The importance of health insurance

Many of you who are reading this are probably already have health insurance either public like Medicare or private such as Allianz, Prudential and etc. They're all good in covering the costs of the medical expenses that e accumulated during our stay in the hospital or when covering expenses as an outpatient during check-ups. However, it should be noted that there are key differences between the two especially the medical procedures that are covered by the insurance and the parties that are involved in paying these expenses. The descriptions or characteristics of this insurance may vary from country to country depending on where you are.

In Australia, the majority of people are covered by Medicare, which is the public insurance that is sponsored by the Australian government an all expenses are paid with the state's money and it's generally accepted in most hospitals and it usually lasts I accordance with the duration o your stay at the hospital with some renewals that had to be done. However, Medicare insurance is only available for Australian citizens in Australia. Foreigners such as myself who are on a temporary work and study visa don't have the option of getting this kind of insurance, therefore it was advised for me to apply for an overseas student health cover under Allianz insurance when I came to study at the central institute of technology. I did apply for it for about a year before expiring at the end of 2014 when my course ended.

The Overseas student health cover as you all know is from Allianz and is recommended by most educational institutions throughout Australia. The same kind or if not similar insurance is used in other Commonwealth countries. If a foreigner were to come to Australia under a skilled visa to work, it is recommended that the employers provide workers compensation under Work Safe Australia in compliance with the health legislation of the country, however, there are variations on what is covered by both employers and the insurance company. At times the insurance company or the employers are only willing to pay certain things while the rest we have to pay on our own.

Both the private and public insurance have their own advantages in paying the hospital bills and giving the patient the financial support they need to pay their hospital bills. For public insurance, one of the main advantages is that they are much cheaper and easier to acquire especially for the natives and the government will be paying all the medical expenses. The downside, however, is that the services provided under Medicare will most likely not be as outstanding as when using a private one especially when you're hospitalized in a public hospital. The other downside is that the patients will most likely not be given the first priority under this insurance since the government hs to pay for the expenses. The private insurances, however, have a different effect on patients who have them. Those with private insurance get better treatment in public hospitals and usually be given the first priority. This is because a private company will be paying the expenses an not the government, therefore, it'often seen as profitable to keep private insured patients longer so more money can be extracted for profit, however not all hospitals will behave this way.

If you are a student studying in college or university, you have the option of applying for health insurance before starting your course of studies. A lot of times students will take the health insurance for granted as they don't see themselves in any health crisis in the near future. However rarer cases such as AVMs tend to be unpredictable and could happen at any time, thus it would be good to have insurance to be safe should anything happen, unless you happen to be very wealthy and could afford to pay all of your medical bills with your own money.       



                                               

   

Fiona Stanley

The next day at Charlie Gairdner starts off like any other day during my stay there. I would wake at exactly around 7.30am in bed eagerly waiting for my breakfast, the only thing that kept me excited every single day there was just the food that I was getting for every meal. At this stage the food that I was getting was still specialized for stroke patients, the contents of my meal would have to be thick and easy to be contracted by my esophagus as I swallow each and every one of them. The doctors and nurses called it thickened fluid and they would often joke around about it to me. One of the nurses named Paul has a habit of mocking me with the kind of that I get, he would say, " Sam, would you like some coffee?", I would definitely say," hell yeah, I would rather drink coffee than this junk", Paul would then reply by saying," but it's thickened coffee, hahaha" This sort of mocking happens almost every morning but it didn't seem to bother me as I've gotten used to it. I would always reply to the sarcastic paul by saying, "Ha ha very funny Paul, that's bad karma for you, insulting a patient with a brain injury"

