How Many Ways Can You Go Blind?

Posted on 18/09/2024 by Grumpa Joe

When I asked my friend and fellow Lion that question, Optometrist Dr. Smith replied, “Probably 500, but I’m guessing it’s more like 1000.” That gives us a huge opportunity to serve the blind. As the blind-and-deaf Helen Keller challenged us in 1926 to become Knights of the Blind, she gave us something to work on. Back then, she was so far ahead of us in this topic that it was scary.  Thankfully, the Lions Club International decided to adopt blindness as a pillar of service. We have been striving to help blind people ever since.

Statistically, there are over 12 million people over the age of 40 in America who are classified with visual impairment. Out of that 12 million, over 1 million are legally blind.

Lions have been supportive since Helen Keller presented her challenge to us. For instance, we invented guide dogs and the white cane.

The World Health Organization (WHO) cites five causes of vision impairment and blindness:

1. refractive errors

2. cataract

3. diabetic retinopathy

4. glaucoma

5. age-related macular degeneration

Many more reasons are apparent, like accidents and disease, but there are too many to discuss now.

I am proposing a new way to serve the blind to Lions Clubs. Many newly diagnosed blind people are above the age of sixty. When they are struck with the diagnosis, they are devastated as they would be if they heard they had cancer. Older people have trouble adapting to the condition. The loss of independence is devastating. The loss of mobility combined with losing independence makes living stressful. Yet, people adapt, but often with a significant loss of personal dignity.

About thirty years ago, a young couple from the south suburbs of Chicago, both blind, decided to do something positive with their lives and formed a support group they called OASIS. They worked hard to turn their handicap into something positive. They figured they could help people get back into life even with the lemon they were handed. They met with a handful of vision-impaired individuals and led them in prayer and discussions about handling things that were hard for them. They used their personal experiences as a positive motivation to lead others to do the same thing: leading everyday life as good one can lead without sight.

Five years ago, the Frankfort Lions became aware of OASIS through our neighboring Mokena Lions Club. Together, we joined them by sending money to help them with their work. Since then, Kim and Joe Kuster, the originators of OASIS, have retired and moved to Tennessee to be near their grandchildren. This left the two clubs with a more significant opportunity to keep the organization going and self-supportive. It has been a full year since the Kusters left, and we are still in business and are growing in numbers.

We have learned that people with visual impairment, especially older ones, enjoy the company of people with the same affinity. They feel comfortable with each other, knowing they are not standing out as being different.

OASIS brings together a community of people in similar situations. They come with someone who can drive them and sit around a table with people they can talk to and share experiences with. A facilitator leads them in prayer and motivates them with ways to overcome hardships. Often, they lead the group to share how they handle situations.  The leader introduces them to items that make life easier, like large print calendars, talking clocks, and magnifiers. Every meeting is different from the one before. Lions serve a snack and kibitz with the attendees. They clean up and assist with a game if one is played. A favorite is bingo.

I am telling you this because OASIS is an instrumental and helpful organization within this community. I am sure you also have many people within your realm who could benefit from a vision-impaired support group. We would be happy to help you start a chapter within your club. If you wish to help but are not ambitious enough to begin your own OASIS chapter, you may want to assist OASIS in several ways.  Our most urgent need is for volunteer drivers who can adopt a visually impaired person to take them to and from OASIS meetings once each month. Our second largest need is money to run the meetings and expand services.

 You can donate to OASIS (a not-for-profit 501c3 organization) by clicking the OASIS website link below.

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Filed under: Education, family, health care, Lions Club | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

Paying the Bill

Posted on 16/09/2024 by Grumpa Joe

One thing that comes from living in a socialist country is a different attitude about paying for things. If all your needs are satisfied by Uncle, then why settle for anything? All things must come free. I live with Lovely, who spent most of her life in a socialist country. She escaped to go to America for a better life. She has a better life now, and she enjoys it as long as she is healthy. She has reached the age of fourscore when the body shows signs of wear and tear. A visit to the doctor is acceptable unless it comes with a bill for payment of the services. Her attitude is one of live a healthy life and you won’t need a doctor. Because of her background she is into organically grown foods, clean, pure water, and no pills.

Recently, she was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration. All she wanted was a new pair of glasses to read again. Instead, her foreign (any of the four languages she learned in her childhood) language-speaking doctor told her to see a specialist. English is not one of them. She doesn’t think in English, she thinks in any of the languages she knows. I’ve witnessed her speaking to three different people all speaking a different language and she not only understood all of them but could respond to them in thier own tongue simultaneously, but english is not included.

She went to this new doctor, who can not speak her language, but there happens to be a nurse at the practice that does, that makes her happy. At the same time COVID hit the world. Our Governor spread the word that Illinois Medicaid would accept undocumented people without question to get healthcare. She applied and was accepted. For the past two years she has received treatments for her eyes without any mention of money. She was happy. I was wondering when the ceiling would fall on our heads. It happened this spring when the state voided all Medicaid to people who were covered under the COVID policy. She had to reapply. She did, and this time she was denied and put into a special class called redetermination and the state would pay for all expenses she incurred over $590/month. She was not happy anymore. I bit the bullet and applied for Obama Care. Thankfully they accepted us into the private insurance marketplace which they wouldn’t do three years ago. The premiums are over $700/month and the co-pay limit is $9000/yr. They have been paying for about half of her eye treatments which are about $5000 each time, and she averages two treatments per month. She is not a happy camper anymore. Welcome to America Lovely!

