clear why I’m there and what I’m doing and try to get past the reasonable distrust that some of the guys have for people like me.

In spite of all the challenges, we had a short discussion about a piece of writing titled The Best Time in My Life and many shared a memory or description of places and eras that they had seen pass.  For some it was rock quarries in southern Indiana, for another being towed around on an old car hood in his tiny hometown, and for another it was the closure of a vital youth center in his Chicago neighborhood.

I still haven’t gotten my introductory literature from my health provider (MDWise) or my second month’s bill for my POWER account.  I called MDWise and they said they were behind on sending them but that I should receive them “soon”.  The rep also said that I shouldn’t worry about being late on my POWER account payment because of the delay in sending out the bills.  Finally, I was able to get the name and # of my assigned doctor and my Recipient ID (RID) number so I can go and receive healthcare.  So, if anyone else has the HIP and hasn’t heard from them, call MDWise or Anthem and see if you can get your info.  You can call Anthem at 1-800-553-2019 and MDWise at  1-877-822-7196 or 317-822-7196 if you are in the Indianapolis area.

I presented a session on Web 2.0 and Social Movements.  You can see my slides and some resources I tagged on del.icio.us.

Well, if you’ve been paying attention to my del.icio.us feed, you’ll see I’ve been struggling to repair a water heater that had been partially submerged in the recent flooding:

Tristan recommended replacing the thermocouple as it is a frequent point of failure for gas furnaces and water heaters and is relatively cheap and easy to replace.  I eventually got the manifold assembly removed and had access to the thermocouple.  A little water spilled out, so I figured that messing with this was probably a good idea.  I went to get a replacement thermocouple, but neither of the two hardware stores had a left-hand threaded thermocouple.  Eventually, I was directed to a plumbing supply company who told me that only Whirlpool made those parts and that replacements weren’t generally available and that there was a class action lawsuit about this.

I finally went to Lowes and apparently they have some replacement kits (but not for sale, you have to let them know the serial # of the water heater).  I didn’t have time to pursue this further, but hopefully I can get the part from Lowes and have hot water.

I also found theremocouple replacement instructions for replacing the thermocouple on Whirlpool’s support site.

the midwest pages to prisoners project is moving to a smaller space!  as a result we need to downsize our collection by selling duplicate copies or books that are rarely requested by the incarcerated people that we serve.  prices will be $1/hardcover, $0.50/paperback, and  after 2pm, $2 for whatever you can fit in a bag.  all proceeds from this sale benefit our continued efforts of sending free books to incarcerated people. e-mail mwpp@pagestoprisoners.org for more information.

WHAT IS “THURSDAY’S IN BLACK?”

Thursday’s in Black is an international event. It began as a grassroots response to rape and violence against women in Argentina in early 1970’s. During that time in Argentina, women were being raped, murdered, and disappearing in alarming numbers. In, response local feminist organizers begin organizing “Thursday’s in Black” to raise awareness about the violence that women faced, and to put pressure on governmental officials to do more to stop the violence.

Since those beginnings, Thursday’s in Black has been taken up by communities in Bosnia, Israel, the Sudan, New Zealand and throughout Europe. It has more recently begun happening in the United States, mostly on college campuses. Indiana University students initiated the campaign on this campus for the first time in April 2004.

Thursday’s in Black is always locally organized. There is no international, national, or even state-wide effort to create or build on Thursday’s in Black. In this way local communities create their own Thursday’s in Black in a way that makes the most sense for them and which addresses the specific issues faced by their own community.

At IU, RAISE (Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters) is the student organization at the forefront of sexual assault awareness and prevention initiatives on campus. In addition to training volunteers as peer presenters for the “He Said, She Said” interactive workshop, RAISE also has a men’s program called “No Excuse” and looks for campus education and organizing opportunities around these issues. We believe that the solution to rape and violence against women lies within the culture of campus and the performance of masculinity.

RAISE works in partnership with Middleway House (the local women’s  shelter and rape crisis line) and other community-based groups. Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October) and Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April) are two key campaigns within this community-wide education and organizing effort. Thursday’s in Black is but one of the efforts that we organize during April.

RAISE and Middleway House invite you to participate in Thursday’s in Black in ways that make the most sense for you. We have developed this organizing packet to assist you in raising awareness about the issues, but there are plenty of other  things you can do. You can also contact us to find out about the other events and programs happening during April or October. You can invite one of our peer educators to come speak to your group, club, floor, house or class about the issues and/or about how you can be part of the solution. You can become a volunteer in RAISE yourself. You can  organize a vigil in your neighborhood in honor of the victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. You can organize an ongoing discussion group about the issues and explore how your community is affected (RAISE volunteers can also assist you in organizing this effort or providing speakers or facilitators).

Sexual Assault and domestic violence has an impact on all parts of our campus and community and every person can be part of the solution. Demand an end to Rape and Violence!!! Thank-you for taking a part and we look forward to working with you.

For More information, Contact:
RAISE
Office of Women’s Affairs
Memorial Hall East
RAISE@indiana.edu