Health Information Blog

Halloween drifted by like a shadow in the hallway. Thanksgiving came and went in a cranberry haze. And in the classrooms of Fountainhead College of Technology, the first semester ground down to a difficult and welcome halt.

Yeah, it's about over. As of this writing, I've got a final exam tonight and a final exam tomorrow night.

I've written before about the disparity between linear time and experiential time; it just doesn't seem like I've been back in school since August. Now the Winter Holidays are upon us and students are about to take a three-week-long break. We need it. We're tired. Information bounces around in our brains like out-of-control bumper cars. Abbreviations, acronyms and chunks of mental pop-up text are screeching around our craniums, throwing sparks. The folks I'm in class with are droopy. Their shoulders slump forward and their brows furrow with intensity.

We're ready to wind down.

I'm hoping you get a chance to relax sometime during this holiday season. Some of the students who were here before I was are graduating this Friday. Congratulations to them, and I look forward to the day when I am one of them.

However you celebrate the Holidays (and there is more than one Holiday during this time of year), I hope you get what you need. I hope you are delighted with welcome surprises. I hope your home is filled with laughter; even it is just you, by yourself, cackling at something dumb on TV. Most of all, I hope you get the chance to just chill. Relax for a bit. Perhaps get a little introspective and focus on the good things in your life, wherever you may find them.

The New Year is coming. When January rolls around, I'll be back in class, making flash cards and learning about anatomy and physiology. But for the next little bit, I'm going to hang out with my wife. I'm going to watch my kids open their presents. And I'm not going to do much else.

I'll see you in 2012.

Club Med would like to thank all of the students, faculty, and staff here at Fountainhead College for your support and donations this semester for our bake sales and our toy collection drive.

We were able to donate lots of great toys to Toys for Tots, Mission of Hope, and also help a needy family in providing Christmas gifts for children who otherwise would not have received anything. To show our appreciation for your generosity, the Club is holding a free raffle on Tuesday, December 13. Two great prizes will be raffled in the morning classes and two in the evening classes.

Please stop by Room 1 and pick up a FREE raffle ticket to win a teddy bear or Christmas stockings full of candy, school supplies, toys, and other goodies.

Club Med supports the TN Children's Hospital for Christmas – and they will pick up tickets in the break room during the morning break.

Happy Holidays to all!

I want to send out a big congratulations to two of our students, Amanda Tinch and Kayla Churchman, both of whom are current Health Information Management students. Amanda and Kayla passed their CPC (Certified Professional Coder) examination given through the American Academy of Professional Coders.

They are the first two students from Fountainhead College to take the exam and earn the CPC credential. Way to go, ladies! All of your hard work and studying have paid off. We are very proud of you both!

Here's an interesting new tactile experience:

I'm wearing scrubs. I've never worn scrubs before. I never had a reason to. I do now, though, because we have to wear them to class. Scrubs feel weird. They feel like the clothes you put on while you're waiting to put on other clothes. They're not so much articles of clothing; they're more like slipcovers for your body.

Let's review.

Regular readers know I'm a real student here at Fountainhead (all the cool kids call it FCT), but let's talk about my program for a little minute.

Fountainhead College's Health Information Student Group, "Club Med of FCT," will host a Bake Sale this Thursday, October 27, during the student breaks throughout the day and evening. This is a fundraiser for Toys for Tots and Angel Tree to help children receive gifts this holiday season.

Please buy Raffle tickets to win a pie. A delicious pie will be raffled for both day and evening students, and the winners will be announced before the end of the last break in both day and evening classes.

So bring your sweet tooth! We will sell Cookies, Brownies, No-bake cookies, Fudge and more. Prices will be as low as .50 cents.

We want to congratulate two students who found excellent jobs recently.

Franklin Frick, one of our summer 2011 graduates from the Health Information Management program, has been hired as a Medical Coder at Team Health. Frank is also enrolled in his first semester as an online Network Security and Forensics student here at Fountainhead College, and is currently the president of Club Med, the student organization for the HIM program. Congratulations on your new career, Frank! You are going to be a very busy guy!

Governor Brown Signs AB499 Allowing Shots Without Parental Consent

A recent article in the Healthy Home Economist discusses a bill that Governor Brown of California passed into law that allows children as young as 12 to receive injections of the Human Papillomavirus, Hepatitis B, and any other STD vaccine that comes down the pike in the future.

So what's the big deal?

The 12 year old child doesn't need their parents' consent.

Yep. No parental consent. But wait! If the child gets sick or handicapped because of the drug that the parents didn't know their child allowed a physician to give, then the parents have no legal recourse against the manufacture or the physician. Our children do not need our permission to get vaccinated, our young daughters do not need their parents' permission to have an abortion, parents cannot spank their children, but yet parents are supposed to be responsible for their children?