Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/8698
4A – Daily News – Monday, April 5, 2010 Vitality & health Fund-raisers to the rescue DETROIT (MCT) — Facing the most advanced stage of thyroid cancer and given at most five years to live, Rene Louis awoke one night last sum- mer with a dream about how she could help others like her raise money to pay their medical bills. Louis, 40, of Allen Park, Mich., needs to pay $14,000 up front to be treated by an alternative medicine doctor in Hous- ton. So she started the I Promise Campaign to help her pay for it. She hopes to get nonprofit sta- tus and raise enough money to cover not only her treatment, but the medical bills of others as well. "It sucks if you have hope and you can't get it," says Louis, referring to the treatments she wants but can't afford. She has two children, ages 10 and 8, whom she hopes to leave with "good life lessons about making good out of bad." As more uninsured and even insured people find it tough to pay out-of- pocket medical bills for life-threatening or chronic health issues, many patients and their families are turning to health care fund-raisers to pay their medical expenses. The need is likely to continue despite health care reform legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law last month that will help more people purchase health insurance — provi- MCT photo Linda Schnuphase, of Roseville, left, speaks to her niece Rachel Peterson, 31, who is uninsured and going through treatment for an aggressive form of breast cancer. The two chat during the Mother- Daughter Breast Cancer Fund fund-raiser sponsored by JD's Key Club. sions that largely take effect four years from now. Given deductibles many insured people must pay before their insurance coverage kicks in, and with co-pays that mount for patients with serious, catastrophic illnesses, many Americans may need help for years to come. Others like Louis, who is insured, need help because they have insur- ance policies that won't pay for alternative treat- ments not proven as safe and as effective as con- ventional therapies. "This fight is going on all around me," says Sharon Meadows, a retired United Auto Workers benefits consul- tant from Detroit who helped raise more than $25,000 last year to help an uninsured friend pay for her treatments for end- stage colon cancer. Meadows got help from My Friends Care, a Mt. Clemens, Mich., non- profit that raises money to pay medical bills for can- cer patients and people who need bone marrow transplants. Meadows' friend, who Community Calendar April Monday, April 5th DIABETES SUPPORT GROUP, 6:30 PM Columba Room, Coyne Center, Call 529.8113 Monday, April 12th CARDIAC SUPPORT GROUP Columba Room, Coyne Center, Call 527.5077 Tuesday, April 13th CPR 7-10 PM Columba Room, Coyne Center, Call 529.8031 Sunday, April 18th TOUGH ENOUGH TO WEAR PINK 1 PM Red Bluff Round Up, TCD Fairgrounds, Call 527.1000 Thursday/Friday, April 22-23 SECH AUXILIARY MASQUERADE JEWELRY SALE 7-3, Warde McAuley Room, Call 529.8002 Thursdays, 3-5 PM GRIEF SUPPORT, Coyne Center Call 528.4207 redbluff.mercy.org asked not to be named because she fears that she will be denied Medicaid if the agency knows friends have helped raise money for her care, initially had to get over the "shame and guilt" of asking for help, Meadows says. "The toughest part for a lot of us trying to do this is a way that people don't feel less of a person. There's so much stigma and shame attached to having to raise money. I finally got her to agree to let us help. I told her, 'There's no reason any- body in this country has to go through this.'" DIFFERENT WAYS TO HELP Paul Funk donned a Deep tissue massage therapy specializing in chronic pain & injury relief. your giddy-up? Been pushin cattle, Working horses? Got a hitch in A Better Path Located between Red Bluff & Corning Sally Eisinger, CMT 824-6860 Plastic Surgery of the Breast.... includes some of the most frequently performed procedures in the field of plastic surgery and has helped many women look and feel their best. Attend our next free seminar, and you’ll get the facts from an expert in the field of plastic surgery. You’ll also learn about skin resurfacing techniques. Dr. Curtis Wong, a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, will talk about: • Breast Enlargement • Breast Lift • Breast Reduction • Breast Reconstruction • Laser, Rhytec & Matrix Skin Resurfacing Call 241-1300 Today To Reserve Your Seat Refreshment will be served www.plasticsurgeryredding.com 2439 Sonoma St. Redding, CA Attendants receive a certificate for a complimentary cosmetic surgery consultation Monday April 12th 6:00 p.m. bee costume and asked for "buzz cuts" at a fund- raiser last year at Glitz Salon in Rochester, Mich., as part of his Angels4People campaign. "All my life I've been a giver," he says. "I've seen people fall through the cracks who don't have insurance, who can't pay the minimums (co-pays) or who have some type of catastrophic health prob- lem" that exceeds what a policy covers, he says. He, too, hopes to make his organization nonprofit so people will be able to obtain tax breaks for their charitable contributions. He imparts fund-raising tips, serves as an advocate for people trying to nego- tiate discounts on their hospital bills and arranges other help. He gets calls from people who need $20,000 for their care but has to tell them "it's not like there's a million dol- lars sitting in the bank." But here and there, he and others are trying to help. There's no textbook, no single source of infor- mation, no health care fund-raising book for dummies. "A lot of people need more help than ever before," says Debra Wurmlinger of Marysville, Mich., who runs My Friends Care. Once they pass a back- ground check, groups sign contracts with the organization, which then meets with patients and their support networks to discuss fund-raising ideas. A typical benefit dinner event might raise $7,000 or $8,000, Wurm- linger says. fitness Nutrition quiz: Refined sugar (MCT) Sugar: It's so sweet to the tongue, so bad for the body. As food vices go, consuming refined sugar is up there alongside snorting Crisco. Take our quiz, culled from Men's Health magazine, about demon sugar. 1. The average American consumes 460 calories from "added sugars" a day, which equals 100 pounds of raw sugar per person per year. That amounts to eating how many Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? a) 939 b) 3,628 c) 8,204 2. In addition to spiking blood sugar levels, consum- ing refined sugar has what adverse reaction in the body? a) Results in a rapid pulse rate followed by a sudden plunge b) Signals to the body to store fat instead of burning it, leading to weight gain c) Leads to a chronic skin disease called rosacea (a.k.a. acne) 3. Men's Health's "Eat This, Not That" book says the No. 1 sugar-packed food on the market is Baskin Robbins' large York Pepper- mint Patties shake. How many grams of sugar does it contain? a) 157 b) 281 c) 779 4. Which item, accord- ing to the same list, is the most sugar-laden children's breakfast pastry? a) Kellogg's Pop Tarts Toaster Pastries (frosted strawberry) b) Panera Cobblestone Sweet Rolls c) General Mills' Choco- late Lucky Charms 5. The most sugar-satu- rated Starbucks coffee drink is: a) Caramel Frappuccino Light Blended Coffee b) Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino Blended Creme c) Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino with Whipped Creme Source: eatthis.menshealth.com How to swallow pills Practice with candy. Work on swallowing different sizes of candy moving to bigger types shaped like your pills. Take a sip of water first just before putting a pill in your mouth. Then take a few additional gulps to swallow. If you gag easily, try putting the pill on the tip of your tongue rather than further back in your mouth. If a pill is oval, make sure to point it length-wise toward your throat so you don't swallow it sideways. Don't throw your head back. Instead, tilt it forward with your chin toward your chest. That motion should help move a pill to the back of your throat. Free Seminar ANSWERS: 1: b; 2: b; 3: b; 4: b (61 grams); 5: c (120 grams of sugar in 24 ounces)