As my breakfast arrived at my front door Roger, the nurse who was stationed at the front of my room came in to conduct an observation of my blood pressure, temperature and oxygen saturation. As usual, all the readings came out normal and Roer would write down the result on the patient chart that was placed at the end of my bed. After he finished writing them down, I could finally proceed with eating breakfast. The menu hasn't changed much, however, this time I got an extra sausage, which was new and unexpected since they could only give me some scrambled eggs, a packet of salt and chocolate yogurt. All of which are unsatisfying options for breakfast. To receive a couple of sausages was a blessing and it lightens up my mood. Roger who was still in my room asked me if I was enjoying my sausages, I replied by telling him tt it was exquisite to be able to eat them. As I gobbled down on the last pieces of eggs and sausages, Larisa, my nurse came in and told me that that day was my lucky day. I asked her, "what's so lucky about today?" She replied, "you're going to be transferred to Fiona Stanley for rehab and our insurance for the next treatment at the hospital is already covered by the Allianz health insurance, that also includes your stay At Fiona Stanley". Hearing this news, I was delighted to know that I'm making progress and will be moving on to further recovery, though I have no idea what the next hospital will be like.

Larisa then took out her phone and called my mom to come back to the hospital to accompany me on my transfer and to sign some paperwork to be given to the staff at Fiona Stanley. A few minutes Later, my mum arrived and read through the documents before signing them. With the paperwork all signed by my mum, Larisa, and Christopher Lind. I was ready for transfer. Two men from the Patient Transport came inside my room with a mobile stretcher and lifted me on to it, strapping me tightly on the bed with a seatbelt to prevent me from falling overboard when I'm moved. They then rolled me out of my room and through the hallway to the elevators. As I passed through the hallway all the nurses and therapists said goodbye to me especially my favorite nurses, Andrea and Lindsey.you could say I've grown attached to them, mostly because I've ever had an intimate relationship with a woman. it was sad to leave them behind but I promise myself that I'll visit them when my mobility gets better.

I was rolled into the elevator, the guys from patient transport pressed the lobby button and I felt the elevator going downwards. The journey downwards was accompanied by a serious of questions by the two men, they asked me why I was in the hospital, to which I replied, "AVM" the two men responded by saying, "ooh that's pretty rare, not a lot of people get AVM's tough luck buddy". Seconds later, the elevator reached the lobby and the doors opened. The two men pushed my stretcher outwards and I was moved into the docking zone just outside of the main entrance, there a transport ambulance had been prepared with its doors opened and the lifting crane ready. The men rolled me on the crane and pressed the button on the side. I was then automatically lifted and pushed inwards into the ambulance. Before departing, a couple of seatbelts were fastened on the bottom and top of my stretcher to keep me still when the vehicle moves. Soon e were ready and we departed on schedule.

While I was on the road, I looked out the window to see the view. I could see that we were going southwards of the swan river and passing Bentley where my University was at. We head further south until the next suburb, the city of Murdoch where my second hospital was located. surprisingly it's near Murdoch University, which is famous for animal science and there are lots of stables in the area to house farm animals. As I looked out the window I could see horses running around the courtyard and a couple of cows grazing on the green grass in the area and then see the biggest building I've ever seen and at the front, it says, "Fiona Stanley Hospital" I knew by that sigh that I had arrived at my destination. The car then entered the hospital entrance into the docking area where I was later unloaded and received by the nurse on duty, Ellie. She introduced herself to my mother and me. the guys room the ambulance hande over all my documents to her and I was ready to go to my room.

Ellie pushed me through the hallways into ward B of the rehab section for acute brain injury. My room number was 49. Inside this room, I was greeted by my roommate, Roy Hudson who was an old bloke recovering in the hospital after a stroke that he had at home. from his appearance, I could tell that his recovery was going well despite him not being able to move very well. My bed was located near the window close to the bathroom, while Roy was situated near the front door. Both of our beds were also equipped with hanging computer screens that give us 24-hour access to the internet, therefore I have the privilege of reading online news and watching videos on youtube. This was something that I didn't have back at the first hospital since the wi-fi connection didn't reach into m room very well and had to rely on my phone fo surfing the web. The moment I jumped into my new bed, I dragged the hanging computer screen closer towards me and opened Google to begin watching videos on youtube. They are mostly music videos of bands from the 80's such as the rolling stones, the who, cheap trick, and dire straits. I watched all of their musical acts online until bedtime where I was completely exhausted and fell asleep afterward.                                             


     

               

Education and the brain

Education can be defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school in terms of gaining knowledge. This is the most common definition of what education is according to an online dictionary an yet it fails to include the word, "learning" into its definition, which is essential for any person to grow into a functional and intelligent individual that would fit in into society. Though many of us clearly understand what education is and its purpose, we always tend to make the misconception that education and learning are one of the same things. This is only partially true, education is the process through which society passes knowledge, skills, and values to another while learning is the ongoing process of gaining firsthand knowledge from experience. The two words are often interchanged in today's society and we often misinterpret the two during our school years. This has a disastrous effect on children today especially those with learning disabilities or any other special needs.

