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September 3, 2009 Volume 5, Number 34 |
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In
This Issue •
Legislator in the Lab •
Labor Day Weekend •
A Little Bit of Humor E-Mail cynthia.davis@house.mo.gov Find me on
Committees Special
Committee on Children and Families Chair Chair Special Committee on State Parks and Waterways Official Homepage for Missouri State Government Official Government Homepage for your Missouri Senator and Representative Look up Missouri House Bills View Entire Text, Summary, and Last Action Look up Missouri Senate Bills Consumer Complaints & Fraudulent Activity, No-Call List Federal Links Congressman
Blaine Luetkemeyer |
Legislator in the Lab
Nope, I'm not in Iran inspecting their nuclear weapons. I'm
in New Mexico visiting with Dr. Paul Ross the Executive Director of the
Health Science Center and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of
New Mexico, Albuquerque. The National Council of State Legislatures
invited me to spend a few days with them learning about the future of
medicine.
That is me along with along with a group of fellow
legislators from all over the nation. This week I went to an event called Legislator in the Lab. If
the idea of legislators in a lab scares you, isn't it even scarier to imagine
legislators in Washington D.C. trying to make healthcare decisions? After all
we know that most of them are not part of the healthcare industry and
therefore do not seem to understand how their decisions will affect the rest
of us.
We all attended the conference to
learn and it proved to be very valuable. I had the opportunity to watch
an actual heart catheterization; discuss public policies related to strokes
and heart attacks; and perform medical procedures in a simulation laboratory.
This lab is where I performed several virtual procedures: laparoscopic
surgery, delivered a baby, attempted to insert a ventilation tube, operated a
defibulator and with heroic-technological flare saved the lives of several
computerized models of men, women and babies! We can all be grateful the medical students get to practice on
artificial people. One interesting discussion centered on how
lifestyle choices affect the national disease rates. Smoking, obesity and bad diets are
responsible for most deaths in our country.
As a legislator, it disturbs me to consider how our national
government has implemented policies that are not even constitutionally
authorized and are counterproductive to the health of our citizens. The food stamp program was implemented with the
goal of alleviating hunger and malnutrition by permitting low-income
households to obtain a more nutritious diet. It fails to meet this goal by
the way it is handled, allowing foods that can actually increase
malnutrition. The management of the program has compelled me to write a
Missouri State resolution that urges congress to reconsider the manner in
which they implement this program that used to serve the dual purpose of
helping the farmers with their surplus and supplementing those in need. Im asking congress to revise the food
stamp program so that we limit the amount of junk food given to welfare
recipients. Our own national government is acting like a
co-dependent by allowing unhealthy foods to be available to those who are
already more prone to getting chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart
disease. Highly processed foods,
foods loaded with sugar and / or refined carbohydrates, bad fats, and sodas should
not be purchased with national tax dollars given this connection between the
foods we eat and diseases. The junk food and resulting medical conditions
also reflect a governmental fiscal-irresponsibility
since many of those who need food stamps likely also receive medical and
dental care at taxpayer expense, not to mention the human suffering of the
individual. Learn more about your health: Lifestyles & Choices Your thoughts are important to
me, so please let me know what you think about our current food
stamp program. You can send me your opinion
by clicking here: Cynthia Davis Happy Labor
Day Weekend
And just a reminder: all State and Federal offices will be closed in respect of
Labor Day, Monday, September 7, so
And
the reason? Our school year was based
upon an agrarian culture where all children were needed to work on the
farms. Since our children are no
longer essential to the survival of the family farms, there is no need to
have such a long break over the summer; however the tradition continues. A Little Bit
of Humor "If God wanted us to touch our
toes, He would have put them on our knees."
This
Capitol Report is a weekly column by Representative Cynthia Davis, from the 19th
District, covering events in the Missouri Legislature and district-wide
issues. J If
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