How Valentines Day 2011 was Honored by President Obama, a few Americans of Compassion and This Citizen of Conscience

“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Back row L to R: Madison Hinton, Annamarie Carlson, Rachel Bogdan, Katie Powell, Kelly Moss, Brittany Fornoff. Kneeling in front Patrick Jaco Roberts & Cisco.

(WINTER PARK Fla.) - President Obama broke my heart again-this time on Valentine's Day 2011 when he sent his 2012 ‘budget’ request to Congress, which adds to our current debt of $14 trillion and Obama’s $3.7 Trillion Budget Calls for Military Spending Increases and Deep Cuts to Social Service Programs:

Visit Obama’s $3.7 Trillion Budget Calls for Military Spending Increases and Deep Cuts to Social Service Programs by DemocracyNow.org to learn more.

No surprise that he also included a request for $3.075 billion in military aid to Israel.

It is heartbreaking that good Americans are unaware that Israel has consistently misused U.S. Made weapons in violation of America’s Arms Export and Control and Foreign Assistance Acts.

The sad truth is that we the people who pay taxes are complicit in policies that deny the indigenous people equality and freedom in the land many call Holy!

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The good people at Nuclear Watch New Mexico have also been working diligently to help educate we the people about much needed facts regarding FY 2012 funding levels for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons programs, which can be downloaded here: Funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Weapons Complex - nukewatch.org

A few of those facts:

• In contrast to his rhetoric about a future nuclear weapons-free world, Obama’s FY 2012 request for NNSA “Total Weapons Activities” for nuclear weapons research and production is $7.6 billion, 8.4% above his FY 2011 request and 19% above his FY 2010 request.

• The “Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement Project” (CMRR)) in direct support of increased plutonium pit production capability at Los Alamos is now estimated to cost more than $6 billion. Nevertheless, final costs are still “TBD” (to be determined). The FY 2012 request for CMRR is $300 million, up 33% from $225 million in FY 2011 and more than triple the FY 2010 appropriation of $97 million. This is despite the fact that design costs for the CMRR’s huge “Nuclear Facility” are still not determined for FY 2011, much less for the FY 2012 request (both fiscal year’s design cost are still literally “TBD”).

• Funding for a new “Uranium Processing Facility” (UPF) for production of thermonuclear secondaries at the Y-12 production plant near Oak Park Ridge, TN, is proposed to increase to $160.2 million from $115 million in FY 2011 (+39%). However, its big money is in the following three consecutive years, climbing to $350 million by 2014 (triple FY 2011 funding). In all the UPF is now estimated to cost up to $6.5 billion, but final costs are still listed as “TBD.”

• Obama’s FY 2012 budget request creates a new Life Extension Program (LEP) for the B61 warhead funded at $223.6 million, even though that gravity bomb’s original mission of forward deployment in Europe against a Soviet threat has long since vanished. Under “Stockpile Systems” a LEP feasibility study is funded at $51.08 million (almost double FY 2011) for the W78 ICBM warhead.

Life Extension Programs extend the service lives of existing nuclear weapons for three decades or more, in contradiction to our declared national security goal of a future world free of nuclear weapons, and may also endow them with new military capabilities, despite official denials at the highest levels of U.S. government. Life Extension Programs may also undermine sound national security by introducing major changes to an existing nuclear weapons stockpile that has been extensively tested and is known to be reliable.

I always think globally, but I also act locally and so, I spent my Valentine’s Day in a Home populated by many who will never leave it which is staffed by committed people of compassion and visited by neighbors who brought more love in.

In these days of managed care and mismanaged facilities, being married to a man 16 years my senior and as the only sibling in the state whose father suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease and whose mother is a four year survivor of a cancer that was misdiagnosed for over eight months; it was with fear and trembling that I entered into The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center, in Winter Park, Florida, to learn what makes a facility a home.

I was greeted at the reception desk with a big smile from Lilly, and then made my way to the activities room, which doubles as the dining room. “Culture Mix” was setting up and I learned from Jaco on lead guitar and Cisco on bass that this Valentine’s Day was their first visit and that they came, “To bring the love in” and they played reggae and island sounds for three hours without taking a break.

For most of the residents, The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center, will be their final address, but Jim Ranney, moved in for physical therapy rehabilitation and was beaming as he told me, “I have been here a week and I have made many friends. Yesterday, a grandchild of another resident drew me a picture and called me Mr. Jim. My wife checked out six places and I looked at three but this home was the cleanest.”

Jackie Marchetti’s brother has been disabled for two years and as she tenderly stroked his arm, she smiled and said, “My brother has been here a week and we both love it. The physical therapy and speech therapy program just blow me away; they are doing things he never had before. I checked out many places, but as soon as I walked in to The Gardens of DePugh, I knew this was home.”

