Let just say I had a health scare this past weekend and wound up checking myself into the Emergency room at

Strong Memorial Hospital – Rochester, NY after pain started when I had a hard sneeze. I finished the night at my Walmart security Job and then went on to my 2nd job working at the Rochester City School district as a school sentry. I made it through lunch but I was in to much pain to finish the day that’s when I decided to go see the school nurse and see what she thought. She said that if I was her she would go to the ER thats after she asked me if I was feeling nauseous, up to that point I was in to much pain to think. That until she asked me that question right then it hit me that I was nauseous and that was scary I thought I was having appendix pain after talking to the school nurse and as a safety precaution I decided to go to the ER.

The Next 12 hrs were a real eye opener to me and should be to you as well. So when I first checked myself into the ER it was around 1:30 in the afternoon and they took my info, blood pressure an vitals then told me to wait and that someone would be with me soon and about a 1/2 hr later I was called in to another waiting room inside the ER’s Rapid response hall, were I waited for about 30 minuets till they brought me into the initial examination room that had a table that I sat on and waited for the nurse to take my Vitals again but this time they also took blood as well. After talking to the nurse and residency medical doctor I was asked if I wanted pain medication I made a mistake and said I think I can wait till I talk to the doctor. I must have been put on the not so urgent to see list because I sat in that room for about 3 hrs before my dad showed up and stared to make things happen by asking questions of why its taking so long to see a doctor.

After my dad showed up I was put outside of the Rapid response hallway to wait for a room with other ER patience that took about another 2 hrs sitting in a hallway to wait for a room. Finally they called my name a thought of relief came over me. They took me to a examination room with 6 other people two people per examination area. I thought that this was just another waiting room because it did not have hospital beds just hard plastic chairs for patients to sit in to wait to be examined by the doctors.

As we were waiting to see my doctor the girl that was sitting next to me on her hard plastic chair had her ER doctor came in and proceed to do an examination on this young woman who had to be in her teen to early 20 somethings with out asking us to leave the area. I was still in pain but I decided out of respect for this young woman that I would give her privacy as that’s what Id want for myself or my child. I couldn’t believe that the doctors were going to examine this stranger in front of myself and my dad. All I can say is “Am I in the twilight zone” is this really happening in America. Yes it is an you can thank Obama Care.

This photo above is what you would expect to be placed in when you have a trip to the ER before Obama Care.

This is what you can expect to see in your initial Examination, other people in the ER room with you and a plastic chair. You can for get your rights to privacy and comfort if you voted for Obama.

I have to be thankful that my dad was with me because he spoke up on my behalf and when the doctors came in to examine me for the first time my dad said to the doctors this is ridiculous to be examined in front of other patience s that we didn’t know. He asked about my rights to privacy and about the HIPPA Laws. As soon as my dad asked about the Laws then the doctors quickly left the room and sent in my nurse again, she said that they would get me a room with an examination table and that the residency medical doctor had miss diagnosed me and sent me to the wrong room.

I have to say that this trip to the ER was much different than the 13 other times that I had gone to the ER years ago when I would dislocate my shoulder but that was before this new generation of obamacare. To me it seems that we have taken a step back and have manifested into a 3rd world class of medical care. Years ago you would go to the ER and get first class service yes you would wait just like anyone else but you would get a room asap you wouldn’t get stuck sitting in hard plastic chairs for 6 plus hours sick and in pain. Just to get an examination in front of complete strangers, my dad was correct that is ridiculous and unacceptable. We as the American people should demand better and stop voting for the Communist Socialist Party’s like the Democrats and Republicans that keep moving us closer to a Communist Governmental System or you to can expect to lose your rights and privacy like they tried with me in that examination room.

I have to say all the people at the hospital working were kind and professional to the highest degree expect when it came to the initial examination that they tried to do in front of other strangers. I know how hard these people work because I spent ten years in the Medical field myself and understand the great pressure they are under to preform at such high standards. The problems that I see are coming from the State and the insurance company’s that cover medical treatments. I’m just thankful that my visit to the ER turned out to be just a infection and inflammation that can be treated with antibiotics. So after about 12 hrs I was released to go home and given the weekend off of work and I spent that time recovering and with my baby Girl Ella.

Miss Holocaust 2012

Posted by Liam McGonagle on June 29, 2012

Pure class. I wonder how the acceptance speeches went? ” . . . and most of all, without whom none of this would have been possible, I’d like to thank . . . ” From Haaretz:

Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel’s first “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel’s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group. “I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.”

