A study mentioned in a newsletter I read recently noted the higher the stress of a parent, the lower the quality of life. No surprise there. But significantly, the study found that in the presence of effective program services the effects of parenting stress on the parent-child relationship dissolved. The negative affect of parenting stress dissipates as appropriate supportive services or resources are offered. This reduces the potential for child abuse and neglect.
Good services provide hope: a pathway and the emotional energy to go forward. Hope is not just a feel good concept. Hope is a combination of a mental strategy or pathway to reach important goals, and the motivation or mental energy to persevere to reach those goals, especially when there are barriers or impediments in the way. If you can envision a way forward and you have the mental energy to achieve something that is important to you, that is hope.
Hope is what what we are able to provide when we receive inquiries from parents at our Parent Information Resource Center, and other programs at The Information Center. We connect parents with emergency food, job training programs, support for adult children taking care of their elderly parents, and literally hundreds of other kinds of problem solving alternatives.
The call to The Information Center is free: (734) 282-7171.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Finding that next job can be a very big challenge. Call 1(800) 285-WORKS for help with moving from unemployment to your next job. The Michigan Talent and Jobs Bank www.michworks.org is a valuable internet resource, and will soon become MiTalent.org, .
If you are looking for a job in Southeast Michigan you may want to receive the same steady steam of job openings announcements and leads that I receive from our Business and Employment Specialist. Just send an email to JeffD@theinfocenter.info and ask to be included on the email distribution list for future job leads and announcements. There is no charge for any of these services.
If you are looking for a job in Southeast Michigan you may want to receive the same steady steam of job openings announcements and leads that I receive from our Business and Employment Specialist. Just send an email to JeffD@theinfocenter.info and ask to be included on the email distribution list for future job leads and announcements. There is no charge for any of these services.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Be An Informed Voter for this November's Election
USA Today's web site provides an easy to use tool to compare the two 2012 Presidential Candidates: President Obama who is seeking re-election, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who is the apparent Republican challenger.
USA Today Candidates Match Game
Just click on this link and you will be taken to a web page where you can indicate what positions you support on 14 different issues: Jobs, Medicare, Health Care, Taxes, Defense, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Abortion, Environment, Energy and Qualifications. You can not only indicate how much you agree or disagree with the issue statement, you can also adjust the weights on the different issues to give more weight to the issues you care about most.
I don't know why the developers of this tool call it a "game," except perhaps they were making a game of challenging people to see if their views on key issues match up with the public policy positions of the candidate they are thinking of supporting in November. I guess I take this stuff way too seriously. But then, good government does start with your vote.
USA Today Candidates Match Game
Just click on this link and you will be taken to a web page where you can indicate what positions you support on 14 different issues: Jobs, Medicare, Health Care, Taxes, Defense, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Abortion, Environment, Energy and Qualifications. You can not only indicate how much you agree or disagree with the issue statement, you can also adjust the weights on the different issues to give more weight to the issues you care about most.
I don't know why the developers of this tool call it a "game," except perhaps they were making a game of challenging people to see if their views on key issues match up with the public policy positions of the candidate they are thinking of supporting in November. I guess I take this stuff way too seriously. But then, good government does start with your vote.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Changes In Health Insurance from the Affordable Care Act
The Supreme Court upheld almost all of the Affordable Care Act, yesterday. This law is a push towards innovation and quality outcomes in health care. It is a move towards greater cost efficiency and effectiveness. It makes sense.
If you already have health insurance, you keep your health insurance. Frankly, those of us who are employers purchasing health insurance for employees have seen annual double digit cost increases in health insurance premiums year after year, even as we reluctantly scaled back coverage, increased deductibles and co-pays for our employees. Politics aside, this law brings much needed change, and makes health insurance more secure and more affordable for those of us already paying for it.
The Supreme Court also upheld the principle that people who can afford health insurance should take the responsibility to buy health insurance. This is important for two key reasons:
First, when people who have chosen not to purchase health insurance show up at the hospital emergency room for health care, the rest of us end up paying for their care in the form of more costly health insurance premiums. They not only are not paying for the services they are receiving, they are going to the most expensive place you can go to get their medical or other needs met. It's a double whammy for the rest of us who are footing the bill in our more expensive health insurance premiums.
Second, if you require insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, but don't require people who can afford it to buy their own health insurance, a percentage of people will wait until they are sick or have a health problem before they buy the care they need. This just drives up everyone else's health insurance premium costs. Insurance companies depend upon you paying your premiums when you are healthy in order to be able to cover the catastrophic costs you unexpectly incur when you do need major medical services.
Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on the amount of care you receive. They can no longer discriminate against children with preexisting conditions. They can no longer drop your coverage if you get sick. They can no longer dramatically increase your premiums without reason.
We have already seen and experienced some of the good changes in the Affordable Care Act: young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parent's health care plans - a provision that has already helped many of our kids. Seniors, like our parents, who often have multiple prescription medications to help with their health, receive a discount on their prescription costs.
