Been to the Bank Lately?

Have you been to the bank lately? I don't mean the ATM. I mean to a teller at a real person. I did. And it was a very positive experience.

Last week, I went to the bank with the kids to open savings accounts for each of them. I hadn’t received their ATM cards yet. Even if we had, I would not have been able to push $30 worth of rolled quarters, nickels and dimes through the little slot anyway. So, off to the bank I went. I grumbled a bit bc I had to wait until 9 a.m., but I survived.

I arrived at 9:10 and the place was hopping. The very tall man in front of me asked me how I was. How pleasant! The woman behind me was trying to tame a fidgety toddler named Jackie with a lollipop. Every window was busy, and tellers were taking their time with customers. The receptionist was making sure everyone was taken care of and offered to conduct certain kinds of transactions if it meant easing the line.

The experience was refreshing and reminded me of days gone by when you didn't have a choice but to go to “the window.” My teller, Linda, was friendly and cheerful. She asked me if I knew about a specific program and described its benefits. Helpful. I walked out with a smile.

Well done, Bank of America. Thanks for the memories. I will be back.

Leave Mr. Obama and his BlackBerry Alone

All those in favor of President Obama giving up his Blackberry raise your hand? All those in favor of him keeping it? I thought so.

A recent Newsweek article titled, “Will the BlackBerry Sink the Presidency?” delved into this topic. The article mainly discusse the danger of interruptions by the Blackberry on brain processes. The authors write, “Given the damage caused by interruption overload and continuous partial attention, we can infer either of two things about people who use their BlackBerry while holding a conversation, weighing decisions, trying to solve a problem or attempting to do creative work with, they claim, no ill effects. Possibility one: they are lying. Possibility two: their work just isn't that hard.” This was based on research from the Harvard Business School.

Can you picture it? “Excuse me Queen Elizabeth, I didn’t hear you. I was looking at my BlackBerry.”

I would imagine the President gets interrupted by many more things, such as people, more than he might his BlackBerry. In fact, I don’t know how he can sit and think with the number of meetings, calls and much ado about whatever whenever and wherever he is. His BlackBerry probably allows him to take a step back and get lost in his thoughts once in a while.

The authors also write, “Truly novel solutions and ideas emerge when the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts. That is hard to achieve when you are attacking the problem head on.”

There is also something about low self-esteem and using a BlackBerry. If that’s true, then we have millions upon millions of people in all positions with low self-esteem. Don’t blame that on the BlackBerry.

I use one. It saves me as I am not in the office all day and can stay quite connected to the mother ship and my clients. I am more confident with it in hand when I need to be out of the office.

My point: Fortunately, the folks at Newsweek ended the piece with “…If you're the most powerful man in the world? Not a worry.” Whew. I got scared for a minute that people really believed the president wasn’t going to be able to run the country well because he had a BlackBerry. What’s next? Take away books because they might give him ideas?

CVS MinuteClinic - Worth the Trip

I haven’t been sick in a decade. Not like this anyway. It started as a little cold. I can handle that. Then it blossomed into a 101 fever and a bronchial thing that really threw me for a loop. Of course, it was on a weekend. I didn’t want to go to the ER, so I tried the CVS MinuteClinic on Route 135 in Ashland. Very impressive. There is a room near the pharmacy that looks similar to any doctor’s office exam room. I signed in via kiosk and walked right in. There’s something new in the medical profession. A very nice nurse practitioner named Heather greeted me and asked me some questions. She jotted all of the information on her computer, which I learned is a proprietary system.

I was covered under my Tufts health insurance, so I only had to pay my usual co-pay. An ER would have been double the price, and I would have still been waiting.

After she got the basics, she began some tests. First, she swabbed my nose to test for the flu. She then checked for strep, ear infection and other basics. Good news. No flu, no strep and no ear infection, although lots of fluid. That also left her with a decision to make about what I did have. She checked my lungs. Yes, I have junk in there, but when I cough, it breaks up. Another good sign. I was feeling better already.

After some thought, and consulting with another colleague, she decided I had a virus and to take Mucinex plus an inhaler. Mucinex is OTC, but the inhaler with albuterol, would be a prescription. She assured me none of this would break the bank either.

The bill for everything, including my usual co-pay, was $67. Price to not have to wait in the ER or a doctor’s office... priceless.

I got my meds and went home.

It has been four days, and I am feeling much better. I even went to the gym yesterday, which helped my psyche more than anything.

And the other day, I received a card from the CVS MinuteClinic and Heather saying, “I hope you’re feeling better.” Wow.

My point: Good for CVS for doing this. It fills a need and will hopefully relieve some of the stress in the ER. Maybe my case wasn’t extremely complex, but this is the kind of case this place can and should be able to handle. I give it an A. Now, if I could just recover my taste buds….

Why I love social media

Last year, I caught the social media bug and haven’t looked back. It started at work when we held a Social Media Olympics. The agency was divided into teams and we had to accomplish certain tasks in the social media context to develop our skills as PR professionals– develop a blog, get on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook.. any of those areas, put more Search Engine Optimization into clients’ press releases. The list goes on. It was mainly for work. I can’t learn something just by listening. I need to do it, get it wrong, do it again and maybe get it right the next time.

