Numbers Never Lie - But Data is Not All There is to Know

Numbers Never Lie - But Data is Not All There is to Know

Firstly, I admit it I am a technophobe; so it is totally beyond me how I turned on the daily step counter on my phone or if it turned itself on after an update. Such things are best left to the people who speak computer. 

According to the step counter this past week I have walked each morning just under 40km or just under 25 miles. I hope you are impressed considering I have only just started to seriously walk each morning. 

The numbers on the counter are indeed impressive, but they only tell a small fraction of the truth.

The numbers do not tell me the incline I walked up nor the incline I walked down.
The numbers did not tell me how long I walked for.
The numbers did not tell me how long I waited at pedestrian crossings.
The numbers did not tell me on which morning I forgot to take some mandarins with me to ensure I was not overly hungry.
The numbers did not tell me the surface I walked on, or if the surface was even or broken.
The numbers do not tell me what my resting heart rate was.
The numbers do not tell me what my post walk heart rate was.

A few years back I was supporting an injured worker who was doing everything that her treating medical team wanted her to do.  Slowly after many set backs and many challenges and with a roster of friends/supporters she started to walk each day and stay out a few minutes longer each week. And slowly slowly slowly the walking aids went from a walking frame to walking sticks to one walking stick to an emergency walking stick that was folded into her carry bag. 

The aim was to walk down her street, cross the road at the pedestrian crossing, walk back up her street, have a coffee at the coffee shop at the top of the street. Sit at the coffee shop for at least 10 minutes post coffee, then walk back to her home.  In all it would have been around 2kms (roughly a mile)  

The medical team was always encouraging her to go a little further each month, try to stay out more each month. Reclaim her self just that small fraction more each month. 

I walked with her on the last Tuesday of the month. It took about 90 minutes sometimes more sometimes less. We walked, we stopped and leant on the fences, we walked and admired the rose gardens along the street, we walked and we cried, happy tears of achievement, sad tears for far too many reasons. We crossed the street and spoke to the little dog that always came running to say hello. We walked to the coffee shop, resting along the way at the bus stop that had a seat, resting on what ever was possible. 

The coffee shop owner would watch to see how far away the lady and her supporter was (the coffee shop owner knew each of our coffee’s and would have them ready for when we arrived). At the reserved table was the coffee and a few nibbles nothing overly sweet sometimes there was coffee and some fruit. After coffee we would sit and do the daily crossword for as long as it was possible before she would struggle to her feet and the homeward journey would begin. 

I remember the day with great joy when she was about 20 metres (25 yards) from her front gate when she asked me to take her walking frame. Leaning on the fence for balance she took tentative steps, it was so joyous to be a part of this, she later told me that she had been practicing for a week each day she was letting the walking frame go just a bit further from her front gate only once had she asked for the frame back and even then she said she just held it and then returned it to her supporter.

In all the transition from walking frame to folding walking stick and staying at the coffee shop for half an hour took around 8 months.

Each day she would write in her diary what she had achieved and who had walked with her, sometimes she would invite her support walkers to write in the diary as well, just little words of encouragement, or something that we had noticed along the walk. 

All that time I was just her support walker, I didn’t need to do anything in regards to advocacy for her workers compensation claim. 

Then came the phone call that changed everything, the system had engaged a surveillance company (no reason was ever given) the treating medical team had been called in to view the “damning” evidence which proved beyond doubt that this lady was not as incapacitated as she was saying she was. Here was video evidence of her walking using her walking frame and then not walking with the frame on the same walk.

Here was evidence of her patting a little dog and laughing as she did.
Here was evidence that being out in public was not the terror she said it was because clearly she is smiling and chatting to people at the coffee shop. 

When the treating doctor phoned me to say he was livid would be an understatement, I had to do something and I had to do it now, just what was of no interest to the doctor, just get to the bottom of this insanity before his patient was further damaged.

I should pause here to tell you that this lady had been beaten at her workplace during a robbery. She had had to have facial reconstruction and she had to have several bones reset, but mostly she had to have surgery to a broken foot and ankle. As a result of the beating and the amount of time she spent in and out of hospital she had developed fear of life and of being alone, fear of sudden noises and fear of not being able to ever walk unassisted.  I should also add that the little dog that greeted her each day was actually her own little dog that a friend and neighbour had taken in while she was unable to care for it, and the reason the coffee shop was safe for her to be at was because the owner was this lady’s niece. 

After meeting with the treating doctor and viewing the video I did the only thing I could think to do. I made an appointment with a very senior person from the workers compensation claims agent, I took along with me the video and asked the senior manager to watch the video the read the report then watch the video again.

What the information showed was accurate-to a point.
What the video did not show was the medical support had recommended each change of walking support.
What the video did not show was the number of days the removal of the walking frame took.
What the video did not show was the various others who were walking with this lady.
What the video did not show was the tears that fell in emotional pain when she had to pat her little dog and walk on without her own best friend.
What this video did not show was the drops of sweat from walking though gritted teeth the pain that a mis-step caused because at one point the footpath was uneven.
What this video did not show was this lady’s niece watching and waiting and waiting and hoping that each day her aunty would be closer to her old-self than she was the day before.
But mostly what this video did not show was the daily diary.
The daily achievements the daily setbacks the daily check and recheck to make sure that incontinence pads were in her carry bag. 

My recommendation to the senior manager was to ask for the complete video footage not just the 20 minutes that had been supplied, I recommended that if after viewing the complete footage taken over a long period of time (roses have a way of blooming that indicated the length of time the videoing had been going on) then and only then should this senior manager decide if the matter would stand the test of a Courtroom.

Suffice to say the whole issue was dropped. The little dog returned home almost 18 months after the workplace assault, sadly though the lady never made a full physical or emotional recovery.  The last time I saw her she was sitting at the same reserved table at the coffee shop folding tea towels and paper napkins for her niece. She was planning to visit other members of her family after yet another surgery. The local community had rallied around her she was still walking every afternoon but she could never trust strangers and still could not be alone.

All of this came back to me as I pondered just what I am meant to do with step information that tells me how far I have walked without telling me anything of real value about the walk. Not to worry, I will get up and walk again the morning, even though the step counter won’t record it I will remember to take some mandarins with me. 

Yours in service
Rosemary

www.craigstable.net.au
rosemary@craigstable.net.au
SKYPE Rosemary2412
18^th August 2019