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San Francisco voters have a measure on the Nov. 6 ballot that would tax hundreds of the city’s wealthiest companies to help thousands of homeless and mentally ill.
In this Oct. 1, 2018 photo, Stormy Nichole Day, left, sits on a sidewalk on Haight Street with Nord (last name not given) and his dog Hobo while interviewed about being homeless in San Francisco. A measure on San Francisco’s Nov. 6 ballot would levy an extra tax on hundreds of the city’s wealthiest companies to raise $300 million for homelessness and mental health services. It’s the latest battle between big business and social services advocates who say that companies such as Amazon, Google and Salesforce can afford to help solve severe inequities caused by business success
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco has come to be known around the world as a place for aggressive panhandling, open-air drug use and sprawling tent camps, the dirt and despair all the more remarkable for the city’s immense wealth.
Some streets are so filthy that officials launched a special “poop patrol,” and a young tech worker created “Snapcrap” — an app to report the filth. Morning commuters walk briskly past homeless people huddled against subway walls. In the city’s squalid downtown sector, the frail and sick shuffle along in wheelchairs or stumble around, sometimes half-clothed.
The situation has become so dire that a coalition of activists collected enough signatures to put a measure on the city’s Nov. 6 ballot. Proposition C would tax hundreds of San Francisco’s wealthiest companies to help thousands of homeless and mentally ill residents, an effort that failed earlier this year in Seattle. San Francisco’s measure is expected to raise $300 million a year, nearly doubling what the city already spends.
“This is the worst it’s ever been,” says Marc Benioff, founder of cloud-computing giant Salesforce and a fourth-generation San Franciscan, who is supporting the measure even though his company would pay an additional $10 million a year if it passes. “Nobody should have to live like this. They don’t need to live like this. We can get this under control.”
“We have to do it. We have to try something,” said Sunshine Powers, who owns a tie-dye boutique, Love on Haight, in the city’s historic Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. “If my community is bad, nobody is going to want to come here.”
The proposition is the latest battle between big business and social services advocates who demand that corporate America pay to solve inequities exacerbated by its success. In San Francisco, it’s also become an intriguing fight between recently elected Mayor London Breed, who is siding with the city’s Chamber of Commerce in urging a no vote, and philanthropist Benioff, whose company is San Francisco’s largest private employer with 8,400 workers.
Breed came out hard against the measure, saying it lacked collaboration, could attract homeless people from neighboring counties, and could cost middle-class jobs in retail and service. The city has already dramatically increased spending on homelessness, she said, with no noticeable improvement.
San Francisco spent $380 million of its $10 billion budget last year on services related to homelessness.
“I have to make decisions with my head, not just my heart,” Breed said. “I do not believe doubling what we spend on homelessness without new accountability, when we don’t even spend what we have now efficiently, is good government.”
Cities along the West Coast are grappling with rampant homelessness, driven in part by growing numbers of well-paying tech jobs that price lower-income residents out of tight housing markets. A family of four in San Francisco earning $117,000 is considered low-income.
Business prevailed in Seattle, when leaders in June repealed a per-employee tax that would have raised $50 million a year, after Amazon and Starbucks pushed back. In July, the city council of Cupertino in Silicon Valley scuttled a similar head tax after opposition from its largest employer, Apple Inc.
Mountain View residents, however, will vote this fall on a per-employee tax expected to raise $6 million a year, largely from Google, for transit projects.
The San Francisco measure is different in that it would levy the tax mostly by revenue rather than by number of employees — an average half-percent tax increase on companies’ revenue above $50 million each year. It was also put on the ballot by citizens, not elected officials.
Online payment processing company Stripe has voiced opposition and contributed $120,000 to the campaign against Proposition C, but other companies have stayed quiet. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, whose board includes representatives of Microsoft, LinkedIn and Oracle, is leading the fight.
Up to 400 businesses would be affected, with internet and financial services sectors bearing nearly half the cost.
The city says confidentiality precludes revealing tax information, but some of the companies expected to pay the most are big names across major industries. Wells Fargo & Co., retailer Gap Inc. and ride-hailing platform Uber declined to comment.
Pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp. referred questions to a private-sector trade association, the Committee on Jobs, which called the measure flawed. Utility Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. said it has not taken a position. Twitter declined to comment, but chief executive Jack Dorsey said via tweet last week that he trusts Breed to fix the problem.
