In a recent e-mail, John Gallagher of VGM said, "The apathy in the industry is deafening." Almost on the same day, Tyler Wilson, president of AAHomecare, expressed a similar sentiment.

In a psychology class many years ago, a professor from the University of London identified apathy as a killer. It kills emotion and numbs thinking. In a business, it kills creativity and initiative. In an industry such as ours, apathy effectively nullifies the efforts of those who know that change can be made. Ignorance is more ethically excusable than apathy.

Thousands of suppliers serving millions of patients are taking the ethically inexcusable position of ignoring the serious problem facing them and the industry. They have become "anesthetized by popular culture" in that suppliers have heard for years that the sky is falling, and none of them have been hit. Now that the situation is at a crisis point, not one believes that the sky is now really going to fall, and this time the wounds will be life-threatening.

HME Today sends thousands of magazines to suppliers each month. Every issue has passionate appeals to get involved in politics. However, we are simply "asleep at the wheel" and waiting for the autopilot to get us safely through yet another round of fee cuts and regulatory overload.

The autopilot I see is what Winston Churchill called "the few" during the Battle of Britain. In our industry, "the few" are literally the same. They are the names we can count on a few hands who are doing it all, and the rest of the suppliers are huddled in an office bunker somewhere hoping that the bombs won't fall.

If you are reading this and the cap fits, pull it down on your head and do something for a change. I, for one, think this is an admirable industry to be a part of and I'm not about to sit here and let apathy and complacency put me out of business. We care about people, we follow the rules, we work long hours, we kill ourselves to stay in business—but the one thing we can't seem to get around to is actually helping ourselves.

What's so hard about talking to members of Congress, or a member of their staff? You talk to everyone else and articulate quite clearly what the problem is, so why not use some of that same passion to make a call or visit your local Representative's district office.

I'm issuing a challenge to every reader of this article. STOP right now. Pick up the phone. If you know your Congressman's local district office phone number, dial it. If you don't know that number, dial the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask for your Congressman's office. If you don't know who your Congressman is, please put a FOR SALE sign in your front window. If you've called before, call again. If you've had your head in the sand, pull it out and call now.

Wayne Stanfield is president and CEO of the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers (NAIMES). He can be reached via e-mail: .