The Happy Clam Treads New Waters in Search of Harmonious Life
Boston, October 5, 2022 — Like clams finding nourishment from filter feeding, Rosemary Schmidt derives strength from taking in the bits and bytes of information swirling all around her and weaving it into a cohesive mosaic. Putting thoughts and ideas into a logical sequence that tells a story helps her make sense of a sometimes senseless world.
“It’s as satisfying as kneading and shaping a bread dough,” she writes in the introduction to her latest book, The Happy Clam. “It’s both an itch and a need. What’s inside needs to be put in order.”
The Happy Clam is a direct reflection of how Schmidt approaches life — by using the parts and pieces to form a cohesive whole. And it’s in that wholeness where harmony is possible, Schmidt posits.
Weaving research from the fields of sociology, psychology and neurology with deeply personal, relatable anecdotes, Schmidt contemplates what brings people joy, how change happens and what makes people tick.
The first half of the book lays the groundwork, ruminating on the benefits of being happier and why it is a worthwhile goal, and the myriad subtle but deliberate changes people can make to move the needle a tick or two.
The second half pivots to a more narrative style, as Schmidt shares stories related to her time as a supervisor, the sudden loss of her sister, and her mother’s gradual decline and eventual passing. In its final chapters, the book takes a more philosophical and theological turn, getting at the heart of human relationships and how to make change happen.
“Without telling you what to do, The Happy Clam offers a roadmap and allows you to chart your own course,” Schmidt adds. “It will make you think and leave you smiling.”
About the Author
Rosemary A. Schmidt is a Boston-area author, blogger and geologist. She published her first book, Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life, in 2003, which explores life lessons drawn from the sport of rugby.
Schmidt holds a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Dayton and a Master of Science in geology from the University of Illinois. She works as a professional geologist. Originally from the Chicago area, Schmidt now resides near Boston with her spouse, Susan.
Visit her blog at www.happyclam.net, or follow her on Twitter at @GainlineRS.
The Happy Clam
Publisher: Gainline Press
ISBN-10: 0970852827
ISBN-13: 978-0970852823
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com, and many other online sellers and independent bookstores
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What Does Your Daddy Do? Shows Kids the Cool Side of the Trades
Boston, October 5, 2022 — Career training opportunities and certifications offered in high school may not come soon enough for some students, posits Joshua Page, an electrician and author of the engaging new children’s book, What Does Your Daddy Do?
“For about the last five or six years, I was being asked to go to career days at high schools and speak about becoming an electrician,” Page said in a recent interview. “But I didn’t think I was making a big enough impact. I thought those kids were a little too old; they had already made up their minds; maybe they’re going to college.”
A children’s book seemed like the ideal way to reach an elementary school-aged audience.
What Does Your Daddy Do? introduces young readers to Ashton, whose fifth grade class is having career week. Ashton isn’t sure exactly what his dad does, so he goes home and asks him. Ashton then gets to learn about all the cool work his dad does as an electrician and all the interesting tools he gets to use. As career week continues, all the students get to share stories about what their parents do.
“I wrote this book to plant a seed in a younger generation’s mind about how ‘cool’ the trades are and to start the conversation young,” Page added.
About the Author
Joshua Page is a husband, father, electrician, entrepreneur and TEDx Speaker. With the release of his first book, What Does Your Daddy Do?, Page has also added “author” to his many titles.
An electrician by trade, Page is passionate about informing the younger generation of all the career options they have in addition to college. Page believes that choosing a trade and working with his hands saved his life and allowed him to have the life he loves. As a father of two, his mission is to teach his children and their generation about how fulfilling a career in the trades can be and to encourage them to follow their own path in life.
New York, NY, October 5, 2022 — Social media, cell phone cameras and video conferencing apps like Zoom and Teams drove a significant uptick in facial plastic surgeries over the past couple of years. Now, the trend is pivoting back to the body, says top New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Westreich.
“Body contouring is surging and in demand,” said Dr. Westreich. “Now that we're getting a level of normalcy, the boom from Zoom is switching back to focusing on the body.”
Also on trend? Bundling more than one procedure in one surgical appointment — liposuction and rhinoplasty, for example. This approach can save money and time for cosmetic surgery patients.
