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A NEW APPROACH TO HOME HEALTH CARE

Dear friend,

What if... someone in an Agape Restoration Community needs frequent medical and housekeeping care? We can make use of a new approach to home health careHome-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 get their 63-page PDF Home Alone Revisited - Family Caregivers Providing Complex Care. And don't forget Medicare's "Home Health Care" and the more than 5,000 independently-run local "Meals on Wheels" programs – these can go a long way toward keeping you at home – that is, if your home is suitable for this when you need it to be... [READ MORE...]

 

Pray for Christians to catch the vision of personally caring for "the poor, maimed, blind, and lame" and doing something about it!



 

A Personal Note: We were able to help Maureen in Nairobi, Kenya buy six chickens so she can begin selling eggs to support her daughter Kayla and herself. The chickens have already laid a few eggs. Pray that this venture will be a success!

Simon at Vision Complex in Bunda, Tanzania writes: "We have set up plans to build one classroom at Vision Complex Orphanage and School because every year the children are growing and we need to go one more step in education. The classrooms we have are not enough and we need now to build one more classroom, which the foundation for it is done already and we have bought some materials to start raising up the walls. However,we lack most of the money for labor, $1900. This is just the start, for the walls. Someone has already donated $300. Is there a person who will stand with us until the building is finished?" If you would like to help, please DONATE and designate your gift for "Vision Complex - new classroom." Thanks in advance!

 

 
NEXT, THE NEWS:
 

2. KENTUCKY'S LAST INDEPENDENT ABORTION BUSINESS HAS BEEN DEMOLISHED
from: LiveAction

SYNOPSIS: The last independent abortion business in Kentucky, EMW Women's Surgical Center, has been demolished. The building was purchased by Zyyo, a real estate company, which plans to build a hotel on the site. EMW closed in 2022 after a state law protecting preborn children was passed.

The facility was known for controversies, including covering up child rape. The demolition was celebrated by pro-life organizations like Speak For the Unborn. One of the founders of EMW, Dr. Ernest Marshall, launched the Kentucky Reproductive Freedom Fund to increase abortion access.

Thank the Lord that this abortion clinic was demolished, and pray against "Dr." Marshall's deceptive misnomer "Reproductive Freedom Fund" that advocates for killing unborn babies.

 

3. REP. FITZPATRICK LEADS CHARGE TO EXPOSE AND PUNISH RUSSIA’S RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN UKRAINE
from: RISU

SYNOPSIS: Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick introduced the "Countering Russia’s War on Faith Act" to address religious persecution in Ukraine. The bipartisan legislation requires reports on Russia's persecution of religious communities and mandates sanctions on those responsible. The act aims to document abuses, identify perpetrators, and hold them accountable for violating religious freedoms.

Key supporters of the legislation include Joe Wilson, Marcy Kaptur, John Kennedy, and Sheldon Whitehouse. The legislation is a response to the destruction of religious sites and the targeting of religious leaders in Ukraine. The article emphasizes the importance of defending religious freedom and holding Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine.

Pray for a fair and just end to Russia's invasion and destruction in Ukaraine, especially the persecution and killing of religious leaders and destruction of religious buildings.

 

4. THE WHEEL OF LIFE
from: American Life League

SYNOPSIS: The article uses the metaphor of the Wheel of Life to describe the pro-life movement, with God as the central hub. It references the case of Wendy Duffy, who sought assisted suicide, as an example of a life lacking reliance on God. The author argues that a culture prioritizing personal autonomy over God's will leads to acceptance of practices like abortion and assisted suicide.

The author laments the decline of fair debate and public education, necessitating new methods of communication. It emphasizes the danger of losing the "sense of sin" and the importance of reaching out to others with the truth, even when facing opposition. The author concludes with a call for faith, hoping the "blessings of the Wheel of Life" will bring grace to all.

Intercede to God for the soul of Wendy Duff, for all those being driven to assisted suicide, and for real freedom of religious expression about these life-crucial issues.

 

5. COUPLE PLAN 400-ACRE NEIGHBORHOOD FOR ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES
from: Disability Scoop

SYNOPSIS: Tim and Marie Kuck are developing "Hopetown," a 400-acre community in Orlando for adults with disabilities. The community will include housing, a skilled nursing facility, businesses, and recreational areas, aiming to provide a supportive environment for residents and peace of mind for their families. The Kucks, founders of the nonprofit Nathaniel’s Hope, were inspired by their son and a similar community in Texas called Marbridge.

Hopetown will offer various amenities and job training, with the goal of being accessible to people from all economic backgrounds. The Kucks plan to open conservation land to the community and partner with local agencies to provide services. Chip and Kasinee Tolman, parents of adult children with disabilities, are hopeful for Hopetown and its potential to provide long-term care for their children.

Thank the Lord for Tim and Marie Kuck whose non-profit is developing "Hopetown, and pray for similar efforts sucha as the ARC.

 

6. ELEMENTAL HYDROGEN'S EFFECTS ON MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, HEART DISEASE, AND DEMENTIA
from: Hydroholistics.com

SYNOPSIS: Hydrogen Therapy shows promise in improving Multiple Sclerosis (MS) symptoms and slowing progression. Hydrogen acts as an antioxidant, reducing oxidative stress and damage to nerve tissues. It has anti-inflammatory effects, potentially slowing MS progression by suppressing inflammatory pathways in the central nervous system. Hydrogen offers neuroprotective properties, preserving nerve cell integrity and potentially improving neurological symptoms.

