WE NEED YOUR HELP! Perhaps you've read this before and are wondering, "Why am I seeing this again?" But millions of other Christians haven't seen it! So please use the "share" buttons above to share it with your social media friends. Thanks!!
Dear friend,
What is 
Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC)? "HBPC programs provide appropriate care (primary, urgent, or palliative) to high-risk, medically vulnerable patients, often suffering multiple chronic conditions, when and where they need it. This patient-centric, continuous care model delivers clinical, economic, and human benefits such as:
* facilitating timely interventions when chronic conditions worsen and preempting avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations
* alleviating social stressors that contribute to poor health
* comforting patients by giving them loving care and letting them know they’re not alone."
Some states, recognizing that home health care is far less expensive than nursing home care, are starting to supplement family caregivers: States take the lead on addressing family caregiver needs. "As baby boomers grow into old age, there is a growing demand for caregivers — both paid and unpaid. While legislators have largely overlooked the looming shortage, some states are stepping into the void with innovative solutions.
"In Hawaii, family caregivers who work outside the home can get up to $70 per day from the state to apply toward adult day services. Washington has a tool to assess the needs of family caregivers and refer them to the most useful resources, and in Minnesota, the 'Live Well at Home' program gives grants to local organizations to test ways to support older adults and caregivers."
Check out AARP's Family Caregiving How-To Video Series: "Special Diets", "Managing Incontinence", "Wound Care", "Mobility", and "Managing Medications" with lots of instructional materials; also the Home Alone Alliance - "a partnership of public, private, and nonprofit sector organizations coming together to change the way health care organizations and professionals interface with family caregivers.
"20 million family caregivers say they perform medical/nursing tasks. These include handling prescriptions, helping someone climb the stairs with a cane, and caring for and cleaning wounds. Family caregivers often do these tasks with no training or help from health care professionals." This is why we offer our online Social Ministries of the Church program.
An example of Supporting older adults and their caregivers in the community is Wellmed Charitable Foundation's activity centers for seniors in Texas and Florida. This will give you an idea of what might be available in your state too! Also see their page on Caregiver Support for emergency call-in help, caregiver coaching, caregiver teleconferences, a stress-busting program and more.
Just one of the many Home Health Care organizations is Home Instead Senior Care with branches all over the U.S. They also offer free monthly newsletters with tips and advice for caregivers of elderly loved ones. You can also do an Internet search for "home health care organizations in XX" (XX = your state) to find out what's available locally, or go to Home Care Association of America and click on the "Find a Provider" link.
The John A. Hartford Foundation "is dedicated to improving the care of older adults" including Age-Friendly Health Systems - "an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States." They sponsor a multitude of programs all over the U.S. to advance health care for people in the "baby boom" generation who are reaching their 70s now, when health issues tend to crop up.
Here's a really helpful factsheet: Supporting the Critical Role of Family Caregivers: State Opportunities on the value and the personal toll of family caregivers, as well as examples of what some states are doing to support this vitally important role. Print it, hand it out, and share it online!
The RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council of the U.S. government's Administration for Community Living (ACL) consists of non-governmental and federal government members chosen for "providing recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on effective models of both family caregiving and support to family caregivers, as well as improving coordination across federal government programs." And Join "The ARC" Chat/Video Forum to Build the ARC!
I hope you've found this info to be helpful!
"Dr. Bob"
Robert D. Hosken, M.Min., M.Th.S., D.Min.
Click on the "Share" buttons above TO SHARE THIS ↑ ESSAY with your friends, and click on Contact to WRITE YOUR COMMENTS.
Also, enroll in our free courses to see how YOU can do diakonia-ministry:
HEY, BUDDY, COULD YOU SPARE A FEW BUCKS FOR A CUP OF COFFEE?
Keep our websites free! Make a quick one-time donation at 
PayPal.me/AgapeRestoration or use our QR code →
OR go to our Support page and select "donate monthly."
And please Share Our Vision with your family & friends!