For people who do not yet have health insurance, starting in 2014 there will be a menu of affordable health insurance plans to choose from. Each state, like Michigan, will design their own menu of alternatives, and if we can come up with even better ways of covering more people at the same quality and cost, the law allows that. Once these health insurance "exchanges" are set up, insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, charge women a higher cost because they are women, or bill people into bankrupcy.
Simply put, this is a good step in the right direction.
If you already have health insurance, you keep your health insurance. Frankly, those of us who are employers purchasing health insurance for employees have seen annual double digit cost increases in health insurance premiums year after year, even as we reluctantly scaled back coverage, increased deductibles and co-pays for our employees. Politics aside, this law brings much needed change, and makes health insurance more secure and more affordable for those of us already paying for it.
The Supreme Court also upheld the principle that people who can afford health insurance should take the responsibility to buy health insurance. This is important for two key reasons:
First, when people who have chosen not to purchase health insurance show up at the hospital emergency room for health care, the rest of us end up paying for their care in the form of more costly health insurance premiums. They not only are not paying for the services they are receiving, they are going to the most expensive place you can go to get their medical or other needs met. It's a double whammy for the rest of us who are footing the bill in our more expensive health insurance premiums.
Second, if you require insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, but don't require people who can afford it to buy their own health insurance, a percentage of people will wait until they are sick or have a health problem before they buy the care they need. This just drives up everyone else's health insurance premium costs. Insurance companies depend upon you paying your premiums when you are healthy in order to be able to cover the catastrophic costs you unexpectly incur when you do need major medical services.
Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on the amount of care you receive. They can no longer discriminate against children with preexisting conditions. They can no longer drop your coverage if you get sick. They can no longer dramatically increase your premiums without reason.
We have already seen and experienced some of the good changes in the Affordable Care Act: young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parent's health care plans - a provision that has already helped many of our kids. Seniors, like our parents, who often have multiple prescription medications to help with their health, receive a discount on their prescription costs.
For people who do not yet have health insurance, starting in 2014 there will be a menu of affordable health insurance plans to choose from. Each state, like Michigan, will design their own menu of alternatives, and if we can come up with even better ways of covering more people at the same quality and cost, the law allows that. Once these health insurance "exchanges" are set up, insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, charge women a higher cost because they are women, or bill people into bankrupcy.
Simply put, this is a good step in the right direction.
Monday, June 4, 2012
We Are At A Fork In The Road
We are at a fork in the road. In the 37 years that I have been an adult voter with a professional interest in social policy I have never seen the kind of dismantling of essential "people" services as we are now witnessing. Children, seniors, people with disability or illness, and others who depend upon help from a caring community are at risk. Over recent years, teachers, police, firemen, helping professionals of all kinds, are being dismissed from providing their services as a result of public policy and budget decisions that give priority to tax cuts and austerity budgets. We continue to experience fast rising costs for health insurance premiums (in the private sector marketplace!) year after year, and increasingly employers have no choice but to pass the higher costs on their employees. Revenues to the budget are reduced due to lower taxes.
I am all for lower taxes. I do my best each April like every other red blooded American to pay the legitimately least amount of taxes that I am entitled to. But I do pay what I owe and understand that is my responsibility as someone privileged to be a citizen of this country. But, somewhere along the way we got lost. We got cynical. Our moral compass started acting erratically. We felt taken advantage of one too many times and we became vulnerable to the simple messages that just aren't true. When it comes to public policy and politics, sometimes simple is easier than true. "Tax cuts will balance the budget." Really? Do the math. Actually tax cuts have reduced the revenue available to government at Federal, State and local levels, resulting in larger deficits, dramatically lower levels of public services, and the erosion or elimination of help services aimed at protecting and supporting our society's most vulnerable citizens. Consequences include higher unemployment because we are laying off all those teachers, police, firemen, and people whose jobs were funded by those dollars. Those people who don't have their jobs anymore don't have much money to spend in our local community economy anymore.
There is a different issue, however, which is accountability. Regardless of whether you consider yourself a liberal or a conservative, a middle-of-the-roader, a libertarian, or if you just don't care about politics; you should care about getting value for each tax dollar. Are we getting value from the tax dollars that are being spent? That is the conversation that should be taking place. What is it worth us to educate a child to grow up to be a productive contributing citizen? What is it worth to provide health care that keeps someone out of the Emergency Room at the hospital, and/or provide mental health services or substance abuse treatment that helps an individual stay out of jail? What is it worth to keep someone in a prison? What would it be worth to keep someone out of prison? What is it worth to give a business or a corporation a tax break? Is that value different with or without the promise of new jobs? What is it worth to us to not have to witness child abuse? What is it worth to us to be a community that does not neglect its elderly or disabled persons? What is the value we get and what is the price we are willing to pay to have a war with another country? What is it worth to us in this country to take care of the veterans of that war when they return home, or to take care of their family when they don't come home? What is it worth us to not to have to send any soldiers into a war? As a citizen, voter and taxpayer, I want my tax dollars be used effectively.
