Health Care

While I received treatment at Inova Behavioral Health's Adult Inpatient Program (Corwall in Leesburg, Virginia) I feel I was verbally abused by staff and witnessed the unfair treatment of my peers. I believe police in tactical gear were unnecessarily called on an unarmed mentally ill patient. The individuals in charge of the situation must be held responsible. We need to remove the director & head "charge" nurse of Cornwall Behavioral Health Unit.  The situation triggered and harmed the mental wellbeing of patients. It is the job of staff to deal with crises situations efficiently and effectively. I feel several patients were unfairly discharged in an attempt to silence patients and keep them from communicating with police. I am asking that INOVA removes or demotes the director & charge nurse of INOVA's Cornwall Behavioral Health Unit. I am also asking that nurses and tech members in the inpatient unit be trained to better handle crises situations without unnecessarily escalating the situation. My opinion on the situation is not an attempt to slander INOVA, but rather a request for better treatment of patients. I believe INOVA needs to review the standards they have set for healthcare in their behavioral health units. We need to show INOVA we mean business. Help us get to 100 signatures. Again, we need to remove the director & head "charge" nurse of Cornwall Behavioral Health Unit. They are in charge of overseeing everything and should be held responsible.     

Due to the opioid crisis, the Veterans Administration (VA) is no longer prescribing opioids for chronic pain. Their new policy is to only give them for 14 days after surgery or for patients with cancer. This is unacceptable. I have needed opioids for service connected pain since I left the military over 20 years ago. I haven’t become addicted yet, but the VA wants to quit giving them to me now, without an adequate replacement. Their policy now is to wean us off of them and wish us the best. This is totally unacceptable! Like thousands of other Veterans, I am left to try to find pain relief on my own, outside of the VA. The suicide rate for Veterans is currently 22 per day. Watch the increase in suicides over the years to come, because of Veterans being unable to cope with their pain. Please sign my petition to reverse the VA’s decision in this matter. "Any nation that does not honor its heros will not long endure" - Abraham Lincoln "A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards." - Theodore Roosevelt

My daughter was just 10 years-old when my husband, Alan, was diagnosed with a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, a deadly material which is still being used in the U.S. today. Families like mine have fought for decades to get the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the use of asbestos, but instead the administration allows imports and use to continue. Alan’s disease was incurable – but it was also entirely preventable. Asbestos kills an estimated 39,000 people in the US every year, yet the EPA has not banned companies from continuing to use it. They are knowingly poisoning Americans. In 2004, Doug Larkin and I co-founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization to fight for families battling mesothelioma. We vowed that we would fight with all of our strength to prevent other families from going through the pain, devastation, and loss that we experienced. Emily and I were there with Alan when he took his last breaths. I lost my soulmate and my daughter lost her father because our government refused to stand up to greedy corporations.   The EPA has now spent decades of time and taxpayer dollars on asbestos research. They know it is deadly, yet hundreds of tons of raw asbestos are allowed every year to be used in our country. It’s long past time that the EPA banned this deadly material once and for all. Enough is enough.

