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Holiday Letter From Dr. Sawhney
Dear Members:
This DMN issue cannot begin to portray the wonderful event – the
18th annual WCMS Foundation Holiday Party for underprivileged
children - that your generosity made possible Dec. 13. Over
240 children, parents and volunteers participated in a day
full of joy, excitement, learning and entertainment at the
Detroit Science Center.
This year’s contributions again exceeded previous years. What you read
about in this issue was only possible because of our physician contributors
and the volunteers, particularly the medical students, who helped make
this day, another successful holiday event for some of Detroit’s underprivileged
children. My personal thanks as well as that of the WCMS Foundation’s
Board of Directors and staff. With your help, we fully anticipate conducting
the 19th annual party next Dec. 11.
Best Wishes to you and your family for the New Year.
Sincerely,
Krishna Sawhney, MD
2003 Holiday Party Donors
Office Staff of Dr. Krishna Sawhney
Paul Mazzara
Armando Ortiz
Drs. George & Nadia Kazzi
Dr. & Mrs. Charles J. Barone, II
Helen Papaioanou, MD
Jerry Kirkland of Proctor & Gamble
President's Report: Notes from the Executive Council Meeting
By EDWARD JANKOWSKI, MD
WCMS President
Public Health Authority: As of this mailing, the public health authority
inter-local agreement has been signed by Detroit’s mayor, the Wayne County
CEO and the State Department of Community Health. The Detroit City Council
and the Wayne County Commission must act and then the governor will give
her final approval. We have already heard about the Authority from former
Henry Ford Health System CEO Gail Warden who has spear-headed this effort
for the last several months. All of you have read about the appointment
of Mike Duggan to be President and CEO of the DMC. We will all be very
interested in the progress he makes in the next several months. I had
the opportunity to comment on his appointment to the Detroit News and
to radio reporters. To volunteer, contact the WCMS office at (313) 874-1360.
Medical staff meetings: As you know, every year, the president
and the executive director try to attend at least one staff meeting
of all the hospitals in Wayne County. Over the past two months,
the Hutzel, Harper, Sinai-Grace, Bon Secours-Cottage and Garden
City Osteopathic staff meetings have been attended by one or
both of us. The Children's Hospital medical staff meeting occurred
on the night of the Macomb County Medical society meeting but
was covered my Rob Beaddie, our MSMS membership services representative.
Macomb CMS: This past November, Adam Jablonowski, Dr. Bush and I attended
the annual business meeting of the Macomb County Medical Society. Dr.
Sachinder S. Hans was inaugurated as their president during a pleasant
dinner meeting addressed by our own Dr. Hassan Amirikia, MSMS President.
Upcoming events: Primed CME program, Feb. 20-21, will
be held at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Detroit. About 1,000
physicians are expected to participate. The Rhoades Lecture will
be presented on Friday, April 2, 6 p.m., at the Detroit Yacht
Club on Belle Isle. Janet Olszewski, Director of Michigan's Department
of Community Health will speak on the status of the Detroit/Wayne
County Health Authority.
Healing Hearts Gala: Sophie Womack and the
21st Century Club are once again offering entertainment
provided by hidden stars of Detroit. Join the crowd
in "Jeans and Jewels" at the Marriott
Renaissance Hotel on Feb. 7. Proceeds support the
domestic violence shelters in Wayne County. Over
the past five years more than $200,000 has been
generated through the Gala. I encourage all members
to participate and give generously to this worthy
cause.
Chris Bush campaign for MSMS President-Elect: We are entitled to 81 delegates
this year. If we can all show up and vote for Chris, he will have an
excellent chance for election. We have fewer than 40 members who have
agreed to be delegates. If WCMS is to be heard at the House meeting,
we need more members to volunteer to be delegates. Please urge your colleagues
to contact the office for more information about the schedule for delegate
meetings and the MSMS House meeting.
Nominating Committee: The Committee will meet Jan. 21
and Feb. 18 to consider candidates for WCMS offices - President-Elect,
Secretary and Trustee. If you are personally interested or would
like to recommend someone, please let me or one of the other
officers know as soon as possible. The candidates will be announced
at the March Executive Council meeting.
