Cyber Secrecy in health.govt

At a time when the country is reeling with anxiety about meta data and what-all being spied upon or leaked all over the cyberworld it was again disconcerting to report for a Hospital appointment this morning and be asked to produce my passport yet again. 

The health system seems to be rigidly unable to permit useful information to cross boundaries between District Health Boards. If they share information, it seems the only thing that Whangarei, Waitemata and Auckland Boards all know about me is that I am CJF6844. That works anywhere in the country. But it tells them just about nothing.

So, once more today, my consultants had not seen my “end of life” directives…  And for the fourth time in four months I was measured and weighed (am I a baby and not putting on enough weight?) and next of kin and personal contact details all filled in again (“Sorry, but we don’t have those details here” - well, why not, I ask myself, when all this stuff takes up staff time as well as mine).

And the consultation began with yet another recounting and recording of my medical history. Years ago I saw a file 3 cms thick with my name on it and flags sticking out to mark important items. But staff doctor Anna didn’t have any of that today. She had a referral and a couple of pieces of paper. When she said that she would organise a CT scan, I produced my own DVDs of last month's scans; she didn't even know I'd recently had CT, MRI and Scintigram scans, courtesy of the failed evaluation for the ARN 509 trial. 

Well, I guess the system is taking no chances on being unduly influenced by what has gone before, that’s for sure. But in this IT age, it all seems a huge waste of resources.

Sam and John and national morality

While we were at Beyond the Borders over the weekend someone broke into our parked and locked car. Sam, I will call him, in defiance of the flashing alarm, smashed up the ignition barrel. The engine immoboliser defeated him so he satisfied himself with stealing some items carefully stored under a seat and covered with some coats artlessly tossed on the floor. (We have done our time in Community Patrol and do make an effort when we are forced to leave stuff in the car!).

Naturally, this event, probably born of Sam's boredom and mischief rather than malice or greed, led many of our friends to sermonise briefly on the deplorable moral attitude of many of our (young!) people. But the news of the terrible shooting of two social welfare workers in Ashburton has directed my thinking down a different path.

Reading the background of the story does not provide a simple explanation. "John" is obviously a very complex character with profound and distressing medical problems. The appropriate agencies seem to have tried hard to assist him. His behaviour had already involved them and him with the Police. Perhaps the whole situation was irretrievable when he first returned to this country without work.

But what this awful situation brings to my mind is a different age in state social services. I think back to the Woodhouse report of 1971 and the subsequent attempts to set Government support at a level which would enable beneficiaries to live something like a normal NZ lifestyle. I remember the years when the state actually delivered an extra two weeks' income for all beneficiaries at Christmas.

Where has that country gone? What has brought about the conditions in which we, as a nation, have accepted systemic failure to deliver proper care and protection to unfortunates like John and the two public servants he callously shot. What led us to accede to the Benefit Cuts of the 1990s?

At the Beyond the Borders we were reminded that the measure of a country is the way in which it treats its most vulnerable members. For me, that will be a primary issue as I cast my votes in this month's elections.

Beyond the Borders

We're just recovering from the conference on Progressive Spirituality at St Luke's, Remuera. What an uplifting and stimulating experience. There was solid and thoughtful input but also heart-warming - if brief - reunions with friends from many denominations over several decades.

We have loved the 23 years in the Bay of Islands but always were aware that we were less accessible to many friends acquired over the years. This was a special opportunity to freshen up relationships with like-minded folk from different places and age-groups. We were reminded how many circles we have moved in through five decades of active church life.

Our ambivalent relationship to all things progressive continues, but the issues have been sharpened. Like many progressives, we don't want to lose contact with a Christian community. But it was absolutely refreshing not to have to stumble through hymns with non-inclusive language in them. It was exciting to listen to presentations which expressed some of our thinking that has already moved beyond the traditional... It was encouraging that theological statements that pushed the boundaries were not argued over but accepted graciously. And it was challenging to chat with other people who are coming to see that things have to change where they are and that they have to take some initiatives for themselves.

