Auld Lang Syne and Into A New Year…

I hope all had a very Merry Christmas and that you are now looking ahead optimistically to the New Year. As we reflect on the year past and celebrate the new, there are many traditions we tend to follow in America. Many of us wear party hats, blow horns, toast champagne, throw confetti, watch the ball drop at Times Square in New York or bang pots and pans at the stroke of midnight, when the new year begins. For good luck, an old Irish tradition is to eat black-eyed peas or cabbage on January 1st. New Year's Day is a recognized national holiday and offices are closed, families gather for more holiday cheer. The song, Auld Lang Syne, which is traditionally played all over the world on New Year’s is a melody that’s recognizable everywhere, albeit, I know of no one who ever learned the lyrics. For you history buffs, some sources say the song was written Robert Burns in the 1700's, with other reports suggesting that an earlier rendition was composed prior to 1700. The song is Scottish and the song title literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."

While we look anew to the year ahead, we also reflect on old friends and the past and what it has meant to us. 2008 was a difficult year for many…I personally know several families who have a beloved overseas at war, there are those struck by misfortune: economic effects of war, high gas prices, stock market declines, hurricanes, lay-offs and down-sizing, not to mention any personal hardships experienced. My heart extends to you. We have all watched headline news and have had to put life in perspective, some making some pretty significant life changes to adjust to new demands or crises. Whatever held us back in 2008, we must certainly move forward bravely and with hope and faith, personally and professionally.

For Trident Health Resources, Inc., we remain fiscally strong into 2009 with continuing hopes of growing our business base and constantly improving our technology and processes at our existing accounts. Our future is bright and it is dependent on good people, which we pride ourselves on selection and retention of the best. This Spring we will acknowledge the entrance of Trident’s 21st year in business under the same ownership. It wasn’t luck that brought us this far along. We got here because of consistency, a patient-first attitude and the experience to respond quickly and effectively to our hospitals’ needs for perfusion staffing and equipment. We work in partnership with our clients.

Your readership here is appreciated! If you haven’t visited our website for a while, please check out www.tridenthealth.com as well as our sister site, www.perfusioncommunity.com. We stay on top of the marketplace and post the latest in news and job opportunities for those in the perfusion industry. We’ll certainly be busy continuing to do so through 2009. I’m personally excited about our direction for the new year and I hope you’ll visit this blog frequently and comment often.

Wishing you and yours a Very Happy New Year.

Ralph E. Jordan
CEO & President
Trident Health Resources, Inc.

A Question of Inclusion or Exclusion: State Licensing and the AmSect Government Relations Committee (GRC) Position

There continues to be a major problem with AmSect’s desire for state mandated professional licensure of all perfusionists. I'd like to call attention to the fact that there is, at present, no workable, fair or real reciprocity between states in the licensing of Perfusionists, even though the GRC claims this to be fact. In the event of a medical emergency, this is a serious situation.

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To illuminate the problem, here is a case in point: I received a telephone call one Friday afternoon that an ECMO Team was immediately needed in Texas to monitor a baby girl. All my Texas travelers were on assignment and unable to fill the need. In response, however, I inquired at the Texas state's licensing office about any provision in the law for quick licensing for emergencies. My Perfusion staff licensed from other parts of the country could be credentialed, but unfortunately state licensing for an emergent situation in Texas had no provisions, or so I was told. NOTE: The same response was given in MO, TN, and GA when we experienced similar situations in past years.

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Several state licensing offices charge upwards of $400 to $700 per license annually and yet they are clueless about what a Perfusionist is or does, nor do they seem to care. That is, if you can locate them.

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In the case of the Texas ECMO baby, patient care suffered and unfortunately there was a negative outcome. I wish I could report that this was a one-time occurrence, but we have experienced similar events a multitude of times over the years as we tried to be of assistance to hospitals and perfusion colleagues who reached out to us. We appealed to the Government Relations Committee through a friend and an associate who was a member and who presented the case in 2007.

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The issue has been a point of contention for years for many perfusionist who are sole proprietors and for contract companies like Trident, which provide locum tenens services on a national scale.

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When individual states put their regulations together, supported and directed by AmSect, I wonder: Were they thinking more of exclusion than inclusion? Less about patient-focused care or rights of patients? Is the public welfare served by this endeavor? There are many good reasons to have licensure, but to me, it just doesn’t seem that the support from AmSect has been thought out to include all services, especially emergent care that is readily available from providers like Trident.

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We approached AmSect about the problem and the response, in my opinion, was idealistic, lacking expansive thought and bordering on irresponsible . That reply is posted here:

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CLICK HERE for AmSect’s Response

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I don't want to make this issue about contract companies such as Trident versus hospital-based or instate perfusion groups, but this protect your turf mentality is not only short-sighted and paranoid, but goes against the precepts of inclusion. I would be interested to hear reader thoughts and any experiences you've had as a contractor or other perfusion providers concerning this topic.

