Blogging a Blizzard
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2010-02-11/blogging-blizzard
During the historic blizzard, local blogs and listservs connected communities and provided a vital forum for discussion and information.
Guests
Restonian the blogger
Founder of the blog "Restonian" based in Reston, Virgina;
Rick Wilson
Founder of Laurel Connections blog
Ilana Bittner
Co-founder of HoCoMoJo blog of Howard County, MD
Related Links
Picturing A Blizzard: A View from WAMU
A time-lapse video of the snowstorm (February 10, 2010, 1am - 4pm ET). WAMU 88.5 visible in background.
Time lapse, 1 frame/minute. Taken with Nikon P5100.
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
We loved that cheverlyexchange.com got mentioned. The exchange has been wonderful for the town of Cheverly and has become invaluable to the community. It's the best listserve in town by far!
Thanks so much for having me on your show, Kojo! Just wanted to let people concerned about the closing of Kaiser's Kensington Urgent Care Center to know that the link for our blog is: http://kaiserkensington.wordpress.com. During blizzard conditions or even rush hour, people with "urgent" medical needs can't be expected to drive all the way to Shady Grove when they are having an asthma attack, or extreme pain,or a medical emergency.
We are using the web to find other Kaiser members and work together to urge Kaiser to reverse this ill-advised decision. Thanks again for a wonderful, community-building show!
I wholeheartedly agree with Daphne.
I have lived in Kensington since 1974 and have been a Kaiser member since the early 80’s. Over the years my family and I have used the urgent care facility many times. We also picked up prescriptions from the pharmacy late at night when we needed medicine.
I have often had to use the urgent care facility for broken toes, ear problems, a fall on my head, serious muscle injuries, urinary tract infections and other urinary problems, gout, and a severe allergic reaction to some medicine. Sometimes I have had to be x-rayed after-hours, and often I have needed lab tests. Most of the time I was able to drive myself from my home in Kensington to Kaiser’s Kensington Center, but sometimes my girl friend would drive me to and from there, and there have been times when I could not have driven myself as far as Shady Grove. I would have had to call 911 for help.
I would anticipate that the County will see more Kaiser members in the “down County” calling 911 since they will not be able to drive easily and quickly to the Shady Grove Facility.
This radical patient care change will definitely hurt Kaiser’s down County members, since we will have to drive a greater distance and no doubt have to wait longer for care, and I cannot see how this change will benefit Kaiser since it will increase the services expected from the Shady Grove facility.
It will also make it more difficult for people to get prescriptions after hours since the pharmacy will close much earlier than before AND IT WILL BE CLOSED ON SUNDAY!
Kaiser, please do not make these changes! WAMU, please support Daphne's efforts to keep the urgent care in Kensington. Thanks!
Alan Banov
10824 McComas Court
Kensington, MD 20895
301-942-6279
I was just listening to Minnesota Public Radio to Talk of the Nation and the discussion was about newspaper and economics. This discussion would have been a perfect addition to that program because it talked about national and large daily papers going to the internet to save money.
I live in a town of 560 in west central MN and we have a weekly paper that doesn't print much in the way of "news". A community blog would be very helpful even tho it wouldn't reach all the residents because many of our retired folks probably wouldn't participate.
I heard this discussion because a very good friend of mine is the organizer of the meals for the public service workers. I am quite sure they were well fed and no doubt appreciative of the food. This is the kind of community that comes from the blog--connected=caring.
So long from another snow covered part of the country.
RE: Sudden Closure of Kaiser Kensington Urgent Care Clinic
Hi folks, this is my first time on this blog, and I appreciate Kojo and WAMU for making this community Forum available.
Last Friday,at the start of the snow storm,we received a form letter from Kaiser Permanente announcing the sudden closure of the Kaiser Kensington Urgent Care Clinic, effective February 28.
The Kensington UC Clinic serves basically as an after-hours clinic for Kaiser Health Plan members in the communities of Kensington, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Garrett Park, and Northwest DC, and is part of the larger Kaiser Kensington Medical Center on Connecticut Avenue, which is open Monday-thru-Friday. To "serve [us] better," the letter said, we were being "re-directed" to the Kaiser Shady Grove Urgent Care Clinic in Gaithersburg(!)
No discussion, no warning, no community consultation--we were being "re-directed" to a facility 45 minutes away for "urgent care" services. This just five weeks after the ending of the Federal Employee Health Care Benefits Program annual "Open Enrollment " season for federal workers and retirees, when new contracts for 2010 services were finalized--cast into cement, as it were--between the federal government and the many FEHBP providers and members, including Kaiser.
My wife and children and I have been members of the Kaiser plan for many years, and frequently used the Kensington after-hours clinic for urgent care. We consider(ed) it the premiere pioneer health care system in the nation, with its emphasis on early detection and preventive treatment. And we re-enrolled each year in reliance upon the services being there just a few blocks from our home.
Now, apparently, Kaiser has fallen prey to the urge to make more money by cutting services to its loyal members. In addition to closing the Kensington Urgent Care Clinic, Kaiser also plans to cut back the hours at its Laboratory, Radiology and Pharmacy departments at the Kensington Center, also effective February 28.
We are saddened and shocked by these developments, which we feel represent a breach of faith, and of contract, on Kaiser's part. Unfortunately, the Federal Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the FEHBP, has been closed all week, accepting neither phone calls nor e-mails. Likewise with Kaiser, and with Congressional offices.
Believe me, when this blizzard ends, there will be some complaints rendered. We urge all Kaiser members in the down-county area, as well as in DC, to contact their Congress Members, Senators, and Kaiser to protest this breach of trust, and we urge Kaiser to reconsider and restore the services they promised only last December.
John Doherty
Kensington