Take Your Medicine
Have you or a loved one stayed in a hospital within recent history?
Just how much did the nurse giving you your medication know about the medication that she/he was distributing? Did you get it as prescribed? Was your medication handled in a sanitary and/or safe manner? If you don’t know the answer to all of these questions, then here are some facts that you need to know.
During a recent stay at Peninsula Hospital in Rockaway, N.Y., a patient wanting to know about the doses that a medication came in. This question came about when it was realized that a breathing medication that is normally sold to the public with 60 uses was given to the patient with less then 30 uses left. The medication was Advair, though not publicly known, the medication does come in a 28 for institutional use only. Upon questioning the nurse about the amount of uses left, the nurse revealed that she had no idea how many usages came in a disc. The nursing supervisor had to come in and be asked to in order to obtain an answer. During past hospital stays the same patient had to instruct the nurse on staff how to apply a medication that is given in the form of a patch, was asked by another nurse to open medication that was in a foil pack (the nurse could not open it) and was told to take a pill that fell on the floor (in front of the patient) then was picked up and handed to the patient. Naturally the nurse was informed to get a new pill. I know these situations to be fact because that patient was non other then my mother.
This brings up the question that if I was faced with the above situations and they took place in front of myself and/or other family members, what goes on when we are not watching? It is the hospitals responsibility to have someone distributing medications that has knowledge of what medications they are handling, how to administer the medication and handle it in a proper and sanitary manner. The hospitals are also responsible for the conduct of their staff and should take action when situations like this are presented. However they are not taking care of their responsibilities and leave it to us to see that we are properly taken care of. Therefore, if you or a loved one has to stay in a hospital, be sure to ask a lot of questions. Never assume that the staff knows what they are doing and if you do not get an adequate answer, get a supervisor or doctor to answer your question. Also ask why the nurse could not answer the question and be sure to follow up on what measures are being taken to train the staff to be able to provide patient’s with answers. Make any complaints (should they be needed) in writing. Verbal complaints are not worth the air needed to express them and will gain no results.
So take your medication, but know hat you are taking.

Written by
A. Wallace (1/15/26)

Stop it now

Stop it now! Is a national nonprofit organization that fights for the prevention of sexual abuse victims. Their efforts and accomplishments are in my eyes worth making the public aware of. I have been following their efforts via their web site for about a year now. With newsletters, links and publications along with the toll free help line (1-888-PREVENT) they make a notable effort to aid in the fight against Sexual Abuse. Their efforts seam to focus more on the prevention of child abuse, but are geared to all ages. Although their fight is an important one, I would have to say that they avoid a very important part of prevention. Like many groups that have joined this fight over the years, they do not provide much (if any) community training of the importance that communities rehabilitation of offenders. As much as these crimes need to be prevented before they happen, they need to be prevented before they happen a second time by the same person. I understand that most people would not want an offender in their community, but this view also leads to further problems. By running offenders out of communities and not hiring them, we leave them nowhere to turn, but to further crimes and possibly re-offending. We as community members need to be aware of risks and prevention methods, but we also need to be educated and aid in the rehabilitation of offenders. If we do not want offenders to commit more crimes of this nature (or any nature), upon their release from correctional facilities we need to see that they become a “productive and law abiding” part of life. Don’t forget that although the general public only wants to take one point of view, there are always two sides to every coin. I commend the work being done by Stop it Now; I simple think they need to extend their efforts in order to truly help prevent sex crimes.
I am aware of the controversy that these viewpoints will create, but that is why I felt they need to be expressed. Through properly handled controversy and different viewpoints we will not only prevent the initial offender from offending, we will also help prevent the convicted offender from re-offending. Note that depending on your train of thought, you might find this article to be negative or positive, however it was truly written from a neutral angel. It is hoped to help those who read it to look at more then what the average media would have them see.
Please take the time to visit stop it now’s web site at http://www.stopitnow.com ,a lot of the information and services will prove useful to those abused as well as those not abused.
Written by A. Wallace

Sex Offender Registry Extended

The New York State Sex Offender Registry laws have changed to increase the time an offender has to stay on the list. The new State Legislature will require level 1 offender’s to register for 20 years as opposed to 10 years in the previous Legislature. Level 2 offenders now register for 30 years and level 3 will remain on registry for life.

