While reading a news article about Jared Kushner I began an internet search to identify the firm representing him. WilmerHale is the firm. When I found their web page I noticed a link at the bottom that read “Modern Slavery Statement”. This intrigued me so I read it. After reading I decided to post it to share with my readers.

MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT

Statement pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

This statement is published on behalf of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, registered with the SRA under registration number 287488, and references to “we” and “the firm” are to that entity.

Our approach

We are committed to achieving high standards of ethical behavior in the conduct of our business. We do not tolerate slavery or human trafficking or abusive or unfair treatment in any part of our business or in any part of our supply chain.

In the last financial year

We have considered our current suppliers and have undertaken a project analyzing the parts of our supply chain that are at risk of slavery.

We have assessed our local supply contracts by size and risk profile and have assessed the risk of slavery or trafficking being present. We have taken and are taking steps to ensure that slavery and human trafficking play no part in our supply chain.

The main areas of risk that we identified through our review were in relation to the hiring of outsourced catering staff. Appropriate due diligence undertaken pursuant to our new policies, referred to below, is being conducted to mitigate those risks. We have a policy to only use reputable outsourcing agencies and to comply with all local laws, regulations and codes of best practice. We regularly review our outsourcing procedures.

We have in recent months introduced a procurement procedure and policy with a specific requirement to carry out a risk analysis in relation to slavery and enforced labour with all potential new contractors to the Firm. This is one of the evaluation criteria behind our selection of new vendors.

Stephen Pollard
Partner
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

31 December 2016

I belong to Wordsmith.org. I receive daily messages each containing a featured word of the day and the history behind and examples of how to correctly use it. Today’s word is “krummholz”. It is a combination of the German words “krumm” which means crooked and “holtz” which means “wood”. It refers to small crooked trees at the edge of a mountain.

One of my favorite actors is David Krummholtz so I was intrigued to learn the meaning of word that surely is a form of his last name. David’s best known TV series is “Numb3rs” where he used math to help his brother, an FBI agent, solve crimes.

The image above was taken off the Internet for illustrative purposes.

Recently I had a medical issue and went to my primary care physician who referred me to a specialist. The appointment with the specialist was yesterday and was a complete waste of my time. He was not able to help me and referred to another specialist. The referral was not what made the time I spent a waste of time.

The physician spoke down to me, even to the point of saying, “Who is the physician here?” He interrupted me as I attempted to answer his questions. He told me my answers were not sufficient.

If I did not work in health care and know that most physicians do not behave like he did, I might have resolved to never see another physician in my life. Fortunately, I know better than that. I will assure you that I will not be seen by the specialist I saw yesterday ever again, even if that entails traveling out of our area for medical care.

Every patient has the expectation of being treated with respect by those employed in health care who are providing treatment!

I am in the center of the picture with Andy Cohen on my left. He produces the series of “Real Housewives” TV shows. On my right is Anderson Cooper who is a reporter/anchor for CNN and CBS’s 60 Minutes. They appeared together at the Borgata Hotel for a show they do together. In the show questions are received by the audience. The questions and the answers were entertaining.

While in Atlantic City I made the tourist trip to the Boardwalk and saw the ocean and bought a few souvenirs. The best part of the weekend was the time with Andy and Anderson!

Brighten the Corner Where You Are is a poem written by Helen Steiner Rice, who is pictured above.

Recently our Department of Patient Experience and Culture used a musical version of this poem to help encourage our staff to project and practice being pleasant and welcoming to everyone we encounter at the hospital.

This link is to a YouTube video of Ella Fitzgerald singing the poem. As you listen to it, you can’t help but smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I4ZRHVpEo

I hope Ella’s rendition will inspire you to “brighten the corner where you are”!!

After going for the whole month of April without a post I have resolved to post daily for the month of May. I have been enjoying the grass turning green. It makes walking Cooper a lot more fun seeing the grass looking so fresh and healthy.

Cooper enjoys the new aromas he can smell. As I walk him I often wonder what fascinating scents he is enjoying that I am not able to detect. I hope that you are finding ways to enjoy the change from Winter to Spring!

Today I was lamenting it was Monday and a start to a new week. I went in search of images about Mondays and found 70,000,000 images in 0.69 seconds. Many of the images featured characters from cartoons that I follow. I chose this one featuring Snoopy because he illustrates how I feel. I am no stranger to Mondays, it is easy to predict when you will meet one. Now I must summon the self-discipline to go into work and tackle Monday and make the most of it. Just having surveyed the cartoon images about Mondays has me feeling much better about the start of the work week and the end of a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

MEANING:

The image and definition above were sent to me by Wordsmith.org because subscribe to their free Word-A-Day feature that places a word and its definition in your inbox six days a week, Mon. – Sat.

I fell in love with this definition, even though I knew the meaning of the word “osmosis” because of the image that was posted with it. The email made me smile, I hope seeing this image on my blog starts your day off with a smile!

This is a picture of my dog Cooper. I was visiting a friend of mine. When my friend got up to fix us some tea, Cooper moved into the space where he had been sitting because he likes that spot best. My friend refused to displace Cooper when he returned with the tea.

I feel like I am failing to teach him good canine manners. But that is hard when he considers himself the “center of the universe”!

Thursday night I received some news that bothered me greatly. It resulted my not wanting to go to work on Friday, but since I had no good reason for staying home – I went to work. Once there I was not in the mood to visit patients. That was a problem for me because part of my job is to visit patients. After I spent some time doing office work, it was time to begin making rounds, so off to the patient rooms I went.

The picture above is from the Internet and is representative of one visit I had with a patient. This patient had just been weaned off the ventilator the day before. The patient was also on dialysis several days a week. I was in my own mood of negativity, and being in that mood I was impressed the patient who had more reason for negative attitude than I did was very positive. As we talked I realized the patient had tapped into his own process of resiliency. It was serving him well, it allowed him to deal with undesirable facts and not feel overwhelmed by them.

This visit stuck with me throughout the day. I found myself tapping into my own process of resiliency. By the end of the day I was feeling good about the things I had done and about my own situation even though nothing had factually changed. The change was in my attitude and that made all the difference!