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Cover the Uninsured Week Draws Attention

HMHP Plans Activities to Help the Uninsured
The problem of the uninsured is continuing to grow. The federal government estimates that 47 million individuals lacked health insurance coverage of any kind during 2006. Nearly 20 percent of uninsured Americans - 8.7 million individuals - are children. Health insurance is particularly important for children. Uninsured children are more likely than insured children to lack a source of health care, to go without needed care and to experience worse health outcomes.
In an effort to draw attention to this national crisis, April 27 through May 3 has been designated Cover the Uninsured Week, a nonpartisan campaign to focus attention on the need to secure health coverage for all Americans.
Helping Kids Get Covered
Locally, Humility of Mary Health Partners' St. Joe's at the Mall will distribute Cover the Uninsured Week materials, as well as a flier detailing the application process for enrolling children in SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program). A representative from the Mahoning Valley Covering Kids Coalition will be at St. Joe's at the Mall on the following dates to assist parents in enrolling their children in SCHIP:
· May 9 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
· May 15 from 1 to 4 p.m.
· May 24 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
· May 29 from 1 to 4 p.m.
St. Joe's at the Mall is located in the Eastwood Mall, Niles, next to Sears.
Men's Health Tune-up
St. Elizabeth Health Center will sponsor a health screening program for uninsured men ages 40 to 64 from 8 to 11 a.m. June 7 at the St. Elizabeth Family Health Center, 1053 Belmont Ave., Youngstown, across from St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Entitled Men's Health Tune-up, the free program will include screenings for cholesterol (12-hour fast required), blood pressure and body fat. Men ages 50 to 64 can participate in a prostate cancer screening.
Participants will also have the opportunity to talk to a physician, pharmacist, and diabetes educator, as well as obtain information on healthy eating, advance directives and smoking cessation.
This program is for men who have no Medicare, Medicaid or insurance coverage. Registration is required by May 30 by calling the Humility of Mary Healthline at 330-480-3151 or toll-free 1-877-700-4647. Parking is free and light refreshments will be served.

Ponten on a Mission

She is a world traveler on a perpetual goodwill tour. Mary Jane Ponten of Colorado Springs, Colorado, this year alone, working alongside several nonprofit organizations, will visit China, Mongolia, Bolivia, Ghana twice, and Taiwan twice, to help train workers serving people with various disabilities.
Overall in that capacity, Ponten also has been to Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Cuba, Ethiopia, Peru, Holland and Belgium. The catch: Ponten is age 77, regularly uses a wheelchair, and has cerebral palsy.
The United Cerebral Palsy website claims an estimated 764,000 Americans have a degree of cerebral palsy, which is usually caused by brain damage occurring before, during or shortly after birth. It affects the brain's ability to control muscle movement, and usually doesn't affect intelligence.
"I'm really 31 years old," she joked in a telephone interview. "On all these trips overseas, I enjoy everything but the food. I'm used to the long plane rides. In China, [a restaurant] once served me deep-fat fried sparrow with its head still on it, and that was a little difficult for me to eat."
She visits these countries with Mephibosheth Ministry, her own organization, or ith Wheels for the World or Friends of the Disabled Latin America, all faith-based groups serving people with disabilities.
"I tell God I'm too old and disabled to go," she said. "But I cannot not go. I'm compelled to go. When going overseas, I go as a speaker and usually have a translator. I'm there to show them a person with a disability has value, that I'm valuable to God, and that people with disabilities in other countries are valuable to God."
Everywhere she goes, she teaches pastors and lay people alike that people with disabilities shouldn't be pushed into the back rooms and rows of churches. Her goal for people with disabilities is complete inclusion in every aspect of spiritual life.
She was afraid for her life only once. Ponten was in Ghana, a country one-third Muslim, on September 11, 2001. Another time, in China, she was told to quickly board a bus after someone learned that police were in the area.
One frustration for her has been having to use a translator, especially in Ghana, where "they speak British English with a Ghanaian accent, and I speak American English with a cerebral palsy accent," she laughed.
In 2001, Northwestern College honored her as alumnus of the year.
Contact danieljvance.com [Blue Valley Sod and Palmer Bus Service grants make this column possible.]

