LOVING
FAMILY
♥
A Christian Social Model Community Service
Program
To Improve The Quality of Family Living
A Ministry of Love
Contains:
The Loving Family Community Service Plan
The Loving Family Community Service Text
Loving Family
www.lovingfamilygroup.org
♥
Our Families Give All Thanks,
Praise, and Glory to
God Our Heavenly Father, Jesus
Christ God's Son, and the Holy Spirit
♥
In Honor of Mom and
Dad
To Improve the
Quality of Family Living
Children Are Welcome
Released
in the United States of America 2005
Copyright
by Loving Family 8/31/04; 2014
Revised 2/10/15
Loving Family
www.lovingfamilygroup.org
Created By Sharen,
MA Sociology, MA Social Science
for questions or comments or to
order copies of
The Loving Family Group Manual
Contact sharen@reninet.com
♥
Loving
Family
www.lovingfamilygroup.org
♥
PART ONE
THE LOVING FAMILY
♥
COMMUNITY SERVICE
PLAN
♥ The premise upon which Loving Family
was created is that if parents accept Christ as their Savior and
practice Christian principles by supporting and helping one
another while learning how to improve the quality of family life
then this could go a long way in reducing troubled family
systems and also go a long way in reducing social problems, such
as poverty, crime, juvenile delinquency, discrimination,
substance abuse, emotional problems, and domestic violence.
Loving Family was created to produce social change from within
the Christian tradition by transforming conditions within the
individual, family, community, and wider social and cultural
worlds. The goal of Loving Family is to create a Christ centered
loving society.
An examination of social change within the Christian tradition
reveals that Jesus started a social movement of love more than
2000 years ago, so we could experience eternal life in heaven.
Christian values and belief systems were formed as a result of
this social movement. Jesus instructed His followers that they
should love God with their entire heart, mind, and soul and that
they should love their neighbor as themselves. Jesus taught His
followers that they were to seek the kingdom of heaven first
before seeking worldly goods so that God might find them worthy
enough to give them all the love He has to give.
Loving Family intends to carry on the social movement of love
established by Jesus more than 2000 years ago, so our family
members can experience eternal life in heaven and heaven on
earth. Loving Family was designed so parents can learn to love
God with their entire heart, mind, and soul and love their
neighbors and family members as themselves. Loving Family was
designed so parents can learn to live according to God's plan,
so they can properly love their children and one another. Loving
Family was designed so parents can learn to seek the kingdom of
heaven first so that God might find them worthy enough to give
them all the love He has to give. Loving Family intends to do
God's loving will on earth as it is in heaven.
♥ DESCRIPTION OF OUR MINISTRY OF
LOVE
♥" 'You shall
love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (
Matthew 22:37-40; Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥ Our ministry is to live by loving
Christian principles as we improve the quality of our family
life. The love of Christ is the Cornerstone of our foundation.
Our hearts are comforted by first loving God, then one another,
while enveloping our children and relatives in the fullness of
our love as we carry our message of love as the supreme quality
of life to families in need.
Loving Family is a Christian Social Model Community Service
program for families. If you have ever struggled with questions
about family living then Loving Family Group is the place for
you. With Christ it is possible to enjoy your family life.
Loving Family is for families who have a desire to improve the
quality of their family life. Our ministry is to live by loving
Christian principles as we improve the quality of our family
life. Loving Family helps us to become strong individuals who
are capable of being committed meaningfully to our families and
our communities.
Loving Family is a family community service program with a
Christian social tradition. Our ministry is to live by loving
Christian principles as we improve the quality of life for
individuals, families, and communities by learning healthy,
responsible, loving, and effective family living skills. Loving
Family is an ecologically based social interaction group so we
acknowledge all the needs of our families. We seek to adequately
provide for our families spiritual, moral, physical,
intellectual, emotional, social, environmental, and other needs
as we interact with one another and enjoy meaningful loving
Christian friendship. We love our children and know the best way
to help them is to strengthen our families. We believe that the
love we give our children now will be love that our children
will some day pass on to their children.
During our meetings, we share the story and love of Christ with
each other, our spiritual and life experience, application of
scripture to our daily lives, prayer, friendship, and we share
our joys and our concerns with each other. We also discuss our
new creative ideas with each other. We believe that each person
can make his or her own best choices and can take responsibility
for his or her own behavior. We demonstrate social interest in
each other and in our family members.
Through our community social tradition, we learn about resources
in the community that are available for improving the quality of
our family living and how to confidently access the resources
that our families need. We learn how to communicate our needs
more clearly and how to fill our needs as parents and as people
more effectively. We clarify the information we gain from each
other, reading, and other sources, and we gain strength to apply
new ideas in our roles as parents. We realize that good
parenting is a learned and applied skill. Since we believe in
family unity, children are welcome at many Loving Family
meetings. Child care and fun activities are provided by trusted
volunteers (parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, our
teenagers, and other responsible people.)
Besides attending our regular group meetings, workshops, and
training seminars, we socialize with each other, take swimming
classes together, organize quality child care groups and
children's play groups together, form study groups and prayer
groups together, and participate in other social activities
together as well. At Loving Family, we know that loving
relationships can only be realized by loving people, and we are
intent upon creating loving relationships for ourselves, our
children, and for future generations.
Our ministry now and forever is the love of God. We join
together in faith through the love of God to fulfill our
ministry of love. We can only receive love by giving love so we
want to fulfill our ministry. The Lord sends each one us
separately and together to give His message of love. God shows
us what we are to do. We do not lay burdens of sin upon each
other but we uplift one another in love. We are generous souls
who give generous gifts of love. Through our united generosity
we stand strong in love. God who created the heavens and the
earth created us as divine beings of love for His divine
ministry. We are predestined to God through Jesus Christ
according to the good pleasure of His loving will. We are
comforted by fulfilling our divine ministry of love.
We pray for one another and ask for knowledge of God’s loving
will with wisdom and spiritual understanding of His ministry. We
walk in love worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, while
doing many loving works in His good name. The Lord goes before
us and He gives us strength, patience, and joy as we give our
gifts of love to each other. We thank God for giving us the
inheritance of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Without tiring we
work in faith unto His ministry, doing our labors of love with
patience and placing our hopes in Jesus Christ. We love one
another as Jesus has loved us so all others will know that we
are the Lord's disciples.
We show
God that we love Him by keeping His Ten Commandments. We love
Him above all others, we honor our mother and father, and we do
not kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, or covet what belongs to
another.
"And God spoke all these words, saying:
"I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods before
Me.
You shall not make for yourself a
carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to
them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children to the third and fourth generations of
those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands,
to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take the name of the
Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In
it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your
daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female
servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. For in six days the Lord made
the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord
your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s
house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his
male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor
his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s”" (Exodus
20:1-17, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥DESCRIPTION OF OUR FALLEN
NATURE
♥"Therefore I said to you that you will
die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you
will die in your sins.” (John 8:24, Holy Bible, NKJV)
This is the story of four
people----Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and
Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought that Somebody would do it.
But Nobody asked Anybody.
It ended up that the job wasn't done, and
Everybody blamed Everybody, when actually Nobody asked Anybody
(Author Unknown).
♥Well, I am asking you! Why are so many parents forgetting to
do first things first? Did Somebody forget to tell parents
that children need their love and their time in order to
develop properly? Everybody knows that children love their
parents more than any thing in the world. Did Anybody tell
parents that their children are lonely for them? How come
Nobody told parents, they should spend lots of constructive
quality time with their children? Could it be that many
parents do not know what parenting really is and how they
should do it? No one is to be blamed. We have tried to do our
best. But NOW is the right time for love and for Loving
Family.
We must face the facts. We have become victims of our fallen
nature. Without God's loving help, our best efforts are just
not good enough. Instead of living as God would have us live,
we have been selfish and our first priority has been to live
for our self instead of living for others. We have not loved
God with our entire heart, mind, and soul. We have not loved
our neighbors and our families as we have loved ourselves. We
have turned away from love and from God and our families.
Some of us
looked for self-satisfaction in financial power, social
control, or social prestige. Some of us worked long strenuous
hours pursuing career development or academic success. Others
devoted an excessive amount of time to sports, video games,
movies, recreational activities, hobbies, and pet adoration.
While others looked for self-satisfaction in alcohol and drug
abuse, sexual addictions, food addictions, computer
addictions, gambling, or a life of crime.
Loving Family is not suggesting that we sacrifice our own good
interests or that we become untrue to our own selves. However,
we must realize that living for our self instead of living for
others leads only to demoralization. A self all alone cannot
thrive without God and others. Therefore, Loving Family sees
each individual as part of a larger whole involved with their
family, their community, and a Christian inheritance that can
support a true individuality and strengthen our individual,
family, and community life.
Our self-absorption has caused us to neglect our families. We
have forgotten that we need loving families to develop the
true qualities that comprise a strong individual such as
trust, autonomy, identity, intimacy, self-confidence,
self-esteem, and interpersonal competence. We have forgotten
how important our heritage is to us and that life can only be
meaningful if we nourish our generational bonds.
The quality of our
family life is very important to our emotional well-being, our
social adjustment, and our happiness. Troubled relationships
within the family are related to serious community problems,
such as juvenile delinquency, adult crime, domestic abuse,
emotional problems, and substance abuse.
Strong loving societies can only
be constructed by strong loving families. Throughout history,
great societies thrived when family life was important and
highly valued. When family life lost its importance and value,
when goals became too individualistic, the great societies
fell. Obviously, it is for our own good that we do what we can
to strengthen our families and communities before our own
society falls. Nourishing our families and our communities
should be one of our country’s top priorities, but
unfortunately it has not been. Before it is too late, we must
stop our obsession with self and we must start balancing our
time, resources, and energy more efficiently so we can
strengthen our families and communities. We must stop being a
weak nation of have's and have not's and start being a unified
nation of generous givers. We must anchor our individuals,
families, communities, and nation in Jesus Christ so we can
gather the life force we need to sustain us from generation to
generation.
Have you ever considered what your life would be like without
the comfort of family, friends, and community? A self all
alone is a lonely tired dejected self to be sure. Lonely tired
people become angry mean people who start looking for a war.
To remain strong loving peaceful individuals we must put
energy into our families and communities so we can receive the
nurturing we need when life becomes hard.
Perhaps you are a very busy person and you don't want to be
bothered with reading your child a story, attending your
child's school or sporting event, expressing interest in
your spouse's activity, sharing a meal and a movie with
your family, or spending time with grandpa and grandma.
Perhaps you don't take the time to become involved in church
and community events because interacting with people is
stressful and you certainly don't need any more stress in your
life.
You find it easier to spend most of your spare time
withdrawing into your own self interests by reading a book,
spending time on the computer, or watching a football game on
television. You tell yourself you will spend more time with
your family, church, and community after that big project at
work has been completed, the yard work has been done, or you
get caught up on your rest.
The problem is that there is always some big project at work
or at home that must be completed and there is never enough
time for rest when you are tired from being alone. Perhaps you
tell yourself you will become active in family, church, and
community events during your retirement years but during
retirement you find you don't know how to begin because you
have always found it easier to be a passive observer rather
than an active participant. Besides, you never invested time
in relationships with family, church, and community so family,
church, and community are not there for you when you finally
decide to make time for relations with them.
As individuals seeking our own interests we will never have
enough time or inner resources to accomplish what must be
done. We will always be too tired for others and too tired for
life. Our sinful nature forces us into a downward spiral that
sucks us into an endless black hole.
The
nature of the beast does not have our best interests at heart.
Our selfish collective unconsciousness has manifested itself
in a society of have's and have not's. The poor and the
working class struggle to survive in an endless cycle of
poverty, illness, disability, and dependency upon a broken
middle class that is exhausted and overwhelmed with trying to
carry and care for poor and working class people. The upper
classes exploit the poor, working class, and middle class
people by hoarding the world's resources so they can live in a
decadent world of their own.
The
poor do not receive enough money on their SSI, disability, and
welfare checks to cover their rent, utilities, health care
costs, and other living necessities such as enough food to
last through the month, warm clothing, household furnishings,
and transportation costs. Most middle-class people teeter on
the brink of falling off the cliff and are only paychecks away
from becoming one of the poor, disabled and dependent. In an
effort to avoid becoming one of the undesirables the
middle-class have armed themselves with an arsenal of laws and
regulations to oppress and control the lower classes.
The upper classes spend some of their fortune on good
causes seeking redemption for the sins they commit
to amass their great fortune and maintain the status
quo.
Our
selfish collective unconsciousness results in socially
sanctioned oppression, exploitation, control, institutional
confinement, imprisonment, and genocide of our vulnerable
poor, working-class, and middle-class peoples. Abortion laws
permit the slaughter of unborn fetuses and discrimination law
permits and encourages family and society breakdown by
legalizing the sinful destructive mating of those of the same
sex more in an effort to control population growth rather than
any legitimate concern over equality of people. Legally
sanctioned homosexuality also maintains the status quo by
keeping resources with those who have wealth and power. Due to
standard medical practice, children are kept
uncharacteristically quiet and sedate by parents and teachers
who administer dangerous medications to them for controlling
conditions such hyperactivity, behavioral problems, and
attention deficit disorder. Unfortunately some medications
given to children can cause problems for life and even death.
Children and women still comprise the bulk of the poor and
they are governed by welfare laws that do not provide for an
adequate standard of living and their needs for housing, food,
clothing, and education go unmet. Poor adults and people of
color frequently end up in jail or prison due to lack of
available and effective substance abuse programs, educational
programs, and job training programs. Execution laws permit the
killing of hardened criminals who end up on a death row
because they never received what they needed to live a lawful
life. Those with emotional problems are entangled in the
mental health system and managed with dangerous drugs that can
result in an unsatisfactory quality of living or even in death
instead of receiving counseling and opportunity to change or
improve their living situation. Seniors and elders are
frequently over treated and over medicated by health care
professionals who rake in cash payments, private insurance
money, and Medicare and Medicaid dollars for their efforts.
The senior and elder population must spend-down all of their
life savings and sign their property over to the state before
they receive any help from Medicaid-based programs that can
help keep older people safe at home by providing for their
medical and care needs. The most vulnerable of elderly people
lose their ability to function at home even with assistance
and they end up in a permanent placement in a skilled nursing
facility where they are often managed on black-box medications
that frequently result in death soon after they are admitted
and started on a chemical straight-jacket of medication.
SSI, disability, welfare, and Social Security income
regulations frequently reward people with additional funds if
they live singly on their own. A person alone is vulnerable
and easy to oppress, exploit, control, and conspire against.
The death or imprisonment of a single person can go easily
unnoticed. Many applaud the death or imprisonment of one of
those bums that collect welfare, SSI, disability, or Social
Security funds. The more bums that die the less it cost the
rest of us in taxes. Even our single middle-class people are
not safe since they also frequently receive incomes, pensions,
and health benefits that are paid with tax dollars that
taxpayers would be better off if they did not have to pay.
Married people are targeted as well but there is much a
knowledgeable caring spouse can do to protect his or her
vulnerable mate from becoming a victim of oppression and
exploitation during times of illness, disability, and other
troubles. Unfortunately, our current health care system
bankrupts many married people that need extended
hospitalization due to lack of affordable insurance even with
Obama Care in place. Even those who have insurance are forced
into bankruptcy due to exorbitant co-pays and deductibles.
Health care professionals encourage the lonely and disabled to
turn to animals for affection and assistance instead of
encouraging human social interaction. Laws now force us to
tolerate animal filth in our public buildings, grocery stores,
parks, beaches, and all other places. Our country has gone to
the dogs! Our food supply is now contaminated by dogs
defecating and spraying in our grocery stores and restaurants
and rates of food poisoning and food-borne illnesses and
deaths are rising. Parasitic diseases are mysteriously rising
and our children are getting parasitic and other diseases
after sitting in places at public pools, the mall, and the
library after dogs have previously occupied the same place.
Asthmatics and people with allergies are suffering daily. They
are constantly exposed to the dander of dogs when they are in
public places and they are forced to take dangerous
ineffective drugs. People who are dog phobic have no safe
haven except for their own home. Conducting daily business has
become unbearable for those who fear dogs. Some of the
homeless and socially isolated are turning to dogs for sexual
satisfaction as rates of sexually transmitted disease continue
to rise. It seems that only the health care professionals and
drug companies really benefit from the invasion of dogs!
Yet we continue to turn a blind eye and deaf ear and pretend
not to notice. We continue to choose sin over holiness.
Ultimately, no one is safe from the nature of the beast. Our
selfish collective unconsciousness has only our destruction at
heart!
On the other hand,
our Lord God holds the key to our loving collective conscious
good and is eager to open the door for those who give all
their love to Him. Our Lord God wants us to WAKE UP to love.
Our Lord God wants to provide for us. Our Lord wants us to
live a joyous life of abundance that is shared with loving
family and friends. Our Lord wants us to live as
peaceful individuals who are firmly committed to family and
community. Our Lord wants us to live full meaningful
interesting lives. Our Lord God wants us to help and love each
other. Our Lord God wants us to have clean comfortable
housing, good nutrition, good preventive and remedial health
plans, good affordable medical care, a good education, good
jobs, good incomes, and good pension plans that adequately
meet our needs. Our Lord wants our children to run and play
and make joyful noises. Our Lord wants our men to be stable,
well adjusted, and satisfied. Our Lord God wants our mothers
to be happy and comfortable. Our Lord God wants husbands and
wives to love each other and find pleasure in each other. Our
Lord God wants our older people to live productive lives and
be well cared for. Our Lord wants all of our disabled people,
including asthmatic people, to be treated fairly. Our Lord
wants our poor people to have real opportunity. Our Lord wants
those with emotional problems to find peace and love. Our Lord
God wants us to be well and healthy! Our Lord God wants us to
build good strong loving families, communities, and nations so
we can live in a good peaceful world. Our Lord God wants to
give us eternal life in heaven and on earth. Our Lord wants us
to know heaven on earth.
Thank God that
there is another way. Jesus will give us the strength we need
to do what must be done.
♥Jesus said: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and
learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My
burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30, Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
Thank God Lord Jesus has
our best at heart! Thank God Jesus is able to open the door to
our loving collective conscious good!
♥"If you ask anything in My name, I will do
it. If you love Me, keep my commandments. (John
14:14-15; Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982)
♥ God is the answer to
all of our prayers today. God helps those who ask for His
help. God answers those who seek Him. Sometimes God answers
our prayers immediately while at other times we must wait
patiently for God to answer our prayers. The Lord does not
turn a deaf ear to our prayers indefinitely. In His acceptable
time He answers our prayers. There are many instances in the
Bible of God answering prayer.
God told Gideon He would save Israel by Gideon’s hand yet
Gideon had doubts so he sought confirmation from God. Gideon
told God that he would put a fleece of wool on the threshing
floor and if there was dew on the fleece only and dry on the
ground then Gideon would know that God would save Israel by
Gideon’s hand as He had said. Sure enough the next morning
Gideon found it was so and he was able to wring a bowlful of
water out of the fleece. Gideon still had doubts so he asked
God if he could test the fleece just once more. Gideon then
asked God to let the fleece be dry and for dew to be on all
the ground. God again did as Gideon asked and Gideon found
that the fleece was dry and there was dew on all the ground.
God provided Gideon with the confirmation Gideon asked for and
God removed all of Gideon’s doubts.
God also answered Hannah’s prayer when she went to the
tabernacle and prayed in anguish as she wept because she was
unable to conceive. Hannah made a vow to God that if He would
give her a son that she would give her son to God for all the
days of his life and that no razor would come upon his head.
Eli, the priest of the tabernacle told Hannah that God would
grant her petition. Hannah did conceive and she gave birth to
a son and she named him Samuel. When Hannah weaned Samuel, she
kept her vow and she brought Samuel to Eli and lent him
to the Lord for as long as he should live.
God answered Daniel's prayers and He blessed him with the
ability to interpret dreams when Daniel was obliged to work in
service to the king of Babylon. Daniel made known and
interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the four great
world empires that were to come and about God’s kingdom that
would stand forever. Daniel also foretold details of troop
movements in the Middle East, the invasion of Jerusalem, and
all the things that are supposed to happen right before the
end.
When Jesus prayed God always heard Him and answered Him such
as when the ten lepers were cured, the centurion’s servant was
healed, Lazarus was raised from the grave, and many other
times.
Jesus
taught us to use the Lord's Prayer when we pray:
"Our Father in
heaven,
Hallowed be Your
name.
Your kingdom
come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is
in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us
our debts,
As we forgive our
debtors.
And do not
lead us into temptation,
But deliver us
from the evil one.
For Yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen"
(Matthew 6:9-13, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
Just as God
answered the prayers of Gideon , Hannah, Daniel, and Jesus, He
will answer our prayers too if we ask for His guidance. As
servants of the Lord, we pray for God to act when others cause
trouble for us by disregarding the laws of God. For our sake
God will help others to find Him. For our sake the Lord will
stretch out His hand to those who rebel against Him and who
walk according to their own thoughts in ways that are not
good. For our sake God will reach out to people who provoke
Him to anger, to those who think they are holier than God and
to those who try to keep God away. For our sake the Lord
will find those who do not seek Him. God loves His servants
and He will answer our prayers.
The Lord helps those who diligently seek His salvation
and He uses His own as a covenant to the people for restoring
the earth. God is our comfort during all of our tribulations.
We are able to comfort those who are in trouble with the
comfort we receive from God. We are the temples of a loving
God so we are able to live without giving offense. We are able
to be patient when we have needs, when we are in distress,
when we are tired or hungry, when we must work hard, and
when we are being oppressed. We live by God’s purity,
knowledge, kindness, truth, love, and power. We are unknown
yet well known, dying yet we live, sorrowful yet always
rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet
possessing all things. As temples of a loving God, we are
equally yoked together but apart and separate from
unbelievers. We attend to the cares of this world but we are
not deceived by riches or desires for other things that choke
God’s word.
The acceptance of love is the answer to all of our prayers
today. You must have faith that the force of good is stronger
than the force of evil. You must believe that God is
love and if you rely on God then you will live in God's love.
You must believe that God's love is eternal. You must believe
that the love of Jesus is the same today, as it was yesterday
and will be tomorrow. You must have faith when you feel weak,
scared, or angry that you will continue to live through the
love of Jesus. You must believe that even if you die you will
continue to live through the love of Jesus. You must believe
that eternal life is your inheritance from God if you
surrender to the will of love and turn away from evil.
You must be vigilant in the action of love and not try
to get by on the grace of the Lord without growing in love.
While it is true that the Lord's grace does cover a multitude
of sins, the Lord God will not tolerate your sinfulness
forever. You must grow in God's love or face dying in sin. You
must become like Christ yourself. Your life must be perfected.
You must look to Jesus who is King of Angels for an example of
how to live in love. You must be patient with yourself and
with others because God waits patiently for you. God will wait
for you to grow in His love if He must but you must grow
sooner or later. You see, God wants us to live joyfully so it
is for your own good and for the good of all that you continue
to grow in God's love. The Lord God has already determined
that every knee will bow to Him. The Lord God has already
determined that the love of Jesus is the solution to all our
prayers today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
We are truly sorry for our imperfections. We humbly repent. In
prayer, we ask God to forgive us and to guide us in our
relationships with our children and each other. We follow the
good example that Jesus gave us, and we live by God's
commandments. We love God with our entire heart, mind, soul,
and strength and our neighbor and family as ourselves. We find
that together with God great changes can and do occur. An
important priority for us is to strengthen our families. We
seek to transform the conditions within ourselves, our
families, our communities, and our culture through prayer and
by following Christian principles. We rely on a loving God to
direct us through our community process.
We know that working to improve the quality of life within our
families is a very important calling. We seek to preserve each
person's individual dignity by expecting all family members to
think and talk for themselves, to make their own decisions,
and to live their own individual lives as they see fit within
the context of their family and their community. Recognizing
individual family members does not mean that we disregard
family guidelines or that we allow our children to disregard
parental authority. Recognizing individual family members does
mean that our family members become willing to love and
respect each other. Each family member has the freedom to
express one's own interests, to develop one's own abilities
and values, and opportunity to become what one truly is.
We are aware of the truth expressed in the words "a family
that prays together stays together,” and we put these words
into practice. We pray together as a family and Jesus helps us
to be more patient with each other, more forgiving, more
loving, and more supportive in our family relationships.
We realize that separation is the natural consequence that
follows a lack of appreciation for family members. We know our
bonding is strengthened by sharing constructive activities
with family members and weakened by an excess of individual
pursuits. We spend quality family time together reading the
Bible, eating meals, enjoying church and recreational
activities, and sharing academic and work interests with each
other.
Our family members spend time talking and listening to one
another. We try to understand the verbal and nonverbal
messages other family members are sending, and we try to be
sure the messages we are sending are being understood. We do
disagree and argue, but we get conflict out in the open and
talk it over. We share our feelings about our problems, and we
look for solutions that are best for everybody. We know we
need to rely on each other to function well, and we make sure
we are dependable and responsible to each other. At the same
time, when life does not work out as planned, we are capable
of being flexible with each other in a changeable world. We do
not intentionally do anything that would make a bad situation
worse. We unite when dealing with a crisis and are supportive
of each other in coping with the problem.
Mothers and fathers are both emotionally involved in the
participation and care of their children, and each parent
supports the activities of the other parent who is engaged
with the child. Just as importantly, mothers and fathers love
and nurture each other, so they can reach their full
potentials as human beings, and so they can be fully capable
of loving and nurturing their children as well.
We provide our children with opportunities to interact with
different types of people in a variety of situations, so they
can grow into competent and compassionate human beings. We
choose our children's school teachers carefully and make sure
they work for our children in a fair and rational manner.
We are intent upon becoming strong loving individuals who are
capable of being committed meaningfully to our families and
our communities. Our ministry is to live by loving Christian
principles as we improve the quality of our family life by
creating strong loving families and communities. We serve
Christ as we learn responsible and effective family living
skills.
We believe it is not up to us to judge who is deserving of
help and who is not deserving of help but up to God to decide
since God makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
He sends His rain on the just and the unjust. We are always
there to extend a nonjudgmental helping hand as we carry our
message of quality family living to families in need. We let
our own example of living a good life speak for itself as we
share our experience, strength, hope, and ideas with others
who are interested in improving the quality of their family
living. We try our best to help those who are lacking obtain
what help they need.
We read the Loving Family Group Manual, and we put into
practice what we learn, but we temper the information to our
own best use. We believe we can and should make our own
choices pertaining to family and community living. The
important point is that we become willing to try living by
loving Christian principles and willing to try new ideas to
improve the quality of our family life. We understand that not
all of us will agree with everything written in the Loving
Family Group Manual. However, we do not let disagreement keep
us away from attending group meetings and receiving the help
we need. The information provided in the Loving Family Group
Manual is information that many of us over time have found
helpful for improving the quality of our family and community
living. We lovingly invite all families to give it a try.
Loving Family is a program of prayerful action. We ask God for
what we want during prayer, we have faith that we will receive
what we ask for, and we take appropriate action to obtain what
we ask for, since faith without works is dead. We
support public policies and beliefs that will provide our
families with opportunities, resources, encouragement,
example, stability, and enough time for child rearing. We vote
during elections, and we inform our political leaders that we
want policies that will improve the quality of family life. We
let our leaders know we want some of our tax dollars to be
used for services we all need, such as public education,
public libraries, public roads, public transportation, health
care, law enforcement protection, fire protection, and to
maintain the cleanliness and natural beauty of our parks,
forests, beaches, lakes, rivers and oceans. We let our leaders
know that we want gas, sewage, garbage, water, telephone,
utility, and food prices regulated. We let our leaders know we
want safe low-cost alternative energy sources developed for
our use.
We let our leaders know that we are tired of being the only
developed nation in the world to be without universal health
care and universal higher education for all. We let our
leaders know that we want socialized lifelong health care and
socialized lifelong public education for all. We let our
leaders know we want a sound comprehensive single-payer
national health care and dental program that provides for
basic necessary care, basic testing, and holistic preventive
care. We let our leaders know that we want clean, safe,
affordable family housing; nontoxic environments for our
families; affordable parks and recreational activities; high
quality education and child care for our children; and easy
access to a college education or job training program at any
point during adulthood. We let our leaders know that we want
our colleges and universities to accommodate us, so we have
enough study time and financial resources to accomplish our
educational objectives without having to work long arduous
hours that stress us in our roles as parents.
We let our leaders know that we want policies that will
provide us with support, training, and assistance with
developing our small businesses so our businesses can succeed.
We let our leaders know that we want policies that will
establish meaningful employment opportunities with a livable
family wage and less working hours for both men and women.
Family friendly policies will make it possible for women to be
participants in the workplace without abandoning family life,
and men can be freed from some of their work responsibilities,
so they can take an equal role at home and in child care
responsibilities. We let our political leaders know that we
want a guaranteed annual income program for working families
and for families involved with seeking higher education or
training programs. We let our leaders know that we want the
Social Security program to be protected so we do not perish
during our retirement years.
The Lord God has already determined that He is coming quickly
to give His reward to everyone according to his or her work.
The Lord God has already determined that you must grow in love
or risk being kept outside of heaven with the dogs, sorcerers,
sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and liars. Do not
deceive yourself for even a minute. The Lord God is the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the
Last. The Lord God is coming quickly. The Lord God is the only
answer to all of our prayers today, tomorrow, and yesterday.
Accept that the life of Jesus Christ is always God's answer
now and forever.
♥DESCRIPTION OF OUR
FORMATION
♥ Loving Family can be
utilized in a variety of ways depending upon your community
needs. Loving Family can be used as a support group program, a
workshop program, or as a training seminar. Loving Family
meetings can be held in the community at local churches,
homeless shelters, alcohol and drug recovery programs, jails and
detention centers, transitional halfway houses, hospitals and
health care centers, public libraries, schools and colleges, or
wherever else there is a need. Loving Family is a community
service program so support group leaders, workshop leaders,
training seminar leaders, and group members voluntarily offer
their services to the community.
♥Loving Family as a Support Group
Program
♥A Loving Family support group can be started
by Christian parent leaders who live by loving Christian
principles, who have good listening skills, and who are
knowledgeable about family living. Meetings are conducted by a
husband and wife team that share group facilitator and child
care provider responsibilities.
It is suggested that the husband and wife alternate group
facilitator and child care provider roles from week to week. One
week the man facilitates the group while the woman is the
primary child care provider. The following week the woman
facilitates the group while the man is the primary child care
provider. Alternating roles from week to week assures that both
husband and wife remain active in the group process and in the
child care responsibilities. Role sharing goes a long way in
promoting the cohesion of the family and of the group as well.
The parent leaders may also choose fixed roles with one spouse
doing all the group facilitating while the other spouse oversees
all child care provider responsibilities. The parent leaders may
serve a suggested six-month-term. At the end of the six months
your Loving Family group may elect new parent leaders.
All parents, including single parents, who have a desire to
improve their parenting skills and family life are welcome to
attend Loving Family meetings, participate in group discussions,
receive group support, and volunteer to assist with child care,
snack, clean-up, and other appropriate tasks as needed.
Your parent leaders are responsible
for doing the following:
1. Set location for group
meeting space.
2. Send the Loving
Family pamphlet and an invitation to participate in Loving
Family group meetings to families within local Church
communities who are involved with raising children. Invite
parents in the community to participate by distributing flyers
throughout the community and by making public service
announcements on the radio and in the newspaper. Loving Family
meetings can also be held by private invitation only when
necessary.
3.
Prepare for group meetings; facilitate group meetings; arrange
for coffee and tea for adults at group meetings; arrange for
child care, snack, and fun activities for children at group
meetings.
All Loving Family support group
meetings will follow this format:
During the week: The group facilitator prepares a topic from the Loving
Family Group Manual to present during the initial phase of the
upcoming group meeting or invites a guest speaker to present a
topic during the meeting. The group facilitator invites one or
two group members to provide coffee and tea for adults during
the upcoming group meeting. The child care provider invites one
or two group members or relatives or friends of the group
members to help provide child care, snack, and fun activities
for children during the upcoming group meeting. There is no need
to arrange child care at locations that are not appropriate for
children (jails, detention centers, etc.).
Pre-Group: The
group facilitator arrives early to make coffee and tea and to
arrange the seating. The child care provider arrives early to
prepare snack food and fun activities for the children.
Opening the Meeting: The
group facilitator states the following:
Welcome to the Loving Family support group meeting. We'll open
the meeting with a few moments of silence followed by a prayer:
"Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy
and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom
as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is
just and true and good, following the example of our Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen" (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979).
After the prayer the
group facilitator calls on a group member to define love:
♥ "Though I command languages
both human and angelic--if I speak without love, I am no more
than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. And though I have the
power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and
though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains--if I am
without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the
poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be
burned--if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is
not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its
own advantage, it does not take offense or store up grievances.
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the
truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope
and to endure whatever comes. Love never comes to an end. But if
there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if tongues,
they will fall silent; and if knowledge, it will be done away
with. For we know only imperfectly, and we prophesy imperfectly;
but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will be done
away with. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and
see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that
I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways.
Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then
we shall be seeing face to face. Now, I can know only
imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself
known. As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three
of them; and the greatest of them is love" (1 Corinthians 13:
1-13; The New Jerusalem Bible, 1985).
Readings: After the opening prayer and Bible reading, the group
facilitator calls on three selected group members to read the
following:
1.
Description of Our Ministry
2.
Description of Our Fallen Nature (paragraph 1-4)
3.
Description of Our Answer (paragraph 8-end)
Announcements: The group
facilitator asks:
Does anyone have information about church services and events or
about Loving Family events? The group facilitator goes on to
state:
Reminder: The love of Christ is the spiritual foundation
of our program:
Pray about what you hear here,
Bless whom you see here,
Practice what you learn here
When you leave here.
Initial Phase of the
Meeting: The group facilitator or guest speaker
introduces the topic and presents information pertaining to the
topic. The group facilitator or guest speaker discusses his or
her own ideas and feelings about the topic and how the topic can
be applied or has been applied in his or her own family.
Working Phase
of the Meeting: The group facilitator opens the
meeting to the group members for discussion and questions or
calls on group members to share. The group facilitator is
responsible for keeping the meeting focused and under control.
If two or more people begin talking at the same time, the group
facilitator should request that only one person at a time talk.
Closing the
Meeting. The group facilitator
passes a basket to collect donations. The group facilitator
announces that there are no dues or fees to attend Loving
Family Group and that donations collected are used to pay for
the cost of the room rent and group literature. The group
facilitator also announces that copies of the Loving Family
Group Manual are available for group members to purchase after
the meeting or online by contacting sharen@reninet.com to
request copies. The group facilitator requests help from the
group members with the cleanup. The group facilitator thanks
everyone for being present and invites everyone to join hands
and ends with the Lord's prayer.
Post-Group. The
parent leaders make sure the meeting room and the children's
room is left in order and that the doors are locked. The group
facilitator is responsible for paying the room rent and for
ordering copies of the Loving Family Group Manual by contacting
sharen@reninet.com to request copies.
♥Loving Family as a Workshop
Program
♥You may utilize Loving Family as a one, two,
three, four, or five, day workshop program. Depending upon the
needs of your community, workshop meetings may last all day,
half a day, or for one, two, or three hours in the evening.
Topics should be chosen from the Loving Family Group Manual
based upon the needs of your community. Workshops may be
conducted by clergy, church school teachers, youth group
leaders, Loving Family parent leaders, and other qualified
Christians who live by Christian principles.
Workshop
Leaders and spouse are responsible for the following:
1. Set location for workshop
meeting space. Order copies of the Loving Family Group Manual
online by contacting sharen@reninet.com to request copies for
group members to purchase during the workshop..
2. Advertise the workshop within local churches and within the
community or make private invitations.
3. Prepare workshop topics.
4. Arrange for coffee and tea for adults during the upcoming
workshop. Arrange for child care, snack, and fun activities for
children during the upcoming workshop. There is no need to
arrange child care at locations that are not appropriate for
children (jails, detention centers, etc.). For all day
workshops, a bring your own brown bag lunch for parents and
children should be arranged.
5. Set up workshop meeting space; arrange seating; make coffee
and tea; prepare children's snack foods.
6. Open the workshop by praying: "Almighty God, heavenly Father,
you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us
calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we
may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good,
following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen" (The
Book of Common Prayer, 1979). Following the prayer the workshop
leader will define love by reading 1Corinthians 13: 1-13.
Following the Bible reading, the workshop leader will explain
Loving Family's Ministry, Oue Fallen Nature, and Our Answer.
7. Announcements--about church services and events and about
Loving Family events.
8. Present topic information; promote group discussion; answer
parent questions; call on group members to share.
9. Pass a basket to collect donations. Announce that there are
no dues or fees to attend Loving Family Group workshops and that
donations collected are used to pay for the cost of the room
rent and group literature. Announce that copies of the Loving
Family Group Manual are available to purchase after the workshop
or online by contacting sharen@reninet.com to request copies.
10. Ask for help with clean up. Close the workshop with the
Lord's prayer.
♥Loving Family as a Training
Seminar
You may utilize Loving Family as a training
seminar with meetings held once a week for thirteen weeks.
Length of training seminar meetings can be determined by the
needs of your community. Training Seminars may be conducted by
clergy, church school teachers, youth group leaders, Loving
Family parent leaders, and other qualified Christians who live
by Christian principles.
Training Seminar Leaders and spouse are
responsible for the following:
1.
Set location for training seminar meeting space. Order
copies of the Loving Family Group Manual online, for training
seminar members to purchase during the training seminar, by
contacting sharen@reninet.com to request copies.
2. Advertise the Training Seminar within
local churches and within the community.
3.
Prepare Training Seminar topics from the Loving Family Group
Manual. A suggested agenda is as follows:
Week
One: Our Ministry of Love
Week
Two: Our Fallen Nature
Week
Three: Our Answer
Week
Four: Marriage
Week
Five: Family Living
Week
Six: Raising Children
Week
Seven: Social Problems and Human Services
Week
Eight: Christian Principles--Teachings of Jesus
Week
Nine: Global Concerns
Week
Ten: Health
Week
Eleven: Safety
Week
Twelve: Addiction
Week Thirteen: Sexuality
4. Arrange for coffee and
tea for adults during an upcoming training seminar. Arrange for
child care, snack, and fun activities for children during an
upcoming training seminar. There is no need to arrange child
care at locations that are not appropriate for children (jails,
detention centers, etc.) For all day seminars, a bring your own
brown bag lunch for parents and children should be arranged.
5. Set up Training Seminar meeting space.
Arrange seating, make coffee and tea, and prepare children's
snack food.
6. Open the seminar by praying "Almighty God,
heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of
children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring
them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and
true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen." (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979). Following the prayer,
the training seminar leader will read from 1 Corinthians 13:
1-13 to define love. After the Bible reading, the training
seminar leader will explain Loving Family's Ministry, Problem,
and Answer.
7. Announcements--about church services and
events and about Loving Family events.
8. Present topic information, promote group
discussion, answer parent questions, call on group members to
share.
9. Pass a basket to collect
donations. Announce that there are no dues or fees to
attend Loving Family Group training seminars and that
donations collected are used to pay for the cost of the
room rent and group literature. Announce that
copies of the Loving Family Group Manual are available to
purchase for the cost of printing after the training seminar
or online by contacting sharen@reninet.com to request
copies.
10. Ask for help
with clean up. Close the seminar with the Lord's
prayer.