“Anyone can take a look at the status quo and understand it’s not working, but more money alone is not the sole answer,” says Jess Montejano, spokesman for the “No on C” campaign.
Where Tech Employment Is Booming
Benioff disagrees. A $37 million two-year initiative he helped start with the city and to which he contributed more than $11 million has housed nearly 400 families through rent subsidies, he said.
Benioff has pledged at least $2 million from company and personal resources for the November tax campaign. He said he was ultimately swayed by a report from the city’s chief economist, which found the measure would likely reduce homelessness while resulting in a net loss of 900 jobs at most, or 0.1 percent of all jobs.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m the largest employer in the city, and the city is in decline from homelessness and cleanliness. We have to take action now,’ ” he said.
At least half of the new revenue would go toward permanent housing, and at least a quarter to services for people with severe behavioral issues. A 2017 one-night count found an estimated 7,500 people without permanent shelter in San Francisco. More than half had lived in the city for at least a decade.
Tracey Mixon and her daughter, Maliya, 8, are among the hidden homeless.
Mixon, 47, a San Francisco native, lives and works in the notoriously dangerous and drug-infested Tenderloin neighborhood. They were forced out of their rental this summer, partly because the company that managed her property lost its federal accreditation, she said on a recent afternoon while working a crossing guard shift.
One of the hardest parts was finding a place to go for the day when mother and daughter were kicked out of an overnight-only emergency shelter.
“I have to shield her from people that are using drugs,” she said. “I have to shield her from people who might be fighting.”
Hanging out on Haight, the street that played a central role in the “Summer of Love,” Stormy Nichole Day, 22, says she would love a place to live. Currently, Day is sleeping in a doorway. She could thrive if her basic needs were met, she said.
“And that includes a house, and a place to cook food and a place to take a shower.”
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
There seems to be NO END to the categories that bureaucrats tries to tax to pay for some sort of “social war” ..
Some bureaucrats have implemented a “soda/sugar tax” and they even tax DIET SODA .. don’t remember what they were going to use this money on
Some bureaucrats have proposed a “opiate Rx tax” to help pay for the treatment of those substance abusers/addicts
San Francisco is proposing that they tax “rich businesses” to pay for the upkeep of the homeless in San Francisco.
what service(s) or products will they come up with next to tax to help solve some “social evil”
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http://reference.medscape.com/viewarticle/902333
The fourth edition of palliative care clinical practice guidelines from the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care are scheduled to be published on October 31, 2018.[1]
Being holistic in nature, palliative care is provided by a team of physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants, nurses, social workers, and chaplains.
A comprehensive interdisciplinary assessment of the patient and family forms the basis for the development of an individualized patient and family palliative care plan.
In collaboration with the patient and family, the interdisciplinary team (IDT) develops, implements, and updates the care plan to anticipate, prevent, and treat physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs.
Palliative care is provided in any care setting, including private residences, assisted living facilities, rehabilitation settings, skilled and intermediate care facilities, acute and long-term care hospitals, clinics, hospice residences, correctional facilities, and homeless shelters.
The IDT assesses physical symptoms and their impact on well-being, quality of life, and functional status.
Interdisciplinary care plans are developed in the context of the patient’s care goals, disease, prognosis, functional limitations, culture, and care setting.
Essential components of palliative care are ongoing management of physical symptoms, anticipation of health status changes, and monitoring of potential risk factors associated with the disease and with side effects resulting from treatment regimens.
The palliative care team provides written and verbal recommendations for monitoring and managing physical symptoms.
The IDT includes a social worker with the ability and skill set to assess and support mental health issues, provide emotional support, and address emotional distress and quality of life for patients and families experiencing the expected responses to serious illness.
The IDT screens for and assesses psychological and psychiatric aspects of care based on the best available evidence, to maximize patient and family coping and quality of life.
The IDT manages and/or supports psychological and psychiatric aspects of patient and family care, including emotional or existential distress, related to the experience of serious illness, as well as identified mental health disorders.
The IDT screens for and assesses patient and family social supports, social relationships, resources, and care environment based on the best available evidence, to maximize coping and quality of life.
A palliative care plan addresses the ongoing social aspects of patient and family care in alignment with the goals of the patient and family and provides recommendations to all clinicians involved in ongoing care.