The school system would have you believe that standardized teaching is the way for learning but this is, unfortunately, a terrible mistake and would prove to be consequential in the long run, since no two people are the same in the way they learn or think. This is true for those with learning disabilities from birth or acquired through an accident. A lot of times children who do badly in school from such disabilities may not know of their own condition and failing in school would only further discourage them and making them believe that they are not competent or worth nothing. Disabilities such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder are all pretty common in a lot of people and are often regarded by most teachers as being lazy or stupid. This same view is still used and applied by most schools. Today's education should be held accountable for the damage that they may have done to children with a learning disability.

In all honesty, schools and the standardized education institution, we have today prove to be more harmful than beneficial in the long run since it discourages children to be creative and to be their individual self or to learn at their own pace or in their own way for that matter. A good example would be someone who is a hands-on learner, a person who acquires knowledge from doing things instead of sitting in the classroom and listen to theories. putting hands-on learners to a classroom environment is time wasting and ineffective to stimulate learning. A lot of times, the things taught in school are highly irrelevant in the real world with no use at all. Therefore the learning process we experience today with most schools should best be altered to fit the needs of an ever-changing modern world and not to a redundant industrial age that has long ended in the late1920's and30's.

A recent scientific study has also proven that hands-on learning proves to be more beneficial in knowledge acquisition as it activates our hunter-gatherer instincts of survival to adapt to our changing environment and to quickly learn new skills that are mandatory for survival. Thus a combination of knowledge and skill is the key to success in both pursuing a career and healing the brain neuroplastically. Schools would often teach tons of things from textbooks and yet never taught them how to use this knowledge in the real world so that children acquire skills by applying them in real life. A knowledge that is not applied is just knowledge and would undoubtfully waste away like excess items we buy on our groceries that are stored in kitchen cupboards to collect dust and mold.                         

Thankfully the learning process of the average person doesn't end when we finish school or University, learning is still possible even when we're old. Recent scientific studies have proven that the brain remains plastic until we grow old an die, all we have to do s be willing to use it and improve our cognitive ability. So to those who are struggling mentally or having trouble comprehending something, I urge you all not to give up an keep on learning or improving whatever it is you're doing. Even if some parts of our brains that deal with certain functions are damaged, it is still capable of reorganizing itself and assigning other parts of the brain to take over the task. The more we engage our brains into earning and challenging it to do things that are complex, the more we form neural connections in our brains ad it will certainly enhance neuroplastic healing at a much higher rate.  Our neuroplastic capabilities and its contributions to increasing neural networks in the brain also enhances our longevity. Many of us assume that to live longer we have to eat healthily and keep on moving such as doing exercises t prolong our lifespan but recent studies have shown that living longer tends to be a result of a healthy brain that has more neural networks in its circuitry. Therefore to any stroke or brain injury patients who would like to improve their quality of life until old age, it's recommended that they constantly engage themselves in activities that make them think.       

                                               

Jordan and Eric

The next day starts off like any other day at Charlie Gairdner. I would wake up in the morning at around 7 or 7.30 to begin my day by receiving my not so delicious breakfast to be delivered into my room. While waiting for it to come, I turned on the TV to watch the news only to find out that Donald Trump had been elected as president of the United States and was making his way faster into the oval office. I got the notion that I may have slept a little too long while I was in my coma and I have woken up in a dystopic future where the leader of the most powerful country in the world is an orange-haired baboon with a narcissistic personality and a capitalist temperament to disregard important issues such s civil rights and the current environmental crisis we are currently facing. You could say I felt like Rick Grimes from the walking dead when he woke up from a coma only to find out that humanity has gone down the drain and the population had been eradicated by a zombie apocalypse, however, my case was different since there weren't any zombies but rather an increase of human stupidity and the glorification of intellectual retardation.

