1-5 August 2018 (it took me a few days to get this done)
A year ago, I was in the emergency room after experiencing a strong-arm robbery at Albertson's pharmacy the night before. I shouted an alarm when three men leapt over the counter, and got beaten down and chemically sprayed. Of course the paper got the incidents wrong, and police still have the crime as unsolved, and the three victims of the incident of concern here (including me) have had varied recovery experiences.
After filing several police reports (required because over the first 10 days after the incident, an array of maladies attributed to #PCS, post concussive syndrome, befell me), and each one required an update due to damaged goods (me, my eyeglasses and cell phone), a failed attempt to get crime victim assistance fund help ("you can't be a crime victim unless there are charges filed" - yes, seriously I was told that), the store supplying me with a container of milk to help with the symptoms of the "pepper spray" (more on that later) used and the next day, a $25 gift card when I went to pick up the prescriptions I originally was there to accomplish, I was on my way to healing. Or so I thought.
After all, I had agreed to participate in a major event at our sister school, @LBCC, for their awesome solar eclipse festival. While Lane was just south of the path of totality, LBCC had nearly two minutes of totality, camping, food truck, entertainment, etc. It was going to be great. I was going to do a GLOBE teacher workshop for teachers and families and advance #CitizenScience awareness and #scicomm. Talk about heat transfer in the atmospheric surface layer thanks to the measurement program I had designed. Work with the other members of the LBCC physical science team to share in a great experience.
I could barely remember my sleeping bag. Thanks to great staff at Lane, however, and my family who came with me, we pulled off much of Lane's scheduled participation. We had our telescopes there, we had solid temperature measurements allowing us to work up data and share, but alas, no presentations or workshops. It was too much.
Cognitive impairment, balance, hearing, eyesight, behavior were all impacted as my brain apparently had to rewire itself, and I must apologize here to anyone offended by the "new and evolving me". I was struck in the head at least twice on two separate occasions ("dude, why did you get up again?" - I don't know) and my head hit the floor hard at least once. Of course neither the store nor the police would allow me to view the tape from the brand new video security system that had just been installed the week before (there could be a liability issue, apparently), and eyewitness testimony was quite varied. And my family was great, had several of my grown kids families there with our grandkids, and we had fun, or so I seem to recall, not as vividly as other events in my life prior to August 2017.
Through all of this, my friends, family, and co-workers have been awesome; at work I credit our staff, faculty, and other Deans (Chris in particular) for backing up Science Division; all contributed to my healing by removing worry and taking on leadership and extra support functions. It is tough enough trying to maintain a scientific perspective in this day and age of #FakeNews and #alternatefacts, but as a manager at a community college, I keep trying to carry out some useful scientific research on the side, and particularly to support the effort among our faculty and students. Our #NSF grant on course-based research experiences in biology and earth/environmental science classes just completed, and we are advancing a sustainable approach to keep it moving. Alas, I am just approaching 100% in my ability to carry out meaningful science, so my dataset awaits. Fortunately I took lots of notes to memorialize my work, so that I can reconstruct the analysis. Once I get the data put in a reasonable format, I will post it for anyone to use!
Now, my main point here is that, as an educator, I had no idea how complex concussions are. I am a sports fan, and have been aware that athletes often experience them, and see them "back" a few days later. But not always. And the disrespectful treatment of Dr. Bennet Omalu by many in the sports medicine and medical community that has resulted in the association between CTE and concussions being labeled by some as "controversial" (remind you of how business interests chastise science on acid rain, tobacco, ozone, climate change?) is pathetic. (By the way, I no longer support the NFL but not because it won't deal with players who express their #1A rights; no, the NFL (and their players union) lost their luster for me by disparaging much of that work on #CTE and also by effectively #blackballing players who speak their mind, like Colin Kaepernick.