Whatever procedure a person is considering, due diligence is the best defense against potential post-op problems, Dr. Westreich cautioned.
“My best advice to people is to go back to the mindset before the Zoom boom,” he said, explaining that virtual consults have streamlined the process and tightened the timeline between concept and completion. “Don’t rush into something just because it’s easy or convenient.”
Popular procedures include breast augmentation, liposuction, rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery and facelifts. Less invasive procedures like Botox injections are skyrocketing.
If you’re considering any cosmetic procedure, these safety tips from Dr. Westreich can improve your chances of a better outcome:
Tip 1: Make sure any doctor you schedule through a virtual visit allows you to cancel AFTER an in-person meeting for surgery. There is no substitute for face to face.
Tip 2: Your health doesn’t belong in the bargain bin.
Tip 3: Medical tourism can be dangerous. Laws may differ; regulations may differ; problems with after care may arise.
Tip 4: Understand informed consent. Ask for examples of not only the good outcomes but also the potential bad ones. Ask for data specific to the procedure and the doctor performing it (complication rates, death rates).
Tip 5: Surgery belongs in accredited operating rooms. Ask to see accreditation certificate (AAA, AAAA, JCAHO).
Tip 6: Make sure the board certification of a doctor makes sense for the procedure they are performing.
Tip 7: If significant issues arise after a procedure (surgery or office injection), seek a second opinion on management.
More on Dr. Richard Westreich
Dr. Richard Westreich graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Biological Basis of Behavior, Neuroscience concentration in 1995 from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his medical school training at the New York University School of Medicine in 1999 with an M.D. and Honors in Cell Biology Research. Dr. Westreich then did his post-graduate training in Facial Plastic Surgery and Otolaryngology at the prestigious Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
He has been selected multiple times by Castle Connolly and New York magazine as one of the top doctors in facial plastic surgery. He is an assistant professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and is on staff at Lenox Hill and Mount Sinai Hospitals. He is a faculty member and teacher at a fellowship in Facial Plastic Surgery at Mount Sinai. His private practice is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he specializes in rhinoplasty, septoplasty, secondary and reconstructive rhinoplasty, facelifts, eyelid surgery and nonsurgical procedures.
He can be seen regularly on several national news programs, including ABC, CBS, FOX and Newsmax.
Dr. Westreich is also an accomplished artist and musician. His band, Big Rich Energy, is currently touring, making limited stops across New York City. For more information on his band: https://bigrichenergy.com/.
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How to Bridge the Gap From College to Career: New Book Maps The Next Great Step
New York, October 5, 2022 — Job openings are near record highs, and unemployment is close to a generational low. But recent college grads face their own unique challenges. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released data that the jobless rate for those ages 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s degree has surpassed the national average every month since January 2021. What does this mean for parents of new grads? What can these young adults do to prove their worth to prospective employers? And will they ever make enough money to move out of the house?
The competition for finding a job after college can be fierce, but career coach and former Fortune 500 consultant Beth Hendler-Grunt says there is reason to be hopeful.
Her new book, The Next Great Step: The Parents' Guide to Launching Your New Grad Into a Career, provides a proven, step-by-step approach for successfully guiding young adults through the transition from college to career.
Filled with tips, job aids and insightful stories, The Next Great Step addresses everything from how parents can help their young adults get “unstuck” and navigate the hiring process, to how students and grads can stand out from the rest of the graduating class. Hendler-Grunt shares the secrets of how to “network” the right way and excel in interviews, and how parents can offer solid career advice to their grad.
“Navigating the post-college job world is all about developing and implementing the right strategies,” Hendler-Grunt said. “This book is required reading for families looking to navigate a changing world from college-to-career. Companies need new grads. It’s just a matter of connecting the dots.”
About the Author
Beth Hendler-Grunt is the founder and president of Next Great Step. She is a dynamic leader, advisor and facilitator who has extensive experience consulting with startups, Fortune 500 firms, universities and individuals. She founded Next Great Step with the sole focus of guiding college students and recent grads to help them land the job they deserve. Hendler-Grunt leverages techniques and insights from hiring managers and CEOs and brings those secrets to students to help them stand out and get the job. She has enabled hundreds of clients to achieve success, with 90% of her clients landing the job of their choice. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, SiriusXM radio, Kiplinger, CNN, Fortune and many other media outlets. She is also the mom of a recent college grad and college sophomore … so she gets it.
