leslie
More bad news for low-income Americans
As governments refuse to raise taxes on the richest Americans, the poor suffer increasingly. Across the country, cash-strapped states are cutting their spending where it hurts the most — access to Medicaid, the federal program that provides care to the poorest Americans. Already, income requirements are so low that tens of thousands of people who [...]
The biggest lie of the year is a big fat lie.
Politifact, the St. Petersburg Times’ fact-checking site, has said the biggest lie of 2011 is that Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan for Medicare would end the program as we know it. Frankly, I think the biggest lie out there right now is that it wouldn’t end Medicare as we know it. What was created in 1964 [...]
Where can we go to die?
A column in the New York Times yesterday told the story of a young woman who was dying of cancer. She was the mother of two young children and her husband had done all he could do to care for her. She was no longer able to do anything for herself, and the cancer had [...]
Lies spread in pursuit of profits over people
Insurance companies would have us believe they’ll all go under if the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, and that we’ll all die because we can’t buy coverage anymore. They talk about government ”death panels” as they refuse to cover anyone who’s ever been sick, and until the law made them stop, they found excuses to [...]
This year’s homeless death toll
Wednesday, Dec. 21, is Homeless Persons Memorial Day here in Asheville. It is observed with a service at the Haywood Street Congregation at noon. Each year, the list of those who died is posted in the front of the sanctuary, along with the lists of those who died in previous years. Each of these approximately [...]
We’re Number 16 (of 16)
The United States ranked dead last in a survey of preventable deaths done by the Commonwealth Fund (more at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/News/News-Releases/2011/Sep/US-Ranks-Last-on-Preventable-Deaths.aspx) and appearing in this month’s online journal, Health Policy. According to the study, we could prevent 84,000 deaths annually if we could improve our health care system to the rates of the top two performers, [...]
Judge: NC Must continue to provide in-home personal care services
A federal judge has issued an injunction against North Carolina’s implementation of a new Medicaid rule that would deny personal care services to recipients who are over 21 and not in an institution. The rule, passed last spring and implemented on June 1, would eliminate or cut back these services for some people with serious disabilities [...]
Are we on the road to single-payer?
Have we started down the path to a single-payer system? Well, if you read Forbes Magazine’s Rich Unger (http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/12/02/the-bomb-buried-in-obamacare-explodes-today-halleluja/), the road starts today with the implementation of the “80 percent rule.” It goes like this: Insurance companies must spend 80 percent of what they take in in premiums (85 percent if they’re big group insurors) [...]
Things like this cause my head to explode
Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum (actually, he’s more af a presidential hopeless, thank God) says he believes Americans don’t die from lack of insurance; he believes they die from bad choices. (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/12/06/382623/santorum-claims-nobody-dies-because-they-are-uninsured-they-die-due-to-poor-decisions/) Like Mike chose to be born with a birth defect, which made him uninsurable. Like he chose to be denied screening tests for colon [...]
World AIDS Day
Today we observe 30 years of battling HIV/AIDS, and we can look ahead with hope, although we still have a long way to go to erradicate the pandemic. A new study shows that three out of four Americans with HIV do not have it under control. That may be because our health care system is so [...]
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.