Laura on Life

Isn't it amazing how the sound of a babbling brook or waves lapping upon a sandy shore can give you such a fine sense of well-being?
Isn't it amazing, as well, that a piece of minced onion between your toes while you're cleaning up the kitchen can make you spit fire for the rest of the day?
I don't even have to be PMS-ing to get annoyed with something like that. It's not just the fact that it's sticky and smelly and it won't simply shake off my foot, it's the questions that piece of minced onion presents.
Questions like: How did it get there? If my husband was mincing onions, why didn't he bend down and pick up the errant piece, so that it would not have to be forcibly removed from between my toes? and Was he eating chili dogs again last night?
It is highly unlikely that my older boys were doing the mincing since they are convinced that if any form of vegetable should hit their system, they would surely die. So how did it get there? More importantly, why is it attached to my foot?
If my eleven-year old was mincing onions, he probably wouldn't have stopped there. So where are the bits of dry spaghetti, Laffy Taffy, and Play-doh that surely would've been the victims of his mincing massacre? He's not known for cleaning up anything, much less a mincing-mess, unless he was trying to hide the evidence of a mincing mishap. So where is it?
Okay, maybe he was not moved to mincing today, but if it was my daughter, I need to find her, because she'll be in pain. The onion would have made her cry and, not being formally taught about the perils of onions, she would have rubbed her eyes with onion juice-coated hands. In my tortured mind, I saw her running blindly from the kitchen and hitting every door jamb from there to the bathroom. My imagination continued with a life of its own and I saw her rummaging, eyes closed, through cabinets and drawers full of razor blades and cleaning chemicals as she tried to locate a wash cloth with which to wash her eyes.
Strangely, I hear no bellowing from the nether regions of my house, so I can only assume that the latter scenario, in all likelihood, did not happen. Whew!
That leaves my six year old. If he was in the kitchen maniacally mincing, I have only one question: "Who gave a six-year old a knife!?" Okay…two questions: "Since when did he start liking onions?"
Thinking slightly more logically - and for me that's not saying much- I realized that no six-year old in recorded history has ever liked onions, and since there was no chair pulled up to the counter he would not have been able to reach the sharp knives. Therefore, I need not worry that the next time I see him, he will have a few less fingers.
Clearly, someone was in here mincing onions. The evidence was right there stuck to the bottom of my foot.
The questions will almost certainly remain unanswered, because if I find out who left a piece of onion, placed strategically in a way which would make it become one with my foot, I will most likely be spitting more fire than a piece of minced onion should merit.
My next house is going to have a brook, babbling its merry way through my kitchen. If not, then maybe we can find a way to install a wave-pool in my garage.
You can reach Laura at lsnyder@lauraonlife.com Or visit her website www.lauraonlife.com for more columns and info about her books.

Weekend at Whitewood

Have you ever celebrated Christmas in June? Why not give yourself the gift of a relaxing summer getaway and plan to attend Weekend at Whitewood June 13-15. This women's camp has been in existence for more than 65 years and invites ladies 18 years of age and older to attend.
Nestled in Ashtabula County on 226 acres of stunning natural beauty, Camp Whitewood boasts the Windsor Mills covered bridge, prehistoric Indian mounds, a nine-acre lake and is crisscrossed by Phelps and Grindstone Creeks and numerous hiking trails. Traditional camp activities include swimming, boating, nature walks, crafts, archery and riflery.
Christmas in June is this year's festive theme. An Amish community tour, Christmas wagon "sleigh" ride, Deck-the-Cabins contest, Christmas ornament exchange, and decorated t-shirt competition are just some of the fun activities being planned. A gift basket raffle and Chinese auction will be held, and donations are welcome. Craft sessions to be offered include: Christmas card-making, star ornament, helmet liners for soldiers, beaded bookmarks and more as crafters are confirmed.
All meals, snacks, cabin lodging and most programs are included in the $95 camp fee. An additional overnight stay June 12 is available for $10. Women may also sample the weekend on June 14 for $30 (includes lunch and dinner). For registration materials and more information, contact Terry Gatrell at 330-222-2747 (tlgatrell2957@verizon.net) or Brenda Tate at 330-388-5122 (bleetate@aol.com) or visit www.geocities.com/whitewoodladies. Camp Whitewood is located at 7983 Wiswell Road, Windsor, Ohio 44099 (south of State Route 322).
ABOUT 4-H Camp Whitewood - The Mission of 4-H Camp Whitewood is the educational development of positive and productive life skills accomplished through group interaction in the unique natural environment of the Whitewood campus.