Trying to get back to normal
My mother and stepfather in 2006.
We’re back from two memorial services in one week. I find it hard to see the deaths of my stepfather and mother as a tragedy since they both got good care from our country’s government-run single-payer health care system, Medicare. They lived long and productive lives and they both were ready to go.
Being with my mother as she died was so different from being with Mike. Both were at peace, but my mother’s death was timely. Mike’s was too soon, and it was preventable.
45,000 times each year, 123 times every day, 12 times an hour, someone dies because he or she didn’t have access to health care. My mother and stepfather died because they were old and their bodies were worn out.
My mother wanted me to keep up the fight to get access to quality health care for every American. I was planing to do it anyway, but it’s nice to have her blessing.
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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