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G e
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Spend A Little Time
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the Yucatan Peninsula...
And
we would love
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Please Commend President Bush in His Support of
Volunteerism and the Faith-Based and
Community Initiative
A
Message from Dannion Brinkley, Chairman of Compassion in Action - the Twilight
Brigade -- December 13, 2002
President Bush is to be commended for his
support of volunteerism. During the first two years of his presidency, while
dealing with the inconceivable terrorist attack on September 11 and the anthrax
attack soon after, the President has continued to seek the spiritual balance
through the creation of several initiatives including the USA Freedom Corps to
facilitate increased volunteerism in America, and the Faith-Based and Community
Initiative to level the playing field for faith-based and community
organizations in obtaining federal dollars to provide much-needed social
services in communities across the nation.
I
was very proud on December 12, to see President Bush speaking in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania at the White House Conference on the Faith-Based and Community
Initiative - standing in front of a banner heralding
“Compassion in Action”!
NOTE: This is not an
endorsement of the other policies of this administration!!
The speech can be viewed at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20021
Five years ago, with a handful of like-minded
individuals, I formed, Compassion in Action - The Twilight Brigade, a 501(C)(3)
not for profit organization committed to raising society's consciousness about
the needs of the dying through community and professional education, advocacy,
and service to the terminally ill and their loved ones so that no one need die
alone.
In five years we have gone
from 4 volunteers to more than 4,900. We are a national organization, working
at the community level - with more than twenty chapters across the United
States. Much of our volunteer service has been in veteran’s facilities -
providing trained volunteers to serve our nation’s heroes - our veterans.
During the two years that the White House Commission on Complementary and
Alternative Medicine Policy was meeting, I provided testimony on a number of
occasions. The final report of the White House Commission has been posted at
http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/. The
report was provided to the President in March and a request to print the report
and deliver it to legislators was submitted as well. With all that has been
occurring, it is very easy to recognize why the President has yet to publicly
acknowledge this report, or to give a position on the importance of
complementary and alternative medicine in our health care system. I am positive
with his concerns about the tremendous rise in health care costs and a desire to
provide low cost prescription drugs to seniors, that soon he will give this
issue his full attention. As you know, through his Healthier US initiative
promoted improved health through lifestyle decisions such as physical activity
and diet. From many podiums the President has spoken about the power and
importance of prayer - or spirituality in our lives. The spiritual component is
a common element, along with lifestyle choices in many traditional systems of
healing. I encourage you to contact the White House and request that this
report be printed and delivered to all members of the United States Congress,
and that the President at a minimum acknowledge publicly the receipt of this
report. I have known and trusted the Executive Director, Dr. Stephen Groft for
more than 13 years - the work done by this Commission is important deserves to
be acknowledged by the President and actively shared with the legislative arm of
government. I feel this is important because several of the recommendations are
so important to our veterans. These recommendations include:
Congress should
request periodic reports from appropriate Federal departments on coverage of and
reimbursement for complementary and alternative (CAM) practices and products for
Federal beneficiaries, Medicaid beneficiaries, Federal employees, military
personnel, veterans, and eligible family members and retirees, as well as any
legislative, regulatory, or programmatic impediments to covering safe and
effective CAM interventions.
The Secretaries of
Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and Defense and the
Commissioner of the Administration for Children and Families, should evaluate
safe and effective CAM practices and products that contribute to wellness and
health and determine their applicability to Federal health systems and programs.
The Federal
government and private health organizations should evaluate CAM practices and
products that are currently being used for wellness and health promotion to
determine their effectiveness and applicability to the management of chronic
disease. Funding should be provided for demonstration projects in the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the
Department of Defense, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and
other Federal agencies for those CAM practices and products found to have
benefit in the management of chronic disease, end of life such as hospice.
The Department
of Health and Human Services should sponsor the development and evaluation of
demonstration projects that integrate the use of safe and effective CAM services
as part of the health care programs in hospices and community health centers.
In the testimony that I provided to the White
House Commission in July 2001, I made the following remarks that I would like to
share with you today:
“Compassion in Action is a
faith-based organization. We have faith in this country, in its service men and
women, and in you the scientists and healers to help find the very best ways -
complementary and conventional…I have been exploring complementary therapies
since 1975 and was part of the driving forces, along with many others, that led
to the singing of the bill that created the Office of Alternative Medicine by
then President George Herbert Walker Bush….with 45,583 veterans leaving the
world every thirty days, I ask that you focus on the complementary therapies
that are the easiest to study and the most obvious in promoting quality of end
of life care. The ones I use are aromatherapy, color therapy, music
therapy, and therapeutic touch. I believe that by focusing our energies and
resources on the transitional phase of moving from curative to palliative care
and into hospice, all the while incorporating good pain management and
compassion in the arena of veterans needs, we can revitalize ourselves, our
communities, and the entire field of health care…The most important
complementary therapy is the volunteer. The trained volunteer is a key
component of the palliative care and hospice team. It is often a volunteer that
will notice a patient is suffering untreated or has unresolved pain and will
notify a nurse. The volunteer is oftentimes the one sitting at the bedside
holding a hand as the terminally ill do a life review. In veterans facilities
there are oftentimes no family and friends to visit and without the Twilight
Brigade, many of our country’s heroes would spend their last days alone in bed
with the TV blaring….The current method of caring for terminally ill patients
will collapse our medical system. We must find more effective and less
expensive treatment options for our aging veteran population…Keep in mind that
we are a country founded on a premise of freedom - our veterans fought and were
willing to shed their blood and die to preserve that freedom. A thread that
runs through the complementary and alternative medicine movement is the desire
for medical freedom.
I firmly believe that we, humanity, by applying in our
highest wisdom, our deepest compassion, our scientific and medical resources and
our practical spirituality - can successfully integrate conventional and
complementary healing modalities to improve the quality of wellness and healing
while promoting cost effective, efficient health care.”
In
the creation of the USAFreedom Corps, the President made the following comment,
“If people want to fight terror, do something kind for a neighbor…love somebody,
mentor a child, stand up to evil with acts of goodness and kindness.” To
contact President Bush, you can fax letters to 202-456-2461
The quickest way to change the world is to be of
service to others. Show that your love can make a difference in the lives of
people and thereby someone else's love can make a difference in your life. By
each of us doing that and working together we change the world one inner person
at a time.
If
we willfully and consciously act with the intention to be an active participant
in transitioning our health care system and improving end of life care, while
keeping our promise to veterans - being there for them as the trained armies of
compassion - the Twilight Brigade there is nothing we cannot achieve!
Dannion Brinkley,
Chairman of the Board,
Compassion in Action - The Twilight Brigade
CIAChairman@aol.com
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