It’s easy to be sarcastic about healthcare in America - It’s even easier to be sarcastic about health insurance! – In fact, it’s so easy that, sometimes, we can confuse those two things, so let’s start there:
Health insurance is NOT healthcare. Healthcare keeps us going, and as healthy as we can, or are willing, to be, and we’re actually pretty darned good at it! We’re so good at it that a lot of us are living a whole lot longer than would have been imagined even a generation or two ago.
So, the “good news” is that a lot of us are living a whole lot longer! The “bad news” is that, in the course of living longer, a number of us require “care” – You know, somebody (or somebodies) to help us get through the day. We call those folks, which most of us are, have been or will be, “caregivers,” but since “caregivers” almost never call themselves “caregivers,” here’s my standard definition: A “caregiver” is somebody who is taking care of somebody who needs to be taken care of, whether they like it or not.
Does that sound at all like you to you? Then, WELCOME! – Because you’re “us.”
And, yeah, there are a LOT of us.
And if we don’t take care of us, what do you suppose happens to the folks that we’re taking care of? Right: Nothing good; so here’s our annual opportunity to take care of us.
The 5th annual “Building Your Caregiver Tool Box” will be held on Saturday, November 5th, from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm, at the Peninsula College PUB (Pirate Union Building, and don’t panic: Costumes are NOT required!), 1502 East Lauridsen Blvd. in Port Angeles, free.
We like free.
The theme this year is “The Tsunami of Caregiving,” with the keynote address by Jamye Wisecup, the coordinator of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Division. There will be breakout sessions on “Map Your Neighborhood,” “Outages,” “Preparing for the ‘Little Emergencies’,” etc. as well as some other, more personal, options.
There will also be a free lunch, snacks, beverages, vendor and informational tables, a lot of us “professional-types lurking about and a comedy (Yes, COMEDY! – If we don’t laugh at this stuff now and then, it’ll kill us!) presentation in the afternoon! – But here’s the best part: There will be a room full of people who are doing the same thing (more or less) that we’re doing, which means a room full of very smart, experienced and creative people.
That’s what puts the “us” into the us.
What do you do? Call 360-452-3221 (1-800-801-0070) to register, and do it RIGHT NOW! These conferences fill up fast, which ought to tell you something. Can you bring your “person” with you? No, and here’s why: If you bring your person, then you’ll be doing what you do all the time, which is giving care, which means that you’ll be all about them, and not about you, and this is about you.
Us.
Do this. Care enough about your person to care about you, and to remember that you aren’t alone.
Us. See ya there.
Now, change channels, OK? – Click. A number of the more loyal among you have heard me go on (and on!) about “Living Well with Chronic Conditions.” I know this to be true because a lot of you with chronic conditions have been through this 6-week, 2.5 hours/week workshop and have told me that it changed your life – For the BETTER! It works, and it’s free. We like free.
So, now: What if I gave you a chance to become a facilitator for “Living Well with Chronic Conditions?” Really! To get trained in how to conduct these workshops that change lives, for free! Well, here’s your chance.
The training will run November 8, 9, 15 and 16 at the Port Angeles Senior Center (328 E. 7th, but you probably knew that). You’d run these workshops in teams of two, so bringing a friend would be fun, and you don’t have to have any teaching experience.
All you have to commit to is showing up for all four days of the training and facilitating a minimum of two, 6-week workshops per year. Do you know how much you’ll learn from this? Not to mention the karma!!! And if you don’t have a lot of fun doing it, you’re doing it wrong.
What do you do? Call 1-866-582-1487 and sign-up, then show up.
So, what was the theme of today’s column? Right: Good and decent people being good and decent people – Together – One person at a time, in spite of everything you hear in the news.
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