For more information, please visit www.nextgreatstep.com, or follow the author on TikTok (next_great_step), Instagram (next_great_step), Facebook (nextgreatstep) or LinkedIn (bethhendlergrunt).
The Next Great Step: The Parents' Guide to Launching Your New Grad Into a Career
Publisher: Merack Publishing
Release Date: September 20, 2022
978-1-957048-13-0 (Paperback)
978-1-957048-14-7 (eBook)
978-1-957048-15-4 (Hardcover)
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and many other online retailers
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Finding Solutions: New Interactive Tool for Families and Friends of a Loved One Living with a Mental Health Disorder
QUEBEC CITY, Oct. 3, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - A diagnosis of mental illness in the family can have the effect of a tsunami; all members can be seriously affected. Every year, in the face of the unknown, many families do not know how to react, seek help, or find resources. To counter this, the Réseau Avant de Craquer network is launching an innovative tool to help them.
Behind every face, a story... In front of every person, a solution!
The Réseau Avant de Craquer network is there to help anyone—a parent, a child, a brother, a sister, a spouse or a friend—who has a loved one living with a mental health disorder—find personalized solutions in one of its 49 associations in Quebec. As part of Mental Illness Awareness Week, from October 2 to 8, the Réseau Avant de Craquer network reminds us that there is a solution for everyone. Every family member or friend of a loved one living with a mental health disorder:
Will react differently
Has a unique background
Must face their own challenges
Must take care of their own mental health
Must discover solutions adapted to their own situation
Through an interactive online journey and the inspiring stories told by Olivia, Christiane, Jade, and Martin, family members and friends can better understand mental illness and the solutions offered by the associations of the Réseau Avant de Craquer network. The Finding Solutions tool includes:
Four powerful testimonies affected family members and friends can relate to
Twelve information capsules with two experts from the Réseau Avant de Craquer network to learn how to better react
One complete resource bank with 36 practical tools
One hour of videos and resources to better understand mental illness
Quotes:
"As people close to someone living with a mental illness, we all have different ways of coping with their challenges. In my case, I needed to feel useful for my mother. But how can you help someone who sometimes refuses to be helped? It's really hard to tailor our support to their needs and our ability to manage the pressure of a difficult situation. Don't hesitate to reach out. The Réseau Avant de Craquer network can help you see things more clearly. The solutions are right in front of you!" — Jean-Philippe Dion, Réseau Avant de Craquer network spokesperson.
"With the interactive Finding Solutions tool, we want to send a strong signal to family members and friends of a loved one living with a mental health disorder that there are possible and positive solutions. Specialized resources and qualified workers can help them find personalized solutions. The mission of our 49 associations located throughout Quebec is to provide support to family members and friends who are helping a loved one living with a mental illness while making sure they don't forget their own needs."— René Cloutier, Executive Director, Réseau Avant de Craquer.
Active for 37 years, the Réseau Avant de Craquer network brings together 49 associations located throughout Quebec. Its mission is to provide support to family members and friends of a loved one living with a mental illness by offering a range of free services, including psychosocial support, information, training, self-help groups, and respite care. With its unique expertise, the Réseau Avant de Craquer network remains the only group in Quebec exclusively dedicated to family members and friends of a loved one living with a mental illness. Its member associations support more than 20,000 affected family members and friends.
SOURCE Réseau Avant de Craquer
Whirlpool Brand and Magnusmode Collaborate to Assist Autistic and Neurodiverse Canadians Navigate Home-based Skills
Whirlpool brand and Magnusmode announce collaboration during Autism Acceptance Month, launching 10 Home Care digital guides, making domestic activities more accessible for autistic and neurodiverse people.
TORONTO, Oct. 3, 2022 /CNW/ - Today, Whirlpool brand announces collaboration with Magnusmode®, a social enterprise leveraging technology to help autistic and neurodiverse people gain independence in their daily lives. To help make everyday chores around the home more accessible, Whirlpool brand and Magnusmode are launching 10 new Home Care digital guides ('Card Decks') in Magnusmode's app, MagnusCards®.