My wife and I left our careers 30 years ago to serve in Russia as missionaries: we're now "semi-retired" – we've put on a new set of semi tires and keep on trucking! We live on our retirement income and volunteer our time: we receive no financial support from Agape Restoration Society. Our websites and ministry are funded by just a few friends and us. So if just 5% of the people who see this would give $5 per month (just 17¢ per day!) – a cup of coffee at Starbucks – we could cover our operating expenses and do much more in spreading the word, serving and providing accessible housing for the disabled. ...thanks in advance!
NEXT, THE NEWS:
WORLD'S MOST PREMATURE TWINS CELEBRATE FIRST BIRTHDAY AFTER PREDICTED 'ZERO PERCENT' CHANCE OF SURVIVAL
from: LiveAction News
(13 Mar.) WATCH THE VIDEO! Canadian twins who were born a whopping 126 days early – at just 22 weeks – have earned a new spot in the Guinness World Records, becoming the most premature twins ever to survive. The twins broke the record set by Keeley and Kambry Ewoldt who were born 125 days early in November 2018.
The babies, Adiah Laelynn and Adrial Luka Nadarajah, celebrated their first birthday on March 4, 2019. According to their parents, Shakina Rajendram and Kevin Nadarajah, if the babies had been born just one hour earlier, they wouldn’t have made it, as the hospital would have refused to offer them care.
Shakina and Kevin described the harrowing birth of their premature twins in an interview with Guinness World Records. Shakina explained that she was rushed to the hospital after going into labor at 21 weeks and five days pregnant.
"The initial reaction was, 'I'm sorry for your loss, you're going to lose these babies. They're going to come out any minute now and there's no possibility that they're going to survive,'" Kevin said.
Shakina added, "They advised us that there was nothing they could do, and the best the hospital could offer us was comfort care, meaning once the babies were born they would take the babies and put them on my chest and Kevin's chest, and they would just wait for them to die."
After an ultrasound showed that the twins were still "very much alive" with strong heartbeats, Shakina and Kevin remember "begging" the hospital staff to do everything they could. They found an organization called TwentyTwo Matters, whose goal is to raise awareness about the viability of babies born at 21 and 22 weeks. The group created a map sharing the locations of hospitals that are equipped and willing to help such premature babies. ... [read more...]
COMMENTARY: It's interesting to note that the hospital doctors first said they could do nothing to save these babies, but when this couple contacted the organization TwentyTwo Matters, they found another hospital nearby that would try to save the babies, and they survived despite the odds against them. When "we can't" really means "we won't" we need to find someone who will say "we'll try"!
MORTALITY RATES FOR AMERICAN KIDS ARE RISING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS
from: BioEdge.org
(21 Mar.) A mandate for affordable child care was inserted into a major bill authorising subsidies for vital semiconductor manufacturers.
"Lack of childcare is a significant barrier to labor force participation," tweeted economist Joseph Stiglitz. "Policies like these have the potential to increase the pool of available workers, a win for our economy." Although providing child care may be a vote-winner, the larger issue of whether children survive to be cared for is also an issue.
A heart-stopping editorial in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, claims that mortality rates for children and adolescents rose for the first time in more than 50 years between 2019 and 2021. The authors of the article declare: "This increase in all-cause pediatric mortality has ominous implications. A nation that begins losing its most cherished population – its children – faces a crisis like no other."
The reason? It's not an increase in childhood diseases, or deaths through Covid-19. "COVID-19 mortality rates at ages 1 to 19 years nearly doubled in 2021 but explained only 20.5% of that year's increase in all-cause mortality," they write. The deaths were caused by social and personal dysfunction: car accidents, overdoses, shooting, and suicides.
"Although the pandemic did not initiate these trends, it may have poured fuel on the fire. Injury mortality at ages 10 to 19 years rose by 22.6% between 2019 and 2020. Much of this surge involved homicides, which increased by 39.1%, and deaths from drug overdoses, which increased by 113.5%. [our emphasis]
Transport-related deaths at ages 10 to 19 years, which had decreased for decades due to improved vehicle safety measures and greater use of occupant restraints, increased by 15.6% in 2020. Among children aged 1 to 9, injuries explained two-thirds (63.7%) of the increase in all-cause mortality in 2021, including a 45.9% increase in deaths involving fires or burns."
