IMPORTANT: Please take the United Way of Pennsylvania COVID-19 Impact Survey
This is time sensitive!
Pennsylvania United Ways seek to better understand the impacts of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic on people living in our communities. United Way of Pennsylvania is conducting a survey that will be used to inform how to best support Pennsylvania families throughout long-term recovery and beyond.
Completing this survey should take less than 10 minutes. Responses are confidential. The individual results of this survey and any other identifying information will not be shared.
Click here to participate in the survey:
English | https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FLY9TVG
Spanish | https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3YY3KXN
“Overlooked No More: Roland Johnson, Who Fought to Shut Down Institutions for the Disabled” – The New York Times
“He survived 13 years of neglect and abuse, including sexual assault, at the notorious Pennhurst State School and Hospital outside Philadelphia before emerging as a champion for the disabled.”
“Credit … via the Johnson family”
by Glenn Rifkin
“In 1958, when Roland Johnson was 12, his parents sent him to the Pennhurst State School and Hospital outside Philadelphia. There he would spend 13 tormented years living through the nightmare of institutionalization that was commonplace in mid-20th-century America.
“Terrified and confused, Roland, who had an intellectual disability, quickly discovered the inhumane realities of Pennhurst, including neglect, beatings and sexual assault. And as a Black child, he encountered the toxic racism roiling life both outside and within the institution’s walls.
“’After that long ride up there, it was just horrible,’ Johnson wrote of his arrival at Pennhurst in a posthumously published autobiography, ‘Lost in a Desert World’ (2002, with Karl Williams). He described himself as having been ‘lost and lonely,’ as if ‘in a desert world.'”
Click here to read this article at The New York Times in its entirety.
Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. This latest installment is part of a series exploring how the Americans With Disabilities Act has shaped modern life for disabled people. Share your stories or email us at ada@nytimes.com.
“Preparing for Medical Expenses in Retirement” – US News and World Report
“Your health care costs can still add up even after you enroll in Medicare, but smart strategies can help you minimize these expenses.”
“Becoming a smart health care shopper can help you save on medical expenses.” (GETTY IMAGES)
by Kimberly Langford
“YOU MAY THINK THAT YOU don’t need to worry about health care costs after you turn 65 and are eligible for Medicare. But you still have to pay some premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, and the numbers can add up over time: A recent study by Fidelity found that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2020 will pay an average of $295,000 in health care costs over their lifetime, a 3.5% increase over the 2019 figures. That number includes Medicare premiums, deductibles and copayments, or coverage to fill in the gaps.
“The following steps can help you prepare for these expenses in retirement and minimize your health care costs:
Click here to continue reading this article at US News & World Report.
“COVID-19 may never go away — with or without a vaccine” – WITF
“Humans have never been particularly good at eradicating entire viruses, and COVID-19 might not be any different.
“More than 19 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 globally, and at least 722,000 have died. In the U.S., nearly 5 million people have tested positive and more than 160,000 have died. While scientists are racing to find a cure for the virus, there’s a chance COVID-19 will never fully go away — with or without a vaccine.
“But that doesn’t mean everyone will have to self-isolate forever.
“Dr. Vineet Menachery, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told NPR’s Weekend Edition that one of the more likely scenarios is that the spread of COVID-19 will eventually be slowed as a result of herd immunity. He said he’d be surprised ‘if we’re still wearing masks and six feet distancing in two or three years,’ and that in time, the virus could become no more serious than the common cold.”
Read this article in its entirety at WITF — CLICK HERE.
“Nursing homes grapple with a dual crisis: preparing for hurricane season amid the Covid-19 pandemic” – STATNews
“A truck transports nursing home staff and patients during the evacuation of a nursing home due to rising flood waters in the wake of Hurricane Florence in 2018. ALEX EDELMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES”
Though scenes as the one above are ones not common in the Berks-Lancaster-Lebanon County areas, hurricanes and flooding could happen. In Pennsylvania and “worldwide, flooding is probably the number one cause of losses from natural events.”
And from time to time, the area is visited by hurricanes and super storms.
“Nursing homes face an impossible decision during hurricane season this year — whether or not to evacuate their residents amid the Covid-19 pandemic, risking the health and well-being of their patients and staff in the process.
“Even in normal times, evacuation decisions are tough: Research shows that moving frail residents can exacerbate already burdensome health conditions and increase hospitalizations. But failing to evacuate can leave residents vulnerable to power outages, flooding, and even death. This year, as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the Southeast in particular, that decision is even harder — hospitals are already overburdened and social distancing isn’t necessarily possible in evacuation vans or temporary shelters.