Patients' lives depend on choice. **Since starting the petition, I have realized that there are many issues other than temperatures with forced mail-order pharmacy.  Mail-order pharmacy is very loosely regulated. There are life-threatening delays, lack of face-to-face relationship with pharmacists for people with chronic conditions, and rapid closures of our independent pharmacies; although, a recent study showed people prefer independent pharmacy (2018, Gill).    *************Our Story************* Our son, received a life-saving liver transplant at the age of 2 from a 3-year-old little girl. His life depends on the potency and effectiveness of chemotherapy/immune suppression medications every 12 hours to prevent his body's immune system from fighting off his transplanted liver. In the past mail-order delivered his liquid oral medications in nothing but a plastic envelope on a 102-degree day on a hot enclosed not temperature controlled UPS truck. Shortly after, he went into liver rejection which could have resulted in complete liver failure or death. I speculated that the medication could have been too weak after the delivery of medications in high heat. I vowed to never again risk his life with mail order pharmacy. Recently, we were mandated/forced to only use mail-order pharmacy in order to receive coverage for his life-saving medications.  The package arrived in only a bag on a hot day without an ice pack. The hot non-temperature controlled enclosed delivery truck can reach temperatures up to 170 degrees. His labs elevated again afterward. My son wants to know, "Why would they do that?" I contacted the manufacturer, who performs the testing stated that both of my son's medications should be discarded and considered less potent once stored above 86 degrees as higher temperatures and freezing could both result in lower potency. Liquid medication is the most harmed by the mishandling of medications outside of the manufactures temperature storage guidelines.  I contacted the mail-order pharmacy who refused to replace or take back the medication. They said the law & USP Pharmacopoeia allows them to ship up to 104 degrees, although the manufacturer states it is not proven safe at these temperatures. However, I have received communication from USP Pharmacopoeia who writes guidelines for storage, and they also said that the mail order pharmacy should follow the manufacturer's guidelines of 59-86 degrees for storage. Again, the trucks reach up to 170 degrees which is much hotter than 104.  I contacted the FDA, who states that the mail order pharmacy should be using the manufacturer's guidelines that have been proven safe..However, since the mail-order pharmacies are regulated loosely by the State Board of Pharmacy, not the FDA there was nothing that the FDA could do.  I made over 30 calls to the insurance company begging for them to please let us pick my son's medications up at the local pharmacy at which they are filled. My son's physician wrote a note/appeal as his transplant team has stated that they have tried to voice their concerns about this issue with their pediatric/child patients and no one is listening! The insurance company still denied the doctor's appeal for us to pick up my son's medications in the safest way. It was not until the Media became evolved that the insurance company budged.  I felt helpless and have united with many other pharmacists, physicians, patients, mothers and fathers, and caregivers who feel the same way. Helpless. Mail-order of prescription drugs should be a choice, not the only option of coverage.  Mail-order pharmacies may appear to save money, but when my son ended up in the hospital after taking medications that could have been compromised by having lower potency, the cost of the rejection was thousands of dollars. If his liver would have fully failed, the cost of his liver transplant for just 5 days (he was in the hospital for 5 weeks) was over $1,000,000. The lax regulation and oversight may save money on prescription drug plans but may come at an increased cost to the health plan itself. Also, keep in mind the endless waste of medications that automatically are sent regardless of whether or not patients need them. Also, people with chronic, complex conditions, should always have the option of face to face interaction with a pharmacist who knows their complex needs and medical history. The pharmacist and patient relationship is crucial to the successful outcome of the patient's overall health. Taking this away is harmful to patients and be more costly to our already stressed healthcare system. Another important fact. Mandatory mail-order programs are discriminatory. It is estimated that 40% of the homeless are disabled. How is mandatory mail order fair and working for them as they may not have an address and not even know where they will be from day to day? Only allowing mail-order pharmacy for coverage is unethical and irresponsible. I share stories on my social media sites every day of patients who are suffering from lack of choice.  We need your help to make mandatory mail-order an option, not a mandate.  YOUR URGENT SUPPORT WILL SAVE LIVES! THANK YOU!! WE APPRECIATE ALL OF THE SUPPORTERS, CAREGIVERS, & PATIENTS.  Thank you,  Loretta Boesing, Founder of Unite for Safe Medications You may make a tax-deductible contribution to support our advocacy here Email: loretta@uniteforsafemeds.com Facebook Page: Issues with Mail Order Pharmacy @justamomwholovesherson Twitter: @BoesingLoretta The greatest way that you can help is by sharing this petition & gathering 2-3 people in your community who are having issues and speak to your legislatures.                  Reference: Gill, Lisa L. “Consumers Still Prefer Independent Pharmacies, CR's Ratings Show.” Product Reviews and Ratings - Consumer Reports, 7 Dec. 2018, www.consumerreports.org/pharmacies/consumers-still-prefer-independent-pharmacies-consumer-reports-ratings-show/