Archive for July, 2011
Medicare is necessary and should be expanded
You and I should be able to buy into Medicare. It’s really the best way out of this healthcare and budget mess. Health care isn’t what’s causing our budget problems, much as the Right would have you believe. In fact, increasing access to Medicare could solve a lot of issues. Medicare spends about 3 percent [...]
Stealing from the most vulnerable
Next door to my office is an agency that provides adult guardianship to people who can’t care for themselves — people with mild- to moderate dementia, with mental illnesses, with developmental disabilities or who are frail elderly. Each one of these groups stands to lose more under the negotiations going on now to raise the [...]
Gathering in support of working Americans
I spoke about health care and work at a rally in downtown Asheville yesterday. About 150 people showed up, despite the fact the rally had no advance coverage in the media. And not many people know about it still because no one from the media showed up to cover the event. I talked about how [...]
Messing with Medicaid and Medicare
Sen. Orrin Hatch has said the poor in this country should do more to lower the nation’s debt; the wealthy need to do less. House Speaker John Boehner says we can’t increase on the wealthy because they’re “investing” in our economy. That’s not true. Surveys have shown again and again that, as a rule, the rich [...]
Our new office
We’re into our new, slightly larger space. With the help of a few friends, we had everything moved into the new space before noon. So, now we’re in the Park Office Building at the corner of Charlotte Street & Woodfin Place, Suite 230, on the second floor. Mike’s photo is on the wall, so we’re [...]
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.