P4-St.Lucie Living-Vol.560

Esteban Mendez Service Manager

Meet the doctor Jacques Benchimol DDS. A er receiving his undergraduate degree from Boston University, he earned his dental degree from Tu s University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, where he graduated magna cum laude. University School of Dental Medicine in Boston.

does very good work and is very reassuring and explain what he is doing. I’ve never felt more comfortable. He xed my broken front tooth and made me smile again. He’s amazing! And the staff and dental assistant are all awesome.”

Happy New Year! You're Fired.

By: Emmelis Keaney

Even if you’re not currently in the market for a new work opportunity, you can’t ignore the continuous reports of near- term layo s projected for this year. Rightfully so, as the labor force tends to be a leading indicator of economic conditions. And while the Fed will try to assure you of their apparent control of the labor market, they’re not the ones that create payroll, employers do.

Giant conglomerates such as Goldman Sachs, Salesforce, Amazon, even e Wall Street Journal have begun their rst rounds of layo s and we’re a few weeks into the new year. Brace yourselves, this roller coaster is just taking o .

If this doesn’t set the tone for what this year is going to look like, then I don’t know what…Oh wait, what about more rate hikes? In a recent forum, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell maintained the priority, which does not involve taking on social issues, of “sticking to our knitting”. Mr. Powell remains committed to curbing in ation, despite pressures from Congress and Wall Street. And so do employers.

As in ation and overall cost continues to rise or remains high, corporations -which have an inherent primary duty to pro t- need to reduce cost and overall cash out ow to meet their goals. e number one expense for companies is their workforce. ose positions and departments they believe they can do without in the short term, will be eliminated. Another top expense is accumulated debt, which seems to be the “moda operandi” for most corporations over the past several years, in which case still produces massive job cuts to enable the ability to service the debt amidst low revenue.

Add to the mix the post covid labor force reformation that our future generations will read about. I don’t see much economic proof that workers don’t want to work, necessarily. What I nd is that the labor force demands a di erent working environment. Working from home, exible hours, higher livable wages, expanded group bene t programs, are just some of the increasing demands of the labor force. Mostly reasonable demands, but somewhat far from a nancial reality for most employers who most recently relied on debt and government stimulus to survive the crisis.

e past decade has been supposedly very pro table for capitalist America. But we don’t have to do an in-depth nancial review into companies to recognize the majority growth has been steer headed by low interest rates and cheap borrowing, massive nancial incentives and stimulus, and even nancial product innovation is at fault.

Employees proved to be resilient in every recession. We shall see which corporations rise as winners, and which fall. And Investors should pay close attention.

For What It’s Worth by Dr. Melfi, Ph.D.

I’ve received quite a few responses to last weeks column about the di culty of getting an appointment to see a physician now that the local hospital has its hands in scheduling at a central station. In my opinion it is cold, unfriendly, and seems to lack empathy of those who eld the calls, but perhaps there’s nothing they can do about it, and perhaps those receptionists are sick and tired of hearing how a sick patient needs to be seen sooner. ere can be blame all around, or perhaps nowhere, maybe it’s just the sign of the times. I do not know of any physicians who are uncaring, although some may be, but I do know that I have heard talk of some of them dissatis ed with the way things are working, so frustration everywhere.

If I ran the medical facilities, I’d have a few ideas to toss around. For one, I think it’s silly to give a prescription to patients who are leaving the emergency room. If these people were healthy enough to get around, they wouldn’t be spending hours waiting to be seen in an ER. In hospitals I have worked in, in other states, and in other decades, there

was an all night pharmacy in the facility that could ll the prescriptions right then and there. I mean, I know there are pharmacies associated with our hospitals…that is how inpatients get there medications. Why not help out a few patients who have no one to go to the drug store for them? at would ease their minds, and allow them to focus on getting well.

e next thing I would be thinking about is the need for more convenient urgent care centers in neighborhoods.

ere is one in Jensen, one in Palm City and one in Stuart, o the highway, but there are an enormous number of senior citizens who either can’t drive on the highways, shouldn’t be driving on the highways, or are too sick to get themselves help. If not, then how about a hospital owned transport company, not ambulances, who can take sick people to facilities that will treat them on the spot, instead of having them stand in a virtual line for months waiting to be seen. By then, they’ve either gotten better, or unfortunately, much worse. In case the higher-ups haven’t factored in the need to assist people, especially the elderly,

widowed and alone, who o en can’t or won’t call an Uber. e elderly are worried about their safety, getting into a car with a complete stranger, and I don’t blame them.

I don’t know how these issues can be addressed, how much money it would take, who could pay for these bene ts, and if anyone even cares to try to rectify our medical situation, but if anyone much more intelligent than I am could tackle these problems, please let us all know.

For What it’s Worth, no one feels more alone than someone who is sick, and no one has a worse doctor than themselves when they attempt to selfmedicate for lack of bona de, quali ed, timely, medical attention.