Get your plaid on
Things are starting to come together for our rally in Savanah on Aug. 24. I mailed off the permit application today for a gathering on the mall in Daffin Park.
I was still pretty angry when I came up with the idea of a rally, and I guess I still am angry that Mike died because he couldn’t get access to health care. But Mike hated negativity, so we’re going to keep this rally as positive as we can. We want health care for everyone. We’re tired of living in the only industrialized nation in the world that denies health care to its people and we believe it’s time to stand up and be heard.
In the last few days, I’ve gotten a number of calls from people who don’t have access to health care. I hear story after story from friends and family, from strangers, from doctors, nurses and other practitioners. One woman can’t get a diagnostic test she needs beause she can’t afford it and Medicaid won’t pay for it. f she could get the test, Medicaid would pay for the treatment for whatever s wrong and she likely would be able to go back to work and become a taxpayer instead of a tax burden.
The system is so self-defeating. We wait until people are really sick — and really expensive to treat — before we help them, if we do help them.
Our disability system is in even worse shape than out health care system. Attorneys tell me about clients who die while waiting, and even people who get disability aren’t eligible for Medicare benefits for 24 months. So, they’re to sick to work and they can’t get coverage unless they’re fortunate to have a spouse whose insurance covers them. Fat chance of that nowadays.
It’s time for us to speak up and tell our stories. It’s time for us to be seen and heard. People like Mike and the 200,000 others who have died since 2000 deserved better than they got. Maybe if enough of us speak up loudly enough, 200,000 more won’t have to die in the next eight years.
So, get your plaid on and come out to Dafin Park in Savannah on Aug. 24. We’ll celebrate the Life o’ Mike and everyone else who should have health care.
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.
And then Mike said, “Let there be plaid…”. It’s going to be a great rally! Matt and the kids and I are going to do everything possible to make sure that we’re down there for that! It’s so important for people to hear about this issue and understand that health insurance isn’t always a choice for people and that it’s not just as easy as making a phone call to get quality medical care. I know Mike would be proud of everything that this new organization is doing! Everyone needs to spread the word!