Editorial:
Now Is The Time For
Universal Medical Care, Single Payer, Tort Reform
By VICTOR BLOOM, MD
Associate Editor
If we are to have social justice and the government
ensure that every American, including every inhabitant
of the United States, with or without a Green Card,
should have the benefit of unlimited medical care
and prescription drugs, it would be a good thing,
everyone would agree.
It is not fair for some people to get the best medical care, simply because
they can afford it, and others not. It is not fair for some to have medical
insurance and others not. It is not fair for some people to be able to
afford prescription drugs and others not.
At the same time, it is not fair that doctors fees are being cut while
salaries of CEOs of third-party payers are escalating. It isn't right
that paperwork and number crunchers are escalating while candidates for
medical school admissions are decreasing. It is not good that doctors
are suffering under the load of malpractice premiums, causing senior
physicians to retire rather than work or teach.
If the government were the single payer and universal tort reform enacted,
it would be a good thing. Universal medical care, tort reform and single
payer is rational and logical, so why don't we just go for it?
Right now, the percentage of Gross Domestic Product that goes to medical
care is 14 percent. For some arbitrary and irrational reason, this number
is considered by many to be too high. Why shouldn't we guarantee preventive
medicine and medical care from cradle to grave in this country? Why shouldn't
the health of the nation be a top priority?
To ensure that basic medical research is adequately funded and scientifically
based, the government's National Institutes of Health should have adequate
funds to support the highest level of research to find cures for all
the major remaining diseases. This would be better than depending on
the pharmaceutical industry.
What would it take? It would take the will of the people directing our
elected officials in the Senate and Congress to enact enabling legislation.
Doctors and hospitals would be adequately compensated and everyone would
have access to the highest level of medical research, diagnosis and treatment.
People would then ask how much would it cost? Since the health of the
nation is and should be a priority, the cost shouldn't matter, should
it? All that would have to happen is for human nature to change and each
wage earner be dedicated to working long and hard and paying whatever
taxes it would take to bring about this utopian social justice. A flat
tax of 50 percent would just about do it. Why not?
Why don't we go for it?
Letter: Health Center Physicians Oppose Sale
The following is a letter addressed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm,
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
We are writing in response to the Christmas Eve announcement of the
proposed sale of the Health Centers Detroit (HCD) to private physicians
and Reverend Joseph Jordan. We, as the 12 physicians in the five remaining
DMC health centers wish to be on record that we do not support the sale
of the DMC health centers to the above mentioned entrepreneurs nor do
we have a desire to work with them. These entrepreneurs, referred to
in press reports as the "team of physicians," are not currently
involved in seeing patients in any of the five DMC Detroit health centers.
We believe this transaction is contrary to the requirements to your Memorandum
Of Understanding (MOU) and its addendum, and is also bad health policy
for the city of Detroit.
We are the physicians who provide primary and preventive care to 50,000
residents of Detroit in the five DMC Health Centers. As you know, 50
percent of our patients are either Medicaid or are members of the County
Care program (Plus Care) and 15 percent of our patients are uninsured.
This payer-mix is unsustainable for a private physician practice. This
fact was borne out by the events surrounding the previous DMC sale of
four of the original nine health centers on April 1, 2003. On the first
day of their private practice operation, the first act of their new owners
was to transfer all uninsured and County Care patients to the five remaining
HCD sites. The transfer of these under and uninsured patients occurred
despite DMC assurances that these privatized sites would continue to
provide service to this vulnerable population. The DMC is now proposing
to sell their remaining sites to the same physicians that purchased the
initial four sites, and we once again expect the under and uninsured
patients will be expelled from the practices. Private practice or privatization
is not the same as safety-net primary care.
We have sacrificed to develop these health centers in the interest of
our community. We have struggled since 1997 to secure the capital within
and outside the DMC to appropriately build and resource these health
centers. We fought to stretch scarce resources to serve all of our community
regardless of their ability to pay, thereby maintaining a safety-net
primary care network. We have improved productivity, raised the quality
of care, and improved health status of the citizens of Detroit, while
attracting physicians that reflect the population served. We have been
on the front line, advocating and battling for basic primary care services
on behalf of the citizens of Detroit. Many of us have done this at risk
to our own careers and in some cases, even forfeiting benefits and salaries.