At this time, I’m worried about the nest egg being ravaged, and with inflation running rampant, it feels like someone pulled an oversized plug out of the retirement fund. What I don’t understand is whether socialist healthcare provides state-of-the-art drugs such as the one they now use for wet macular degeneration or whether they send you home and tell you to drink chamomile tea.

It doesn’t matter what socialist medicine does or doesn’t do because Lovely will never return to her roots. She loves it here; it’s just not the part about paying the bill for healthcare.

Filed under: Aging, Biography, health care | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

The Party of Murder

Posted on 11/09/2024 by Grumpa Joe

Abortion is a topic that is too popular today. I began my writing with an essay on abortion in 1959 when I had to take a test to determine if I had enough English skills to transfer to the University of Illinois without re-taking English. I didn’t have to retake the subject. At that time, the majority of the country was solidly opposed to abortion. People were more God-fearing, moral, and ethical about the act of abortion. At that time, I based my essay on the fact that abortion is murder. A look though out history one learns that murder is never condoned. It is always considered a sin by moralists and churches around the world. If I may quote a 1968 cigarette commercial, “You’ve come a long way baby.”

Oregon Right to Life sent mailers making dubious claims about what they call “late-term abortions” in Oregon. This flyer attacked Democratic candidate for the state Senate, Mark Meek, who has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood.

Today, abortionists use the argument that a baby is only a zygote when it is conceived. Thus, the moment of life becomes an argument in deciding when the zygote becomes human. Somehow, this argument makes abortion before that transition occurs okay. Women argue that they need an abortion because they don’t want to be pregnant, they don’t want a baby, they can’t afford a baby, they were raped, their life is in danger, and many more reasons than I can remember right now. It is my belief that the number one reason for abortion is contraception: Oops, I made a mistake.

Today, there are some States where late-term abortion is considered legal. Again, we have to define late-term to decide the fate of a human being. Some people argue that late-term ends only when the fetus exits the woman. This definition is concerning because we are then murdering a fully developed baby and using the finish line as the argument in favor of doing it. The worst case that I have heard about is that of a botched abortion where the baby is now out of the woman but seriously injured during the act of aborting it. Some doctors feel that if they just make the ruined and seriously injured baby rest comfortably until it dies it is morally acceptable. The arguments keep coming, but the fact remains that biologically, the act of sexual union is designed to procreate. All living things procreate. Procreation is an inborn instinct which cannot be ignored, and at times difficult if not impossible to suppress.

Life has to begin at some point. I believe that the point is the moment the sperm penetrates the ovum and becomes the zygote that splits into two cells and begins forming the fetus, which then ultimately becomes a human. This process leads me to believe that life begins at conception; the instant that zygote splits into two cells the process of forming a human has begun. The arguments begin.

If I get sick and die, it is a natural thing. If I am injured and die, it is a normal thing. If someone shoots a bullet into my heart and I die, it is not normal. It is an intentional act committed to injure or kill another human. Depending on the circumstances, if shooting a bullet into my heart and I die, it is considered murder. The same holds for the embryo or fetus. There are typical natural reasons for an embryo to die; this is called a miscarriage. Although it is sad, it is a natural thing. A physical or chemical intervention designed ot terminate the embryo or fetus is not natural and considered murder. Murder is an unnatural intentional ending of a life.

Since Roe v Wade was passed into law in 1973, over 62,500,000 abortions were performed. That amounts to the murder of eighteen percent of our current population. I have to ask if the current Democratic government allowed ten million people to cross our borders illegally as a way to compensate for the loss of life by abortion. I wonder what kind of world we would live in if these murdered humans were allowed to live everyday lives. DId we abort the one who would have cured cancer, or the one who cured dementia, and all the other life taking diseases? Have we killed the person who would have brought about world peace?

By ending Roe V Wade and forcing the fifty states to come up with their laws regarding abortion, we are affected more equally within our rights. I, for one, do not condone my tax dollars being used to pay for abortions and want the right to decide within my state how to handle the situation. Why is it that women want the state to pay for these mistakes? Shouldn’t the perpetrator be made to pay for their situation? After all, I did not get to experience the pleasure of the orgasm why should I have to pay for the consequence?

My answer is to allow abortions, but do not make me or the government pay for it unless it is mine. An abortion, although it is not an ordinary healthcare issue, should not be covered by any state-controlled healthcare plan. What if the abortion is botched, and the woman’s life is in danger who is it that pays? I would address this the same as if the person failed in an attempt to commit suicide. Go to the ER, get fixed and then argue with your insurance company. What if the woman is dying, but the abortion is not complete? Is the doctor arrested for performing an abortion? My answer is that the doctor would not be arrested because he did what was necessary to save the woman’s life. The arguments keep rolling in. The one best answer is not to have an abortion, then you wouldn’t have to ask these questions.