Patient and family spiritual beliefs and practices are assessed and respected. Palliative care professionals acknowledge their own spirituality as part of their professional role and are provided with education and support to address each patient’s and family’s spirituality.
The spiritual assessment process has three distinct components—spiritual screening, spiritual history, and a full spiritual assessment. Symptoms, such as spiritual distress, as well as spiritual strengths and resources, are identified and documented.
Patient and family spiritual care needs can change as the goals of care change or patients move across settings of care.
The IDT delivers care that respects patient and family cultural beliefs, values, traditional practices, language, and communication preferences and builds on the unique strengths of the patient and family.
The IDT ensures that the patient’s and family’s preferred language and style of communication are supported and facilitated in all interactions.
The IDT uses evidence-based practices when screening and assessing patient and family cultural preferences regarding healthcare practices, customs, beliefs and values, level of health literacy, and preferred language.
A culturally sensitive plan of care is developed and discussed with the patient and/or family. This plan reflects the degree to which patients and families wish to be included as partners in decision-making regarding their care.
The IDT includes professionals with training in end-of-life care, including assessment and management of symptoms, communication with patients and families about signs and symptoms of approaching death, transitions of care, and grief and bereavement.
The IDT assesses physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs as well as patient and family preferences regarding setting of care, treatment decisions, and wishes during and immediately following death.
In collaboration with the patient and family and other clinicians, the IDT develops, implements, and updates as needed a care plan to anticipate, prevent, and treat physical, psychological, social, and spiritual symptoms. All treatments are provided in a culturally and developmentally appropriate manner.
During the dying process, patient and family needs are respected and supported. Postdeath care is delivered in a manner that honors the patient’s and family’s cultural and spiritual beliefs, values, and practices.
Prepared in advance of the patient’s death, a bereavement care plan for the family and care team is activated after the death of the patient and addresses immediate and longer-term needs.
The core ethical principles of autonomy, substituted judgment, beneficence, justice, and nonmaleficence underpin the provision of palliative care.
The provision of palliative care occurs in accordance with federal, state, and local regulations and laws, as well as with current accepted standards of care and professional practice.
The patient’s preferences and goals for medical care are elicited using core ethical principles and are documented.
Within the limits of applicable state and federal laws, current accepted standards of medical care, and professional standards of practice, person-centered goals form the basis for the plan of care and decisions related to providing, forgoing, and discontinuing treatments.
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A couple months ago our sister Michelle Bloem committed suicide due to uncontrolled pain. Before she was murdered for the sake of ‘preventing addiction’, Michelle wrote this:
To whom it may concern,
I have CRPS/RSD and am currently seeing a doctor that monitors my progress and medications. I was diagnosed in June of 2010. After trying every treatment modality including physical therapy, anti-seizure medications, biofeedback, etc. I was put on OxyContin. After having 8 brachial plexus nerve blocks and 5 lumbar nerve blocks, my neurologist/ pain management doctor kept upping the dosage of it because I was getting no relief and we could not figure out why. He ended up upping the dosage so much I was only experiencing side effects, no pain relief. I decided to leave my pain management doctor at UCLA and seek out another doctor that could find out why I wasn’t getting any pain relief. I finally found a doctor that did many tests on me including: Neuroinflamation blood tests, Genetic malabsorption blood work-up. My doctor was able to figure out that I cannot absorb oral opioids due to a genetic malabsorption defect. He put me on a trial of subcutaneous dilaudid. I had experienced instant pain relief and received my quality of life back. I have been on this medication for two years with no side effects. This medication has to be compounded, which my new insurance will not pay for. Dr. Tennant has saved my life and given me my life back. You must understand that we chronic pain patients cannot be punished for the people that use opioids illegally. None of us “want” to be on these medications, but have no choice. After trying everything, we just want quality of life. The restrictions that are already put in place are making it harder and harder for the legitimate chronic pain patients to get their medications that give them quality of life. Please consider that we are carefully monitored by our doctors and take our medications as prescribed only. We should not be punished for the street abusers that only want a “high”. I have never experienced a “high” from my pain medicine. There are studies in the process that have to do with different medications to help us, but it takes an extremely long time to get them FDA approved. In closing, I hope you will kindly consider our circumstances, that we have families, and only want to be able to participate in daily activities without suffering inhumanly.