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

Out of darkness, into light: Israeli pageant crowns Miss Holocaust Survivor

Pageant organizer rejects criticism against event, says winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival.

By The Associated Press | Jun.29, 2012 | 11:31 AM

Miss Holocaust Survivor pageant, Haifa, June 28, 2012. Photo by Gil Cohen-Magen

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Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel’s first “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel’s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group. “I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.”

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

“They feel good together. They are having a good time and laughing in the rehearsals,” said Sabag, director of Yad Ezer L’Haver, or Helping Hand, which assists needy Holocaust survivors and organized the pageant.

“The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it’s a good idea.”

Nearly 300 women from across Israel registered for the competition and contestants were whittled down to the 14 finalists who appeared Thursday.

Contestants at the Miss Holocaust Survivor pageant in Haifa, June 28, 2012.Gil Cohen-Magen

The contest, part of Helping Hand’s annual “cultural” night, included a lavish dinner and music at a Haifa reception hall. Some 600 people attended, including two Cabinet ministers, Moshe Kahlon and Yossi Peled, himself a Holocaust survivor.

The women, ranging in age from 74 to 97, clearly enjoyed themselves. Wearing black dresses, earrings and necklaces, and sporting blue-and-white numbered sashes, they grinned and waved as they were introduced to the adoring audience. Music played as the contestants walked along a red carpet, introduced themselves and described their memories of World War II.

“I have the privilege to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate us and we are alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it’s that way,” said Esther Libber, a 74-year-old runner-up who fled her home in Poland as a child, hid in a forest and was rescued by a Polish woman. She said she lost her entire immediate family.

A four-judge panel consisting of three former beauty queens and a geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors chose the winner. Hava Hershkovitz, a soon-to-be 79-year-old, was banished from her home in Romania in 1941 and sent to a detention camp in the Soviet Union for three years. Today, she lives in an assisted living home run by Helping Hand.
“This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the center of attention so people will care. It’s not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest, but we’re all doing it to show that we’re still here,” the silver-haired Hershkovitz said.

Wearing a glittering tiara, she was joined by her granddaughter, Keren Hazan. “I’m very proud of her because she’s the most beautiful woman in the room tonight,” Hazan said.

In addition to the contestants’ accounts of surviving Nazi ghettos and concentration camps, their later contributions to their communities were also considered, Sabag said. Physical appearance was maybe “10 percent” of the criteria, he said, though a cosmetics company was recruited to help the women dress up for the occasion.

“We always tell them to dress well and look good. To think positive and to take care of themselves,” Sabag said. “Always look at life with a smile and continue to live.”

The thought that physical appearance could even remotely be a factor rubbed some the wrong way. Avital, of the Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group, criticized the cosmetics company, saying it was using Holocaust survivors in a cheap marketing stunt to promote their products.

“Why use a beauty contest to show that these people survived and that they’re brave?” wondered Lili Haber, a daughter of Holocaust survivors who heads an Israeli organization that assists survivors from Poland. “I think it’s awful. I think it’s something a decent person shouldn’t even think about.”

The Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany oversaw the systematic slaughter of 6 million European Jews, plays a unique role in Israeli society. The country gained independence in the wake of the Holocaust, serving as a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people who survived the genocide.

Nearly 200,000 aging survivors live in Israel today, and the country’s annual Holocaust Day is one of the most solemn occasions on the calendar. Restaurants and cinemas close, and the country comes to a standstill as sirens wail for two minutes. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently make references to the Holocaust when discussing the threat they believe a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the Jewish state.

Thursday’s contest was among the many unconventional beauty pageants that have sprouted up over the years. The war-torn countries of Angola and Cambodia have held “Miss Landmine” contests for survivors of land mine explosions, Star Trek fans enjoy the “Miss Klingon Empire” contest in Atlanta, and plus-sized women in Thailand compete for the honor of “Miss Jumbo Queen.” There are also a senior citizens’ pageants in the U.S.

Gal Mor, editor of the popular Israeli blog “Holes in the Net,” said Thursday’s pageant was well-intentioned but misguided.

“Why should a decayed, competitive institution that emphasizes women’s appearance be used as inspiration, instead of allowing them to tell their story without gimmicks?” he wrote. “This is one step short of ‘Survivor-Holocaust’ or ‘Big Brother Auschwitz.’ It leaves a bad taste. Holocaust survivors should be above all this.”