♥Loving Family Business Meetings
♥Business meetings will be held as needed to
plan recreational activities and to plan other Loving Family
events. Business meetings can also be called when a group is
faced with needing new meeting space and when there are any
other problems related to the group. Business meetings should
last no longer than one hour and may adjourn early if the
business is completed. A majority vote is needed by group
members to make a final decision about the business at hand.
Group facilitators will use the following format for conducting
Loving Family business meetings. As with all Loving Family
meetings, it is suggested that husband and wife alternate turns
when serving as group-facilitator and child care provider.
Pre-group:
Announce the business meeting ahead of time at the regular
Loving Family meeting during Announcements.
Opening: Welcome to the
Loving Family business meeting. We'll open the meeting with a
few moments of silent prayer followed by the Bible reading from
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 to define love.
Initial Phase: The
group facilitator addresses the business that needs to be
decided by the group.
Working Phase:
The group facilitator opens the meeting to the group members to
share their comments, ideas, and suggestions concerning the
business at hand.
Closing: The
group facilitator calls for a vote on the business matters
discussed. After the vote, the group facilitator thanks everyone
for being present and invites everyone to join hands and closes
with the Lord's prayer.
Post-Group: The
group facilitator makes sure the meeting room is in order and
locks up if the regular meeting is over.
♥VERSES WE LIVE BY
Love
God with your entire heart, mind, and soul.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Greater love has no one but this, than to lay down one's life
for his friends.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.
Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those
who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you.
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which
some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and
pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Let us love one another because love is from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
If we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is
perfected in us.
God is love.
Perfect love casts out fear.
We love because He first loved us.
Those who love God must love their sisters and brothers also.
Love is emotional healing and peace.
Love is sacrifice.
Love is obedience to God's commandments.
Love is friendship.
Love is of God.
Love is birth in God.
Love is knowledge.
Love is life through the Son.
Love is atoning sacrifice for sins.
Love is perfection.
Love is spirit.
Love is boldness on judgment day.
Love is absence of fear.
Love is victory.
Love is faith.
Love is of Jesus.
Love is eternal life.
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is gentle.
Love is truth.
Love is strong.
Love is trust.
Love is hope.
Love never ends.
Love is joy.
Love involves responsibility.
Teach only love for that is what you are.
Love waits on welcome not on time.
You can't make anyone love you.
Peace is the state where love abides and seeks to share itself.
When you want only love you will see nothing else.
Love without trust is impossible.
You love what you find time to do.
Fear condemns and love forgives.
Love is a relationship between one person and another that is
conducive to the optimal development of both.
When the satisfaction or the security of another person becomes
as significant to one as is one's own satisfaction or security,
then the state of love exists.
Love as a relationship is one of social equality and of
reciprocity. Equality does not mean sameness.
Love is an emotion with an accompanying desire to give to
another in a virtually unlimited way, freely, and without
compulsion.
Love is both an emotion and a relationship.
The truth shall set you free.
Christ is risen.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen.
Seek the kingdom of heaven first and all other things needed
will be given to you as well.
Things impossible with men are possible with God.
Judge not lest you be judged.
Let go and let God.
First things first.
Keep an open mind.
Nothing is impossible that is wholly desired.
I am not a victim of the world I see.
You will fear what you attack.
Giving and receiving are the same.
To forgive is to heal.
Not to decide is to decide.
Success is getting up one more time.
Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
You don't really control anything.
Heaven is a state of mind.
Love, Love, Love your way to heaven.
♥SUGGESTED MEETING TOPICS
Teachings of Jesus Christ
Faith
Eternal Life
Living Water
The Ten Commandments
Prayer and Meditation
Heaven
Marriage and Family Living.
Couplehood, parenthood, childhood.
Parenting.
Family Roles.
Parenting skills and techniques.
Prenatal care and birthing.
The care of newborns, babies, toddlers, children, and teens.
Communication.
Recreation and Vacation.
Self-esteem.
Stress.
Sexuality.
Emotions
Social Problems and Human Services
Addiction and services available.
Transforming ourselves, our families, our groups and our
culture.
Building connections between the home, the school, the work
place, the community.
Environmental issues.
Our Fallen Nature
Our Answer
Loneliness.
Attitudes.
Identity Changes.
The importance of good nutrition.
Dental hygiene.
Exercise.
Preventive health care.
Personal Hygiene.
Education and Financial aid .
Home safety.
Public health services.
Family violence and services.
Abuse and its effects on children and services available.
Spiritual and Moral Development.
Speech and hearing problems and services available.
Attitudes.
Sleep
Work
Radiation
Noise
Fireworks
Lead
Boating
Driving
Bicycle Safety
Any other topic in the Loving Family Manual or from other
reputable sources..
♥SUGGESTED CHRISTIAN GUEST
SPEAKERS
We invite Christian guest speakers from all
walks of life who live by loving Christian principles and who
are knowledgeable about family living selected from the
following:
1. Ministers, Pastors, Priests, Nuns, etc.
2. College Professors, Sociologists, Social Psychologists,
Social Scientists, Political Scientists, the ACLU
3. Social Service and Human Service Workers
4. Alcohol and Drug Counselors
5. Employment Counselors
6. Police Officers, Criminologists, Firemen, Ambulance Drivers,
etc.
7. Physicians, Nurses, Dentists, Speech and Hearing Therapists
9. Financial Aid Counselors
10. Preschool Teachers, Elementary School Teachers, High School
Teachers, School Principals and School Counselors
11. Communication Specialists
12. Librarians
13. Sex Therapists
14. Faith based Marriage and Family Counselors
15. Members of the Peace Corp, Ameri-Corp, and Green Peace
17. Parent Leaders of Loving Family
18. Group Members of Loving Family who are experts on the Loving
Family Group Manual and who live by loving Christian principles
and other qualified community and church members who live by
loving Christian principles.
PART
TWO
THE
LOVING FAMILY
♥
COMMUNITY
SERVICE
TEXT
Jesus stated:
"A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; as
I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all
will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another." (John 13: 34-35; Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥We believe that marriages are made in heaven and that true love
is a gift from God. We know that God's love is the only true
love there is, and we do not look to our marriage partner for
the kind of love that only God can give. We find that love grows
when we ask what we can give to our spouse rather than what we
can get from our spouse. We look for the face of Christ in our
spouse and we treat our spouse as we would treat Jesus. This
does not mean that our spouse is Jesus but only that the living
spirit of Christ can be found in the body of His believers. We
do not devalue our spouse by using our partner to fulfill our
excessive dependency needs for money, food, housing,
transportation, clothing, household chores, or sex. Our spouse
is not our banker, cook, landlord, chauffeur, seamstress, maid,
or escort service! Rather, we seek to share life naturally and
freely with our partner. We avoid conflict about spending money
and how to divide up the housework by coming to agreement on how
these areas are to be managed and by sticking to our plan. We
find the love, closeness, and sexual fulfillment we desire by
sharing time, thoughts and ideas, feelings, tasks, values, and
life goals with our marriage partner and by placing our
dependency needs on God, remembering that God helps those who
help themselves. This does not mean that spouses do not help
each other, but we do so out of love for each other not because
we are slaves to each other. Our spouse is our best friend as
well as our lover and life partner because we respect our
spouse's interests, opinions, and desires. We are committed to
our spouse because we want the love we have and we want it to
last a
lifetime.
Our marriage unions are sacred and strong in Christ, so our
families can fulfill functions essential for maintaining an
orderly society. Our children have strong identities because
they are born or adopted into love by two parents who love each
other and who share that same last name. Our children don't have
to wonder who they are; they know who they are, and they know
their father, mother, brother, sister, and extended family
members as well. Fathers and mothers share parental authority
and responsibilities and they provide for their children's
emotional and social needs as well as their needs for food,
clothing, and protection from bodily harm.
Our children learn appreciation, togetherness, good
communication, commitment, love of God, and positive problem
solving because we set a proper example. We raise our children
to be responsible members’ of society by teaching them
appropriate attitudes, values, and behaviors. Our children learn
equality because we treat our children fairly and do not show
favoritism. Our children learn good qualities of citizenship
because we are good role models, and we teach them to cooperate,
stay informed, vote during elections, obey laws and rules,
respect authority, protect the environment, be a good neighbor,
and to make their community better.
Our children are life affirming individuals with high
self-esteem because we recognize their individual talents and
accomplishments. Our children develop good character because we
demonstrate qualities of caring, citizenship, fairness, respect,
responsibility and trustworthiness, and our children learn good
character from us. Our children know what is expected of them
because we communicate with them, and we do not expect more from
our children than they are reasonably capable of doing, so our
children grow up knowing their status in the family and they
have stability. Our children develop a sense of belonging
because we let them know they are important members of the
family and community. Our children feel wanted and cared for by
both mother and father because both parents provide quality care
for their children.
As much as we love our children, we never allow our children to
come between husband and wife. We know our children will someday
grow up and leave home. We nourish our love for our marriage
partner, so we can continue to enjoy our life with our spouse
when our children have grown.
It is a
confusing time for both men and women today. Studies show that
more than 50% of marriages are ending in divorce and the rate
keeps increasing. Men and women blame themselves and each other
when a marriage ends. Certainly it is right and good to
acknowledge what went wrong and to learn from the experience.
However, our God is loving and it is unlikely that God intends
for anyone to put on a hair shirt and wear it for life as a
punishment for personal wrong doing when a marriage ends. Most
people do the very best that they can in regards to marriage
relationships but without a strong anchoring belief in Jesus
Christ and God many marriages fail due to many factors largely
beyond the immediate conscious control of the individuals
involved--sociological, psychological, emotional, economic,
social, and interference from family and friends.
Husbands and wives also have different ideas about roles for men
and women and they have trouble communicating with each other
about what they expect from each other. A common form of
misgiving occurs when a man offers a gift of hard work at a job
but a woman wants to receive a gift of sharing in child rearing
and housework. Similarly, a woman may offer a gift of more money
while a man hopes for a gift of home cooking. External
conditions in society make it difficult for men and women to
feel grateful to each other and difficult for men and women to
express love to each other due to economic and other factors
that are beyond their control. In Loving Family, spouses learn
to communicate truthfully about what they desire and expect and
they also learn the art of compromise so they can accommodate
each other to external realities.
Many marriages these days resemble a story called The Gift of
the Magi by O. Henry. In the story, Della and Jim are very poor
but very much in love and at Christmas each wants to buy the
other a fine gift. Della has beautiful long brown hair that
hangs below her waist. Jim sells his favorite gold watch in
order to buy combs for her beautiful hair. At the same time,
Della cuts off her hair and sells it in order to buy a chain for
Jim's gold watch. Each makes a sacrifice for the other which
makes them unable to receive a gift from the other.
The good that come out of a marriage whether the marriage
succeeds or not are certainly almost always the children. Both
parents almost always seem to be grateful for the children God
gave them. Divorce is devastating for all members of a family
and it is especially devastating to the children who are
involved. We must turn away from external factors that create
friction in a marriage relationship and turn to God for the gift
of His wisdom and strength to avoid the devastation that results
from divorce. God will protect a marriage if a husband and wife
are both vigilant about seeking the consciousness of Christ
instead of relying on their own limited consciousness. It is
never easy to live by Christian principles but it is always well
worth the effort.
The first marriage was arranged by God in heaven. God created
Eve from Adam so Adam could have a helper. When people began to
multiply on the earth, the sons of God married the beautiful
daughters of men and they had children. Today we can marry whom
we think is best but we should marry another believer from
within our own Christian culture. We should avoid intermarriage
with nonbelievers because they will try to turn our hearts away
from the Lord. Solomon disobeyed God by loving many foreign
women who were nonbelievers and when he was old his wives turned
his heart away from the Lord. The Lord became angry with Solomon
for his disobedience and He told Solomon that he would tear the
kingdom of Israel away from his son after he passed away and
give it to Solomon’s servant. God told Solomon that he would
give one tribe to his son for the sake of David, who was
Solomon’s father, and for the sake of Jerusalem, God’s chosen
city. God was very angry at Solomon for straying from his
beliefs.
A man and a woman must agree to walk together in marriage. If
they agree, God joins a man and woman together in holy
matrimony as one in spirit because He seeks godly offspring. You
can protect your own spirit by not dealing treacherously or
unfairly with your spouse. The love you give to your spouse is
love you give to your own spirit. Be careful about whom you
agree to marry. A good partner can be a crown for you but a
partner who causes you grief or shame can be your downfall. It
is better to live unmarried in solitude than it is to live with
a contentious and angry spouse.
God has a plan for how men and women should conduct their
sexuality. If a man has premarital sex with a virgin, he has a
responsibility after the illicit relationship. Moses was called
by God to deliver His people from Egypt and to teach them how to
live by God’s laws and commandments. We should live by God’s
laws and commandments so we can know peace on earth and in
heaven. We should be holy and not commit adultery,
homosexuality, incest, or mate with animals. The penalty for
adultery, homosexuality, incest, or bestiality was death during
the time of Moses. Today sin abounds. Adultery is popularized by
Hollywood and in modern romance novels. Homosexuality is legally
sanctioned by Civil Rights laws and incest is rampant in
families. Bestiality is encouraged as a means for population
control and as a means to balance government welfare budgets.
We avoid sexual problems in our marriage by maintaining a
committed, supportive, and communicative relationship with our
spouse. If sexual problems arise due to physical or
psychological problems, we seek treatment as a couple from our
trusted physician who may refer us to a reputable clinic or sex
therapist. We prevent sexual diseases such as herpes, gonorrhea,
and syphilis by waiting until marriage to become sexually
active, by being faithful to our spouse, and by having sexual
relations only with our marriage partner. We inform our
teenagers that they should not have sex before marriage so that
they can avoid emotional trauma and sexually transmitted
diseases.
We live
by God's code for sexual relations provided in Leviticus so we
can live a good life that is blessed by God and not defiled:
♥ "You
shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a
man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
‘None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him,
to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord. The nakedness of your
father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover.
She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. The
nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is
your father’s nakedness. The nakedness of your sister, the
daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother,
whether born at home or elsewhere, their nakedness you shall
not uncover. The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your
daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover;
for theirs is your own nakedness. The nakedness of your
father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father—she is your
sister—you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not
uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is near of
kin to your father. You shall not uncover the nakedness of
your mother’s sister, for she is near of kin to your mother.
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother.
You shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. You
shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law—she is
your son’s wife—you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall
not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your
brother’s nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of a
woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter
or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are
near of kin to her. It is wickedness. Nor shall you take a
woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while
the other is alive.
‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness
as long as she is in her customary impurity. Moreover you
shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile
yourself with her. And you shall not let any of your
descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you
profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not lie
with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall
you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor
shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is
perversion.
‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all
these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before
you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the
punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out
its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My
judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations,
either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among
you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done,
who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest
the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited
out the nations that were before you. For whoever
commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them
shall be cut off from among their people.
‘Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not
commit any of these abominable customs which were committed
before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I
am the Lord your God’” (18:5-30, HolyBible, NKJV,1982.
When a
man and a woman join in marriage, God expects them to live as
husband and wife and He becomes angry if they attempt to deceive
others into believing otherwise. When Abram and his beautiful
wife, Sarai, went to Egypt during the time of famine,
Abram asked Sarai to say she was his sister so the Egyptian men
would not try to kill him on account of Sarai’s beauty. Sarai
did as Abram asked and she told the Egyptians that Abram was her
brother. Sarai was taken to the Pharaoh’s house and Abram was
treated well because the Pharaoh wanted to marry beautiful
Sarai. Since Sarai was already married to Abram, the Lord
became angry and He plagued the Pharaoh because of Sarai. When
the Pharaoh found out that he was deceived by Abram and Sarai he
was distraught by what they had done to him and he sent them
away since he never intended to marry another man’s wife.
When Abram was ninety years old, the Lord appeared to him and
made His covenant with him. God told Abram that he would be a
father of many nations and that his male descendants should be
circumcised as a sign of the covenant. God told Abram that his
name should be Abraham and that Sarai’s name should be Sarah
because she would be the mother of many nations. God told
Abraham that he would bless Sarah and give him a son by her.
When Abraham and Sarah traveled to Gerar they again practiced
deceit and again God became angry. Abraham told Abimelech king
of Gerar that Sarah was his sister because he feared he would be
killed on account of Sarah’s beauty if he said that Sarah was
his wife. Abimelech took Sarah but God came to Abimelech in a
dream and told him he was a dead man because Sarah was already a
man’s wife. Abimelech had not touched Sarah and he pleaded with
God not to slay him since he took Sarah innocently. God let
Abimelech live but He closed the wombs of Abimelech’s wife and
his female servants on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. When
Abimelech asked Abraham why he brought such great sin upon him,
Abraham explained that he was afraid he would be killed if
he said Sarah was his wife. Abimelech felt bad so he gave
Abraham sheep, oxen, silver, land, and servants and he restored
his wife, Sarah, to him. Abraham then prayed to God and God
healed Abimelech, his wife and his female servants so they could
again have children.
When a man and a woman join in holy matrimony today, they
exchange wedding rings. The rings are symbols of the marriage
commitment. The rings communicate to others “I am committed.” “I
am not available.” “I am married.” It is wrong for a married
person to take off his or her wedding ring in an attempt to
deceive others. No good can come if you remove your wedding ring
for a little harmless flirtation when you go out on the town.
You will find only trouble if you remove your wedding ring to
land a big business deal with an attractive dealer. Misery is
waiting if you take off your ring when you go out of town by
yourself for some needed rest and relaxation. If you are
married, pretending to be single and available is wrong for any
reason. Any attempt to deceive others about your marital status
will only make God angry and innocent people will end up getting
hurt. Enduring marriages occur when husband and wife worship the
Lord together. God can protect you from falling into
sexual immorality. God can protect you from being seduced by the
flattery of an attractive stranger. God can provide you with
wisdom so you do not forsake your spouse for another. God will
bless your marriage if you stay true to Him. You will find joy
and satisfaction in your relationship with your spouse and you
will always be enraptured in love if you stay close to God. The
key to a happy marriage is the Lord God.
God intends for married couples to love each other and to enjoy
life together. Marital intimacy can be compared to a garden that
has many pleasant fruits. True love can never be quenched or
destroyed. One look from your lover can ravish your heart and
one kiss can be as sweet as honey. The smell of your true love’s
clothing can be as enticing as a fragrant perfume. While houses
and riches are material rewards, a good marriage is a spiritual
gift made in heaven.
Being married has many advantages. If you fall down into sadness
or depression, your spouse can lift you back up. Those who are
alone do not have anyone to help them back up when they fall
down. Married people can keep each other warm at night when they
lie down together whereas a single person must resort to using
an electric blanket to keep warm on cold nights. If you have a
life partner, it is easier to withstand being overpowered by
another. Two against one are better odds than one against
one.
Conflict is part of marriage. Since marriage is a commitment, we
should hang tough through the bad times as well as the good
times. It is pointless to attempt to eliminate conflict
from marriage. Instead we must look for ways of resolving daily
conflicts that will benefit the entire family. We look for
win/win solutions rather than settling for win/lose or lose/lose
strategies that often occur when spouses engage in a power
struggle tug of war. "The greatest good for the greatest number"
is a motto worth remembering when making decisions that affect
the entire family. When individual family members must lose, it
is important that the loser at least receive a consolation prize
of some sort.
Job’s trials caused conflict in his marriage. After Job lost his
livestock, his servants, and his children, his wife told him
that he should curse God and die. Job did not curse God and die
as his wife suggested. Job instead asked his wife if they should
accept good from God without also accepting adversity. Job did
right when he refused to sin against God to satisfy his wife.
Since your actions have an effect on your spouse, you
should talk with your spouse before you enter into any contracts
or agreements with others. Moses indicated that a husband has
the right to involve himself in his wife’s business and to
overrule her if she makes a vow or agreement. If a husband does
not respond or overrule her then he confirms her vows and her
agreements stand. But if the husband overrules her then her vows
and agreements do not stand with the Lord but her husband must
bear her guilt.
To avoid marital problems, husbands and wives should respect
each other as they respect themselves and love each other as
they love the Lord. Wives should help their husbands and
husbands should do only what is holy and good for their wives.
Spouses should nourish and cherish each other. If your spouse
falls down by not obeying God’s word, you should continue in
good conduct so your example can influence your spouse to return
the Lord. We must not consent or listen to our spouse if our
spouse strays from the Lord and tries to entice us to serve
other gods. If you converted to Christianity following your
marriage to a nonbeliever, you should continue in your marriage
for the sake of your spouse and your children. By living as a
saint you may end up saving your spouse and your children. Older
men and women should be sober and sound in faith, love, and
patience so they can teach young husbands and wives how to love
one another and how they should love their children. Married
couples should dress modestly and act with a gentle and quiet
spirit that is pleasing to the Lord. There should be no fear in
a loving Christian marriage since the Lord’s perfect love casts
fear out.
Marriage is for the living. Christian couples should be happy
and live joyously. They should give God the glory and live
righteous saintly lives. Couples who want to enjoy eternal life
together should ask God for what they want, have faith that they
will receive what they ask for, and believe that with God all
things are possible.
Those who fall into adultery lack understanding and sadly they
must learn by getting burned. Adultery destroys your soul and
your innocence and it leaves you wounded and dishonored. Your
victim will never accept your apology and will not be appeased
even if you give many gifts. The jealousy of a furious betrayed
lover will not spare your feelings and your reproach will be
unrelenting.
Moses permitted a man to divorce his wife if he was not happy
with her but he forbid the man to take the woman back if she
remarried and was divorced again or if her latter husband died.
Jesus clarified Moses’ stance on marriage by stating that Moses
only permitted divorce because of the hardness of people’s
hearts. Jesus stated that we should honor a marriage commitment
and that divorce was wrong unless sexual immorality was
involved. Jesus taught that men should not divorce their wives
or have sexual relations outside of marriage. When the Pharisees
questioned Him about divorce, He told them that the creator from
the beginning made them male and female and that is why a man
must leave father and mother and cling to his wife. Jesus
explained that the two become one body, and what God has united
man must not divide. Jesus went on to tell the Pharisees that a
man who divorces his wife--except for sexual immorality-- and
marries another is guilty of adultery. When Jesus' disciples
complained about what Jesus told the Pharisees about divorce,
Jesus explained that not everyone could accept what He said but
only those to whom it is granted. He goes on to tell His
disciples that there are eunuchs born that way, eunuchs made so
by men, and eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the
kingdom of heaven.
♥"The Pharisees also came to
Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man
to divorce his wife for just any reason?" And He answered and
said to them, "Have you not
read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male
and female.' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but
one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not
man separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Moses
command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her
away?" He said to them, "Moses,
because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to
divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for
sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery;
and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."
His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man
with his wife, it is better not to marry." But He said to
them. "All cannot accept
this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: For
there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's
womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men,
and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for
the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it,
let him accept it." (Matthew 19: 3-12; Holy Bible,
NKJV, 1982)."
Jesus' words to the Pharisees indicate that a man should not
divorce his wife unless sexual immorality is involved. Jesus'
words to His disciples indicate that if a man cannot accept
marriage without divorce he should not marry, but instead live a
celibate life if he hopes to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus
told His disciples that they should let anyone who could accept
what He had to say do so. Jesus understands that not all men can
accept the responsibilities of marriage. He also understands
that not all men can accept celibacy as a way of life, so He
offers men a choice, but the choice does not include sexual
intimacy outside of marriage.
Jesus seems to have a more lenient attitude toward women
regarding sexual relations outside of marriage, but He holds
women to a stricter standard for entering the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He met at the well that if
she only knew what God was offering her she would ask for living
water. Jesus told the Samaritan woman to go call her husband and
then come back to Him and He would give her eternal life. Jesus
realized that the woman had no husband even though she had been
with plenty of men. He didn't judge her for her behavior. He
understands that men are dominant and that women depend on men,
but He did encourage her to call her husband and then come back
to Him, so He could give her eternal life.
♥"Jesus
answered and said to her, "If
you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you,
'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would
have given you living water." The woman said to Him,
"Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than
our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it
himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus
answered and said to her, "Whoever
drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks
of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But
the water that I shall give him will become in him a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may
not thirst, nor come here to draw." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come
here." The woman answered and said, "I have no
husband." Jesus said to her, "You
have well said, 'I have no husband.' for you have had five
husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband;
in that you spoke truly." The woman said to Him,
"Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped
on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the
place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is
coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in
Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not
know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father
is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The
woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is
called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
Jesus said to her, "I who
speak to you am He." (John 4:10-26; Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman indicate that a woman should
not look to a man when calling her husband. His words indicate a
woman should not even look to Jesus when calling her husband.
Jesus' words indicate that a woman should look for the living
water that God offers when she calls her husband. Jesus' words
to the Samaritan woman indicate that a woman needs a husband
before Jesus will give her the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus' words to the Pharisees and to his disciples in Matthew 19
and to the Samaritan woman in John 4 indicate that a man can
enter heaven married or celibate, but a woman can only enter
heaven through Jesus after calling her husband from God. Jesus'
words suggest that a married man should stay married, so he can
enter heaven; a man who is not married may enter heaven if he
marries or not as long as he does not sin; a married woman
should make her marriage a holy union by calling on God in
prayer, so she can enter heaven through Jesus Christ; and a
woman who is not married should not sin but instead call her
husband from God during prayer, so she may enter heaven. Jesus'
words suggest that an unmarried woman should not despair if she
calls her husband from God during prayer and no husband appears
in actual physical form. Jesus' words suggest that a woman
should instead remember that all things happen in God's time,
and she should consider herself to be blessed that God chose her
to join with Him in holy spiritual union to enter heaven through
Jesus Christ.
If
you do not want to marry, you may stay single and live a
celibate life unto God. Unmarried people have an easier time
of devoting themselves to matters that are pleasing to the
Lord since they do not have to devote their time to pleasing a
spouse. However, marriage is honorable and acceptable to the
Lord for those who find celibacy too difficult. If you
marry, you should be affectionate to your spouse and you
should not deprive your spouse of sexual intimacy without the
consent of your spouse and only so you can spend time in fasting
and prayer. Once you are married, you should stay married for
life. If your spouse passes away you are free to remarry or
remain single with the hope that you will meet with your spouse
again in heaven. If you decide to remarry you should put your
relationship with God first and protect your beliefs by joining
only with another believer.
There are certain times and certain places when God forbids
marriage for those who have forsaken Him and have not kept his
laws. God told Jeremiah he must not marry in the land of Judah
because God was angry with the people of Judah and that anyone
born there, as well as the mothers and fathers, would die a
gruesome death because the people of Judah did not listen to
God. Jeremiah was warned by God that the land of Judah was no
place to raise a
family.
Loving families are those families who have love for each other.
We show our love and concern for our family by praying for our
family daily. Family integrity is established through prayer and
it leads to domestic peace and quiet. It is good for family to
live together in loving unity. A good family home is built
through wisdom and by understanding it is established. Those
without family are unfortunate. A person who is alone without a
companion or family has no end to labor and finds no
satisfaction in riches. Our families are united in faith. We
love God, give generously to people, and pray to God always.
God
encouraged large families when He told Noah and his sons to be
fruitful and multiply, and to fill the earth. God gave us
dominion over all the beasts, birds, and all other things
including green herbs for food so our families could prosper. A
good man is a blessing to his family. The Lord will bless a man
who lives by His commandments with wealth and riches and his
descendants will be mighty and blessed on earth. Children are a
blessing and heritage from the Lord. A good woman is like a
fruitful vine in the heart of her home. Today, economic
realities and work schedules place limits on how many children
couples can raise. Moses taught the importance of protecting the
family name. We protect our family name by respecting the
sanctity of marriage, avoiding divorce, and not having children
out of wedlock.
Welfare begins at home. We
live by faith and provide for our own, especially for those of
our own household. We trust in God and care for our children,
grandchildren, and elderly parents. Children are not expected to
provide support to their parents but parents are expected to
provide support to their children even if the children do not
give love to their parents. Our families believe in inheritance.
When parents die, their inheritance should pass to their
children.
The purpose of families is
to raise children unto the Lord. There is no greater joy
for a Christian parent than to know that their children walk in
the Lord’s truth as commanded by God. God provided Moses with a
plan for continuity of faith. Moses passed on God’s plan to the
people when he instructed them to remember God’s words and to
teach the word of God to their children and grandchildren so
God’s faithfulness can be passed on through the generations. We
should teach our children to praise God for His strength and all
the wonderful works He has done so future generations can know
the Lord and teach His ways to their children so each generation
can set their hope in God.
God made a covenant with His servant David to establish David’s
seed forever and to build up David’s throne to all generations.
Jesus Christ, Son of David, gives to all who receive Him the
right to become children of God. Those who have been
taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood must continue in what
they have learned so they can become wise for salvation through
faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord is good, His mercy is
everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations to those
who keep His covenant and live by His commandments. The Lord
will give those who trust in Him a place in His house and an
everlasting name. Even a small family can become powerful and
strong in the Lord’s time.
If we follow God’s commandments, we are children of God. The
world does not know us because it did not know Him. When the
Lord is revealed, we will be like Him for we will see Him as He
is. If we have hope in the Lord, we purify ourselves with His
purity. God commands us to honor our father and mother so we can
be well and live a long life. Children should respect and obey
their parents and parents should not provoke or discourage their
children. We should not speak against our family or slander any
family member. The Lord hates a liar and a troublemaker who sow
family discord at home. The Lord hates greedy family members who
bring strife and trouble to the home. Rebellious children who
place their trust in the ways of the world instead of the Lord
will only find shame and humiliation. Children should be taught
not to put their faith in those who cannot help or benefit them.
We have a responsibility to God to reject family influence that
is wrong. By faith, Moses refused to be called the son of the
Pharaoh’s daughter when he became of age so he could lead God’s
chosen people. You must not allow anyone to entice you away from
God, not even your brother, your son, your daughter, your wife,
or your friend. You will have enemies in your family if your
family does not trust in the Lord. If your family has dealt
treacherously with you because they lack faith in the Lord do
not believe what they say to you. For the sake of the Kingdom of
God, Jesus was rejected by His own people. His own people
thought He was crazy when they heard that Jesus was out
preaching to the multitudes. Even the brothers of Jesus did not
believe in Him.
All souls belong to God. The soul who sins will die. The soul
who does good will live. You will find life if you are just and
do what is right and lawful, if you do not worship idols or
commit adultery, if you do not oppress anyone, if you do not
steal, if you feed the hungry and cover the naked with clothing,
and if you keep the Lord’s judgments faithfully. If your son or
daughter steals, murders, commits adultery, oppresses the poor,
or worships idols then your son or daughter will die. If a child
sees all the sins committed by his or her parent but does not do
likewise, the child will not die for the parent’s iniquity. If a
child does not steal, murder, commit adultery, or oppress the
poor, but instead feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and keeps
the Lord’s statutes, then the child will live. The parent who
has oppressed, robbed, and did not do good will die for his or
her iniquity. The child who has done what is lawful and right
and kept the Lord’s commandments will live. A child does not
bear the guilt of the parent nor does the parent bear the guilt
of the child. Your righteousness is upon only you and your
wickedness is upon only you.
God tested Abraham by instructing him to sacrifice his only son
Isaac. God intervened at the last moment to save Isaac,
who was laid out on the altar, from Abraham’s knife. This
horrific story poignantly demonstrates that we should always put
God first even before our children. Jesus taught that we
must love Him more than our family members if we are to find the
way to life. Jesus stated:
♥ “Do not think that I came to
bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a
sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his
own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is
not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than
Me is not worthy of Me. And he does not take his cross and
follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life
will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will
find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who
receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a
prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s
reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a
righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And
whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold
water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he
shall by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew
10:34-42)
In other words: No Jesus No life; Know Jesus Know Life. A
family that does not know Jesus will never find joy or survive
because Satan is out to destroy lives and families. ♥Jesus
stated “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to
desolation, and every city or house divided against itself
will not stand” (Matthew 12:25, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
True family unity can only be found in families who follow
Jesus. Jesus loves families. Jesus showed His love for the
family of Lazarus when He raised Lazarus from the dead so
that Lazarus’ family could see God’s glory and believe
that Jesus was sent from God. Jesus loves your family. Jesus
wants to lead your family home to God. Put your faith in
Jesus and He will give you a good family name and an eternal
family in the Kingdom of God.
♥Jesus stated: "Whoever
receives one little child like this in My name receives Me"
(Matthew 18:5; Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥We
see the loving face of Christ as it shines forth from the faces
of our children, and we make every effort to provide our
children with the loving care we know they need. This is not to
say that our children are Christ but only that the spirit of
Christ dwells within them.
We consider our children's needs to be just as important as our
own, and we place our children's needs at the center of our
decision-making as often as possible. We realize that our
children need our love and care and that we are the best
possible care providers for our children. We provide for the day
to day care of our children as much as our circumstance permit.
We understand that there are times when we must leave our
children with responsible caretakers other than ourselves to
work to have enough money to pay our bills and meet our family's
needs. When we must leave our children to work for basic family
needs, we try to leave them with a trusted loving relative. If
this is not possible, we investigate, observe, and carefully
choose a responsible licensed day care provider or other
qualified person. We try to limit the time our children must be
cared for by relatives and daycare providers by arranging our
own schedules around our children's needs. We realize that our
children's need for time with us is greater than our need to
pursue social status and endless financial success. We know our
children need our loving care more than they need expensive
houses, pricey cars, lavish furnishings, fancy clothing, and
excessive amounts of toys.
We begin pregnancy with a history of good eating habits since
nutrition is important for the health of a developing child, and
we continue good nutritional habits throughout pregnancy. We
receive regular medical care during pregnancy to control for
diseases, disorders, and complications, and to monitor proper
weight gain, to monitor fetal development, and to evaluate
newborn life processes.
We avoid
prolonged emotional stress during pregnancy so our babies can
develop normally. We rely on natural methods of childbirth and
refrain from using sedatives and pain killers prior to delivery
to avoid having babies who are born with developmental problems.
We carefully research all prescription drugs we might be taking
prior to becoming pregnant and we speak with our physician about
discontinuing any prescription drug known to be associated with
birth defects before attempting to conceive. We refrain from
abusing street drugs, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol
during pregnancy because we want to avoid serious problems from
occurring as our babies develop. During pregnancy, we drink
clean purified water and we eat wholesome organic foods. We
carefully wash all fresh fruits and vegetables prior to eating.
Before we become pregnant, we move to an environmentally safe
community and we avoid living near factories, industries, and
nuclear reactors.
We participate in labor and delivery together so we can
share the mystery and joy of birth with each other. We welcome
our newborns into our families and form positive attachments
with our infants by bonding with them at birth as we feed them,
look at them, hold them, and provide them with affection.
Following birth, we continue to maintain closeness with our
infants by feeding them, looking at them, holding them, talking
to them, and by giving them our love and affection. Our infants
need to be able to trust us to provide the care that they need
so they can grow up to be trusting individuals who feel safe in
the world and safe around other people. If our infants cannot
trust us to meet their needs, they will avoid others and be
isolated and lonely adults when they grow up. We teach our
infants to trust us when we cuddle them, play with them, talk to
them and when we give them milk and dry clothing when they cry.
If our infants can trust us to meet their needs, they will
experience others as helpful and dependable when they grow up.
We provide our infants with soft comfortable clothing and warm
soft blankets so they feel comfortable and secure. Our infants
require safe cheerful stimulating environments for healthy
development and learning so we provide them with bright colorful
rooms. We interact with our infants frequently and we sing
to them, read to them, and play music for them during our
interactions. We encourage our infants to develop eye-hand
coordination by providing them with safe age appropriate toys
for play and soft crib toys and rattles.
We see that our infants receive regular medical checkups to
closely monitor their physical and motor development, cognitive
development, language development, and social and personality
development. We provide our infants with an appropriate diet as
recommended by their health care providers because it is
necessary for adequate growth. Mothers who breast feed should
refrain from using alcohol, street drugs, and many prescription
medications (especially mental health drugs) since alcohol and
drugs pass readily into breast milk. Check with your doctor or
pharmacist to be sure that your prescription drugs are safe to
use while you are breast feeding.
Our
infants need our tender devotions so we make sure we are
available to provide most of the tender care our infants need.
Mothers and fathers arrange their schedules so they can take
shifts in caring for their infants so infants can bond with both
parents and so both parents have time to attend to their own
needs and other duties. Mothers who breast feed should
make every attempt possible to be available to their infants
during feeding times. If a mother must be away during a regular
feeding time, a breast-fed infant can be bottle-fed by father
during his shift with milk mother expressed from her breasts
earlier. Any inconvenience involved for mother in having to
express her milk is far outweighed by infant continuing to
receive a superior breast milk diet rather than an inferior
formula diet when mother must be away. The emotional bond that
develops between a father and his infant while he provides care
during his shift is just as important as the emotional bond that
develops between mother and her infant while mother provides
care during her shift. If mom is always available to breast feed
an infant then dad should provide a bottle of water during the
time he provides care so he can be involved in the feeding
experience. As baby grows older both parents should be involved
in offering solid foods and other drinks.
Families that decide to have the mother fill the role of the
primary child care provider are careful to involve the father in
the day to day care of the infant during his off hours from
work. Families that decide to have the father fill the role of
the primary child care provider are likewise careful to involve
the mother in the day to day care of the infant during her off
hours from work. Infants need to be cared for by both men and
women for healthy growth and development. Common sense dictates
that mothers who breast feed are best suited to fill the role of
primary child provider.
We do not have a problem with leaving our infants with grandma
and grandpa or aunt and uncle while husband and wife spend
needed quality time together for an evening out or a quiet
weekend away. However, we are not blind to our relatives'
problems, and we do not leave our children with relatives if our
relatives are addicted to alcohol or drugs, abusive in any way,
criminal, or just not good with children. Instead, we find
someone who is responsible and dependable who can better meet
our children's needs while we are away.
Gone are the days when mothers are blamed for everyone's
shortcomings and failures because mothers failed to raise their
children properly. Those days are gone because now mothers are
not the only nurturing parents at home. Fathers are also able to
be nurturing at home. Gone are the days when children must yearn
for the love and care from their father for an entire lifetime.
Those days are gone because fathers show their children they are
loved by spending time with them and caring for them.
We continue to provide our babies with good nutrition as they
grow into children. We monitor our children's growth and
physical health by taking them to a physician when they are ill
and for periodic checkups. Studies show that there is a
relationship between severe psychological stress and retardation
of growth. A young child who is small and physically weak could
have diminished growth due to lack of affection and disturbed
sleeping caused by an emotionally disturbing family life. We
limit psychological stress in our children by giving them plenty
of affection and by providing them with an emotionally warm and
loving family life. The physical and emotional growth of our
children is dependent upon our love and affection and a happy
stress free home. We provide our children with enough time for
play because they need play for recreation as well as for their
growth and development. Play represents the integration of our
children's activity, thought, and language.
We encourage
our toddlers to become independent, by letting them dress
themselves, wash themselves, feed themselves, pour their own
drinks, put away their toys, and use the toilet on their own. We
are patient with our toddlers when they make mistakes such as
spilling a drink, putting shoes on the wrong feet, or wetting
themselves. We avoid power struggles with our toddlers by making
our expectations simple, clear, and consistent. When our
toddlers test us, we gently take them by the hand, we lead them
in the right direction, and we show them what we want them to
do. We encourage our toddlers to be independent by offering them
choices. Do you want apple juice or grape juice to drink? Do you
want to read Good Night Moon or Curious George before taking a
nap? Do you want to wear long pants or short pants today? When
our toddlers have tantrums, we put them in a safe place for time
out alone until they are able to regain self-control.