I hope that means that Bev and I will find ways of extending this experience into our life in some kind of congregational experience. It would be a poor outcome of this event if the best that we could do were to commit to another talk-fest of this kind - no matter how stimulating - in another three or so years.

Thanks to all at the Community of St Luke who brought this event from a dream to reality!

That "prayer book"

In some churches these days, it seems, an exercise book is circulated during Sunday worship. People are invited to write prayer requests in it and at the time of intercession, it is given to the worship leader and many of the entries are incorporated. Some are even read out word for word whether they are expressed as prayer or not.

I am very uncomfortable with this intimate link between personal aspirations and public prayer. I am sure many will have given more thought to this than me but--

• All too often people in the congregation have no idea what or who is the intended beneficiary of prayer. That seems to cut across a fundamental principle that if nothing else, intercessory prayer is good for those who pray...  How can we do that without meaning?
• At its worst, the prayer book becomes a conduit for gossip on a grand scale, by imparting information that would otherwise not be known...
• The practice seems to encourage the idea that worship is about what we can gain from God rather than an awareness that in worship we are bringers and givers... 
• The implication that we may be able to change what happens because we have prayed always raises implications about what "God" does or does not do for those for whom we have not prayed. I am astonished by the thanks given that this person or that has been "saved" or "cured" or even "returned to our congregation"..
• The whole issue of intercessory prayer is sharpened fearfully by these specifics of some requests in the book. What is our image of God when we ask for special favours at the crude level that sometimes appears? Can we not leave this element of public prayer to our worship leaders (though even some of them sound like a kind of congregational wish-list)?
• Fundamentally, however, the use of a prayer book can easily contravene our country's Privacy Act which does not allow one's personal circumstances to be made public without permission... We should not do it.

I have told our minister that I am not giving permission for my name to be read out in public worship as a subject for prayer.  I guess that won't change much. And, as anyone knows who reads this blog, I want to be open and honest about my circumstances. But I want to do it myself. 

"Home" again!

We're just back from five nights away in Paihia. The Sunday service with the Lex Pistols was a blast, with a good congregation including a number of visitors who came along for the music. We were so grateful to host the group and enjoy their passion for the music. It was a privilege to integrate so many great pieces into the liturgy.
And, of course, it was wonderful to re-visit our friends in the congregation and spend some time in one of the units that we have been so closely involved with for the last three or so years. We helped out with a few odd jobs and stayed on to attend the local meeting of Probus where we had a fascinating - if somewhat puzzling - introduction to the Scenic Hotels venture on Tongatapu. And in the evening we joined the Probus Club's first "dining group". Jimmy's Rib Shack was crowded to the doors for the two-for-one ribs deal...
We collected some bits and pieces from the workshop at our home at Tui Grove where Gary seems very comfortable. A smooth trip home rounded off a very pleasant break.

"Particularly Chilling Video Clip? Indeed!

I've just received a "particularly chilling video clip" which is a very professional-looking interview predicting that the population of Belgium will be taken over by Shariah Muslim in a few years. It looks very convincing and I imagine that a lot of people who have received it will take it as some kind of gospel.

But "CBN" which has produced it appears to be run by a bunch of Christians every bit as fanatic and conservative as the Shariah Muslims in Belgium or anywhere else. Alas, conservative extremists in every religion get far more publicity than the most moderate in every religion. And when fanatics set themselves up to look like impartial news facilities and use the simplicity of the internet to get their message out they do no favours to any religion.

This is a time when the three great faiths that name Abraham as their father are finding some ways of listening and speaking to each other. In many places there is immense progress in understanding and mutual respect. But not, it seems, among the fanatics. Their extreme and abusive and insensitive attitudes, whether demonstrated in military might or subtle persuasion in the public media, are chilling indeed.

But wait a bit. Wasn't Jesus a fanatic? Yes, he was: for love and peace among people of all kinds.

