Saying Helen Darling is busy is an understatement. She is a mother of seven year old triplets, two boys Ja-Juan, Jalen and a girl Nevaeh, a published author of a children’s book “Hide ‘n Seek Mondays”, mentor and the before mentioned professional athlete. However, being a Christian is forefront in her life and she speaks exclusively to us to tell us how Helen handles it all.

Who were your role model(s) growing up and how did that influence your career choice?

Helen Darling: My mother has and always will be my role model. She didn’t really influence my career choice as for pushing me to something, she was just supportive in everything I did. It’s funny because my mom is not really a sports fan; she is a house wife and enjoys cooking and taking care of her family. So she never really came to many of my games, my father I don’t think missed a game. That never bothered me even when I made it into the WNBA because I knew she was proud of me no matter what. The one thing I loved about my mom was she never treated me like a super star when I came home I was Helen, her daughter, nothing else. However, she did give me the inspiration and idea’s to write my children’s book. Growing up we didn’t have much money, but we never new we were poor because my mom spoiled us with time. She showed us that doing things as a family was better than any store brought gift.

How do you manage motherhood and your career?

HD: Only by the grace of God. He blessed me with a wonderful support group…my family. Orlando the kid’s father has been my hero. If I could give him an award it would be “the best father in the world award.” He allowed me to continue to play basketball and pursue my dream of becoming and author. I never had to worry about my babies because he was always there. He actually did the potty training.
However, now that the kids are getting older it’s becoming more difficult to leave them because now they understand. But we write letters to each other, talk on the phone, use the webcam to see each other, of course none of these things can replace a warm embrace and wet kisses but it helps pass the time and keeps me connected with them.

Do you feel that it is difficult to be a Christian in the WNBA, have you had to sacrifice any of your values in your career and if so how?

HD: I don’t think it’s the career that makes it difficult to be a Christian as much as it is the individual. Everyone has their own struggle and temptations not matter what career they are in. I personally have not had to sacrifice my values in the 9 years in the WNBA. Everyone respects each others decisions. And we have a lot of believers here in the WNBA.

In your career do you have the opportunity to spread the message of Christ and how?

HD: I do more fellowship then actually spreading the word. Like I said we have a lot of believers not only on my team but in the WNBA as well.
The WNBA supports that as well by providing chaplains in every city we play.
Chapel is usually an hour before the game and we spend about 10-15 minutes learning about God. We sometime have praise and worship which I think is really cool. My team the San Antonio Silver Stars, we try to have bible study once a week just to support and pray for each other as we sometimes fall into hard times. We have an awesome time when we get together because we are all normal with everyday issues and the best part about it is we trust one another and we are non judgmental.

What do you plan to do once your WNBA career is over?

HD: I’m not quite sure yet. I would love to work in sports marketing. But I will probably enjoy time with my family and focus more on my writing career. I’m excited to see my children grow spiritually as they face the different issues of growing up.

Do you feel that illiteracy is still a problem with youth today and what should be done to increase interest in reading and writing among youth?

HD: I think we are doing a much better job of addressing the issue of illiteracy but we still have a long way to go. It’s very difficult to get young people to read with all the new technology. To them reading is boring and a waste of time, they can get the same information off the internet with less time and effort. I think if we can some how make reading fun and interactive we may be able to reach them. However, I believe it starts with the parents, we need to be an example, and take time to read yourself let your children see you read. Read as a family, start a book club for your family with incentives not only will you show them reading can be fun but it also create family bonding.

By Southern C

In professional sports, a select few have the ability to rise above adverse conditions and perform at a high enough level to ensure victory.

Game 4 of The NBA Finals had a demonstration of such antics, particularly through the late game heroics of Lakers’ guard Derek Fisher.

The term for succeeding down the stretch is popularly referred to as ‘clutch.’ Certain players have this talent, but most do not possess this ice-in-your-veins characteristic.

San Antonio guard Becky Hammon is a member of this elite group in the WNBA, especially given her performance in the Silver Stars’ 63-60 victory over the New York Liberty Saturday.

For the game’s first three periods, Hammon did not play her best. Some housing contractors in attendance were in awe of the speed in which Hammon was building a home given the number of bricks she had put up. The 5′6 guard, however, did not let her poor shooting phase her.

The fourth quarter started. Hammon acted accordingly. 

“I had some decent looks but just wasn’t able to knock them down [early in the game],” Hammon told wnba.com after Saturday’s win. “You just keep shooting the ball and know that they’re going to go in. Hopefully down the stretch you can just get a little more focused and when it came down to crunch time there’s a lot more pressure and I just try to step up and help the team as much as possible.”

Hammon scored a game high 10 points in the fourth quarter, hitting two shots from behind the arc that sparked an 11-0 San Antonio run to regain the lead. She also finished 6-for-6 from the line, making all of her free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.

