One of my favorites

I wrote this article about two years ago about a gay couple adopting their first son. And, because of Facebook, I have been able to see Hugh grow up. He is such a little man now.

December 2, 2008

GREENFIELD -- Three-year-old Hugh Hart is a bundle of energy. Hugh slipped on his yellow rubber boots, insisting that they were ice skates, and started "skating" throughout the rooms of the house. "Where did you hide the ice?" he asked. Lindel Hart, 45, scooped up his son and plopped him down on his lap as he begins to read a story to the energetic and inquisitive little boy.
Hart kept Hugh occupied, as his husband, Rod Hart, reflected about how he has changed since they have adopted their son.
"Oh, I love it," said Rod, beaming, about being a father. "It has made me a better person."
"It has made me better at my job,' he said. Rod is an English teacher at JFK Middle School in Northampton.
"I am more sympathetic to parents, envisioning I will be on the other side of the desk soon," he said with a laugh.
Rod, 36, said he was adopted and that he was never treated differently in his family. Therefore, adoption was Rod and Lindel's choice to have a child because "it was familiar."
"Rod always had positive experiences with his parents and grandparents," he said. "It seemed the natural way for us to go."
Both said they haven't felt any negativity or criticism about being gay and having a son, saying that wherever they go they get smiles and compliments.
"I love being a dad with another dad," said Rod. "I've loved that because there aren't traditional gender roles to fall into."
"We are two dudes raising a kid and we get to shape our roles to our strengths and situations," he said.
But, unlike many other adoptions, it didn't take much time at all for the Greenfield couple to get a child. Within two months of starting the adoption process, they had Hugh in their home.
In August 2005, the couple visited Full Circle Adoptions in Northampton to meet the staff and to learn more about the process. They started the paperwork the next day, which Lindel described as a "ream of paperwork." He said they finished it in a few weeks and started doing home study sessions, which are a series of meetings with social workers and "essentially it is an opportunity for both parties to discuss adoption and some issues around adoption."

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Local legislators respond to mental health cuts

By MACKENZIE ISSLER
GREENFIELD — As the Green River House fights to keep its funding, local legislators says the agency isn’t alone in its struggle, as they expect that next year’s state budget will be “disastrous.”
“There is no question that we are going to see a lot of programs and services lost,” said Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst. “There is going to be a lot of pain and a lot of shared pain … there is no question about it.”
Staff and members at the Green River House, a day program that serves people with serious mental illnesses and has a focus on employment, is afraid it will have to cut staff and services and possibly close, after the governor proposed his lean budget for the year beginning July 1.
Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed a $3 million budget cut next year to the state Department of Mental Health’s “adult community mental health services” account, which includes programs like the Green River House statewide, called clubhouses. It is the DMH’s commissioner’s plan to cut $3 million from the state’s clubhouses, if the reduction is enacted. The $3 million represents 17 percent of the funding for these programs, according to the Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition.
Rosenberg said the first he heard about the governor’s proposed cuts to so-called mental health clubhouses was last week, after being contacted by The Recorder.
The Greenfield clubhouse’s staff and members have invited the local delegation to a legislative breakfast in March. Rosenberg said he hadn’t heard about that yet, but if invited, schedule permitting, he would “be happy to go.” But, the Greenfield day program won’t be his only stop and he knows that. “We will be asked to visit and we will visit scores of constituency meetings and programs of this sort … there is $1.5 billion that is going to come out of this budget.”
“I tell everybody the same thing … the important thing is to stay in the budget because if you get eliminated from the budget, getting back into the budget will be extraordinarily difficult.”