With a Hoot and a Toot

Last night, after a day spread out on tables under strange machinery, I went back into the city and joined the Lex Pistols in Mt Eden for their last rehearsal before the Jazz and Blues Festival in Paihia.
Bev and I happen to be going up to take the service on Sunday and discovered a member of the band here. So we have been planning a joint appearance at church for Jazz and Blues Festival weekened.
It promises to be a noisy service, but, hopefully, inspirational. In any case, we will be delighted to be back for a visit.

Thoughts on NZ funeral culture

Attending funerals hasn't been high on my list of things to do in recent years.  My medication tends to make me pretty poor company at such times. But we went to one recently with the Village Barbershop chorus in honour of the man who founded our little group before we came here.

Once more I was reminded how I feel our NZ funeral practices fail us. I am all in favour of so-called "secular" funerals if that is appropriate for the bereaved family. But when the event, whether "religious" or not, highlights only the life of the deceased and seems to not even notice that s/he has actually died, that's nothing to do with being "secular", it's a terrible way to treat death. And although the bereaved will gain a lot from a worthy celebration of a well-lived life I am disturbed that sometimes they are assured that their loved one is still around them, watching them. 

There's a kind of dishonesty about this. We are kidding ourselves. The reality is, "Sorry, everyone, somebody has died here. S/he may have had a wonderful life but is now gone. Part of the reason for our getting together is to acknowledge that fact. And the awful sense of loss that follows from it.

The funeral ceremonial must also address death.  It needs to answer some of our questions. And, hopefully, it might offer some strategies by which people could begin to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and move on. A good funeral will set a climate in which grief can be properly expressed. Just getting together to share a bunch of happy memories doesn't always do that.

We watched the award-winning animated feature UP on television the other night. It offered a stunning insight into the nature of bereavement and learning to live again without a partner. The bereaved hero spent most of the film trying to fulfil his dead wife's lifetime dream, but in failing, he learned that he needed to move on with a new adventure instead. I wish some of that insight could seep into some of our lamentable funeral culture in this country.

Of course it's not easy. So we need a funeral to help us all accept the reality of death and loss and, having done that, move on. 

Good on ya, Auckland!

Auckland Methodists are asking for relief from the Conference's requirement that all church buildings be brought up to 67% of the National Building Standard. I can't claim any credit for this sensible proposal, but I have previously stated my view that the church's response to earthquake risk was heavy-handed and likely to do great harm to the denomination. 

Auckland City Council is proposing 37% as the minimum standard and this is the figure that the combined Synod feels is appropriate for church buildings in this low-risk region. The City is also prepared to allow 30 years for some buildings to come up to that standard whereas the Conference wants everything put right in ten years.

As I said before, there is risk in everything. We cannot live without it. All we can do is estimate relative risk and make decisions based on our estimates. Earthquake death is not a high risk in any part of this country. The Synod paper points out that although nearly 500 people have died in NZ earthquakes since 1843, mostly in only two events in Napier and Christchurch, we have allowed about 37,000 people to die in road accidents in the same period.

I am delighted to hear about this recommendation and hope that it is listened to by Conference before more of our cultural and spiritual heritage, not to mention our financial resource, is lost. The recent closure of the charming Cambell's Bay Methodist Church has already meant not just the loss of the building but the loss of the congregation itself. This should never have been allowed, never mind encouraged.

Ca Pros report

Yesterday I heard the results of the two recent blood tests.

We’d expected that going off bicalutamide a month ago would temporarily lower my PSA and then it would rise again as before.

But that doesn’t seem to have happened. Both tests are the same, although ten days apart. In general, that suggests only some slowing of my recent rate of increases.

So we are going to do another in another ten days and review that in early August. Hopefully, I will pass this step towards entering the ARN-509 Drug Trial.

A miracle cure? Not at all. But if it's another step along the way to reducing the scourge that is prostate cancer, so much the better.