We provide our toddlers with safe environments by keeping the
house and the yard accident-proofed and we give them adequate
space to explore and play inside and outside. We provide our
toddlers with a small selection of toys and books arranged on
colorful orderly shelves so they do not have too many toys to
pick up at one time. We store the rest of their toys and books
out of sight and we rotate them periodically, so their toys and
books always remain interesting to them. We avoid unfinished
shelving that can cause splinters. Our toddlers are in need of
outside learning experiences so we take them to the grocery
store, the shopping center, the library, the zoo, the park, the
pool, and other places. We stay with our children in public
places at all times to protect them from kidnapers and child sex
abusers. Public places should keep sections for children open,
clearly visible, and well lit and if they are not we talk with
management to report our concerns since kidnapers and child sex
abusers work quickly and a child can disappear if we become
distracted only for a few minutes. Our toddlers need social
interaction with other children to develop socially so we
arrange playgroups for them to attend so they can interact with
other children safely and securely with us close by.
A good preschool experience is beneficial for our children’s
social, emotional, psychological, and intellectual growth so we
enroll our children in a good preschool program. Whether we
place our children in preschool at age three or four
depends upon our child's personality and readiness for a
preschool experience. We spend time with our child at preschool
during the first few days our child attends, so our child can
adjust to preschool while we are close by. We start our children
in preschool a few days per week for a few hours per day then
slowly increase the time spent to four or five hours per day
five days per week when they are ready to start
kindergarten.
We help our preschool age children to build self-esteem by
giving them our love, acceptance, respect, concern, and our
attention as well as the freedom to interact with others
successfully at home and at school. We provide our preschool
children with love, concern, care, and understanding, yet
we are clear in our expectations and firm when making requests.
We give our preschool children age appropriate responsibilities
so they can learn family responsibility. Each family member has
rights and status in the family, and we do not always sacrifice
our own needs for those of our young children.
When our children start attending school, we show interest by
attending their school plays, sporting events, and other school
activities. We attend parent-teacher conferences, and we stay
current on our children's school progress. We are advocates for
the rights of our children at school, and we insist that they
are not overburdened with too much schoolwork and homework. We
let our children's teachers know that we do not want our
children spending all of their time doing schoolwork because
they also need time with family and friends. We insist that our
children are treated properly and fairly at school, and we
intervene if our children are having problems.
We nourish the self-esteem of our school-age children by
providing support for them as family members and by helping them
to manage the sometimes harsh judgments of their peer world.
Play may perform an essential function in facilitating creative
thinking in our children so we make sure our children have
adequate time for play.
We encourage and help our children with their homework when
necessary, but we do not badger our children to do their
homework, and we do not do our children's homework for them. We
provide our children with a quiet time and place to study and
resources needed for study, such as books, paper, folders,
pencils and pens, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and appropriate
internet access. We model good study habits by being avid
readers and writers ourselves.
We help our children obtain group status and opportunities for
learning through organized out-of-home activities. We encourage
our school-age children to select activities they can succeed at
and that they find interesting and enjoyable in sports, music,
drama, crafts, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Brownies, Girl Scouts,
Campfire Girls, church, and reputable camps. We examine
alternatives carefully and consider the time commitment,
competitive aspects, and the characteristics of participating
adults.
We are
advocates for our exceptional gifted children and those with
special problems related to physical disabilities, sensory
impairments, emotional disturbances, learning disabilities, or
mental retardation, so they can acquire the special education
and related services they need to reach their full potential of
development.
We give our children love, kindness, patience, understanding,
and respect as we interact with them daily. We know that if we
want our children to listen to what we say to them then we must
listen to what they say to us as well. When our children talk to
us, we tell them that we hear what they are saying before
offering our own opinion or any advice. We praise our children's
efforts and achievements, but we avoid praising them personally
because we do not want to make them self conscious or egotistic.
When we must criticize our children, we do so constructively by
pointing out what needs to be done differently while omitting
negative remarks about our child as a person.
We never tell our children how they should be feeling. We only
tell them how they appear to be feeling so we can help them to
identify their feelings. We are truthful to our children about
our own emotions so our children can feel free to be truthful
about their feelings. We allow our children to feel all of their
feelings and we model acceptable ways of coping with feelings.
We listen to what our children have to say and we avoid words
and comments that create hate and resentment. We express our
feelings and thoughts without attacking our children. We realize
that our children have mixed feelings toward us because they are
dependent upon us, and we are prepared to listen to hard truths
(I don't like you) as well as pleasant truths (I love you so
much).
We teach our children how to safely express angry feelings by
safely releasing anger to our children and allowing them to
safely release anger to us. We release our anger to gain some
relief and so our children are able to realize what they did
wrong. We are careful so neither us or our children are harmed
due to the release of anger. We are slow to anger but when we do
release angry feelings to our children, we do not attack them,
swear, hit, or call our children names. We simply identify our
angry feeling loudly by name--for instance, I feel annoyed, or I
feel irritated, or I feel angry-- and we give our reasons for
the way we feel--I feel angry when you ignore me when I talk to
you, I feel annoyed when you cause me to worry about you, I feel
irritated when you make silly noises. Naming our angry feelings
allows us to release our anger safely, and identifying our angry
feelings models a lesson to our children in how they can release
anger safely. We do not speak harshly to our children since
harsh words stir up anger. If our children are angry at us, we
answer softly to make it easier for our children to let go of
their anger. We are careful not to release unjustified anger to
our children. If we lose control and accidentally release
unjustified anger to our children we apologize as soon as we
regain our composure. We always resolve angry feelings with our
children before bedtime so they can sleep
peacefully.
We give our children emotional health simply by loving each
other. We keep our relationship with our spouse warm and
supportive not only so our spouse feels loved and admired but so
our children can be happy and healthy. We show our children how
to love by the love we give to each other and by the love we
give to them.
We teach our children to be truthful by being truthful
ourselves. We do not punish our children for being truthful
because we do not want to teach them that they must lie to us.
We avoid situations that easily lead to lying such as leaving a
plate of cookies on the counter before dinner and then acting
surprised when nobody admits to eating them. When our children
do lie to us, we react as a matter of fact and not hysterically.
We want our children to learn there is no need for them to lie
to us and that it is safe for them to tell us the truth.
When we find out that our child is stealing, we calmly tell our
child that the item belongs to someone else and that they must
give it back and apologize for taking the item. We assist our
child with returning the item and stand-by to make sure the
owner of the item receives the item graciously. If the owner
acts dramatically we apologize for the trouble and then simply
leave.
We offer our children healthy choices of good tasting food. We
trust our children to eat as much or as little as they want. We
offer small portions and let our children know they can have
seconds after they finish what was served.
We decide what clothes our children need and what we can afford
for their clothing. We provide our children with selections of
clothing we approve of and then let them choose from what we
have selected. We let our children decide what colors and
patterns they prefer in clothing.
We give our children an allowance so they can learn how to use
money by exercising choices and responsibility. We provide our
children with guidelines so they know what the allowance should
cover--lunch, movies, extra curricular school activities,
etc.--and so they know what the allowance should not be used
for--candy, inappropriate clothing, tobacco, alcohol, etc. The
amount we give our children for an allowance should fit our
family budget.
We allow our children to choose their own friends as long as the
friendships have a positive influence. We discourage friendships
that have a negative influence on our children. If we allow our
children to have a pet, we take on the primary responsibility
for caring for the pet.
We discipline our children nonviolently and with love so they
learn to accept limits and can succeed at meeting our reasonable
expectations. We do not place limits on our children’s wishes,
wants, hopes, or desires but we do set limits on their actions.
Our children may wish to drive a car but we do not allow them to
actually drive a car. We set limits for our children by telling
them what is allowed and what is not allowed--You may not play
at the park now but you may play in the
backyard.
We encourage our preteens to become industrious, confident,
competent, and accepted by their peers by helping them plan
activities they can share with their friends, such as team games
and sports, picnics, hikes, movies, dances, and pizza parties.
We help our teenagers to develop a sense of independence as we
interact with them. We foster responsible and independent
behavior in our adolescents by using democratic practices and
frequent explanations of the reasons for our rules. We give our
teenagers a chance to participate in family discussions and
decision making. We actively support our teenagers’ opinions,
and we encourage autonomous behavior.
We assist our teenagers with identity formation by encouraging
them to take on satisfying academic roles at school in biology,
drama, math, etc. and satisfying roles in extra curricular
activities such as star quarterback, cheerleader, or editor of
the school newspaper. We let our teens know that we
understand the physical and hormonal changes they are going
through and that they can rely on us for emotional support and
guidance. We encourage our teenagers to act independently and we
show our approval by recognizing their achievements and talents.
We help our teens to reach the standards we have set, we model
appropriate values for our teens, and we provide our teens with
a sense of security by consistently enforcing rules. We respect
our teenagers opinions and attitudes, but we do set limits and
redirect some of their actions. We keep the lines of
communication open with our teenagers, so they feel free to
confide in us.
We help our children and teens with their moral development and
their faith development by teaching them to pray and to live a
Christ centered life. We do this best through prayer and by
living as Christ taught us to live. We love our children and
make them feel that they are welcomed members of our families.
We are careful not to be an obstacle to any child who has faith.
We know that God will never welcome us into heaven if we hinder
a child's faith and make enemies with a child's guardian angel
in heaven.
We nourish the spiritual life of our children and teens by
living by Christian principles and by attending church together
as a family. How often we attend church depends upon family
circumstances and other factors. We look for a church that is
warm with love and nurturing. The church we attend must provide
a welcoming environment before we trust ourselves or our
children or teens to its care. Just as importantly, the church
we attend must have church leaders that live by Christian
principles and who model their own lives on Biblical principles
and not upon modern day whims or modern day politics. We are
careful to choose a church that offers a good church school
program for our children and teens to attend. We show our
children and teens that we are interested in their church school
participation by volunteering in church school events and
activities, visiting the church school, and by consulting with
church school teachers about our children and teens church
school progress and participation. At home, we pray with our
children and teens daily and we read Bible stories to them
starting from birth. We talk to our children and teens daily
about the love of God and we answer their questions gently and
with love always encouraging them to seek God during prayer for
the best possible answer.
♥
Helping to Raise the Troubled Teens of Others. Being
a parent is often a difficult thankless job. Just when some
parents think that life can't get any harder, God gives them
even more responsibility when He calls them to extend
themselves further to help raise a child that they did not
bring into the world. Some parents end up helping to raise
wayward teens who are friends of their own teenagers. There
are many problems involved with helping to raise a wayward
teen. Troubled teens frequently abuse alcohol and drugs and
become suicidal. Frequently, the situation is only temporary
until the troubled teen is able to return home or live with a
relative in a less than ideal situation. Some parents inherit
a troubled teen through their church. Troubled teens often
resist efforts that are made to help them.
When God calls you to help a troubled teen, there is usually a
lesson that God wants you to learn from the experience.
Sometimes God sends you a troubled teen who is like a younger
version of you and just as troubled as you were at an earlier
age. When God gives you a troubled teen who is like a younger
version of you, He is giving you an opportunity to learn and
grow. You are bound to experience some temptation to become
frustrated or even angry when you try to help a teen who is a
mirror image of you during your youth. You must remind
yourself that you are a holy person of honor in service to the
Lord and not give into any frustration or anger that you might
be experiencing. Let your conscience be your guide and do not
lose sight of the problems that troubled teens must face these
days.
There will be a period of adjustment for the teen and for you
and your family when you welcome a troubled teen into your
home. Parents who work are buffered somewhat when they take in
a troubled teen since they are away at work all day. Helping a
troubled teen can be good for parents who stay at home since
the needs of the teen will help to draw you out of yourself.
Some parents even provide care to foster teens through the
system. You must give yourself a way out if helping a wayward
teen is too much for you. God is a God of mercy.
If
you are helping to raise a troubled teen who is abusing
alcohol or drugs, you can try getting the teen involved in AA
or NA group meetings for young people. Be careful not to push
the troubled teen into attending meetings since the teen will
likely rebel and turn away from twelve step programs
altogether. You might want to enlist the help of a trained
alcohol and drug counselor if your initial attempts at getting
the teen involved in attending meetings do not succeed. Even
if your teen refuses to attend meetings, it would be helpful
for you and your spouse to attend Al-Anon, a Twelve-Step
program for family and friends of alcoholics and drug
users.
♥ Jesus stated: "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard:
that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended
because of Me. " (Luke 7: 22-23; Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
♥Miracles can only be performed by the
power of God. Those of us who need healing turn to Christ in
prayer to ask for God's healing, and we seek help from our
health care practitioners since God also works through others.
If you have a life threatening illness or condition there are
many life saving medications and treatments that your physician
can prescribe to improve your quality of life. If you determine
that you need to take a life saving medication or treatment,
take the medication or treatment as prescribed and visit your
physician regularly so your illness or condition can be closely
monitored.
However, we understand that there is a high rate of medical
errors and that medical errors are a leading cause of death in
this country. We also understand that our health care systems
have dual and sometimes conflicting objectives of providing
service to us and of making a profit for themselves so we take
responsibility for our own health care by becoming knowledgeable
about our own health conditions and by doing our own research
about options for treatment. We carefully research all
medications, natural remedies, and other treatments before
starting a therapy.
We talk with our health care practitioners and request
recommendations for natural remedies whenever possible due to
the unwanted dangerous side effects of many prescription
medications--especially medications that carry black box
warnings that can cause serious health problems and early death.
If the side effects of a prescribed treatment or prescribed
medication are just as bad or worse than the symptoms of a
disease or the risk of a disease, we think seriously before
starting the treatment or medication. We believe that the
benefits should outweigh the risks when consenting to treatment
or to taking prescription medications. If you do careful
research, you will sometimes discover that a treatment or
medication that is immediately beneficial can result in needing
multiple other treatments or multiple other medications if used
over a period of time. We carefully weigh the pros and cons
before starting any treatment, natural remedy, or medication.
When necessary, we seek a second opinion from another physician.
We pay careful attention to how any treatment, medication, or
natural remedy we are taking affects us, and if there are
problems, we talk with our health care providers immediately
about discontinuing use and trying an alternative therapy. Most
importantly, we turn to Christ during prayer, and we practice
good health care habits and preventive medical care to stay
healthy. We always remember that physicians and other health
care providers can be helpful but they are not God!
Another good reason to restrict our use of prescription
medications is to reduce the pollution of our drinking water
supply. Recent studies show that many of our drinking water
supply systems now contain levels of pharmaceuticals so we use
prescription medications only when absolutely necessary to
protect our drinking water supply. Please do not panic. Do what
you can to stop the poisoning of our water supply by exerting
pressure at the local, state, and federal levels. Most
importantly remember that Jesus has the answer to all of our
problems today. Jesus has the power to protect us and to guide
us to safety. Jesus will lead us out of modern dangers if we put
our trust solely in Him. The love of Jesus does not contain any
dangerous side effects. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the
life. Reject the lie and accept the healing love of Jesus. Help
others to recover by giving them the gift of Jesus.
We also practice the basics of good health and preventative
medical care by sanitary living and the prevention of
infectious disease; eating a healthy well-balanced diet;
exercising regularly; getting adequate rest and relaxation;
balancing work with recreation and vacation; maintaining
emotional balance; participating in life long learning; by
maintaining a committed and healthy sexual relationship with
only our spouse; by observing good health habits; having regular
periodic physical examinations as recommended by our trusted
physician; periodic dental checkups as recommended by our
trusted dentist; by protecting our children from exposure to
lead; not smoking and making sure our children are not exposed
to second-hand smoke; reducing air and water pollution; reducing
exposure to radiation; and by reducing exposure to loud noise.
We have a regular-trusted doctor who we consult whenever an
unusual, painful, or continuing symptom is experienced.
We let
our church leaders, government leaders, and health care
providers know that we insist on maintaining control of our own
healthcare to protect basic American freedoms. We let our
leaders and healthcare providers know that we insist on freedom
of choice when it comes to consenting to surgery, therapy,
taking prescription medications, and to all other forms of
treatment. We let our leaders and healthcare providers know that
we want good health insurance but we want health insurance
to always remain elective and never mandatory. We let our
leaders and healthcare providers know that our bodies belong to
us to give to God and not to them to control and exploit. We let
our leaders and healthcare professionals know that we want God
to decide who lives and who dies. We let our leaders and
healthcare providers know that we do not want them practicing
population control, social control or balancing government and
healthcare budgets by forced sterilization, euthanasia or
genocide of our people--even our elderly demented, disabled,
alcoholic and drug dependent, and our poor indigent homeless
people. We let our leaders and healthcare providers know that
our healthcare should always remain a VOLUNTARY CHOICE AND
DECISION!
Sanitary Living and the Prevention and Control of Infectious
Disease
♥". . ."If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God
and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments
and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on
you which have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord
who heals you" (Exodus 15:26).
♥We diligently practice good
Christian living and we look to the Lord for healing and to
protect us from disease. We also prevent and control
infectious disease by eating a good healthy diet; drinking
clean water; living in decent housing; washing our hands
frequently, especially before eating or preparing foods;
covering our mouths when we cough or sneeze; properly
disposing of human waste with effective sanitation; seeking
medical attention when needed; and vaccination as recommended
by a trusted physician. We use antibiotics appropriately and
exactly as prescribed by our health care provider. We inform
our political leaders that we want some of our tax dollars to
be spent on garbage collection, so our home and community
environments can stay clean and free of garbage. We also
prevent and control infectious disease by not experimenting
with IV drug use and by not having sex with multiple partners.
We avoid contacting head lice by not sharing combs, brushes,
hats, sweaters, etc. If we should contact lice, we seek
treatment and do not return to work or school until we no
longer have nits.
We keep a clean kitchen (wash dishes, floors, and counters,)
so dangerous bacteria that can cause illness or death does not
develop in the food we prepare at home. To destroy bacteria,
we cook food at the right temperature and for the right length
of time. We quickly refrigerate leftover foods so bacteria
does not develop. We avoid restaurants that are unsanitary. We
do not eat any kind of food that looks, smells, or tastes bad.
We avoid disorders of the skin, scalp, hair, and teeth by
taking a bath or shower daily, shampooing hair frequently, and
by brushing and flossing our teeth daily as recommended by our
dentist. We wear clothing that is clean and presentable, and
we use deodorant when needed. Each family member has his or
her own towel and wash cloth for private use. Towels for the
use of guests are changed regularly. We change our bedding
regularly, and we wash comforters as needed to keep clean. We
do laundry regularly, and we store dirty laundry inside a
hamper, so our home environment stays sanitary. We scour tubs,
sinks, and toilets regularly to keep germs from spreading. We
frequently vacuum carpets and dust furniture to maintain a
sanitary environment. We discourage pet ownership so good
health can be easily maintained. Those of us who choose to
have pets practice careful pet ownership to avoid illness and
disease. We also avoid contact with wild animals to protect
against illness and disease.
♥"What is man
that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit
him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and
you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him
to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put
all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen--even the beasts
of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea
that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is Your name in all the earth" (Psalm 8:4-9, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982)!
According to the Department of Health and Human Services,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2/18/2008),
there are many types of germs (viruses, bacteria, parasites,
fungi) that cause many types of illnesses – including the
common cold or flu, food-borne illness, Lyme disease,
hantavirus, or plague. These germs can spread easily from one
person to another – and have wide-reaching effects.
•About 10 million U.S. adults (ages 18 -
69) were unable to work during 2002 due to health problems.
•Salmonella infections are responsible for an
estimated 1.4 million illnesses each year.
•Infectious diseases cost the U.S. $120 billion a
year.
•More than 160,000 people in the U.S. die yearly
from an infectious disease.
The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2/18/2008), provides the
following seven keys for preventing infectious disease:
1.Wash your hands often.
2.Routinely clean and disinfect surfaces.
3.Handle and prepare food safely.
4.Get immunized.
5.Use antibiotics appropriately.
6.Be careful with pets.
7.Avoid contact with wild animals.
Wash
Your Hands Often.
♥ "Yet
the righteous will hold to his way. And he who has clean
hands will be stronger and stronger" (Job:9).
♥According to
the CDC keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps
we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to
others. It is best to wash your hands with soap and clean
running water for 20 seconds. However, if soap and clean water
are not available, use an alcohol-based product to clean your
hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number
of germs on skin and are fast acting.
When washing hands with soap and
water:
•Wet your hands with clean running water and
apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
•Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all
surfaces.
•Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds. Need a
timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a
friend!
•Rinse hands well under running water.
•Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If
possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
Remember: If soap and water are not available, use
alcohol-based gel to clean hands.
When
using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
•Apply product to the palm of one hand
•Rub
hands together
•Rub
the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until
hands are dry.
When
should you wash your hands?
•Before preparing or eating food
•After
going to the bathroom
•After
changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to
the bathroom
•Before
and after tending to someone who is sick
•After
blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
•After
handling an animal or animal waste
•After
handling garbage
•Before
and after treating a cut or wound
Routinely Clean
and Disinfect Surface.
♥ According to the CDC, cleaning and disinfecting are
not the same thing. Cleaning removes germs from surfaces whereas
disinfecting actually destroys them. Cleaning with soap and
water to remove dirt and most of the germs is usually enough.
But sometimes, you may want to disinfect for an extra level of
protection from germs.
While
surfaces may look clean, many infectious germs may be lurking
around. In some instances, germs can live on surfaces for
hours--and even days.
Disinfectants are specifically registered with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and contain ingredients
that actually destroy bacteria and other germs. Check the
product label to make sure it says "Disinfectant" and has an EPA
registration number.
The CDC
states to disinfect areas where there can be a large
number of germs and where there is a possibility that
these germs could be spread to others.
In
The Kitchen:
•Clean and disinfect counters and other surfaces
before, during, and after preparing food (especially meat
and poultry).
•Follow
all directions on the product label, which usually specifies
letting the disinfectant stand for a few minutes.
•When
cleaning surfaces, don't let germs hang around on cleaning
cloths or towels! Use paper towels that can be thrown away
or cloth towels that are later washed in hot water or
disposable sanitizing wipes that both clean and disinfect.
In
the Bathroom:
•Routinely clean and disinfect all surfaces. This is
especially important if someone in the house has a stomach
illness, a cold, or the flu.
Handle and Prepare Food Safely.
♥ The CDC states that when it comes to preventing
food-borne illness, there are four simple steps to food safety
that you can practice every day. These steps are easy – and
they’ll help protect you and those around you from harmful
food-borne bacteria.
1.
Clean: Clean hands and surfaces often. Germs that cause
food-borne illness can be spread throughout the kitchen and
get onto hands from cutting boards, utensils, counter tops,
and food. Help stop the spread of these germs!
Here’s how:
•Clean your hands with warm water and soap for at
least 20 seconds before and after handling food. If soap and
water are not available, use an alcohol-based wipe or hand
gel.
•Wash
your cutting boards, dishes, utensils and counter tops with
hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before
you prepare the next food.
•Consider
using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use
cloth towels, wash them often using the hot cycle of your
washing machine. If using a sponge to clean up, microwave it
each evening for 30 seconds or place it in the dishwasher.
•Rinse
all fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water.
This includes those with skins and rinds that are not eaten.
For firm-skin fruits and vegetables, rub with your hands or
scrub with a clean vegetable brush while rinsing.
2. Separate: Don’t
cross-contaminate one food with another. Cross-contamination
occurs when bacteria spread from a food to a surface . . .
from a surface to another food . . . or from one food to
another. You’re helping to prevent cross-contamination when
you:
•Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from
other foods in your grocery cart, grocery bags, and in your
refrigerator. Be sure to use the plastic bags available in
the meat and produce sections of the supermarket.
•Use
one cutting board for fresh produce and a different one for
raw meat, poultry and seafood.
•Never
place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat,
poultry, seafood, or eggs.
•Don’t
allow juices from meat, seafood, poultry, or eggs to drip on
other foods in the refrigerator. Use containers to keep
these foods from touching other foods.
•Never
re-use marinades that were used on raw food, unless you
bring them to a boil first.
3. Cook: Cook foods to proper
temperatures. Foods are safely cooked when they are heated for a
long-enough time and at a high-enough temperature to kill the
harmful bacteria that cause food-borne illness. The target
temperature is different for different foods. The only way to
know for sure that meat is cooked to a safe temperature is to
use a food thermometer. Make sure it reaches the temperature
recommended for each specific food.
4. Chill: Refrigerate foods
promptly. Cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful
bacteria. So, refrigerate foods quickly. Do not over-stuff the
refrigerator, as cold air must circulate to help keep food
safe.
•Keeping a constant refrigerator temperature of 40º F
or below is one of the most effective ways to reduce the
risk of food-borne illness. Use an appliance thermometer to
be sure the temperature is consistently 40º F or below.
•The
freezer temperature should be 0º F or below.
•Plan
when you shop: Buy perishable foods such as dairy products,
fresh meat and hot cooked foods at the end of your shopping
trip. Refrigerate foods as soon as possibly to extend their
storage life. Don’t leave perishable foods out for more than
two hours.
•If
preparing picnic foods, be sure to include an ice pack to
keep cold foods cold.
•Store
leftovers properly
Get
Immunized.
♥ According to the
CDC, getting immunizations is easy and low-cost – and most
importantly, it saves lives. Make sure you and your children get
the shots suggested by your doctor or health care provider at
the proper time, and keep records of all immunizations for the
whole family. Also, ask your doctor about special programs that
provide free shots for your child.
•Children should get their first
immunizations before they are 2 months old. They should have
additional doses four or more times before their second
birthday.
•Adults need tetanus and diphtheria boosters every
10 years. Shots are also often needed for protection from
illnesses when traveling to other countries.
•Get your flu shot. The single best way to prevent
the flu is to get vaccinated each fall.
Use Antibiotics Appropriately.
♥ According to the CDC, antibiotics are powerful drugs
used to treat certain bacterial infections – and they should be
taken exactly as prescribed by your health care provider.
•Antibiotics don’t work against viruses such
as colds or the flu. That means children do not need an
antibiotic every time they are sick.
•If you do get sick, antibiotics may not always
help. If used inappropriately, they can make bacteria
resistant to treatment – thus making illnesses harder to get
rid of. When in doubt, check with your health care provider –
and always follow the antibiotic label instructions carefully.
Be Careful with Pets.
♥ The CDC
states that animals can pass diseases to humans and the
following tips should be kept in mind:
•Pets should be adopted from an animal
shelter or purchased from a reputable pet store or breeder.
•All pets should be routinely cared for by a
veterinarian. Follow the immunization schedule the vet
recommends.
•Obey local leash laws.
•Clean litter boxes daily. Pregnant women should NOT
clean litter boxes.
•Don't allow children to play where animals go to
the bathroom.
•Keep your child's sandbox covered when not in use.
The CDC states that babies and children under 5 are more likely
to get diseases from animals so special guidelines should be
kept in mind:
•Young children should not be allowed to kiss
pets or to put their hands or other objects into their mouths
after touching animals.
•Wash your child's hands thoroughly with soap and
warm running water after contact with animals.
•Be particularly careful when visiting farms,
petting zoos, and fairs.
Avoid
Contact with Wild Animals.
♥ The CDC states
that wild animals can carry diseases and that wild animals
have the following risk:
•Mice and other wild animals can carry deadly
diseases like hantavirus and plague.
•Bats,
raccoons, skunks, and foxes can transmit rabies
•Ticks
can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.
The CDC provides the following precautions you
can take to avoid contact with a variety of species of wild
animals:
•Keep your house free of wild animals by not leaving
any food around and keeping garbage cans sealed.
•Clear
brush, grass, and debris from around house foundations to
get rid of possible nesting sites for mice and rodents.
•Be
sure to seal any entrance holes you discover on the inside
or outside of your home.
•Use
insect repellent to prevent ticks. Do a routine "tick check"
after spending time outdoors. Ticks should be removed
immediately with tweezers by applying gentle, steady
pressure until they release their bites.
Nutrition
♥ "You
shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of
the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My
people shall never be put to shame" (Joel 2:26, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥We
avoid foods containing unnecessary additives, and we also avoid
going on unhealthy crash or fad diets. Instead, we eat a
well-balanced, wholesome diet that consists of fresh fruits,
fresh vegetables, whole grains, milk, cheese, eggs, poultry,
fish, lean meats, beans and other legumes, seeds and nuts. We
drink at least eight glasses of water each day to regulate
digestion and body processes. We avoid salt because it can lead
to high blood pressure and stroke. We avoid fats and sweets
because these foods are high in calories and low in nutrients.
We provide our children with an age-appropriate healthy diet as
recommended by their health care providers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S.
Department of Agriculture (Stock Number 001-000-04719-1, Finding
Your Way to a Healthier You: Based on the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, 2005) provides the following important dietary
guidelines for Americans:
Feel better today. Stay healthy for
tomorrow.
Here's
how: The food and physical activity choices you make every
day affect your health—how you feel today, tomorrow, and in the
future. The science-based advice of the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, 2005 highlights how to:
•Make smart choices from every food
group.
•Find your balance between food and physical
activity.
•Get the most nutrition out of your calories.
You
may be eating plenty of food, but not eating the right foods
that give your body the nutrients you need to be healthy. You
may not be getting enough physical activity to stay fit and burn
those extra calories. Eating right and being physically active
aren't just a "diet" or a "program"—they are keys to a healthy
lifestyle. With healthful habits, you may reduce your risk of
many chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes,
osteoporosis, and certain cancers, and increase your chances for
a longer life. The sooner you start, the better for you, your
family, and your future.
Make smart
choices from every food group.
The best way to give your
body the balanced nutrition it needs is by eating a variety of
nutrient-packed foods every day. Just be sure to stay within
your daily calorie needs.
A healthy eating plan is
one that:
•Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole
grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products.
•Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans,
eggs, and nuts.
•Is low in saturated fats, trans fats,
cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.
DON'T GIVE IN WHEN YOU EAT OUT AND ARE ON THE
GO
It's important to make smart food choices and watch portion
sizes wherever you are—at the grocery store, at work, in your
favorite restaurant, or running errands. Try these tips:
•At the store, plan ahead by buying a
variety of nutrient-rich foods for meals and snacks throughout
the week.
•When grabbing lunch, have a sandwich on whole-
grain bread and choose low-fat/fat-free milk, water, or other
drinks without added sugars.
•In a restaurant, opt for steamed, grilled, or
broiled dishes instead of those that are fried or sauteed.
•On a long commute or shopping trip, pack some
fresh fruit, cut-up vegetables, string cheese sticks, or a
handful of unsalted nuts—to help you avoid impulsive, less
healthful snack choices.
Mix
up your choices within each food group.
•Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of
fruits—whether fresh, frozen, canned, or dried—rather than
fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. For a
2,000-calorie diet, you will need 2 cups of fruit each day
(for example, 1 small banana, 1 large orange, and 1/4 cup of
dried apricots or peaches).
•Vary
your veggies. Eat more dark green veggies, such as
broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy greens; orange veggies,
such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash;
and beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black
beans, garbanzo beans, split peas, and lentils.
•Get
your calcium-rich foods. Get 3 cups of low-fat or
fat-free milk—or an equivalent amount of low-fat yogurt
and/or low-fat cheese (1½ ounces of cheese equals 1 cup of
milk)—every day. For kids aged 2 to 8, it's 2 cups of milk.
If you don't or can't consume milk, choose lactose-free milk
products and/or calcium-fortified foods and beverages.
•Make
half your grains whole. Eat at least 3 ounces of
whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta every
day. One ounce is about 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of breakfast
cereal, or ½ cup of cooked rice or pasta. Look to see that
grains such as wheat, rice, oats, or corn are referred to as
"whole" in the list of ingredients.
•Go
lean with protein. Choose lean meats and poultry. Bake
it, broil it, or grill it. And vary your protein
choices—with more fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds.
•Know
the limits on fats, salt, and sugars. Read the
Nutrition Facts label on foods. Look for foods low in
saturated fats and trans fats. Choose and prepare foods and
beverages with little salt (sodium) and/or added sugars
(caloric sweeteners).
Find your balance between food and physical
activity.
Becoming a healthier you isn't just about eating healthy—it's
also about physical activity. Regular physical activity is
important for your overall health and fitness. It also helps you
control body weight by balancing the calories you take in as
food with the calories you expend each day.
•Be physically active for at least 30
minutes most days of the week.
•Increasing the intensity or the amount of time that you are
physically active can have even greater health benefits and
may be needed to control body weight. About 60 minutes a day
may be needed to prevent weight gain.
•Children and teenagers should be physically active for 60
minutes every day, or most every day.
CONSIDER THIS: If you eat
100 more food calories a day than you burn, you'll gain about 1
pound in a month. That's about 10 pounds in a year. The bottom
line is that to lose weight, it's important to reduce calories
and increase physical activity.
Get
the most nutrition out of your calories.
There
is a right number of calories for you to eat each day. This
number depends on your age, activity level, and whether you're
trying to gain, maintain, or lose weight.* You could use up
the entire amount on a few high-calorie items, but chances are
you won't get the full range of vitamins and nutrients your
body needs to be healthy.
Choose the
most nutritionally rich foods you can from each food group
each day—those packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and
other nutrients but lower in calories. Pick foods like fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and
milk products more often.
* 2,000
calories is the value used as a general reference on the food
label. But you can calculate your number at
www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines.
Know the facts…
Most
packaged foods have a Nutrition Facts label. For a healthier
you, use this tool to make smart food choices quickly and
easily. Try these tips:
•Keep these low: saturated fats, trans
fats, cholesterol, and sodium.
•Get enough of these: potassium, fiber, vitamins A and C,
calcium, and iron.
•Use the % Daily Value (DV) column when possible: 5% DV or
less is low, 20% DV or more is high.
Check servings and
calories. Look at the serving size and how many servings
you are actually consuming. If you double the servings you
eat, you double the calories and nutrients, including the %
DVs.
Make
your calories count. Look at the calories on the label
and compare them with what nutrients you are also getting to
decide whether the food is worth eating. When one serving of a
single food item has over 400 calories per serving, it is high
in calories.
Don't
sugarcoat it. Since sugars contribute calories with few,
if any, nutrients, look for foods and beverages low in added
sugars. Read the ingredient list and make sure that added
sugars are not one of the first few ingredients. Some names
for added sugars (caloric sweeteners) include sucrose,
glucose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup,
and fructose.
Know your fats. Look for foods low in saturated fats,
trans fats, and cholesterol to help reduce the risk of heart
disease (5% DV or less is low, 20% DV or more is high). Most
of the fats you eat should be polyunsaturated and
monounsaturated fats. Keep total fat intake between 20% to 35%
of calories.
Reduce
sodium (salt), increase potassium. Research shows that
eating less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium (about 1 tsp of
salt) per day may reduce the risk of high blood pressure. Most
of the sodium people eat comes from processed foods, not from
the saltshaker. Also look for foods high in potassium, which
counteracts some of sodium's effects on blood pressure.
Exercise
♥
"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are
not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are
God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥Exercise is good for us in many ways so we participate in
aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes daily. We have
discovered that the benefits of exercise include a feeling
of well-being and relaxation, reduced depression, sound
sleep, increased energy, improved personal appearance,
improved sex life, improved health, and exercise slows the
physical declines associated with aging.
Some forms of exercise we enjoy include walking, jogging,
rope jumping, swimming, bicycle riding, weight training,
handball, racquetball, running in place, skiing, ice
skating, roller skating, hiking, t'ai chi chu'an, karate,
kung fu, judo, jujitsu, yoga, aerobic dance, and many
others. We spend time in physical activity with our
children, so they learn to value and develop an appreciation
for sport and exercise.
The Surgeon General provides the following important
information about physical activity and health (11/17/1999,
United States Department of Health and Human Service,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center
for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity):
Physical Activity and Health. A New View of Physical
Activity:
This
report brings together, for the first time, what has been
learned about physical activity and health from decades of
research. Among its major findings:
•People who are usually inactive can improve their
health and well-being by becoming even moderately active on
a regular basis.
•Physical
activity need not be strenuous to achieve health benefits.
•Greater
health benefits can be achieved by increasing the amount
(duration, frequency, or intensity) of physical
activity.
The Benefits of Regular Physical
Activity:
Regular physical activity that is performed on most days of
the week reduces the risk of developing or dying from some of
the leading causes of illness and death in the United States.
Regular physical activity improves health in the following
ways:
•Reduces the risk of dying prematurely.
•Reduces
the risk of dying from heart disease.
•Reduces
the risk of developing diabetes.
•Reduces
the risk of developing high blood pressure.
•Helps
reduce blood pressure in people who already have high blood
pressure.
•Reduces
the risk of developing colon cancer.
•Reduces
feelings of depression and anxiety.
•Helps
control weight.
•Helps
build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints.
•Helps
older adults become stronger and better able to move about
without falling.
•Promotes
psychological well-being.
A Major Public Health Concern:
Given
the numerous health benefits of physical activity, the hazards
of being inactive are clear. Physical inactivity is a serious,
nationwide problem. Its scope poses a public health challenge
for reducing the national burden of unnecessary illness and
premature death.
What is a Moderate Amount of Physical Activity?
As the
examples listed show, a moderate amount of physical activity*
can be achieved in a variety of ways. People can select
activities that they enjoy and that fit into their daily lives.
Because amount of activity is a function of duration, intensity,
and frequency, the same amount of activity can be obtained in
longer sessions of moderately intense activities (such as brisk
walking) as in shorter sessions of more strenuous activities
(such as running): +
Examples of Moderate Amounts of Activity:
Less Vigorous, More Time
•Washing and waxing a car for 45-60
minutes
•Washing windows or floors for 45-60 minutes
•Playing volleyball for 45 minutes
•Playing touch football for 30-45 minutes
•Gardening for 30-45 minutes
•Wheeling self in wheelchair for 30-40 minutes
•Walking 1 3/4 miles in 35 minutes (20 min/mile)
•Basketball (shooting baskets) for 30 minutes
•Bicycling 5 miles in 30 minutes
•Dancing fast (social) for 30 minutes
•Pushing a stroller 1 1/2 miles in 30 minutes
•Raking leaves for 30 minutes
•Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes (15 min/mile)
•Water aerobics for 30 minutes
•Swimming laps for 20 minutes
•Wheelchair basketball for 20 minutes
•Basketball (playing a game) for 15-20 minutes
•Bicycling 4 miles in 15 minutes
•Jumping rope for 15 minutes
•Running 1 1/2 miles in 15 minutes (10 min/mile)
•Shoveling snow for 15 minutes
•Stair walking for 15 minutes
More Vigorous, Less Time
* A moderate amount of physical
activity is roughly equivalent to physical activity that uses
approximately 150 Calories (kcal) of energy per day, or 1,000
Calories per week.
+ Some activities can be performed at various intensities; the
suggested durations correspond to expected intensity of
effort.
Precautions for a Healthy Start:
To
avoid soreness and injury, individuals contemplating an increase
in physical activity should start out slowly and gradually build
up to the desired amount to give the body time to adjust. People
with chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes,
or obesity, or who are at high risk for these problems should
first consult a physician before beginning a new program of
physical activity. Also, men over age 40 and women over age 50
who plan to begin a new vigorous physical activity program
should consult a physician first to be sure they do not have
heart disease or other health problems.