On the business side of things, abortion is a source of income from two avenues. The abortion act itself and second payment from the sale of infant body parts to companies that use them for research. The lobby money paid by Planned Parenthood has to be in the millions. Congressional leaders most likely profit from this effort. They can’t pocket the money but they can fill campaign funds. To me the act of tearing apart the body of an unborn and then selling the raw parts to someone else is an immoral act compounding the immorality of the abortion itself. I have a relative who lost two pregnancies at seven months. She experienced the same grief as when she had lost her mother. The idea of her selling her baby’s body to be chopped up for experimentation was unthinkable.

Looking at the subject from the opposite end of life, what happens if a nurse is caught pulling the plug on the respirator of a critically ill person who is one hundred years old? Now we have the issue of euthanasia to deal with. Is this not the same argument as abortion? in reverse? What if I want to live even if it costs a million dollars a day to keep me alive and I only have twenty dollars left in my bank account. Who will decide my right to life? This is called mercy killing, and the perpetrators will most likely get punished by authorities.

Perhaps women and the men who impregnate them and then have abortions should pay with jail time. Would they change their minds about having sex which may lead to an unwanted pregnancy? I doubt it very much.

Finally, I want to say that abortion probably dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. It will be with us as long as there are humans on this planet, and the arguments pro and con will never cease.

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No Pain, No Gain

Posted on 23/04/2024 by Grumpa Joe

Today, I embark on a ten-course treatment plan to recover my shoulder. Physical therapy brings back many memories from the nineteen fifties. I was fifteen years old and literally a Superman. Nothing could stop me. It was summer, and I played eighteen holes of golf by ten a.m. with my friends, then pedaled my bike five miles to Tumey’s Grocery store in Roseland during ninety-five-degree weather to my job delivering groceries. At 5:30, I pedaled back home in the heat of late afternoon to a waiting supper provided by a mom who never stopped loving me. After supper, it was out to meet the guys standing on the corner to watch the girls go by until eleven, then finally home to sleep. I never got out of bed the next morning. In fact, I had a first class ambulance ride to Contagious Disease Hospital. That is where this Superman lived for the next twelve weeks until he had another ambulance ride to Michale Reese Hospital for physical therapy. That was in a period of time when there was no vaccine for polio, and I had to tough it out with only attention and care from nurses and doctors. The disease damaged my neck, arms, and legs before it stopped to go elsewhere. The physical therapy lasted for two months full time, and another six months part time. The term “no pain, no gain” had to originate from that arm of medicine.

I look forward to this afternoon’s session, as painful as it will be. I know what can happen when a good therapist works you over repeatedly day after day until the pain eventually disappears and is replaced by an attitude of “Is that the best you can do? Bring it on.”

Filed under: Biography, family, health care | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

How Soon We Forget

Posted on 28/02/2024 by Grumpa Joe

Winter in Northern Illinois is predictable but also variable. The temperatures have been relatively mild for the past few weeks, hovering in the thirties. Then, we experienced a sudden temperature change upward into the sixties, and this week, we enjoyed three days in the seventies. Today, we are back into the twenties to low thirties, and not liking it one bit. Suddenly the winter coats are feeling too light. Why is it that after acclimating to winter temps which then flare into the seventies that we lose our winter hardened bodies and immediately hate the cold? It never ceases to amaze me at how these rapid temperature changes make me despise cold weather, and yearn for life in a southern state.

On a different topic but on the same theme my lovely wife, whom I often call Lovely, whipped me into driving her to the drug store to pick up a prescription that her doctor ordered for her this morning during a phone call. She couldn’t nor wouldn’t understand my argument the the pills are not available yet because I hadn’t gotten a text message telling me to pick the prescription up. I’ve learned over the years that arguments of this kind are not worth the effort, and drove her to the drug store immediately. The druggist had no record or notification of a new prescription. We came home and went for a walk in the cold chilly 29 degree day with a 16-20 mph wind. It was brisk to say the least.

I recall the time not too many years ago when getting a drug from a doctor required a visit to his office and sometimes waiting for hours to get a handwritten scrip, then having to carry that scrip to a druggist and wait in line for him to accept it and tell you what day he would have it ready for you. How quickly we forgot those days! Now, we are setting a new bar for speed by calling doctors instead of making visits, who then enters the order for the drug online and directs it to the pharmacy of your choice. Lovely actually expected the pills to be waiting for her by the time we got there. It was only twenty minutes from the time she spoke to the doctor to the time we showed up at the Pharmacy. The next step will be tele-transportation of the pills from the druggist to our home.

We don’t realize it but speed is slowly creeping into every aspect of our lives and making us dependent. The one factor that we can’t always count on is the human element that remaiins in the process. Data moves at the speed of light once it is input and sent, but the human element of data entry, quality control checks, etcetera are all human controlled and we move more like the speed of snails and not like the speed of electrons. How quickly we forget what the processes of life were like as compared to what they are today.

This whole speed thing makes me wonder how men are evolving and adapting. How are our brains and bodies changing to keep up with the need for speed?

Filed under: Biography, family, health care | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

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