In the first half, emergency room doctor Jay Baruch, a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Brown University, spoke about issues and experiences inside the emergency room. The toughest part of an ER physician's work isn't the drama, the mayhem, and the blood portrayed on TV, but rather the actual getting to the heart of the patient's story-- and figuring out how to address it, he explained. Common problems of patients who come into the ER include stomach complaints, serious chest pain, injuries, substance abuse, and mental health issues. One patient, a woman living in a shelter, told him that she was "stuck in the tornado of life," a poignant phrase that he used for the title of his book.
He detailed many constraints in the ER, including interruptions by other patients, consultations with family members, having to make high-stakes decisions based on limited information, and crowding issues. Dr. Baruch coined the term "compassion confusion" to describe some of the challenges with repeat patients, often with mental illness, substance abuse, and/or homelessness. In these situations, he must weigh a decision whether to keep such a patient in a bed versus bringing in someone else from the waiting room. During the pandemic waves, there was enormous pressure and crowding in the ER with COVID patients along with those with common issues, and it was a very stressful and trying time for the medical staff, he observed.
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Astrologist and author Joy Yascone has a Master's degree in integrative health and has been an astrological counselor and coach for over 15 years. In the latter half, she talked about how to use 'divine timing' cycles to manifest our greatest intentions. She explained that the planets Jupiter and Saturn both have master teaching aspects for us-- Saturn teaches through a challenge-based reality and shines a light on what we are lacking, while Jupiter shows us where we're experiencing blessings. Her method focuses on helping people identify when they are in Saturn challenge seasons and Jupiter blessing seasons. There are 12 divine blessing seasons, she said, for every area of life, including health & wellness, and marriage, in addition to 12 challenge seasons.
With Jupiter, blessings and gifts come freely to a person, though with Saturn, everything you get has to be earned, she continued. Challenges typically require a swift response, while blessings may seem more subdued, and we may take them for granted. "It's not that we don't need to acknowledge our challenges. We do, but we also need to nourish our blessings as our challenges are being overfed and our blessings are being starved," Yascone revealed. If we nurture the blessings, we can help them become stronger and an amazing force of energy, she remarked.
News segment guests: Charles R. Smith / Sandra Champlain - Shades of the Afterlife podcast
EMERGING ARTISTS
The first Sunday of every month, George Noory presents emerging artists for some of our Bumper Music selections. Tonight, we'll hear from John Maynes (Juan Oskar), Above the Sun, Walt Perry, Davis Bell, Sara Vicemore, Phil McGovern, and Stone Horse. For more info on how to submit your original music, visit this page.