(01:21):
good afternoon everybody and happy Friday. If the days of the week still mean anything to you, they don’t mostly for me. Um, so, uh, wanted to talk today. I wanted to first of all, wish you a happy weekend and a great weekend and a peaceful weekend and a healthy weekend. Um, I wanted to also talk a little bit about some of the posts in the group, some of the comments and responses in the group, and to talk a little bit about the purpose of this group and the way that this group works and the way that this group doesn’t work. So it’s not often, uh, that I like to, as a matter of fact, I never liked to be in the position of dad.
(02:09):
Uh, but yeah,
(02:11):
I feel like today I have to just come and make a couple of comments, a few reminders to people about what this group is and what this group isn’t. So for those of you that don’t know, um, I started this group and um, I can’t even remember when it was, but why did I start this group? I started this group because I was in another group that was drama field, drama filled nonstop all day, every day. Drama, drama, drama, fighting, bickering. It spilled over onto my cell phone to where people were contacting me nonstop. I don’t like it and it’s not, it’s not what I’m here for. Okay? I can assure you, I have better things to do than to fight with people on Facebook. And you have better things to do than to fight with people on Facebook or argue with people on Facebook or insult people with fate on Facebook or call people names on people in Facebook, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
(03:09):
And most importantly, it’s not healthy. Okay? It’s not healthy. If your Facebook wellness group is causing you more stress than the benefit that you get out of it, then it is not a good group for you and you need to leave it. Okay? And that’s what I do when a group is causing me more stress than I get benefit out of it. Now, here’s the thing, okay? Colvin, 19 is a very, very divisive topic. Why should it be divisive? Okay. If Godzilla were attacking the United States, we would all recognize that we have a common problem here. If Godzilla were attacking the United States and Mothra, we’re attacking China and Megalon, we’re attacking Japan, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, the world would realize that we are under attack by a common enemy, which it does not realize now, okay, much of the world does, much of the U S doesn’t.
(04:22):
And that’s okay. This is not meant to be a political discussion, okay? But what I want to just be clear about, okay, is that there are certain things that are beliefs. There are certain things that are opinions and there are certain things that are facts. And what I have always tried to do is to stick with the facts. Although I will give my opinion, but my opinions are based on 30 years of facts and experiences and what I see and what I know. So if I give you a piece of information that is information that you can put in the bank, because I will say to you, this is what I know. How do I know? Because I’ve done it, okay? There’s a lot of people who are popping up all over the place now with pulmonary rehab, this pulmonary rehab, that telemedicine, this telemedicine that who really have never done this, okay.
(05:40):
Or who have limited experience in it or who have read about it but don’t really understand what it means. Okay? A simple fact is that, not a simple fact, but it should stand to reason that the more you do and the more experience you have with different scenarios, the better you will get at handling each scenario, okay? But what I have tried to do, and what I always try to do is give you fact-based information, okay? Not necessarily research based information, because that’s a new thing too. There’s, there’s, there’s this whole idea towards evidence based medicine and I’m all for it. But there are certain things that there isn’t evidence for. Okay? And that doesn’t mean that I will not share that with you, but it means that I may say to you, Hey, there’s no evidence of this, but this is what I know because I’ve done it myself.
(06:41):
Okay? It’s like swimming with a great white shark. It’s like there may not be certain evidence for certain things, but I know what I know because I’ve done it. Okay. And my point in telling you this is the following. Okay? When it comes to Corona virus, there are many problems associated with it. Most notably the Corona virus. Okay? Covert 19 a bigger problem, not a bigger problem. There’s no bigger problem than the virus itself. But a massive problem, particularly in the United States more so than any other country, is that this has become a highly charged emotional as it should be, but political as it shouldn’t be issue. And it seems that the people in one camp have this group of beliefs and the people in the other camp have this group of beliefs and the people in the other camp have this group of beliefs. And the question is, who do you believe? It becomes very, very, very difficult to determine what is, what. It becomes very, very difficult to determine who’s telling the truth. Why are they telling the truth? Who’s telling a lie? Why are they telling a lie? Who’s passing on misinformation and why are they passing on misinformation?
(08:15):
It’s very normal that in an anxiety, fear, terror provoking situation like covert 19 which has killed tens of thousands of people in the United States to panic, to want to restore some type of normalcy to our lives, to want to feel like we have some kind of control over what goes on. Okay. Some things we do have control over. Some things we don’t have control over. Okay. And if the standard of research is not up to par with information, meaning that if there’s a piece of information and there’s no research to back that up, it’s essentially hearsay. Okay. And when, you know, you have people who have a lot of experience in a certain area that give their opinions, well to me that is a lot more valuable than somebody who has no experience in it or somebody who’s been elected to you know, office or you know, somebody who’s been hired or this, that the other thing, but it’s never done it.
(09:25):
So for me, as it relates to Colvin 19, I’m going to look to the doctors. I’m going to look to the scientists, I’m going to look to the researchers for my information. And I’m also going to look to what I know personally, uh, based upon my experience here in New York city, based upon the fact that I have started treating coed patients based upon the fact that I personally know 19 people who have died of COBIT. So when people say things like, this is a hoax or this is political or it’s being overblown, okay, I want you to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. And as a matter of fact, I want everybody to stop for a moment right this second and take a deep breath with me.