Thank you,
Michelle Bloem
Michelle died directly because of the policies and practices of people like @AndrewKolodny, The CDC, Organizations like #PROP, and the policies of people like Chris Christie and the #POTUS @realDonaldTrump. Chronic pain patients are dying because of the policies our government imposes to curb the illegal use of opiates. Just because we suffer from chronic, debilitating pain does not make us criminals. We take medications, under the supervision of multiple doctors, to improve our quality of life. Chronic pain patients are being forced to take their lives as their only means of pain management. Please stop the genocide of chronic pain patients!!
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Charlie Cherriere is three, but he’s lucky to be.
“My husband picked him up and his head flopped right back. It’s something you’ll never get out of your head,” said Charlie’s mom Kate.
Charlie had tonsil surgery this past May, and was prescribed morphine for his pain over the next 48 hours.
But when the family got to the London Drugs at Tillicum Mall, it was overly busy and the family was given the prescription without a consultation.
“We thought it was odd, we talked about it that night that it was strange to get given a bag of narcotics for a toddler and nobody talked to us about it. But we’re capable people and read through all the instructions and administered like the bottle said,” said Kate.
What happened the next morning, was something the family couldn’t even imagine in their worst nightmares.
Kate and her husband Cory found Charlie unresponsive and breathing strangely the next morning.
“Initially we maybe thought he had an allergy to morphine and that he was having a reaction, but I never thought he was overdosing,” said Kate.
“I have Narcan in the house just because I’ve done training through work for it. I would have never thought to grab it and give it to my three-year-old,” said Kate.
He was rushed to Victoria General Hospital where doctors realized Charlie was in fact in the midst of an opiate overdose.
He was administered Narcan and his condition stabilized, but doctors said that had his parents not caught this in the early stages, it could have been fatal.
“I asked if I had made an error and they checked, and no, I gave him exactly what I was supposed to,” said Kate
And she had, according to what was on the bottle, but it was not at all what the doctor had ordered.
In fact, the dosage printed by the pharmacists was five times what the doctor had suggested. Since then, London Drugs has admitted they are at fault for the incorrect dose, citing human error.
“Something like this makes our hearts stop. We’ve definitely taken a learning. We are moving forward so this doesn’t happen again,” said London Drug’s pharmacy general manager Chris Chiew.
In addition to an internal review of their processes and retraining, London Drugs has apologized to the family and intends to pay for the family’s medical expenses.
B.C.’s College of Pharmacists also conducted an investigation, the results of which are anticipated soon.
And while Charlie has since recovered, the Cherriere family will be checking, and double checking each prescription from now on and suggests other families do the same.
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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (News4Utah) Utah appears to be winning the fight against the opioid crisis. Deaths rates dropped three years in a row, while nationally they continue to climb.
State and federal leaders try to keep the momentum going with a Solutions Summit at the Vivint Smart Home Arena Friday.
Five thousand high school students filled the arena, coming together to solve the opioid crisis. It’s part of a multi-prong approach getting national attention.
At 17, Dane Olsen was seriously hurt in an ATV crash in Utah County. For two years, he couldn’t walk, becoming addicted to the pain medicine prescribed by doctors. After a trip to rehab, he died from an accidental opioid overdose at the age of 25.
” It was absolutely gut-wrenching to go through that with him,” Terry Ann Olsen said, of her son.
Terry Ann spoke at the Solutions Summit with others who lost loved ones to opioid addiction.
“I was watching my son disappear in front of my eyes and watching him crying out for help, begging for a way to stop this,” Terry Ann said.
While opioid deaths rose ten percent nationwide last year, they fell by almost 20 percent in Utah. It was at the same time policy makers, law enforcement, treatment providers and others formed the Utah Opioid Task Force.
“This is one of the most successful programs we have in the country. We are going to take what we’ve learned here back to Washington. We are going to put this program throughout the entire country,” DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon said.
To keep the momentum going in the state, the task force plans to introduce new legislation while reaching out to schools, churches, and businesses.
“We have to get rid of the judgment, shame and embarrassment, because far too many of our families have suffered in silence and in darkness,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said.
“If it can happen to our family, it can happen to any body’s family,” Terry Ann said.
To find resources on opioid addiction, go to utahsolutionssummit.com/resources
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Ray left us this morning. He decided he couldn’t live with the Pain anymore after being dropped from Morph ER 15mg and reduced to 4 2mg dilaudid a day. This was post surgery and also Cancer Pain. I think he got dropped through the Medical Cracks. I went in for surgery and my Dr. had no idea that I was on Pain meds until I complained the day after surgery.