Concussions can be minor, or worse; much worse. Neuroscience is fascinating and mysterious to me, and findings are evolving. I don't think I would have survived the experience without serious permanent damage, however, without other members of my care team - the college health clinic nurse practitioner, my primary care physician (had to find a new one), my neurologist, ENT doctor, audiologist, optometrist, counselor, therapeutic masseuse, physical therapist, nurses, hospitalists (at the ER during multiple visits) and neuropsychologist all provided me with useful therapy, tools, etc. I'm nearly back; the doc who told me to avoid incidents like this again was laughable - am I supposed to stop going to pharmacies? There is still irritability, but most of that stems from how I (and I presume, the other victims) have been and am being treated.
I was contacted by the store's insurance company. You see, in addition to the police reports, I had to also fill out a store incident report. When they called me, they were quick to mention that they could not be held liable for any damage I received, and in fact Oregon law may very well back them up as business liability law (as I've learned) is very business-friendly in this state. So they decided not to offer me any compensation for lost work, damaged goods, or pain and suffering - I had not even asked for anything yet. Just, zilch. I wrote them back and listed out all the issues, including the fact that my employer does not offer short-term disability, but I was clearly disabled. I had to burn through my entire sick leave and vacation leave bank at work over the last half of 2017 and still ended up short. In the letter I wrote to them, I asked them to reconsider the issue of compensation, and even the store employees apparently got involved, since many of them credit me with shortening the time the robbers felt safe enough to grab the narcotics they were after, thus limiting their liability. Their two injured employees have had different experiences and I won't share them here. But at least they are covered, presumably, by workman's compensation.
Later the insurance rep called me again and wrote me; I was still in the midst of a pretty obscuring thought process mechanism by this time, but I recalled him saying something like (I wrote it down to recall it later) "you can't expect a store like ours to protect you from an incident like this - after all it was not a slip and fall injury where we failed to clean up a mess in a store aisle". I kid you not, and no, I do not expect anything from you, thank you very much, all I could do was list my out-of-pocket costs for you, and its impacts on me (and my family members and workplace, too). But you might consider another path forward. I did have to exhaust all of my vacation, sick, and leave pay, and worked part-time without pay for many months, or took leave without pay.
They later sent me an offer of $500 compensation which would be paid only if I signed a liability waiver for the store, its corporation, and insurance company. I tore up the letter and told them not to bother calling me any more. I still don't know if or when I'll do anything about it. But I do know that I was not about to take the crime victim's response as final, either. I persevered enough to call the state office and get to someone who could help. I received $25 from them. Oh, great, another $25, but it turned out it was a reimbursement (the first one) for a copay I had to pay out of pocket, and I'm optimistic that many of my other costs will also be reimbursed, and they have been covering many of my PCS-related copays directly since the late spring.
I do pause, however, to reflect on how poorly our society serves victims of crimes. So many times we hear about shaming, lack of trust or belief in a victim's reports, etc. Also the lack of trust that many medical practitioners have when it comes to a patient reporting health issues of any type. We supposedly are the greatest nation on earth (ever, if you believe our dear leader), and yet our health care system is the most costly among any of the world's fully developed economies (the G37 or however many the "experts" count), and therefore discriminatory against those who don't have the best coverage.
Who are the advocates for the poor, disenfranchised or just people who don't live near where optimal health care is available? In my case, I was a victim of crime who can't recall with 100% certainty what, why, or how I received my injuries. Would I have been attacked had I not yelled out an alarm? I don't know - I was the closest customer to the pharmacy when the event started. But I've been trained as a first responder in the case of accidents or attacks, and when I see something, I generally say something, or do something (not necessarily smart). I care about others, and saw a battery of a store employee who I know. That split-second is when something clicked and my brain said "action". I'm still waiting for the "print" or final cut to get me back to 100%. Life is still hard some days, and I'm just happy I'm able to spend time with my grandkids now (which I could not do for months), go to movies, concerts or sporting events without terrible attacks of anxiety, dizziness, auditory overload, etc. [Seeing Hamilton and Andrea Bocelli in Portland, and Stephen Stills and Judy Collins, and Dead & Company in Eugene were all great events and experiences, and as I finish this, I'm relaxing in the Redwoods]
And I might actually try to enjoy another vacation (or two) again later this summer (soon!). My irritability continues to bug me, and confusion occasionally. Please bear with me my friends, I'm healing and coming back!
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