Health Care For All
An unregulated system
Not only do we deny access to millions of Americans to our health care system, the ones who are fortunate enough to have an in might be relegated to failing hospitals, where errors occur at alarming rates.
Check out this story from the NY Times about hospital oversight:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/business/08hospital.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
While other industrial nations have government agencies charged with protecting people, we have the nonprofit Joint Commission, which is understaffed and has no enforcement powers.
So, if you need to go to the hospital, there’s no real way to tell if the hospital you choose lives up to any standard of quality care.
Just another way our so-called health care system is failing.
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a new peer support program for people newly diagnosed with chronic or serious illness or with a new disability and their caregivers.
Patient Pals are people who have experience with various illnesses and disabilities, who can help someone newly diagnosed or with a new disability work through the fear, frustration, confusion and grief often experienced in the first few months.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
People with new illness or disability fare better when they have a role model -- someone who can help them negotiate their new path in life.
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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