| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2005 February 16 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 8 Number 23 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Tuvalu Photos Dramatize Global Warming |
|
Photographer Gary Braasch has worked since 1999 to document global warming around the world. His images bring home a concept that's often hard to visualize. Today, as the Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, Braasch sends a dispatch and photos from Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation whose fate already hangs in the balance. He writes:
They see a lot of rainbows in Tuvalu. But people disagree about whether they're a sign of God's protection or just a cruel reminder of this tiny country's position in the world. When I got to the capital, Funafuti, many of the friendly people who asked why I'd come looked at me blankly when I mentioned the tides. Most people in this tiny country -- whose nine coral atolls are home to 11,000 people -- are deeply religious. They expect to be protected; after all, God told Noah there would be no more floods and created the rainbow as a sign of this covenant. Some see things differently, though. The increasing intensity of tropical weather and the rise in ocean levels and temperatures -- all documented results of global warming -- are threatening to sink this island nation. Its citizens face the possibility of being among the first climate refugees. "Our whole culture will have to be transplanted," says former assistant environment minister Paani Laupepa, now assistant secretary for foreign affairs. The islands are not going to go under immediately. But "even if we are not completely flooded," says Laupepa, "in 50 to 70 years we face increasing storms and cyclones, damage to our coral reefs, and flooding of our gardens." Crop damage and decreased fish catch would mean "importing more food ... and more health and diet problems." This year, tides tore into Funafuti. Water covered the main road and drenched houses and churches. Salt water bubbled up through porous coral and turned the leaves of pulaka, a taro-like crop, yellow. Fishing was rendered dangerous to impossible. "President Bush goes to war to protect his country, and talks of national security, but the security of my people is threatened by global warming," Laupepa said to me. "How can you tell the American people that the way they live -- having three cars, using so much energy -- is endangering lots of small countries down the track?" Gallery: Postcards from the Edge |
| Co-Op Makes Health Care Dollar-Free |
|
The Center for a Healthy World (CHW), based in Merion, PA, offers counseling, psychotherapy and body work regionwide. But it doesn't take money from its patients.
The CHW, a training, therapy and service cooperative, is run
by Dr. Dori Middleman out of her home. Like the networks
operated by hospitals such as Thomas Jefferson, CHW is a
referral system. It refers patients to volunteer
professionals. Clients, in turn, volunteer with a
charitable organization of their own choice. Middleman says
there is no financial limitation to participating in the
network, though CHW is designed to provide health care to those who otherwise could not afford it.
Middleman, a psychiatrist, says the center's philosophy is inspired by what she calls "a concept of giving." Its mission is two-fold: To offer clients free, high-quality care and the gratification of giving service to others through volunteer work. And to offer therapists free quality training and supervision, involvement in a network of like-minded professionals, and the gratification of giving service and watching that service grow through their clients' payment in volunteer work. "I come from a family that is very service-oriented, interested in their community, and in helping people," says Middleman. "I do that in my work for money, but I wanted to facilitate helping people without dealing with the insurance companies." Middleman initially created the center in 1994. The idea, she says, was simple: Treat people with a variety of mental health needs, and require payment not in dollars, but in service hours. For each hour of therapeutic care, patients volunteer two hours with a charitable organization of their choice. Thus, as CHW's brochure says: "CHW is a pyramid of people giving service, and each volunteer is a center for the generation of a healthy world." Middleman prefers that CHW be sustained by those directly involved with the network, not foundations, public funding or insurers. With the center operating out of Middleman's home, overhead expenses are low, and incidental costs like postage and office supplies are paid out-of-pocket. With no funding source, CHW operates without a budget, a staff, or any exchange of money, depending on the service given by volunteer therapists and other health professionals. Source: WHYY 91-FM Audio: Voices in the Family (12/22/2003) |
| Homelessness Trap Deepens for Zambia Orphans |
|
UNICEF estimates that there are currently over 75,000 children living on the streets of Lusaka, Livingstone, Ndola, and Kitwe, the main cities and towns in Zambia. A decade ago: 60,000.