I felt more like Joe Bowers from the 2006 movie idiocracy where Joe slept into a coma for many decades and woke up only to find out that the human intellect had drastically deteriorated and people perceive stupidity as the norm of society. After realizing this inconvenient analogy to describe what was going on in the world while I was in the hospital, I dreaded what awaits me in the future. Thankfully it started with breakfast as it arrived at my front door. The catering lady dropped it off on the table next to me,  dragged it closer and lift up the lid to see what the menu was. Sadly it was only eggs and some porridge, not the most exciting of all breakfast menus but getting the eggs was something new so I was delighted. I ate them immediately and afterward focused myself on trying to move my paralyzed arm, in hopes of making further improvements. As I was training my arm, I heard a knock on the door. I said," come in" and to my surprise, it was Jordan and Eric that came in, my two best friends from high school. they had come to visit me bearing gifts. I was delighted to see a familiar face in the room and be able to socialize. We chatted for about an hour and a half, discussing my ongoing health dilemma and exchanging questions regarding our area of interests.

I asked them about their studies and they said that things were going peachy and this made me realize that the majority of my friends at Uni have already passed their subject and will be graduating without me. The world outside was moving on without me, I was left crippled in the next coming months. I did feel depressed about this but I told myself to chin up and accept the fact that if shit happens, that means I'm on the right track to success. All I could do was accept my problems and apply a stoic philosophy to view things with positive eyes. One of the positive attributes of being in the hospital was that I got to meet some really beautiful nurses who are taking care of me during my stay, each time they come to take care of me or to talk to me and I would feel like a young lad who was blessed with more than one mother.

Speaking of mothers, a few minutes later Jordan and Eric's mum entered the scenes of my room. She had come all the way from Bali to accompany her boys on their visit to the hospital to visit me and it's mostly because their mother is a close friend of my mum and they were pretty shocked when they heard the news that I was hospitalized and had a craniotomy. I was pretty happy to have a couple of visitors inside my room to talk to me and improved my social life. Therefore it should be reminded to all brain injury patients that being social is good both for the mind and soul as it improves mood and speeds up recovery. If patients can't find someone to socialize with within their close circle of friends, then they should socialize with other patients and with hospital staff. Some of them have interesting stories about themselves and they are worth to be probed into. This is what I exactly did throughout my time at the hospital, asking doctors or nurses on the current condition that I was having and to see whether or not they have current or former patients with the same condition and asking them on some advice on how I can speed up recovery.

At around quarter to noon, I could hear the kitchen staff from the end of the hallway with their trolleys carrying lunch for the patients, it was apparent that I was time for me to grab something to eat. I was happy that food was on its way, hell that was the only thing that I was looking forward to. Eating helped me escape the reality that I was trapped in a hospital with minimal movements on the left half of my body. Jordan, Eric, and their mom heard the sound of incoming lunch trolleys from the hallway and realized it as the time for me to have my lunch, so they decided it was best to end our little chat and leave me in peace with my food. Before they left, they placed a bouquet of flowers with a greeting card that said: "get well soon" on the sink. In all honesty, I don't really need these things but I appreciate their kind gesture of showing their care towards me. Once they left the room, I was alone again with my mother and proceeded with watching the television with her. As I watched the Television she would search up for quizzes and riddles to ask me in order to stimulate my cognitive ability in hopes of speeding up neuroplastic recovery that would help me return to my normal mental state.     
                   
