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Main Forum / Re: Front Range Kidney Patient Association meeting March 25, 2012
« Last post by angieskidney on March 26, 2012, 11:11:29 AM »How did the meeting go? Surprised it was on a Sunday.
Recent Posts
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Main Forum / Front Range Kidney Patient Association meeting March 25, 2012
« Last post by cschwab on March 17, 2012, 03:07:56 PM »I'm happy to be a member of this organization and I'm looking forward to their meeting on the 25th (mainly because they haven't come to their senses yet and kicked me out): http://frkpa.org/events/frkpa-meeting/ In Denver Colorado.
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Main Forum / Re: Part 2: Thank some Legislators!
« Last post by cschwab on March 16, 2012, 04:21:13 PM »Audio of Colorado Senate hearing:
http://dialysisethics2.org/open_images/audio/coloradoga_senate_2012.mp3
http://dialysisethics2.org/open_images/audio/coloradoga_senate_2012.mp3
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Main Forum / Re: Part 2: Thank some Legislators!
« Last post by cschwab on March 15, 2012, 05:51:10 PM »HB1204, the Colorado bill for the certification of hemodialysis techs, passed out of the Health and Human Services committee 9-0!!!!!!!!! About the only things we have left now are to pass the state Senate floor and get signed by the Governor.
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Main Forum / Re: Part 2: Thank some Legislators!
« Last post by cschwab on March 09, 2012, 04:29:36 PM »To repeat some reasons to vote for the bill and some additional reasons:
1) Checks tech certification every year with the renewal of the license vs. other states like California which check every 3 years (if that). We are hearing clinic managers are less likely to try and use less-qualified staff.
2) Infections like sepsis, a potentially lethal infection of the blood, took a significant dip in 2008-2009 when the state tech program was starting to be implemented - California continued to climb, their tech certification hadn't been implemented yet.
3) Stopping this bill could lead to a watered-down version of tech certification which California has with their CDC program - good only in California. I should note California appears to have higher rates of infections (sepsis was very notable!)
4) A retired dialysis nurse testified about the case of someone who couldn't pass the company test, but was allowed on the floor anyway jeopardizing the safety of patients. Had there been state or federal certification, she felt there was less of chance of this person getting out on the floor - or even being hired.
5) A lady who had been on dialysis eleven years testified she met a tech who was allowed on the floor after two weeks! Would you trust a mechanic working on your brakes if they had just picked up a wrench two weeks ago?
6) A current dialysis patient testified how he had seen staff short-handed. Would you want that already short-handed staff to be also poorly-trained?
7) Low fiscal impact
8) Clinic managers report less turn-over with certification.
1) Checks tech certification every year with the renewal of the license vs. other states like California which check every 3 years (if that). We are hearing clinic managers are less likely to try and use less-qualified staff.
2) Infections like sepsis, a potentially lethal infection of the blood, took a significant dip in 2008-2009 when the state tech program was starting to be implemented - California continued to climb, their tech certification hadn't been implemented yet.
3) Stopping this bill could lead to a watered-down version of tech certification which California has with their CDC program - good only in California. I should note California appears to have higher rates of infections (sepsis was very notable!)
4) A retired dialysis nurse testified about the case of someone who couldn't pass the company test, but was allowed on the floor anyway jeopardizing the safety of patients. Had there been state or federal certification, she felt there was less of chance of this person getting out on the floor - or even being hired.
5) A lady who had been on dialysis eleven years testified she met a tech who was allowed on the floor after two weeks! Would you trust a mechanic working on your brakes if they had just picked up a wrench two weeks ago?
6) A current dialysis patient testified how he had seen staff short-handed. Would you want that already short-handed staff to be also poorly-trained?
7) Low fiscal impact
8) Clinic managers report less turn-over with certification.
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Main Forum / Part 2: Thank some Legislators!
« Last post by cschwab on March 09, 2012, 04:04:47 PM »Well, it worked so well the first time! Part 1: Thank some Legislators! How about we try it again!
Now that we are are out of the Colorado state House, we now have the Colorado state Senate Health and Human Services to get through:
Where:
Colorado State Capitol
200 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
Senate Committee Room 356
When:
Thursday, March 15th
1:30pm
Why:
Support bill HB1204, state bill for the certification of hemodialysis techs.
From what I understand there is only a sponsor on the bill on the Senate side and co-sponsors might come later?
So the Sponsor to thank is Colorado State Senator Betty Boyd, Chair of the Health and Human Services committee and President Pro Tempore: betty.boyd.senate*at*state.co.us ph. 303-866-4857
And while we are at it, I think Senator Bob Bacon ought to be thanked for his work on the 2007 bill! His work got us the critical vote to get us out of committee by one vote back in 2007! And who knows, maybe we could hint we wouldn't mind seeing him as a co-sponsor! Senator Bob Bacon, bob.bacon.senate*at*state.co.us ph 303-866-4841
REASONS FOR THE BILL:
1) This state bill ties in tech certification with a dialysis clinic
Now that we are are out of the Colorado state House, we now have the Colorado state Senate Health and Human Services to get through:
Where:
Colorado State Capitol
200 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
Senate Committee Room 356
When:
Thursday, March 15th
1:30pm
Why:
Support bill HB1204, state bill for the certification of hemodialysis techs.
From what I understand there is only a sponsor on the bill on the Senate side and co-sponsors might come later?
So the Sponsor to thank is Colorado State Senator Betty Boyd, Chair of the Health and Human Services committee and President Pro Tempore: betty.boyd.senate*at*state.co.us ph. 303-866-4857
And while we are at it, I think Senator Bob Bacon ought to be thanked for his work on the 2007 bill! His work got us the critical vote to get us out of committee by one vote back in 2007! And who knows, maybe we could hint we wouldn't mind seeing him as a co-sponsor! Senator Bob Bacon, bob.bacon.senate*at*state.co.us ph 303-866-4841
REASONS FOR THE BILL:
1) This state bill ties in tech certification with a dialysis clinic
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Main Forum / Re: Need Help? 800 number
« Last post by cschwab on March 07, 2012, 05:02:10 PM »Glad you like it!
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Main Forum / Re: Studies show nighttime or daily dialysis may improve patients' health
« Last post by angieskidney on March 07, 2012, 12:19:56 PM »I shared this on Facebook to get more views to this
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Main Forum / Re: Need Help? 800 number
« Last post by angieskidney on March 07, 2012, 10:44:06 AM »Need individual advocacy? Call 1-800-847-8842 or fax 1-877-633-5638
More_Contact_info
This is great! Hmmm
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Main Forum / Re: Thank some Legislators!
« Last post by cschwab on March 07, 2012, 08:23:53 AM »While we are waiting for a state Senate committee date, thought I would post the graphs we gave to the Colorado state legislators. Particularly we asked them to pay attention to the sepsis graph - a worrisome uptrend for an infection that can be fatal, but from 2008-2009 there was a significant dip for Colorado. Could it be because here in Colorado we were implementing our tech certification program?
We compared Colorado to California after reading about their 56% tech pass rate, compared to Colorado's 80-93% pass rate.
We compared Colorado to California after reading about their 56% tech pass rate, compared to Colorado's 80-93% pass rate.