The 11-year veteran even looked to get her teammates involved in crunch time, making a key pass to Helen Darling, who proceeded to cap the Silver Sparks’ comeback with a three-pointer.

Hammon’s experience, leadership and talent make her the most clutch player in the league.

Do you agree? What are your thoughts? And if not Hammon, then who?

The San Antonio Silver Stars beat the Los Angeles Sparks 2-1 to win the WNBA Western Conference on Sunday. Th next step is the championship games against the Detroit Shock or New York Liberty. The best-of-five finals will start Wednesday in San Antonio.

Congratulations to Coach Dan Hughes, the assistant coaches and the team for winning the WNBA Western Conference.

In other sporting news…

The Detroit Lions did not lose this week!!!

OK, they had a “bye week“, but at least they didn’t lose!!

Helen Darling is president of the National Business Group on Health, which is dedicated to providing practical solutions to its employer-members’ most important health care problems. Its 292 members, including 65 of the Fortune 100 in 2006, purchase health and disability benefits for more than 50 million employees, retirees and dependents. 

Helen Darling – Business Perspective

Former NBC Anchor Tom Brokaw and current Mayo Clinic Trustee opened the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Symposium with a brief keynote address. Then Helen Darling, from the National Business Group on Health, shared the perspective of employers. Here’s a sampling:

1. Cost, Safety, Efficiency, Effectiveness and Access must be addressed simultaneously
2. All hospitals must be made as safe as we can possibly make them. All serious adverse events must be reported and root cause analysis done to improve safety.
3. The payment system must be drastically reformed to reward outcomes and pay for primary care and disease prevention. She says 2-5 percent of Medicare funding should be targeted
4. Need to substantially increase funding for comparative analysis of treatments
5. Build a national health information network with portable electronic medical records

Dennis Rivera of the SEIU shared the labor perspective. Rising medical costs seriously hinder the ability of unions to bargain for higher wages, because so much is being consumed by rising health premiums and co-pays. He listed these top priorities:

1. Health reform must provide universal coverage
2. Government and individuals must share in the financing of health care
3. All Americans must be guaranteed their choice of doctors and health care plans, and we must
4. Long-term care must be fully integrated into the health care system

Finally, Rivera said the perfect must not be allowed to be the enemy of the good. We can’t scuttle reform just because it isn’t quite what we as individual stakeholders want.

After these two speeches, a panel discussion ensued:

Jim Guest from Consumers Union summarized the perspective of Consumer Reports readers. You can read the series of articles from his magazine here.

Michael Porter said it’s clear we’re not getting full value for the dollars we’re spending, because the system is organized around the supply rather than the consumer. The solo doctor working alone won’t get us there. The problem isn’t the science, but the structure of how we are working together (or not) to provide care.

Gary Kaplan, M.D., from Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, told his story of using the Toyota Production System to re-engineer their delivery system to eliminate waste and defects. They had been challenged by Aetna and Starbucks. Forward-thinking payers enabled them to do this by adjusting payments not penalize efficiency. This “value stream” analysis is an important element of fixing the system to truly get what we’re paying for, so we aren’t just automating bad processes, “moving garbage at the speed of light.”

Ian Morrison, Ph.D., says the problem is that the debate so far is more about getting people covered, instead of fixing a system that is broken. It’s not just “getting people a card” so they have access. Much deeper reform is needed. Unfortunately, most of the political speeches are focused solely on coverage instead of quality.

Guest said consumers need to be given the information so they can make informed decisions. He said those developing reform proposals need to put themselves in the patients’ shoes.

Dr. Kaplan said involving patients in their Virginia Mason Production System events has been crucial, because some of the best insights in reforming their processes come from patients.

Porter said improving quality is the best way to contain costs. For example, if patients quit taking their diabetes drugs because of co-pays, it ends up costing more in the long run. He has worked with the European countries that have already fixed the insurance problem, but they still have the delivery system problems. Here is an interesting article for further reading about Porter’s perspective.

Porter says single-payer vs. multiple-payer isn’t the real issue: it’s reforming the delivery system. We have hyper-fragmentation of care. Doing heart transplants at 139 hospitals doesn’t make sense; many of those don’t do enough transplants to become truly excellent. He says the model that tries to provide highly specialized care in every local facility may need to change.

Dr. Kaplan says there is enough money in the system to provide universal access if we take the waste out.

Dr. Morrison says there is no such thing as voluntary universal coverage. Health care is both a right and an obligation. Porter said a third of Massachusetts uninsured had incomes greater than $90,000. If we don’t require everyone to participate, but guarantee access to all, it won’t work. The “free riders” need to contribute.

You can watch the archived streaming video of this session here. Please weigh in with your thoughts in the comments below.

Update: The audio file from the panel discussion is here. Also here are the remarks from Helen Darling, Dennis Rivera, and Tom Brokaw.