Making Heart Surgery Simpler -- and Making Medicine More Complex

Heart surgery turns out to be one of those things that’s hard to describe without images.  Dr. Timothy Hunter from Humility of Mary Health Partners made a good effort, and better yet, he explained well how this benefits patients and changes the nature of surgery for doctors.  If you want to find out more about how it works, you can watch an online video, aimed at patients, that explains the procedure.  You can also read more about what Dr. Hunter is doing in this piece from the Youngstown Business Journal. 


What I found most thought-provoking about our conversation was the idea that changes in medical practice are so closely connected with industry.  That shouldn’t surprise us, but Dr. Hunter’s comment about the role of industry draws our attention to a part of the medical landscape that we usually don’t talk about.  We pay attention to doctors, hospitals, patients, insurance policies, and to national health care policies, but we rarely talk about how new ways of doing things are supported and promoted by companies that develop, manufacture, and sell very expensive equipment.  We like to imagine that medicine is not market-driven, that it’s not a business in the same way as other fields.  And in many ways, it isn’t.  But every new technique comes from somewhere, and good ideas are often transformed into profitable ventures via industry.  The question is, as I discussed with Dr. Hunter, how do we balance the costs of technology with the benefits of good health care?  That’s not always easy.

How Technology Is Transforming Learning

One of the things I appreciate about Gardner Campbell’s approach to technology in education is that he doesn’t focus on a specific cool new thing.  He wants us – teachers, students, administrators, as well as everyone else – to be thinking about the bigger picture, about how technologies of all kinds shape the way we think and the ways we teach and learn.  And he wants us to imagine the changes that technology makes possible not as a set of prescriptions about what we must do but about a set of possibilities.  That’s why instead of teaching faculty how to use online discussion boards or blogs, he begins by inviting teachers to learn about how new media is changing culture and all the myriad things it can make possible. 

But as he knows, as we all know, thinking about all of that can be overwhelming.  Change, and especially change that takes us in directions we can’t yet imagine, is scary, and for all the ways education can be a place of innovation it can be equally resistant to change.  The basic structures of education, at all levels, have not changed significantly over the last century, even though knowledge, what we know about learning, and the array of resources available for learning are constantly changing.  Because most education happens within institutions, thinking about large-scale restructuring can seem like a waste of time – no matter how important we think it is.  On the other hand, because teaching has long been a fairly private activity – teachers control their own classrooms, and we don’t talk all that much about what we do inside those rooms – we have the flexibility and power to make change from the classroom up.  A look at Gardner’s work on the EDUCAUSE website, and some exploration through the rest of that site’s Learning Initiative materials, can give you a glimpse of what’s possible. 

Telling Youngstown's Stories on Stage

One of the pleasures of talking with Rob Zellers, beyond the fact that he’s such a great storyteller, is hearing the story of his own reinventions. As he notes in our interview, he came to playwrighting late in life, and it’s really his third career – teacher, non-profit staffer (though still with a focus on education), and now writer. Perhaps it’s because playwrighting is still a relatively new endeavor for him, but his passion for his work is palpable, and he seems almost surprised to have had so much success.

The two plays he’s had produced so far, The Chief, a one-person play about the life of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney, and Harry’s Friendly Service, set in Youngstown in the late 70s, should both appeal to local audiences. Many of us missed the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s staging of Harry’s Friendly Service last year, but you can still get a look at The Chief. It’s been made into a film, and you can read about it and order a copy online.

Zellers has written a third play with local connections, The Happiness They Seek, set in Youngstown in the 90s. Wouldn’t it be great to see one of our local theater companies do a play about Youngstown?

Optimistic Realism: Hoping for Change in the Valley

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with a couple of energetic, committed young professionals who have recently moved to this area, people who seem to want to get involved in the community but are also looking for reasons to feel good about being here. They asked me some rather blunt questions: Why am I committed to this place? Do I think things are really getting better?

Part of my response is rooted in the things I discussed with Bill Mullane in this week’s interview – a general sense that there’s been a shift in how people are working to improve the economy, neighborhoods, and quality of life the Mahoning Valley. Like Bill, I’m not blind to the real problems we face, including those that we create ourselves, nor am I the cheerleader type. I can’t pretend that everything is fine, or even that we’re clearly on the path to fine.

