Please, write to your congressmen today and ask them to support real healthcare reform, now. The new figures from a Harvard study published two weeks ago show that 44,000 Americans die needlessly each year because of lack of access healthcare (many of those have insurance, as many of you know, insurance doesn’t really work when you get seriously ill because it’s all about maximizing profit thereby minimizing help). This figure is up from 18,000 the last time I researched the topic a year ago. Having been almost completely destroyed emotionally and financially by the seriously flawed excuse for a health’care’ system here in the US, change can not come fast enough for me.
I needed change yesterday; last month; a year ago.
And I have to say that I haven’t felt like my local congressmen have been listening to me and learning from my real-life experiences of having two sick children and living in this once great nation. In fact, I know they haven’t been listening because the form letter response I got from one of them was on a completely different topic than what I wrote him – didn’t exactly instill confidence.
I really hate to say this but America is not as great as it used to be – it’s broken and in my view, so much of it’s mess can be directly related to bad, bad, expensive, non-accessible, highest-reason-for-bankrupsty health’care’. It is an absolute mess here, economically, politically, in many ways culturally and definitely socially.
I need my congressmen to listen to my experiences dealing with the highly inflated cost of medical care, how it destroys families who are already destroyed from having illness in the home and how insurance companies have grown completely unaffordable to most middle-Americans – you know the ones who haven’t had a raise since the 90’s because of how much health insurance is ripping off their employers – and have fine print to get them out of almost anything. The only people that seem okay with the status quo are government employees with health insurance paid for through middle class taxes, people lucky enough to work for huge corporations who can negotiate cheaper insurance because of their size and people who havn’t been screwed over by a system designed to bring the most powerful country in the world to it’s knees – yet. Haven’t been screwed over yet. They are either healthy or have only had relatively short illnesses. And yes, The United States of America is on it’s knees, a country cripped and broken.
How dare a diabetic with a life-long daily illness have to pay $600 a month for the medicines to keep him alive and then have to ask the pharmacist which one is the most important and skip the rest.
Is America too arrogant to look to the rest of the world for ideas on how to make this better? Is American too consumed by greed and the culture-of-suing to not see how it is breaking this country?
Suing a doctor for not being God – I mean, how dare your doctor be human - oh, you have a bill that is going to bankrupt you after a delivery that turned complicated ending with a two week stay in hospital? Well, that changes things completely. Okay then, I guess you have no choice but to sue otherwise you will end up on the streets with no home and even less access to healthcare for your sick child; self; parent; sibling; loved-one.
Can you see how the current system encourages the suing culture?
A Canadian lawyer said it beautifully on my friend Loralee’s blog – “…as a lawyer who has defended physicians in medical malpractice suits north of the border… With a single payer system as in Canada, if I break my leg when I slip on your sidewalk (which may be due to the icy sidewalk, or to the fact I wasn’t paying attention), I go to the hospital and my leg is taken care of without any cost out of pocket. I could sue you and we could fight about whose fault it is for years, but unless I have lost any income, I probably won’t. Similarly, if I have an infant who needs substantial medical care, in the US I may have no choice but to sue my OB/GYN for any number of things: issues with the delivery, failure to diagnose before birth, even potentially the failure to advise me so I would have the opportunity to abort the fetus or not get pregnant in the first place. When people have significant medical costs they often have no choice but to turn to litigation. With “socialized” medical care, the costs of caring for that child are covered, thus turning to litigation becomes less of a necessity.”
Many doctors have to pay $100,000+ each year for malpractice insurance. How do they pay for that do you think?
It most certainly is the most vicious of cycles.
Do you know how encouraging it is to see a congressman stand up strongly for serious healthcare reform NOW and not back down from Insurance Company bullying tactics and Republican backlash? Please ooz some of this vibe onto my Utah congressmen… please…
Life was all dandy. The sun was shining, the bees were humming, the apples were falling. The children discovered how they could have mustaches like daddy by folding leaves in half.
Leaves were dropping all at once like that funny cartoon on youtube and it was so nice to be outside enjoying the last of the warm days. The sun was so relaxing and warm that soon, the children were napping in their soft bed of golden leaves.
And then the next day the virus clenched it’s awful fist and said, “Your son shall me miiiiine. Mwa ah ah ahhh.” And so the virus took him and our house converted into a hospital and I converted into a doctor and a nurse. My son became bed-ridden with a breathing machine to help him breath and a coughing machine to help him cough. The virus thinks he can beat us, but I know better. We are going to kick that virus’ butt and in fact, five days on, it looks like we’re definitely going to win.
“Beauty is a beautiful superhero protecting our world.”
- Isis Barfuss, 8 yrs old
——-
Bless his cotton little socks. Sure, I may have hinted that if superman was holding an American flag, the American mummy PTA judges may think him even more beautiful, but look at this gorgeous picture! We’re talking dramatic composition, lighting, sunset, wind blown cape – MUSCLES!!! I just love it!! I love it so much! My little eight year old is so big and grown up and so clever; brings a tear…
The best things about autumn to me, are the way the leaves sound when they crunch under foot; the way the apples smell as they cook. The way the sun shines through the leaves; the way the clouds come low and kiss the eves. The way the mountains look like they’re on fire; mud as sticky as a mire. Happy children exploring their world; scrunching up leaves with edges curled.
What a happy, happy song! I feel so much joy watching this for some reason. It’s just so… well, happy! There is a smile of my dial for sure. I hope Michael’s quirky smile, sparkling eyes and smooth voice put a smile on your dial too. You deserve it ;)
Hey guys, we’re up to 25 pages worth of donated recipes for the Cure Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Recipe Book Fundraiser so far – awesome!! Thank you so much everyone! I am still collecting recipes, so please keep them coming! (post here or email to jasmine@glooart.com)
Yay! Obama, Obama, he’s our man, if he can’t do it… well… that ’s too depressing to think about.