                                         
        

AWOL

While I strolled around the gardens of the hospital, I acquainted myself with the other buildings near my ward particularly the DD block cancer center where most of the cancer patients are placed for both their treatment and recovery. Going through to this section of the hospital, I'm reminded of how thankful I should be for not having cancer, as it is worse and could virtually spread to other parts of the body. During my stroll in this section of the hospital, I was suddenly interrupted by a phone call, I picked up the phone and realized t was one of the nurses back at the neuro ward, they had asked me to return back into my room so they can discuss with me about other matters, especially my ongoing studies at Curtin University. needless to say that my AVM stroke has abruptly put my studies to a halt and I haven't reported them directly of the reason for my ongoing absent. My parents may have had reported the Uni officials however I wasn't aware if they had responded to it. therefore I assumed that the reason I was told to return to my ward was to discuss this matter.

As I entered my room, there was a woman standing near my bed. I could definitely tell that she was a social worker from the hospital who had arrived to help me and my parents settle some unfinished business outside of the hospital. The first thing asked her was filing for AWOL( absent without leave) with the student's services to clarify on the reason I was absent. She replied that she had already forwarded a statement letter detailing that I was in the hospital as a result of a brain injury. Shortly after my father received a phone call from one of the representatives of student services asking me on my current condition and the status of my studies. I decided it was best to postpone my studies until I can make a full recovery. To my surprise, the morons at the student support asked me if I could come to Uni to fill up the form for absent without leave. I told them specifically that I was immobile from my paralysis and wasn't able to be physically present. Yet they insisted that I should come so they can asses my claims. They stated this many times as if they don't believe that I have a brain injury.

I can definitely tell from the way they talked to me on the phone that most of the people at student services or at my Uni for that matter don't really care for the wellbeing of their students. they only care about how long they can keep students under their grasp so they can suck their wallet dry of cash. I find the majority of the people working at my Uni to be inconsiderate self-centered, obnoxious capitalist swine who take pleasure in making the lives of students with disabilities to become harder and unbearable. I could compare them to prison guards that are stationed in concentration camps to systematically abuse prisoners during their captivity and that each and every member of the  educational institution should be regarded as a war criminal, not for committing genocide but for making the lives of certain individuals harder despite having knowledge that it's the wrong thing to do. However, despite my over exaggerated and most likely inappropriate analogy of the education system at University, I am not saying that everyone in Uni is a criminal or that all students going there are prisoners awaiting execution or forced labor. Though at times it may feel like it. So to all my readers who are reading this, don't take my description personally or get offended y it. I'm sure there are some nice Uni people out there but the majority of them are absolute snobs.

After having negotiated with the woman on the other side of the phone, we finally came to a compromise that it would be best to send the form through the email of the hospital administration so they can print it for me to fill out before being scanned and sent back to them after completion. after our agreement, we stopped our discussions and hung up the phone. I proceeded to go up back into my bed and waited for a late lunch. Minutes later the hospital catering arrived inside my room and handed me my lunch, it was chicken masala with rice and steamed vegetables. I immediately ate my lunch and tried to eat as much as I possibly can so I don't have to take additional supplements through my feeding tube. Once I have eaten all of my food,  I fell asleep and dozed off into my nap.

I didn't remember how long I was asleep during my nap but I did remember waking up at around 5 for early dinner. As I opened my eyes, the catering lady was already inside my room with her cart containing my dinner. She opened up the lid and took out a tray, she placed it on the table next to me and asked " are you, Samuel? " I replied, "yep", "here's your dinner", said the lady. I brought the table closer to me and lifted up the lid, it was mushroom soup and some chocolate yogurt for dinner, not the most appetizing of all dinners but it's a tart and better than eating probiotics. I tried eating the soup even though the taste was bland and it had a funny texture. Eventually, I finished most of it including the chocolate yogurt and I was stuffed. Having stuffed myself, I felt pretty full and tired, I could probably doze off into another sleep.

But before I could get some shut eye, Lindsey, my Scottish night nurse came in and bought me a pair of pressure stockings to wear for the night to keep my blood circulation in my legs flowing since I don't have much movements with them. she placed them in my right hand asked me to put them on, so I did. Afterwars I chatted with her and asked her about her personal life. If I had the courage, I would have asked her out on a date but I don't think it's allowed that nurses could go out with their patients. The chatting went o or about an hour after that she left my room and I was alone yet again.