Caring is a man’s job too

• http://www.latimes.com/business/ la-fi-caregiver27nov27,0,1573106,full.story

By Jonathan Peterson, Times Staff Writer
November 27, 2006

Dutiful daughters and nurturing wives have long dominated the ranks of society’s caregivers. That, at least, is the stereotype.

Such a view is out of date, healthcare experts say. Both genders, it turns out, are playing a crucial role — and at significant personal cost — in providing hands-on care to ailing relatives. Their efforts have emerged as a foundation of the larger U.S. healthcare system, helping family members survive at home and perhaps prolonging their lives….

…family helpers who also hold full-time jobs outside the home, for example, men now outnumber women 52% to 48%…

Such unpaid helpers are a pillar of the healthcare system. Arno, who has studied the matter, estimated that it would “conservatively” cost the nation $320 billion a year to pay for such efforts, almost double what the public spends on nursing homes and on paid in-home care.

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George Hohman

George was a significant asset to rural Alaska and did a lot of good as state senator, including his work on the permanent fund and for elders. Unfortunately, being effective for rural Alaska also means being a target.

This news story is a fair summary of a remarkable person.

• Audio
  http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/ mp3/apti/local-apti-545980.mp3

BETHEL, AK (2006-11-24) Residents in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are giving thanks this week for having known George Hohman. The former state senator and Bethel city manager passed away peacefully Monday after a long illness. He was 74.

© Copyright 2006, APRN

• http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/apti/ news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1001711

A little bit more background–
George joined the military in 1952, studied Russian language at the Presidio in Monterey. In 1954 he was sent to Fort Richardson in Alaska where he was a Russian translator, and then to the Pnbilof Islands to study the influence of the Russian language on the Native language in that area. He returned to Alaska with his family in 1962 to teach for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. He taught in the villages of Emmonak, Nunapitchuk, Bethel and was principal/teacher in Kwigillingok for two years.

In 1972 he successfully ran for the State Senate. George represented the Yukon-Kuskokwim and Bristol Bay Districts in the Alaska State Legislature for 16 years, serving in both the House and Senate.

Long-term nursing care in Alaska

Alaskans pay the most for long-term nursing home care

SURVEY: Insurer says average of $388 a day is highest in the nation.
November 21, 2006

Aging Alaskans and their families are paying the highest nursing home rates in the country, according to a study by New York Life Insurance Co. Nursing home costs average $388 a day in Alaska. In New York City, by comparison, the average cost of long-term care is $311 a day, according to the insurance survey.

Alaska has a total of 15 long-term care, or nursing homes

Many of the growing number of Alaska residents who need assistance as they age could get similar care at home and pay less, said Margaret Andrews, deputy director of the Center for Community…

CFC is a state-wide provider of home and community-based services for people with disabilities, the elderly and others who experience barriers to community living in Alaska. They have offices in Anchorage, Sitka, Fairbanks, Ketchikan, Juneau

• http://www.ptialaska.net/~cfcsitka/index.htm

Joy into cycling for disabled

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

• http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=52113

Tempo Tricycle specialises in producing tricycles especially designed for those with disabilities….
One of the company’s products was showcased last week to a school teacher and national athlete Joseva Verevou.

“Many families have bike riding as a healthy, cheap and fun activity,” Mr Isham said.

“However, what happens where one of them has no arms or cannot use them, that person has to stay behind or the whole family stays home,’ he said.

…the Fijian-designed and made glider … is a recumbent, where the rider is a prone position and pedals out front.

“You steer it by simply leaning right or left and the bike goes that way, pedalling backward to brake.”

Mr Isham said the cycle was just one of the 135 different cycles and accessories that the company made in Lautoka for exercise and rehabilitation for people with disability.

I can’t find the Fiji office information but the main manufacturer website is

• http://www.tempolafaek.com.au/

They have quite a range of cycles.

Mr Isham is Sales Manager, Tempo Tricycles International
Manufacturers of Rehabilitation, Industrial, Vending & Recreational Cycles
11/6 Pinacle Street, Brendale (Brisbane) QLD 4500, Australia .
Phone: (07) 3881 1104

For more information about Mr VEREVOU’s projects, see

• http://www.jicafriends.jp/projects/project/country/fiji/fiji02.html

For more than 20 years, Japan International Cooperation Agency has organized two training courses, “Leaders of Persons with Disabilities” and “Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities” to promote the creation of a society in which persons with disabilities can take part. To date nearly 400 people have attended the two courses.

• Japan International Cooperation Agency
  http://www.jicafriends.jp/index.html

• Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons http://www.fncdp.org/

Baen Books free for blind, dyslexic, paralyzed, or disabled readers

Go to the ReadAssist or Webscription sites to register. However, I cannot find the specific application link on either site. I will try to find out and post back here.
2007-01-13

• http://www.readassist.org/read/service/webscform.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Baen Books all free for blind, dyslexic, paralyzed, or disabled readers Michelle sez, “Baen Books, a publisher of science fiction, will provide its books to fans who are blind, paralysed, or dyslexic, or are amputees, in electronic form free of charge, effective immediately. Baen Books is making this offer in recognition of Veterans Day, and all our disabled military veterans. Many Baen authors are veterans themselves, using a military setting as the setting of their tales. Right now convalescing vets might welcome an exciting, fast-action tale to pass the time.”

Since 1999, Baen has published its new books as ebooks each month, in several formats, with no Digital Rights Management, through WebScriptions (www.webscriptions.net), for a small fee. Now, this service will be available at no cost to the disabled, who must apply for this privilege.

Applications will be processed by ReadAssist

• http://www.readassist.org

a volunteer group devoted to helping disabled readers find the books they want in the form they need, and join the community of fandom. The application form has been set up by ReadAssist, and can be found through either WebScriptions or ReadAssist.

• https://www.webscription.net/news.aspx?showarticle=2

ReadAssist

contains links to items which will assist in giving a computer its orders, turning pages of paper books, getting text from the computer screen to the brain, or anything else that might aid those with impaired dexterity or impaired vision. Check out the links to sources of e-books and audio books too, under eAvailable Books. And don’t forget public libraries; librarians want everyone to read.

from

• http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/15/baen_books_all_free_.html