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This problem is not isolated or regional. It is nationwide. My question is, Where is the leadership? Or, is this the harbinger for new thought for establishing another (more enlightened) organization that will truly support what perfusion and care of the patient is all about?

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Inclusion or Exclusion? What's your take on this? Oh, by the way, and for the record... We haven’t even touched upon the concept of free enterprise or the restriction of trade or how the public good is served by this endeavor.

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Please post comments here or email me directly.

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RALPH E. JORDAN

CEO & President

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Several years following President John F. Kennedy’s death, a poet named Kathryn Kay received a phone call from a congressional lobbyist who told her that her poem "Thanksgiving Prayer" was the inspiration for the President’s most famous quote: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." He told her that President Kennedy was moved by a poem he had heard on a radio show on Thanksgiving in 1940 which "stuck with him." At the time, Kennedy was 23 years old, just starting his career, and a recent Harvard graduate.

The Lobbyist told Miss Kay that it was her poem which inspired the president because it was heard across the country on Thanksgiving, and the meaning behind the words were quite similar to Kennedy’s expression--specifically, the poem’s ending in a prayer, "God, help me make America as proud that I am hers—as I am proud, and grateful she is mine!"

While the story is considered a legend and not part of the history books, I thought that I’d share with you the Thanksgiving Prayer by Kathryn Kay as it was read in 1940, allegedly inspiring President Kennedy.

Thanksgiving Prayer

God, ev'ry year about this time,

according to routine,

I've bowed my head in the accepted way

and offered thanks, like some well synchronized machine

that prayed because it was the time to pray.

But, God, this year is different, this year I seem to feel

America's Thanksgiving is my own,

that in my nation's gratitude I have a part that's real,

a part that until now I've never known.

And, God, this year a deep humility has filled my heart,

a newborn pride rings true thruout my soul

because I do belong, because I have and am a part,

a tiny part of one tremendous whole.

I think I know the feeling of those first Americans

who said, "We must give thanks for this, our land."

I cherish now the rights that are each woman's, ev'ry man's,

the rights I've just begun to understand.

This year my heart has learned what all Thanksgiving Days are for,

true thankfulness at last I realize,

but, God, I'm sorry that it took the tragedy of war

in other lands to open up my eyes.

Again I bow my head but this time deep within me stirs

a mighty prayer, part of one vast design,

"God, help me make America as proud that I am hers—

as I am proud, and grateful she is mine!"

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Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!

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Ralph E. Jordan

President & CEO

Trident Health Resources, Inc.

The Wars are Finally Over.

Much has been said about the OBama Victory. As impressive as it was, especially for those jubilant voters under the age of 39 ( young professionals, students, minorities, and less hard core ideologues than one would imagine ), who usually are apathetic and not too interested or impressed with what has become a very divided and partisan society. It's as if our country was comprised of two tribes jockeying for position... one blue, one red.

When stepping back and trying to be as pragmatic as one can be with the cold realization that my team did not triumph, I try to imagine what if... but nothing comes up... trying to sound brave doesn't get it when one has a heavy heart... and no excuses for rightful failure. Da gum those words... those sentiments... that indomitable spirit... that righteous wind... that soaring rhetoric... it does mesmerize. The fellow was standing there almost messianic all by himself with thousands and thousands of delirious disciples enraptured, as if they were experiencing the aura of a beatific vision. And I was spellbound as well... even if only for a moment...

The old guard civil rights activists with tears streaming down their faces... a popular and universally respected icon wearing purple (reminiscent of the title of her debut film).. students literally jumping for joy both in Grant Park and Lafayette Park across from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue... It almost causes one to doubt the old ways of tribal warfare.

What will happen after his ascension to the presidency will soon be determined. But this historic night would be lost if we did not pause and take in the importance of what actually happened. This country actually elected a man of color ... to be president. Just think about it.


Like my 5 year old granddaughter says when something she thinks is cool ..." it's awesome, Papa."

We know this is a good Country. We know this is a Country where everyone around the world wants to come for its freedoms and opportunities. The Country has sacrificed its young in so many ways in the name of freedom... freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of religion... But who would have thought this would actually happen less than 60 years from the tumultuous times prior to the passing of the Civil Rights Act?

This is truly a good Country in spite of all its blemishes. But there's more. In my discernment over the loss of my team, I reconciled myself to the fact that my vote was even more significant. It was a vote that ended all those wars we have been fighting in my lifetime. The war of hate, the war of prejudice, the wars of inequality, the Civil War or, as some of my long ago college classmates would say...The War of Northern Aggression..., the Vietnam War ...Johnson's war...the politicians' war..., the war between the classes--all obliterated with one single vote...

