Meryl

    From a Catholic girl with Greek roots to girl-scouting, to Hollwood, to 
becoming a Certified Dental Assistant to English horseback riding in her 70’s, 78 year old Meryl Burkhardt has had a lifetime of experiences. “I’d still be riding if I owned a horse!” she says.

    Yet, possibly the most challenging and formidable experience in her life happened to her this year when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

      Not only did she have to manage her own illness, but she has had to look after her husband who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, she was not alone in her fight against cancer, and Faith in Action was there to help her whenever she needed it.
   
      “I personally would not have been able to cope without Faith in Action” she says. Meryl’s radiation treatments were in Seattle, and she no longer is able to drive on highways to get to them. Faith in Action volunteers have been driving her up to Seattle every day for 3 weeks so that she could receive her treatment.

      “Without your organization” she says, “I would have had to take a taxi every time I had a radiation treatment in Seattle. That would have cost me about $100 every time. That was a $100 I could not afford. I would have had to deny my cancer treatments.”

    When Meryl was younger, she’d offer to give rides to the elderly in her own neighborhoods. She admits though, that initially asking for the help herself was hard. “I was active when I was young” she says. “I used to volunteer at a senior home… I guess I’m not used to asking for help – but I didn’t really have much left.”

      She says this about her volunteers: “I’ve had several volunteers and they couldn’t have been nicer – caring, thoughtful, warm... I am very grateful. Not one soul that drove me forgot to make me feel good – made me feel good, warm, just great. They offered support in a way that was not condescending or embarrassing for me, but in a very genuine and humble way.”

    Fortunately, Meryl’s battle with cancer has reached an end and she recently had her last drive with Faith in Action to receive her last radiation treatment. “Everyone along the way had been so helpful and kind.”

    She feels thankful to have Faith in Action nearby. “My sisters live in St. Louis and they were amazed when I told them about Faith in Action and the services they provide; there’s no such thing near where they live and they are amazed.”

    Faith in Action is here to serve clients like this because of donors like you. On her behalf, and the behalf of all our clients, thank you!

"Marketplace"

Welcome to today's Friday Focus. Usually you get the chance to meet a Faith in Action client in these posts. Today, though, I wanted to focus on a report I heard on NPR recently.

The program was "Marketplace", and it stated that  5% of the population consumes more than half of our nation's health care costs. The report identified these people - they are "elderly, poor and have trouble taking care of themselves". It also said that they were characterized as having multiple chronic health care conditions.

In other words, they'd look a lot like our clients. Our clients are elderly, and nearly three-quarters of them are below the federal low-income standard. So many of them have multiple disabling chronic health care conditions that we had to modify our database so its reports could list four or more per client.

Are our clients, though, really among these high spenders? According to the data underlying the radio report, the disabilities of the high spenders mean that they have difficulty managing their health. Without regular medical care and monitoring, they wind up in the emergency room and in crisis, over and over again.

This is where our client diverge from the profile. With our help, they get to their health care appointments. A look at the ride calendar for next week shows: an eye exam, a heart medication check, a blood draw and x-ray diagnosis, a pick-up from the kidney center, a visit with a psychiatrist, a pacemaker check, a ride for cancer treatment, and more - all sorts of ways that our clients' health care is being monitored and treated every day.

While I can tell you many reasons of the heart to support Faith in Action, here's a reason of the pocketbook. One of the best ways we can lower health care costs is helping our big health care spenders be smaller spenders. It's not complicated. A friendly face, a helping hand, and a ride to the local doctor's office - that's what it takes. It saves money, and it saves lives.

Faith in Action does not get funds from the federal government, the State of Washington, or King County.68% of our funding is from individuals like you. 

You make it possible for us to serve elders in need, in our community. Thank you so much for your support of Faith in Action.

Mary

Mary lives in a pleasant suburban home in Issaquah. She is the sole caretaker of her husband who has Alzheimer's. While fending for her husband has been difficult, she has been able to cope.

Then she got a diagnosis of cancer. Suddenly, everything went topsy-turvey. She's used to being the one who is providing care, not giving it. She's suddenly faced with even more things to overcome.

She contacted Faith in Action because she knew she couldn't do it alone.  She needed help sorting out all the resources out there. As a household, there's enough money to hire some paid in-home care, but she can't afford to pay for everything. Sitting down with our client services coordinator and assessing what Faith in Action could do for her, what other agencies could do for her, and what a private care company could do, was really reassuring, as she embarks on this next chapter of her life.

Your donations make this help available to the elders in our community. On their behalf, we thank you for your support.

Sheila

Sheila lives in a small home in the Snoqualmie Valley. Like many of our clients, she lives solely on social security and disability payments, which means her income is just over $8000/year. Initially she called Faith in Action for help getting to medical appointments. While she would qualify for Access, Metro's transportation program for the disabled, Access can't serve her because there's no place on her rural road for the van to pull over or turn around.

When Laura, our client services coordinator, did a home visit with her, more needs were uncovered. The wood steps to her home were rotten and needed repair; her deck was covered with slime and was slippery; her garden needed a major clean-up; and she could not keep up with her housework.

