health care
The policy details matter
I spent the morning in a meeting of the panel that is making decisions on what North Carolina’s insurance exchange will look like. I know most people would have found the meeting unbearably dull, but the points being discussed could make the difference between an exchange that works best for consumers or one that works [...]
If you can’t get the paper to do a story …
Amber Cagle Amber Cagle has leukemia. She was diagnosed in December and is undergoing chemo at Wake Forest University Hospital. I don’t know much about her except that she’s an animal advocate and she needs financial help. Fortunately, she is getting treatment, but the bills will take her the rest of her life to pay [...]
Dr. Margaret Flowers confronts Wall Street fat cats
Once again, Dr. Margarert Flowers performed a historic act — confronting a room full of investors hoping to make millions off of other people’s illness and injury. She took the microphone at a conference for investors, and when it was taken away, she kept talking, walking back and forth across the front of the dais as [...]
Where we go from here
I met with the Health Care Committee in Washington’s Freedom Plaza over the weekend and we talked about where health care goes from here. The Affordable Care Act has passed and it will help some people gain access to care, but we have a lot further to go before access to quality care is extended [...]
Ready to go
In a little over an hour, I’m leaving for Washington, DC, to rally for health care for all. I know conservatives were there by the tens of thousands today and I doubt we’ll have those numbers. But we have no national sponsorship or affiliations. This is so grassroots they didn’t even have a battery-powered microphone [...]
California considers state-wide medical coverage
California may be the next state to offer health care to all of its residents. Their state assembly recently passed SB 840, a bill that will offer Californians health care through a single-payer system. SB 840 still needs to go for a final vote on the state assembly floor and needs to withstand a likely [...]
Other People’s Stories
We’ve been hoping to get some people to tell their own stories here — a couple of friends have told me they don’t want to be the first, or they don’t think having to stay in a job they hate because of the insurance compares to losing a kid. All the stories are valid. People [...]
One in three uninsured people have a chronic illness
According to a study from The Annals of Internal Medicine, out of 36 million people without health insurance, 11 million have been diagnosed with a chronic illness. How many more suffer with chronic disease that don’t know because they haven’t even been able to get to a doctor to get diagnosed? How much more will [...]
The point
We visited with old friends this last week. Rob and Craig have been friends since fifth grade, and Craig’s entire family has become like our own. I call them the Jersey Gang. We’ve all vacationed together, the men played softball (pretty badly) for years. We have welcomed babies and watched them grow up and grieved [...]
And nobody stopped to help
It’s pretty graphic, but it’s right there, captured on video — a 49-year-old woman who had been waiting in a psychiatric emergency room at Kings County Hospital in Manhattan for nearly 24 hours, fell out of her chair and landed face-down on the floor, where she was ignored for 45 minutes. The video shows people coming [...]
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.