Donna Barker Communications

Almost every day I read at least one article at MedPage Today. Their tag-line is: putting breaking news into practice.

I was going to post about the recent MedPage Today “Teaching Brief” that lauds the great accomplishments of the chicken pox vaccine, but as I typed that tag-line, “putting breaking news into practice,” I realized that the real story is there. Not in the Teaching Briefs or News Briefs, but in the very philosophy and raison d’etre of this website. Here’s what they say: Continue Reading »

From MedPage Today, here’s the summary blurb that landed in the inboxes of all list subscribers on August 17:

Chickenpox Vaccine Cuts Cost of Varicella Care
ATLANTA-The vaccine against chickenpox, a disease that was once a staple of childhood, has dramatically cut varicella-related hospital admissions, outpatient care, and the associated costs of the disease.

I believe I’ve mentioned this before in another post, but some outrageous percentage of people will never read beyond that summary paragraph. As a result, it’s the most important text in the whole article. As such, it provides the hint to the conclusion we are meant to draw were we to read the whole piece. In this case, we’re meant to think: Hallelujah! Another vaccine success! Continue Reading »

The New York Times ran an article today called “A Business Built on the Troubles of Teenagers”. Mildly interesting. It’s about families that have kids who are deemed to have some sort of behavior problem that requires professional help, at a cost of anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a month. So, in essence, it’s about rich families with troubled kids.The one paragraph that really caught my attention was this one:

“The teenagers who attend these programs have often been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or other behavioral problems and are taking medications. Some have used drugs or have been sexually abused. Many have been in trouble at school or in minor trouble with the law. Others have run away from home or stolen from their parents.”

Aside from the kids who are sexually abused, which I think would be a damn good reason for a kid to have a behavior problem, the rest of this list of problems that land the kids in Troubled Teen Camp seem pretty lame to me. Have you never used drugs? Did you never get into trouble at school? Have you never had minor trouble with the law? Did you ever run away? Or steal anything from your folks? Continue Reading »