Status of the Nation--A Need for Change:
Adults
•More than 60 percent of adults do not
achieve the recommended amount of regular physical activity. In
fact, 25 percent of all adults are not active at all.
•Inactivity increases with age and is more common
among women than men and among those with lower income and less
education than among those with higher income or education
Adolescents and Young Adults
•Nearly half of young people aged 12-21
are not vigorously active on a regular basis.
•Physical activity declines dramatically with age
during adolescence.
•Female adolescents are much less physically
active than male adolescents.
High School Students
•In high school, enrollment in daily
physical education classes dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 25
percent in 1995.
•Only 19 percent of all high school students are
physically active for 20 minutes or more in physical education
classes every day during the school week.
Ideas for Improvement:
This
report identifies promising ways to help people include more
physical activity in their daily lives.
•Well-designed programs in schools to
increase physical activity in physical education classes have
been shown to be effective.
•Carefully planned counseling by health care
providers and work-site activity programs can increase
individuals' physical activity levels.
•Promising approaches being tried in some
communities around the nation include opening school buildings
and shopping malls for walking before or after regular hours, as
well as building bicycle and walking paths separated from
automobile traffic. Revising building codes to require
accessible stairwells is another idea that has been suggested.
Special Messages for Special Populations:
•Older Adults. No one is too old
to enjoy the benefits of regular physical activity. Of special
interest to older adults is evidence that muscle-strengthening
exercises can reduce the risk of falling and fracturing bones
and can improve the ability to live independently.
•Parents. Parents can help their children
maintain a physically active lifestyle by providing
encouragement and opportunities for physical activity. Family
events can include opportunities for everyone in the family to
be active.
•Teenagers. Regular physical activity
improves strength, builds lean muscle, and decreases body fat.
It can build stronger bones to last a lifetime.
•Dieters. Regular physical activity
burns Calories and preserves lean muscle mass. It is a key
component of any weight loss effort and is important for
controlling weight.
•People with High Blood Pressure. Regular
physical activity helps lower blood pressure.
•People Feeling Anxious, Depressed, or
Moody. Regular physical activity improves mood,
helps relieve depression, and increases feelings of well-being.
•People with Arthritis. Regular physical
activity can help control joint swelling and pain. Physical
activity of the type and amount recommended for health has not
been shown to cause arthritis.
•People with Disabilities. Regular
physical activity can help people with chronic, disabling
conditions improve their stamina and muscle strength and can
improve psychological well-being and quality of life by
increasing the ability to perform activities of daily life.
Rest
and Sleep
♥Adequate
sleep is necessary so that our hearing, vision, and perception are
not impaired by tiredness and so that we can handle daily life
efficiently. Sleep is even more important when we have difficult
tasks, or if we want to develop our creativity. Rest periods
during the day improve productivity, so we take short ten or
fifteen minute breaks to sit quietly and relax and we provide our
children with time for resting during the day. For good living, we
establish and maintain healthy sleeping patterns and we help our
children to establish and maintain healthy sleeping patterns.
♥"When
you lie down, you will not be afraid: Yes, you will lie down and
your sleep will be sweet" (Proverbs 3:24, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National
Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
NIH Publication No. 06–5800, April 2006 provides the following
information about the importance of sleep:
What Is Sleep?
Sleep was
long considered just a uniform block of time when you are not
awake. Thanks to sleep studies done over the past several decades,
it is now known that sleep has distinctive stages that cycle
throughout the night. Your brain stays active throughout sleep,
but different things happen during each stage. For instance,
certain stages of sleep are needed for us to feel well rested and
energetic the next day, and other stages help us learn or make
memories. In brief, a number of vital tasks carried out during
sleep help maintain good health and enable people to function at
their best. On the other hand, not getting enough sleep can be
dangerous—for example, you are more likely to be in a car crash if
you drive when you are drowsy.
How Much Sleep Is Enough?
Sleep
needs vary from person to person, and they change throughout the
life-cycle. Most adults need 7–8 hours of sleep each night.
Newborns, on the other hand, sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day,
and children in preschool sleep between 10 and 12 hours a day.
School-aged children and teens need at least 9 hours of sleep a
night. Some people believe that adults need less sleep as they get
older. But there is no evidence to show that older people can get
by with less sleep than younger people. As people age, however,
they often get less sleep or they tend to spend less time in the
deep, restful stages of sleep. Older people are also more easily
awakened.
Why Sleep Is Good for You—and
Skimping on It Isn’t.
Does it
really matter if you get enough sleep? Absolutely! Not only does
the quantity of your sleep matter, but the quality of your sleep
is important as well. People whose sleep is interrupted a lot or
is cut short might not get enough of certain stages of sleep. In
other words, how well rested you are and how well you function
the next day depend on your total sleep time and how much of the
various stages of sleep you get each night.
Performance:
We need sleep to think clearly, react quickly, and create
memories. In fact, the pathways in the brain that help us learn
and remember are very active when we sleep. Studies show that
people who are taught mentally challenging tasks do better after
a good night’s sleep. Other research suggests that sleep is
needed for creative problem solving. Skimping on sleep has a
price. Cutting back by even 1 hour can make it tough to focus
the next day and can slow your response time. Studies also find
that when you lack sleep, you are more likely to make bad
decisions and take more risks. This can result in lower
performance on the job or in school and a greater risk for a car
crash.
Mood:
Sleep also affects mood. Insufficient sleep can make you
irritable and is linked to poor behavior and trouble with
relationships, especially among children and teens. People who
chronically lack sleep are also more likely to become depressed.
Health: Sleep
is also important for good health. Studies show that not getting
enough sleep or getting poor quality sleep on a regular basis
increases the risk of having high blood pressure, heart disease,
and other medical conditions.
In
addition, during sleep, your body produces valuable hormones.
Deep sleep triggers more release of growth hormone, which fuels
growth in children, and helps build muscle mass and repair cells
and tissues in children and adults. Another type of hormone that
increases during sleep works to fight various infections. This
might explain why a good night’s sleep helps keep you from
getting sick—and helps you recover when you do get sick.
Hormones released during sleep also affect how the body uses
energy. Studies find that the less people sleep, the more likely
they are to be overweight or obese, to develop diabetes, and to
prefer eating foods that are high in calories and carbohydrates.
It’s About Time
How
sleepy you are depends largely on how well you’ve been sleeping
and how much sleep you’ve been getting. Another key factor is
your internal “biological clock”—a tiny bundle of cells in your
brain that responds to light signals through your eyes and
promotes wakefulness. Because of the timing of the biological
clock and other bodily processes, you naturally feel drowsy
between midnight and 7 a.m. and again in the mid-afternoon
between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Night shift workers often find
themselves drowsy at work. They also have trouble falling asleep
or staying asleep during the day, when their schedules require
them to sleep. Being sleepy puts them at risk for injuries on
the road and at work. Night shift workers are also more likely
to have conditions such as heart disease, digestive disorders,
and infertility, as well as emotional problems. All of these
problems may be related, at least in part, to their chronic lack
of sleep. Adapting to new sleep and wake times can also be hard
for travelers crossing time zones, resulting in what’s known as
jet lag. Jet lag can lead to daytime sleepiness, trouble falling
asleep or staying asleep at night, poor concentration, and
irritability. The good news is that by using appropriately timed
cues, most people can change their biological clock, but only by
1–2 hours per day at best. Therefore, it can take several days
to adjust to a new time zone (or different work schedule). If
you’ll be moving across time zones, you might want to begin
adapting to the new time zone a few days before leaving. Or, if
you are traveling for just a few days, you might want to stick
with your original sleep schedule and not try to adjust to the
new time zone.
The Department of Health and Human Services,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, September 10, 2007,
provides the following tips which can be used to improve sleep:
Sleep Hygiene Tips
The promotion of regular sleep is known as sleep hygiene. The
following is a list of sleep hygiene tips which can be used to
improve sleep. Also included is a list of special relevance to
adolescents, who may experience sleep difficulties due to
circadian rhythm changes occurring during the teenage years and
into young adulthood.
Adults:
•Go to bed at the same time each night and
rise at the same time each morning.
•Make sure your bedroom is a quiet, dark, and
relaxing environment, which is neither too hot or too cold.
•Make sure your bed is comfortable and use it only
for sleeping and not for other activities, such as reading,
watching TV, or listening to music. Remove all TVs, computers,
and other “gadgets” from the bedroom.
•Physical activity may help promote sleep, but not
within a few hours of bedtime.
•Avoid large meals before bedtime.
Adolescents/Young Adults:
•Avoid caffeinated drinks after lunch.
•Avoid bright light in the evening.
•Avoid arousing activities around bedtime (e.g.,
heavy study, text messaging, getting into prolonged
conversations).
•Expose yourself to bright light upon awakening in
the morning.
•While sleeping in on weekends is permissible, it
should not be more than 2–3 hours past your usual wake time,
to avoid disrupting your circadian rhythm governing sleepiness
and wakefulness.
•Avoid pulling an “all-nighter” to study.
The Star Sleeper, National Institutes of
Health, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute provides the
following sleep tips for children:
Sleep Tips for Your Children:
•Set a regular time for bed each night and
stick to it.
•Establish a relaxing bedtime routine, such as
giving your child a warm bath or reading him or her a story.
•Make after-dinner playtime a relaxing time. Too
much activity close to bedtime can keep children awake.
•Avoid feeding children big meals close to bedtime.
•Avoid giving children anything with caffeine less
than six hours before bedtime.
•Set the bedroom temperature so that it's
comfortable – not too warm and not too cold.
•Make sure the bedroom is dark. If necessary, use a
small nightlight.
•Keep the noise level low.
The National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development, August 2003, NIH Pub
No. 05-7040, provides the following important information
about safe sleeping for infants to prevent sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS):
What is SIDS?
SIDS stands for sudden infant death syndrome. This term
describes the sudden, unexplained death of an infant younger
than 1 year of age. Some people call SIDS "crib death" because
many babies who die of SIDS are found in their cribs. But, cribs
don't cause SIDS.
What should I know about SIDS?
Health
care providers don't know exactly what causes SIDS, but they do
know:
•Babies sleep safer on their backs.
Babies who sleep on their stomachs are much more likely to die
of SIDS than babies who sleep on their backs.
•Sleep surface matters. Babies who sleep on or
under soft bedding are more likely to die of SIDS.
•Every sleep time counts. Babies who usually
sleep on their backs but who are then placed on their
stomachs, like for a nap, are at very high risk for SIDS. So
it's important for everyone who cares for your baby to use the
back sleep position for naps and at night.
Fast Facts About SIDS
•SIDS is the leading cause of death in
infants between 1 month and 1 year of age.
•Most SIDS deaths happen when babies are between
2 months and 4 months of age.
•African American babies are more than 2 times
as likely to die of SIDS as white babies.
•American Indian/Alaskan Native babies are
nearly 3 times as likely to die of SIDS as white babies.
Here are 10 ways that you and others who
care for your baby can reduce the risk of SIDS.
1.Always place your baby on his or
her back to sleep, for naps and at night. The back sleep
position is the safest, and every sleep time counts.
2.Place your baby on a firm sleep surface,
such as on a safety-approved crib mattress, covered by a
fitted sheet. Never place your baby to sleep on pillows,
quilts, sheepskins, or other soft surfaces.
3.Keep soft objects, toys, and loose bedding
out of your baby's sleep area. Don't use pillows, blankets,
quilts, sheepskins, and pillow-like crib bumpers in your
baby's sleep area, and keep any other items away from your
baby's face.
4.Do not allow smoking around your baby. Don't
smoke before or after the birth of your baby, and don't let
others smoke around your baby.
5.Keep your baby's sleep area close to, but
separate from, where you and others sleep. Your baby should
not sleep in a bed or on a couch or armchair with adults or
other children, but he or she can sleep in the same room as
you. If you bring the baby into bed with you to breastfeed,
put him or her back in a separate sleep area, such as a
bassinet, crib, cradle, or a bedside co-sleeper (infant bed
that attaches to an adult bed) when finished.
6.Think about using a clean, dry pacifier when
placing the infant down to sleep, but don't force the baby
to take it. (If you are breastfeeding your baby, wait until
your child is 1 month old or is used to breastfeeding before
using a pacifier.)
7.Do not let your baby overheat during sleep.
Dress your baby in light sleep clothing, and keep the room
at a temperature that is comfortable for an adult.
8.Avoid products that claim to reduce the risk
of SIDS because most have not been tested for effectiveness
or safety.
9.Do not use home monitors to reduce the risk
of SIDS. If you have questions about using monitors for
other conditions talk to your health care provider.
10.Reduce the chance that flat spots will
develop on your baby's head: provide "Tummy Time" when your
baby is awake and someone is watching; change the direction
that your baby lies in the crib from one week to the next;
and avoid too much time in car seats, carriers, and
bouncers.
Babies sleep safest on their backs. One
of the easiest ways to lower your baby's risk of SIDS is to put
him or her on the back to sleep, for naps and at night. Health
care providers used to think that babies should sleep on their
stomachs, but research now shows that babies are less likely to
die of SIDS when they sleep on their backs. Placing your baby on
his or her back to sleep is the number one way to reduce the
risk of SIDS. There has been no increase in choking or other
problems for babies who sleep on their backs. Healthy babies
automatically swallow or cough up fluids. Spread the word! Make
sure everyone who cares for your baby knows the Safe Sleep Top
10! Tell grandparents, babysitters, childcare providers, and
other caregivers to always place your baby on his or her back to
sleep to reduce the risk of SIDS. Babies who usually sleep on
their backs but who are then placed on their stomachs, even for
a nap, are at very high risk for SIDS—so every sleep time
counts!
Work
♥ The
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.(DHHS
(NIOSH) Publication No. 99-101) provides the following
information about stress at work and how stress can affect
health:
•Job stress can be defined as the
harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the
requirements of the job do not match the capabilities,
resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to
poor health and even injury.
•The concept of job stress is often confused with
challenge, but these concepts are not the same. Challenge
energizes us psychologically and physically, and it
motivates us to learn new skills and master our jobs. When a
challenge is met, we feel relaxed and satisfied. Thus,
challenge is an important ingredient for healthy and
productive work. The importance of challenge in our work
lives is probably what people are referring to when they say
"a little bit of stress is good for you."
•Health care expenditures are nearly 50% greater
for workers who report high levels of stress (Journal of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine).
Job Conditions That May Lead to Stress
•The Design of Tasks. Heavy
workload, infrequent rest breaks, long work hours and
shift-work; hectic and routine tasks that have little
inherent meaning, do not utilize workers' skills, and
provide little sense of control.
•Management Style. Lack of participation by
workers in decision- making, poor communication in the
organization, lack of family-friendly policies.
•Interpersonal Relationships. Poor social
environment and lack of support or help from coworkers and
supervisors.
•Work Roles. Conflicting or uncertain job
expectations, too much responsibility, too many "hats to
wear."
•Career Concerns. Job insecurity and lack
of opportunity for growth, advancement, or promotion; rapid
changes for which workers are unprepared.
•Environmental Conditions. Unpleasant or
dangerous physical conditions such as crowding, noise, air
pollution, or ergonomic problems.
Early Warning Signs of Job Stress
•Headache
•Sleep disturbances
•Difficulty concentrating
•Short temper
•Upset stomach
•Job dissatisfaction
•Low morale
Job Stress and Health: What the
Research Tells Us (Encyclopaedia of Occupational Safety and
Health)
•Cardiovascular Disease: Many
studies suggest that psychologically demanding jobs that
allow employees little control over the work process
increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
•Musculoskeletal Disorders: On the basis of
research by NIOSH and many other organizations, it is widely
believed that job stress increases the risk for development
of back and upper- extremity musculoskeletal disorders.
•Psychological Disorders: Several studies
suggest that differences in rates of mental health problems
(such as depression and burnout) for various occupations are
due partly to differences in job stress levels. (Economic
and lifestyle differences between occupations may also
contribute to some of these problems.)
•Workplace Injury: Although more study is
needed, there is a growing concern that stressful working
conditions interfere with safe work practices and set the
stage for injuries at work.
•Suicide, Cancer, Ulcers, and Impaired Immune
Function: Some studies suggest a relationship between
stressful working conditions and these health problems.
However, more research is needed before firm conclusions can
be drawn.
Some employers assume that stressful
working conditions are a necessary evil-that companies must
turn up the pressure on workers and set aside health concerns
to remain productive and profitable in today's economy. But
research findings challenge this belief. Studies show that
stressful working conditions are actually associated with
increased absenteeism, tardiness, and intentions by workers to
quit their jobs-all of which have a negative effect on the
bottom line.
Recent studies of so-called healthy organizations suggest that
policies benefiting worker health also benefit the bottom
line. A healthy organization is defined as one that has low
rates of illness, injury, and disability in its workforce and
is also competitive in the marketplace. NIOSH research has
identified organizational characteristics associated with both
healthy, low-stress work and high levels of productivity.
Examples of these characteristics include the following:
•Recognition of employees for good
work performance
•Opportunities for career development
•An organizational culture that values the
individual worker
•Management actions that are consistent with
organizational values
According to data from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, workers who must take time off work because of
stress, anxiety, or a related disorder will be off the job for
about 20 days.
♥
"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. And
establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the
work of our hands" (Psalm 90:17, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥Work
is important to us because it is our means to independence. We
ask God to guide us when we choose our employment. We choose
work that is intrinsically satisfying because we spend much of
our time on the job, and we realize we must like the work we
do to maintain a positive outlook. If we suffer from chronic
job stress we seek new employment before we become seriously
ill and depleted.
Recreation and Vacation
♥ There
is evidence that vacations can prevent heart failure. A 2000
study by the State University of New York at Oswego looked at
about 12,000 men ages 35 to 57 and found that men who took
yearly vacations reduced their overall risk of death by about 20
percent, and their risk of death from heart disease by as much
as 30 percent. Using data from the famous Framingham Heart
Study, researchers found that women who took a vacation once
every six years or less were almost eight times more likely to
develop heart disease or have a heart attack than those who took
at least two vacations a year. Similarly, a study of more than
700 women studied between the ages of 45 and 65 revealed that
frequent vacations cut the risk of death among all women by
half.
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation & Dance (AAHPERD, 7/3/2008) provides the
following information on the benefits of recreation:
Regular
participation in Recreation and physical activity can:
•Relieve
stress
•Cultivate
positive character development by encouraging
responsibility, respect, honesty, loyalty, integrity,
creativity and flexibility
•Strengthen
family bonds
•Stimulate
creativity
•Enrich
communication
•Boost
energy
•Help
teach life skills such as problem solving, cooperation,
compromise, coping skills, perseverance and positive
attitudes
•Build
unity
•Increase
productivity
•Promote
personal interaction between family members
•Help
with maintaining a healthy lifestyle
An individual’s lifelong leisure habits often
build on early experiences that contribute to a person’s
development and lifestyle. Many adults continue to participate
in recreational activities they were introduced to when a child
or try a new sport or hobby after being inspired by a family
member to try it. Traditions are created and passed on through
processes like this. Recreating together as a family in
activities that promote physical, emotional, mental, and social
development and growth can strengthen family bonds. Get your
family together, have some fun and make memories to last a
lifetime!
♥ "that
I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be
refreshed together with you" (Romans 15:32, Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
♥ In
Loving Family, we make enjoyable recreation a part of our life
throughout the year. We visit museums, zoos, and historical
sites. We attend movies, plays, and concerts. We enjoy home
videos appropriate for family viewing. We enjoy television, but
we monitor the programs we allow our children to watch, and we
make certain that the television is not turned on until school
homework and other responsibilities have been completed. Public
Broadcasting Stations (PBS) are known for good family television
programming, so we enjoy and support PBS. At community park and
recreation centers, we enjoy arts and crafts, skateboarding,
soccer, softball, shuffleboard, kite flying, swimming, picnics,
basketball, and roller skating. We visit state and National park
areas for hiking, camping, boating, swimming, skiing, or
fishing. We plan vacation trips by reading guidebooks and travel
brochures or by talking with a travel agent.
Emotion
♥We
maintain emotional balance by living in the present day by day
instead of living in the past or in the future, by talking our
problems out with a trusted person, and by finding realistic
solutions to our problems. We keep stress minimal with proper
nutrition and exercise. We also keep our emotions balanced by
setting realistic goals, remembering others also have good
motives, keeping free of resentments, maintaining a good
attitude, and by remembering we are not alone when we have
trouble. Most importantly we pray, meditate, and constantly
strive to improve our conscious contact with Christ to maintain
emotional balance.
♥"He
who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his
heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982).
Education
♥ Alisa
Cunningham, Director of Research for the Institute for Higher
Education Policy, Washington, D.C.(Solutions For Our Future)
identifies the broader societal benefits of higher education.
Cunningham states that the most widely recognized gains from
post-secondary education are the economic benefits that
individual graduates receive in terms of greater lifetime
income. But it isn’t just the individuals who have gone to
college who benefit; the larger society also gains. Not only do
graduates pay more taxes on their typically higher incomes, but
they also tend to have better health, rely less on government
social programs, are less likely to be incarcerated, and are
more likely to engage in civic activities. In fact, each type of
benefit leads to others, producing a cascade of benefits from
post-secondary education.
Cunningham goes on to state "along with higher income, people
with more education tend to have more leisure time, better
health/life expectancy, better outcomes for their children, and
improved quality of life in general."
Cunningham
also explains how attending college is linked to desirable
social and civic capabilities. Cunningham states that national
research on the interpersonal, psychological, and broader
behavioral outcomes of college shows a positive relationship
between college attendance and a range of desirable social and
civic capacities, including capacity for independence; less
tendency toward authoritarianism, dogmatism, and ethnocentrism;
growth in principled moral reasoning; interest in service to
others; and interest in current affairs and domestic and foreign
politics. Cunningham states that research has shown that college
graduates are more likely than other individuals to display such
traits as active thinking processes reflective of a more
complex, less automatic mode of thought; a broad range of
intellectual and academic skills; motivation to participate in
activities that affect society and the political structure, as
well as to participate in community service; motivation to
engage in activities that promote racial understanding; and
belief that basic values are common across racial and ethnic
categories. Cunningham states that people from all educational
and economic levels can and do live committed, moral, engaged
lives, and contribute to their communities in a wide variety of
ways. However, individuals who have had the opportunity to go to
college have a greater probability of having the resources to
develop into productive and engaged citizens.
♥ In
Loving Family we encourage the pursuit of higher learning so we
can enjoy higher income, more leisure time, better life/health
expectancy, better outcomes for our children, improved quality
of life and a wide range of desirable social and civic
capacities. We believe that education can be emotionally
rewarding and challenging as well as beneficial to our health. A
mind that is occupied with learning does not have time to dwell
on misery or problems. Dwelling on misery or problems can and
often does lead to illness. Education can open new doors and
help us to solve problems productively thereby reducing the
stress in our lives. There is a wide range of educational
opportunities for those of us who are interested in further
education. State colleges and universities offer four year
programs that lead to a bachelor's degree in fields such as
computer systems, math, sociology, art, science, history,
business administration, engineering, etc. Many universities
offer Master and Doctorate programs as well.
Community colleges provide education and training in a wide
variety of fields such as business, real estate, early childhood
education, law, and computers. Many community colleges charge
nominal fees while others are quite expensive.
Specialized training in restaurant management, drafting,
mechanics, electronics, bookkeeping, accounting, etc. is offered
at various vocational schools. Courses are usually short between
six months and a year but may last longer.
Public schools offer adult education courses, often at night,
for people who want to develop special skills, increase their
general knowledge, or pursue a particular hobby. Fees for these
courses are usually minimal.
Home study courses provide opportunities to take courses in
vocational subjects, standard high school subjects, and
college-level studies. Study time can be scheduled around work
and other commitments.
Many companies
offer special training either on the job or after hours.
Depending upon the business, training can improve technical
skills or general knowledge. Some companies pay all of the
expense for the training while others pay only part of the cost.
The local library or college office can provide assistance in
choosing a course or program of study. Before enrolling, it is a
good idea to discuss educational interests with others we
respect and trust, such as a teacher, priest, minister, friend,
parent, or an older sibling. Visiting various schools or
colleges is also a good idea. We check with our local library or
accreditation council to make sure the institution we decide to
attend is accredited. There are numerous scholarships, grants,
and loan programs available for those of us who are interested
in further learning.
♥"If
any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But
let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is
like a wave of the sea driven, and tossed by the wind" (James
1:5-6, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
Sexuality
♥We
avoid sexual problems in our marriage by maintaining a
committed, loving, supportive, and communicative relationship
with our spouse. If sexual problems arise due to physical or
psychological problems, we seek treatment as a couple from our
trusted physician who may refer us to a reputable clinic or sex
therapist. We prevent sexual diseases such as herpes, gonorrhea,
and syphilis by waiting until marriage to become sexually
active, by being faithful to our spouse, and by having sexual
relations only with our marriage partner. We inform our
teenagers that they should not have sex before marriage so that
they can avoid emotional trauma and sexually transmitted
diseases.
Lead
♥We
have our children tested for lead poisoning when we take them to
the doctor for regular checkups. We are careful not to expose
our children to lead by keeping our home clean and free from
dust; changing out of work clothes when we get home from work;
testing our water; testing painted surfaces for lead; making
sure our children do not chew on anything that is covered with
lead paint; not using older imported or handmade dishes that may
contain lead; avoiding hobbies that use lead; washing our
children's hands often; and by not using home remedies or
cosmetics that contain lead. We feed our children a diet that is
rich in iron and calcium to protect against lead poisoning. We
hire a professional to remove lead paint safely from our home so
our family is not poisoned by the large amount of lead dust that
is generated by the scraping and sanding of lead paint.
The
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 747-K-00-003,
October 2000, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics 7404)
indicates that lead poisoning is a serious problem for young
children--the younger the child, the greater the risk. The EPA
provides the following important information on how to protect
your children from lead poisoning.
Protect Your Children from Lead Poisoning
Lead awareness and your children
About 1
in 22 children in America have high levels of lead in their
blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. You may have lead around your building without
knowing it because you can’t see, taste, or smell lead. You may
have lead in the dust, paint, or soil in and around your home,
or in your drinking water or food. Because it does not break
down naturally, lead can remain a problem until it is removed.
Before we knew how harmful it could be, lead was used in paint,
gasoline, water pipes, and many other products. Now that we know
the dangers of lead, house paint is almost lead-free, leaded
gasoline has been phased out, and household plumbing is no
longer made with lead materials.
How lead affects your child’s health
The
long-term effects of lead in a child can be severe. They include
learning disabilities, decreased growth, hyperactivity, impaired
hearing, and even brain damage. If caught early, these effects
can be limited by reducing exposure to lead or by medical
treatment. If you are pregnant, avoid exposing yourself to lead.
Lead can pass through your body to your baby. The good news is
that there are simple things you can do to help protect your
family.
1. Get your child
tested. Even children who appear healthy
may have high levels of lead. You can’t tell if a child has
lead poisoning unless you have him or her tested. A blood test
takes only ten minutes, and results should be ready within a
week.
Blood tests are usually recommended for:
•Children at ages 1 and 2.
•Children or other family members who have
been exposed to high levels of lead.
•Children who should be tested under your
state or local screening plan.
To find out where to have your child
tested, call your doctor or local health clinic. They can
explain what the test results mean, and if more testing will
be needed.
2. Keep it clean. Ordinary
dust and dirt may contain lead. Children can swallow lead or
breathe lead contaminated dust if they play in dust or dirt
and then put their fingers or toys in their mouths, or if they
eat without washing their hands first.
•Keep the areas where your children
play as dust-free and clean as possible.
•Wash pacifiers and bottles after they fall on
the floor. Keep extras handy.
•Clean floors, window frames, window sills,
and other surfaces weekly. Use a mop, sponge, or paper towel
with warm water and a general all-purpose cleaner or a
cleaner made specifically for lead. REMEMBER: NEVER MIX
AMMONIA AND BLEACH PRODUCTS TOGETHER SINCE THEY CAN FORM A
DANGEROUS GAS.
•Thoroughly rinse sponges and mop heads after
cleaning dirty and dusty areas.
•Wash toys and stuffed animals regularly.
•Make sure your children wash their hands
before meals, nap time, and bedtime.
3. Reduce the risk from lead
paint. Most homes built before 1960 contain leaded
paint. Some homes built as recently as 1978 may also contain
lead paint. This paint could be on window frames, walls, the
outside of your house, or other surfaces. Tiny pieces of
peeling or chipping paint are dangerous if eaten. Lead paint
in good condition is not usually a problem except in places
where painted surfaces rub against each other and create dust.
(For example, when you open a window, the painted surfaces rub
against each other.
•Make sure your child does not chew
on anything covered with lead paint, such as painted window
sills, cribs, or playpens.
•Don’t burn painted wood. It may contain lead.
4. Don’t remove lead paint
yourself. Families have been poisoned by scraping
or sanding lead paint because these activities generate large
amounts of lead dust. Lead dust from repairs or renovations of
older buildings can remain in the building long after the work
is completed. Heating paint may release lead into the air.
•Ask your local or state health
department if they will test your home for lead paint. Some
will test for free. Home test kits cannot detect small
amounts of lead under some conditions.
•Hire a person with special training for
correcting lead paint problems to remove lead paint from
your home, someone who knows how to do this work safely and
has the proper equipment to clean up thoroughly. Don’t try
to remove lead paint yourself.
•All occupants, especially children and
pregnant women, should leave the building until all work is
finished and a thorough cleanup is done.
5. Don’t bring lead dust into your
home. If you work in construction, demolition or
painting, with batteries, or in a radiator repair shop or lead
factory, or if your hobby involves lead, you may unknowingly
bring lead into your home on your hands or clothes. You may
also be tracking in lead from the soil around your home. Soil
very close to homes may be contaminated from lead paint on the
outside of the building. Soil by roads or highways may be
contaminated from years of exhaust fumes from cars and trucks
that used leaded gas.
•If you work with lead in your job
or hobby, change your clothes and shower before you go home.
•Encourage your children to play in sand or
grassy areas instead of dirt which sticks to fingers and
toys. Try to keep your children from eating dirt, and make
sure they wash their hands when they come inside.
6. Get lead out of your drinking
water. Most well or city water does not naturally
contain lead. Water usually picks up lead inside your home
from household plumbing that is made with lead materials.
Boiling the water will not reduce the amount of lead. Bathing
is not a problem because lead does not enter the body through
the skin.
•The only way to know if you have
lead in your water is to have it tested. Call your local
health department or your water supplier to see how to get
it tested.
•Household water will contain more lead if it
has sat for a long time in the pipes, is hot, or is
naturally acidic.
If you think your plumbing might have lead in
it:
•Use only cold water for drinking,
cooking, and making baby formula.
•Run water for 15 to 30 seconds before
drinking it, especially if you have not used your water for
a few hours.
•Call EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at
1-800-426-4791 for more information.
7. Eat right. A child who gets enough
iron and calcium will absorb less lead. Foods rich in iron
include eggs, lean red meat, and beans. Dairy products are
high in calcium.
•Don’t store food or liquid in lead
crystal glassware or imported or old pottery.
•If you reuse plastic bags to store or carry
food, keep the printing on the outside of the bag.
Smoking
♥We do
not smoke, and we make certain our children are not exposed to
second-hand smoke. Smoking or being exposed to second-hand smoke
is dangerous to health and linked to cancer and many other
serious diseases.
♥"While
they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of
corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is
brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and
overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning"
(2Peter 2:19-20, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
The
Department of Health and Human Service, Centers For Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), Fact Sheet on Health Effects of
Cigarette Smoking (updated 1/2008) provides
important information as follows about the health effects of
cigarette smoking:
According to the CDC, smoking harms nearly every organ of the
body; causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers
in general. The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking
account for an estimated 438,000 deaths, or nearly 1 of every 5
deaths, each year in the United States. More deaths are
caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use,
motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking
Cancer
•Cancer is the second leading cause of
death and was among the first diseases causally linked to
smoking.
•Smoking causes about 90% of lung cancer deaths
in men and almost 80% of lung cancer deaths in women. The risk
of dying from lung cancer is more than 23 times higher among
men who smoke cigarettes, and about 13 times higher among
women who smoke cigarettes compared with never smokers.
•Smoking causes cancers of the bladder, oral
cavity, pharynx, larynx (voice box), esophagus, cervix,
kidney, lung, pancreas, and stomach, and causes acute myeloid
leukemia.
•Rates of cancers related to cigarette smoking
vary widely among members of racial/ethnic groups, but are
generally highest in African-American men.
Cardiovascular Disease (Heart and Circulatory
System)
•Smoking causes coronary heart
disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
Cigarette smokers are 2–4 times more likely to develop
coronary heart disease than nonsmokers.
•Cigarette smoking approximately doubles a
person's risk for stroke.
•Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by
narrowing the blood vessels (arteries). Smokers are more than
10 times as likely as nonsmokers to develop peripheral
vascular disease.
•Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Respiratory Disease and Other Effects
•Cigarette smoking is associated with
a tenfold increase in the risk of dying from chronic
obstructive lung disease. About 90% of all deaths from chronic
obstructive lung diseases are attributable to cigarette
smoking.
•Cigarette smoking has many adverse reproductive
and early childhood effects, including an increased risk for
infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight,
and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
•Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone
density than women who never smoked. Women who smoke have an
increased risk for hip fracture than never smokers.
The U.S.
Surgeon General provides important information on The Health
Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke (United
States Department of Health and Human Services, Factsheet 7,
revised 1/4/2007). There is No Risk-Free Level of Exposure to
Secondhand Smoke.
The
U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that breathing even a little
secondhand smoke poses a risk to your health.
Scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free
level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Breathing even a
little secondhand smoke can be harmful to your health.
Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer.
•Secondhand smoke is a known human
carcinogen and contains more than 50 chemicals that can cause
cancer.
•Concentrations of many cancer-causing and toxic
chemicals are potentially higher in secondhand smoke than in
the smoke inhaled by smokers.
Secondhand smoke causes heart disease.
•Breathing secondhand smoke for even a
short time can have immediate adverse effects on the
cardiovascular system, interfering with the normal functioning
of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that
increase the risk of heart attack.
•Even a short time in a smoky room can cause
your blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of
blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and
reduce heart rate variability.
•Persons who already have heart disease are at
especially high risk of suffering adverse affects from
breathing secondhand smoke, and should take special
precautions to avoid even brief exposure.
Secondhand smoke causes acute respiratory
effects.
•Secondhand smoke contains many
chemicals that can quickly irritate and damage the lining of
the airways.
•Even brief exposure can trigger respiratory
symptoms, including cough, phlegm, wheezing, and
breathlessness.
•Brief exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger
an asthma attack in children with asthma.
•Persons who already have asthma or other
respiratory conditions are at especially high risk for being
affected by secondhand smoke, and should take special
precautions to avoid secondhand smoke exposure.
Secondhand smoke can cause sudden infant
death syndrome and other health consequences in infants and
children.
•Smoking by women during pregnancy has
been known for some time to cause SIDS.
•Infants who are exposed to secondhand smoke
after birth are also at greater risk of SIDS.
•Children exposed to secondhand smoke are also
at an increased risk for acute respiratory infections, ear
problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes
respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children.
Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning
the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate
secondhand smoke exposure.
•The American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the
preeminent U.S. standard-setting body on ventilation issues,
has concluded that ventilation technology cannot be relied on
to completely control health risks from secondhand smoke
exposure.
•Conventional air cleaning systems can remove
large particles, but not the smaller particles or the gases
found in secondhand smoke.
•Operation of a heating, ventilating, and air
conditioning system can distribute secondhand smoke throughout
a building.
Air, Water, Land Pollution
♥ "Woe
to her who is rebellious and polluted. To the oppressing city"
(Zephaniah 3:1, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982)!
♥To reduce pollution we
recycle plastics, glass, newspaper, used motor oil, transmission
fluid, brake fluid, toner cartridges and printer materials. We
reuse lunch and other containers, cups, and grocery bags. We
conserve energy by installing energy saving lights; turning down
heat or air conditioning; turning off lights and appliances when
not in use; increasing insulation in our homes to prevent heat
loss; maintaining heaters, air conditioners, refrigerators and
other energy using equipment; and by minimizing water use.
We
reduce air pollution and its detrimental health effects by using
mass transportation, joining car pools, riding bicycles or
walking whenever possible; keeping our car tuned up and our car
tires properly inflated to increase engine efficiency; limiting
air travel; conserving electricity; utilizing alternative energy
sources such as solar power; and by supporting clean air
legislation.
We
reduce water pollution by disposing of garbage and sewage
properly; having wells, cisterns, and septic tanks inspected
regularly; having water samples checked by health authorities;
by using biodegradable cleaning products; and by getting
involved in how local, state, and federal governments maintain
our water supplies. We let our officials know we are concerned
about the health effects of polluted water, and we insist on
clean water that is safe to use.
We
reduce solid waste land pollution by using a copier that prints
on both sides of the paper, purchasing rechargeable batteries,
by purchasing products with minimal packaging, and by not
littering our beaches, forests, highways, and communities.
According to the NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, 6/2/08), air
pollution is a mixture of natural and man-made substances in the
air we breathe such as fine particles produced by the burning of
fossil fuels, ground-level ozone, which is a reactive form of
oxygen that is a primary component of urban smog, and noxious
gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide,
and chemical vapors. The health effects of air pollution have
been reported in research studies over the past 30 years. These
effects include respiratory diseases such as asthma,
cardiovascular diseases, changes in lung function, and death.
There is mounting evidence that exposure to air pollution has
long-term effects on lung development in children.
According to the NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, National Institute of Health, 5/12/08), water
pollution is any contamination of water with chemicals or other
foreign substances that are detrimental to human, plant, or
animal health. These pollutants include fertilizers and
pesticides from agricultural runoff; sewage and food processing
waste; lead, mercury, and other heavy metals; chemical wastes
from industrial discharges; and chemical contamination from
hazardous waste sites. Worldwide, nearly 2 billion people drink
contaminated water that could be harmful to their health.
The
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2/6/07) provides
tips for preventing pollution. According to the EPA, pollution
prevention means not creating pollution in the first place. It
primarily involves source reduction - - reducing the amount and
toxicity of air, liquid, or solid waste at its source.
“Whether you are a small business owner, a corporate leader, a
student or a parent, EPA encourages everyone to make pollution
prevention part of your daily life. Pollution prevention
practices can help businesses become more competitive and
individuals save money,” said Donald S. Welsh, EPA’s
mid-Atlantic regional administrator. “It can also help save
energy, prevent the emission of many greenhouse gases and water
pollutants, encourage the development of greener technologies
and conserve resources for future generations.”
According to the Worldwatch Institute, the United States, with
less than 5 percent of the global population, uses about a
quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources, burning nearly 25
percent of the coal, 26 percent of the oil, and 27 percent of
the world’s natural gas. In addition, EPA estimates each
individual generates about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year –
about 4.5 pounds per person, per day. To help you get started,
the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, a non-profit
organization devoted solely to pollution prevention, suggests:
At Work:
•Look into installing energy saving
lights
•Ride a bike, carpool, walk, or take mass
transportation to work
•Use reusable lunch containers
•Use a copier that prints on both sides of the
paper to reduce paper use
•Recycle toner cartridges and printer materials
•Use reusable cups for coffee and other
beverages
•Share the benefits of a recycling program with
management
•Seek business opportunities with
environmentally sound companies
At Home:
•Turn down the heat or air
conditioning at night
•Turn off lights and appliances when not in use
- install sensors where appropriate
•Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy
efficient fluorescent ones
•Increase the amount of insulation in your home
to reduce heat loss
•Do not mow your lawn or fill your gas tank on
Ozone Action Days
•Minimize water use by purchasing efficient
toilets, faucets and shower heads
•Purchase rechargeable batteries, reducing the
amount of trash going into landfills
•Buy less toxic cleaning supplies or make your
own
•(Baking soda and water can be used as an
ammonia-based all purpose cleaner).
