CHELSEA: Relay for Life raises more than $24,000 for American Cancer Society
gucci outlet ukParticipants in Chelsea’s 2012 Relay for Life had a feeling that the fundraising goal of $57,000 would be elusive this year.But with 232 participants and 22 teams, the constant goal of raising awareness of cancer was met with the many volunteers spreading the word far and wide throughout the area.Max Brennan, whose parents live in Chelsea, is the American Cancer Society organizer in charge of leading the Chelsea relay. He said that he was happy to begin his relay season on familiar ground this year.“I always wanted to be a part of an organization that exists for a positive mission and to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Brennan said.After years of working in the religious community, the American Cancer Society and its mission seemed like a natural extension of what he had already been doing.Brennan said that commercial sponsorships have been way up this year, with some businesses paying $1,000 to be featured prominently on the Chelsea Relay for Life 2012 shirt, while others can pay less for a simpler visual presence on the shirt.“This year, we’re got a ton of sponsors because made it more flexible and our team captains really blasted the community and got their own sponsors,” Brennan said.20 sponsors signed up in total.Penni Cotcher of team Pamcakes said that their fundraising efforts have been “stellar” despite being a team of less than 10 people, thanks in part to the so-called “pamcakes.” The little rubber breasts were sold in pairs or with a care-card and flower for $5 each.
gucci sale ukIn addition to being a catchy fundraising tool, the little icons for breast cancer awareness were a bright spot in what is typically a very somber, even when it’s uplifting, eventCotcher, who is herself a breast cancer survivor for the past seven years, pays for the Pamcakes out of pocket and the overall sale costs goes into the team’s fundraising coffers, which were at $2,200 or so Saturday morning.“My sister was one somebody else’s team four years ago and had so much fun that we decided to form our own,” Cotcher said.Her team draws people from Ohio, Lansing and elsewhere outside of Washtenaw County to participate in Chelsea’s relay.“We don’t have a lot of coverage on the track so we need to make that 24 hours count,” Cotcher said. “And you have to keep it fun so the kids will keep coming back and participating each year.”While some might be uptight about the Pamcakes, people walking by the Cotcher’s table Saturday were laughing and smiling: “Survivors appreciate (the sentiment) because they understand the significance.”Next year Pamcakes will have a marble built in to simulate a lump, as a way of discouraging women from relying on self-examinations in lieu of seeking the examination and opinion of a trained professional.Linda and Chuck Koch spent time chatting about their own backgrounds and lives being touched by cancer in the Covenant Church tent along the relay route.“This is our fourth year … fundraising is down this year a little bit, due to the economic situation of this area,” Chuck said.But the couple was still having a good time, and why shouldn’t they? Chuck still has his wife after she beat her skin cancer.“She’s a real fighter,” Chuck said before looking lovingly at Linda“It was like hitting a wall,” Linda said of her diagnosis five years ago. Next July 23 will be the five year anniversary of her appointment for surgery to have the cancer removed.“I had cancer, it didn’t have me,” Linda said.
cheap gucci handbags ukChuck says that the key and the whole point of Relay for Life is to not hide from it: “Let’s bring it up from the dark and attack it … let’s get the key to unlock that door that’s going to help all of us.” CHELSEA: Relay for Life raises more than $24,000 for American Cancer SocietyParticipants in Chelsea’s 2012 Relay for Life had a feeling that the fundraising goal of $57,000 would be elusive this year.But with 232 participants and 22 teams, the constant goal of raising awareness of cancer was met with the many volunteers spreading the word far and wide throughout the area.Max Brennan, whose parents live in Chelsea, is the American Cancer Society organizer in charge of leading the Chelsea relay. He said that he was happy to begin his relay season on familiar ground this year.“I always wanted to be a part of an organization that exists for a positive mission and to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Brennan said.After years of working in the religious community, the American Cancer Society and its mission seemed like a natural extension of what he had already been doing.Brennan said that commercial sponsorships have been way up this year, with some businesses paying $1,000 to be featured prominently on the Chelsea Relay for Life 2012 shirt, while others can pay less for a simpler visual presence on the shirt.“This year, we’re got a ton of sponsors because made it more flexible and our team captains really blasted the community and got their own sponsors,” Brennan said.20 sponsors signed up in total.Penni Cotcher of team Pamcakes said that their fundraising efforts have been “stellar” despite being a team of less than 10 people, thanks in part to the so-called “pamcakes.” The little rubber breasts were sold in pairs or with a care-card and flower for $5 each.