The new Legislature will not only apply to those entering the registry, but will also apply to those already on the registry. Governor George Pataki is also working to add to the State Legislature a registry and DNA bank for those convicted of other violent crimes.

Though I disagree with any new laws being enforced on those previously on the registry and feel it creates a situation where the Governor is over ruling previous court rulings and in that manner he is over stepping his authority. I would have to commend him for working to create the additional registry and DNA bank for other violent crimes.

With the registry covering only one form of crime, it is not protecting anyone. It is creating and enforcing a form of discrimination. Pataki’s move to add the new registry will not only protect the communities to a greater extent, but it is the only way to remove the discrimination that currently exists within the current laws.

If we allow discrimination to any extent, we are all wrong. I urge everyone to support the additional registry and DNA bank being presented by Pataki and not only protect our communities against crime, but also protect us from discrimination by our government.

Written by A. Wallace

Resisting the Justice Department

As anyone that has read my writing in the past would know, I am the first to argue with the system (government) when they are wrong. In the same respect, I am all for making known the ones who are doing the right thing.

It has been all over the news about Google refusing to give in to the government’s demands for the search engines records. I did not want to comment on the situation until I contacted Google directly.

What some of us don’t know is that almost every major web search service has not only given in to the government’s request for release of data, but will continue releasing that information when requested. And is doing so without a fight. Where does this all stop? With e-z pass, traffic cams, credit cards, metro cards, etc. The government already knows every move we make. America was at one time about freedom, but when we are placed under constant surveillance, that freedom is gone. Security surveillance protects the store from theft, but when it is made available to the government upon request becomes a way for them to monitor us right down to what we are looking at in the stores. Does the government really need to know if we are wearing boxers or briefs? This is not that much different from the records of search services are submitted. What do you look for on-line? Are you looking for clothes, a car, to read about issues that you are concerned about or just some photos of the old neighborhood from when your parents were kids? Isn’t that personal information, and shouldn’t it be kept personal. If the government was restricting their request for information to illegal things, such as search’s for child porn and search’s of that nature. Then that would be different. But the demands are to have all records of searches between dates of their choosing released. Did the government forget about the right that we have to privacy? Each search service has a little thing on their site where you can click on that explains the privacy procedures. Yet none of them state that the privacy terms will be discarded at their whim.

I have to commend Google for respecting the public’s rights of privacy. After contacting Google with my thoughts and requesting a comment from them, I waited almost a week and thought my request was discarded. Today I received a response thanking me for my note about the United States Justice Department's request for Google's aggregated search data. It went on to say, “Google is not a party to the lawsuit in question, and we believe this demand for information overreaches. We participated in lengthy discussions with the Justice Department to try to resolve this issue, but were not able to. We intend to resist their motion vigorously”.

Should you wish to have your rights to privacy remain in tact, consider sending your letters of support to Google, and take additional action by refusing to use any/all services that have submitted their records. The services such as Yahoo, Microsoft and MSN that released the information without a fight have no respect for our privacy or the Privacy Agreements posted on their web sites. To continue using these services shows they can do what ever they wish to us and continues to put money in their pocket. Hit them where it hurts, in the wallet. Then and only then will they have any respect for our privacy and/or any agreements that we used their service’s under.

By Arthur Wallace
With special thanks to Google for their taking a stand-up for our rights

Reaching out works!
Do you need proof that reaching out with your group’s message can make a difference?
Well, here you go! When I started teaching community safety a while back, I was looking for any resources I could find to educate myself to better serve my public. In my search I came across a site for Home Office, Part of the UK Government. I found some information on their site that I though would be helpful to pass out to the communities. In contacting them to request permission to reproduce some documents. I made it clear what I was looking to use them for and what my position was in the communities. The reply I got was more then I could ask for. They not only approved my request, they also sent me out Books, VHS tapes and software they use for training. They reached out a half a world away, and are continuing to do so for others today. I still use that material as a reference.
They reached out to me and it helped my community. Just think of the impact that you can have if you just reach out around the corner.
Written by
A. Wallace