Initially, children could only be found on the streets during the day, when they were trying to earn money. At nights, they went home to sleep. Now, children are spending more time on the streets and often end up making homes there. "Increasingly, girls are also spending nights on the street," says Youth and Sport Minister Marina Nsingo. "It’s a reflection of eroding incomes, unemployment, and just people’s inability to look after their families." The children beg, pickpocket, or do odd jobs like watching cars, sweeping shop corridors, and helping shoppers with their parcels. Some sell food. Others become involved in prostitution. Financial need is frequently cited as being the main factor that pushes children onto the streets. Some also say family problems and abuse prompted them to leave home. This situation doesn't look set to improve in the near future. According to a recent study by UNICEF on orphaned and vulnerable children, the number of street children is likely to increase in the next couple of years as AIDS claims the lives of their parents. There are currently about one million Zambians living with HIV, while 94,000 people die every year from AIDS-related diseases. According to Nsingo, more than half of street children are single or double orphans. As the number of orphaned children swells, a severe strain is being placed on the extended family, which has traditionally taken care of orphans in Africa. Without care, orphans live under conditions of virtual starvation, unable to attend school because of the cost of education. More and more have little option but to fend for themselves on the streets. On most days, it is the younger children who most easily gain the attention and sympathy of passersby, says Duma Goma, who looks years older than his stated 14. Having outgrown cuteness, he has to beg a little harder, perform menial tasks for shop owners, or simply steal in order to survive. "I don’t like stealing, but there is no choice, I am out of the market, I am too old for people to have pity for me," he says. "They think I am just a thief, but I was not always a thief; I was forced to become one because of hunger." Source: IPS Africa |
| Health Van Expands Its Outreach |
|
One ubiquitous neighborhood health van is operated by the Camden Area Health Education Center. AHEC, a free health care services agency located in downtown Camden, has for 15 years provided health screenings for illnesses such as HIV, hepatitis, diabetes, blood pressure and asthma, as well as bleach kits, pregnancy testing, condoms, and health services referrals.
AHEC receives funding from the Camden Housing Authority, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For many Camden residents, the AHEC van provides their first and sometimes only access to preventive health care. It serves about 200 people each month, said van program coordinator Jose Quann. The van's medical crew serves a wide range of populations, including families, sex workers, the working uninsured, the unemployed, and the substance addicted. In the van's early days, its mission was more narrowly focused: Provide condoms, HIV testing and AIDS treatment referrals to Camden's sex workers and drug-addicted population. In 2002, however, a grant from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services allowed the agency to expand its services to include preventive health screenings that are key to a broader Camden outreach. "For years, all we did was (HIV) counseling and testing, so there was a stigma that if you came on the van, you had an HIV test," Quann said. "It was kind of known as `the AIDS van.'" Overcoming that stigma involved "getting off the van, going out into the community and informing them about what we had to offer, that they could get blood pressure screening (or) a pregnancy test," Quann said. Many clients are longtime Camden residents who represent the stability and heart of Camden's struggling neighborhoods. Others are new clients looking for help in surviving the streets. Often, a new client will visit the van for an HIV test or drug treatment referral but never return for the results or follow through on entering a detox program. "It can be hard to follow up," Quann said. Current numbers show just 49% of people tested on the van for HIV return for their results. But that's still an improvement from the 20% who returned during the van's early days. Among those who do return to receive their HIV test results, the van staff has a high level of success with getting them into care programs, according to Quann: "I'd say 90% of the people who come in for an HIV test and are positive, they follow up with treatment," he said, noting that patients are referred to providers such as CamCare, Bergen Landing, Cooper Early Intervention Program, and Garden State Infectious Disease for treatment. Source: Courier-Post (Camden) Web Site: Camden AHEC For a Van Schedule: 856-963-2432 |
| Feres Doctrine Oppresses Veterans |
|
The Feres Doctrine became official US government policy on December 4, 1950 and is virtually unknown in American society. The Feres Doctrine was made by judges. It is also an exemption to the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946. Its unconstitutional grant of "sovereign immunity" directly contributes to hardships imposed on American service members and their families -- atrocious conditions rarely exposed to public view.