[read more...]
COMMENTARY: The demographic crisis mentioned here is ignored by both children and adults who assume wrongly that if they do whatever they please, no harm is being done to others. But not only do others have to bear the medical expenses of the formers' loose living, if the birth rate decreases to below 1.6 babies per adult women, there won't be enough "others" to bear the burdens of loose-living people. And even if enough babies are born, their death by drug overdose being doubled deprives the rest of us with a sufficient younger generation.
RUSSIA: CRIMINAL TRIALS OF ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS TO RESUME IN APRIL
from: Forum 18 News Service
Hebrews 13:3 – "Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body."
(20 Mar.) The criminal trial has begun in Tomsk of a musician and teacher who allegedly "discredited" the Russian Armed Forces more than once in a year. Anna Chagina appeared in court for the first time on 15 March – her next hearing is due to take place on 11 April. If convicted, she could spend up to three years in prison or have to pay a fine of up to 300,000 Roubles. In the meantime, she remains under restrictions including a night-time curfew and a ban on using the internet.
Chagina's first (administrative) conviction was for displaying a poster reading "Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)" at an anti-war protest in Tomsk in March 2022, just two days after the new offence of "discreditation" came into force.
"Many times after [the arrest for the poster], I inwardly turned to these words of Christ and realised that peacemaking begins with what is in a person's heart," Chagina told Forum 18. "Happiness is when you become one who can reconcile those who are warring. One who has come to terms with oneself, with people, with Life. When you carry light and joy in yourself, which spread to other people."
Investigators subsequently accused Chagina of posting anti-war materials on social media and charged her under Criminal Code Article 280.3, Part 1 ("Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, [and] maintain international peace and security.")
ROCOR priest Fr Ioann Kurmoyarov – the only other person currently on trial on criminal charges for opposing the war in Ukraine from a religious perspective – remains in custody in St Petersburg's Kresty-2 prison after the City Court refused his latest appeal against his detention on 15 March. The next hearing in his case – under Criminal Code Article 207.3 ("Public dissemination, under the guise of credible statements, of knowingly false information on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation") – is due to take place on 10 April at Kalinin District Court.
"In the SIZO [pre-trial detention center], they generally refuse me medical care," Fr Ioann told the court. "I have already written more than 15 applications to five doctors. My eyesight is deteriorating, my hearing is deteriorating, I have hypertension, my knee joint is damaged. I ask for a cardiologist, but they do nothing. I don't know if they [the SIZO administration] are doing this on purpose or not."
Forum 18 tried to find out from the administration of St Petersburg's Kresty-2 prison whether Fr Ioann has been refused necessary medical attention and, if so, whether the refusal was the decision of doctors or of the prison administration. However, telephones at the prison went unanswered on 20 March. The United Nations (UN) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules) state that medical decisions must be made by doctors. ... [read more...]
COMMENTARY: Another Forum18 article – OCCUPIED UKRAINE: After 4 months, are "disappeared" Greek Catholic priests still alive? also lists several clergy and churches in addition to the four Greek Catholic priests, including some from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Baptist, and Jehova's Wittness churches. When will these violations of basic human rights ever end?
CONGRESS COULD MAKE WAITING LISTS FOR DISABILITY SERVICES A THING OF THE PAST
from: Disability Scoop
(20 Mar.) Marisol Ramos wipes excess makeup off her daughter Naomi's cheek as the family gets ready to go on a shopping trip in 2017. Naomi has intellectual disability and spent years on a waiting list before finally receiving government-funded services. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)
A proposal in Congress would do away with Medicaid's institutional bias and guarantee people with developmental disabilities access to services in the community. Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives introduced a bill this month calling for home and community-based services to become a mandatory Medicaid benefit.
Currently, institutional care is covered by the federal-state health program for anyone who qualifies, but people with disabilities frequently must spend years on waiting lists for waivers in order to access supports in the community.