A second article, The role of hydrogen therapy in Alzheimer's disease management: Insights into mechanisms, administration routes, and future challenges tells us that hydrogen therapy shows promise in managing Alzheimer's disease (AD) by potentially easing symptoms and slowing progression. Oxidative stress is a central factor in AD, and hydrogen acts as an antioxidant. A third article, Hydrogen therapy as a potential therapeutic intervention in heart disease, explains hydrogen can be administered through an inhalation device or dissolvng a pill to make hydrogen-rich water. Studies on heart models show that it can improve cardiac function and reduce injury.

Praise God for advances in science showing that the tiniest molecule can have large therapeutic effects on certain health issues.

 

7. AUTISM SPECTRUM, DIAGNOSIS, AND THE LINE THAT ISN'T THERE
from: Disabled World

SYNOPSIS: This article examines the conceptual tension at the heart of autism diagnosis, asking what is actually being separated when clinicians draw a line between autistic and non-autistic minds. Drawing on the DSM-5-TR criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder, the piece argues that diagnosis is less a discovery of a hidden category than a judgment about functional impact, made at the point where clusters of traits such as sensory sensitivity, intense focus, and differences in social communication produce significant impairment within a particular environment.

The discussion will be useful for autistic adults, parents and educators, clinicians, disability advocates, and seniors navigating late diagnosis or supporting family members, particularly those who have struggled to reconcile the lived continuity of these traits across the general population with the necessary boundaries of clinical care. By framing autism as a relationship between cognition and environment rather than a fixed property of the individual, the author offers a layered model that holds clinical thresholds and human variation together without collapsing one into the other.

Pray for continued growth in understanding the relationship of heredity and environment in the study of autism.

 

 

   

NOW, OUR VIEWS:
 

 

THE BLAME GAME

 

 

Kaizen Asiedu Earlier this week I posted a short note on Substack – "Both sides use hateful rhetoric, then blame the other side for using hateful rhetoric. This must stop! Dehumanizing people is the first step toward annihilating a whole class, political party, or race. All humans are created in God’s image and must be treated with compassion." It referred to a video by Kaizen Asiedu about a teacher from California who attempted to assassinate the U.S. President last Saturday, April 25, at a special dinner celebrating freedom of the press.

Kaizen Asiedu is a brilliant young man (Wikipedia) who abandoned his Catholic faith as a teenager and became an atheist, graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Harvard in two years and went on to get a master's degree in one year, then started a gaming company and became financially independent. Click his pic to read his earlier article. Recently, he posted that he's investigating Christianity, and today he posted "Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?" in which he writes – "Atheism is a negative claim. It says there is no God." That introduces the logical problem: you can't prove a negative hypothesis.

His earlier article discribes how society is breaking down because of social discord. The steps toward societal collapse are gradual: it begins with some sort of crisis – economic, disease, natural disaster, war, etc., which set the stage for various factions to begin contending against each other, each with its own ideas on how to correct the situation and "make the world a better place."

The first step is to begin naming "the other side" as supposedly inherently evil by nature: "filthy rich capitalists," "Nazis," "dictators," "communists," or even non-human creatures. Dehumanizing one's enemies is the step before the final step: approving their wholesale annihilation. That final step is firing squads, carpet bombing, gas chambers, or concentration camps like Auschwitz, Buchenwald, etc. or the Soviet forced labor camps in eastern European Russia and in Siberia. I've been in one after the dissolution of the USSR when I was delivering pneumoniia medicines to an ex-Soviet prison: they are terrible places, not fit for human beings.

On the flip side, the foundations of a stable, prospering society are faith, strong family values, and traditions that create virtuous people, a trust-based culture and a strong nation. By rediscovering what has worked before, we can thoughtfully apply ancient wisdom to modern challenges, translating sound principles into better institutions and policies.

Kaizen is on a philosophical journey back to Christianity. He hasn't yet returned to the faith of his childhood – he needs to approach it as an adult, using a rational methodology. In the second article, he writes: "I’m not claiming the world is getting worse, or that you can’t feel fulfilled without religion. Plenty of people do. What I’m saying is that even if you treat religion as just civilizational software – the operating system of meaning, morality, and orientation – it was doing real work. And we haven’t built anything that fills the void it left.

"You see the cracks. The meaning crisis. The purpose crisis. The collapse of trust in institutions. The rise of conspiracy thinking to fill explanatory vacuums. The loneliness epidemic. We are wealthier and more connected and more informed than any humans in history, and we are, by many measures, less okay." Rationality can lead up to the point of making a faith commitment, but reasoning alone is insufficient for that final step. It will take him a while to get there.

"We have come to believe and know that You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (John 6:69). Faith is like forming a hypothesis in science – a "hunch" or sense that this is how things might work. Then you experiment – you try it: you prove that it works. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

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Who Are We?   Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for...

  Your fellow-servants,

  Bob & Cheryl

  p.s. Worry's like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere!