News

In Measure A, Sonoma County voters are being asked to approve yet another general purpose sales tax. Members of the County Board of Supervisors and others out on the stump are promoting Measure A as a “roads tax” that if approved would be spent 90 percent for road repairs and 10 percent for public transit items such as free bus passes for students, seniors and veterans. Unfortunately, the ballot language itself belies a different intent. The plain language of Measure A identifies a list of spending objectives starting with public safety and concluding with the troublesome catchall “other essential services.” Roads don’t even top the list.

Something unusual happened to me recently, and I think it serves a purpose to write about it here. I was attending a Healdsburg Museum opening celebration, and it was lovely. Good wine, good people and a lovely exhibit of local Farm to Table. I was about to leave for another event when someone said “Dr. Anderson, we need you right now!” I ran down the stairs only to find that a woman had passed out, and had briefly, before I got there, become totally unresponsive. You do your training thing, feel for a pulse, check for respirations, etc. She had a very faint and thready, but regular pulse, and was now responding to questions. She was very weak and sweaty. She was perhaps in her fifties, an active and supportive volunteer for the Museum. They were holding her in a sitting position, and I immediately told them to let her lay flat, so that despite her weak pulse, blood would more easily flow to her brain. Sure enough, within a minute or two she became more responsive, less sweaty, and her pulse became stronger. That is when you ask questions about her symptoms prior to this spell. She had no history of heart problems. Earlier she did have some chest pain, maybe some nausea. She had a history of fainting, but not for years. It was a very scary situation for her and for her friends who had seen this happen.  So I had to make a decision about what was the next step for her. I will get back to her situation in a moment, but let’s go on to phase two.