I can’t be happier hearing the most important politician in America talking this way. He is pretty much giving the bird to powerful insurance companies trying to kill reform at any cost. I feel like jumping up and down with pom poms cheering him on towards the finish line of real health care reform in America.
I have been asked to help collect delicious recipes for a massive Cure Congenital Muscular Dystrophy fundraiser. They are putting together a classy recipe book and need mouth-watering recipe donations. Can you guys email me or post your favourite recipe(s)? I know that some people have ’secret’ recipes, but think about sharing those too for a really good cause (except for you Kelly, I still think you should be packaging and selling your brownies world-wide – you would dominate the world brownie market. Keep that recipe a secret for sure ;)
But for the rest of you, please share!
I will be sharing my Fudgy Yummy Carrot Brownie Cupcake Recipe and my mum’s Caramel Slice Recipe. Oh, and her Carrot Cake TO DIE FOR Recipe. Oh and DEFINITELY Cyndee Hamilton’s Lasagna from my days working at the Perth Mission Home… How about you guys? Anything delicious come to mind? I would love to see recipes flooding in from my friends all around the world. What a diverse bunch of deliciousness that would be!!
The Cure CMD team is working so hard to get more funding into research and raised awareness for the plethora of Muscular Dystrophies that fall under the congenital (from birth) umbrella. Isis and Phoenix fall under this umbrella and I was approached by the foundation after they stumbled across my blogs last year. Many of the people behind the scenes of the CCMD foundation are parents of children with CMD themselves and are, in my view, supermen and women. As many of you know, having a sick child and living in America is a financial nightmare on top of the heartbreak of having a sick loved one. I tip my hat to these amazing people who find the time and emotional strength to do so much more than look after their precious children.
So will you guys email me something delicious to pass on? Let me know if you don’t want your name on the recipe.
Thank you!!
Love Jaz xox
PS Have a look around their beautiful site. To make a donation, click the donate button below or visit the Cure Congenital Muscular Dystrophy site. Every dollar counts, whether large or small. Much love and appreciation xox
Credit Card / PayPal
To donate to CureCMD via credit card or PayPal account, please click below. Note that if you wish to pay via credit card, please follow the “continue” link to the left of the Paypal login box on the next screen. The blue “continue” link is under the heading “Don’t have a PayPal account?” On the paypal screen after entering your credit card information, there is an additional line on which to add a Donor Message if you would like to make your donation in an individual’s name. To set up recurrent donations, contact pat.may@curecmd.com
Katherine and Charles. I can’t even remember when I took these pictures, but it was years ago now, on a dark day with an old camera (by todays standards). I loved seeing these wedding pictures again just now because Katherine and her twin sister Simone were two of my best friends in high-school. I have a lot of memories with those two girls – heaps in fact. Stalking boys (like Phil The Greek God, several different Daniels, maybe someone whose name starts with a ‘V’ and ofcourse…. Justin D mmMMMmmmm), late night chats, sleepovers, eating Mrs B’s delicious roasts and hanging by the library at lunch. My dad even performed Simone’s marriage. They meant so much to me during those tumultuous teen years and we influenced each other greatly as we tried to figure out who we were and what our lives would mean. Our jeans may have gotten a little too baggy and bright-coloured, but we knew we were cool ;) We lost touch a little as I left Australia after high-school bound for University in America. But facebook has brought us back together. And I am grateful. These girls are the real deal. I will love them forever. xox
The Angels
May angels rest beside your door,
May you hear their voices sing.
May you feel their loving care for you,
May you hear their peace bells ring.
May angels always care for you,
And not let you trip and fall,
May they bear you up on angel’s wings,
May they keep you standing tall.
May they whisper wisdom in your ear,
May they touch you when you need,
May they remove from you each trace of fear,
May they keep you from feeling greed.
May they fill you with their presence,
May they show you love untold,
May they always stand beside you
And make you ever bold.
May they teach you what you need to know
About life here and here-after.
May they fill you always with their love
And give you the gift of laughter.
Matthew McLelland is one talented boy. I first met Matt last year when he directed and produced the A to Zion TV commercials down in St George with his Amenat Production Company. He hired me to do makeup and hair and let me tell you, it was one of the funnest weeks of my life. Shooting in one of the most beautiful parts of St George with a group of absolutely fantastic people equalled a lot of laughs and new friendships formed. I was sad to see that week end, but happy to see Matt becoming one of my new friends here in America.
His creative genius inspires me. Sure, I confess, I am easily impressed by creativity – it’s one of my many weaknesses – but his genius is genuine and multifaceted. (He is probably going bright red reading this right now – but it’s the sad truth Matt, you’re a clever boy.)
Between designing killer-awesome websites, producing and directing music videos and commercials, he somehow found the time to record little pieces of his soul into these beautiful, moody songs. I love these songs so much, I had to share them with you all.
Definitely worth adding to your itunes collection.
Lay Down Matthew McLelland
Release Date: 15 Jul 2009
Genre: Alternative
℗ 2009 Matthew McLelland
I am so tired from crying all day over an evil medical bill, but I wanted to share just a few droplets of joy before I turn in for an early night – maybe it’s more for my spirits than anyone elses :) But enjoy anyways.
There was nothing but laughs and cuteness taking these pics. What a beautiful day it was.
His creative genius inspires me. Sure, I confess, I am easily impressed by creativity – it’s one of my many weaknesses – but his genius is genuine and multifaceted. (He is probably going bright red reading this right now – but it’s the sad truth Matt, you’re a clever boy.) 
