Archive for June, 2011
Ignoring breast health
Does it seem as though more women are getting breast cancer? According to breastcancer.org, the incidence is rising by about 2 percent per year, although fewer women are dying from it because more women have access to early detection tests. The rise has been said to come from women’s use of hormone replacement therapy, but no [...]
‘Gimme a dollar and a doctor’
Richard Verone has a growth in his chest, ruptured discs and no job, which means he has no health care. Desperate for relief, Verone, 59, walked up to a teller at the RBC Bank in Gastonia, NC, and demanded a dollar. Then he sat down and waited for the police to arrive. In the 911 call, the [...]
Fuzzy math for Medicaid in NC
Legislators have been screaming about Medicaid and how it’s eating up the budget in North Carolina (the same is true in other states), and it’s easy to make people think it all comes from abuse of the system, but that’s false. Medicaid serves children, impoverished adults and elderly people who can’t afford to pay the nursing [...]
Poor kids are turned away from care
No matter what anyone tells you, there are disparities in health care, and poor children have less access to care, even when they have Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP). According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 66 percent of children with public health care (Medicaid or [...]
Cause of death: No insurance
In a piece on Doctors for America, Dr. Zaneb Beams writes about a 15-year-old child who died because his father lost his job, and with it, the family’s health insurance (http://www.drsforamerica.org/blog/my-15-year-old-patient-died-because-his-dad-was-unemployed). Even when they had insurance, the family couldn’t afford the specialist the boy should have seen. A pediatric urologist would have diagnosed the problem [...]
Where’s your money?
For years, we’ve been told that privatization of government services would make things more efficient and less expensive. But for the most part, when things are privatized, costs go up because there must be a profit. Take Medicare, for example. The popular government-run single-payer plan for America’s elderly and people with disabilities spends 97 percent [...]
Trying to look ahead
I’ve been obsessing about the NC state budget the last few weeks. People I know have been arrested protesting the proposed budget, and when it passed on Sasturday morning, my friend LisaRose called me to make sure I was OK. I still have the hope that the governor will veto the budget and two of [...]
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.
To learn more, visit www.startfromseed.org, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.