We have done this because we believe that access to primary care is not
only critically important for our community, but is also fundamental
for the financial stability of the Detroit Medial Center (DMC); an institution
we care deeply about.
We were heartened that each of you signed an agreement that allowed $50
million in public bailout payments to be structured in such a way as
to recognize the importance of primary care as integral to the provision
of safety net services and to transitioning the uninsured out of hospital
emergency rooms. Your call for structural change gave us hope that if
we held on just a little longer, rational urban health policy will have
a chance to take hold, and allow a more enlightened management team to
understand the importance of, and save the DMC Detroit safety-net, including
primary care. We were also encouraged when the DMC Board's Ambulatory
Task Force recommended the five centers receive funding support through
May 2004. The DMC Task Force further stated, "It is our concern
if the clinics are closed or sold, the burden of primary care of the
uninsured will probably fall to the emergency room at Detroit Receiving
Hospital and other local emergency rooms, which in the final analysis
could be much more costly." In addition, the governor's Temporary
Oversight Committee (TOC) recommended that the five remaining DMC health
centers should be included as part of the $50 million in public bailout
funds for safety-net services.
Recently, you were presented with evidence that the DMC leadership had
misled you when you were persuaded at the last moment to drop specific
mention of the five HCD health centers in the MOU, in favor of a general
statement to have the DMC support "safety-net primary care." You
now realize that the expense figures that the DMC gave as necessary to
support our work in these five health centers was vastly over-inflated.
The correct cost figure is $3 million of annual support, not the $23
million you were told. You now also realize that the DMC has no primary
care capability that supports safety-net primary care other than the
five remaining HCD sites.
We are asking that each of you support primary care safety net services
by enforcing your MOU requirement, as amended, which includes the five
DMC health centers as part of the $50 million in public funds. Disbursement
of any further bailout funds must be contingent on DMC compliance.
This will at least allow time for an adequate assessment and a more rational
and comprehensive plan for the five remaining DMC health centers in relation
to the developing Detroit-Wayne County Health Authority.
We were especially surprised, along with many community and pastoral
leaders, to learn that Rev. Jordan has independently secured a site in
spite of his previous public commitments to support our efforts.
This letter will also serve to communicate to all interested parties
we have no interest in working with the proposed new HCD owners. They
have already demonstrated they are not committed to safety-net care for
all Detroit residents. Their values and motivations are therefore very
different from ours and from what we believe Detroit needs and deserves.
We do not support this DMC plan that marginalizes African-American physicians
to the benefit of providers outside of this community and that separates
patients from their physicians.
We all respectfully concur in this letter, (our names appear in italic
type) below.
Herbert C. Smitherman,
MD
Roy C. Elrod, MD
Lennox A. Pike, MD
Anthony W. Clarke, MD
Solon Alimario, MD
James Brown, MD
Everett Campbell, MD
Thierry Desir, PA-C
Dawn Foster, MD
James Haney, DO
Elsa Isip, MD
Alfred Newton, MD
Cc: Detroit City Council
Governor’s TOC
US Sen. Carl Levin
US. Sen. Debbie Stabenow
DRH Board of Trustees
Gwen MacKenzie
Wayne County Commissioners
Nobel Masseru, Dr. PH
US Rep. John Dingell
WSU Board of Governors
Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce
Michael Duggan
Janet Olszewski
US Rep. C. Kilpatrick
US Rep. John Conyers
DMC Board of Trustees
Irvin Reid, PhD
Dean John Crissman
President' Letter:
Support Health Center Docs
The following letter is from WCMS President Edward Jankowski,
MD. It was dated Dec. 18 and addressed to the governor, Wayne
County executive and Detroit’s mayor.
The Wayne County Medical Society, representing 4,600 physicians, requests
your support for primary care physicians in Detroit by signing the Addendum
to the Memorandum of Understanding to support funding for the Detroit
Medical Center's five remaining health centers (HCD).
Detroit has been especially hard hit with the loss of primary care physicians
over the past five years. We believe, along with health experts nationally,
that there is a direct correlation between reduced access to regular
primary care and increases in preventable deaths and disease, and thus
a rise in health care cost.
