Our second rally
We had about 125 people, and if you count the people who came and went, we got the message out to a couple hundred people.
Bryan Brooks happened by Pritchard Park as we were talking about how Mike died, and he came to the microphone to talk about his own fear that he has stomach cancer. He went to the doctor a couple weeks ago for a bleeding ulcer and learned he might have cancer, and he might have less than 2 years left to live. He will learn tomorrow whether that’s true. He’s just 31.
What worries him — besides the fact that he could have cancer – is that he won’t get decent care because he doesn’t have insurance or money, just like Mike.
He’s really scared and I don’t blame him. Danny and I have let him know we’ll do whatever we can to help him get the best care possible.
Scott Rogers, the Baptist minister who runs the Asheville-Buncombe Christian Community Ministries, talked to him for awhile. ABCCM has a free clinic and can refer him to Project Access, a couple of things we have in Asheville that might have saved Mike’s life if he had lived here.
That’s part of the crime of all this: If you live in a place with a good safety net, you’ll get care; if not, you’ll die. The solution has to be national. It has to be now.
As one person talked about the frustration of not being able to get good medical care, someone in the audience called out, “Blame Obama!” I took the microphone back when the person had finished talking and told everyone that we are not here to point fingers or assign blame. We all have our own ideas about that, but what we need to do now is to move ahead and get care for all Americans.
“It’s time to put on our big-kid pants and talk like grownups,” I said. “I’ve had enough sniping and divisiveness. We need to take care of people.”
The Obama-blamer left. And I swear, I would have said the same thing to a McCain-basher. I’m so sick of it all.
Janet Moore, the VP for communications at Mission Hospitals, was there to talk about how the hospital stands with us on this. Memorial Health refused to even talk to us.
James talked about how hard it was to watch his best friend die and how much he appreciated Janet’s and my efforts in all this.
Shannon talked about the stories she hears as a nurse working at a large hospital.
Danny said he wants to get a colonoscopy because his brother died of colon cancer and his father almost did, but his insurance company won’t pay for it. He hadn’t told me that before and now I want to go into debt again to get him what he needs. I can’t bear the thought of losing him because the insurance company won’t give him what he needs.
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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