My vote was to honor my fallen comrades from the Vietnam era. My vote was a vote for them. This new generation doesn't know... doesn't remember... what we went through and what we sacrificed. They didn't bathe in the warmth of a genuinely good man who brought many of us together in the person of Ronald Reagan. That was MY team.

And the ones that followed really blew it. And subsequently, out of the ashes of their greed and corruption sprang this energetic Phoenix. And in his triumphant ascendency, he has shattered every myth and every war that has personally plagued us for such a long time.

He is now the president-elect..."our" president. And I wish him well and will support him any way possible; I will disagree with him when I think he is on the wrong track. But instead of judging harshly or criticizing bitterly I will nudge compassionately and hope to God my team can get it together for the next go-around.

The Wars are finally over and that is a good thing. Now, there are no more excuses for bad behavior...

Ralph E. Jordan

Morning of November 5th 2008

Who Should Be President? Military Poll Results

Military Times recently compiled results of a Military Personnel Election Poll, which I found quite interesting. Here are the Results, but do click on the link for the extensive charts and details if you'd like more information.

Ralph E. Jordan
CEO & President

Interesting Thoughts from Charles Krauthammer

This article appeared earlier in the week and I thought I'd share it... Charles Krauthammer is a Pulitzer Prize winner and is considered a fair-minded and brilliant intellectual. He writes a nationally syndicated column for the Washington Post, which appears in more tha 150 newspapers across the country.

I've included his BIO below.

Ralph E. Jordan
CEO & President

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October 24, 2008, 0:00 a.m.

McCain Gets My Vote

I’m for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb.

By Charles Krauthammer

Contrarian that I am, I’m voting for John McCain. I’m not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it’s over before it’s over. I’m talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they’re left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.

I stand athwart the rush of conservative ship-jumpers of every stripe — neo (Ken Adelman), moderate (Colin Powell), genetic/ironic (Christopher Buckley) and socialist/atheist (Christopher Hitchens) — yelling “Stop!” I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I’d rather lose an election than lose my bearings.

First, I’ll have no truck with the phony case ginned up to rationalize voting for the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory. The “erratic” temperament issue, for example. As if McCain’s risky and unsuccessful but in no way irrational attempt to tactically maneuver his way through the economic tsunami that came crashing down a month ago renders unfit for office a man who demonstrated the most admirable equanimity and courage in the face of unimaginable pressures as a prisoner of war, and who later steadily navigated innumerable challenges and setbacks, not the least of which was the collapse of his campaign just a year ago.

McCain the “erratic” is a cheap Obama talking point. The 40-year record testifies to McCain the stalwart.

Nor will I countenance the “dirty campaign” pretense. The double standard here is stunning. Obama ran a scurrilous Spanish-language ad falsely associating McCain with anti-Hispanic slurs. Another ad falsely claimed McCain supports “cutting Social Security benefits in half.” And for months Democrats insisted that McCain sought 100 years of war in Iraq.

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McCain’s critics are offended that he raised the issue of William Ayers. What’s astonishing is that Obama was himself not offended by William Ayers.

Moreover, the most remarkable of all tactical choices of this election season is the attack that never was. Out of extreme (and unnecessary) conscientiousness, McCain refused to raise the legitimate issue of Obama’s most egregious association — with the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Dirty campaigning, indeed.

The case for McCain is straightforward. The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic, soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere.

Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who’s been cramming on these issues for the last year, who’s never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign-policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism (e.g., the Berlin Wall came down because of “a world that stands as one”), and who refers to the most deliberate act of war since Pearl Harbor as “the tragedy of 9/11,” a term more appropriate for a bus accident?

Or do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign-policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts, but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory?

There’s just no comparison. Obama’s own running mate warned this week that Obama’s youth and inexperience will invite a crisis — indeed a crisis “generated” precisely to test him. Can you be serious about national security and vote on November 4 to invite that test?

And how will he pass it? Well, how has he fared on the only two significant foreign policy tests he has faced since he’s been in the Senate? The first was the surge. Obama failed spectacularly. He not only opposed it. He tried to denigrate it, stop it, and — finally — deny its success.

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The second test was Georgia, to which Obama responded instinctively with evenhanded moral equivalence, urging restraint on both sides. McCain did not have to consult his advisers to instantly identify the aggressor.

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Today’s economic crisis, like every other in our history, will in time pass. But the barbarians will still be at the gates. Whom do you want on the parapet? I’m for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb.

— Charles Krauthammer is a nationally syndicated columnist.

© 2008, The Washington Post Writers Group

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Charles Krauthammer's Biography

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Charles Krauthammer, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, writes a nationally syndicated column for The Washington Post Writers Group. Krauthammer, also winner of the 1984 National Magazine Award for essays, began writing the weekly column for The Washington Post in January 1985. It now appears in more than 150 newspapers.