I am more active on Twitter and have recently joined Facebook. I truly enjoy both. First, I love people. I love learning about people, getting to know them and making friends. Everyone has something to offer. And I enjoy sharing. Facebook has allowed me to connect with friends from college and camp. It is also a great way to stay connected with friends and family. Not sure about you, but there aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the month to get together and stay in touch with everyone. With Facebook, you can comment on something, and your “peeps” will get it and possibly respond.

At one time, we thought email was taking the personal out of communication. Then we realized we couldn’t live without it for work or our personal lives. Facebook is the same thing. It doesn’t take the personal out of relationship, but rather it fosters relationships and even helps build new ones.

My point? If you’re not on Facebook or Twitter or any of the social media platforms because you don’t think you have the time, think again. Let’s face it, people are nosey. We want to know what everyone else is thinking. If we didn’t, all of media would evaporate. Social media might even help us weed out what’s out there. Even Sam ended up liking green eggs and ham.

I Gotta Kick the Habit

It takes a tragedy to open up someone’s eyes. Let’s take… cell phones and texting while driving. Estimates of the number of U.S. traffic deaths caused by cell phone talking while driving are generally in the 2,000 - 3,000 range with one hundred times as many injuries. Now, add in texting. You get the picture.

I admit it. I will use my cell in the car. I have also texted on my Blackberry And anyone who denies he/she does that is lying. Abigail always yells at me for doing that. She’s right.

Which is more valuable, your family’s safety or that one more email to the friend or client? I’ll take the family any day of the week.

This isn’t going to be easy but I am going to vow not to text during car rides. I cannot promise I won’t use the cell phone, but I will try to use it less. Maybe only receive a call.

I think I know what it means to have a habit. I need to kick the habit before it’s too late.

Are hospitals ready for the IT onslaught?

Last night I was in the ER with my folks. My father, 86 years young, was having some shortness of breath. Since he had two angioplasties, he is extra cautious these days when something "doesn't feel quite right," as he puts it. There have been enough times when he was right so no need to take chances now.

While waiting for the test results, we ran out of chit chat about the Patriots (ugh), tennis, my children/their grandchildren (their favorite topic). We were into hour two, and I was bored. I happened to notice a computer in the room. Just for kicks, I clicked on the MSFT Explorer browser. The machine was completely open and I logged onto my Facebook page to show them what that was all about. Bad Davida. But am I the only bad one here?

The nurse came in and told me I should get off the machine. It was hospital property. She was right on that. She also said that there was sensitive information in the system. She was also right on that. I apologized, logged off and took my hand slap. I decided not to bother a busy ER nurse, who was treating my father, with a lecture on HIPAA security and how the hospital should add a layer of password protection for the machines in any of the rooms. I did see that the MedHost application was on the machine.It is great that the hospitals have computers. But have you ever seen a doctor or nurse use one of those machines in an ER room?

I have had my fair share of ER visits between kids and my parents, and not once have I seen a medical professional use a machine in the room vs. near a nurses' station or a private office.Information technology is all well and good, and it will probably be the key to moving healthcare into the black, but healthcare organizations must use IT wisely. And if IT will take an even greater role in healthcare, regulations, such as HIPAA, must be better enforced. Are hospitals ready for IT?

The Pursuit of Happiness

Earlier this month, I read and heard about a study about happiness. For me, if it has to do with happiness… humor… anything of that ilk, I want to know about it.

The article quoted Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a coauthor of the study and a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, as saying, "Your happiness is not just about your own choices and actions and behaviors and thoughts. "It's like there are emotional stampedes that ripple across this infinite fabric of humanity."

I would like to turn your attention to one part: Some findings seem made for a sitcom about family life. While a cheerful next-door neighbor increases one's likelihood of happiness by 34 percent, a happy spouse who lives in the same house contributes just 8 percent. The authors said happiness seemed to spread more through same-sex relationships, and suggested that might help explain the neighbor effect.

That 8% is troubling. Do spouses and family members feel they don’t have to be cheerful with one another? Are we of the mind that the people we live with must love us? Richer or poorer. In sickness and health. Happy or grumpy?

Maybe so, but it wouldn’t hurt to put on a happy face at home and be the one to cheer your spouse, son, daughter, mother, father or whomever you live with. That person shouldn’t feel he or she must go next door or down the street for kindness and support all of the time. Granted, we all need to vent. We aren’t always in the best mood. When one person is down in the dumps, another could help pick up the pieces. And we all reveal things to a good friend about a spat or problem at home to try and get an objective opinion about a solution. But I don’t think that should be the main source of one’s happiness.

My point? This might fall into the category of why we should eat at least one meal as a family to talk, share the day’s highs and lows, and try to understand what’s happening in one another’s lives. Good communication is the key to any relationship. Have you asked your spouse or children lately, ‘How are you?’ or ‘What did you do today?’ and really meant it? If not, try it. See what happens.