MagnusCards is a life skills library that provides step-by-step instructions and visual cues for everyday tasks and experiences with collectible Card Decks. Using proven educational methods, every Card Deck is carefully crafted as a how-to guide for day-to-day tasks like brushing teeth, taking public transit, going grocery shopping, personal care, and much more. Whirlpool brand's new Card Decks will be the first in the app's 'Home Care' category.
"We are thrilled to collaborate with Whirlpool brand to provide Home Care Card Decks for autistic and neurodiverse Canadians," says Nadia Hamilton, Founder and President of Magnusmode. "Having support for daily living activities removes barriers to independence in the home, and empowers people to care for their personal space, their family, and themselves."
As the pandemic exacerbated the need for virtual care for home-based skills, Magnusmode and Whirlpool brand worked to develop the Home Care Card Decks which break down and simplify kitchen and laundry tasks. The Card Decks cover practical life skills such as loading the dishwasher, how to store and organize food in the refrigerator, washing clothes in a washer, how to read laundry symbols, and more.
"MagnusCards provide the opportunity to show people that you can cook on the stove or do laundry, and do it successfully," says Kathy, parent of a Magnusmode app user. "The collaboration between the Whirlpool brand and MagnusCards has made me feel that my daughter Rachel will be able to manage, she will have a good life and she will be able to do things because she can learn them."
With 1-2%* of the Canadian population on the autism spectrum, these 10 Home Care Card Decks provide the tools for hundreds of thousands of Canadians to live with greater independence.
"Whirlpool brand is committed to helping families thrive," says Janice Ryder, Senior Manager of Brand Experience at Whirlpool Canada. "As the Exclusive Homecare Sponsor of Magnusmode in Canada, we see this partnership as a natural fit for the brand, putting our brand purpose into action to serve Canadians better."
MagnusCards by Magnusmode is available to download for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Magnusmode's mission is to create practical tools that improve everyday experiences and enable people with neurodiverse abilities to participate in the world in ways that are meaningful to them. Founder Nadia Hamilton was inspired by her autistic brother to create Magnusmode and the award-winning app, MagnusCards. MagnusCards is an innovative app that provides digital, step-by-step visual guides (in the form of collectible Card Decks) to support home and community living for autistic and neurodiverse people worldwide. Each Card Deck is sponsored by enterprise clients including Trader Joe's, CIBC, Kraft Heinz, M&T Bank, New York City Transit, Colgate-Palmolive, San Francisco International Airport, A&W, and WestJet who offer MagnusCards to make their products and services autism-friendly. Companies across North America have joined the Inclusion Revolution!
About Whirlpool Brand
For more than one hundred years, Whirlpool brand has been inspired by how people care for their families. Whirlpool brand is designing home appliances that are focused on improving how families give and get the care they need with the latest technologies and innovations – whether that means flexible refrigerator storage for all types of family needs, induction technology for efficient cooking and easier cleaning, or laundry pairs that allow you to customize the way you wash and offer the latest in connected technologies. Whirlpool Canada and its Whirlpool brand are part of Whirlpool Corporation, a leading appliance manufacturer committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. For more information on Whirlpool, please visit whirlpool.ca/everydaycare or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/whirlpoolcanada or Twitter at @whirlpool_ca. Additional information about the company can be found at whirlpoolcorp.com.
*According to the Canadian Medical Association and National Autism Spectrum Disorder Surveillance System
SOURCE Whirlpool Canada LP
'Don't let our children fall through the cracks!' – Women physicians urge Ontario government to take additional steps to fix crisis with school vaccinations and increase HPV immunization
Shots missed during pandemic need to be caught up quickly to prevent future serious illnesses, including meningitis and cancer
TORONTO, Oct. 3, 2022 /CNW/ - The Federation of Medical Women of Canada (FMWC) is calling on the Government of Ontario to take additional steps to further expand programs to alleviate the crisis of missed routine immunizations of school children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
School vaccinations are used to prevent many serious illnesses such as meningitis and cancer, not only during school years, but throughout an individual's life. One of the important vaccines is against human papillomavirus (HPV) which is the cause of nine out of 10 cases of cervical cancer in women, and causes other cancers in both men and women.1
However, as of the 2020-21 school year, only one per cent of 12-year-olds in Ontario were up to date with their immunization against HPV, due in large part to school vaccination programs being disrupted by the pandemic. The HPV vaccination rate is the lowest of the three major school-based vaccination programs monitored by Public Health Ontario. The others, for hepatitis B and meningococcal meningitis (MCV4), are both at 17 per cent.2
By comparison, the rates for 17-year-olds who received school-based vaccinations prior to the pandemic were 94 per cent for MCV4, 77 per cent for hepatitis B and 63 per cent for HPV, indicating how much work is needed to catch up.3 The latter rate of HPV vaccination was well below Canada's international commitment of achieving a target of 90 per cent vaccination of young people for HPV.
