Our work is cut out for us
For awhile there, it looked like Life o’ Mike’s mission might be accomplished in the coming year.
Not that I really believed that, mind you. The insurance industry is going to fight really hard to keep things the way they are. It doesn’t matter how many people suffer and die, as long as they make their obscene profits.
Now we have another front in the war.
A group of “moderate” Democrats in the Senate want to make sure we pay as we go in any new programs, including health care reform. We can’t pay as we go right now. So, does that mean another 30,000 people will die this year and another 30,000 next year?
It’s a lot more expensive NOT to take care of people.
There’s Danny’s friend, whose mother couldn’t afford diabetes supplies, so she hoped she could manage it. She’s in a nursing home now, totally disabled by a stroke. That’s about $90,000 a year as opposed to less than $10,000 to get her the supplies she needed to remain a contributing member of society.
Multiply that by — I don’t even know.
And what kind of price tag should we put on the lives that ended in the last year?
What was Mike worth?
I went into debt to take care of him, but these senators say we can’t go into debt to prevent what happened to him.
We can get through to them with real stories of real people. We have to put faces on this issue.
We can’t just hope something good will happen; we can’t just trust that it will. We have to step up and fight.
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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