Cornering politicians
I know a lot of politicians, and I like a lot of them personally. I don’t agree with all of them of course. Lately, though — since Mike died, to be specific, I’ve had some interesting discussions with them.
I was in an editorial board meeting week before last with our Congressman, Heath Shuler, a Blue Dog Democrat. That means he’s pretty conservative on a lot of issues.
We went around the table with questions, and when it got to me, I was all about health care. Shuler talked about getting more children covered under the various states’ SCHIP programs, and working to get more unds for Medicare so more older adults would be covered.
After the meeting, I went over to him and said, “Nothing you talked about would have saved my son’s life.”
He looked shocked.
But he needed to know that people ages 18-64 need coverage too. No child who loses a parent is going to do well. No mother who loses an adult child will care if she has her own coverage. Everyone, everyone, needs health care.
He agreed to meet with me to talk about the need for access to health care.
Shuler’s opponent in the election, Carl Mumpower, is a man I admire for his honesty and his dedication to helping his constituents. As a city councilman in Asheville, he has helped people who had nowhere to turn again and again. It’s not grandstanding — it’s just who he is.
But he told me he’s all about the free market, and I told him, with all due respect, I can’t vote for him because the free market hasn’t worked. The system needs more than tweaking.
I corralled Nathan Ramsey, the head of our county commissioners, at 10K walkathon for Eblen Charities. Nathan is a Rpublican. He’s a dairy farmer and a truly decent human being. We spent most of the 10K talking about health care and why the free market isn’t working.
Buncombe County has some great initiatives, and if Mike had lived here, he probably would have gotten the colonoscopy he needed before his cancer had spread. The county medical society has organized the charity care nearly all doctors give and people can get the speciaty care they need, even if they can’t pay for it.
Project Access has spread to a lot of other cities and counties, but it has its limitations, and I’m not so sure doctors and hospitals should be asked to bear the burden that our government fails to take on. They offer many millions of dollars in care, but it isn’t the way to fix the system because it’ local.
Nathan and I talked about the Massachusetts plan of making people buy health insurance, with the premiums subsidized for people with low incomes.
By the end of the two-hour walk, Nathan and I had agreed on a plan we could both support, That public-private partnership wasn’t the perfect fix for either one of us, but it was something we both could live with.
if we can do it, why can’t politicians in Washington?
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.
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