The week of October 3 is HPV Prevention Week in Canada and the FMWC is encouraging the Ontario government to act: "Don't let our children fall through the cracks – help prevent HPV and cancer now!" The government has put in place a preliminary plan and invested in public health to help address missed vaccinations. However, more can be done and the FMWC is calling upon the Ontario government to better support health system stakeholders to ensure all eligible school children are able to receive HPV vaccinations.
The great speed of and the lessons from the success of the COVID-19 vaccination program should be leveraged to solve this new public health vaccination issue, including wider access to vaccines in non-traditional locations, strong public communications and an enhanced immunization registry accessible to all health care providers like the COVAX system.
All of these tools should be harnessed again for HPV vaccinations and the FMWC is calling for the government to implement the following key steps in collaboration with health system stakeholders:
Adopt HPV vaccination targets and monitor: Set clear catch-up goals and ensure effective tracking of progress to achieve them.
Facilitate access to HPV vaccinations and track: Expand the HPV vaccination program to high schools to allow students who missed shots to catch up, allow pharmacists to deliver the vaccinations and track progress through a new centralized electronic immunization registry.
Communicate: Implement a robust and coordinated communications plan to increase public awareness of the need for vaccinations and how to get them.
"Building on the success of the COVID-19 vaccination program, we can do better and ensure children are caught up with the vaccines they missed during the pandemic," said Dr. Vivien Brown, a Toronto family physician who is Chair of the HPV Immunization Task Force and Board Member of Immunize Canada. "We have an opportunity to achieve a high HPV immunization rate. This will protect our children and our healthcare system from paying a very heavy price in the future. If we immunize now, we prevent cancer and other serious diseases."
It appears Ontarians are anxious to be given the tools to meet this challenge. A recent survey of Ontario parents with children aged 10 to 18 showed they are worried about the issue with more than three-quarters (77 per cent) saying they are somewhat or very concerned about the vaccines their children have missed at school.4
"While COVID-19 was the cause of the slipping in our HPV and other school vaccination programs, it also shows us what we need to do, and can do, to solve it," said Liz Ellwood, a cervical cancer survivor from Ottawa and long-time advocate for HPV education and vaccination. "We really can spare our children from having HPV-related cancers if the Ontario government, the medical community, schools and parents all work together and urgently to ensure they get vaccinated as they should."
As part of HPV Prevention Week, the FMWC is supporting, along with Merck Canada Inc., a Longwoods Leadership Discussion with clinicians and public health experts on this important public health issue on Monday, October 3, 1:30-2:30pm (EDT). For more information and to register to this event, which will be moderated by The Globe and Mail's health news reporter Kelly Grant, visit: https://bit.ly/3xGcx2u. A recording of the event will also be posted to Longwoods YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/longwoodstv
About the Federation of Medical Women of Canada
The Federation of Medical Women of Canada (FMWC) is a national organization committed to the professional, social and personal advancement of women physicians and to the promotion of the well-being of women both in the medical profession and in society at large. Founded almost 100 years ago and with branches across the country, FMWC seeks to be the networking and professional development home for all Canadian women in the medical profession while being the preeminent advocate for women's health across Canada. For details visit fmwc.ca.
Medical organizations call for new funding for mental health and addictions
TORONTO, Oct. 3, 2022 /CNW/ - The provincial government should invest $37.5 million immediately and $75 million annually for 10 years to help primary care providers treat people with moderate to severe depression and anxiety through the expansion of team-based care, the Ontario Medical Association and the Primary Care Collaborative recommend.
