I always love the Holidays and Memorial Day is no different. I love the idea of looking back at those people who have since passed on. I love repeating the memories and stories of these people and remembering the lessons they taught us. Plus, I love to honor the troops who make everything we have possible.

In a recent call with my mother we of coursed talked about the progress of my blogs and the Healthcare Scene blog network. My mother has very little technical prowess and is one of those people who feels a little bit scared and nervous to use technology. I think she still thinks she’s going to break something and so she sticks to her same routines every time she’s on the computer. So, needless to say, she doesn’t have a great understanding of what I really do. She understands that they’re websites and somehow I make money from advertisers on the site. That’s alright by me, her 5th grade students are lucky to have her as a teacher.

In my conversation with my mom wondered what type of conversation my grandfather and I would have if he was still around. My grandfather is someone that I knew very well, loved deeply, and I even lived and worked (in their massive yard) with him and my grandmother for a summer. Before he retired he worked with radiology equipment. I believe he’d go around to doctors offices, hospitals, etc and sale them radiology equipment.

I can imagine he’d be amazed at the advancements that have been made with digital imagining in radiology. I’m sure we could have some interesting conversations about the potential for transferring digital images electronically, storing those images in a PHR, and other related PACS technology. I imagine he’d be amazed at how far we’ve come since he was working in the field. Certainly we still have a long ways to go, but looking at it this way I have to appreciate the technological advancements we’ve made.

My brother David (who has been writing on EMR News, Smart Phone Healthcare, EMR Screenshots and EMR videos) is in the process of becoming a pilot in the Air Force. He’s always wanted to be a pilot and so I’m really happy that he’s getting the chance to live his dream.

I honor him and all of our military troops who allow us to have the freedoms we have. It’s sad to think that in some countries a blog like this (or at least other blogs) might not be possible or might be filtered. We’re lucky to live in a land where freedom of expression is not only accepted, but encouraged.

My brother, David, posted the following status on his Facebook page:
“Instead of focusing on having a long weekend or that SWEET deal at the store, try doing something that a Marine/Sailor/Soldier/Airmen who gave the ultimate sacrifice can no longer do – in THEIR memory. Go for a walk and enjoy your family because somebody has given their life so that YOU can still enjoy this precious luxury that we often take for granted. Thank you to those who have served or are currently serving.”

On that note, I’m going to go take my wife and kids out on a hike, or throw a dance party, or something fun in honor of all those troops who’ve sacrificed so that we could have that right. I hope you do the same this Memorial Day.

In honor of Memorial Day, I took the weekend off. This ended up being a good thing since Saturday evening I was feeling quite sick. What a way to spend my time off, no? Not that any of you really care too much. However, I thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone noticed that no new posts were created.

I also think it’s worth taking a second to honor our troops on this Memorial Day. I was able to enjoy a couple of really nice Memorial Day programs this weekend and it really helped me appreciate all that our troops do and have done to protect our country. One thought that stood out to me was a veteran of one of the World Wars talking about how people are so up in arms about the about 2000 lives lost in the current war. This veteran then went on to describe how in the World Wars more than 2000 lives were often lost in a day or two. Of course, any life lost is too many, but it illustrated the extreme sacrifice that so many people made to give us the freedom we enjoy today.

I want to also honor my brother who is a marine. I’m really grateful that he’s willing to serve our country. It’s a pretty ugly world out there and sometimes we forget how lucky we are to live in relative peace. I guess if the worst thing we have to deal with is CCHIT, then we’re doing pretty good.

On that note, I saw an interesting article talking about the CCHIT 2009-2010 plans. I won’t repeat what the article says, but all I can say is that it’s going to be a really interesting next 6 months in the healthcare IT world. I really wish I could hear some of the internal conversations that will be had by David Blumenthal, HHS, CCHIT, etc.