Sorry about the rant
I have to apologize for the rant. I don’t mean to be strident or negative, but I believe the corporate giants in the health care industry are trying to derail meaningful reform, and it’s incredibly frustrating.
I am trying to make something good come out of something awful and I get passionate about it.
Although I’m trying not to be political, when lobbyists control the political process, I feel the need to expose what they’re doing.
Their Harry and Louise commercials of 1993 and 1994 derailed meaningful health care reform then, and their talking points are threatening to do it again.
“Government takeover” is NOT what will happen. Choice between a private and a public plan is what will. If you choose to use the post office over Federal Express or UPS, that’s what I’m talking about.
“Rationing of health care” is what’s happening now, and people die every day because they get nothing.
“I don’t want some government bureaucrat deciding on my health care.” Would you rather have some corporate hack looking for a bonus doing it?
“I won’t be able to get the drugs I want.” Well, if the drug isn’t on your insurance company’s formulary you won’t get it either.
I covered the reform efforts in 1993, and 16 million people were uninsured. Today, it’s 52 million and rising. About 30,000 lives are lost every year because of a lack of access to emergency care.
We at Life o’ Mike will never endorse a candidate, but we might produce a report card with politicians’ voting records.
We don’t even all agree on what the fix is — we all do agree, however, that reform has to happen.
I believe if the private, for-profit sector is to take it on, the government has to regulate it very strictly. I’ve been alive long enough to see the private sector promise and then do nothing before (in the 1960s, when Medicare began and they were afraid the whole system would go public, and in 1994 when they were afraid the Clinton plan might be adopted). All we got was higher costs and fewer people getting covered.
We now spend one in every $5 of our gross national product on health care. In 20 years it will be one in 3. We spend a larger percentage than any other industrialized nation in the world and we cover the smallest percentage of people.
As the big corporations promise change yet again, I don’t believe them. It’s like watching a train wreck about to happen and I can’t do a thing about it.
Forgive me if I get a little pissy sometimes. I honestly don’t mean to. I just get frustrated because I don’t want other families to have to go through what mine did.
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.
Life o’ Mike honors Joe Eblen
Life o' Mike presented its first Michael T. Danforth Community Service Award to Joe Eblen at a luncheon on June 8, in the Friendship Hall of First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville.
Joe, seen here with Leslie Boyd, left, and his wife, Bobbie, has spent his life helping children and families, both as a coach and game official for more than 60 years, and as founder of Eblen Charities.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.