•Purchase products with minimal packaging
•Limit fertilizers and pesticides, especially
near lakes and streams
•Recycle plastics, glass, newspaper, used motor
oil, transmission fluid and brake fluid
•Join a food co-op or buy locally
•Reuse grocery bags by taking them with you to
the store
•Pack children’s lunches in reusable containers
instead of disposal brown and plastic bags
At School:
•Reduce materials and recycle what is
used
•Perform a waste audit in the school
•Maintain heaters, air conditioners,
refrigerators, and other energy using equipment, to reduce the
amount of energy used
•Install energy efficient lighting
•Print copies on both sides of each sheet of
paper
•Use non-mercury-containing thermometers
•Start an Eco-Club or form a pollution
prevention team
Radiation
♥ The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (5/15/2008) provides the
following important information about Medical X-Rays:
Description
X-rays refer to radiation, waves or particles that travel
through the air like light or radio signals. X-ray energy is
high enough that some radiation passes through objects (such as
internal organs, body tissues, and clothing) and onto x-ray
detectors (such as film or a detector linked to a computer
monitor). In general, objects that are more dense (such as bones
and calcium deposits) absorb more of the radiation from the
x-rays and don’t allow as much to pass through them. These
objects leave a different image on the detector than less dense
objects. Specially trained or experienced physicians can read
these images to diagnose medical conditions or injuries.
Procedures
Medical
x-rays are used in many types of examinations and procedures.
Some examples include:
•x-ray radiography (to find orthopedic
damage, tumors, pneumonias, foreign objects, etc);
•mammography (to image the internal structures
of breasts)
•CT (computed tomography) (to produce
cross-sectional images of the body)
•fluoroscopy (to dynamically visualize the body
for example to see where to remove plaque from coronary
arteries or where to place stents to keep those arteries open)
•radiation therapy in cancer treatment.
Risks/Benefits
Medical
x-rays have increased the ability to detect disease or injury
early enough for a medical problem to be managed, treated, or
cured. When applied and performed appropriately, these
procedures can improve health and may even save a person’s life.
X-ray energy also has a small potential to harm living tissue.
The most significant risks are:
•a small increase in the possibility
that a person exposed to x-rays will develop cancer later in
life; and cataracts and skin burns only at very high levels of
radiation exposure and in only very few procedures.
The risk of developing cancer from radiation
exposure is generally small, and it depends on at least three
factors—the amount of radiation dose, the age at exposure, and
the sex of the person exposed:
•The lifetime risk of cancer increases
the larger the dose and the more x-ray exams a patient
undergoes.
•The lifetime risk of cancer is larger for a
patient who received x-rays at a younger age than for one who
receives them at an older age.
•Women are at a somewhat higher lifetime risk
than men for developing radiation-associated cancer after
receiving the same exposures at the same ages.
Information for Patients
You can
reduce your radiation risks and contribute to your successful
examination or procedure by:
•Keeping a “medical x-ray history”
with the names of your radiological exams or procedures, the
dates and places where you had them, and the physicians who
referred you for those exams;
•Making your current healthcare providers aware
of your medical x-ray history;
•Asking your healthcare provider about whether
or not alternatives to x-ray exams would allow the provider to
make a good assessment or provide appropriate treatment for
your medical situation;
•Providing interpreting physicians and referring
physicians with recent x-ray images and radiology reports; and
•Informing radiologists or x-ray technologists
in advance if you are pregnant or think you may be pregnant.
♥ We reduce exposure to radiation by keeping
our dental and medical X-rays to the minimum required. We keep a
record of our medical x-ray history and we make our current
healthcare providers aware of our medical x-ray history. We
discuss alternatives to x-ray exams with our healthcare
providers and we use alternatives whenever possible. We are
careful to notify our radiologists and x-ray technologists in
advance if we are pregnant or think we may be pregnant. If we
are pregnant we do not not have an x-ray unless it is absolutely
necessary.
Loud Noise
♥
"Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from
troubles" (Proverbs 21:23, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥We
insist that noise be controlled in our home and work place
because chronic exposure to loud noise can damage hearing. We
keep the volume down when listening to music and we wear
earplugs when using loud equipment to help protect our hearing.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders (Department of Health and Human Services
7/23/08), noise is all around you, from televisions and radios
to lawn mowers and washing machines. Harmful sounds - sounds
that are too loud or loud sounds over a long time - can damage
sensitive structures of the inner ear and cause noise-induced
hearing loss. More than 30 million people in the U.S. are
exposed to hazardous sound levels on a regular basis. Hazardous
sound levels are louder than 80 decibels, which isn't as loud as
traffic on a busy street. Listening to loud music, especially on
headphones, is a common cause of noise-induced hearing loss.
Keeping the volume down when listening to music and wearing
earplugs when using loud equipment can help protect your
hearing.
♥Jesus stated: "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does
them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man
building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the
rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently
against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded
on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man
who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against
which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And
the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:47-49; Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982)
♥ The world is a dangerous place. From
the moment of our birth until the moment of our death we live
with danger as a close companion. Danger can strike without much
notice from a natural disaster such as an earthquake, flood,
tornado, hurricane, or volcano. Accidental dangers happen even
more quickly such as in a car accident, getting hit by a car
when crossing the street, falling down a flight of stairs or off
a ladder, fire, or getting struck by lightening. The dangers of
war include loss of life or limb from bombing, gun shot, or
other military weapon. We are even in danger of choking when we
eat our food or of drowning when we take a bath or go for a
swim. Danger can find anyone at anytime night or day.
We can
and should protect ourselves from danger by taking precautions
or using common sense. Keeping emergency telephone numbers such
as 9-1-1, poison control, police, fire department, and ambulance
visible at all times, and taking a few minutes to talk with
children about what to do in an emergency can go a long way in
preventing family tragedies. We are much less likely to get into
a car accident if we drive at the speed limit and obey traffic
laws. We are not as likely to get hit by a car if we cross the
street at a crosswalk and look in all directions before crossing
the street. Sound construction can save our buildings, homes,
and structures from being demolished when an earthquake hits.
Wearing a life jacket when boating can save your life. Eating a
diet rich in antioxidants can reduce inflammation and reduce
your chance of having a heart attack or stroke. Yet even our
best efforts are not always good enough to protect us from
danger.
How can we feel safe in such an unsafe world? Where can we turn
for protection? Our only sure protection is Divine protection.
God is our only true refuge and strength. God is our only real
help when we are faced with danger, trouble, or
persecution. If we put our faith in God, we do not have to
fear earthquakes, floods, storms, volcanoes, accidents, war, or
evil. God is our only safety in the midst of perils. Only God
can protect us from every storm of life.
Don’t look for protection where it is not to be found. Do not
depend upon the military, war mongers, weapons, city walls,
charlatans, false healers, or those who would take away
your freedom and liberty in an exchange for your safety. Pay no
attention to those who would threaten you with infliction of
bodily harm or emotional distress. Run to God for your
protection and safety. Your peace is to be found only by
trusting in God.
It was God who protected Daniel when he was in the Lions’ den.
It was God who protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from
the fiery furnace. It was God who protected Mary and Joseph from
Herod. It was God who brought Jesus back from the dead so that
we might believe.
If you believe in the Lord and live by His commands, God will
protect you and you will know peace. Do not depend upon what is
undependable. Put on the shield of faith and trust only in God.
If you believe in God, He will protect you from every real
present danger and from every imagined danger as well. Call on
the name of God and you will have nothing to fear but fear
itself.
Falls
The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Centers For
Disease Control and Prevention; National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control, Division of Unintentional Injury
Prevention (9/22/14) provides the following data about
falls among older adults:
•One out of three older adults (those
aged 65 or older) falls each year but less than half talk to
their healthcare providers about it.
•Among older adults, falls are the leading cause of
both fatal and nonfatal injuries.
•In 2012, 2.4 million nonfatal falls among older
adults were treated in emergency departments and more than
722,000 of these patients were hospitalized.
•In 2012, the direct medical costs of falls,
adjusted for inflation, were $30 billion.
•Twenty to thirty percent of people who fall suffer
moderate to severe injuries such as lacerations, hip
fractures, and head traumas. These injuries can make it hard
to get around or live independently, and increase the risk of
early death.
•Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain
injuries (TBI).
•In 2000, 46% of fatal falls among older adults were
due to TBI.
•Most fractures among older adults are caused by
falls.The most common are fractures of the spine, hip,
forearm, leg, ankle, pelvis, upper arm, and hand.
•Many people who fall, even if they are not injured,
develop a fear of falling.This fear may cause them to limit
their activities, which leads to reduced mobility and loss of
physical fitness, and in turn increases their actual risk of
falling.
•The death rates from falls among older men and
women have risen sharply over the past decade.
•In 2011, about 22,900 older adults died from
unintentional fall injuries.
•Men are more likely than women to die from a fall.
After taking age into account, the fall death rate in 2011 was
41% higher for men than for women.
•Older whites are 2.7 times more likely to die from
falls as their black counterparts.
•Rates also differ by ethnicity. Older non-Hispanics
have higher fatal fall rates than Hispanics.
The U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services; Centers For Disease Control and
Prevention; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention (9/22/14)
provides the following tips for preventing falls among
older adults:
•Exercise regularly. It is important that
exercises focus on increasing leg strength and improving
balance, and that they get more challenging over time. Tai Chi
programs are especially good.
•Ask their doctor or pharmacist to review their
medicines—both prescription and over-the counter—to identify
medicines that may cause side effects or interactions such as
dizziness or drowsiness.
•Have their eyes checked by an eye doctor at least
once a year and update their eyeglasses to maximize their
vision. Consider getting a pair with single vision
distance lenses for some activities such as walking outside.
•Make their homes safer by reducing tripping
hazards, adding grab bars inside and outside the tub or shower
and next to the toilet, adding railings on both sides of
stairways, and improving the lighting in their homes.
•To lower their hip fracture risk, older adults can:
•Get adequate calcium and vitamin D—from food and/or
from supplements.
•Do weight bearing exercise.
•Get screened and, if needed, treated for
osteoporosis.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services; Centers For Disease Control and Prevention; National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of
Unintentional Injury Prevention (4/12/12) provides the following
facts about falls among children:
•Falls are the leading cause of
non-fatal injuries for all children ages 0 to 19. Every day,
approximately 8,000 children are treated in U.S. emergency
rooms for fall-related injuries. This adds up to almost 2.8
million children each year.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services; Centers For Disease Control and Prevention; National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of
Unintentional Injury Prevention (4/12/12) provides the following
tips to prevent children from falls:
•Play safely. Falls on the
playground are a common cause of injury. Check to make sure
that the surfaces under playground equipment are safe, soft,
and well- maintained (such as wood chips or sand, not dirt or
grass).
•Make your home safer. Use home safety devices, such as
guards on windows that are above ground level, stair gates,
and guard rails. These devices can help keep a busy, active
child from taking a dangerous tumble.
•Keep sports safe. Make sure your child wears
protective gear during sports and recreation. For example,
when in-line skating, use wrist guards, knee and elbow
pads, and a helmet.
•Supervision is key. Supervise young children at all
times around fall hazards, such as stairs and playground
equipment, whether you’re at home or out to play.
♥ To protect children from falling, we never
put a child's bed, crib, or furniture a child can climb on next
to a window. We keep window screens in good repair, and we
install window guards to prevent children from falling from a
window. When washing windows or shaking out rugs, we keep
children away from open windows.
We keep adequate lighting in halls and stairways, and we mark
the bottom and top step with a bright colored strip to avoid
falls on stairways. We do not allow children to play on stairs
or banisters, and we install a gate at the top and bottom of
each stairway to protect small children from falling until they
are able to climb stairs safely. We install handrails on all
stairways, and we use carpeting or stair-mats on stair surfaces
so stairs are nonskid. We use slippers on feet when walking up
or down stairs, and we keep clothing, toys, and books off of
steps to avoid tripping. We also fasten rugs firmly to the
floor, avoid highly waxed floors, keep extension cords safely
out of the way, wipe up spills promptly, replace worn carpets,
and keep mats at doorways to avoid tripping. We keep a
bath mat with a non skid bottom on the bathroom floor and we
install grab bars in the tub and shower to prevent falls related
to bathing. We use a sturdy light stepladder to avoid falling
when getting something from a high shelf instead of standing on
chairs or other furniture.
To protect against outdoor falls, we put bright lights
over all porches and walkways, we install handrails on both
sides of the stairs, we put ladders away on their sides in a
shed or garage, and we fix broken or chipped steps and walkways
as soon as possible. We also keep sidewalks and paths clear to
avoid tripping. For outside work, we use an unpainted wood
ladder of good quality. We use great care when using a metal
ladder near electric wires. We make certain that the footing for
the ladder is solid and not slippery. We do not place the top of
the ladder against any surface that can crumple. We never allow
children to climb on ladders or play near a ladder that someone
is using. We assist our older relatives with home safety to
protect them from unnecessary falls.
♥
"Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He
was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came
from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it
happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became
lame. His name was Mephibosheth" (2 Samuel 4:4, Holy Bible,
NKJV, 1982).
Poisoning
♥ The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Centers For
Disease Control and Prevention; National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control, Division of Unintentional Injury
Prevention (3/18/2008) provides the following facts about
poisoning:
•Unintentional poisoning is second
only to motor vehicle crashes as a leading cause of
unintentional injury death in the United States.
•Children, adolescents, and adults are all
affected by unintentional poisoning.
•Just over half the poison exposures reported to
poison control centers affect children younger than six years;
exposures in this group commonly involve cosmetics and
personal care products, cleaning substances, pain relievers,
topical medications, foreign bodies, cough and cold
preparations, and plants. Adult exposures often include pain
relievers, sedatives, or cleaning substances.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services; Centers For Disease Control and Prevention; National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control, (7/2/13) provides the
following safety tips to prevent poisoning (adapted from the
American Association of Poison Control Centers’ poison
prevention tips for children and adults):
Drugs and Medicines
•Only take prescription medications
that are prescribed to you by a healthcare professional.
Misusing or abusing prescription or over-the-counter
medications is not a “safe” alternative to illicit substance
abuse.
•Never take larger or more frequent doses of
your medications, particularly prescription pain medications,
to try to get faster or more powerful effects.
•Never share or sell your prescription drugs.
Keep all prescription medicines (especially prescription
painkillers, such as those containing methadone, hydrocodone,
or oxycodone), over-the-counter medicines (including pain or
fever relievers and cough and cold medicines), vitamins and
herbals in a safe place that can only be reached by people who
take or give them.
•Follow directions on the label when you give or
take medicines. Read all warning labels. Some medicines cannot
be taken safely when you take other medicines or drink
alcohol.
•Turn on a light when you give or take medicines
at night so that you know you have the correct amount of the
right medicine.
•Keep medicines in their original bottles or
containers.
•Monitor the use of medicines prescribed for
children and teenagers, such as medicines for attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
•Dispose of unused, unneeded, or expired
prescription drugs.
•Participate in National Drug Take Back days
recognized by the Drug Enforcement Administration or local
take back programs in your community.
Household Chemicals and Carbon Monoxide
•Always read the label before using a
product that may be poisonous.
•Keep chemical products in their original
bottles or containers. Do not use food containers such as
cups, bottles, or jars to store chemical products such as
cleaning solutions or beauty products.
•Never mix household products together. For
example, mixing bleach and ammonia can result in toxic gases.
•Wear protective clothing (gloves, long sleeves,
long pants, socks, shoes) if you spray pesticides or other
chemicals.
•Turn on the fan and open windows when using
chemical products such as household cleaners.
Keep Young Children Safe from Poisoning
•Put the poison help number,
1-800-222-1222, on or near every home telephone and save it on
your cell phone. The line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.
•Store all medicines and household products up
and away and out of sight in a cabinet where a child cannot
reach them.
•When you are taking or giving medicines or are
using household products:
•Do not put your next dose on the counter or
table where children can reach them—it only takes seconds for
a child to get them.
•If you have to do something else while taking
medicine, such as answer the phone, take any young children
with you.
•Secure the child safety cap completely every
time you use a medicine.
•After using them, do not leave medicines or
household products out. As soon as you are done with
them, put them away and out of sight in a cabinet where
a child cannot reach them.
•Be aware of any legal or illegal drugs that
guests may bring into your home. Ask guests to store drugs
where children cannot find them. Children can easily get
into pillboxes, purses, backpacks, or coat pockets.
•Do not call medicine "candy."
•Identify poisonous plants in your house and
yard and place them out of reach of children or remove them.
What to do if a poisoning occurs
•Remain calm.
•Call 911 if you have a poison emergency and the
victim has collapsed or is not breathing. If the victim is
awake and alert, dial 1-800-222-1222. Try to have this
information ready:
•the victim’s age and weight
•the container or bottle of the poison if
available
•the time of the poison exposure
•the address where the poisoning occurred
•Stay on the phone and follow the instructions
from the emergency operator or poison control center.
♥
"...It is an unruly evil, full of evil poison" (James 3:8, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥We
read the labels of the products we use in our home so we know
what products in our home are poisons. If the label has the
words "Caution," "Warning," "Poison," or "Danger," we keep the
product out of the reach of children and we lock the product
away. We follow the directions on the label when using a
dangerous product.
We
prevent poisoning by drugs and medications by using the
following precautions: we follow the directions for use; we
carefully measure doses and track medicine given/received; we
never refer to medication as candy to children; we never remove
medications from their original containers and transfer them to
unlabeled or mislabeled receptacles; we keep original labels
intact; we inspect the label or directions several times before
taking any drug or giving it to a child; we discard remaining,
unused medicine when an illness ends for which it was
prescribed; we insist upon "childproof" caps; we keep all drugs
away from small children by locking cabinets that contain
medications; we take all medicines and medical supplies out of
purses, pockets, and drawers and put them in a cabinet with a
child safety lock; and we keep each family member's medicines in
a separate place, so they don't get mixed up.
We
prevent poisoning by household chemicals, such as cosmetics,
drain openers, toilet bowl cleaners, floor and wall cleaners,
furniture polishes, soaps and detergents, ammonia, aerosols,
paint removers, car fluids, lawn and garden products, and
pesticides by using the following precautions: we store chemical
products securely in locked cabinets where children can not
reach them, we never re-bottle or repackage chemical products,
we clean up spills involving dangerous products as soon as they
happen, we close the lids and put all toxic products away
immediately after using them, we never store toxic products near
foods and drinks, we are especially careful with products that
have fruit shown on the label which could easily be confused as
being edible, we avoid overbuying of substances used only
occasionally, we never leave the room even for a minute while
using a household product that may be poisonous because a child
may ingest some of the product.
Carbon
Monoxide (CO) is a deadly gas that you cannot see or smell. The
gas collects when fuels are burned. We have a service person
check heaters, stoves and fireplaces every year to see that they
work well. We have a carbon monoxide (CO) detector near the
bedrooms to let us know if the gas level is too high. We push
the "test" button on the detector so everyone in the family will
know the sound it makes. We never run a motor or vehicle engine
inside an attached garage, as deadly carbon monoxide can enter
the home this way. We use portable generators and barbecue
grills outside only and not in the home or garage.
We avoid poisoning by plants and berries by using the following
precautions: we never eat any plant or berry not known to be
safe food; we keep all unknown plants and berries away from
small children; we learn to recognize poisonous plants and
berries; we eradicate poisonous plants and berries from our
backyards; and we teach our children never to eat any unknown
plant or berry in case they encounter poisonous plants in their
own backyard or be tempted by them on hiking trips.
We keep the number for the nearest poison control center posted
near every telephone. For questions about poisons we call the
poison control center at 1-800-222-1212. In case of an
accidental poisoning, we contact the poison control center at
1-800-222-1212, and we follow instructions as provided by the
poison control center. We call 9-1-1 if someone won't wake up,
is having trouble breathing or is having seizures, If the person
seems okay, but you think they may have taken poison call the
poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.
Fires and Burns
♥ The
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (9/17/2008) provides the
following facts about fire:
•The United States has one of the
highest fire death and injury rates in the world.
•Fire -- in the form of flames and smoke -- is
the second leading cause of accidental death in the home. More
than 4,000 people die each year in home fires.
•Every year, there are more than 500,000
residential fires serious enough to be reported to fire
departments.
•More than 90 percent of residential fire deaths
and injuries result from fires in one and two family houses
and apartments.
•Property losses exceed 4 billion dollars
annually, and the long term emotional damage to victims and
their loved ones is incalculable.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has
targeted the principal consumer products associated with fires,
namely home heating devices, upholstered furniture, bedding,
cigarette lighters, matches, and wearing apparel. The Commission
is participating in a special Congressional authorized study of
cigarette-ignited fires, which cause more deaths than any other
kind of fire. The Commission continues to push for extensive use
of smoke detectors. With the help of concerned consumers, the
number or residential fires has declined about 30 percent since
1980. Fire experts agree that one key to fewer fires is a
greater awareness of how accidents can be prevented. By spotting
these hazards and taking some simple precautions, many fires and
fire-related injuries can be prevented.
The
CPSC provides the following information about sources of fire,
early warning, and escape:
Sources of Fire
Supplemental Home Heating
•The use of supplemental room heaters,
such as wood and coal burning stoves, kerosene heaters, gas
space heaters and electrical heaters, has decreased, along
with the number of residential fires. Even though there has
been a decrease in fires associated with supplemental heaters,
it is important to remember that about 120,000 residential
fires still occur annually with the use of these heaters, or
about 22 percent of all residential fires. These fires kill
more than 600 people. Annually there are thousands of contact
burn injuries and hundreds of carbon monoxide poisonings.
Wood Stoves
Recommendations:
•Do not use wood burning stoves and
fireplaces unless they are properly installed and meet
building codes.
•Follow the label instructions on the stove
which recommends an inspection twice monthly. Have chimneys
inspected and cleaned by a professional chimney sweep.
Creosote is an unavoidable product of wood burning stoves.
Creosote builds up in chimney flues and can cause a chimney
fire. To cut down on creosote buildup, avoid smoldering fires.
•Use a code-specified or listed floor protector.
It should extend 18 inches beyond the stove on all sides. This
will reduce the possibility of the floor being ignited.
•Follow the instructions on the stove label for
proper location of the stove from combustible walls.
•Never burn trash in a stove because this could
over heat the stove. Gasoline and other flammable liquids
should never be used to start wood stove fires. Gasoline will
ignite and explode. Use coal only if designated as appropriate
by the manufacturer.
Kerosene Heaters
Recommendations:
•Check with your local fire marshal
regarding local and state codes and regulations for using a
kerosene heater.
•NEVER USE GASOLINE. Even small amounts of
gasoline mixed with kerosene can increase the risk of fire.
•Use properly labeled containers. It reduces the
likelihood of mistaking gasoline for kerosene.
•Place heater so it will not be knocked over or
trap you in case of fire.
•Use l-K kerosene because.grades other than l-K
contain much more sulfur and will increase sulfur dioxide
emissions, posing a possible health problem. If you buy
kerosene from a gasoline station make sure you and/or the
attendant are using the kerosene pump, not the gasoline pump.
•Never fill the heater while it is operating.
Always refuel the heater outdoors to prevent spillage on
floors and rugs which could later result in fire ignition.
•Keep the room in which the heater operates
ventilated (e.g. door open or the window ajar). This will
prevent an indoor air pollution problem and minimize health
problems. Kerosene heaters are not usually vented.
•Keep flammable liquids and fabrics away from an
open flame.
•Never try to move the heater or try to smother
the flames with a rug or a blanket if a flare-up occurs.
Activate the manual shut-off switch and call the fire
department. Moving the heater may increase the height of the
flames and cause leakage resulting in personal injury.
Gas-Fired Space Heaters
Recommendations:
•Follow the manufacturer's
instructions regarding where and how to use gas space heaters.
Unvented heaters should not be used in small enclosed areas,
especially bedrooms because of the potential for carbon
monoxide poisoning.
•Do not use a propane heater (LP) which has a
gas cylinder stored in the body of the heater. Its use is
prohibited in most states and localities in the United States.
•Follow the manufacturer's instructions for
lighting the pilot. Gas vapors may accumulate and ignite
explosively, burning your hand or face.
•Light matches, if needed for lighting the
pilot, before turning on the gas to prevent gas buildup.
•Do not operate a vented style heater unvented.
It could allow combustion products, including carbon monoxide,
to reach dangerous levels which will result in illness and
death.
Portable Electric Heaters
The
Commission estimates that half the deaths and one-third of the
injuries resulting from electric heater fires occurred at night
when family members were asleep and the heater unattended. The
Commission is also concerned about the use of power or extension
cords which can be too small to supply the amount of current
required by the typical portable electric heater.
Recommendations:
•Operate heater away from combustible
materials. Do not place heaters where towels or the like could
fall on the appliance and trigger a fire.
•Avoid using extension cords unless absolutely
necessary. If you must use an extension cord with your
electric heater, make sure it is marked with a power rating at
least as high as that of the heater itself. Keep the cord
stretched out. Do not permit the cord to become buried under
carpeting or rugs. Do not place anything on top of the cord.
•Never place heaters on cabinets, tables,
furniture or the like. Never use heaters to dry wearing
apparel or shoes.
Cooking Equipment
Cooking
equipment is estimated to be associated with more than 100,000
fires annually, and almost 400 deaths, and 5,000 injuries. Gas
cooking equipment accounts for about 30,000 fires, and electric
cooking equipment for about 55,000 fires.
Recommendations:
•Never place or store pot holders,
plastic utensils, towels and other non-cooking equipment on or
near the range because these items can be ignited.
•Roll up or fasten long loose sleeves with pins
or elastic bands while cooking. Do not reach across a range
while cooking. Long loose sleeves are more likely to catch on
fire than are short sleeves. Long loose sleeves are also more
apt to catch on pot handles, overturning pots and pans and
cause scalds.
•Do not place candy or cookies over top of
ranges. This will reduce the attraction kids may have for
climbing on cooking equipment, thus reducing the possibility
of their clothing catching fire.
•Keep constant vigilance on any cooking that is
required above the"keep warm" setting.
Cigarette Lighters and Matches
Each
year more than 200 deaths are associated with fires started by
cigarette lighters. About two thirds of these result from
children playing with lighters. Most of the victims are under
five years old.
Recommendations:
•Keep lighters and matches out of
sight and out of the reach of children. Children as young as
two years old are capable of lighting cigarette lighters and
matches.
•Never encourage or allow a child to play with a
lighter or to think of it as a toy. Do not use it as a source
of amusement for a child. Once their curiosity is aroused,
children may seek out a lighter and try to light it.
•Always check to see that cigarettes are
extinguished before emptying ashtrays. Stubs that are still
burning can ignite trash.
Materials That Burn
Your
home is filled with materials and products that will burn if
ignited. Upholstered furniture, clothing, drapery fabrics, and
liquids such as gasoline and volatile solvents are involved in
many injury-causing fires each year. Most of these fires could
be prevented.
Upholstered Furniture
Recommendations:
•Look for furniture designed to reduce
the likelihood of furniture fire from cigarettes. Much of the
furniture manufactured today has significantly greater
resistance to ignition by cigarettes than upholstered
furniture manufactured 10 to 15 years ago. This is
particularly true of furniture manufactured to comply with the
requirements of the Upholstered Furniture Action Council's
(UFAC) Voluntary Action Program. Such upholstered furniture
may be identified by the gold colored tag on the furniture
item. The legend on the front of the tag in red letters states
"Important Consumer Safety Information from UFAC."
•Always check the furniture where smokers have
been sitting for improperly discarded smoking materials. Ashes
and lighted cigarettes can fall unnoticed behind or between
cushions or under furniture.
•Do not place or leave ashtrays on the arms of
chairs where they can be knocked off.
•Look for fabrics made predominantly from
thermo-plastic fibers (nylon, polyester, acrylic, olefin)
because they resist ignition by burning cigarettes better than
cellulosic fabrics (rayon or cotton). In general, the higher
the thermoplastic content, the greater the resistance to
cigarette ignition.
Mattresses and Bedding
Smoldering fires in mattresses and bedding materials caused by
cigarettes are a major cause of deaths in residential fires.
Recommendations:
•DO NOT smoke in bed. Smoking in bed
is a major cause of accidental fire deaths in homes.
•Locate heaters or other fire sources three feet
from the bed to prevent the bed catching on fire.
•Consider replacing your old mattress with a new
one if you are a smoker. Mattresses manufactured since 1973
are required to resist cigarette ignition.
Wearing Apparel
Most
fibers used in clothing can burn, some more quickly than others.
A significant number of clothing fires occur in the over 65 age
group principally from nightwear (robes, pajamas,
nightgowns). The severity of apparel burns is high.
Hospital stays average over one month.
Small open flames, including matches, cigarette lighters, and
candles are the major sources of clothing ignition. These are
followed by ranges, open fires and space heaters. The most
commonly worn garments that are associated with clothing
ignition injuries are pajamas, nightgowns, robes,
shirts/blouses, pants/slacks and dresses.
Recommendations:
•Consider purchasing fabrics such as
100% polyester, nylon, wool and silk that are difficult to
ignite and tend to self extinguish.
•Consider the flammability of certain fabrics
containing cotton, cotton/polyester blends, rayon, and
acrylic. These are relatively easy to ignite and burn rapidly.
•Look at fabric construction. It also affects
ignitability. Tight weaves or knits and fabrics without a
fuzzy or napped surface are less likely to ignite and burn
rapidly than open knits or weaves, or fabrics with brushed or
piled surfaces.
•Consider purchasing garments that can be
removed without having to pull them over the head. Clothes
that are easily removed can help prevent serious burns. If a
garment can be quickly stripped off when it catches fire,
injury will be far less severe or avoided altogether.
•Follow manufacturer's care and cleaning
instructions on products labeled "flame resistant" to ensure
that their flame resistant properties are maintained.
Flammable Liquids
One of
the major causes of household fires is flammable liquids. These
include gasoline, acetone benzene, lacquer thinner, alcohol,
turpentine, contact cements, paint thinner, kerosene, and
charcoal lighter fluid. The most dangerous of all is gasoline.
Recommendation:
•Take extra precautions in storing and
using flammable liquids, such as gasoline, paint thinners,
etc. They produce invisible explosive vapors that can ignite
by a small spark at considerable distances from the flammable
substance. Store outside the house.
Early Warning and Escape
Many
fire deaths and fire injuries are actually caused by smoke and
gases. Victims inhale smoke and poisonous gases that rise ahead
of the flames. Survival depends on being warned as early as
possible and having an escape plan.
Recommendations:
•Purchase a smoke detector if you do
not have one. Smoke detectors are inexpensive and are required
by law in many localities. Check local codes and regulations
before you buy your smoke detector because some codes require
specific types of detectors. They provide an early warning
which is critical because the longer the delay, the deadlier
the consequences.
•Read the instructions that come with the
detector for advice on the best place to install it. As a
minimum detectors should be located near bedrooms and one on
every floor.
•Follow the manufacturer's instructions for
proper maintenance. Smoke detectors can save lives, but only
if properly installed and maintained.
•Never disconnect a detector. Consider
relocating the detector rather than disconnecting it if it is
subject to nuisance alarms, e.g. from cooking.
•Replace the battery annually, or when a
"chirping" sound is heard.
•Follow the manufacturer's instructions about
cleaning your detector. Excessive dust, grease or other
material in the detector may cause it to operate abnormally.
Vacuum the grill work of your detector.
Escape Plan
Planning ahead, rehearsing, thinking, and acting clearly are
keys to surviving a fire. How prepared are you?
Recommendations:
•Establish advanced family planning
for escape. It is an important partner with smoke detectors
and it will prepare you for a fire emergency.
•Include small children as a part of the discussion and
rehearsal. It is especially important to make sure they
understand that they must escape; they can't hide from fire
under a bed or in a closet.
•Your life and that of your family can be saved by foresight,
planning, discussing and rehearsal.
♥ Fire safety and survival begin with
everyone in a household being prepared. We purchase fire
resistant clothing and home furnishings as much as possible when
shopping to reduce the chance of ignition. If we must smoke, we
use "fire-safe" cigarettes and we smoke outside. We use large
deep ashtrays on sturdy surfaces like a table. We douse
cigarette and cigar butts with water before dumping them in the
trash. We never smoke in bed due to the danger of falling asleep
and starting a fire. We never leave burning candles unattended.
We do not allow children to keep candles or incense in their
rooms. We always use stable candle holders made of material that
won't catch fire, such as metal or glass. We blow out candles
when adults leave the room. We store lighters and matches safely
in a locked cabinet out of the sight and reach of children. We
carefully supervise small children and never leave them alone
because it takes only a few seconds to start a deadly fire. It
is not enough to teach children not to play with fire. If a
child's clothing should catch on fire, we don't allow the child
to run; we help the child to fall to the floor, roll with arms
folded on the chest and face protected, and we use a
nonflammable heavy blanket or rug to envelop the victim to
smother the fire unless enough water is at hand to extinguish
the fire. We teach all family members to "Stop, Drop and Roll"
if clothes catch fire.
We cap unused electric wall outlets to prevent children from
inserting objects into them. We unplug an extension cord from
the wall when it is disconnected from the appliance. We avoid
plugging multiple extension cords into one receptacle, and we
replace frayed cords and broken plugs. We do not run electrical
cords over metal hooks, and we are cautious about running
electrical cords under carpeting.
When purchasing a space heater, we make sure the heater and its
cord bear a UL seal and that the extension cord is also heavy
duty. We keep space heaters at least three feet away from things
that can burn such as curtains, stacks of newspaper, or other
inflammable material. We purchase heaters that shut off
automatically if knocked over. We always turn off heaters when
leaving the room or going to bed. We do not use kerosene heaters
because they are unsafe and their use has been widely outlawed.
We keep fireplaces screened to prevent embers and sparks from
flying into the room, and we keep all flammable materials away
from the hearth area. We learn how to operate a damper to obtain
maximum effectiveness of a fireplace and to prevent filling the
room with smoke and carbon monoxide.We hire a service person to
inspect chimneys, fireplaces, wood and coal stoves and central
furnaces once a year and we have them cleaned out necessary.
To avoid starting a fire, we use electrical equipment properly
and we do not plug in too many appliances at once. If a fuse
blows, we determine the cause of the blown fuse, and we call an
electrician if the cause cannot be found. We never use a coin as
a temporary measure. If a hot spot is discovered in the wall and
there is no heating or plumbing line running in that location,
we suspect an electrical problem and call an electrician.
When purchasing a kitchen range, we make sure it bears the seal
of the American Gas Association, or for electrical ranges, the
UL seal. We always keep gas burners clean and free from spilled
food. We have the burners adjusted by a professional if the
flame is yellow and flickering instead of blue and upright. We
never disregard the smell of gas; if the odor is strong, we open
the windows, get out of the house, and call the gas company from
a neighbor's telephone. On the way out, we do not turn on any
switches, pull out electric plugs, or light a match due to the
danger of an explosion.
To prevent fires caused by cooking, we always stay in the
kitchen while cooking. We keep things that can burn, such as
dishtowels, paper or plastic bags, and curtains at least three
feet away from the range top. Before cooking, we roll up sleeves
and use oven mitts. If food catches on fire during cooking, we
turn off the stove or oven and then try to extinguish the fire
with a fire extinguisher or by dropping a pot lid, baking soda,
or salt onto the fire. We never use water on burning grease or
oil because it will spread the fire. If the fire spreads, we get
out quick and call 9-1-1 from the neighbor's home to request
assistance from the fire department.
To prevent scalds from accidental spills while cooking, we turn
the handles' of the pans around so the handles’ face the rear of
the stove and do not protrude. In the bathroom, we never leave a
small child, elderly, or infirm person alone in a bathtub even
for a few seconds because he or she could turn on the hot water
tap and be scalded.
We never store flammable materials, such as oils, paints, or
paint thinners under a stairway or in a closet. Instead, we keep
combustible materials outside the home in a safe place with a
lock. We close the lid on all dangerous products and put them
away after using them. We keep basements, attics, and garages
orderly, and we keep our home free of firetraps, such as old
newspapers, magazines, rubbish, and debris. We use wall shelves,
racks, and storage devices in basements, attics, and garages for
as many implements as possible, and we keep garage, basement,
and attic doors locked when not in use. We never store gasoline
inside or outside the home. If gasoline is essential as a fuel
for a power mower, we do not buy more than the immediate use
requires. We never smoke in the vicinity of gasoline powered
equipment due to the danger of an explosion.
To prevent burns while grilling, we use a long fork or tong,
heat-proof gloves, and an apron. We never use gasoline or other
explosive flammable fluids to start a charcoal fire in an
outdoor grill. We keep grills at least three feet away from
other objects, including the house and any shrubs or bushes. We
never leave a barbecue grill unattended while in use.
We keep a fire extinguisher with a UL or FM label with
instructions for use on each floor of the home, and we check the
dial on the equipment periodically to be certain that it still
has sufficient pressure to be useful in an emergency. We learn
how and when to use a fire extinguisher. For additional fire
prevention and control, we install fire and smoke detectors on
every level of the home inside or near every bedroom and we test
the equipment monthly to make sure they work. We put new
batteries in the smoke alarms once a year. For best detection
and notification protection, we install both ionization and
photoelectric type smoke alarms. Some models provide dual
coverage. The type will be printed on the box or package. We
consider having a home fire sprinkler system installed in a new
home or during remodeling. We make a fire escape plan for our
family to use in a fire or smoke emergency that includes a
method of escape for each member of the household and a
designated place outside the house for family members to meet,
and we practice the plan at least twice each year. We post fire
instructions and emergency telephone numbers in clear view of
children and adults near the telephone. If a small home fire
cannot be put out quickly with water or fire extinguishers, we
get out as fast as possible, and we make sure that everybody
else in the house gets out too. We do not stop to collect
personal belongings. If the exit is more than a few steps away,
we crawl instead of walking or running to avoid asphyxiation
from carbon monoxide and smoke poisoning. Once we get out of the
home, we stay out and do not go back inside for any reason. We
call 9-1-1 from a neighbor's phone to request assistance from
the fire department.
♥"above
all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one" (Ephesians 6:16,
Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
Firearms
♥ The
National SAFE KIDS Campaign (NSKC) (Unintentional Firearm Injury
Fact Sheet. Washington (DC): NSKC, 2004.) provides important
information and facts about unintentional firearm injury as
follows:
Unintentional shootings account for nearly 20 percent of all
firearm-related fatalities among children ages 14 and under,
compared with 3 percent for the entire U.S. population.
Americans possess nearly 200 million firearms, including 65
million handguns. Approximately one-third of families with
children (representing more than 22 million children in 11
million homes) keep at least one gun in the home. Gun owners
keep firearms in the home for hunting and recreation (60
percent) or for protection and crime prevention (40 percent).
Guns in the home for protection are more likely to be handguns,
found in a home with children, and stored loaded and unlocked.