Backers of the measure known as the HCBS Access Act say the bill would eliminate waiting lists for community-based services over time by increasing funding for the program, providing grants to states to expand their service capacity and taking other steps to bolster the workforce of caregivers who support people with disabilities.
"No one should have to sit for years on a waiting list to get the care they deserve, and caregivers shouldn't have to live in poverty to do their critical work," said Rep. Debbie Dingell who introduced the legislation along with Sen. Bob Casey. "The HCBS Access Act would significantly improve our broken care system by clearing waiting lists and ensuring more people can access home care, strengthening wages and support for home care workers and providing family caregivers with much needed relief." [read more...]
COMMENTARY: By subsidizing its own medical care and welfare systems with "free" dollars by printing more fiat money, the government has undercut the ability of churches to provide such social ministries. But now that the government has established its near-monopoly in these areas, the value of those "free" inflationary dollars doesn't seem to go as far. Churches now need to revive and restore their social ministries!
HIERARCHS OF THE UOC OF THE USA MET WITH THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(20 Mar.) While in Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and Diaspora met with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Patriarchal offices of the Phanar.
Greeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops from the United States of America and Diaspora, the Ecumenical Patriarch reiterated his paternal love and care for the spiritual flock of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the faithful of the UOC of the USA and Diaspora throughout the world in the most difficult time of Russian aggression against the people and nation of Ukraine.
In the presence of Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon Emmanuel, the hierarchs of the UOC of the USA discussed with the Patriarch the pastoral needs of the faithful in the United States of America, Western Europe, Australia and South America. Metropolitan Antony informed His All-Holiness about the charitable Humanitarian Aid campaign that the UOC of the USA and parishes across the UOC in Diaspora have initiated, trying to offer basic assistance to the millions of people in different regions of Ukraine, but especially the refugees in Western Europe and the US. Archbishop Daniel is scheduled to travel to Munich, Germany in order to visit the parishes of the Church and to coordinate further Humanitarian Aid as it is being prepared for shipment to Ukraine.
His Eminence Metropolitan Antony presented the Patriarch with the honorary spiritual award of the UOC of the USA "For the Love of the Church and the People of Ukraine" – a gesture of gratitude for His All-Holiness’s resilient support of the ecclesiastical unity and justice in Ukraine. As a token of love and respect, Vladyka Daniel presented Patriarch Bartholomew with a painting by an artist from his hometown of Buchach, Ternopil region of Ukraine: "The Flame That the Lord Lit - No Darkness Can Extinguish."
"When outside the darkness devours the city in its eternal abyss and it seems that all hopes have already died out, a bright star appears in the sky, which informs everyone that someone has come into the world who can light an unquenchable flame in the heart of each of us . And then our task is to preserve this holy spark and pass it on to everyone who needs it…. A little girl carries a symbol of love, kindness and faith in her hands through a cold, dark city, but she is not afraid at all, because she knows that in her hands is an eternal flame that no evil can extinguish."
Archbishop Daniel stated that he had an opportunity to buy this painting at an auction - 100% of the proceeds from the sale were given to Buchach volunteers for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: We had the privilege this winter to hear Vladyka Daniel at a banquet present a plea for support of Ukraine's wounded and refugees. Tens of thousands of dollars were raised that evening! But millions more are needed to help Ukraine recover after this war ends.
500% RISE IN PARKINSON'S LINKED TO DRY-CLEANING CHEMICAL
from: Disabled World
(16 Mar.) Trichloroethylene (TCE) causes cancer, is linked to miscarriages and congenital heart disease, and is associated with a 500 percent increased risk of Parkinson's disease. For the past 100 years, TCE has been used to decaffeinate coffee, degrease metal, and dry clean clothes. TCE was also a widely used solvent in several industrial, consumer, military, and medical applications, including removing paint, correcting typewriting mistakes, cleaning engines, and anesthetizing patients.
Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a halocarbon with the formula C2HCl3, commonly used as an industrial solvent. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a volatile, colorless liquid organic chemical and does not occur naturally as it is created by chemical synthesis. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name is trichloroethene. Industrial abbreviations include TCE, trichlor, Trike, Tricky, and tri. Trichloroethylene has been sold under a variety of trade names. Under the trade names Trimar and Trilene, trichloroethylene was used as a volatile anesthetic and an inhaled obstetrical analgesic in millions of patients.
Today, groundwater and drinking water contamination from industrial discharge, including trichloroethylene, is a major concern for human health and has precipitated numerous incidents and lawsuits in the United States. It contaminates the Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune, 15 toxic Superfund sites in Silicon Valley, and up to one-third of groundwater in the U.S. TCE causes cancer, is linked to miscarriages and congenital heart disease, and is associated with a 500 percent increased risk of Parkinson's disease.
The connection between TCE and Parkinson's was first hinted at in case of studies more than 50 years ago. In the intervening years, research in mice and rats has shown that TCE readily enters the brain and body tissue and damages the energy-producing parts of cells known as mitochondria at high doses. In animal studies, TCE causes selective loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells, a hallmark of Parkinson's disease in humans.
Individuals who work directly with TCE have an elevated risk of developing Parkinson's. However, the authors warn that "millions more encounter the chemical unknowingly through outdoor air, contaminated groundwater, and indoor air pollution." The chemical can contaminate soil and groundwater, leading to underground rivers or plumes, extending long distances and migrating over time. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: Mycobacteria in milk from infected cows as well as various chemicals have been linked to Parkinson's and other diseases. The two people I know who have suffered from Parkinson's were both subjected to high levels of chemicals in the air. Other possible causes might also exist, but the basic problem seems to be exploiting the physical world in ways God didn't intend.
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Where are the 90 percent?
"Liturgical" worship with ritual is neither good nor evil in itself: the container (ritual) must be worthy of its content (belief) – you don't use a throw-away paper cup to serve a fine wine! So ritual must be accompanied by sincere belief and heartfelt devotion. As I was writing this ARC-News, I happened to read the stories of The Ten Lepers and The Good Samaritan in Luke ch. 17. I searched for and found this article which appeared first in our "Hosken-News of 29 August 2020:
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Jesus asked the one leper out of the ten He cleansed – "Where are the other nine?" Only one of them was truly thankful... and he was a heretic. (BTW, this photo has a link to a really cool video for kids!) You know the story of the Ten Lepers in Luke 17:11-19 – Jesus and His disciples were "up north" in Israel, in Galilee which is right next to Samaria, the region that used to be the center of the ten tribes of Israel that the Lord allowed to be carried off into exile because of their idolatry. The lower-class, poor Jews who were left there had mixed with pagan peoples the Babylonians had resettled there. The result was a semi-Jewish, semi-pagan religious culture. The "true Jews" further south really despised those heretic Samaritans who had polluted the true Jewish faith with their pagan beliefs and practices.
But the fact that one of those ten was a Samaritan didn't bother Jesus: He healed all ten lepers of their awful disease and told them to present themselves to the priest for the ritual of cleansing. That ritual was like a certificate of approval that validated their cleansing and allowed them to get back into society again. So nine of them got on with their normal lives, but only one came back to Jesus to thank Him, and he was one of those despised, heretic Samaritans.
In doing this, Jesus no doubt rankled the Scribes and Pharisees, those sticklers for every detail of the rituals in the Law of Moses and the Mishnah – the legal appendices in their tradition. But what did the prophet Isaiah write about this? In Isaiah 1:13-23 the Lord says -
"Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to Me; new moons, sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates your new moons and your appointed feasts; they are a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord: 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.' How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don't judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them."
The Jewish people had been observing their rituals, but without sincere and heartfelt repentance and turning from sin, those rituals became just an empty show, a stinking farce in the Lord's nostrils. Like the nine of the ten lepers, they performed the prescribed rituals but went back to their former "normal" lives of sinful, self-centered practices just like Isaiah described: sexual immorality, murder, greed for wealth, rebellion, thievery, bribery, and corruption of their justice system.
What's the solution to these evils? Repentance! – "Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Then, if they do this, the Lord says – "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." (Isaiah 1:16-18)