Mental health program facing budget cuts

By MACKENZIE ISSLER
GREENFIELD — When Susan Howell was 23 years old, she was living in the “back ward” of a Texas state hospital, where she felt “depressed and lifeless.”
Howell’s mother came to visit one day and took her out of the hospital for what she thought was a short outing. Howell thought they were going to grab a burger nearby, but her mother drove her five hours to her home in Texas. Outside, there was a big U-Haul truck and her mother told her they were going to Massachusetts, where there were better mental health services.
Howell’s relationship with her mother had always been rocky. She had grown up in foster care homes. But, Howell will never forget her mother’s decision to get her out of Texas. “It was the best thing she ever did for me.” “I was in deep trouble.”
This was in 1983. After arriving in Massachusetts, Howell had a short stint in the now shuttered Northampton State Hospital. After it closed, she started attending a day mental health program in Greenfield. When that program also closed its doors, she joined the Green River House, also in Greenfield.
The Green River House, located at 37 Franklin St., is a Clinical Support Options day program for people with mental illnesses and its main focus is securing employment for its members. It is one of 33 “clubhouses” statewide, which serve residents who have serious mental illnesses. It sees about 40 people each day and has about 160 active members.
The staff at the Green River House helped Howell, now 51, get a job, and now she works at Clinical Support Options as a peer advocate. She helps people “help themselves,” working at the drop-in center at One Arch Place. “It makes me feel great … helping taking care of people.”
Howell said the clubhouse’s staff often go above and beyond their job duties. “If someone needs something, (the staff) will take care of it … we feel cared for here.”
Without the Green River House, she feels she would never be where she is today and that is the consensus among many of the program’s current members. But, Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed a $3 million budget cut next year, which would fall on the shoulders of clubhouses statewide, which is threatening the sustainability and existence of the local programs next year.

Last Hospice Article

GREENFIELD -- When many people think about hospice care, they think it is only for people who have days to live.
But, that's not the case at Hospice of Franklin County -- a nonprofit hospice that currently serves about 40 patients in the Franklin County area and has a staff of about 35.
Sometimes the local hospice is called in for people when they have only hours to live, but often, they work with patients who have been using their services for months, if not for a year or more.
"Many people think that hospice is only for the last few days or the last week of life," said Executive Director Terry Gaberson. "Although we can certainly help patients referred that late, they aren't able to take advantage of the full range of services. Patients can receive hospice care as long as they continue to qualify, some have received hospice care for year or more and some have recovered and graduated from hospice care."
She said for patients who are not seeking "aggressive, curative therapy," hospice provides the education, support and service they need to "gain some control and choice over how they will live the rest of their lives."
"Much of this work is based on relationships, and it takes time to build those along with the trust that is so important at this vulnerable time," she said. "Most of our hospice families say they wish they'd known about hospice sooner, and that before signing on they thought that hospice meant you only had a few days to live."
Gaberson said many people have the perception that hospice is just for cancer patients, but that isn't true. Gaberson said there are many illnesses that meet the criteria for hospice care, and someone doesn't necessarily need a diagnosis. Someone's health could be deteriorating just because of old age.
"Some people think that hospice care is just about dying, that we're the ones you call when there's nothing left to be done to treat an illness," she said. "This is high quality health care with a focus on comfort and quality of life when cure is not an option and most chronic illnesses such as heart failure, or chronic lung disease eventually fall into this realm."
Hospice of Franklin County offers many services, including nursing care, with on-call service 24 hours a day, seven days a week; pain symptom management; emotional and spiritual support; medical social services; home health aide service; volunteer services, like someone who will run errands; home delivery of prescriptions, medical supplies and equipment related to a hospice diagnosis; physical, occupational, dietary and speech therapy, complementary therapies, like Reiki, music therapy and massage therapy; and bereavement support.
"It's a sensitive subject to bring up; we have a very hard time talking about death and end-of-life planning in this country," said Gaberson. "When a person with advance illness requires more and more hospitalizations, their treatments become less effective, and they want to remain home and comfortable as much as possible, it's a good time to talk with their physician about what kind of care they want and review options for getting that care."
If someone chooses hospice care, his or her physician does need to confirm that he or she qualifies, she said.
When people are accepted into hospice, they can pick and choose what services they want to use. Referrals and information requests come from people seeking services, family members, physicians, nurses, social workers, case managers, discharge planners and friends. Free informational services are offered to those considering hospice services. The hospice benefit is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, HMO's and most private insurances. No one is turned away for inability to pay.
The Hospice of Franklin County's board of directors was established in August 2004. On Sept. 9, 2004, its organization was incorporated as a free-standing, independent, nonprofit.

