We are a few weeks away from embarking on a massive medical experiment on our most vulnerable citizens: our children; knowingly sending them into harm’s way when school starts, & sitting by watching & waiting to see which survive. A modern Hunger Games, played out in real time. I shouldn’t be surprised after children were gunned down at Sandy Hook & we couldn’t find the will to make changes to prevent future tragedies. Even my fellow Dems argue about enacting gun laws. In my Congressional race, half of the Dem candidates opposed assault weapons bans.

I’ve long been a fan and follower of @RevDrBarber. I campaigned on many of his policies when I ran for Congress. I do not take what I am about to say lightly.

I’m pleading with you to postpone your event in Williamson and Travis counties next week.

1/9 I cannot think of another contemporary leader I would like better to meet than @RevDrBarber, and to know that he will be in my county next week, when I could meet and hear from him directly is thrilling.

But.

2/9

I had an interesting meeting with my supervisor at work. He told me two things:

1. I have one of the highest quality measures scores in our area. This is based on things like # of patients getting preventive care, # of patients with their chronic diseases controlled, etc 2. That my schedule will be changed in two weeks, to a schedule that *reduces* the time I am allotted to spend with each patient, because I’m not seeing a high enough volume (ie not generating enough money).

This is illustrative of how things work in healthcare these days.

I’m seeing a lot about this story alleging that women in ICE detention were given hysterectomies without consent or necessity.

This is consistent with what I saw when I volunteered at a clinic that cared for immigrants who had been in CBP custody

1/6

lawandcrime.com/high-profile/l… The clinic in Laredo sprang up in 2019 to care for immigrants who came out of border detention facilities run by CBP and who were left stranded without money, food, or shelter. Local advocates worked to get these immigrants brought to their new clinic and shelter.

2/6

This line from the story: “The media campaign to hold Mr. Trump solely responsible for the harm from Covid-19 is rank political opportunism. Voters should ignore the campaign and judge the whole record.” begs for a response. THREAD wsj.com/articles/woodw… First of all, you need to hire someone, anyone, with some sort of public health, science, or medical background to stop you when you think about talking about a public health, science, or medical issue. Maybe they could keep you from making fools of yourselves. 2/

Some medical advice for protesters today.

1. Write your name, date of birth, and your emergency contact phone number on your arms in sharpie. If you are incoherent or incapacitated, medical personnel will need this info. Make sure your emergency contact knows you are going. 2. Take a one day supply of your medication with you in case you are arrested.
3. If you have a serious medical problem and cannot be without your medication for a day, don’t go.

Something I’ve been trying to articulate; my friend posted this. These are her friend’s words, copied and pasted.

“Some of you may find it easy to look at the events of today and think they are all the same thing.

They are not. There were three different groups on the streets of American cities today, and later tonight.

1. Demonstrators against recent grave injustices, and against a long history of racism.

I’ve been asked to make a statement as someone running for office about what I think about the rioting and looting in Minnesota and in other locations across the country. I’ve already spoken about what I think about the murder of George Floyd.

1/8 Here’s what I think about the rioting and looting:

I’m enraged by the murder of a black man who was restrained and compliant.

Buildings can be replaced. His life cannot. That’s the outrage.

2/8

Before You Put On That Mask

I get it. You want to do *anything* you can to prevent the spread of this virus to you and your loved ones.

But before you put it on, PLEASE keep the following in mind:

(10 points) 1. Most importantly, wearing a mask does not in any way substitute for staying home. Staying home is BY FAR the best thing you can do to slow the spread of the virus. Do not think that you can now do non-essential activities because you are wearing a mask. Stay home.

Dear Bell County Judge Blackburn

Have you ever intubated a patient?

Have you ever stood by the bedside watching your patient struggled to breathe as their lungs filled with fluid?

#TX31

https://twitter.com/_jacob_sanchez/status/1243616479037329409

Have you ever had them try to yank your hands away as you try to save them with a breathing tube and a ventilator? Have you ever had to tie their hands to the bed rails to keep them from pulling their breathing tube out?

#TX31

There seems to be a lot of confusion and misinformation about the idea of hydroxychloroquinine and azithromycin for treating #COVID19

A thread. This idea started because of a very small study published in France that showed apparent benefit from the drug combination. Similar reports have come out of China.

mediterranee-infection.com/hydroxychloroq…

I appreciate my opponent in #TX31 taking a moment to address concerns about #Coronavirus; however, his article misses the mark in discussing why there is real concern within the medical community.

1/8

statesman.com/opinion/202003… First of all, no one has asserted that the President has defunded the CDC.

But what @JudgeCarter fails to mention is that the President *did* dismantle the US Pandemic Response team to save money. That is the applicable issue here.

2/8

Another long thread about what’s happening to asylum seekers at the border.

I went to Mexico yesterday to see if I could find the missing migrants who were not showing up at the shelter and clinic in Laredo. I decided I needed to be on that side to bear witness. To recap: I’ve been volunteering this week at the LaFrontera Immigrant Shelter and Clinic in Laredo. For a few months, CBP has brought up to 200 immigrants a day for respite before leaving to stay with their sponsors. Then in the last week: almost no migrants were dropped off.

No one likes long threads, but y’all need to know the latest from Laredo. I’m here volunteering at an immigrant clinic and shelter that was set up ad hoc by the local Catholic Church under the auspices of Catholic Charities. They have taken in almost 20,000 people since May. They were able to convince CBP to bring migrants to the shelter instead of just dropping them at the bus station, which is what they were doing: dropping them off with no money, food, water, phone. The church heard about it and convinced CBP to bring them here.

Y’all, they’re here. Pre-existing condition denials are here.

It’s been years since I had to fill out a pre-existing condition form for my patients. I received one today.

Here’s what happens: 1/9 In addition to the questionnaires that you fill out when you apply for healthcare coverage, insurance companies send doctors questionnaires about you. We have to list diagnoses, lab results, medications, consultants, etc., in an attempt to avoid paying for your medical care. 2/9

Today, @JudgeJohnCarter held his first Town Hall meeting in years. Maybe his motivation was that he almost lost his seat in 2018. Who knows. Anyway, it was barely publicized and was not on his FB page or website. We found out about it by chance. #TX31 1/10 We had no problems getting in and asking our questions. Here are a few highlights. 2/10

1/ I’ve been thinking a lot about the President’s “shithole” comments and how I feel about them. And how I feel is sad. Here’s why: 2/ Meet the C. D. Fulkes Middle School Choir. Look at this picture. See their faces.