The recommendation is part of a four-point plan to strengthen mental health and addiction services within primary care settings. A recent Angus Reid poll found one in three Canadians is struggling with their mental health. Rates of new mental health and addictions diagnoses are rising, exacerbated by the pandemic, yet many Ontarians have trouble finding care in their communities.
The Primary Care Collaborative and the OMA note that while it is urgent to address Ontario's mental health challenges, the scope of the issue is overwhelming and the solutions are complex. This plan focuses on issues that are prevalent in Ontario and where primary care providers could make a difference if they had more support.
The requested funds would be used to embed much-needed mental health supports in interprofessional teams of primary care providers with expertise who could offer treatment locally for moderate to severe depression and anxiety.
"About three-quarters of Canadians rely on their primary care provider to treat their mental health needs and it's significant care, especially in communities where there are no or few mental health specialists or wait times are long," said OMA President Dr. Rose Zacharias.
"If we created and funded these interprofessional teams for moderate to severe depression and anxiety, we could help seven to 10 per cent of Ontarians. Otherwise, these patients suffer alone or use hospitals that are not equipped to provide the specialized support they require."
The plan also recommends the Ontario government:
Expand Health Connect Ontario (formerly Telehealth) to allow primary care doctors and their patients to better navigate the mental health system, preventing unnecessary emergency visits and delays in care
Expand access to supervised consumption and treatment sites and other evidence-based harm reduction programs
Implement an Indigenous-led mental health and wellness strategy to address the health inequities and challenges Indigenous Peoples experience
Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table reported in September 2021 that since the onset of the pandemic, rates of emergency medical services for suspected opioid overdose have increased by 57 per cent and rates of fatal opioid overdose have increased by 60 per cent.
One in four Ontarians who died of an opioid overdose during the pandemic had an interaction with the health-care system in the week prior to death, suggesting potential missed opportunities for overdose prevention. In addition to allowing people to use substances safely, supervised consumption and treatment sites provide the opportunity for multiple contacts with health-care staff, social workers and other professionals. This public health crisis must be addressed by providing much-needed supports in the community where people access care and those supports must be in primary care.
Throughout this pandemic, Indigenous Peoples with chronic conditions have consistently had worse physical, mental and social health than other Canadians. Low income, food insecurity, disrupted family dynamics, lack of immediate and ongoing social support, and increased substance use are among the most significant factors contributing to deteriorated mental wellness among Indigenous Peoples and communities.
"For most Ontarians, primary care is the first point of contact for people with mental health and addictions issues," said the partners of the Primary Care Collaborative. "People underestimate the role that primary care providers play in providing this first point of contact as well as ongoing supports in many forms, including medication monitoring, counselling, referrals and other services. People in Ontario form trusting and continuous relationships with their family physician, nurse practitioner or primary care team, which enables this continuity of care.
"While primary care provides these services, clinicians are chronically underequipped to do so in a meaningful way and have not seen the investments they need to provide mental health and addictions support for their patients," the collaborative said. "The modest requests for funding in our four-point plan will ensure that people in Ontario continue to have access to mental health and addictions supports when they need them and from the providers that they trust."
About the OMA
The Ontario Medical Association represents Ontario's 43,000-plus physicians, medical students and retired physicians, advocating for and supporting doctors while strengthening the leadership role of doctors in caring for patients. Our vision is to be the trusted voice in transforming Ontario's health-care system.
About the Primary Care Collaborative
The Primary Care Collaborative is an alliance of primary care organizations that joined together to collaborate on strengthening primary care as we move toward recovering from the pandemic. It is made up of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, the Alliance for Healthier Communities, the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic Association, the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the OMA's Section on General and Family Practice.
SOURCE Ontario Medical Association
Health Care Sharing Ministries offer members freedom and significant cost savings
Katy Talento: ‘People need to know that a million Americans are avoiding secret hospital price-gouging by switching to a Health Care Sharing Ministry’
WASHINGTON D.C. — Americans who notice that hospitals and health insurance carriers collude to take advantage of patients are responding to this arrangement by deciding to join a Health Care Sharing Ministry.