Exposure to guns and access to a loaded firearm increase the
risk of unintentional firearm-related death and injury to
children. Unrealistic perceptions of children's capabilities and
behavioral tendencies with regard to guns are common. These
include misunderstanding a child's ability to gain access to and
fire a gun, distinguish between real and toy guns, make good
judgments about handling a gun and consistently follow rules
about gun safety. Promoting the safe storage of firearms in the
home and reducing their availability and accessibility are
important steps in preventing unintentional firearm-related
death and injury among children.
Firearm deaths and injuries
•In 2001, 72 children ages 14 and
under died from unintentional firearm-related injuries.
Children ages 10 to 14 accounted for 54 percent of these
deaths.
•In 2002, more than 800 children ages 14 and
under were treated in hospital emergency rooms for
unintentional firearm-related injuries; 35 percent of these
injuries were severe enough to require hospitalization.
•The unintentional firearm injury death rate
among children ages 14 and under in the United States is nine
times higher than in 25 other industrialized countries
combined.
•In 2002, nearly 8,500 children ages 14 and
under were treated in hospital emergency rooms for
unintentional non-powder gun-related injuries (e.g., BB guns,
pellet guns).
When and Where Firearm Deaths and Injuries
Occur
•Nearly all childhood unintentional
shooting deaths occur in or around the home. Fifty percent
occur in the home of the victim and nearly 40 percent occur in
the home of a friend or relative. Firearm ownership in the
home (especially a firearm kept loaded and unlocked) is
associated with an increased risk of unintentional firearm
fatalities among children.
•Most childhood unintentional shooting deaths involve guns
that have been kept loaded and accessible to children and
occur when children play with loaded guns. In one recent study
of parents of children ages 4 to 12, more than half of
gun-owning parents reported storing a firearm loaded or
unlocked in their home.
•An estimated 3.3 million children in the United States live
in households with firearms that are always or sometimes kept
loaded and unlocked.
•Unintentional shootings among children most often occur when
children are unsupervised and out of school. These shootings
tend to occur in the late afternoon (peaking between 4 p.m.
and 5 p.m.), during the weekend and during the summer months
(June to August) and the holiday season (November to
December).
•More than 70 percent of unintentional firearm shootings
involve handguns.
•Rural areas have higher rates of firearm ownership and
unintentional firearm-related deaths and injuries than urban
and suburban areas. Shootings in rural areas are more likely
to occur outdoors and with a shotgun or rifle; shootings in
urban areas are more likely to occur indoors and with a
handgun.
Who is at Risk
•Male children are far more likely to
be injured and die from unintentional shootings than female
children. Of those children ages 14 and under who are killed
from an unintentional shooting, 85 percent are male.
•Children living in the South have an
unintentional shooting death rate that is seven times that of
children living in the Northeast.
•Nearly two-thirds of parents with school-age
children who keep a gun in the home believe that the firearm
is safe from their children. However, one study found that
when a gun was in the home, 75 to 80 percent of first and
second graders knew where the gun was kept.
•Before age 8, few children can reliably
distinguish between real and toy guns or fully understand the
consequences of their actions. A recent study found that half
of boys ages 8 to 12 who found a real handgun were unsure
whether or not it was a toy.
•Children as young as age 3 are strong enough to
pull the trigger of many of the handguns available in the
United States.
•According to a recent study in a large
metropolitan area, child access was reported as a contributing
cause of 14 percent of all unintentional shootings.
•In a recent controlled experimental study, more
than 90 percent of children who found and handled a gun or
pulled the trigger reported previously having some type of
firearm safety instruction.
Firearm Prevention Effectiveness
•Declines in child firearm- and
BB/pellet gun-related injury rates during the 1990s coincided
with increased prevention efforts, including legislation and
education, aimed at reducing unsupervised access to guns by
children.
•Two safety devices — gun locks and load
indicators — could prevent more than 30 percent of all
unintentional firearm deaths.
•Product design modifications can prevent
unintentional firearm death and injury. Every unintentional
shooting in which a child age 5 and under shot and killed
himself or another could have been prevented by a safety
device.
Firearm Laws and Regulations
•In October 1997, Massachusetts became
the first state to issue consumer product safety regulations
for guns by establishing safety standards for all handguns
made or sold in the state. California and New York have passed
similar regulations.
•At least 18 states have enacted child access
prevention (CAP) laws, which may hold adults criminally liable
for failure to either store loaded firearms in a place
inaccessible to children or use safety devices to lock guns.
•State safe-storage laws intended to prevent
child access to guns have reduced unintentional
firearm-related deaths among children ages 14 and under by an
average of 23 percent.
•Nine states and several local jurisdictions
have passed laws or ordinances requiring a gun lock to be sold
with every handgun.
•A national gun policy survey found that 68
percent of Americans endorse government regulation of the
safety design of guns and 88 percent support laws requiring
all new handguns to be childproofed.
Health Care Costs and Savings
•The total annual cost of
unintentional firearm-related deaths and injuries among
children ages 14 and under is more than $1.2 billion. Children
ages 5 to 14 account for more than $1 billion, or 83 percent,
of these costs.
•Among children ages 14 and under, unintentional
firearm-related injuries account for half of the total cost of
all firearm injuries, which include homicide, suicide and
unintentional firearm injuries.
•Hospital treatment for a firearm-related injury
averages between $7,000 and more than $15,000 per case.
Prevention Tips
•Children should not have access to
firearms. A gun in the home can be a danger to children.
Parents should seriously weigh the risks of keeping a gun in
the home.
•Gun owners should always store firearms
(including BB or pellet guns) unloaded and locked up, out of
reach of children. Ammunition should be locked in a separate
location, also out of reach of children. Quality safety
devices such as gun locks, lock boxes or gun safes should be
used for every gun kept in the home. Keep gun storage keys and
lock combinations hidden in a separate location.
•Parents should talk to children about the
dangers of guns, teach children never to touch or play with
guns, and teach them to tell an adult if they find a gun.
•Parents should check with neighbors, friends or
relatives — or adults in any other homes where children may
visit — to ensure they follow safe storage practices if
firearms are in their homes.
♥ To protect against fatal accidents, we never leave
loaded or unloaded firearms around the house. If for some
compelling reason a gun must be kept, we place the unloaded gun
in a locked drawer or cabinet with the key kept on the person of
the owner. We make sure all guns are unloaded before being
brought into the home and locked up. We lock ammunition for a
gun in a separate location that is also out of the reach of
children. We use quality safety devices for every gun that is
kept in the home. If a gun must be handled, we check the firing
chamber for a bullet to see if the gun is loaded, and we never
point a gun at anyone or pull the trigger. We prohibit children
from playing with toy pistols, cap pistols, BB guns, real
pistols, rifles, or shotguns to protect them from accidental
shooting. We talk to our children about the dangers of guns and
we teach them never to touch or play with guns and to tell an
adult if they should find a gun. We teach our children to treat
every gun as if the gun were loaded. We check with adults in any
home where our children may visit to ensure they follow safe
storage practices if firearms are kept in their homes. If we
must keep and handle a gun we learn how to handle the firearm
safely.
♥"For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for
pulling down strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4, Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
Toys
♥
It can be difficult at times for parents to know which toys are
safe and appropriate and which toys are not. To help parents
make those choices, the following guidelines are recommended by
the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,
Administration for Children & Families, Office of Head
Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center
(8/27/14):
Choosing Safe and Appropriate Toys
Buying Toys
•Choose toys with care. Keep in mind
the child's age, interests and skill level.
•Look for quality design and construction in all
toys for all ages.
•Make sure that all directions or instructions
are clear - to you, and, when appropriate, to the child.
Plastic wrappings on toys should be discarded at once before
they become deadly playthings.
•Be a label reader. Look for and heed age
recommendations, such as "Not recommended for children under
three." Look for other safety labels including: "Flame
retardant/Flame resistant" on fabric products and
"Washable/hygienic materials" on stuffed toys and dolls.
Maintaining Toys
•Check all toys periodically for
breakage and potential hazards. A damaged or dangerous toy
should be thrown away or repaired immediately.
•Check edges on wooden toys that might have
become sharp -- surfaces covered with splinters should be
sanded smooth. When repainting toys and toy boxes, avoid using
leftover paint, unless purchased recently, since older paints
may contain more lead than new paint, which is regulated by
CPSC.
•Examine all outdoor toys regularly for rust or
weak parts that could become hazardous.
Storing Toys
•Teach children to put their toys
safely away on shelves or in a toy chest after playing to
prevent trips and falls.
•Toy boxes, too, should be checked for safety.
Use a toy chest that has a lid that will stay open in any
position to which it is raised, and will not fall unexpectedly
on a child. For extra safety, be sure there are ventilation
holes for fresh air. Watch for sharp edges that could cut and
hinges that could pinch or squeeze. See that toys used
outdoors are stored after play -- rain or dew can rust or
damage a variety of toys and toy parts creating hazards.
Sharp Edges
•New toys intended for children less
than eight years of age should, by regulation, be free of
sharp glass and metal edges.
•With use, however, older toys may break,
exposing cutting edges.
Small Parts
•Older toys can break to reveal parts
small enough to be swallowed or to become lodged in a child's
windpipe, ears or nose. The law bans small parts in new toys
intended for children under three. This includes removable
small eyes and noses on stuffed toys and dolls, and small,
removable squeakers on squeeze toys.
Loud Noises
•Toy caps and some noise-making guns
and other toys can produce sounds at noise levels that can
damage hearing. The law requires the following label on boxes
of caps producing noise above a certain level: "WARNING -- Do
not fire closer than one foot to the ear. Do not use indoors."
Caps producing noise that can injure a child's hearing are
banned.
Cords and Strings
•Toys with long strings or cords may
be dangerous for infants and very young children. The cords
may become wrapped around an infant's neck, causing
strangulation. Never hang toys with long strings, cords,
loops, or ribbons in cribs or playpens where children can
become entangled. Remove crib gyms from the crib when the
child can pull up on hands and knees; some children have
strangled when they fell across crib gyms stretched across the
crib.
Sharp Points
•Toys which have been broken may have
dangerous points or prongs. Stuffed toys may have wires inside
the toy which could cut or stab if exposed. A CPSC regulation
prohibits sharp points in new toys and other articles intended
for use by children under eight years of age.
Propelled Objects
•Projectiles -- guided missiles and
similar flying toys -- can be turned into weapons and can
injure eyes in particular. Children should never be permitted
to play with adult lawn darts or other hobby or sporting
equipment that have sharp points. Arrows or darts used by
children should have soft cork tips, rubber suction cups or
other protective tips intended to prevent injury. Check to be
sure the tips are secure. Avoid those dart guns or other toys
which might be capable of firing articles not intended for use
in the toy, such as pencils or nails.
All Toys are Not for All Children
•Keep toys designed for older children
out of the hands of little ones. Follow labels that give age
recommendations -- some toys are recommended for older
children because they may be hazardous in the hands of a
younger child. Teach older children to help keep their toys
away from younger brothers and sisters.
•Even balloons, when deflated or broken, can
choke or suffocate if young children try to swallow them. More
children have suffocated on deflated balloons and pieces of
broken balloons than on any other type of toy.
Electric Toys
•Electric toys that are improperly
constructed, wired or misused can shock or burn. Electric toys
must meet mandatory requirements for maximum surface
temperatures, electrical construction and prominent warning
labels. Electric toys with heating elements are recommended
only for children over eight years old. Children should be
taught to use electric toys properly, cautiously and under
adult supervision.
Infant Toys
•Infant toys, such as rattles, squeeze
toys, and teethers, should be large enough so that they cannot
enter and become lodged in an infant's throat.
The Responsibility of the Consumer Product
Safety Commission
•Under the Federal Hazardous
Substances Act and the Consumer Product Safety Act, the
Commission has set safety regulations for certain toys and
other children's articles. Manufacturers must design and
manufacture their products to meet these regulations so that
hazardous products are not sold.
Responsibility of Parents and Other Adults
•Protecting children from unsafe toys
is the responsibility of everyone. Careful toy selection and
proper supervision of children at play is still -- and always
will be -- the best way to protect children from toy-related
injuries. To report a product hazard or a product-related
injury, write to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,
Washington, D.C., 20207, or call the toll-free hotline:
1-800-638-2772. A teletypewriter for the deaf is available at
1-800-638-8270. For information visit www.cpsc.gov.
♥ "The streets of the city shall be full of
boys and girls playing in its streets" (Zechariah 8:5, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥In
Loving Family, we provide our children with safe play toys
appropriate for their particular age group. For small children,
we avoid purchasing toys that are flammable, toys that shoot
things, electrical toys, toys that contain lead, balloons that
can be choked on, toys with sharp pointed parts or edges, or
toys with small detachable parts that can be swallowed or put in
the ears or nose. We avoid toys for infants and small children
with cords that could cause choking or strangulation. We
frequently check our children's toys to make sure they are in
good repair, and we discard toys that are broken. We remove and
discard plastic wrapping and bags as soon as the toy is opened
to protect children from suffocation.We store adult games out of
the reach of children. We always supervise children closely, and
we do not permit younger children to play with toys designed for
older children or adults. We teach our children to put their
toys safely away on shelves or in a toy chest after playing to
prevent trips and falls.
Outdoor Play Equipment
♥ The
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC Document #323)
provides the following information about home playground safety:
•Each year, about 200,000 children are
treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for playground
equipment-related injuries - an estimated 148,000 of these
injuries involve public playground equipment and an estimated
51,000 involve home playground equipment. Also, about 15
children die each year as a result of playground
equipment-related incidents. Most of the injuries are the
result of falls. These are primarily falls to the ground below
the equipment, but falls from one piece of equipment to
another are also reported. Most of the deaths are due to
strangulation, though some are due to falls.
Use this simple checklist provided by the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to help make sure
your home playground is a safe place to play:
•Install and maintain a
shock-absorbing surface around the play equipment. Use at
least 9 inches of wood chips, mulch, or shredded rubber for
play equipment up to 7 feet high. If sand or pea gravel is
used, install at least a 9-inch layer for play equipment up to
5 feet high. Or, use surfacing mats made of safety-tested
rubber or rubber-like materials.
•Install protective surfacing at least 6 feet in
all directions from play equipment. For swings, be sure
surfacing extends, in back and front, twice the height of the
suspending bar.
•Never attach–or allow children to attach–ropes,
jump ropes, clotheslines, or pet leashes to play equipment;
children can strangle on these.
•Check for hardware, like open "S" hooks or
protruding bolt ends, which can be hazardous.
•Check for spaces that could trap children, such
as openings in guardrails or between ladder rungs; these
spaces should measure less than 3.5 inches or more than 9
inches.
•Make sure platforms and ramps have guardrails
to prevent falls.
•Check for sharp points or edges in equipment.
•Remove tripping hazards, like exposed concrete
footings, tree stumps, and rocks.
•Regularly check play equipment and surfacing to
make sure both are in good condition.
•Carefully supervise children on play equipment
to make sure they are safe.
♥We make certain that our children's outdoor
playground equipment is safe, sturdy, well maintained, clean,
and in good repair. We cover the ground under and around
playground equipment with a thick layer (9-12 inches) of mulch,
wood chips, or other safety material to protect children who
fall off of play equipment. We regularly check play equipment
and surfacing to make sure both are in good condition. We teach
our children and their visitors the proper use of play
equipment, and we supervise children during play.
Fireworks
♥To
avoid injury, we leave fireworks to professional fireworks
experts unless we have been trained in the safe use of
fireworks. We do not give our children sparklers to play with
unless we closely supervise the use of sparklers since sparks
can ignite clothing or produce eye and other burns.
♥"If
you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed and you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free...Most
assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of
sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a
son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you
shall be free indeed" (John 8:31-36, Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
In
Christ we have reason to celebrate our freedom and independence
and celebrate we shall each and every 4th of July!
The
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Department of
Health and Human Services, National Center For Injury Prevention
and Control, Division Of Unintentional Injury Prevention
(6/26/08) answers the following questions about fireworks
injuries:
How can fireworks injuries be prevented?
•The safest way to prevent
fireworks-related injuries is to leave fireworks displays to
trained professionals.
How big is the problem?
•In 2006, eleven people died and an
estimated 9,200 were treated in emergency departments for
fireworks-related injuries in the United States.
•An estimated 5% of fireworks-related injuries
in emergency departments required hospitalization.
Who is most at risk for fireworks-related
injuries?
•More than two-thirds of all
fireworks-related injuries in 2006 occurred between June 16
and July 16. During that time period: one out of every three
people injured were children under 15 years of age; about
three times as many males were injured as females; and young
people under twenty sustained nearly half (47%) of all
injuries from fireworks.
•People actively participating in
fireworks-related activities are more frequently and severely
injured than bystanders.
What kinds of injuries occur?
Between June 16 and July 16, 2006:
•The body parts most often injured
were hands (2,300 injuries), eyes (1,500 injuries), and the
head, face, and ear (1,400 injuries).
•More than half of the injuries were burns.
Burns were the most common injury to all body parts except the
eyes and head areas, where contusions, lacerations and foreign
bodies in the eye occurred more frequently.
•Fireworks can be associated with blindness,
third degree burns, and permanent scarring.
•Fireworks can also cause life-threatening
residential and motor vehicle fires.
What types of fireworks are associated with
most injuries?
Between June 16 and July 16, 2006:
•Firecrackers were associated with the
greatest number of estimated injuries at 1,300. There were
1,000 injuries associated with sparklers and 800 associated
with rockets.
•Sparklers accounted for one-third of the
injuries to children less than 5 years of age.
•Between 2000-2005, more than one-third of the
fireworks-related deaths involved professional devices that
were illegally sold to consumers.
How and why do these injuries occur?
•Availability: In spite of
federal regulations and varying state prohibitions, many types
of fireworks are still accessible to the public. Distributors
often sell fireworks near state borders, where laws
prohibiting sales on either side of the border may differ.
•Fireworks type: Among the various types
of fireworks, some of which are sold legally in some states,
bottle rockets can fly into peoples' faces and cause eye
injuries; sparklers can ignite clothing (sparklers burn at
more than 1,000°F); and firecrackers can injure the hands or
face if they explode at close range.
•Being too close: Injuries may result
from being too close to fireworks when they explode; for
example, when someone leans over to look more closely at a
firework that has been ignited, or when a misguided bottle
rocket hits a nearby person.
•Lack of physical coordination: Younger children often
lack the physical coordination to handle fireworks safely.
•Curiosity: Children are often
excited and curious around fireworks, which can increase their
chances of being injured (for example, when they re-examine a
firecracker dud that initially fails to ignite).
•Experimentation: Homemade fireworks (for
example, ones made of the powder from several firecrackers)
can lead to dangerous and unpredictable explosions.
What is the annual cost of fireworks-related
injuries?
•An estimated 2,200 reported structure
or vehicle fires were started by fireworks in 2004. These
fires resulted in $21 million in direct property damage.
What are the laws?
•Under the Federal Hazardous
Substances Act, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
prohibits the sale of the most dangerous types of fireworks
and the components intended to make them. The banned fireworks
include various large aerial devices, M-80s, quarter-sticks,
half-sticks and other large firecrackers. Any firecracker with
more than 50 milligrams of explosive powder and any aerial
firework with more than 130 milligrams of flash powder is
banned under federal law, as are mail order kits and
components designed to build these fireworks.
The National Council On Fireworks
Safety (11/14) provides the following tips on the safe and
responsible use of consumer fireworks to eliminate injuries:
•Parents and caretakers should always
closely supervise teens if they are using fireworks.
•Parents should not allow young children to
handle or use fireworks.
•Fireworks should only be used outdoors.
•Always have water ready if you are using
fireworks.
•Know your fireworks; Read the caution label
before igniting.
•Obey local laws. If fireworks are not legal
where you live, do not use them.
•Alcohol and fireworks do not mix. Save your
alcohol for after the show.
•Wear safety glasses whenever using fireworks.
•Only light one firework at a time.
•Never relight a “dud” firework. Wait 20
minutes and then soak it in a bucket of water.
•Avoid using homemade fireworks or illegal
explosives: They can kill you!
•Report illegal explosives, like M-80s and
quarter sticks, to the fire or police department.
•Lastly, soak spent fireworks with water before
placing them in an outdoor, fire resistant garbage can away
from buildings and flammable materials.
The National Council on Fireworks Safety (
6/18/2008) recommends that you only buy consumer fireworks
from a licensed store or stand. Never buy firework devices from
an individual’s house, or out of someone’s car. Such fireworks
are likely to be illegal explosives that can seriously injure
you.
Consumer fireworks regulated by the Consumer Product Safety
Commission are packaged in bright colors and have safety
warnings on the packaging. The packaging sets forth the country
of origin, which is normally China. Typical consumer fireworks
include fountains, cones, sparklers, fire crackers, bottle
rockets, roman candles, ground spinners and multi-shot products.
Illegal explosives are often not packaged and are wrapped with
plain brown paper. They are very unlikely to have any safety
warnings, or place of manufacture. Many of them are hand made in
illicit factories and other unsafe environments. They may go by
names such as M80, Quarter Stick or Cherry Bomb. If someone
approaches you to sell one of these illegal explosives, politely
decline and then call your local police department.
Consumer fireworks, if used in accordance with their
instructions, are very safe. Injuries from consumer fireworks
have shown a dramatic decrease over the past twenty years,
despite an astonishing increase in usage by consumers. Some form
of consumer fireworks are now allowed in 45 states, Puerto Rico
and the District of Columbia. “Many times consumers don’t
prepare for the evening’s fireworks display” says Ralph Apel,
President of the National Council on Fireworks Safety. “The
designated shooter should prepare a shooting area, assess how
many people will be watching the display and lay out a spectator
area that is far enough away from the shooting site. The shooter
should carefully read the label of each firework and understand
exactly what it will do. Preplanning makes for a safe and fun
backyard fireworks display.”
Sparklers
♥ The
National Council On Fireworks Safety (6/25/2008) provides
the following information on the safe use of sparklers:
Approximately 16% of all consumer fireworks injuries are caused
by sparklers burning hands and legs, with the majority of
sparkler injuries occurring to young children. In fact, sparkler
injuries accounted for 1/3 of all firework injuries to children
5 years or younger. These are injuries that would not have
occurred if there had been close adult supervision and if some
basic safety steps had been taken.
The National Council on Fireworks Safety offers these safety
steps for sparklers, in the hopes that sparkler injuries to
young children can be greatly reduced.
•Sparkles should ALWAYS be used under
close adult supervision.
•Always remain standing while using sparklers.
•Never hold a child in your arms while using
sparklers.
•Never hold, or light, more than one sparkler at
a time.
•Sparklers and bare feet can be a painful
combination. Always wear closed-toe shoes when using
sparklers.
•Sparkler wire and stick remain hot long after
the flame has gone out. Be sure to drop the spent sparklers
directly in a bucket of water.
•Never hand a lighted sparkler to another
person. Give them the unlit sparkler and then light it.
•Always stand at least 6 feet from another
person while using sparklers.
•Never throw sparklers.
•Show children how to hold sparklers away from
their body and at arm’s length.
•Teach children not to wave sparklers,
especially wooden stick sparklers, or run while holding
sparklers.
Sparklers have been a traditional means of
celebration for hundreds of years. Let’s teach our children how
to use them safely and help prevent needless injuries.
Pools and Water
♥
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC
Document #5097), an estimated 350 children under five years in
age drown each year in swimming pools, many in residential
pools. The Commission estimates that another 2,600 children
under age five are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year
following submersion incidents. Some of these submersions result
in permanent brain damage. The key to preventing these tragedies
is to have layers of protection. This includes placing barriers
around your pool to prevent access, using pool alarms, closely
supervising your child and being prepared in case of an
emergency.
Tips provided by the CPSC to prevent drowning include:
•placing a motor-powered barrier over
the pool when the pool is not in use;
•keep rescue equipment and a portable phone with
emergency numbers posted by the side of the pool; knowing
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be a lifesaver; for
above ground pools, steps and ladders to the pool should be
secured and locked or removed when the pool is not in use;
•if a child is missing, always look in the pool
first. Seconds count in preventing death or disability;
•pool alarms can be used as added
precaution--underwater pool alarms generally perform better;
use a remote alarm receiver so the alarm can be heard inside
the house or in other places away from the pool area;
•fences and walls should be at least 4 feet high
and installed completely around the pool; fence gates should
be self-closing and self-latching--the latch should be out of
a small child's reach;
•doors leading from the house to the pool should
be protected with alarms that produce a sound when a door is
unexpectedly opened
•watch your child closely at all times and make
sure the doors leading to the pool area are closed and locked
as young children can quickly slip away and into the pool.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
also indicates that diving injuries can result in quadriplegia
and paralysis below the neck to divers who hit the bottom or
side of a swimming pool.
CPSC states that divers should observe the following
precautions:
•never dive into above-ground
pools--they are too shallow; don't dive from the side of an
in-ground pool--enter the water feet first;
•dive only from the end of the diving board and
not from the sides;
•dive with your hands in front of you and always
steer up immediately upon entering the water to avoid hitting
the bottom or sides of the pool;
•don't dive if you have been using alcohol or
drugs because your reaction time may be too slow.
•improper use of pool slides presents the same
danger as improper diving techniques and you should slide down
feet first only and never slide down head first.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, /Department of Health and Human Services
(National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division
of Unintentional Injury Prevention (10/24/14) provides the
following important information to protect against injury in
or around natural water settings:
•Use U.S. Coast Guard approved life
jackets. This is important regardless of the distance to be
traveled, the size of the boat, or the swimming ability of
boaters; life jackets can reduce risk for weaker swimmers too.
•Know the meaning of and obey warnings
represented by colored beach flags. These may vary from one
beach to another.
•Watch for dangerous waves and signs of rip
currents. Some examples are water that is discolored and
choppy, foamy, or filled with debris and moving in a channel
away from shore.
•If you are caught in a rip current, swim
parallel to shore. Once free of the current, swim diagonally
toward shore.
♥ In Loving Family, we teach children to
float and swim before allowing them into a pool without an adult
also being in the pool with them. While swimming in a home pool,
we use the buddy system to protect against drowning, so someone
is constantly present to come to the rescue. We forbid horseplay
around the pool to prevent against slipping on a wet surface.
We keep
rescue devices at the pool side, such as a ring buoy or long
pole. We keep a portable phone by the side of the pool with
emergency numbers posted and we learn to use CPR in case of an
emergency. We never use radios and other electrical appliances
near the pool to protect against shock. We constantly supervise
children when they are in a home pool or bathtub of any kind
because a small child can drown in a few inches of water in just
a few seconds. If the doorbell or telephone rings when a child
is in a pool or tub, we remove the child from the water and from
the vicinity of the water. If our child is missing we always
look in the pool first since seconds count in preventing death
or disability.
We
enclose the home pool with an effective fence with a gate that
can be locked to prevent anyone from getting to the pool. We
never leave furniture near the fence that would enable a child
to climb over the fence. We install pool alarms and alarms on
doors that lead onto the pool. We keep toys away from the pool
when it is not in use because toys can attract young children
into the pool. We place a barrier over the pool when the pool is
not in use. When an above-ground pool is not in use we lock or
remove steps or ladders to the pool. We install adequate
lighting around the pool with the switch inside the house.
We
clearly mark the shallow and deep ends of a pool to indicate
safe jumping and diving areas. We make certain diving boards are
anchored firmly and stout enough to support a heavy diver
safely. We follow all regulations governing the minimum depth of
water in a pool under various heights of diving boards to
protect against diving accidents. We do not dive from the side
of an in-ground pool--we enter the water feet first. We
dive only from the end of a diving board and not from the sides.
We dive with our hands in front of us and we always steer up
upon entering the water to avoid hitting the bottom or sides of
the pool. We never dive into above-ground pools because they are
too shallow.
When
using a pool slide we slide down feet first only and we never
slide down head first. We teach our children how to use a pool
safely and how to dive safely before letting them into a pool.
We clean and repair the pool and pool equipment regularly. We
never drink alcohol or use drugs before using a pool or diving.
Work
♥We take an interest in our employment work surroundings by
joining the health and safety committee. We bring work hazards
to the attention of appropriate authorities, and we follow up
until hazards are properly dealt with. If personal protection
equipment is necessary for our job, such as safety shoes, safety
goggles and glasses, hard hats, gloves, ear plugs, etc., we use
the equipment properly and consistently. We know our rights, and
if necessary we complain to OSHA about work hazards without fear
of reprisal.
♥ "For
there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has
anything been kept secret but that it should come to light"
(Mark 4:22, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
The
U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (2002 OSHA Fact Sheet) provides the following
information about Job Safety and Health:
Why should everyone be concerned about job safety and
health?
Each year, approximately 6,000 employees in this country die
from workplace injuries while another 50,000 die from illnesses
caused by exposure to workplace hazards. In addition, 6 million
workers suffer non-fatal workplace injuries at an annual cost to
U.S. businesses of more than $125 billion. Effective job safety
and health add value to the workplace and help reduce worker
injuries and illnesses.
How does OSHA contribute to job safety and health?
Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,
(OSH Act), “to assure so far as possible every working man and
woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to
preserve our human resources.” Title 29 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), Parts 1902-1990, contains OSHA regulations
and standards. Some states have enacted occupational safety and
health laws and operate federally approved state plans. Such
states adopt and enforce state standards and regulations that
are at least as effective as those enacted under federal law.
Are all employees covered by the OSH Act?
The OSH Act covers all employees except workers who are
self-employed and public employees in state and local
governments. In states with OSHA-approved state plans, public
employees in state and local governments are covered by their
state’s OSHA-approved plan. Federal employees are covered under
the OSH Act’s federal employee occupational safety and health
programs, see 29 CFR Part 1960. United States Postal Service
employees, however, are subject to the same OSH Act coverage
provisions as are private sector employers. The OSH Act does not
apply to particular working conditions addressed by regulations
or standards affecting occupational safety or health that are
issued by federal agencies, other than OSHA, or by a state
atomic energy agency. Other federal agencies that have issued
requirements affecting job safety or health include the Mine
Safety and Health Administration and some agencies of the
Department of Transportation.
What are your responsibilities as an employer?
If you are an employer covered by the OSH Act, you must provide
your employees with jobs and a place of employment free from
recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause,
death or serious physical harm. Among other actions, you must
also comply with the OSHA statutory requirements, standards, and
regulations that, in part, require you to do the following:
•Provide well-maintained tools and
equipment, including appropriate personal protective
equipment;
•Provide medical examinations;
•Provide training required by OSHA standards;
•Report to OSHA within 8 hours accidents that
result in fatalities;
•Report to OSHA within 8 hours accidents that
result in the hospitalization of three or more employees;
•Keep records of work-related accidents,
injuries, illnesses—and their causes—and post annual summaries
for the required period of time. A number of specific
industries in the retail, service, finance, insurance, and
real estate sectors that are classified as low-hazard are
exempt from most requirements of the regulation, as are small
businesses with 10 or fewer employees (see 29 CFR Part 1904);
•Post prominently the OSHA poster (OSHA 3165)
informing employees of their rights and responsibilities;
•Provide employees access to their medical and
exposure records;
•Do not discriminate against employees who
exercise their rights under the OSH Act;
•Post OSHA citations and abatement verification
notices at or near the work-site;
•Abate cited violations within the prescribed
period; and
•Respond to survey requests for data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, OSHA, or a designee of either
agency.
What are your rights as an employer?
When
working with OSHA, you may do the following:
•Request identification from OSHA
compliance officers;
•Request an inspection warrant;
•Be advised by compliance officers of the reason
for an inspection;
•Have an opening and closing conference with
compliance officers;
•Accompany compliance officers on inspections;
•Request an informal conference after an
inspection;
•File a Notice of Contest to citations, proposed
penalties, or both;
•Apply for a variance from a standard’s
requirements under certain circumstances;
•Be assured of the confidentiality of trade
secrets; and
•Submit a written request to the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for information
on potentially toxic substances in your workplace.
What are your responsibilities as an
employee?
To help
prevent exposure to workplace safety and health hazards, you
must comply with all OSHA requirements that apply to your
actions and conduct.
What are your rights as an employee?
In your associations with OSHA and your employer, you have the
right, among other actions, to do the following:
•Review employer-provided OSHA
standards, regulations and requirements;
•Request information from your employer on
emergency procedures;
•Receive adequate safety and health training
when required by OSHA standards related to toxic substances
and any such procedures set forth in any emergency action plan
required by an OSHA standard;
•Ask the OSHA Area Director to investigate
hazardous conditions or violations of standards in your
workplace;
•Have your name withheld from your employer if
you file a complaint with OSHA;
•Be advised of OSHA actions regarding your
complaint, and have an informal review of any decision not to
inspect or to issue a citation;
•Have your employee representative accompany the
OSHA compliance officer on inspections;
•Observe any monitoring or measuring of toxic
substances or harmful physical agents and review any related
monitoring or medical records;
•Review at a reasonable time the Log of Work-
Related Injuries and Illnesses (OSHA 300) if your employer is
required to maintain it;
•Request a closing discussion following an
inspection;
•Object to the abatement period set in a
citation issued to your employer; and
•Seek safe and healthful working conditions
without your employer retaliating against you.
How can you get more information on safety
and health?
OSHA
has various publications, standards, technical assistance, and
compliance tools to help you, and offers extensive assistance
through workplace consultation, voluntary protection programs,
grants, strategic partnerships, state plans, training, and
education. OSHA’s Safety and Health Program Management
Guidelines (Federal Register 54:3904-3916, January 26, 1989)
detail elements critical to the development of a successful
safety and health management system. This and other information
are available on OSHA’s website.
•For one free copy of OSHA
publications, send a self-addressed mailing label to OSHA
Publications Office, P.O. Box 37535, Washington, DC
20013-7535; or send a request to our fax at (202) 693-2498, or
call us at (202) 693-1888.
•To order OSHA publications online at
www.osha.gov, go to Publications and follow the instructions
for ordering.
•To file a complaint by phone, report an
emergency, or get OSHA advice, assistance, or products,
contact your nearest OSHA office under the “U.S. Department of
Labor” listing in your phone book, or call toll-free at (800)
321-OSHA (6742). The teletypewriter (TTY) number is (877)
889-5627.
•To file a complaint online or obtain more
information on OSHA federal and state programs, visit OSHA’s
website.
Driving and Roads
♥
Medline Plus Health Topics (U.S. National Library of Medicine
and the National Institutes of Health; Department of Health and
Human Services, 9/22/2008) provides the following information
about motor vehicle safety:
About
every twelve minutes, someone in the U.S. dies from a motor
vehicle crash. Trying to prevent these crashes is one part of
motor vehicle safety. Here are some things you can do to be
safer on the road:
•Avoid distractions
•Don't drive after drinking alcohol or doing
drugs
•Don't drive when you are tired
•Don't speed
•Make sure your vehicle is safe and in working
order
•Use car seats for children
•Wear your seat belt
Some medicines and medical conditions, like
seizure disorders, make it harder for you to drive safely. If
you have one of these conditions or think that your medicine
impairs your driving, talk to your doctor.
♥"The
highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth
his way preserveth his soul" (Proverbs 16:17, Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
♥We
prevent highway fatalities by obeying traffic laws, using seat
belts rigorously, and by never driving while under the influence
of alcohol, drugs, or medications. We do not drive when
overtired. We use well-designed infant and child car seats for
children too young to use a seat belt. We drive defensively by
being prepared for drivers ahead to stop suddenly, for drivers
who cut in front of our path when changing lanes, for the driver
who enters an intersection on our right without stopping, and
for a pedestrian or child darting into the street. We do not
weave in and out of traffic, we keep our speed constant, and we
keep a safe distance behind the car in front of us (at least one
car length for every 10 mph of speed). We do not start up at a
green light until certain that the car approaching the cross
street will stop. When behind an erratic driver, we hang back,
so we do not hit the vehicle if it should stop suddenly. We
always check for obstacles and small children when backing up.
We keep our car in good working order with regular inspections
and by correcting problems as soon as they arise. In case of an
accident, we carry a first-aid kit in the car to manage minor
cuts and abrasions, and we always have fresh batteries, a
flashlight, and an emergency spotlight or flares to alert other
drivers in case of a breakdown or accident.
We never sit a child on our lap when driving. We teach our
children safety rules for the road by instructing them as
follows: to enter an automobile on the right side; to keep their
fingers away from car doors; to get out of a car after the
driver; to lock all doors before the car starts; to fasten all
safety restraints securely; to never toss objects inside a
moving car; to keep their hands off the controls and dashboard
of a car; to look in all directions before crossing a street; to
cross streets only at marked crosswalks or intersections; and
how to read traffic lights, highways signs, and signals. We
carefully explain to our children the dangers of running into
the street, running out from behind parked cars, and jaywalking.
We advocate for regulations that will require the automobile
industry to design seat belts that are comfortable to use and
that do not cause chronic neck, back, and shoulder pain.
Bicycles
♥With
gas prices increasing, many of us are riding bicycles more
frequently in an effort to save on gas money. Bicycle riding is
good exercise and it can be a fun activity to share with family
and friends. Please take time to learn about and practice
bicycle safety and to make certain that your children receive
instruction so your family can have a safe and enjoyable riding
experience. To avoid head injury all bicycle riders should be
sure to wear a helmet when they go out riding.
The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (DOT HS 808 763 reprinted
9/1998) provides the following Ten Smart Routes to Bicycle
Safety:
1. Protect Your Head. Wear A Helmet. Never
ride a bicycle without a helmet. The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHSTA) and the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) recommend that bicyclists wear a helmet
that complies with the CPSC standard. Bicycle helmets can reduce
head injuries by 85 percent. Select a helmet that fits snugly
and sits flat on the head. For children, use the extra
padding that comes with the helmet to ensure a proper fit. This
padding can be removed as the child’s head grows.
2.
Assure Bicycle Readiness. Make Sure Your Bicycle is Adjusted
Properly. Make sure you can stand over the
top tube of your bicycle. Adjust your bicycle to fit you (see
Owner’s Manual). Before using your bicycle, check to make sure
all parts are secure and working well. The handlebars should be
firmly in place and turn easily. Your wheels must be straight
and secure. Add a carrier to the back of your bicycle if you
need to carry things.
3. Stop It. Always Check Brakes Before Riding. Always
control your speed by using your brakes. If your bicycle has
hand brakes, apply the rear brake slightly before the front
brake. Always keep your brakes adjusted. If you cannot stop
quickly, adjust your brakes. Consult your Bicycle Owner’s Manual
or have a bicycle shop adjust the brakes. When your hand brake
levers are fully applied, they should not touch the handlebars.
Each brake shoe pad should wear evenly and never be separated
more than one eighth inch from the rim. Ride slowly in wet
weather and apply your brakes earlier – it takes more distance
to stop.
4.
See and Be Seen. Wear clothes that make you more
visible. Always wear neon, florescent, or other bright colors
when riding a bicycle.
5.
Avoid Biking At Night. It is far more
dangerous to bicycle at night than during the day. Most bicycles
are equipped for daylight use and need to be adapted for
nighttime use. If you must ride at night, you should do the
following:
•Ride with reflectors that meet CPSC’s
requirements. These should be permanently installed on
bicycles for daytime use also. If a carrier is added, make
sure the rear reflector remains visible.
•Add the brightest lights you can find to the
front and rear of your bicycle.
