Archive for October, 2008
Insurance for the Self-Employed
I was successfully self-employed a year ago, I didn’t have health insurance yet because I could not afford it despite making a decent amount of money. I was shopping around to try to find some. Then I got unexplainably ill, I went to every type of doctor and thousands of dollars later was diagnosed with [...]
10 K and a new sweatshirt
Eblen had its 10K Heroes for Hope walk today. It’s dedicated to Dana Jarrett, my colleague, Keith’s, late wife. He always raises money for it and gets John Boyle to solicit donations from the newsroom. But John was out of town this week, so I took over, and Keith and I collected about $1,650. Eblen was [...]
Six months
I can’t believe it’s been six months. It still feels so raw, so new. I’ve been feeling increasingly snarky the last couple of days. I was in all-day computer training sessions yesterday and today and was doing pretty well until there was a system glitch this afternoon. I had three computer geeks hanging over me, [...]
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.