Health
(Many of the examples included here are courtesy of Amyway, a corporation that encourages volunteerism.)
Volunteers Help Aids Victims
Cliff Morrison, a gay nurse, convinced his superiors to let him set new relaxed rules for visitors on the AIDS ward at San Francisco General Hospital. He recruited hundreds of volunteers to visit and encourage the patients. With this network of volunteers, local clinics and hospices sprang up and they were able to care for patients out of the hospital setting and in the community at a cost 40 percent of the national average.
PAW Opens the Outdoors to the Disabled
America's national parks are now more accessible to people with disabilities, thanks to a unique group of volunteers based in Empire, Colorado. The group is called PAW- Physically Challenged Access to the Woods. It began in 1989 when Carol Hunter wanted to write a book about nature areas accessible to the disabled.
"I immediately found a big problem: There were very few," she reports. "So we decided to start right here and make one."
PAW's first project was Yeoman Park, a meadow-filled area in nearby Eagle, Colorado. Hunter and newspaper editor Cliff Thompson-an avid fly-fisherman who is himself paraplegic, gathered volunteers and materials to improve the park with help from the local Rotary Club and the Forest Service.
Construction projects involved building tent platforms for physically challenged campers and installing wide benches in rest rooms for people in wheelchairs. A fishing dock was built for easy wheelchair use, even in wet weather. A local pipe company worked with artists to create tactile interpretive material at archeological sites for visitors with visual impairments. A local hotel allowed employees time off to build a nature trail.
"We call it a family trail because it's for everyone," says Hunter. "It's for your grandfather who had a stroke, your small children, your brother in a wheelchair from Vietnam, your aunt with cataracts."
PAW volunteer Al Laurenson, who's a Forest Service employee, knows the importance of PAW's work firsthand: While fighting the Yosemite fires two years ago, he was injured by a falling tree and now uses a wheelchair.
Yoeman Park was such a success as a prototype of accessible design, the word spread west. Now more than 1,000 volunteers from four PAW chapters are active in Colorado and Idaho. Volunteers are always busy.
They conduct accessibility evaluations, coordinate contributions of labor and materials, educate the public about barrier-free design and act as an informative clearinghouse.
"It's great to see how we make these beautiful spaces more convenient and usable to all visitors," says PAW chairman Steve Fausel.
Bill Ivy, a Forest Service engineer, agrees. "The healing power of nature is enormous, especially for those who might have trouble getting out and away to the outdoors,: he says. "We want to make outdoor life available to everyone and PAW is helping us make that goal a reality."
Health Care on Wheels Helps Broward County Seniors
Senior residents of Broward County, Florida who can't afford medical ser- vices feel lucky they have MediVan--two mobile clinics that visit 22 neigh- borhoods to provide free care to patients whose average income is under $4,000 a year.
When she talks about MediVan, Mrs. Allen Peele also speaks for many of her elderly neighbors. "If it weren't for MediVan, I might not be alive," she says flatly.
One of the most remarkable features is the staff: All 15 physicians and most of the staff are senior citizens who volunteer their time and expert- ise. Thanks to them, thousands receive free care--many for the first time in years.
"I didn't want to come here and vegetate," says Dr. Hermann Diamant, who retired to Florida after 40 years as a general practitioner. "Working on the MediVan helps me feel useful. I can give something back to medicine."
MediVan medical director Dr. Jack Kassan, age 78, is justifiably proud of his colleagues. "I'd match the quality of our care against any hospital or clinic anywhere."
Since 1986, the two vans have visited over 16,000 patients. MediVan is a 32-foot converted RV donated by Health and Rehabilitative Services and med- ically modified by the Elderly Interest Fund, Inc. An upgrade MediVan II was made possible with $100,000 generated by Esther Grossman, president of the Hollywood Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and the medical staff there.
Each MediVan has two examining rooms, diagnostic equipment, EKG machines, a nurses' station and a pharmacy. Seniors needing more medical attention are referred to local physicians who provide care at no charge.Prescrip- tions are also free to MediVan patients. Volunteer Alice Carney, 76, retired nurse and physical therapist explains, "It's not only difficult for our clients to find transportation to a doctor, but for many, it would be a literal choice between buying medicine or food."
Clients such as Irving Thayer find the friendship of the MediVan staff as much a lifesaver as the medical services.
MediVan personnel found him living in one small room, where he had been wheelchair-bound for over 10 years. They immediately arranged for him to move to a nearby three room apartment, completely wheelchair accessible.
Mr. Thayer says, "Living here has made all the difference. I owe them my life!"
Success stories like these are all MediVan
volunteers need to keep going. "It's all the most rewarding thing I've ever
done," says Dr. Kassan. "We found a desert of despair when we started and now
it's an oasis of love."