The Inspector General Act (IG Act) of 1978 was passed as an enforcement tool against these problems. But the Department of Justice, instead of prosecuting offenders, continues to defend federal employees whose wrongful acts or omissions violate the IG Act and result in injury and death to men and women who serve their country. Ironically, the members of the US Armed Forces, fighting to restore human rights to the Iraqi and Afghanistan people, are denied redress of similar human rights abuses under the Feres Doctrine. It's a chilling reality that many members of Congress do not want their constituents to know about. The harshness of the Feres Doctrine grant of "sovereign immunity" and its contempt towards American service members and families is best summed up by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: "Military men are dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy." The Feres Doctrine must be abolished in order to prevent wrongful acts and omissions such as:
|
| Iraq: The Bright Side |
Source: AW Beahm PhD |
| # LNN # Small # Hauls # |
|
| Life-Net News Extras |
| A Lesson For Wal-Mart from Henry Ford |
|
The AFL-CIO has launched a major campaign to draw attention to the business practices of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's recipe for success depends on a widely praised streamlined business model, but it also gets ahead by squeezing labor costs. The majority of its hourly workers earn less than $8.50 an hour, which means that a full-time sales clerk at Wal-Mart falls under the official US poverty level for a family of four.
Nearly a century ago, Henry Ford planned for his employees to be his best customers. Challenging the conventional wisdom that the best way to maximize profits was to tailor your product to the wealthiest segment of society, Ford decided to market his black Model T as "America's Everyman car." For Ford, mass production went hand-in-hand with mass consumption. He established a simple benchmark for worker compensation: His workers should be able to buy the product they were making. Ford promised a $5-a-day minimum wage for all his workers -- twice the prevailing automobile industry average. Doing so, Ford created a virtuous circle. Workers flocked to his factory to apply for positions. If they managed to secure a coveted job, then in time they too would be able to afford one of his cars. The company flourished on these twin pillars -- a desirable product and a highly motivated employee base. By the time production of the Model T ceased in 1927, Ford had sold more than 15 million cars -- half the world's output. Compare Ford's virtuous cycle with Wal-Mart's dual strategy of ruthless cost cutting and "everyday low prices." On the surface, the goal is the same -- produce goods that consumers want and can afford to buy. The result in implementation, however, is vastly different. While Ford's business model helped lay the foundation for a rising middle class in America, the Wal-Mart model reinforces downward mobility. Source: Sojourners |
| Health Care Takes Bigger Bite Out of US Economy |
|
If health care spending had grown only as fast as the gross domestic product over the past five years, the US would have saved about $1 trillion during that period, and about $280 billion this year alone, a new study shows. As is, health care spending this year is expected to reach $1.9 trillion and consume about 15.5% of the US economy, up from 13.2% in 2000, according to a report by Boston University professors Alan Sager and Deborah Socolar.
The authors also point out that the $1.9 trillion figure is nearly twice what the nation will invest in education and almost four times what the country spends on national defense. "Health care spending is crowding out all the other things we care about as a nation," Sager said. Sager said one of the aims of his report is "to urge everybody in health care to prepare for the possibility there will be less money next year, that the health care share will be frozen." Sager believes there's a way to avoid a health care Armageddon, and it leads through the doctor's office. By Sager's count, doctors get or control about 87% of personal health care spending. He also estimates that about half of every health care dollar is wasted. That encompasses everything from "clinical waste -- care that doesn't work or isn't needed -- to administrative waste," Sager said. Sager's solution is a variation on the theme of the Kaiser Health Plans on the West Coast. "A group of doctors accepts responsibility for taking care of a group of patients with a certain budget." Source: Boston Herald |
| Most material here is adapted, not quoted. Views expressed do not |
| necessarily represent ours. Life-Net News weekly newspage, Club |
| LIFENET online, the Web site www.lifenetradio.org, and |
| broadcast Life-Net Radio (where you can star!) together make |
| up Mr. Ret Z.'s private charitable enterprise. To get Life-Net e-mail |
| free, or to unsubscribe, just ask: lifenetradio@broadcast.net |
| + Iesous Khristos Theou Huios Soter + |