The suicide rate in the United States continues to climb, with nearly 45,000 people taking their own lives in 2016, according to a new Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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www.disabilityscoop.com/2018/10/09/air-travelers-bill-rights/25598/
A bill of rights for airline passengers with disabilities and enhanced disability training for Transportation Security Administration officers, among other changes, are on the way under a new federal law.
President Donald Trump signed legislation late last week to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration for five years. Contained within that package are an increase in civil penalties for bodily harm to passengers with disabilities or damage to wheelchairs from AMS Auto and mobility aids, creation of an advisory committee to recommend consumer protection improvements and the development of an “Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights.”
“I think it’s a very good message to the Department of Transportation and the airline industry that Congress is very concerned about air travel for passengers with disabilities,” said Heather Ansley, associate executive director of government relations for Paralyzed Veterans of America. “We have a lot of good opportunities in here to reconsider regulations, get out education and get the department to have regular conversations about passengers with disabilities.”
Disability rights advocates say that air travel can be extremely unpleasant for people with disabilities whether it’s the lack of a wheelchair accessible restroom on board or the sensory overload of going through a crowded security line.
Carol Tyson, government affairs liaison for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, said she’s pleased about the mandate for input from the disability community.
“It’s incredibly important to have a voice and to have access to people with decision-making capabilities,” Tyson said.
Tyson, whose hand was amputated, sometimes travels with a prosthetic and a cane. She said her air travel experiences have varied tremendously. She recalled once being told she couldn’t sit in an exit row and other times being singled out in the security line.
While airports are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act, air travel is governed by the often less familiar Air Carrier Access Act. The to-be-developed bill of rights requires that “plain language” be used to spell out the rights of passengers with disabilities, including receiving timely assistance and seating accommodations if requested. The law says airline employees and contractors must undergo training on the bill of rights.
The legislation also requires the TSA to revise its training for screening passengers with disabilities in the next six months. The agency must address proper screening and any particular sensitivities a traveler with a disability might have, including to touch, pressure and sound. Signs must be posted at security checkpoints advising on how to complain of screening mistreatment based on disability.
In addition, the law directs the Department of Transportation to set a final rule for service animals on planes in the next 18 months, including a service animal definition and minimum standards.
What’s more, the law requires studies of airport accessibility best practices and the feasibility of someday allowing in-cabin wheelchair restraint systems so that people could remain in their wheelchairs in flight rather than having to transfer to an airplane seat.
“That’s something that a lot of people who use wheelchairs would like to see,” said Ansley with Paralyzed Veterans of America. “That’s certainly how you travel on a train or bus or any other mode of transportation.”
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Will you HELP for the cause?
In chronic pain and LOST your MEDICATIONS or had them greatly REDUCED? Get support and advocate @
www.facebook.com/groups/
I am in the process of building a HUGE advocate your chronic pain website campaign; one which will be THE voice of advocacy for ALL chronic pain sufferers in the U.S. to fight the loads of legislation occurring all throughout the country at this time. This fake “opioid epidemic” is just that — FAKE! What we have is an illicit Fentanyl overdose epidemic — plain and simple!
I am trying to get my members to shoot a 3 or so minuet video of themselves to be put on this chronic pain sufferers website, which will then be used as a vehicle to spread our message to the political parties and general public alike, that the chronic pain patients are the TRUE ones suffering as a result of this crackdown of opiate medications. The illicit drug market is the reason for so many opiate overdoses and deaths. It just took my younger brother last year, as a matter of fact.
But his death was due to the illicit Fentanyl/Heroin drug trade. There is a BIG, HUGE difference between opiate medications for the chronic pain sufferers versus those opiates on the streets.
So please, join me in this cause! As a chronic pain patient myself at the ripe ole’ age of 43, unfortunately I know all too well just how dire and imperative my opiate medications are to me and my everyday quality of life. If this is the case with you, in pain daily, advocating when you are in pain can be a daunting task. C.O.R.E is fighting WITH you and trying to give you a VOICE in this fight!
More information coming in exactly HOW to shoot your testimonial video and WHAT questions to answer! All I would like to know is this … will you participate by shooting your own small testimonial video?
Kind Regards,
Sheri Owen. 🌷
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