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The late Meg Greenfield, longtime editorial page editor of The Washington Post, called Krauthammer's column "independent and hard to peg politically. It's a very tough column. There's no 'trendy' in it. You never know what is going to happen next."

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Says Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor of The Washington Post: "Krauthammer's weekly essays on the war on terrorism, bioethics, the Middle East and other complex and contentious issues cut through the cant and the muddy thinking in a way that many other columnists can only envy."

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A column, says Krauthammer, is not just politics. "My beat is ideas, everything from the ethics of cloning to strategy in Iraq. I also do public service, like reading Stephen Hawking's books and assuring my readers that 'It is not you. They are entirely incomprehensible.'"

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Krauthammer was born in New York City and raised in Montreal. He was educated at McGill University, majoring in political science and economics, Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. in 1975). He practiced medicine for three years as a resident and then chief resident in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

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In 1978, he quit medical practice, came to Washington to direct planning in psychiatric research for the Carter administration, and began contributing articles to The New Republic. During the presidential campaign of 1980, he served as a speech writer to Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined The New Republic as a writer and editor in 1981. He writes regular essays for Time magazine and contributes to several other publications, including The Weekly Standard, The New Republic and The National Interest. He has been honored by many organizations, from the Center for Security Policy (Mighty Pen Award) to People for the American Way (First Amendment Award). In 2003, he was a recipient of the first annual Bradley Prize. In 2004, he was honored by the American Enterprise Institute with the Irving Kristol Award.

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Krauthammer lives in suburban Washington with his wife Robyn, an artist. Their son is a student at Harvard.

What a Week Last Week Was...

The Tampa Rays won (before they lost 2 in a row) in the World Series. The Tampa Bay Bucs also were victorious (before they lost to Dallas...but this was all news from last week). As a die-hard sports fan, these events, alone, might have been enough to make for a great week last week, but then this week came along. (I'm just hoping next week will be a repetition of last week, not this week...as it relates to victory).

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Over the last weekend I was sitting out in my lanai (back porch in Florida , for those of you from Loma Linda) returning a few business phone calls. A lady we flew into an area where we have an account decided she wanted to live in a more urban location and would not be coming to work for us. Bummer, she was a great candidate...I was a bit disappointed until... to my pleasant surprise, an emailed resume’ came across my Blackberry. I phoned the applicant, a perfusionist in Texas, who originated from the town where we had the new account. She indicated she was interested in moving back home...hooray!!

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After a telephone interview, I was impressed by the candidate and suggested she speak to our Chief and if he thought it would be appropriate and felt that she would be a good candidate that she consider a trip to visit us and meet the administration and surgeons. She was going to get back with me after speaking with our Chief and her boss about getting some time off. She phoned back a little later to say she had a great conversation with our Chief and that he asked her to visit and she received clearance from her boss to take the trip but it had to be today. We were able to make flight arrangements and scheduled a meeting with our staff, the administration and our surgeons and by 5 PM that day, she was on a plane. She was interviewed, saw a case, she loved the people and they loved her. Her references were glowing and we hired her. Hooray! Hooray!

So, one door closes...the good candidate who declined our offer...another door opens. And the week wrapped up in Victory ! I was happy for the Rays...as well as for the Bucs...and I was delighted we hired a really top notch person for Trident. You know...sometimes you think that if you try hard enough and have hope that good things will happen. And they usually do...however…as you know, it takes a lot of effort.

Just wanted to share with you a brief moment of joy...even with this ridiculous Bail Out and the greed and corruption on Wall Street and Congress...we must keep our faith and hope alive. Do discern and think clearly and rationally about this very important election coming up in less than 10 days. My Dad use to tell me, “Buy only things you can afford...and you are judged by the company you keep...” But then, he was inspired by Jack Kennedy...and he voted for him. He was a Roosevelt Democrat (Great Depression influence) and I was a Goldwater Republican now almost Libertarian...less Government and let the system work as it is suppose to work.

Do we, as a Country and a Society, have an obligation to help our fellow citizens? I think we do and I think it should be up to each of us to do what we can to help those in need. I don't think it's the government's duty to mandate any of us to do that which we can do ourselves on our own volition. That redistribution of the wealth comment made to Joe the Plumber could prove to most of the intuitive hard working citizens of this Country, especially those who own or work for a privately owned business, a harbinger of what we might expect from an Obama Presidency. Yet this young fellow does inspire. I am too old and too cynical and have too much experience to be taken in by the glib arrogance and velvet tongue of a well meaning anti-capitalist, who's far left pronouncements are as disturbing as the whacko nuttiness of the far far right...what a difficult decision for some. Check your heart and your head; be sure of the facts and do not be influenced by the crazy opinions of others...and do not be swayed by the liberal left leaning and unfair 4th Estate...but vote! It will be the most important vote of your lifetime to date... for you, your children and their children.

Ralph Jordan
President & CEO