Second Hospice Story

(Picture of Robert Brassor)

NORTHFIELD -- Some of the last words that David Brassor's mother said to him were, "Take care of your father."
And, 61-year-old Brassor has taken that charge seriously, and quite literally.
Last November, his father, 95-year-old Robert Brassor, came to live with him and his wife in their Northfield home, which the elder Brassor built and raised his family in. Now, David Brassor is his father's primary care giver 24/7.
When the elder Brassor first moved in, he was much more mobile that he is now. In February, he broke his hip after a fall in his bedroom. An ambulance came and he had surgery, which doctors feared he wouldn't survive at his age.
But, the talkative and friendly old man pulled through. He went to Buckley HealthCare Center for six weeks, but there too, he had a health scare after he got a bacterial infection.
"There were two days when I thought he wasn't going to make it," said David Brassor.
Robert Brassor came back to Northfield in April and that is when it was suggested that the Brassors start using hospice, especially with the elder Brassor's diminishing health.
David Brassor admitted that he once felt a stigma applied to hospice -- that hospice workers were only called in three days before someone was going to die.
But, after talking to Hospice of Franklin County and now experiencing their services and support firsthand, he stands corrected.
Hospice of Franklin County offers an array of services and quality health care with a focus on comfort and quality of life when cure is not an option.
Sometimes the local hospice is called in for people when they have only hours to live, but often they work with patients who have been using their services for months, if not for a year or more.
Patients get to pick what services they want.

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Series on Hospice Care

I wrote a three-part series on hospice care in Franklin County, Mass., where I work. I think many of us have the same impression about hospice -- that these services are for people right before they are going to die. While this can be true, people often utilize hospice services months and sometimes years before death. And, even some come out of hospice care and live for many more years. The goal is to improve their quality of life and to make them more comfortable when they have a life-limiting illness or are just getting old.

Here is the first article that I wrote. Mary Tirrell and I became good friends and I visited with her after the story published. Sadly, Mary passed away on Sunday. I saw her the week before and her health had taken a turn for the worse.

I feel so lucky that I got to know her and we became friends.

Published on Jan. 31, 2010
(Picture above is Mary Tirrell)

TURNERS FALLS -- Mary Tirrell has one goal: to make it to her 84th birthday on Jan. 27.
Even with her health deteriorating, and recently at a rate quicker than before, the talkative and witty Tirrell has stayed steadfast to that goal.
Tirrell, now a mere 84 pounds, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in September 2009. Soon after, she joined Hospice of Franklin County -- a decision that she credits for making her life better as her health started to fail.
Tirrell said her health would be a "mess" if it wasn't for hospice and that she would have to go to a nursing home.
"I am afraid if I go to a nursing home, I would never leave," she said, as she sat in a rocking chair in her living room, with a blanket covering her frail body.
The hospital suggested that she look into hospice.
Since her diagnosis, she has gone from about 140 to 84 pounds.
Tirrell, who has clear blue eyes and always sets her hair in curlers, says she gets tired quickly, has trouble breathing and feels weak often. In recent days, these symptoms have gotten worse and she says she has been doing less during her days. She is also wearing a nasal cannula more often, which is a device used to deliver oxygen.
Her nurse, Michelle Rogalski, visits Tirrell once each week. Her nurse sorts out her seven different medications into a plastic container and checks on Tirrell's overall health and is there to help manage any symptoms of her disease and old age.
Because of her nurse's care, Tirrell says that she is able to sleep much better at night.
"I love my hospice nurse," she said.
Hospice delivers all of Tirrell's medications. Hospice volunteers also come to sit with Tirrell and simply talk with her for a few hours.
"They are wonderful," she said. "I love when the woman comes to see me she goes places and tells me about them I used to go places."
"I look forward to people coming to see me," she said.
Tirrell says that she plans to stay on hospice "until the end."