(10:19):
And regardless of coven, regardless of what political party you belong to, regardless of what school you go to went to, or if you even went to school, ask yourself, am I a decent person? Am I a nice person? Am I a civilized human being? And do I want to add something positive to the world and do I want to be supportive of other people? Do I want to be generous towards other people? Do I want to be giving towards other people or do I want to somehow make myself feel better or feel right or feel entitled or feel justified by being rude or disrespectful to them or making them feel bad? Okay? And the fact of the matter is that there have been several posts today, several comments today in which people are asking genuine questions and trying to find out information and people are just attacking, okay? Um, this group is based on science and this group is based on humanity and this group is based on supporting one another and holding each other up, not tearing each other down. And I’m sorry to tell you this, but this group is not guaranteed freedom of speech. And what do I mean by that?
(12:09):
We’re not going to allow hate speech. We’re not going to allow people to be insulting to one another. We’re not gonna allow people to be rude to each other. We’re not gonna allow people to be mean to each other. Okay? We’re all entitled to our opinions. We are not all entitled to our opinions being granted as the facts. And while we’re on the subject, let me say that Googling something does not mean that you have researched it. Okay, let me be clear about that. When we say look at the research, that should mean the scientific, medical, physiologic, pharmacologic, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Research. Okay. Googling something is not research. I am sorry to tell you, or at least not research that will be accepted as facts. For those of you that don’t know, there are many, many different ways and many different incentives for people to have their information come up and it’s not necessarily based on what’s true and what’s not true.
(13:27):
Okay, so when you say I’ve done the research, that doesn’t mean Googling something. Sorry to tell you. It means look at the research and with all due respect there’s a trend towards people posting papers and I’m all for people posting papers, but I see people who don’t know much about the subject saying good read when it would be nearly impossible for them to understand it and a lot of the stuff that’s published is nearly impossible even for scientists or medical practitioners or clinicians to understand. So that’s not an insult. Okay. That’s just to say the stuff is complex and as a layman it is not reasonable to expect that you would have the same understanding of something as a clinician or a researcher or a scientist and that is why things have to be broken down. Now when you get politics involved in it, that’s a whole other bunch of crap because then all bets are off because then people are working towards their own agenda, motivation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
(14:43):
Okay? So we have a no politics rule in the group for a reason because it never goes well. It never goes well. Okay. And if you’re in this group here and I’m in this group there, then anything I tell you is going to be doubted, disagreed with suspected, uh, criticized, uh, thought to be some type of conspiracy theory, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And if you’re in that group and I’m in this group, then everything that you do or say is going to be based on that. Okay. And the probably the movie quote that I quote most often is Al Pachino from any given Sunday. And I say we either survive as a team or we die as individuals. Okay. So again, you don’t have to believe everything I say. You don’t have to agree with everything. I say. Okay. That’s not a requirement of the group.
(15:39):
Okay. This group is here for you. It’s not here for me. It’s here because I want to help people navigate cardiopulmonary disease. Okay? So you do not have to agree with everything I say. You don’t have to believe everything I say. I am open to any type of reasonable listen, reasonable, courteous, polite, respectful discussion about anything. And that doesn’t just go for me. It goes for every single member here. Okay? I’m open to discuss science. I’m open to discuss differences of opinion. Um, but when that loses reason, when it loses respect, when it loses courtesy, when it loses polite behavior, then guess what? You have forfeited your right to be in this group. It’s that simple. Everybody is getting a free pass on the last 48 hours. Okay? But we have enough going on. People trust me, we all have enough going on in terms of dealing with this world situation to start fighting amongst ourselves. Okay? So again, I’m open to anything. I’m willing to hear anything. I’m willing to listen to anything. But you’ve got to come with some facts and it can’t get nasty. It’s that simple. Okay. This is a group based on science. Based on the desire to help people based on mutual respect, based upon love, based upon wanting to make the world a better place.
(17:36):
Simple rules. That’s it. For some reason I’m not seeing any comments. I don’t know why, but so I can’t necessarily answer any questions.
(17:52):
Okay.
(17:53):
Or comments if there have been any, if there haven’t been any. That’s okay. All right. My friends stay safe out there. Okay. Stay safe. Pay attention. Pay attention. Okay. Trust me, I want to help you. I want you to be safe. I want you to be healthy. I have no ulterior motive. The people running this group have no ulterior motive. The majority of people in this group have no ulterior motive. They want to help and they want to help in return. Join that party right there. Okay. Have a great weekend. My friends tomorrow at 2:00 PM Eastern time, we will have a support group. For those of you that have not attended any, they’re really good. Um, dr [inaudible] talk from two nights ago on bronchiectasis and NTM is live on our website, pulmonary wellness.org. And I would like to thank those of you that have made donations to the pulmonary wellness foundation, as you know, or maybe you don’t know, everything that we do is provided to you for free and on a volunteer basis. Okay? Have a great weekend. My friends, be safe, be healthy, be nice to each other. Don’t fight. It’s not going to help anything. Okay? Have a great weekend, my friends. Bye bye.