I am all for lower taxes. I do my best each April like every other red blooded American to pay the legitimately least amount of taxes that I am entitled to. But I do pay what I owe and understand that is my responsibility as someone privileged to be a citizen of this country. But, somewhere along the way we got lost. We got cynical. Our moral compass started acting erratically. We felt taken advantage of one too many times and we became vulnerable to the simple messages that just aren't true. When it comes to public policy and politics, sometimes simple is easier than true. "Tax cuts will balance the budget." Really? Do the math. Actually tax cuts have reduced the revenue available to government at Federal, State and local levels, resulting in larger deficits, dramatically lower levels of public services, and the erosion or elimination of help services aimed at protecting and supporting our society's most vulnerable citizens. Consequences include higher unemployment because we are laying off all those teachers, police, firemen, and people whose jobs were funded by those dollars. Those people who don't have their jobs anymore don't have much money to spend in our local community economy anymore.
There is a different issue, however, which is accountability. Regardless of whether you consider yourself a liberal or a conservative, a middle-of-the-roader, a libertarian, or if you just don't care about politics; you should care about getting value for each tax dollar. Are we getting value from the tax dollars that are being spent? That is the conversation that should be taking place. What is it worth us to educate a child to grow up to be a productive contributing citizen? What is it worth to provide health care that keeps someone out of the Emergency Room at the hospital, and/or provide mental health services or substance abuse treatment that helps an individual stay out of jail? What is it worth to keep someone in a prison? What would it be worth to keep someone out of prison? What is it worth to give a business or a corporation a tax break? Is that value different with or without the promise of new jobs? What is it worth to us to not have to witness child abuse? What is it worth to us to be a community that does not neglect its elderly or disabled persons? What is the value we get and what is the price we are willing to pay to have a war with another country? What is it worth to us in this country to take care of the veterans of that war when they return home, or to take care of their family when they don't come home? What is it worth us to not to have to send any soldiers into a war? As a citizen, voter and taxpayer, I want my tax dollars be used effectively.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Mother's Day and Caregivers
It's Mother's Day this Sunday. I'll be visiting my mom, but I'm not sure whether she will understand it's Mother's Day. I feel fortunate that she continues to recognize me, and seemingly enjoys when I visit and spend time with her. My mom has Alzheimer's Disease, a disease that erodes the brain. There are a number of different types of diseases of the brain (dementia), and it is among the fastest growing health epidemics of our time. My mom worked as an RN for decades. A proud and intelligent woman, she took care of herself, along with my father, and engaged in no unhealthy behaviors to bring this upon herself.
It's Mother's Day this Sunday also for my sister, who is my mother's family caregiver. It is a critically important and thankless job. She makes sure my mom doesn't get lost, tries to make sure she eats right, helps her find things she misplaces, gently but firmly intervenes in unsafe situations, drives her places because mom can't drive even though she thinks she can, listens to the same anecdotes and stories dozens of times in a day, tries to understand and tolerate my mom's mood swings, and repeatedly answers questions including the whereabouts of my father who passed away last year.
God bless all the moms, and especially god bless all the moms who are doing double-duty being a mom for their children, and a caregiver for one or both of her parents.
If you are a family caregiver and are interested in what support is available to you, call The Information Center at (734) 282-7171, and ask about the area Caregiver Support groups that are available at no charge to you.
It's Mother's Day this Sunday also for my sister, who is my mother's family caregiver. It is a critically important and thankless job. She makes sure my mom doesn't get lost, tries to make sure she eats right, helps her find things she misplaces, gently but firmly intervenes in unsafe situations, drives her places because mom can't drive even though she thinks she can, listens to the same anecdotes and stories dozens of times in a day, tries to understand and tolerate my mom's mood swings, and repeatedly answers questions including the whereabouts of my father who passed away last year.
God bless all the moms, and especially god bless all the moms who are doing double-duty being a mom for their children, and a caregiver for one or both of her parents.
If you are a family caregiver and are interested in what support is available to you, call The Information Center at (734) 282-7171, and ask about the area Caregiver Support groups that are available at no charge to you.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Job Fair on May 11th in Livonia
If you or someone you know is looking for employment, you might be interested in an upcoming Job Fair in at the Livonia Michigan Works! There is no charge to attend. Positions that job seekers can apply for are:
General Assembly located in Novi, MI and Car Detailer/Auto Shuttler at the Detroit Metro Airport.
The Job Fair is May 11, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. - noon at the Michigan Works! Livonia One Stop office.
To be sent an email with a copy of the flyer with further details including job requirements, pay, and event location/address, send an email to jeffd@theinfocenter.info.
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