Police fire on protestors in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Security forces in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut on Wednesday fired on a group of protesters calling for the provincial governor to step down, killing at least three people, according to a local government official.

Haiti update

So, I have already raised about $320. So, I just need about $140 more until I can buy my ticket for April 9-23!! And, then about another $500 for the nonprofit. I know I can do it!

I am going to hit up my family this weekend, saying that I don't want b-day presents, just money for my trip.

PM Newslinks

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"Curveball" admits he made up tales of WMD to topple Hussein
Italian PM to face trial over prostitution scandal
Food prices at dangerous levels
Clinton: Internet repression will fail
South Sudan massacre killed 200
Aristide seeks no political role in Haiti

A new landmark HIV and TB program in DR

On Feb. 11, Zanmi Lasante (ZL), Partners In Health’s (PIH) sister organization in Haiti, celebrated the expansion of its HIV and tuberculosis program into the Dominican Republic. The program located within the Rosa Duarte Hospital in Elias Piña will serve hundreds of Haitians and Dominicans living and working in the border town, and marks a major step towards strengthening health systems in the DR.

Egypt: Ruling generals meet with opposition

CAIRO — Egypt's military leaders have told a coalition of young opposition leaders that they plan to convene a panel of distinguished jurists to submit a package of constitutional amendments within 10 days for approval in a national referendum within two months, setting a breakneck schedule for the transition to civilian rule.

The Domino Effect

Officials in Iran confront biggest rallies since 2009

Clashes erupt in Bahrain as tumult ripples across the Mideast
Government supporters clash with protesters in Yemen

Egypt’s Military Dissolves Parliament; Calls for Vote

CAIRO — The Egyptian military, for the first time publicly laying out the terms of its rule, said Sunday that it had dissolved the country’s parliament, suspended its constitution and called for elections in six months, according to a statement by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces read on state television.

MUBARAK STEPS DOWN

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt turned over all power to the military, and left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced on state television on Friday.

"President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down as president and the higher council of the armed forces will run the affairs of the country," Suleiman said in a brief statement.

Mubarak Leaves Cairo as Crowds Surge

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, amid indications that a transfer of power was under way, Western officials said Friday. State television said Mr. Mubarak would issue a statement later.

Haiti: Aristide issued new passport

(CNN) -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, who has been living in exile in South Africa for seven years, has been issued a new passport to return home, the Haitian interior minister said Wednesday.

Egypt: Mubarak won't step down

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak told the Egyptian people Thursday that he would delegate more authority to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, but that he would not resign his post, contradicting earlier reports that he would step aside and surprising hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered to hail his departure from the political scene.

(Photo: nytimes.com)

Daydreaming: last summer's balloon ride

My article: first time quoting an Obama official!

By MACKENZIE ISSLER
Recorder Staff

For years, Community Action has helped the area poor get on their feet. But, the future of many of the agency’s programs is up in the air, as President Obama has proposed cuts to some of its federal funding.

Local social service officials and all 11 Democratic members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation are fighting this proposal, saying it will hurt those who need help the most and will hinder, rather than help, the nation’s economic recovery.

“As the Community Action agency for Franklin and Hampshire counties, Community Services Block Grant funding is crucial to our ability to help over 30,000 residents each year, many living with incomes significantly below the poverty level,” said Executive Director Jane Sanders. “This funding was specifically designated over 45 years ago to enable local organizations to respond to local needs.”