Preserving the DMC health centers represents the best hope for reducing
costs related to overuse of hospital emergency rooms. Money spent to
preserve safety-net services in Wayne County will certainly be wasted
if primary care is not used to reduce unnecessary inpatient hospital
and emergency room use. More primary care is critical if Detroit Receiving
and Hutzel Hospitals are to survive. This is not the time to allow any
more of our scarce primary care physicians to leave the Detroit community.
Thank you for your support for primary care physicians in Wayne County.
Sincerely,
Edward G. Jankowski, MD
WCMS President
Kids and docs have a ball at Foundation Holiday Party
By BRIAN BUDOWICK
The Holiday season has passed and along with it another hugely successful
children's holiday party sponsored by the Wayne County Medical Society
and Foundation. This event was one of the best in recent memory due to
the hard work of our physician leaders, including Dr.s. Krishna Sawney,
Edward Jankowski, and Dan Michael. Their contributions along with that
of their families ensured that the event was memorable for both children
and adults.
A special thank you goes out to the Family Independence Agency and Spectrum
Social Services for providing assistance in identifying the children
that participated in the holiday party. At final tally, over 240 children,
medical students and other volunteers participated in the event.
Another thank you must be extended to the Detroit Science Center for
providing the venue for the event. As the photographs evidence, the children
and volunteers found hours of entertainment and knowledge among the three
floors of exhibits. While having lunch with Santa, the candy canes were
balanced by the nutritious lunch. Afterward, the children were set free
to explore the Brain Exhibit where neurosurgeon Dr. Dan Michael shared
his knowledge with the children. The Science Center experience culminated
with the showing of "Santa vs. the Snowman" in the gigantic
IMAX Theater.
Deep appreciation is extended to the medical students and other volunteers.
Our "elves" were a driving force behind the success of the
event. Brendan Burns and Rachna Arora were wonderful in enlisting medical
students who finished the event set-up on Friday afternoon in record
time, along with being guides for the children on Saturday. An extra
special thank you goes out to first-year medical student John Stasko
and his wife Rebecca. These two selfless people were Mr. and Mrs. Claus
and were wonderful in their roles and with the children.
After the movie and a ride up the rainbow escalator the children were
greeted by our medical student elves, who assisted Santa and Mrs. Claus
in passing out the gifts. This year our gift bag consisted of a warm
winter coat, a book containing scientific questions and answers, The
American Edition of Monopoly board game and a motorized toothbrush. Due
to the generosity of our contributors the Wayne County Medical Society
Foundation was able to donate duffle bags to area youth homes to aid
in their transition from past to future.
It is to the future and 2004 that we look, and, once again, prepare for
another year of Health, Happiness, Prosperity and Charity. Happy New
Year and best wishes from the Wayne County Medical Society and Foundation.
SAVE THE DATE
Twelfth Annual
Francis P. Rhoades, MD
Memorial Lecture
Detroit Yacht Club
6 p.m. - Friday, April 2, 2004
"The Detroit Health
Care Crisis"
Janet Olszewski, Director
Michigan Department of Community Health
Responders:
Dean John Crissman, MD
WSU School of Medicine
Michael Duggan
President Detroit Medical Center
MEMBERSHIP
Yasser Al-Baghdadi,
MD
Anesthesiology
Medical School: Baghdad University 1991
Residencies: U of Illinois 1999, Yale University 2002
Fellowship: Johns Hopkins University 2003
Office: Harper Hospital, 3990 John R, Detroit, MI 48201
Marvin H. Glass, DO
Anesthesiology
Medical School: Michigan State University 1983
Internship: Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital 1984
Residency: Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital 1986
Office: Sinai Grace Hospital, 6071 W. Outer Drive, Detroit, MI 48235
Nabil M. Kadi, MD
Anesthesiology
Medical School: American University of Beirut 1986
Internship: Good Samaritan Hospital 1990
Residency: Johns Hopkins University 1991
Office: Harper Hospital, 3990 John R, Detroit, MI 48201
John R. Sarcar, MD
Psychiatry
Medical School: Wayne State U School of Medicine 1997
Residency: Wayne State U, Detroit, MI 2001
Office: 2033 11th Ave., Port Huron, MI 48064
Tele: 810-984-1002, Fax: 810-984-3737
Email: princeykins@yahoo.com
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