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.