“President Obama said in his State of the Union address that he wants to make sure that budget cuts are not made on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. His proposal to cut CSBG funding is just that.”
Sanders said Community Action receives about $626,000 from CSBG and its goes to support many of its programs, including First Call for Help, the Family Center, the Center for Self Reliance food pantries, Youth Programs, tax assistance, financial education, Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, the Family Learning Center GED program, the Mediation & Training Collaborative, and CommonCents asset development (which helps people buy a first home, start a business or go to school).
The state’s 11 congressional Democrats have expressed their deep concern and opposition of the president’s proposed Community Service Block Grant cuts, which will be included in the administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

They said “that cuts to CSBG funding would sever the indispensable lifelines that are relied upon each day by our country’s most vulnerable.”

According to an official from the Obama administration, the president made the “difficult decision to cut funding for CSBG in half, to $350 million.”
“While many of its grant recipients do good work, the program has had weak oversight and accountability,” said the official. “Grant recipients have been virtually guaranteed funding for the past 30 years. These are the kinds of programs that the president worked with when he was a community organizer, so this cut is not easy for him. With the remaining funds, the administration proposes to use competitive procedures to target funds to the highest-performing organizations.”

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Wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords speaks

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has begun to regain her speech a month after being shot in the head in an assassination attempt, media organizations reported on Wednesday.

HELPING HAITI

With April 9 around the corner, I am starting to ramp up my fundraising!

I am returning for two weeks to continue writing about Isabelle, the head of a tent city that has gotten permission from the mayor there to start building houses for some of its residents. I will be staying with the same nonprofit, Partners in Development, and will be working in the clinic and helping build homes.

The trip will cost me about $900 -- with about $400 for my plane ticket and the rest to the nonprofit for my stay, which includes food, water, translator, transportation, etc.

The nonprofit is an amazing and priceless resource for me, helping me go to places that I wouldn't have been able to go to safely, as they supplied me with a driver and translator.

So, if you want to help, leave a comment and I will give you the details about how to donate. Every little bit will help!

Nate's Sweet Sixteen Marsalapalooza

Haiti: Government-backed candidate out of election

Amid pressure from international observers, Haiti's election commission advanced singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly into a runoff vote for the presidency against former First Lady Mirlande Manigat.

Egypt: Slide show

Washington Post Slide Show of Egypt

Haiti to issue ex-president Aristide a passport

The Haitian government says it is ready to issue former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide with a passport, opening the way for his possible return.

Mr Aristide was ousted seven years ago, and has been living in exile. Aristide fled the country in 2004, but says he is ready to return from exile in South Africa.

Additionally, supporters in Haiti of Aristide demonstrated for his return on Wednesday as the country nervously waited to hear who would contest the presidency in a March run-off election.

Clashes Erupt in Egypt

CAIRO — President Obama's calls for a rapid transition to a new order in Egypt seemed eclipsed on Wednesday as a choreographed surge of thousands of people chanting support for the Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak fought running battles with a larger number of antigovernment protesters in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Check out Talking Points Memo Egypt Wire for updates.

Haiti: Swiss law blocks Duvalier's assets

(CNN) -- A Swiss law that took effect Tuesday blocked millions of dollars held in bank accounts belonging to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who made a stunning return to his homeland last month.

Illinois allows civil unions for same-sex couples

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Governor Pat Quinn on Monday made Illinois the 16th U.S. state to give spousal rights to same-sex couples by signing into law a measure allowing civil unions.

Jordan: King dismisses cabinet as tremors spread through region

AMMAN, Jordan — King Abdullah II of Jordan fired his government in a surprise move on Tuesday, in the face of a wave of demands of public accountability sweeping the Arab world and bringing throngs of demonstrators to the streets of Egypt.

Egypt: Mubarak says he won't run for president

President Hosni Mubarak's decision came after President Obama told the embattled president of Egypt that he should not run for another term in elections scheduled for the fall, effectively withdrawing American support for its closest Arab ally, according to American diplomats in Cairo and Washington, according to the New York Times.

Editorial from Sen. John Kerry: Allying Ourselves with the Next Egypt

Happy Birthday to Nate and Amy!

(All of my brothers, Nate is on the left)

(Nate, two years ago)

(Amy is on the left)