“Nursing home residents are also far more vulnerable to Covid-19 than the general population.” – Click here to continue reading this article at STATNews.
Evacuation is just one of the Incident Response Guides that’s listed in the Nursing Home Incident Command System.
Six tips for long-distance caregiving – National Institute on Aging
Anyone who is caring for an aging friend, relative, or parent from afar can be considered a long-distance caregiver. Whether you are helping with finances, arranging for care, or providing emotional support, long-distance caregiving can bring a host of unique challenges.
Keep these tips in mind to help make life more manageable:
- Learn as much as you can about your loved one’s health, treatments, and available caregiving resources.
- Organize important paperwork.
- Consider caregiving training.
Beat It: an 8-week Veterans Group beginning Sepember 3
Breathe Again Counseling Services, LLC and Take Heart Counseling and Equine Assisted Therapy announce this opportunity for veterans who need help, to get help. We are running a therapeutic group starting Thursday September 3rd for 8 weeks. Charlene Shutika will be co-facilitating the two hour long group along with Take Heart’s very own, Dr. David Brant, LPC, PsyD. Dr. Brant’s interest in the veteran population comes not from serving, but from his first hand experiences with the draft for Vietnam. The group will only run for 1.5 hours. The last half hour will be a time to gather around the pavilion and eat a meal together. We will be addressing proper reintegration because being home is harder than being deployed, emotion regulation because emotions were not allowed so we don’t know how to have them, the effects of trauma on the physical body (IBS, pain, the trauma brain), effective communication skills and knowing that you can have an opinion, and whatever else comes up. We will be using the theory of Natural Lifemanship or Trauma-Focused Equine-Assisted-Psychotherapy (TF-EAP) to guide the group through mounted and unmounted activities which have been shown to be beneficial for in the moment experiential learning versus traditional talk therapy alone.
The goal of the group is to build skills to handle the things that get thrown at them in civilian life and a lasting community for those veterans so if they fall on hard times or start to have suicidal thoughts, they have someone they can trust to call. It’s also so that veterans don’t feel alone.
Breathe Again Counseling Services, LLC – Call 484.205.9887 – Being a veteran gives me a unique perspective and helps me build a stronger relationship to help veterans through various trials in their life so they can breathe again. Being trauma informed and working towards becoming Trauma Certified guides the focus of my practice, but helping veterans is my priority so whether you have PTSD, Anxiety or Depression, or going through a life change, please feel free to contact me. Breathe again offers individual counseling services in-person or via telehealth and will be starting group services up in January 2020. For rates and more information please visit https://www.breatheagaincounselingservices.com/
Take Heart Counseling & Equine Assisted Therapy – Take Heart’s mission is to empower individuals and families to find hope, healing, and wholeness through therapeutic work with horses. They integrate principles of Christian counseling, trauma-informed psychotherapy, and natural horsemanship in experiential sessions designed to bring deep healing and insight to mind, body, and soul. The outdoor farm environment is peaceful and authentic, bringing a different, down-to-earth feel to counseling sessions. No horse experience necessary – the horses are gentle and intuitive partners in healing. Contact us.
Isolation: perspectives during COVID-19
Here’s a fascinating look at social isolation from two perspectives. What makes it possible for one man to live in a cave all alone and another to crave being around others?
“A tale of two isolations
“More than 1,000 km apart, a filmmaker and the subject of his film contend with the methods and meanings of solitude.”
“How we rely on older adults, especially during the coronavirus pandemic” – EconoTimes
“We miss too much when we treat all seniors as helpless.” (Unsplash/@unitednations/Lélie Lesage)”
by Sally Chivers
“‘Unprecedented’ might be the word of the COVID-19 pandemic. But for many, especially older adults, life has taken many abrupt turns. Maybe it’s their first pandemic, but it’s not the first time they’ve pivoted without calling it that and created a new normal.
“Yet, we persist in treating people over 70 as an undifferentiated blob of neediness and vulnerability. When we do, we once again miss what older adults contribute.
“As an aging studies scholar, my focus is on the portrayal and treatment of older adults in literature, film and popular culture. During COVID-19, dire fictional portraits of nursing homes as places to avoid and escape appear to be coming alive. We hear a lot about them, but less attention lands on older adults living and making do at home. Public health issues reminders to check on what they call “elderly neighbours.” Those reminders ignore what older people in and out of nursing homes offer to the rest of us.”
Click here to read this article at EconoTimes in its entirety.