•Wear retro-reflective clothing or material –
not just white or florescent – especially on your ankles,
wrists, back, and helmet.
•Only ride in areas familiar to you. Brightly
lit streets are best. Always assume you are not seen by a
driver.
•Young children should NOT ride at night.
6. Stay Alert. Always Keep A Lookout
for Obstacles in Your Path. Stay alert at all
times. Watch out for potholes, cracks, expansion joints,
railroad tracks, wet leaves, drainage grates, or anything that
could make you fall. Before going around any object, scan ahead,
and behind you for a gap in traffic. Plan your move, signal your
intentions, and then do what you planned. If you are unsure, or
lack the skill to handle an especially rough area, pull off to
the right side of the road and walk your bicycle around the
rough area. Be especially careful in wet weather and when there
could be ice or frost on your path. Cross all railroad tracks at
a 90 degree angle and proceed slowly. Use special care on
bridges.
7.
Go With The Flow. The Safe Way is The RIGHT
Way. Ride on the right side in a straight
predictable path. Always go single file in the same direction as
other vehicles. Riding against traffic puts you where motorists
don’t expect you. They may not see you, and may pull across your
path, or turn into you. Young children, typically under the age
of nine, are not able to identify and adjust to many dangerous
traffic situations, and therefore, should not be allowed to ride
in the street unsupervised. Children who are permitted to ride
in the street without supervision should have the necessary
skills to safely follow the “rules of the road.”
8.
Check for Traffic. Always be Aware of The
Traffic Around You. Over 70 percent of car-bicycle
crashes occur at driveways or other intersections. Before you
enter any street or intersection, check for traffic. Always look
left-right-left, and walk your bicycle into the street to begin
your ride. If already in the street, always look behind you for
a break in traffic, then signal, before going left or right.
Watch for left or right turning traffic.
9. Learn Rules of The Road. Obey Traffic Laws. Bicycles
are considered vehicles. Bicyclists must obey the same rules as
motorists. Read your State drivers’ handbook, and learn and
follow all the traffic signs, laws, and rules for operating a
vehicle on the road. Always signal your moves. Be courteous to
pedestrians and other vehicle operators. Never wear headphones
while riding as they impair your ability to hear traffic. Become
familiar with the accommodations that are available for
bicyclists in your area. These include bicycle lanes and routes
as well as off road paths. Take advantage of these whenever
possible.
10. Don’t Flip Over Your Bicycle. Wheels Should Be Securely
Fastened. If your bicycle has quick release
wheels, it is your responsibility to make sure they are firmly
closed at all times and to use the safety retainer if there is
one. Check your wheels before every ride, after any fall, or
after transporting your bicycle. Read your Owner’s Manual for
instructions and follow them. If you are even slightly confused
about what “firmly closed” means, talk to your bicycle dealer
before you ride your bicycle.
The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission cautions us to remember to
read our bicycle owner’s manual thoroughly before operating our
bicycle and to consult our State Department of Motor Vehicles
for more information on safety and rules of the road.
In
Loving Family we follow the Ten Smart Routes to Bicycle Safety
provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
and the U.S. consumer Product Safety Commission. When riding a
bicycle we always wear a helmet to protect our head; assure
bicycle readiness by making sure our bicycle is adjusted
properly; stop and check our brakes before riding; see and be
seen; avoid biking at night; stay alert and always keep
a lookout for obstacles in our path; go with the
flow--the safe way is the RIGHT way; always check for traffic;
learn the rules of the road and obey traffic laws; don’t
flip over our bicycle and we make sure our wheels are securely
fastened.
When
riding a bicycle, we observe all the "rules of the road" that
apply to drivers, such as riding in the same direction as
traffic, signaling when turning, and obeying traffic signs. We
wear bright retro-reflective clothing or material, and we put
rear and side reflectors and a front light on our bicycles. We
keep bicycles in good repair, and we check brakes and tire
pressure often. We look for an ANSI or Snell Memorial
Foundation tag when shopping for a helmet and we make sure the
helmet is approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC). We purchase bicycles for our children only if they are
old enough to keep a bike in good shape and there are safe
places to ride a bike. We make certain our children get proper
instruction in bicycle safety before being permitted to ride
in traffic. We never permit our young children to ride a
bicycle at night. When buying a child a bicycle, we avoid hand
brakes that are too large for small hands, gear shifts mounted
too far back, sissy bars protruding from behind the seat that
makes dismounting difficult, and a small front wheel that
makes the bike hard to steer. We equip our child's bicycle for
maximum safety with headlight, taillight, warning bell, chain
guard, and coaster brake. We do not allow children to ride a
bicycle without wearing a helmet that complies with the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). If children are
bicycle passengers, we make certain they ride in an
appropriate child carrier. We allow older children to ride
minibikes only if the bike is properly equipped and the rider
is licensed. We make certain the rider of a minibike wears a
helmet and goggles and avoids riding on loose gravel or on wet
or slippery pavement.
Skateboards
♥ According
to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Publication
93), more than 104,000 persons were treated in hospital
emergency rooms in the year 2001, with skateboard related
injuries. Sprains, fractures, contusions and abrasions were
the most common types of injuries. Deaths due to collisions
with cars and from falls also are reported. Several factors,
including risky stunts and irregular riding surfaces like
steps, ramps and railings, are often involved in these
incidents. Most of the emergency room reported injuries were
to adolescents and young adults.
Before riding, skateboarders should screen the area where
they will be riding by checking for holes, bumps, rocks and
any debris. Areas set aside especially for skateboarding
generally have smoother riding surfaces. Skateboarding in
the street can result in collisions with cars causing
serious injury and even death. Before using their boards,
riders should check them for hazards, such as loose, broken,
or cracked parts; sharp edges on metal boards; slippery top
surface; and wheels with nicks and cracks. Serious defects
should be corrected by a qualified repair technician.
Protective gear, such as helmets, wrist-guards, and elbow
and knee pads, is recommended because it can reduce the
number and severity of injuries.
The U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission offers the
following suggestions for safe skateboarding:
•Never
ride in the street.
•Don't
take chances:
•Complicated
tricks require careful practice and a specially designed
area
•Only
one person per skateboard
•Never
grab onto a car, bus, truck or bicycle.
•Learning
how to fall helps reduce your chances of being seriously
injured.
•If you
are losing your balance, crouch down on the skateboard
so that you will not have so far to fall.
•In a
fall, try to land on the fleshy parts of your body.
•If you
fall, try to roll rather than absorb the force with your
arms.
•Even
though it may be difficult, during a fall try to relax
your body, rather than stiffen.
♥ In Loving Family, we instruct older
children who skateboard of the following: not to skateboard on
public streets or driveways that incline into the street; not to
take chances; not to grab onto a car or any other moving
vehicle; to use only skateboard parks or paved surfaces that are
free of holes, bumps, cracks and debris; to wear tennis shoes or
shoes with nonslip soles; to wear elbow pads, arm pads, knee
pads, wrist-guards, and helmets; to emphasize control of the
skateboard and not speed; to check the skateboard before use to
be certain the skateboard is in good repair, that the skateboard
is not broken or cracked, and that the wheels are not loose or
damaged; to ride only one person per skateboard; and we
teach our skateboarders the correct way to fall to reduce their
chances of being seriously injured.
Boats
♥"Then
He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him
to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught
the multitudes from the boat" (Luke 5:3, Holy Bible, NKJV,
1982).
♥We
always check the weather forecast before going boating, and we
stay ashore if poor weather conditions are indicated. We do not
tow a water skier when we are alone because we cannot look ahead
and watch the skier at the same time. We keep an approved fire
extinguisher aboard in case of fire. We never sit on the bow of
a small boat or allow children to set on the bow. We never
overload the boat. We always make sure that each person aboard
has and wears a life-jacket to protect against drowning in case
of an accident. We make certain our children wear life
preservers at all times when on the boat. We do not operate a
boat unless we receive basic boating safety instruction and
education and we never allow our children or adolescents to
operate a boat unless they receive basic boating safety
instruction and education. Since alcohol and drug use impair
judgment, we never operate a boat while under the influence of
alcohol or drugs to prevent accidents and death from occurring
when operating a boat.
B.M.
Salerno, Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (7/17/2006)
provides important information about the use of life-jackets to
reduce the number of boating fatalities due to drowning. Coast
Guard regulations require that each recreational boat be
equipped with an appropriate life-jacket/personal flotation
device (PFD) for each person on board. Many states have
established laws or regulations further requiring that children,
water-skiers, persons being towed behind a recreational vessel,
and riders on personal watercraft wear appropriate
life-jackets/PFD's. Coast Guard regulations passed in June 2002
require boaters to wear life-jackets/PFD's, specifically
children under thirteen years of age. The proximate cause of
death in over 70% of all boating accidents each year is drowning
and approximately 85% of the drowning involve victims who were
not wearing life-jackets/PFD's at the time of the drowning. The
Coast Guard strongly encourages life-jacket/PFD wear at all
times particularly those aboard a vessel less than 21 feet in
length in order to increase their survival in a boating incident
and unexpected entry into the water. Studies show that
life-jacket/PFD wear by adults on open motorboats, rowboats, and
canoes less than 21 feet in length is minimal and there is a
need to increase the wear rate of life-jackets/PFD's among the
boating public to reduce the number of boating fatalities due to
drowning.
B.M. Salerno, Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (7/17/2006)
also provides important information about the use of personal
watercraft (PWC) in accidents involving children and adolescents
when compared to other types of recreational vessels. There is
an upward trend in the number of personal watercraft (PWC) in
accidents involving children and adolescents when compared to
other types of recreational vessels. While the overall number of
PWC in accidents and resulting injuries have shown a remarkable
downward trend since 1996, children and adolescents are injured
with greater frequency riding PWC when compared to other types
of recreational vessels. In one year, 112 children under the age
of 12 were injured on PWC. Lack of experience and excessive
speed caused 60% of the accidents when the operator was less
than 12 years of age. Twenty percent of these operators were in
violation of State laws and manufacturers' recommendations.
Eighty percent of these operators did not have formal training.
Most PWC accidents occur in the first 20 hours of operation.
Current estimates show over 1.48 million PWC are in use with an
annual rider-ship of over twenty million Americans. Currently
the majority of the States and Territories have adopted laws
specifically aimed at PWC operation and address one or more of
the following: mandatory life-jacket wear, minimum operator age,
prohibition of night operation, and prohibition of unsafe
operation such as wake jumping within 100 feet of the vessel
creating the wake, weaving through congested traffic, excessive
speed, and operation too close to another vessel. The Coast
Guard strongly advocates basic boating safety instruction and
education, especially for children, before riding a PWC.
Supervising adults should be aware of all manufacturers'
recommendations and local laws concerning PWC use by children.
The Coast Guard further recommends that rental businesses
provide basic boating safety instruction and education on the
safe and prudent operation of the PWC or require proof of prior
eduction before renting to anyone, and require renters to wear a
personal flotation device (life-jacket).
B.M. Salerno, Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (7/17/2006) also
provides important information about the use of alcohol in
recreational boating. The Coast Guard believes that alcohol
involvement in recreational boating accidents is under-reported
and remains a significant factor in recreational boating
accidents and deaths. Although fatalities have continued to show
a downward trend, the number of fatal accidents reporting
alcohol use as a primary contributing factor has remained
constant at 16% of all fatalities. The Coast Guard published a
final rule on 12/14/87 that established behavioral standards of
intoxication, chemical standards of intoxication by blood
alcohol concentration (BAC) of .10% for recreational vessel
operators, and an implied consent provision. On 5/11/01, the
rule revising the Federal BAC standard for recreational vessel
operators from .10 to .08% became effective. The rule-making
also adopted any State BAC standard of intoxication that varied
from the Federal BAC standard. In 1987 only 21 states defined
"intoxication" or "under the influence" by BAC. Today all 56
State and Territorial jurisdictions have Boating Under The
Influence (BUI) laws, and 33 have adopted a BAC standard for
intoxicated operation at .08%. Section 46 U.S.C. 13101
encourages uniformity in boating safety efforts, which would
foster better cooperation and reciprocity between Federal,
State, and local enforcement agencies and help ensure uniform
enforcement of laws across all bodies of water, regardless of
jurisdiction.
Kidnapping
♥"So
David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned
with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had
been taken captive" (1 Samuel 30:3, Holy Bible, NKJV,1982).
♥To
protect children from disappearance and abuse, we have them
fingerprinted, and we keep the cards readily available with
pictures and descriptions updated every six months. We teach
children their telephone number, area code, and address, we show
children how to dial 9-1-1, and we tell them what to say. We
supervise our children at all times, and we never let them go
into a public restroom alone or leave them in the car alone. We
do not put our child's name on hats, caps, jackets, bikes,
wagons, etc., because our child will respond to a person using
that name and not be fearful. We teach children to avoid
strangers, and we do not leave children in the toy section of a
store or wandering about a mall. We tell children to go to the
cashier, security guard, or police if they should get lost or
bothered in a store. We know our children's friends, and we are
involved in our children's activities. We make it clear to our
children whose home they may go to play or visit and whose home
is off limits. We listen to our children if they do not want to
be with someone, and we find out the reason why. We notice if
someone pays undue attention to our children, and we talk with
that person and find out the reason why. We maintain good
communication with our children, and we let them know that if
they are ever lost or kidnapped, we will look for them no matter
how long it takes to find them. We organize safe houses in our
neighborhood with signs in the windows, and we teach our
children to go to a safe house in an emergency or if they are
afraid.
Halloween
♥"While
the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter
and summer, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22,
Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥ Halloween has
roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain, the Christian holy day
of All Saints’ Day, and in the Christian holy day of All Souls’
Day. According to www.history.com, Halloween's origins date back
to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now
Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated
their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer
and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a
time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts
believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary
between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On
the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was
believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In
addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought
that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for
the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the
future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural
world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and
direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the
event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people
gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic
deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes,
typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to
tell each others fortunes. When the celebration was over, they
re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier
that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them
during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic
territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they
ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were
combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The
first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans
traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second
was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.
The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this
celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of
"bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into
Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV
designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints
and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was
attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a
related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also
called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English
Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it,
the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and,
eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church
would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead.
It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires,
parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and
devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All
Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.
The
Consumer Product Safety Commission (Halloween Safety: Safety
Alert CPSC Document #100) provides the following important
information about Halloween safety to protect children who go
trick-or-treating on Halloween:
Treats:
Warn children not to eat any treats before an adult has
carefully examined them for evidence of tampering.
Flame resistant Costumes: When purchasing a
costume, masks, beards, and wigs, look for the label Flame
resistant. Although this label does not mean these items won't
catch fire, it does indicate the items will resist burning and
should extinguish quickly once removed from the ignition source.
To minimize the risk of contact with candles or other sources of
ignition, avoid costumes made with flimsy materials and outfits
with big, baggy sleeves or billowing skirts.
Costume Designs: Purchase or make costumes that are
light and bright enough to be clearly visible to motorists.
•For greater visibility during dusk
and darkness, decorate or trim costumes with reflective tape
that will glow in the beam of a car's headlights. Bags or
sacks should also be light colored or decorated with
reflective tape. Reflective tape is usually available in
hardware, bicycle, and sporting goods stores.
•To easily see and be seen, children should also
carry flashlights.
•Costumes should be short enough to prevent
children from tripping and falling.
•Children should wear well-fitting, sturdy shoes
. Mother' s high heels are not a good idea for safe walking.
•Hats and scarfs should be tied securely to
prevent them from slipping over children's eyes.
•Apply a natural mask of cosmetics rather than
have a child wear a loose-fitting mask that might restrict
breathing or obscure vision. If a mask is used, however, make
sure it fits securely and has eye-holes large enough to allow
full vision.
•Swords, knives, and similar costume accessories
should be of soft and flexible material.
Pedestrian Safety: Young
children should always be accompanied by an adult or an older,
responsible child. All children should WALK, not run from house
to house and use the sidewalk if available, rather than walk in
the street. Children should be cautioned against running out
from between parked cars, or across lawns and yards where
ornaments, furniture, or clotheslines present dangers.
Choosing
Safe Houses: Children should go only to homes where
the residents are known and have outside lights on as a sign of
welcome. Children should not enter homes or apartments unless
they are accompanied by an adult.
People
expecting trick-or-treaters should remove anything that could be
an obstacle from lawns, steps and porches. Candlelit
jack-o'-lanterns should be kept away from landings and doorsteps
where costumes could brush against the flame. Indoor
jack-o'-lanterns should be kept away from curtains, decorations,
and other furnishings that could be ignited.
♥ Many
churches offer children and teens a autumn harvest party with a
Christian theme as an alternative activity to trick or treating.
We seek out church based Christian alternatives to trick or
treating whenever possible. If we allow our children to go trick
or treating we are cautious so our children can have a safe
trick or treating experience. During Halloween, we do not allow
children to eat treats collected until we have checked the
treats carefully. We accompany our children when they trick or
treat. We do not allow our children to go into any stranger's
home, and we avoid the homes of anyone known to be intolerant of
children. We provide our children with flashlights, and we sew
bright reflective tapes on their costumes to increase visibility
and prevent accidental injury on roads or streets. We remind our
children of basic safety rules when crossing streets. We provide
our children with costumes that are fire-resistant and short
enough to prevent tripping. We make certain our children's masks
and facial disguises do not restrict their vision or breathing.
We also offer to throw our children a fun party at home as an
alternative to collecting treats.
Dogs
♥ The
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers For Disease
Control And Prevention, National Center For Injury Prevention
and Control, Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention
(9/27/2008) provides the following facts about dog bites:
Each
year, more than 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs. Each
year, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites;
half of these are children. Of those injured, 386,000 require
treatment in an emergency department and about a dozen die. The
rate of dog bite-related injuries is highest for children ages 5
to 9 years, and the rate decreases as children age. Almost two
thirds of injuries among children ages four years and younger
are to the head or neck region. Injury rates in children are
significantly higher for boys than for girls.
The CDC
provides the following tips for preventing dog bites:
Preventing Dog Bites: Teach children basic safety
around dogs and review regularly:
•Do not approach an unfamiliar dog.
•Do not run from a dog and scream.
•Remain motionless (e.g., "be still like a
tree") when approached by an unfamiliar dog.
•If knocked over by a dog, roll into a ball and
lie still (e.g., "be still like a log").
•Do not play with a dog unless supervised by an
adult.
•Immediately report stray dogs or dogs
displaying unusual behavior to an adult.
•Avoid direct eye contact with a dog.
•Do not disturb a dog who is sleeping, eating,
or caring for puppies.
•Do not pet a dog without allowing it to see and
sniff you first.
•If bitten, immediately report the bite to an
adult.
The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for
Infectious Disease, provides the following information about
dog-related diseases:
Dogs
can pass germs to people. To best protect yourself from getting
sick, thoroughly wash your hands with running water and soap
after contact with dogs, dog saliva, or dog feces (stool). Dogs
can carry a variety of germs that can make people sick. Some of
these germs are common and some are rare. For example, puppies
may pass the bacterium Campylobacter in their feces (stool).
This germ can cause diarrhea in people. Puppies and some adult
dogs often carry a variety of parasites that can cause rashes or
illness in people. Less often, dogs in urban or
rural areas can carry the bacterium Leptospira (lep-TO-spy-ruh).
This germ causes the disease leptospirosis (lep-to-spi-roh-sis)
in people and animals. Dogs can also carry rabies, a deadly
viral disease.
Some people are more likely than others to get diseases from
dogs. A person's age and health status may affect his or her
immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick. People
who are more likely to get diseases from dogs include infants,
children younger than 5 years old, organ transplant patients,
people with HIV/AIDS, and people being treated for cancer.
Dog-related
diseases are as follows:
•Brucella canis Infection
(brucellosis): A bacterial disease rarely associated with
dogs.
•Campylobacter Infection (campylobacteriosis): A
bacterial disease associated with dogs, cats, and farm
animals.
•Cryptosporidium Infection (cryptosporidiosis):
A parasitic disease associated with dogs, especially puppies,
cats, and farm animals.
•Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm): A parasitic
disease associated with dogs, cats and fleas.
•Giardia Infection (giardiasis): A parasitic
disease associated with various animals, including dogs and
their environment (including water).
•Hookworm Infection: A parasitic disease
associated with dogs and cats and their environment.
•Leishmania Infection (leishmaniasis): A
parasitic disease associated with dogs and sand flies outside
the United States.
•Leptospira Infection (leptospirosis): A
bacterial disease associated with wild and domestic animals,
including dogs.
•Lyme Disease: A bacterial disease that can
affect dogs and ticks.
•Q Fever (Coxiella burnetii): A bacterial
disease occasionally associated with dogs.
•Rabies: A viral disease associated with various
animals, including dogs.
•Ringworm: A fungal disease associated with
dogs.
•Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: A bacterial
disease associated with dogs and ticks.
•Roundworm: See Toxocara infection.
•Salmonella Infection (salmonellosis): A
bacterial disease associated with various animals including
dogs.
•Tapeworm (flea tapeworm): See Dipylidium
Infection.
•Toxocara Infection (toxocariasis, roundworm): A
parasitic disease associated with dogs and cats and their
environment.
♥ For the prevention of dog bites, we teach
our children not to abuse or tease dogs; not to pull a ball,
stick, or other objects out of a dog's mouth; not to take food
away from a dog or bother the dog while it is eating; not to
interfere in a dog fight; and not to wake up a dog suddenly. We
teach our children to avoid petting or touching strange dogs. We
teach our children to remain still if approached by a strange
dog or knocked over by a dog. We teach our children not to
disturb a dog who is caring for puppies. We teach our children
to avoid direct eye contact with a dog. We teach our children
not to play with a dog unless supervised by an adult. We teach
our children not to hide dog bites, but to report a bite to an
adult as soon as possible, so the bite can be treated and the
biting dog identified. To prevent illness, we teach our children
to thoroughly wash their hands with running water and soap after
contact with dogs, dog saliva, or dog feces (stool).
We keep
our dogs out of public buildings, stores and shops, business
establishments, schools and colleges, and away from crowded
outdoor events so people with allergies and asthma do not have
to suffer illness or death and so people with fear of strange
dogs do not have to become afraid or panicky. There are also
many people who just don't like dogs for a myriad of reasons:
dogs frequently bite, bark, jump, destroy property, smell bad,
salivate, pant, carry germs, carry fleas or ticks, urinate and
defecate, spray, bleed, sniff people in their private body
parts, behave inappropriately towards people when they are in
heat, eat their own feces and vomit, consume valuable resources
that could be better used to help the poor, etc. Even if our dog
is well groomed and well behaved strangers do not know that and
the presence of our dog makes strangers uncomfortable.
We advocate for federal laws that permit guide dogs to be inside
public buildings to be repealed and for new federal, state, and
local laws to be passed that will prohibit all dogs from being
allowed inside public buildings, stores and shops, and business
establishments, schools and colleges, etc. and for laws to be
passed that will keep dogs away from public doorways and
entrances into public places and the outside grounds of public
buildings and establishments. Those of us who are blind can and
do learn to use a human assistant, guide stick, or cane when we
have to be inside a public building, a store, a shop, a business
establishment, a school or a college rather than subjecting
others to our unwanted guide dogs.
We keep our dogs leashed at all times when we take our dogs
outside for a walk in public parks or forests, on public
streets, and public beaches. We run our dogs only on our
own secure and highly fenced private property or public dog runs
built specifically for dogs to run. We never allow our dogs to
run loose on unfenced private roads or unfenced private property
to protect visitors and public workers such as mail carriers. We
don't assume that everyone else loves our pet dog just because
we do. We take responsibility for our dog at all times not only
to protect other people but to protect ourselves from unwanted
legal action if our dog should harm another or someone's
property and to protect our dog from people who feel they must
protect themselves or their property by using pepper spray, stun
guns, dog off, dog dazer, or other means and weapons against our
family pet. We also keep our other furry pets and strange exotic
pets out of public buildings and away from crowded public
places.
We advocate for stricter laws that will require dogs to be
properly restrained and for current laws to be strictly enforced
so we can fully enjoy the freedom of being out in the public
sphere without fear of being harassed by a dog. It is time our
families reclaimed the right to enjoy public beaches, parks, and
all other public places instead of allowing dog owners and their
dogs to control and monopolize the use of the public sphere.
Those of us who choose to own a pet make sure the pet gets
spaded. Many of us choose not to own a pet due to health and
safety concerns and so we can make better use of our limited
resources.
♥ "Yes,
they are greedy dogs which never have enough" (Isaiah 56:11,
Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982) . . .
Natural Disaster
♥
According to Ready America (Homeland Security, 2008), your
family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is
important to plan in advance: how you will contact one another;
how you will get back together; and what you will do in
different situations. Ready America (Homeland Security, 2008)
provides the following information about making a family
emergency plan to use in case of a disaster:
Family Emergency Plan
•It may be easier to make a
long-distance phone call than to call across town, so an
out-of-town contact may be in a better position to communicate
among separated family members.
•Be sure every member of your family knows the
phone number and has coins or a prepaid phone card to call the
emergency contact.
•You may have trouble getting through, or the
telephone system may be down altogether, but be patient.
Emergency Information
Find
out what kinds of disasters, both natural and man-made, are most
likely to occur in your area and how you will be notified.
Methods of getting your attention vary from community to
community. One common method is to broadcast via emergency radio
and TV broadcasts. You might hear a special siren, or get a
telephone call, or emergency workers may go door-to-door.
Emergency Plans
You may
also want to inquire about emergency plans at places where your
family spends time: work, daycare and school. If no plans exist,
consider volunteering to help create one. Talk to your neighbors
about how you can work together in the event of an emergency.
You will be better prepared to safely reunite your family and
loved ones during an emergency if you think ahead and
communicate with others in advance.
Ready
America (Homeland Security, 2008) states that when preparing for
a possible emergency situation, it's best to think first about
the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.
Ready America (Homeland Security, 2008) provides the following
information on items that should be included in a basic
emergency supply kit:
Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply
Kit:
•Water, one gallon of water per person
per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
•Food, at least a three-day supply of
non-perishable food
•Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA
Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
•Flashlight and extra batteries
•First aid kit
•Whistle to signal for help
•Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and
plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
•Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties
for personal sanitation
•Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
•Can opener for food (if kit contains canned
food)
•Local maps
Ready America (Homeland Security, 2008) also
provides the following important information about
assembling a First Aid kit that can be used during an
emergency:
In any emergency a family member or you yourself may be cut,
burned or suffer other injuries. If you have these basic
supplies you are better prepared to help your loved ones when
they are hurt. Remember, many injuries are not life threatening
and do not require immediate medical attention. Knowing how to
treat minor injuries can make a difference in an emergency.
Consider taking a first aid class, but simply having the
following things can help you stop bleeding, prevent infection
and assist in decontamination.
Things you should have:
•Two pairs of Latex, or other sterile
gloves (if you are allergic to Latex).
•Sterile dressings to stop bleeding.
•Cleansing agent/soap and antibiotic towelettes
to disinfect.
•Antibiotic ointment to prevent infection.
•Burn ointment to prevent infection.
•Adhesive bandages in a variety of sizes.
•Eye wash solution to flush the eyes or as
general decontaminant.
•Thermometer
•Prescription medications you take every day
such as insulin, heart medicine and asthma inhalers. You
should periodically rotate medicines to account for expiration
dates.
•Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and
blood pressure monitoring equipment and supplies.
Things it may be good to have:
•Cell Phone
•Scissors
•Tweezers
•Tube of petroleum jelly or other lubricant
Non-prescription drugs:
•Aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever
•Anti-diarrhea medication
•Antacid (for upset stomach)
•Laxative
♥ "Thus says the Lord GOD: A disaster, a
singular disaster; behold, it has come" (Ezekiel 7:5, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982)!
♥ We
cope with disaster from hurricane, flood, fire, hazardous
materials spill, earthquake, tornado, and winter storm by
preparing in advance and working together as a team. We
keep enough emergency supplies on hand that will meet our
family's needs for at least three days. We assemble a disaster
supplies kit with items that may be needed in an evacuation, and
we store these supplies in sturdy, easy to carry backpacks or
duffel bags. We include water; food; one change of clothing and
footwear per person; one sleeping bag or blanket per person; a
first aid kit; prescription medications; emergency tools; a
battery-powered radio; a flashlight; plenty of extra batteries;
an extra set of car keys; a credit card; cash or traveler's
checks; sanitation supplies; extra pairs of glasses; and special
items for infant, elderly, or disabled family members. We also
include copies of important family documents in a waterproof
container. We keep a smaller kit in the back of the car.
We locate the main electric fuse box, water service main, and
natural gas main. We learn how and when to turn these utilities
off, and we teach all responsible family members how and when to
turn these utilities off. We turn off the utilities only if we
suspect the lines are damaged or we are instructed to do so. We
evacuate immediately if told to do so, and we use travel routes
specified by local authorities. If there is enough time, we post
a note telling others when we left and where we are going, and
we make arrangements for pets.
We take a first aid and CPR class, so we know what to do if
someone is injured during a disaster, accident, or other
emergency. We keep a first aid manual in our home, car, and
backpack during camping trips, so we can respond properly if
someone gets injured and needs our help. We work with neighbors
to plan how the neighborhood could work together after a
disaster until help arrives. When preparing for a disaster, we
find out what types of disasters could happen, and we create a
disaster plan that includes two places for family members to
meet and a family contact out of state. We post emergency
numbers by the phone, and we teach children how and when to call
911. We practice and maintain our disaster plan.
Practicing safety will not get us into heaven. We can only enter
heaven by obeying Jesus' words. However, practicing safety may
extend the length of our life on earth and protect us from
unnecessary, earthly harm. While we do not worry incessantly
about our family's safety, we do believe that God gave us a mind
to reason with, so we use caution and common sense to prevent
home accidents and other types of accidents.
♥SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND HUMAN
SERVICES
Jesus stated: "When the Son of Man comes in
His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will
sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be
gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats
on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right
hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I
was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you
gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was
naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I
was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will
answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and
feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see
You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to
You?' And the King will answer and say to them,
'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of
the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' Then He
will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me,
you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the
devil and his angels: 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no
food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a
stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not
clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we
see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick
or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then He will
answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as
you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did
not do it to Me.' And these will go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
(Matthew 25: 31-46; Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥ Many of us require
human services help at one time or another. Most of the time
when we need help we turn to our families, friends,
neighbors, churches, and other social connections. Sometimes
we need more help than our families, friends, neighbors,
churches, and other social connections are able to provide,
so we turn to federal, state, and local government agencies
as well as to other community programs and voluntary
agencies for help.
Human services necessary for maintaining the well-being of
our families include public education as a right of all
citizens; health care and sanitation as essential preventive
intervention; food and housing as a basic right; full
employment as a primary social and economic goal; and some
sort of financial and resource support for those who are
impoverished.
Social Problems
♥Serious social problems we recognize and try to make right
through private or public human service help includes
poverty, inequality, and welfare system problems; emotional
problems; domestic violence (spousal abuse, child abuse,
etc.); crime; educational system problems; work
related problems; discrimination; and health care system
problems.
Poverty, Inequality, and Welfare System Problems.
♥
Poverty, inequality, and welfare system problems are serious
social problems that we recognize in our country today.
Studies (Unnatural Causes...is inequality making us sick?;
PBS 2008) show that on the average, people at the top live
longer, healthier lives. Those at the bottom are more
dis-empowered, get sicker more often and die sooner. Chronic
stress is one culprit. Racial inequality imposes an
additional risk burden on people of color. Solutions being
pursued focus not on more pills but on more equitable social
policies.
Since 1970 there has been a general long-term trend of
growing inequality in the United States. Lane Kenworthy and
Timothy Smeeding (GINI Growing Inequalities' Impacts,
Country Report for the United States, 1/13) explain that in
the 1970s the United States already had one of the most
unequal (possibly the most unequal) income distributions
among the world’s rich nations. In the ensuing decades it
has become even more unequal, and the pace of growth of
inequality has been faster than almost anywhere else. If we
exclude the top 1 percent, income inequality rose rapidly in
the 1980s and slowly in the 1990s and 2000s. If we include
the top 1 percent, it rose rapidly in all three decades.
Kenworthy and Smeeding state that the causes of America’s
high level and rapid growth in income inequality since the
1970s are multiple: weak and weakening unions, stagnant
educational attainment, a surge in globalization, an
increase in competition in mainly domestic industries,
skill-biased technological change, a shift in corporate
governance toward emphasis on “shareholder value” and
short-run profits, growing use of pay-for-performance, an
increase in low-skilled immigration, a stall in the real
value of the statutory minimum wage, deregulation
(particularly in finance), growing use of stock options to
reward CEOs coupled with a sharp run-up in stock values, the
spread of winner-take-all markets in various industries, and
reductions in effective tax rates for households at the top.
The
U.S. Census Bureau (9/13) provides the following data on
poverty from the American Community Surveys:
•Nationally, between
2000 and 2012, the percentage of people living in poverty
increased from from 12.2 percent to 15.9 percent, while
the number of people in poverty increased from 33.3
million to 48.8 million.
•Both the number and percentage of
people in poverty increased in 44 states between 2000 and
2012.
•The percentage of people in the
United States with income below 50 percent of the poverty
thresholds grew from from 5.0 percent in 2000 to 7 percent
in 2012. Over this period, the percentage of people with
income below 125 percent of the poverty thresholds grew
from 16.5 percent to 20.8 percent.
•Among the largest 25 metropolitan
areas, poverty rates in 2012 ranged from 8.4 percent to
19.0 percent.
Carmen DeNavas-Walt and Bernadette D.
Proctor (9/14) provide highlights of data on poverty in the
United States during 2013 from the 2014 Current Population
Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC)
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau:
•In 2013, the
official poverty rate was 14.5 percent, down from 15.0
percent in 2012. This was the first decrease in the
poverty rate since 2006.
•In 2013, there were 45.3 million
people in poverty. For the third consecutive year, the
number of people in poverty at the national level was not
statistically different from the previous year’s estimate.
•The 2013 poverty rate was 2.0
percentage points higher than in 2007, the year before the
most
recent recession.
•The poverty rate for children under
18 fell from 21.8 percent in 2012 to 19.9 percent in 2013.
•The poverty rate for people aged 18
to 64 was 13.6 percent, while the rate for people aged 65
and older was 9.5 percent. Neither of these poverty rates
was statistically different from its 2012 estimates.
•Both the poverty rate and the number
in poverty decreased for Hispanics in 2013.
•Despite the decline in the national
poverty rate, the 2013 regional poverty rates were not
statistically different from the 2012 rates.
Carmen DeNavas-Walt and Bernadette D. Proctor
(9/14) also provide highlights of data on income in the United
States during 2013 from the 2014 Current Population Survey (CPS)
Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) conducted by the
U.S. Census Bureau:
•Median household income was $51,939
in 2013, not statistically different in real terms from the
2012 median of $51,759. This is the second
consecutive year that the annual change was not statistically
significant, following two consecutive years of annual
declines in median household income.
•In 2013, real median household income was 8.0
percent lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent
recession.
•Changes in real median incomes between 2012 and
2013 for family and nonfamily households were not
statistically significant.
•The real median income of Hispanic households
increased by 3.5 percent between 2012 and 2013. For
non-Hispanic White, Black, and Asian households the 2012-2013
changes in real median household income were not statistically
significant.
•The real median income of households maintained
by a non-citizen increased by 6.0 percent between 2012 and
2013. The median incomes of households maintained by a
native-born or foreign-born naturalized citizen in 2013 were
not statistically different from their respective 2012
incomes.
•For the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West,
the 2012-2013 changes in real median household
income were not statistically significant.
•The number of men and women working full time,
year round with earnings increased by 1.8 million and 1.0
million, respectively, between 2012 and 2013.
•The changes in the real median earnings of men
and women who worked full time, year round between 2012 and
2013 were not statistically significant.
•The 2013 female-to-male earnings ratio was
0.78, not statistically different from the 2012 ratio.
Black/African Americans. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority
Health (6/13/14) provides the following information on
Black/African Americans:
•Overview (Demographics): In July
2012, 43.1 million people in the United States were Black;
alone or in combination. African Americans are the second
largest minority population, following the Hispanic/Latino
population. In 2012, most Blacks lived in the South (55
percent of the Black U.S. population), while 36 percent of the
white population lived in the South. The ten states with the
largest Black population in 2012 were Florida, Texas, New
York, Georgia, California, North Carolina, Illinois, Maryland,
Virginia, Ohio. Combined, these 10 states represent 58% of the
total Black population. Of the 10 largest places in the United
States with 100,000 or more population, Detroit, Michigan had
the largest proportion of Blacks (84%), followed by Jackson,
Mississippi (80%).
•Educational Attainment: In 2012, as compared to
Non-Hispanic Whites 25 years and over, a lower percentage of
Non-Hispanic Blacks had earned at least a high school diploma
(83 percent and 92 percent, respectively). More Black women
than Black men had earned at least a bachelor's degree (20.7
percent compared with 16.4 percent), while among non-Hispanic
Whites, a higher proportion of men than women had earned at
least a bachelor's degree (33 percent and 32 percent,
respectively).
•Economics: According to a 2012 Census Bureau
report, the average African-American household median income
was $33,762 in comparison to $56,565 for non-Hispanic White
households. In 2012, the U.S. Census bureau reported that 28.1
percent of African-Americans in comparison to 11.0 percent of
non-Hispanic Whites were living at the poverty level. For
2012, the unemployment rate for Blacks was twice that for
non-Hispanic Whites (10.3 percent and 4.8 percent,
respectively). This finding was consistent for both men and
women.
•Insurance Coverage: In 2012, 50.4 percent of
African-Americans in comparison to 74.4 percent of
non-Hispanic Whites used private health insurance. Also in
2012, 40.6 percent of African-Americans in comparison to 29.3
percent of non-Hispanic Whites relied on Medicaid, public
health insurance. Finally, 17.2 percent of African-Americans
in comparison to 10.4 percent of non-Hispanic whites were
uninsured.
•Health Conditions: The death rate for African
Americans was generally higher than Whites for heart diseases,
stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes,
HIV/AIDS, and homicide.
American Indian/Alaska Native. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority
Health (9/3/14) provides the following information on
American Indians and Alaska Natives:
•Overview (Demographics): This racial
group includes people having origins in any of the original
peoples of North, South America, and Central America, who
maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment. As of
2012, there were an estimated 5.2 million people who were
classified as American Indian and Alaska Native alone or
American Indian and Alaska Native in combination with one or
more other races. This racial group comprises 2 percent of the
total U.S. population. 22 percent of American Indians and
Alaska Natives live on reservations or other trust lands. 60
percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives live in
metropolitan areas; this is the lowest metropolitan percentage
of any racial group. 1.5 million American Indian and Alaska
Natives are under the age of 18, which comprises 30 percent of
this racial group. The 2010 Census reveals that 78 percent of
the AI/AN live outside of tribal statistical areas. Currently,
there are 566 federally recognized (AI/AN) tribes, and more
than 100 state recognized tribes. There are also tribes that
are not state or federally recognized. Federally recognized
tribes are provided health and educational assistance through
a government agency called Indian Health Service (IHS), U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The IHS operates a
comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately
2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Typically, this
urban clientele has less accessibility to hospitals; health
clinics or contract health services implanted by the IHS and
tribal health programs. Studies on the urban American Indian
and Alaska Native population have documented a frequency of
poor health and limited health care options for this group.
