Life o’ Mike
Pink slime
You may want to start packing lunch for your kids. Pink slime, the nasty ground beef filler that even McDonald’s has decided to stop using, is going to be in your kids’ school lunches. This isn’t edible beef. In fact, it’s made from parts of the cow that used to be considered inedible for humans. [...]
How important is contraception?
Nearly two-thirds of Americans support the provision in the Affordable Care Act that insurance companies must provide contraception to women at no cost, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In addition, half of Americans think the only reason this is an issue is because this is an election year. And why [...]
Extremism and hypocrisy
Again, presidential candidate Rick Santorum shows his extremism. Again, this is not about politics but respect for women as human beings. Santorum said that if his mother was gang-raped and a pregnancy resulted, he would welcome that sibling and love it. That’s all fine and good, but nowhere does he even wonder how his mother [...]
Six more weeks
It has been almost four years since Mike died, but as I approach the anniversary, April Fools Day, it seems much closer than that. The grief becomes fresh again. It was Feb. 26, 2008, when I heard the words no mother should have to hear: “Mom, the cancer’s back. There’s nothing they can do this time.” [...]
Pay cut for doctors is averted
Doctors who treat patients on Medicare were facing a 27 percent rate cut next week if Congress didn’t act to stop it, and with the way Congress has been working (or, more accurately, not working), a lot of us expected the cut actually would happen before anything was done. The fix came as part of [...]
ERs are turning people away
Remember when emergency rooms had to see anyone who came through the door? Well, that law has been subverted by hospitals across the country, allowing people to be denied treatment if they can’t pay up front. Increasingly, hospitals are demanding that people whose problems aren’t immediately life-threatening pay $150 or more before they get treatment. [...]
Attacks on everyone’s rights and on Medicare
Yesterday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R., MO) introduced a provision that would allow any employer to opt out of any health care coverage to which he or she is morally opposed. That isn’t just about birth control, it’s about saying someone can’t get coverage for cardio-vascular disease because he or she must have abused their body [...]
54 million healthier Americans
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 54 million more Americans are getting the preventive care they need without cost-sharing (co-pays). What does this mean? It means breast and colon cancers caught in the early stages, when they’re much more treatable. It means regular pediatrician visits and immunizations for children, Pap smears and mammograms for women, [...]
In debt for life
Each year, millions of uninsured and under insured Americans face financial ruin, even the loss of their homes because of medical debt. For many of them, help should be available, but they don’t know it’s even there, let alone how to apply for it. The Community Service Society of New York released a report this week on [...]
Support for health reform is growing
A new Harris Poll shows that support for parts of the Affordable Care Act are growing. Not surprisingly, those parts that have taken effect already are pretty popular. For example, 71 percent of those polled now back the law’s provision that prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to those already sick. I just question why [...]
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
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.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.