Rally in Asheville
We had 300 people at the rally today. They came from all over Western North Carolina.
Rally in Asheville
It was a great day. The signs were clever, the crowd friendly. No one called anyone names, no one shouted over anyone, and we heard some compelling stories.
One man had a friend who was hit by lightning and he was intrigued as to whether that would be covered by insurance (as a combat veteran, all his health care is covered by the VA, but he was curious).
So he called one insurance company and they said it wouldn’t be covered because it was an act of God. The second company said it would be covered if he had no pre-existing conditions and if it was determined he needed medical treatment.
One woman came forward to tell about her daughter, a cancer survivor, who couldn’t get coverage in the United States, so she moved to Japan to teach English as a second language and she’s covered now.
We were the lead story on WLOS News tonight at 6. Maybe it was a slow news day, but that’s OK — we’re getting the word out.
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
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.
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.
On May 27th, 25-year old Palmyra Romeo — an Asheville-based AmeriCorps intern at RiverLink, avid outdoors woman, talented bluegrass bass player, and an honors graduate of NC State University — unexpectedly had a seizure, lost her ability to speak, became paralyzed on her right side, lost consciousness and was rushed to Mission Hospital. An MRI revealed a ping-pong ball sized abscess on the left side of her brain. Since then, Palmyra has undergone two brain surgeries, and is making amazing progress. While a full recovery is expected, it will be a long road ahead.
Although Palmyra has minimal health benefits through AmeriCorps, the coverage is not sufficient to cover the astronomical cost of hospital stays, surgeries, medications, and the need for ongoing care. Shortly after Palymra’s first surgery, she said:
“I think it is very important that people know about the health care system… I want to see some benefit to others when catastrophe happens. To have all of that happen and to have to worry that you can’t even pay the bill, what are you going to do because you want to live? The opportunity to worry about your health and your care should be very separate from worrying about whether or not you can afford to get the care.”
Come to the Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC on September 15th at 6pm to help change the tune on Health Care, listen to great music, and support Palmyra!
Contact: Hartwell Carson
riverkeeper@riverlink.org
828-252-8474 x. 114
http://www.palmyrabenefit.org