Remember who is this Dr. Lewis? He is the one who headed the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission (HSURC) of Saskatchewan(2), and he is the one who caused the chronic nursing shortage in Saskatchewan and Canada by preaching the mass reduction of acute beds under Simard's Wellness model of health(3). Dr. Lewis is a world wide renown health economist who along with other professors has been spreading the Gospel that public health care is better than private health care(4); in the meantime their Gospel has reached the loyalist network of health care leaders across Canada and that is why Canada has a health care crisis today.

At the SAHO conference in Regina, Dr Lewis has said that more money and time needs to be spent on statistics that show what state health care is really in, instead of relying on anecdotal evidence such as the ones provided by the doctors or nurses.

Dr. Lewis is another Big Brain who has put statistical researches above the common sense of the doctors and nurses and who has provided the statistical truth that health care has not deteriorated in rural Saskatchewan(5). Dr. Lewis' credo in statistical researches reminds me of two humorous quotes, the first "I could prove God statistically" by George Gallup(6), and the second "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics" by Mark Twain(7). We are happy that Dr. Lewis has finally found God in Statistics but I am not happy that his Gospel has been embraced by our health care leaders, here in Saskatchewan or Canada. We will be working patiently to break down this statistical research credo, we will strive to take away health care directions from the reductionist experts, and we will strive to give back health care to the people and their local communities.

Endnotes

Quote by Donella Meadows "challenging a paradigm is not a part-time job. It is not sufficient to make your point once and then blame the world for not getting it. The world has a vested interest in, a commitment to, not getting it. The point has to be made patiently and repeatedly, day after day after day" ftp://sysdyn.mit.edu/ftp/sdep/Roadmaps/RM1/D-4143-1.pdf http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf/meadows/default.htm

General reference: Articles by Mario deSantis published by North Central Internet News

1. SAHO told to spread good news about health system, CBC Saskatchewan http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Mar 21 2000 4:06 PM

2. Dr. Steven Lewis and HSURC Commission of Saskatchewan: Contributing sources to the decline of health care in Saskatchewan, by Mario deSantis, March 12, 2000

3. The highest priority to cure health care: stop mismanaging it! By Mario deSantis, March 7, 2000

4. A Partial Diagnosis of Health Care Corruption: The Quality Circle of the Big Brains Includes Our Renown Health Economists, by Mario deSantis, March 9, 2000

5. Fragmented Research comes to the help of Saskatchewan Reform, by Mario deSantis, September 28, 1999

6. George Gallup, the famous pollster, once did a study showing that, in long-term predictions, laymen did better than the experts! This obviously results from the forest-&-trees phenomenon: the experts are so wrapped up in the immediate difficulties that they cannot look at the sweep of history. http://www.cryonics.org/principles.html http://www.sot.com.au/school/gallup.htm

7. Samuel Langhorne Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain, 1835-1910. What does Mark Twain mean? On river boats, one member of the crew always stood near the railing measuring the depth of the water with a long cord which had flags spaced a fathom (six feet) apart. When the crewman saw the flags disappear he would call out "Mark One!" for one fathom and for two fathoms he called out "Mark Twain!" Two fathoms meant safe clearance for river boats, so Sam Clemens chose a name which not only recalled his life on the river but which also had a reassuring "all's well" meaning. http://www.robinsonresearch.com/LITERATE/AUTHORS/Twain.htm

Editor's Reading List: October 21, 1999 Labelle Lecture abstract of Dr. Lewis' theories on reinventing govenment.