Mary Harrington began working at the home 35 years ago as a housekeeper and is now the Housekeeping Supervisor and Safety Coordinator. Through a broad smile she said, “The staff and residents are a family. We don’t just clean rooms, we talk and listen to their stories, and we even have a singing maintenance man; Wayne Hardy”

Wayne began working at The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center nearly two years ago and interrupted his renditions of the greatest hits from the ‘80’s but he continued to repair a stapler, as he informed me through a huge grin, “I like to sing the day away!”

Bill White is another employee with a million dollar smile, who kept working as he stated, “I have been here seven years, but I am only in the central supply storage room when I am not working in medical records. I don’t sing, but I have a preacher’s voice- but I don’t preach with words; I spread the love around with a smile.”

Betty LaVor has been the Director of Nurses for The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center for nine months, but she has been a nurse for fifty years. She told me, “When I lived in New York, my daughter would come into the Home where I worked and braided the hair of the residents. Now my daughter owns her own salon.”

I inquired if the local beauty schools had been asked to visit the folks and do their hair and nails and was told “not yet” and that lead to a wish list from Denise Anderson, Director of Social Services:

1. Remote Control car enthusiast to race around the ‘track’ in the garden.

2. Jewelry makers, Knitting and Quilting groups to share their craftsmanship in the activities room.

3. Florists to donate unsold flowers and teach flower arranging and receive a thank you advertisement from the Home in the monthly bulletin.

4. Horticulturists and Gardeners.

5. Musicians, dancers, singers of all ages.

The Medical Director for The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center, Dr. John S. Fleming informed me, “A lot of the people in places like this, are here because there is no one in their life to care for them and that leads to social isolation and situational depression. We need caring people from the community to come in and hold their hand, assist them with activities and we especially need the youth to adopt a grandparent and entertain them with music, art, dance and especially repetition-weekly or at least monthly visits. When groups come in like some people who only go to church on Easter and Sunday, it’s OK, but the connection can only happen with repetition and that means frequent visits so the folks learn who their support is.

“You just cannot separate the physical from the emotional and spiritual, and as a doctor, I am responsible for the physical; but the community is an essential component of the overlapping triangle.”

Madison Hinton, graduated from FSU in December and will enter the University of Florida’s Masters Program for Physical Therapists in May. Madison also showed up for her first day of volunteering at the home on this Valentines Day after working her shift at a local restaurant and said, “Yesterday I went to church, helped my parents with our rental property and played cards with my grandparents. I see this time now as my time to give back to God.”

Five young women from Rollins College who serve in the JUMP program: Join Us in Making Progress, also brightened up Valentines Day at The Gardens at DePugh.

Student Coordinator and Senior, Katie Powell made me smile when she said, “I want my life to be about Public Service. When I was a junior in high school, I volunteered in an orphanage in India for three weeks. I have been to Haiti, Ecuador, Thailand and Mexico. I am now in the running for a Fulbright, and the decision is up to India, which is where I want to go back to.”

I ended my Valentines Day afternoon at the home with the Administrator, Karen Northover and I told her, “The working title for my article was ‘How to make a nursing facility a home?’ and I learned that this one already is a home.”

Karen replied, “I have been here six months and we have established ownership-meaning every employee is held accountable. We acknowledge those who are dedicated and strive for excellence. Mediocrity is not accepted! We have raised the standards and to work here one must do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

“The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center is a Home and we have a partnership with the Welbourne Avenue Nursery and Kindergarten [who brought in a group of four year olds on Valentines Day] the Hannibal Square Community Land Trust and the Hannibal Square Heritage Center.

“We need volunteers to partner with the residents to help with the planting project that is happening on February 26, 2011 and it begins at 2 PM.”

On Valentines Day 2011, at The Gardens, I was in a Home and saw in action what Mother Teresa said, “Smile at each other, it doesn't matter who it is; and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other” and as Woody Allen knew, “80% of success is just showing up.”

LEARN MORE and THANK YOU for Doing Something:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-building-for-nuclear-war-green-jobs-not-mean-jobs

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/

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Eileen Fleming is the Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org, Eileen is a Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com, Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and the soon to be released "BEYOND NUCLEAR: Some of my Experiences of Mordechai Vanunu and the Holy Land: 2005-2010" youtube.com/user/eileenfleming. Eileen is a unique leader in her state and she intends to run for a Florida Congressional seat in the future, to help speed the process of change that is so demanded today. Like many who walk in similar steps, Eileen, like other writers at Salem-News.com, is an outspoken advocate for humanity and she has no tolerance for the oppressive forces of the world.

You can send Eileen Fleming an email at this address: ecumei@gmail.com