lifeomike.org | 2009 December

Archive for December, 2009

The natural order of things

My mom died at 11:30 tonight (technically, last night). She was 85 and her husband died three days ago. She is where she wants to be.
She received excellent medical care, beyond what she needed. I had to ask them to stop one treatment tonight because it was bothering her and there was no need for [...]

We’re not there yet

The Senate finally managed to squeak through a deeply flawed bill this morning, and I will admit it does accomplish some reform, but not enough.
I’m eager to see what happens in conference as the House and Senate bills are forged into one. The main issue is an alternative to insurance companies; something to make them [...]

Off the grid and goodbye to Millie

We got over a foot of snow last Friday and it’s going to take weeks to clean up the mess. The power went out Friday afternoon and wasn’t restored until Monday night.
We have a kerosene heater and a propane camp stove, battery- and propane-powered lamps, oil lights and candles. But the heater really only heats [...]

The current bill

Something needs to be done now about health care in this country. Five people die every hour because they’re uninsured.
However, the closer I look at the current bill before Congress, the more I believe it shouldn’t pass.
I tend to watch insurance company stock prices, and they’re rising. It’s a gimme to them with very little [...]

I’m on the Internets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQjj4yErw9M
That’s video of my talk in Washington last week. Watch it and then get out and tell your own story.
There’s another vigil in Waynesville, NC on Wednesday. 6 p.m. in front of the courthouse.

A long week

I got home from the candlelight vigil Wednesday afternoon to find a tree on my house.

Plus, the power was out in the entire neighborhood with the coldest weather of the season approaching. In fact, it was out all night, came on in the morning and went out again, came on in the afternoon and went [...]

‘Blessed be the bothersome’

“Blessed be the bothersome for they shall receive health care,” a speaker at tonight’s rally said, after exhorting all of us to call our legislators again and again and again on the issue of health reform.
Another mother, whose son survived cancer despite the worst efforts of insurance companies, spoke about her ordeal after I told [...]

‘I saw it on TV’

I’m on my way to Washington to speak at a candlelight vigil, and I stopped for gas in Virginia. I went in for a snack and on the radio was a comercial urging Virginians to tell their senators to vote against anything to do with health care reform.
I told the clerk how much that commercial [...]

Candlelight vigil

I’m headed to Washington, DC, to speak at a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of our horribly broken health care system.
It’s hard to believe there still are people trying to block access to care for all Americans. I don’t understand how one could oppose it. How can anyone believe we have the best health [...]

Patient Pals & Family Friends volunteer training

Our Feb. 27 training had to be postponed, but we have rescheduled. Join us 8 days, as we train our next group of volunteers for Patient Pals & Family Friends. The four-hour training will run 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and will include lunch. Patient Pals are people who have experience with an illness or disability. After training, they will be paired with someone who is newly diagnosed or disabled. Family Friends will be volunteers who are paired with family members of people who are ill or disabled, and will have been through the expeience of having a loved one with illness or disability.

In Loving Memory

Life o' Mike has participated two memorial services to remember those who have died from our broken health care system, one in Asheville and one in Raleigh. If you would like to organize more of these services, please contact lifeomike@gmail.com and we will help put it together. The services include stories, prayers and information on how people of faith can make a difference. About 45,000 people die each year because they don’t have health insurance, according to a recent study by Harvard Medical School and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That breaks down to one American every 12 minutes. Those people can be honored in the service by a bell chime and a moment of silence every 12 minutes in the service. For more information, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712.