At the same time, the work that Bill and his colleagues at the Raymond John Wean Foundation are doing is one of the reasons why I feel more optimistic than I did a decade ago. Wean’s approach to creating change has been significant. Not only did the Foundation change its way of operating, offering hyperlocal models that are strengthening neighborhoods and developing new leaders, it has also played a leading role in helping local non-profits to do their work better. Wean’s projects aim to foster grassroots work while also facilitating the efforts of long-standing organizations. The Foundation has been realistic about the need for grassroots efforts to be connected to larger structures and processes.

We are making progress, slowly. Wean’s work has not led to sweeping changes, at least not yet, but the atmosphere for community organizations in the Valley has improved, I think, as Wean has brought people together, offered practical support as well as a different vision, and pushed for new ways of doing things.

After three years of very active work, Bill suggests, Wean is ready to move into a “maintenance phase,” to let things settle a bit. They’re hiring a new director, and that, too, will bring some change. I look forward to watching what Wean and its related enterprises do over the next few years.

New Leadership for Youngstown's Schools

The Youngstown City Schools needs the new leadership and vision that Dr. Connie Hathorn bring, and I was excited to get to talk with him about his plans. His focus on communicating better with teachers and parents, professional development, and tracking students’ learning long before they take the annual state exams all makes sense. And having someone with no history with this community, and thus no associated baggage, should be helpful.

Yet I have to admit that I had hoped our conversation would be more concrete and specific. Perhaps it’s just that he’s still finding his way, exploring the conditions in the community and the schools, and developing strategies. Maybe he’s just not ready to make public statements about his plans. Still, I want to hear more. I want to know how the professional development he wants to offer will differ from what’s been done before. I want to know what it will take to implement his plans for constant assessment. I want to know how he plans to create change in how teachers, principals, and school staff members interact with parents and the community. Call me impatient, but the problems in Youngstown’s schools are serious, and we need to make real change.

Improving Our Neighborhoods, One Apartment at a Time

When we met up by the front door to the WYSU studio, Maureen O’Neill commented that she thought that the two of us had a similar philosophy.  I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, though, of course, one of the reasons I’d invited her in is that I think the project she works on – registering and inspecting rental properties in the City of Youngstown – makes a positive difference.  As we talked, though, I think I started to see what she meant.  Maureen believes that Youngstown has potential, despite all its problems.  She believes that improving living conditions in our neighborhoods is an important element in helping us achieve that potential.  She understands that information, such as a database listing rental properties and their owners, can be a useful tool for organizing for change and addressing problems.  And she sees that no one part of the urban puzzle can solve all of the city’s problems; improving the conditions of rental properties is just one part of a larger set of efforts.  You can check out maps related to the program at YSU’s Center for Urban Studies website.

Perhaps most important, Maureen brings to her work an attitude that I admire and wish I could enact more often:  she believes that she can make a difference by talking with those who disagree with what she’s doing.  She brings humor to that task, but she also makes a real effort to understand and address the concerns of property owners and renters. 

As Maureen said in our interview, she needs your help.  If you own rental property, let her know and join the program.  Doing so can help you keep your tenants safe and contribute to the stability of the community, which will help you in the long run.  And Maureen truly is committed to working with you.  If you’re a tenant whose property has not yet been inspected, let her know.  Your property might not be in the database.  And if you know of rental properties that ought to be registered, call her.  You can reach Maureen O’Neill by email or phone, (330) 742-8833. 

Wrestling with the Economy

I’m surprised to find myself saying this, but I think I could have spent another hour or two talking with economist Ken Beauchemin.  Part of that is about his attitude – imagine an economist answering questions about today’s tough economy with a big smile on his face.  OK.  That’s a little disconcerting.  What can anyone looking at the economy find to be happy about?  But that positive attitude does make asking basic questions less intimidating.  More than that, I appreciate Ken’s willingness to try to explain some key points of the “dismal science” to the rest of us.

But while Beauchemin is a nice and patient guy, I’m still troubled by much of what I hear from economists.  For example, having studied Youngstown’s economic struggles for the last decade, I’m much less optimistic that the increases in productivity that have contributed to the slow recovery will generate significant growth in employment.  So like the jobless recovery of the early part of this decade, indeed, in part because that recovery benefited business and finance but not workers, we are again facing a situation where the rich get richer and workers fall further behind.  I’m troubled, too, by the things Beauchemin said with which I agree, like the point that a new manufacturing economy can only thrive here if we have a better-educated workforce.  I think that’s probably right.  And it’s far from easy to accomplish, especially with major cuts to state funding for education and our national struggle to provide good quality education to everyone.  We have a long way to go. 

The economic picture is dismal indeed, so I suppose we need all the good humor and positive attitudes we can get – as long as they don’t keep us from wrestling with the real problems we face.