gucci bags sale ukIn addition to being a catchy fundraising tool, the little icons for breast cancer awareness were a bright spot in what is typically a very somber, even when it’s uplifting, eventCotcher, who is herself a breast cancer survivor for the past seven years, pays for the Pamcakes out of pocket and the overall sale costs goes into the team’s fundraising coffers, which were at $2,200 or so Saturday morning.“My sister was one somebody else’s team four years ago and had so much fun that we decided to form our own,” Cotcher said.Her team draws people from Ohio, Lansing and elsewhere outside of Washtenaw County to participate in Chelsea’s relay.“We don’t have a lot of coverage on the track so we need to make that 24 hours count,” Cotcher said. “And you have to keep it fun so the kids will keep coming back and participating each year.”While some might be uptight about the Pamcakes, people walking by the Cotcher’s table Saturday were laughing and smiling: “Survivors appreciate (the sentiment) because they understand the significance.”Next year Pamcakes will have a marble built in to simulate a lump, as a way of discouraging women from relying on self-examinations in lieu of seeking the examination and opinion of a trained professional.Linda and Chuck Koch spent time chatting about their own backgrounds and lives being touched by cancer in the Covenant Church tent along the relay route.“This is our fourth year … fundraising is down this year a little bit, due to the economic situation of this area,” Chuck said.But the couple was still having a good time, and why shouldn’t they? Chuck still has his wife after she beat her skin cancer.“She’s a real fighter,” Chuck said before looking lovingly at Linda“It was like hitting a wall,” Linda said of her diagnosis five years ago.
gucci shoes for menNext July 23 will be the five year anniversary of her appointment for surgery to have the cancer removed.“I had cancer, it didn’t have me,” Linda said.Chuck says that the key and the whole point of Relay for Life is to not hide from it: “Let’s bring it up from the dark and attack it … let’s get the key to unlock that door that’s going to help all of us.” Katie Beckett, whose struggles with childhood disease and federal bureaucracy brought landmark changes to the federal-state Medicaid program allowing children with disabilities to live at home, has died in Iowa, her mother said.Katie Beckett died at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids on Friday after suffering digestive problems, Julie Beckett said. She was 34.Beckett spent most of the first three years of her life at St. Luke's after encephalitis infected her brain, caused a coma and left her with severe breathing problems, which required the use of a respirator 12 hours a day. Doctors predicted she would live until she was 10."We weren't supposed to have her this long," Julie Beckett told The Des Moines Register. "She lived a very long and pretty good life."Her parents' insurance ran out, so the case fell to Medicaid, the federal-state program that helps pay for health care for the disabled and low-income families with children. Doctors said she could leave the hospital with proper support at home, but Medicaid refused to pay. At the time, Medicaid policy required a hospital stay for coverage of a respirator, even though the device could be used at home.
gucci belts uk saleThen-U.S. Rep. Tom Tauke, an Iowa Republican, brought the family's plight to the attention of President Ronald Reagan, who took up the cause. The case led to development of the "Katie Beckett waiver," under which Medicaid pays for home care for disabled children. The U.S. law was passed in 1982, and Iowa's version took effect in 1984.Beckett graduated from Mount Mercy College in 2001, and she later took writing courses at Kirkwood Community College, her mother said. She was close to completing a novel and was thinking about going back to school to become a teacher.More than 11,000 Iowa children are enrolled in the Katie Beckett waiver program. Chuck Palmer, director of Iowa's Department of Human Services, praised the Becketts for pushing government officials to change their policies."This is another example of where a committed and determined family can change the system, not only for their family but for many other vulnerable people," he said.U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who often champions disability issues, knew Katie Beckett for decades."Katie was a very brave young woman," he said. "She had a lot of chronic pain, but through it all she just maintained a focus on improving herself and becoming more independent and achieving a good education."Her funeral is scheduled for 10 am. Friday at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids.
gucci hats uk saleIt's estimated that in 2009, Medicare paid more than $5 billion in suspicious billing for prescription drugs for seniors. The Health and Human Services Department inspector general analyzed almost 1 billion prescriptions that were filed to Medicare in 2009. Because Medicare fails to require private insurers to report prescription drug billings that look suspicious, the system can be an easy-access clearinghouse for drug fraud.That potential for fraud needs to be cleaned up and plugged quickly. One of the requirements of the new health care law is that hundreds of billions of dollars of Medicare waste and fraud be eliminated over a decade. Based on the HHS study, it appears more than $60 billion of waste can be saved over a decade with better prescription drug billings.We need strong oversight of the prescription drug program. One of the failures of the Medicare prescription drug access bill, passed during the Bush administration, is that it does not concern itself with oversight of drug billing practices. As a result, billions of dollars in bad billing has been lost each year since 2006.According to the 2009 study, HHS has identified 2,637 pharmacies across the U.S. that need follow-up scrutiny due to suspicious billings. Many of these are so-called "corner drugstores," small operations that unfortunately have logged long lists of suspicious prescriptions.According to the study, one Kansas pharmacy billed Medicare -- for two patients -- for 1,000-plus prescriptions each in a year. Overall, the HHS inspector general has tagged eight examples of potential fraud in Medicare prescription billing. One, according to reports, is the practice of providing generic drugs and then billing Medicare for the far more expensive brand drug prices.That type of pilfering adds up into the billions when it's not caught. Such dishonest behavior is despicable and must not be tolerated. Government has a chance to prove it can be cost-conscious with Medicare. We must find the scores of billions of dollars that are wasted or stolen. Prescription drug abuse appears to be a good step.