Memorial Day 2013

Today, I read a message from Congressman Mike Honda in which he honored our fallen heroes.  He also told of how he and his mother were incarcerated during WWII while his father served our nation in the Military Intelligence Service.

I also have a personal story to share.  My father was a combat veteran who proudly served in three wars – WWII, Korea and Viet Nam.  As an African-American, he was treated better in foreign countries than in the country for which he fought.  He lived in foxholes, watched his friends die on D-Day, lost half of his index finger and took a round in his shoulder during battles for a nation that made him sit in the back of the bus or in the Negro section of restaurants if they served him at all.

He was medivac’d (medical evacuation) out of Viet Nam after being operated on in a MASH (mobile Army surgical hospital) and returned to a nation where people spit on him because they didn’t believe in the war.

CIMG0427What kind of person can put the needs of the nation first even when that nation is not treating them fairly?  What are these people made of that makes them able to see the value and purpose of their sacrifices so much more clearly than those they protect?  Somehow they see the larger purpose, the longer vision, the ‘on-going mission of America – to live as one nation…’ as Congressman Honda puts it, and it is worth the sacrifice.

So today, we as a nation say thank you to our fallen heroes and to their families.  Thank you for our freedom.

Re-designing the Electronic Medical Record

Friday, Dec 7, 2012 – A few weeks ago, a friend and colleague approached me about entering a Challenge being sponsored by the White House.  The purpose of the Challenge was to re-design the electronic medical record currently being used by over 6 million patients receiving care through the Veterans’ Administration.  The medical records are difficult to interpret and the goal was to make it easier for Veterans to access and understand their medical history.

My friend sent me the link to the Challenge in an email that simply said “Interested?”  Two weeks later our team had grown to four people and after working night after night until the wee hours of the morning, we submitted our design.

Each of us wrote a short biography and described what motivated us to enter this Challenge.  The common thread was respect for our Veterans and the desire to improve their care.  For two of us, it was personal; my friend’s uncle was killed in the Korean War and his remains were only recently recovered.  My father was a soldier for over 29 years and fought in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. We each wanted to give a little of ourselves to make a small improvement, a positive change to the lives of the women and men of the US Armed Forces who have ‘paid it forward’.

The designs are being reviewed by a panel of judges this week and they’ll announce a winner on Dec 12, 2012.  Wish us luck, but regardless who wins the Challenge we believe our Veterans will benefit from the results and that’s what it’s really all about.