The Forgotten Americans

A disturbing look at America’s Employed Homeless

Brian Zemeka is single. He is in his early forties. Brian has a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Secondary Education-Mathematics and a Master of Arts degree in Teaching-Mathematics. A little over a year ago the company Brian worked for went through a major reorganization to save themselves from bankruptcy. When the dust had settled, Brian found himself without a job. At the time, he lived in an apartment in Brooklyn. He owned a midsize Toyota (financed), had a healthy, if not large savings account and a few investments.

While on unemployment he sent his resume out everywhere and applied for jobs whether he fit the qualifications or not. Brian wasn’t oblivious to the growing problems with the US economy or job market, but he believed the announcements that the economy was slowly improving. He believed the media when they said the unemployment rate was lowering. A year of job searches and interviews left Brian still unemployed.  Desperate, with his unemployment about to run out, Brian started applying for low wage jobs. Eventually, a company hired him for $8.50 an hour, a few weeks after his unemployment had ended. It was a far cry from the $56,000 a year salary Brian had previously been receiving.

At present, five out of seven days a week, Brian Zemeka wakes up, quickly moves on to shower and dress then runs to a nearby corner to catch the local bus, then subway to work. Sounds like a typical morning for most of us right? Think again. Brian was evicted from his apartment while on unemployment. He had subsidized the payments of his rent, utilities, food and car note with his savings. When that ran out, he then used money from his investments to help pay the bills until that also expired. Now Brian secretly lives out of a storage unit. His showers and grooms himself at a nearby gym he joined solely for that purpose.

You might be thinking that Brian has choices. He doesn’t have to live the way he does. But does he really have a choice? Below is a table of Brian’s expenses. Brian earns $1,360 a month before taxes.

Starting with the $1,360 below are Brian’s deductions.

Expenses For One Month	Amount After Deduction
Taxes and other related items $350	$1,010.00
Transportation $104	$906.00
Car note, repossessed car payment obligation $189	$717.00
Back Rent & Court Costs Related to Eviction and Broken Lease $136.00	$581.00
Food $200 ($5-7/day)	$381.00
Storage $210	$231.00
Gym Membership $10	$221.00
Prepaid Phone Service $40	$181.00

Brian’s Monthly Expenses

As you can see, at the end of the month, Brian is left with $181.00. This does not include any deductions for personal hygiene items or take in to account any days he might have missed from work due to illness (his job offers no medical plan) or time needed to go on interviews. How would you live if you were in Brian’s situation?

You’re probably asking, what is so special about Brian? Why should we care about him? The answer is because 51% of American’s, either have, or at some point in their life, will, live in poverty before they turn 65 years of age. Brian is only one of the many Americans that fall through the cracks in a system that does not take into account the employed but homeless. They earn what the Federal government considers to be above the poverty income level; yet do not earn enough to sustain an adequate way of life which includes a decent place to live. Unusually, they are not illegible for most subsidized programs or even food stamps.

Maybe you know Brian Zemeka. Is the story familiar, but the name is different? Is it someone you’re acquainted with or possibly you?

This blog will introduce you to other Forgotten Americans. In the meantime, ask yourself, could this be me one day?

Related articles:

Seattle mayor would put homeless in fire station (thenewstribune.com)
America’s forgotten homeless students (rt.com)
Child poverty in US approaches 25% (prof77.wordpress.com)
More Americans file for unemployment (rt.com)
The rich get richer as the rest of America is screwed (rt.com)

Hospital Acquired Infections: HIA

It could happen to you.

Hospitals.  The word alone makes some of us cringe while others see it as the next best thing to a stay at a resort or spa.  For the group that falls into the latter view, write me...I'll help you find a good shrink.

Recently I have found myself a reluctant guest in several hospitals.  I say reluctant because I will wait until whatever condition I have has escalated to an intolerable stage before I trot myself to a doctor.  By that time, the doctor needs a whole team to put this body back together again!  My poor family and friends!  I'd be a millionaire several times over if I was paid for every, "I told you so!" they yelled at me.

My numerous stays, especially this last one, has caused me to take a closer look at the care received within the last six months.  I'm sad to say, even with the best of care (and I use the term best rather loosely!) a lot of hospitals are terrible!

Filthy emergency and hospital rooms; dirty, dusty equipment; staff shortages due to budget cuts; patients being ignored by hospital staff and incompetence are just a few of the transgressions I witnessed during my stays.

Another issue I had (and I mean that literally!) was a nosocomial infection or you may know it better as hospital-acquired infection (HAI).  In my case, I had acquired pneumonia.  Did you know that according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States there are over one million hospital acquired infections to which a patient may become vulnerable?  If that's not enough to make your hair stand on end, think about this...approximately 100,000 people die from hospital-acquired infections each year.  Who needs the Boogeyman when we have real horrors such as HAI?

While there are no guarantees that the following suggestions will safeguard you or your loved ones from acquiring HAI, it might help to shore up the odds in your favor.

1.)  Make sure that doctors and healthcare workers either sanitize or wash their hands before touching you, your medications or anything else that may come in contact with you.

2.)  If you notice that your doctor or healthcare attendant is ill, ask them it they wouldn't mind wearing a mask while in your presence.

3.)  When going for a test or being examined, make sure that the paper sheeting or cloth sheet are changed after the last patient.  This may seem like an obvious task, but I have actually been in an examining room, the paper creased and marked from the last patient and the medical assistant caught an attitude when I asked her for fresh paper.  Her reasoning: the earlier patient only sat there for five minutes.

4.)  Last, but far from least, are your visitors or if you share a semi-private room their visitors as well.  Restrooms are provided for guests visiting patients in the hospital.  If you feel uncomfortable asking visitors to not use the restroom provided in your room.  Have one of the staff post a sign requiring the guest to use the facilities specifically appointed for them.

These are only a few tips but hopefully they will help you have a healthier and safer stay if you ever find yourself in the hospital or even the doctor's office.  Below are other articles you might be interested in regarding hospital acquired infections.

Related articles

• Report on Hospital Acquired Infection in CA Released (thielst.typepad.com)
• Hospital Acquired Infections cost $45 Billion Annually; 9 of every 200 Hospital Patients Will Become Infected in the Hospital (prweb.com)
• What Hospitals Won't Tell You - Vital Strategies that Could Save Your Life (blogginghounds.wordpress.com)
• How hospitals are implementing lean healthcare practices (medcitynews.com)
• Degmor Health Inc. Positioned to Reduce Healthcare Acquired Infections (prweb.com)
• Zakaria: Every year, 100k Americans die from hospital-acquired infections (globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com)
• Number of patients picking up life-threatening infections has doubled in just two years (dailymail.co.uk)
• Alcohol-Based Wipes Significantly More Effective than Rubs in Reducing Bacteria; Findings Could Impact Hospital-Acquired Infections (prweb.com)
• Vancouver Company Tackles Canada's 4th Largest Killer (prweb.com)
• The Patient's Checklist by Elizabeth Bailey (asourparentsage.net)
• Positive Deviance Research Continues to Impact Health Care System (rwjfblogs.typepad.com)