{"id":327,"date":"2010-01-07T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/2010\/01\/07\/cold-common-sense\/"},"modified":"2010-01-07T15:55:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-07T15:55:00","slug":"cold-common-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/?p=327","title":{"rendered":"Cold & Common Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Michael braves the chill!<\/a><\/div>\n

Common Sense<\/p>\n

January 7, 2009<\/p>\n

The wind is howling, and the thermometer is dropping. The coldest temperature in ten years is predicted for tonight, so today will be spent getting ready. Every spigot, every potentially exposed pipe, a multitude of plants, and a Noah\u2019s ark of animals must be protected.<\/p>\n

And of course the Ranchers! Speaking of which, if you read the Ranch\u2019s rules dictating what Ranchers must wear at any given temperature and under what conditions, you\u2019d think we had lost our collective minds. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about common sense?\u201d you\u2019d ask. <\/p>\n

To which we might well reply in exasperation, \u201cWhat common sense!?\u201d <\/p>\n

After eight years of residency, we\u2019ve learned that the notion of \u201ccommon sense\u201d is merely wistful evidence of wishful thinking. My turtleneck, gloves, and muffler weather could well be your signal to haul out the shorts and flip-flops. <\/p>\n

So, we did what every good organization does in such circumstances. We wrote a policy, and made charts, and distributed them, and talked about them, and made dark predictions of what would happen should they be ignored. <\/p>\n

Jerry tells the story of when he interned at Mt. Hood Community College<\/a> as part of his requirements for his Ph.D. in Educational Administration<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The first day on the job, the president of the college walked into his office toting several board feet of binders, which he summarily dumped on Jerry\u2019s desk. <\/p>\n

\u201cHere,\u201d said he, \u201cis the history of human failure at Mt. Hood Community College.\u201d <\/p>\n

And so it was, and so it is, and so it ever shall be. <\/p>\n

When we came under state licensure, we came under statutes, rules, and regulations that rule out any need for common sense. It\u2019s all written down in black and white. Follow it and you\u2019ll be in good shape. <\/p>\n

And we can\u2019t disagree with 98% of it being as it\u2019s intended to protect, defend, and assist those we care for. <\/p>\n

The problem is, it\u2019s possible to be in perfect compliance with the regulations and still not be a place anybody in his right mind would want to visit, much less live. <\/p>\n

The nexus of the problem was identified several thousand years ago in the words, \u201cThe letter of the law killeth, but the spirit bringeth life.\u201d <\/p>\n

We walk a daily tightrope, following that letter and ever striving to bring life to the work we do and in many ways it\u2019s the hardest part of what we do. When it\u2019s 40 degrees, and the wind is blowing, and a resident refuses to wear a jacket, what do you do? <\/p>\n

Regulations say he has the right to make a choice and suffer the consequences. They also say we have a duty to protect him from the consequences of his disability. What do we do? <\/p>\n

Not to worry, this is a day when we will<\/em> use our common sense!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael braves the chill! Common Sense January 7, 2009 The wind is howling, and the thermometer is dropping. The coldest temperature in ten years is predicted for tonight, so today will be spent getting ready. Every spigot, every potentially exposed pipe, a multitude of plants, and a Noah\u2019s ark of animals must be protected. And…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,185,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-life","category-coping-skills","category-intellectual-disabilities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}