Support Group Helps Women with Breast Cancer
All her life, Virginia Ray of Ken, Washington had impressed others with her rare combination of optimism and forthright spunk. When she was diag- nosed with breast cancer in 1984, she was determined to fight back. "Once something like this happens, you realize it's a warning and you've got to do the things you really want to do," she says. So she did. While undergo- ing chemotherapy, Virginia kept a full-time job and completed a bachelors degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, she and her husband Joe took a trip to Europe. "My reward," she recalls.
But there was more she wanted to do, so she started a local support group in her area where there had been none. "I made it through surgery and treatments and I thought I could help others through the same thing," she says.
Virginia began by contacting medical experts. She gained the interest of her physician, his nurse and the local branch of the American Cancer Society (ACS). Her co-workers helped create a brochure. Then she visited other doctors' offices to find breast cancer patients to join the group. Today, the group meets twice each month. Some nights, guest speakers talk about medical treatments, nutrition, legal concerns, even timely hair and makeup techniques. Other nights, it's strictly from the heart as group members share feelings and fears about their illness.
"Cancer is like a series of peaks and valleys," Virginia notes. Sometimes a woman may tell us her diagnosis is bad. But someone else may announce, 'I have only one more chemo treatment' - and you can share in the joy."
Virginia has suffered two cancer relapses. Without a trace of self-pity she explains, "This is serious stuff, but you can't brood about it all the time." To discourage brooding Virginia oversees the groups annual holiday party. she also helps compile lists of tips for newcomers. For instance, "When you go to the doctor, bring your questions on paper and bring along a friend who'll hear the things you 'I miss."
ACS Program Director Sharon Murphy says, "It's amazing to see what a posit- ive outlook they have, how they can just say, 'I'm alive today - and that's good.'"
While others credit Virginia Ray's unflappable courage for the e group's success, Virginia insists anyone can do it. "You just have to get out there, take initiative and contact people," she says, "because you can really make a big difference in people's lives."
A Texas Town Pitches In To Save Its Ailing Hospital
In 1988, 15 Texas communities saw their hospitals close. Last September, Hall County Hospital in Memphis announced it was soon to become the 16th. But the town of Memphis (pop. 3,000) had a different idea: In less than six months, it raised more than $43,000 to keep the hospital open.
The drive began when four men----Jay Campbell, Joe David McWhorter, Eddie Huddleston, and Ted Ivy-decided that town had to fight the closing. With accountant Bill Cosby, they determined they needed %500,000: $366,000 for equipment, staff, and bills, and another $134,000 for an additional doctor and a safety net. B. Own Oslin came up with the ideas for 23 fund-raising projects, and the drive was underway.
They formed a task force which quickly grew to more than 100 neighbors and a pool of 300 more volunteers. Manning the phones and going door-to door, they raised $80,000 in one week. The effort sparked a revival of town spirit. Soon, everyone was involved.
Mayor Home Tucker says, "It turns out we had real leaders all over town. Nobody said, 'I can't do it'. They pitched right in." Jay Campbell says, "People found each other. They became friends with people they never knew before. 'They realized we were doing it for each other as well as for our- selves." From bumper sticker to auctions, the people of Memphis responded with energy and imagination. A rally at the high school netted $40,000. A local radio station, KSL, arranged a 24 hour marathon broadcast from the hospital grounds. Another $70,000 was raised, including $2,500 from truckers passing by.
That inspired Lynda Gable to work on a volunteer-run truck stop on Inter- state 287. In five weekends, the site raised $10,000. Lynda says, "One man signed over his whole paycheck to us. His son had died in a car accident because there was no hospital nearby. To me, that showed exactly why we were fighting to keep the doors of the Hall County Hospital open. "
And then there was Lynda's friend, Longlegs, who pitched in and raised $2,000 in four days. That's not bad, considering Longlegs is a baby goat. For $10, you could send him to someone-who then sent him to someone else or paid to have him removed. "Businesses that saw Longlegs coming paid before he even got in the door." say Lynda.
With so much support, the town quickly passed its first goal of $266,000. More than 2,500 donor contributed to the cause. By banding together, the people of Memphis saved their hospital.
As Mayor Tucker says, "This town is more united now than ever before. We all feel that if we did this, we can do anything."
NURSING HOME CARE
By financing home health care and community health care, Florida keeps elderly residents out of nursing homes and saves $180 million a year in the bargain.
The Illinois Dept. of Public Aid reimbursed nursing homes for Medicaid patients according to the level of care required. Bedridden patients required more services and so the state thought it logical and fair to pay more for these patients. However the state discovered an unintended consequence which made it change its ways. Nursing home operators tended to keep more patients bedridden for longer periods of time.
Illinois devised a rating system similar to the star system used by travel clubs to rate resorts, hotels and restaurants. According to Gaebler and Osborne, the authors of Reinventing Government, stars were given for patient satisfaction, com- munity and family participation, and the quality of the nursing care.