Since that initial visit, Faith in Action sent out a volunteer handyman, and her steps are now repaired. A team of volunteers did a deep clean of her home; rearranged some furniture for her, and got started on the yard. The Sammamish Rotary Club will lend Faith in Action a power washer, and now all we need to do is find a volunteer who can use it to de-slime her deck. And, she's gotten those rides to the dentist that she so desperately needed, and is no longer in pain. I just looked on our phone log, and can see that she's finally getting her eyes checked, too, next week.

Sheila's a deeply religious woman. Her interests listed on her intake sheet specify singing hymns and reading her Bible. She has called us several times to thank us and God for the volunteers we have sent her way. "Praise the Lord all day long!" is one of her favorite phrases.

We also thank our volunteers, for their service - and thank you, too, for your support of Faith in Action. Caring people like you, and all our supporters, improve the lives of isolated elders like Sheila.

Jean

Jean lives in an apartment in downtown Issaquah, with her little dog, "Apple", who is the apple of her eye. She came to Faith in Action through the recommendation of her neighbor, who is also a Faith in Action client.

Jean doesn't drive any more, and needs rides to medical appointments. While she lives close to the market such that she can walk there, she can't carry back anything heavy, or very many groceries at a time. She also is having difficulties keeping up with her housework. Her apartment is small, but it could use a good cleaning and airing out. It wouldn't take much to make it feel fresh, and sparkling again.

Jean doesn't have family, except for a sister in another state. There is no one here who can help her - exceptFaith in Action.  Jean is hoping we can match her to a volunteer for shopping and housekeeping, and then she will be calling us for rides for medical appointments.

Your donations mean that we can recruit volunteers that can help low-income seniors like Jean. Thanks to you, they can live in health and dignity. On their behalf, we thank you for your support.

City Church

I just finished working with a group from City Church this afternoon. This group of young adults do volunteer work consistently, a couple of hours at a time, two to three days a week, all through the year. They are always on the hunt for projects they can do together. Quite often, they end up doing work like "Adopt a Highway", but they prefer to do activities where they get an opportunity directly help others.

This was their first time volunteering for Faith in Action. They helped an elderly couple that, because of illness and disability, had gotten very far behind on their housework. It's not that their house had anything gross or rotten -- we do run into those situations. Rather, everything needed a thorough dusting, thorough wiping, through vacuuming, in every single room of the house.
At first they were tentative, but soon they fell into all that needed to be done. Paper towels were broken out with many bottles of window cleaner, and they washed the windows. We went through an entire carton of swiffer dusting cloths, reaching up to light fixtures, lintels, and picture frames that probably haven't been dusted in years. Then, three vacuums were going at once - the one I brought from home had its chamber emptied of dust and pet hair at least three times that I know of! The group worked very hard for the two hours that they were at the house.

I wish I could tell you that by the time the two hours were over, that  the house was perfect. Unfortunately, the scope of what needed to be done was so immense, that isn't true. But these volunteers made a real, palpable, breathable, difference. The next time they come out, they'll be able to spend another two hours wiping and dusting and vacuuming. Each time, the house will be that much more of a healthy and hygienic living environment for the elderly couple that lives there.

At Faith in Action, we are looking forward to building a strong partnership with City Church's volunteers. We have a few rather daunting projects - major shrub trimming, heavy housework like the group did today - that aren't for the faint of heart or limb, and could use the energy and focus of a relatively large group of people in their 20s. And the volunteer tasks that we can offer them brings them the human contact that they are looking for. Our elderly clients will benefit - but so will these volunteers, who can see the faces of the people they are helping, and they can know that they are putting their faith in action.

 

We can find, screen, and deploy volunteers like these, because of your support. Thank you, on the behalf of the frail and disabled elderly we serve.

Phil

Do you remember Phil from a previous Friday Focus?  He was getting rides to kidney dialysis in Snoqualmie through a Faith in Action volunteer.

Since I wrote that email, we have two more kidney dialysis patients looking for transportation. Unlike Phil, who lives in town, these two people live in much more remote locations - one lives in a trailer park near Tiger Mountain, the other lives in May Valley. Unfortunately, because of their inaccessibility, Access will not serve either of these two locations. Right now, both dialysis patients are dependent on their elderly spouses to take them. Unfortunately, in both of these cases, the elderly wife or husband really is not capable of driving safely any more, because of limited eyesight and slow reaction time. Issaquah Hobart Road and May Valley Road have relatively high speeds and are poorly lit - it is often dark in the late afternoons during this time of the year, when a patient is finished with dialysis.

A dialysis patient requires six trips a week, every week, for the rest of the client's life. It takes a lot of volunteer time to meet the need of just one person - but the volunteer's service can mean the difference between life and death . We are actively recruiting a host of drivers to serve these two people. If you know of someone who might be interested in helping us, please let us know. Please call the office at 425-369-9120 or email us at info@faithinaction4seniors.org.

Thank you for your support of our work, and for your interest in our clients.