Stories abound about hospitals overcharging patients and insurance carriers. For instance, one woman needed a biopsy when she felt a strange lump in her breast. After the hospital refused to give her a price upfront, the hospital’s online “Patient Payment Estimator” showed her that an uninsured patient would owe about $1,400 for the procedure. Assuming that since she had insurance her price would be cheaper, she went ahead with the procedure, only to find out that her insurance was charged $17,979, including lab work, pharmacy charges, and sterile supplies. Her insurance in-network negotiated rate was $8,424.14, of which the insurance company paid the hospital $3,254.47. The patient was billed a staggering $5,169.67, the balance of her deductible.
“Why are we taken aback at the unfair predatory pricing in hospital bills, not to mention other medical services?” said Katy Talento, executive director of Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries (The Alliance, ahcsm.org). “You get what you pay for. Insurers pay hospitals to deliver high-priced stuff to sick people. So it’s no surprise that we get more and higher-priced stuff done to sicker and sicker people. Until we rebuild a system where we pay doctors and hospitals to keep people healthy, millions of patients every year will continue to be victims of price-gouging, inappropriate care and worse clinical outcomes.”
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for uninsured patients — or any patient willing to pay a cash price — to be charged far less for a procedure than patients with health insurance. For Americans with high-deductible plans, using insurance can lead to a far bigger expense than if they had been uninsured or just paid cash in advance.
Cash prices paid by many Health Care Sharing Ministry members are almost always lower than prices charged to patients with health care insurance.
“Cash prices, especially those negotiated by a Health Care Sharing Ministry, can often be much lower than prices charged to insurance plans,” Talento said. “People need to know that tens of thousands of Christians are reducing hospital overcharges by switching to a Health Care Sharing Ministry where they pay cash prices for services and enjoy a supportive faith community to stand with them in their hour of need.”
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries is a 501(c)(6) trade organization representing the common interests of Health Care Sharing Ministry organizations which are facilitating the sharing of health care needs (financial, emotional, and spiritual) by individuals and families, and their participants. The Alliance engages with federal and state regulators, members of the media, and the Christian community to provide accurate and timely information on medical cost sharing.
To learn more about the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries, visit www.ahcsm.org or follow the ministry on Facebook or Twitter.
Blown Into Now Bridges the Worlds of Life and Loss
San Francisco, Calif., October 3, 2022 ― Mylo Schaaf’s new book, Blown Into Now: Poems for a Journey, takes readers on an odyssey through shade and light, offering glimpses into the stages of grief Schaaf went through when her son died suddenly at age 24. She offers the profound manifestations of his presence that she witnessed following his passing.
“Poems demanded to be written,” Schaaf said. “They brought relief and healing, as did hills warm with grass, tree spirits and arms of sky.”
Blown Into Now offers 45 remarkable poems, each paired with a striking photograph taken by her late son, Alex Lowenstein, who was a mountaineer, world traveler and adventurer, and veteran.
“The path is not all sadness,” she said during a recent interview. “It goes sort of up and down as you suppose any path would, but it eventually heads toward joy and toward understanding.”
In Blown Into Now, Schaaf carries readers from deep sadness and loss to comfort and support, finally edging toward joy. Her melodic words become a guidebook, allowing those who grieve to witness a spectrum of responses, to understand what might give relief, and to know how to look for the signposts that will guide them down the path toward healing.
To those who must endure such a shocking new reality, she aims to bring compassion, beauty and spiritual connection.
Her poems reveal a mother’s great heart and the love she shares with her son for granite peaks and untracked desert. Each photograph provides a pause from grief and allows us a glimpse of something we want and cannot name.
About the Author
Mylo Schaaf trained as a journalist, editor and physician, before taking a left turn into poetry. Before everything changed, she was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, mentoring and teaching students in international, low-resource settings. Her commitment to global health grew out of her work and connection with India, the Americas, Liberia, Haiti and China. Then one day, a shocking phone call revealed her son’s death and collapsed this pursuit of engagement and action. Each long day would slowly disappear, and Schaaf found understanding and release when she began to write. Over the years poems have continued to emerge, as the tangles of days slip into light.
For more information, please visit https://www.myloschaaf.com, or follow the author on Instagram at writermyloschaaf.
Blown Into Now – Poems for a Journey
Publisher: Blue Light Press
ISBN: 979-8-9864093-0-6 (soft cover, available now)