Since 1972, IHS has embarked upon a series of initiatives to
fund health-related activities in off-reservation settings,
which will make health care services accessible to urban
American Indians and Alaska Natives. Currently, the IHS funds
33 urban Indian health organizations, which operate at sites
located in cites throughout the United States. Approximately
600,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives are eligible to
utilize this program. The thirty-three programs administer:
medical services, dental services, community services, alcohol
and drug abuse prevention, education and treatment, AIDS and
sexually transmitted disease education and prevention
services, mental health services, nutrition education and
counseling services, pharmacy services, health education,
optometry services, social services, and home health care.
•Language Fluency: In 2012, 20 percent of
American Indians/Alaska Natives spoke a language other than
English at home.
•Educational Attainment: In 2012, 82 percent of
American Indians and Alaska Natives alone, age 25 and over
have at least a high school diploma, as compared to 92 percent
of non-Hispanic Whites. 17 percent of American Indians and
Alaska Natives age 25 and over have at least a bachelor's
degree, in comparison to 33 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. 6
percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives have at least
an advanced graduate degree (ie., master's, Ph.D., medical, or
law), as compared to 12 percent of the non-Hispanic White
population.
•Economics: The median household income for
American Indian and Alaska Natives is $37,353, as compared to
$56,565 for non-Hispanic Whites. 29 percent of American
Indians and Alaska Natives age 16 and over work in management
and professional occupations, in comparison to 40 percent of
Whites. Also, 26 percent of this racial group live at the
poverty level, as compared to 11.0 percent of non-Hispanic
Whites, in 2012.
•Insurance Coverage: In 2012, 47.5 percent of
American Indians and Alaska Natives had private health
insurance coverage. 38.1 percent of AI/ANs relied on Medicaid
coverage, and 22.6 percent of AI/ANs had no health insurance
coverage.
•Health: It is significant to note that American
Indians/Alaska Natives frequently contend with issues that
prevent them from receiving quality medical care. These issues
include cultural barriers, geographic isolation, inadequate
sewage disposal, and low income. Some of the leading diseases
and causes of death among AI/AN are heart disease, cancer,
unintentional injuries (accidents), diabetes, and stroke.
American Indians/Alaska Natives also have a high prevalence
and risk factors for mental health and suicide, obesity,
substance abuse, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), teenage
pregnancy, liver disease, and hepatitis.
•Other Health Concerns: American Indians and
Alaska Natives have an infant death rate 60 percent higher
than the rate for Caucasians. AI/ANs are twice as likely to
have diabetes as Caucasians. An example is the Pima of
Arizona, who have one of the highest diabetes rates in the
world. AI/ANs also have disproportionately high death rates
from unintentional injuries and suicide. In 2012, the
tuberculosis rate for AI/NAs was 6.3, as compared to 0.8 for
the White population.
According to the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights in 2003:
•The poverty rate for American Indians
living on reservations (31.2%) is nearly three times the
national rate.
•On some reservations unemployment levels have
reached 85%. Overall, the unemployment rate on
reservations is over two times the national average.
•Over 22% of American Indians do not have enough
food to meet their basic needs.
•One in five homes on reservations lack complete
plumbing facilities and less than 50% are connected to the
public sewer system. This has lead to the creation of
numerous health and environmental hazards.
•Sixteen percent of reservation households have
no telephone phone service.
•Only 33% of roads in Indian Country are paved
and 72% are officially rated as poor.
•It is estimated that 1.1 billion dollars is
needed to adequately address housing inadequacies on American
Indian reservations.
•Over 90,000 American Indian families are
homeless or under-housed. Homelessness on reservations is
becoming increasingly more visible as families are living in
cars, tents, abandoned buildings or storage sheds.
•Over 30% of American Indian families live in
overcrowded housing and 18 percent are severely overcrowded
with 25-30 individuals sharing a single home. These
rates are over six times the national average.
•Approximately 40% of housing on reservations is
inadequate according to the federal definition, compared to
only 6% nationwide.
•American Indians have the highest rate of home
loan denial of any race in the United States; nearly
25%.
According to the U.S. Commission of Civil
Rights in 2004, American Indians are:
•770% more likely to die from
alcoholism.
•530% more likely to die from Tuberculosis.
•420% more likely to die from Diabetes.
•280% more likely to die from accidents.
•190% more likely to die from suicide.
•52% more likely to die from Pneumonia and
Influenza.
•A life expectancy a full five years under any
other ethnicity in the United States.
•Per capita funding for healthcare at 60% less
than all other Americans and 50% less than federal prisoners.
•The highest prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in
the world. Treating diabetes for only those Native Americans
who are currently diagnosed with diabetes would amount to
$1.46 billion per year, or 40% of the total budget for Native
Americans health care.
According to the 2003 National Adult Literacy
Survey:
•32% of American Indian adults failed
to attain basic reading levels, compared to only 13% of White
adults.
Asian Americans. The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority
Health (6/13/14) provides the following information on
Asian Americans:
•Overview (Demographics): This racial
group is defined as people having origins in any of the
original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the
Indian subcontinent. According to the 2012 Census Bureau
population estimate, there are 15.5 million Asian Americans,
alone, living in the United States. Asian Americans account
for 5.0 percent of the nation's population. In 2012, the
following states had the largest Asian-American populations:
California, New York, Hawaii, Texas, New Jersey and Illinois.
•Language Fluency: The percentage of persons 5
years or older who "do not speak English very well" varies
among Asian American groups: 52 percent of Vietnamese, 46
percent of Chinese, 22 percent of Filipinos and 21 percent of
Asian Indians are not fluent in English. In 2012, 76.5 percent
of Asian American spoke a language other than English at home.
•Educational Attainment: According to the 2012
U.S. Census data, roughly 85.7 percent of both all Asians and
all people in the United States 25 and older had at least a
high school diploma. However, 50.5 percent of Asian Americans
in comparison to 32.5 percent of the total non-Hispanic White
population had earned at least a bachelor's degree. Among
Asian subgroups, Taiwanese had the highest percentage of
bachelor's degree attainment at 77 percent. In regards to
employment, about 49 percent of Asian Americans were employed
in management, professional and related occupations, compared
with 40 percent of the white population. In addition, the
proportions employed in high-skilled and managerial sectors
varied from 21 percent for Laotians to 68 percent for Asian
Indians.
•Economics: According to 2012 Census data, the
median household income of Asian Americans is $70,644, or
$14,059 higher than the national median income for
non-Hispanic Whites. Yet 13 percent of Asian Americans as
compared to 11 percent of non-Hispanic Whites, live at the
poverty level. Economic status varies widely among Asian
populations in the United States, with the poverty rate for
Asian Indians at 8 percent, as compared to 27 percent for the
Hmong in 2012.
•Insurance Coverage: In 2012, insurance coverage
among Asian American subgroups varied. Private insurance
coverage rates: 57 percent for Vietnamese, 76 percent for
Filipino, 69 percent for Chinese, 47 percent for Hmong, and 69
percent for all Asian groups. Public insurance coverage rates
: 28 percent for Vietnamese, 20 percent for Filipino, 22
percent for Chinese, 42 percent for Hmong, and 22 percent for
all Asian groups. Asian subgroups also varied within uninsured
status: 20 percent for Vietnamese, 12 percent for Filipino, 14
percent for Chinese and 15 percent for all Asian groups. In
2012, the overall private insurance coverage for Asian
Americans was 68.8 percent, as compared to 74.4 percent for
the non-Hispanic White population. 15 percent of Asian
Americans were uninsured, as compared to 10.4 percent
non-Hispanic White Americans.
•Health: It is significant to note that Asian
American women have the highest life expectancy (85.8 years)
of any other ethnic group in the U.S. Life expectancy varies
among Asian subgroups: Filipino (81.5 years), Japanese (84.5
years), and Chinese women (86.1 years). However, Asian
Americans contend with numerous factors which may threaten
their health. Some negative factors are infrequent medical
visits due to the fear of deportation, language/cultural
barriers, and the lack of health insurance. Asian Americans
are most at risk for the following health conditions: cancer,
heart disease, stroke, unintentional injuries (accidents), and
diabetes. Asian Americans also have a high prevalence of the
following conditions and risk factors: chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, smoking,
tuberculosis, and liver disease.
•Other Health Concerns: In 2012, tuberculosis
was 24 times more common among Asians, with a case rate of
18.9 as compared to 0.8 for the non-Hispanic White population.
Hispanic/Latino Americans. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority
Health (9/11/14) provides the following information on
Hispanics and Latinos:
•Overview (Demographics): This ethnic
group includes any person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican,
South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin,
regardless of race. According to the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau
population estimate, there are almost 53 million Hispanics
living in the United States. This group represents 16.9
percent of the U.S. total population. In 2012, among Hispanic
subgroups, Mexicans rank as the largest at 64.3 percent.
Following Mexicans are: Puerto Ricans (9.4 percent), Central
Americans (9.0 percent), South Americans (5.9 percent), and
Cubans (3.7 percent). In 2011, States with the largest
Hispanic populations are California (14.5 million), Texas (10
million), Florida (4.5 million), New York (3.5 million), and
Illinois (2.1 million). Another significant point is that in
2012, 33.2 percent of Hispanics were under the age 18 in
comparison to 19.7 percent of non-Hispanic Whites.
•Language Fluency: Language fluency varies among
Hispanic subgroups who reside within the mainland United
States. Census 2012 data shows that 74 percent of Hispanics
speak a language other than English at home: 74% of Mexicans,
62% of Puerto Ricans, 80% of Cubans, 88% of Central Americans.
33 percent of Hispanics state that they are not fluent in
English.
•Educational Attainment: According to a 2012
U.S. Census Bureau report, 64 percent of Hispanics in
comparison to 92 percent non-Hispanic Whites have a high
school diploma. 13.8 percent of Hispanics in comparison to
32.5 percent of non-Hispanic whites have a bachelor's degree
or higher.
•Economics: According to a 2012 U.S. Census
Bureau report, 26.6 percent of Hispanics, in comparison to
15.2 percent non-Hispanic Whites, work within service
occupations. 19.5 percent of Hispanics in comparison to 40.3
percent of Whites work in managerial or professional
occupations. Among full-time year-round workers in 2012, the
average Hispanic/Latino median household income was $40,417 in
comparison to $56,565 for non-Hispanic Whites. In 2012, the
U.S. Census bureau reported that 25.4 percent of Hispanics in
comparison to 11 percent of non-Hispanic Whites were living at
the poverty level.
•Insurance Coverage: It is significant to note
that Hispanics have the highest uninsured rates of any racial
or ethnic group within the United States. In 2012 the Census
Bureau reported that private insurance coverage among Hispanic
subgroups varied as follows: 38.8 percent of Mexicans, 49.6
percent of Puerto Ricans, 48.4 percent of Cubans, 35.9 percent
of Central Americans. Public health coverage varied among
Hispanic subgroups: 33.2 percent of Mexicans, 42.7 percent of
Puerto Ricans, 32.7 of Cubans, and 27.8 percent of Central
Americans. Those without health insurance coverage varied
among Hispanic subgroups: 31.6 percent of Mexicans, 14.1
percent of Puerto Ricans, 23.8 percent of Cubans and 38.8
percent of Central Americans. In 2012, 29 percent of the
Hispanic population was not covered by health insurance, as
compared to 10.4 percent of the non-Hispanic White population.
•Health: Hispanic health is often shaped by
factors such as language/cultural barriers, lack of access to
preventive care, and the lack of health insurance. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention has cited some of the
leading causes of illness and death among Hispanics, which
include heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries
(accidents), stroke, and diabetes. Some other health
conditions and risk factors that significantly affect
Hispanics are: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
HIV/AIDS, obesity, suicide, and liver disease.
•Other Health Concerns: Hispanics have higher
rates of obesity than non-Hispanic Whites. There are also
disparities among Hispanic subgroups. For instance, while the
rate of low birth weight infants is lower for the total
Hispanic population in comparison to non-Hispanic Whites,
Puerto Ricans have a low birth weight rate that is twice that
of non-Hispanic Whites. Also Puerto Ricans also suffer
disproportionately from asthma, HIVAIDS and infant mortality.
Mexican-Americans suffer disproportionately from diabetes.
Native Hawaiians/Pacific
Islanders. The U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Office of Minority Health (6/16/14)
provides the following information on Native Hawaiians and
Pacific Islanders:
•Overview (Demographics): This racial
group refers to people having origins in any of the original
peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands.
According to the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, there are
roughly 1.2 million Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders alone
or in combination with one of more races who reside within the
United States. This group represents about 0.5 percent of the
U.S. population. Out of that number, about 363,000 Native
Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders reside in Hawaii. Some other
states that have a significant Native Hawaiian/Pacific
islander population are: California, Oregon, Washington,
Texas, Nevada, Florida, and Utah. It is also significant to
note that 34 percent of this group is under the age of 18.
Most recent data from the 2010 Census show overall populations
for the following U.S. Territories: American Samoa 55,519;
Guam 159,358; Northern Mariana Islands 53,883. United Nations
estimates for other territories in 2010 are: Federated States
of Micronesia 111,000; Marshall Islands 54,000; Republic of
Palau 20,000.
•Educational Attainment: In 2012, 87.4 percent
of Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, alone or in
combination, have high school diplomas or higher, as compared
to 91.5 percent for Whites. 20.7 percent of Native
Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders have a bachelor's degree or higher
in comparison to 32.5 percent of Whites. 6 percent of Native
Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders have obtained graduate degrees in
comparison to 12 percent of Whites. 32 percent of Native
Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders speak a language other than
English at home.
•Economics: According to the 2012 Census Bureau,
the average Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander hosuehold median
income was $52,865 in comparison to $56,565 for non-Hispanic
White households. In 2012, the U.S. Census bureau reported
that 19 percent of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, in
comparison to 11 percent of non-Hispanic Whites were living at
the poverty level.
•Insurance Coverage: In 2012, 62.2 percent of
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders in comparison to 74.4
non-Hispanic Whites used private health insurance. Also in
2012, 30.5 percent of Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders in
comparison to 29.3 percent of non-Hispanic Whites relied on
public health insurance. Finally, 14.1 percent of Native
Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, in comparison to 10.4 percent of
non-Hispanic Whites, were uninsured.
•Health: It is significant to note that in
comparison to other ethnic groups, Native Hawaiians/ Pacific
Islanders have higher rates of smoking, alcohol consumption,
and obesity. This group also has little access to cancer
prevention and control programs. Some leading causes of death
among Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders include: cancer,
heart disease, unintentional injuries (accidents), stroke and
diabetes. Some other health conditions and risk factors that
are prevalent among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are
hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.
•Other Health Concerns: From the most part
recent national data, the infant mortality rate (deaths per
1,000 live births) for Native Hawaiians in 2002 was 9.6,
higher than the rate for all Asian-American/Pacific Islander
groups combined (4.8) and for all population (7.0).The
tuberculosis rate (cases per 100,000) in 2012 was 15 times
higher for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, with a case rate
of 12.3, as compared to 0.8 for the White population.
White Americans. Wikipedia
(2/9/14) provides the following demographic information on White
Americans from the United States Census 2010:
•Whites (non-Hispanic and Hispanic)
made up 79.8% or 75% of the American population in 2008.This
latter number is sometimes recorded as 77.1% when it includes
about 2% of the population who are identified as white in
combination with one or more other races. The largest ethnic
groups (by ancestry) among white Americans were Germans,
followed by the Irish and the English. It is likely that many
Americans who are descended of English, Scotch-Irish, or
Scottish peoples, or perhaps even more commonly a combination
of these and of these and other ethnic groups, simply identify
as "American" in the census, and that Americans of English
descent are far greater in number than those of German
descent. In the 1980 census 49,598,035 Americans cited that
they were of English ancestry, making them 26% of the country
and the largest group at the time, and in fact larger than the
population of England itself. Slightly more than half of these
people would cite that they were of "American" ancestry on
subsequent censuses and virtually everywhere that "American"
ancestry predominates on the 2000 census corresponds to places
where "English" predominated on the 1980 census.
•White Americans are projected to remain the
majority, though with their percentage decreasing to 72% of
the total population by 2050. However, the projections are
that the non-Hispanic White population will become less than
50% of the population by 2042, in part because Non-Hispanic
Whites have the third lowest fertility rate of any major
racial group in the United States and largely due to
mass-immigration and because of large scale intermarriage with
Hispanic whites which ensures that children both of
inter-ethnic marriages are also Hispanic whites.
•While over ten million white people can trace
part of their ancestry back to the Pilgrims who arrived on the
Mayflower in 1620 (this common statistic overlooks the
Jamestown, Virginia foundations of America and roots of even
earlier colonist-descended Americans, such as Spanish
Americans in St. Augustine, Florida), over 35 million whites
have at least one ancestor who passed through the Ellis Island
immigration station, which processed arriving immigrants from
1892 until 1954.
Wikipedia (2/9/14) also provides the following information on
income and educational attainment for whites:
•White Americans have the second highest median
household income and personal income levels in the nation, by
cultural background. The median income per household member
was also the highest, since White Americans had the smallest
households of any racial demographic in the nation. In 2006,
the median individual income of a White American age 25 or
older was $33,030, with those who were full-time employed, and
of age 25 to 64, earning $34,432. Since 42% of all households
had two income earners, the median household income was
considerably higher than the median personal income, which was
$48,554 in 2005. Jewish Americans rank first in household
income, personal income, and educational attainment among
white Americans. In 2005, white households had a median
household income of $48,977, which is 10.3% above the national
median of $44,389. Among Cuban Americans, with 86% classifying
as White, those persons born in the US have a higher median
income and educational attainment level than most other
whites.
•The poverty rates for White Americans are the
second-lowest of any racial group, with 10.8% of white
individuals living below the poverty line, 3% lower than the
national average. However, due to Whites' majority status, 48%
of Americans living in poverty are white.
•Whites' educational attainment is the
second-highest in the country, after Asian Americans'.
Overall, nearly one-third of White Americans had a Bachelor's
degree, with the educational attainment for whites being
higher for those born outside the United States: 37.6% of
foreign born, and 29.7% of native born Whites had a college
degree. Both figures are above the national average of 27.2%.
•Gender income inequality was the greatest among
whites, with White men out-earning white women by 48%. Census
Bureau data for 2005 reveals that the median income of white
females was lower than that of males of all races. In 2005,
the median income for White females was only slightly higher
than that of African American females.
♥ Being Poor. When we are poor,
we don't have enough food to eat, and we are hungry. When we are
poor, we are charged higher prices at our slum neighborhood
grocery stores. When we are poor, we are weak and unable to
resist disease, and we have trouble concentrating in school or
on a job. When we are poor, we suffer from homelessness, or we
live in substandard housing. When we are poor, we are forced to
live on the street or in expensive run-down rooms, motels,
apartments, or trailers with broken windows, rotting floors, and
holes in walls, and we are exposed to rats, cockroaches, and
other vermin. When we are poor, we are cold in the winter
because we either live outside or our homes do not have
sufficient heat. When we are poor, our homes do not have
sufficient lighting, so it is difficult for us to complete
paperwork, read, or study. When we are poor, we do not have hot
water, so it is difficult for us to stay
clean.
When we are poor, we have clothes that are old and ragged, and
others judge us unmercifully by our appearance. When we are
poor, we are greatly susceptible to emotional upsets,
alcoholism, and victimization by criminals. When we are poor, we
have few opportunities to advance socially, economically, or
educationally, and we have unstable marriages. When we are poor,
we have a shorter life expectancy, and we never get the chance
to experience the good things life offers to
others.
When we are poor, we have less access to good medical services,
and we receive lower quality health care. When we are poor, our
homes and schools are located in industrial areas, and we are
exposed to higher levels of air pollution, water pollution, and
unsanitary
conditions.
When we are poor, our schools are of lower quality due to
underfunding, so teachers are run of the mill; as a result, we
achieve less academically, and we are unlikely to graduate and
go on to college. When we are poor, we are unable to get good
paying jobs, and we are more apt to be arrested, indicted,
imprisoned, and given longer sentences.
Poverty leads us to suffering, despair, desperation, low
self-esteem, and stunting of our physical, social, emotional,
and intellectual growth. When we are poor, we feel inferior and
helpless because others treat us like second class
citizens.
♥Programs
To Combat Poverty. In Loving Family, we do not let
pride, fear, or embarrassment stop us from accessing church
programs, government programs, and other programs that have been
set up to combat our poverty. Some of the programs that may be
helpful to combat poverty are as follows:
♥The
Public Library. Public Libraries in the United
States Survey: Fiscal Year 2011 (6/14) provides the following
data about public libraries: In fiscal year 2011 (FY 2011),
there were 8,956 public libraries in the United States, more
public libraries than there are in any other country in the
world. Public libraries provided access to information and
resources through 17,110 branches and bookmobiles. Collectively,
they served most Americans, with 299.9 million people living
within a library service area, or 95.3 percent of the US
population . This translates to approximately 3.0 public
libraries and 5.7 outlets for every 100,000 people.
Public
libraries are found in almost every community across the
country. Almost half of the public libraries in the United
States (46.8 percent) are located in rural areas. In FY 2011,
there were 483 public libraries in cities, 2,058 in suburban
areas, 2,225 in towns, and 4,190 in rural areas. Most public
libraries (76.6 percent) served a population area of fewer than
25,000. Only 6.1 percent of libraries had a service area
of 100,000 people or more. When planning your next cross country
trip of the United States, don't forget to include public
libraries in your itinerary.
Wikipedia ( 9/4/14) provides the following information
about public libraries and characteristics of public libraries:
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general
public and is generally funded from public sources, such as
taxes. It is operated by librarians and library
paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. In the United
States there are a fair number of public libraries that are
501(c)(3) organizations, not tax-supported and whose employees
are not civil servants.
There
are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries.
The first is that they are generally supported by taxes (usually
local, though any level of government can and may contribute);
they are governed by a board to serve the public interest; they
are open to all, and every community member can access the
collection; they are entirely voluntary in that no one is ever
forced to use the services provided; and public libraries
provide basic services without charge.
Public
libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often
considered an essential part of having an educated and literate
population. Public libraries are distinct from research
libraries, school libraries, and other special libraries in that
their mandate is to serve the general public's information needs
(rather than the needs of a particular school, institution, or
research population). Public libraries also provide free
services such as preschool story times to encourage early
literacy, quiet study and work areas for students and
professionals, or book clubs to encourage appreciation of
literature in adults. Public libraries typically allow users to
take books and other materials off the premises temporarily;
they also have non-circulating reference collections and provide
computer and Internet access to patrons.
Wikipedia (9/4/14) indicates that services provided by public
libraries include book borrowing and lending, computer and
internet access, classroom and meeting space, research
assistance, reference collections, and many other services.
BOOK
BORROWING AND LENDING. The main task of public libraries is to
provide the public with access to books and periodicals.
Wikipedia states that the American Library Association (ALA),
addresses this role of libraries as part of "access to
information"and "equity of access"; part of the profession's
ethical commitment that "no one should be denied information
because he or she cannot afford the cost of a book or
periodical, or access to the internet or information in any of
its various formats."
Libraries typically offer access to thousands, tens of
thousands, or even millions of books, the majority of which are
available for borrowing by anyone with the appropriate library
card. A library's selection of books is called its collection,
and usually includes a range of popular fiction, classics,
nonfiction and reference works, books of public interest or
under public discussion, and subscriptions to popular newspapers
and magazines. Most libraries offer quiet space for reading,
known as reading rooms. Borrowers may also take books home, as
long as they return them at a certain time and in good
condition. If a borrowed book is returned late, the library may
charge a small library fine, though some libraries have
eliminated fines in recent years. About two-thirds of libraries
now provide access to e-books and digital or digitized
periodicals as well as printed books.
Public
libraries also provide books and other materials for children.
These items are often housed in a special section known as a
children's library and attended to by a specialized children's
librarian. Child oriented websites with on-line educational
games and programs specifically designed for younger library
users are becoming increasingly popular. Services may be
provided for other groups, such as large print or Braille
materials, Books on tape, young adult literature and other
materials for teenagers, or materials in other than the national
language (in foreign languages).
Libraries also lend books to each other, a practice known as
interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan allows libraries to provide
patrons access to the collections of other libraries, especially
rare, infrequently used, specialized and/or out-of-print books.
The
selection, purchase and cataloging of books for a collection;
the care, repair, and weeding of books; the organization of
books in the library; readers' advisory; and the management of
membership, borrowing and lending are typical tasks for a public
librarian, an information professional with graduate-level
education or experience in library and information science.
COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS. Part of the Public Library
mission has become attempting to help bridge the digital divide.
As more books, information resources, and government services
are being provided online (see e-commerce and e-government),
public libraries increasingly provide access to the Internet and
public computers for users who otherwise would not be able to
connect to these services. Almost all public libraries now house
a computer lab. Internationally, public libraries offer
information and communication technology (ICT) services, giving
"access to information and knowledge" the "highest
priority."While different countries and areas of the world have
their own requirements, general services offered include free
connection to the Internet, training in using the Internet, and
relevant content in appropriate languages. In addition to
typical public library financing, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and business fund services that assist public libraries
in combating the digital divide.
In
addition to access, many public libraries offer training and
support to computer users. Once access has been achieved, there
remains a large gap in people's online abilities and skills. For
many communities, the public library is the only agency offering
free computer classes and information technology learning. As of
2012, 91% of libraries offer free wireless Internet to their
patrons; 76% offer e-books for borrowing; and 90% offer formal
or informal technology training. A significant service provided
by public libraries is assisting people with e-government access
and use of federal, state and local government information,
forms and services.
In 2006
73% of library branches reported that they are the only
local provider of free public computer and Internet access. A
2008 study found that "100 percent of rural, high poverty
outlets provide public Internet access. Access to computers and
the Internet is now nearly as important to library patrons as
access to books.
CLASSROOM AND MEETING SPACE. Public libraries have a long
history of functioning as community centers or public spaces for
reading, study and formal and informal public meetings. In 1898,
Andrew Carnegie, a prominent library philanthropist, built a
library in Homestead, Pennsylvania, where his main steel mills
were located. Besides a book collection, it included a bowling
alley, an indoor swimming pool, basketball courts and other
athletic facilities, a music hall, and numerous meeting rooms
for local organizations. It sponsored highly successful semi-pro
football and baseball teams. Even before the development of the
modern public library, subscription libraries were often used as
clubs or gathering places. They served as much for social gossip
and the meeting of friends, as coffee shops do today. Throughout
history, public libraries were touted as alternatives to dance
halls or gentleman's clubs, and frequently built, organized and
supported because of their equalizing and civilizing influence.
Today,
in-person and on-line programs for reader development, language
learning, homework help, free lectures and cultural
performances, and other community service programs are common
offerings. The library storytime, in which books are read aloud
to children and infants, is a cultural touchstone. Most public
libraries offer frequent storytimes, often daily or even several
times a day for different age groups. One of the most popular
programs offered in public libraries is "summer reading" for
children, families, and adults. Summer reading usually includes
a list of books to read during summer holidays, as well as
performances, book discussions or other celebrations of reading,
culture and the humanities.
Libraries may also offer free or cheap meeting space for
community organizations and educational and entrepreneurial
activity. The addition of makerspaces in libraries, beginning
with the Fayetteville Free Library in 2011, offers the potential
for new roles for public spaces and public libraries. Attendance
at library programs increased by 22% between 2004 and 2008.
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE. Librarians at most public libraries provide
reference and research help to the general public. This can
include assisting students in finding reliable sources for
papers and presentations; helping the public find answers to
questions or evidence in a debate; or providing resources
related to a specific event or topic. Reference assistance is
usually provided through a reference interview which is usually
conducted at a public reference desk but may also be conducted
by telephone or online. Reference librarians may also help
patrons develop an appropriate bibliography or works cited page
for an academic paper. Depending on the size of the library,
there may be multiple reference desks that deal with different
topics. Large public, academic or research libraries may employ
librarians that are experts in specific topics or subjects.
Often the children's section in a public library has its own
reference desk. On the other hand, at a smaller library,
circulation and reference may occur at the same desk.
The
Internet has had a significant effect on the availability and
delivery of reference services. Many reference works, such as
the Encyclopedia Britannica, have moved entirely online, and the
way people access and use these works has changed dramatically
in recent decades. The rise of search engines and crowd-sourced
resources such as Wikipedia have transformed the reference
environment. In addition to the traditional reference interview,
reference librarians have an increasing role in providing access
to digitized reference works (including the selection and
purchase of databases not available to the general public) and
ensuring that references are reliable and presented in an
academically acceptable manner. Librarians also have a role in
teaching information literacy, so that patrons can find,
understand and use information and finding aids like search
engines, databases and library catalogs.
Public
libraries may answer millions of reference questions every year.
For example, the Boston Public Library answers more than one
million reference questions annually.
REFERENCE COLLECTIONS. In addition to their circulating
collection, public libraries usually offer a collection of
reference books, such encyclopedias, dictionaries, phone books
and unique or expensive academic works. These books may not be
available for borrowing, except under special circumstances.
Reference books that are frequently used, such as phone books,
may be housed in a special section called "ready reference."
Some
libraries also keep historical documents relevant to their
particular town, and serve as a resource for historians in some
instances. For example, the Queens Public Library kept letters
written by unrecognized Tiffany lamp designer Clara Driscoll,
and the letters remained in the library until a curator
discovered them. Some libraries may also serve as archives or
government depositories, preserving historic newspapers,
property records or government documents. Collections of unique
or historical works are sometimes referred to as special
collections; except in rare cases, these items are reference
items, and patrons must use them inside the library under the
supervision or guidance of a librarian. Local libraries' special
collections may be of particular interest to people researching
their family history. Libraries that are focused on collecting
works related to particular families are genealogical libraries
and may be housed in the same building as a public library.
Many
libraries—especially large, urban libraries—have large
collections of photographs, digital images, rare and fragile
books, artifacts and manuscripts available for public viewing
and use. Digitization and digital preservation of these works is
an ongoing effort, usually funded by grants or philanthropy. In
2005, the New York Public Library offered the "NYPL Digital
Gallery" which made a collection of 275,000 images viewable over
the web; while most of the contents are in the public domain,
some images are still subject to copyright rules. Limited
funding, copyright restrictions, a lack of expertise or poor
provenance are barriers to the large-scale digitization of
libraries' special collections.
OTHER
SERVICES.Depending on a community's desires and needs, public
libraries may offer many other resources and services to the
public. In addition to print books and periodicals, most public
libraries today have a wide array of other media including
audiobooks, e-books, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, and DVDs.
Collections of books and academic research related to the local
town or region are common, along with collections of works by
local authors. Libraries' storage space and lending systems may
be used to lend a wide range of materials, including works of
art, cake pans, seeds, tools and musical instruments.Similar to
museums and other cultural institutions, libraries may also host
exhibits or exhibitions.
As more
government services move online, libraries and librarians have a
role in providing access to online forms and assistance with
filling them out. For example, in 2013, American public
libraries were promoted as a way for people to access online
health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care
Act.
In
rural areas, the local public library may have a bookmobile
service, consisting of one or more buses or pack animals (such
as burros) furnished as small public libraries, Internet access
points or computer labs and serving the countryside according to
a regular schedule. In communities that are extremely isolated
or that have poor digital infrastructure, libraries may provide
the only access to online education, telework or telemedicine.
Libraries also partner with schools and community organizations
to promote literacy and learning.
Libraries promote cultural awareness; in Newark, New Jersey, the
public library celebrated black history with exhibits and
programs. One account suggested libraries were essential to
"economic competitiveness" as well as "neighborhood vitality"
and help some people find jobs.
Libraries have an important role during emergencies and
disasters, where they may be used as shelters, provide space to
charge phones and access the Internet, and serve as locations
for the distribution of aid, especially financial aid, which
requires access to computers and the Internet.The U.S. Federal
Emergency Management Agency recognizes libraries as providing
essential community service during times of disaster. Libraries
have also had an increasingly important economic role during the
recession, providing job search assistance, computer skills
training and resume help to patrons.
Funding.
Wikipedia (9/4/14) also discusses public library funding as
follows: Public libraries are funded through a wide combination
of sources, the most significant which is usually local or
municipal funding.The citizens who use a local library support
it via the city or county government, or through a
special-purpose district, which is a local government body that
has independent leadership and may levy its own taxes. Local
funding may be supplemented by other government funding. For
example, in the United States, the state and federal governments
provide supplementary funding for public libraries through state
aid programs, the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and
E-Rate. State and local governments may also offer cities and
counties large grants for library construction or renovation.
Private philanthropy has also had a significant role in the
expansion and transformation of library services, and, like
other educational institutions, some libraries may be partially
funded by an endowment. Some proactive librarians have devised
alliances with patron and civic groups to supplement their
financial situations. Library "friends" groups, activist boards,
and well organized book sales also supplement government
funding.
Public
funding has always been an important part of the definition of a
public library. However, with local governments facing financial
pressures due to the Great Recession, some libraries have
explored ways to supplement public funding. Cafes, bakeries,
bookstores, gift shops and similar commercial endeavors are
common features of new and urban libraries. For example, the
Boston Public Library has two restaurants and an online store
which features reproductions of photographs and artwork.
Pressure on funding has also led to closer partnerships between
libraries, and between libraries and for-profit ventures, in
order to sustain the library as a public space while providing
business opportunities to the community. While still fairly
uncommon, public-private partnerships and "mixed-use" or
"dual-use" libraries, which provide services to the public and
one or more student populations, are occasionally explored as
alternatives. Jackson County, Oregon (US), closed its entire
15-branch public library system for six months in 2007,
reopening under a public-private partnership and with a reduced
schedule.Small fees, such as library fines or printing fees, may
also offset the cost of providing library services, though fines
and fees do not usually have a significant role in library
funding.
Although usage of public libraries has increased significantly
in recent decades, libraries are under intense financial
pressure and scrutiny.The American Library Association says
media reports it has compiled in 2004 showed some $162 million
in funding cuts to libraries nationwide. In 2009, 40% of states
reported a decline in state aid for libraries. In 2012, Great
Britain lost over 200 libraries to budget cuts, part of a
general trend of fiscal austerity in Europe. However, there are
signs of stabilization in library funding. As of 2012, funding
for construction and renovation of new libraries remains steady.
Cities' plans to close public libraries are frequently canceled
or scaled back. In 2012, voters in 13 U.S. states approved new
funding for library construction or operations. And in the UK,
the new Library of Birmingham, opened in 2013, is the largest
cultural space in Europe.
Survey
data suggests the public values free public libraries. A Public
Agenda survey in 2006 reported 84% of the public said
maintaining free library services should be a top priority for
their local library. Public libraries received higher ratings
for effectiveness than other local services such as parks and
police. But the survey also found the public was mostly unaware
of financial difficulties facing their libraries. In various
cost-benefit studies libraries continue to provide an
exceptional return on the dollar. A 2008 survey discusses
comprehensively the prospects for increased funding in the
United States, saying in conclusion "There is sufficient, but
latent, support for increased library funding among the voting
population."A 2013 Pew Research Center survey reported that 90%
of Americans ages 16 and older said that the closing of their
local public library would have an impact on their community,
with 63% saying it would have a “major” impact.
Keeping Public Libraries Public. Keeping Public Libraries
Public (American Library Association, June 2011) states that in
2001, after considering the issues of outsourcing and
privatization, ALA Council voted to adopt the following policy:
“ALA affirms that publicly funded libraries should remain
directly accountable to the public they serve. Therefore, the
ALA opposes the shifting of policy-making and management
oversight of library services for the public to the private for
profit sector.”
♥Student
Financial Aid: The United States Department of
Education, www.ed.gov (9/14) provides the following information
about Federal Student Financial Aid: Federal Student Aid is the
largest provider of student financial aid in the nation. The
office of Federal Student Aid provides more than $150 billion in
federal grants, loans, and work-study funds each year to more
than 15 million students paying for college or career school. To
apply for federal student aid, you need to complete the FAFSA®
or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Completing and
submitting the FAFSA is free and quick, and it gives you access
to the largest source of financial aid to pay for college or
career school.In addition, many states and colleges use your
FAFSA data to determine your eligibility for state and school
aid, and some private financial aid providers may use your FAFSA
information to determine whether you qualify for their aid.There
are several ways to file a FAFSA:
Online at www.fafsa.gov is faster and easier
than using paper.
If you need a paper FAFSA, you can download a
PDF FAFSA or
order a paper FAFSA.
Ask the financial aid office at your college or
career school if you can file it there. Some schools will use
special software to submit your FAFSA for
you.
Other
Sources of Student Aid are as follows:
The
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): Offers several
programs administered by its Education Service. Aid is available
for veterans, reservists, National Guard persons, widows, and
orphans.
Disabled
American Veterans: In memory of the late Secretary of
Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown, the Disabled American Veterans
has established the Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship
Program.
The United States Army: Offers education benefits for
individuals enlisting in selected military occupational
specialties. The Montgomery GI Bill and the Army's College Fund
offer financial assistance to pay for future education expenses.
Students leaving college may be eligible for the Army's Loan
Repayment Program. This enlistment option, for active Army or
Army Reserve, repays eligible federally insured loans for
education.
Ameri-Corps: Administered by the Corporation for National
and Community Service, Ameri-Corps allows people of all ages and
backgrounds to earn educational awards in exchange for a year of
community service.
The Department of Health and Human Services: Offers
scholarships and loan repayment programs through its Indian
Health Service and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The
Department of Labor: Here you will find a variety of
useful information, from how to further your education to
suggestions to help you with your job search at
www.careervoyages.org.
students.gov: Provides links to
scholarship and grant sites, state aid information, and more!
studentjobs.gov: Developed as a
partnership between the U.S.Office of Personnel Management and
government agencies, this Web site is similar to students.gov
but focuses on employment. But, while you're at the site, be
sure to click on "e-Scholar" for numerous sources of federal
scholarships, internships fellowships, etc.
Even if
you're not eligible for federal aid, you might be eligible for
financial assistance from your state. Contact your state higher
education agency for more information.
Under the Robert C. Byrd
Honors Scholarship Program, ED gives money to state education
agencies to provide scholarships to graduating high school
seniors. Each state education agency has its own application and
deadline.
You can
find out about non-federal scholarships and other sources of aid
in several ways, including contacting the financial aid offices
at the schools you plan to attend and checking information in a
public library or online. But be careful. Make sure scholarship
information and offers you receive are legitimate. Don't get
scammed: You don't have to pay to find scholarships.
♥Unemployment
Insurance: Those of us who become laid off or fired from
our job apply for Unemployment Insurance benefits through our
state Employment Development Department to replace lost income.
According to the United States Department of Labor (10/14), the
Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program provides
unemployment benefits to eligible workers who are unemployed
through no fault of their own (as determined under state law),
and meet other eligibility requirements of state law.
♥Worker's
Compensation Insurance: Those of us who become injured on
the job apply for Worker's Compensation Insurance benefits
through our place of employment. According to NOLO (10/14),
workers' compensation, also known as workmans' comp, is a
state-mandated insurance program that provides compensation to
employees who suffer job-related injuries and illnesses. While
the federal government administers a workers' comp program for
federal and certain other types of employees, each state has its
own laws and programs for workers' compensation. For up-to-date
information on workers' comp in your state, contact your state's
workers' compensation office. (You can find links to the
appropriate office in your state on the State Workers'
Compensation Officials page of the U.S. Department of Labor's
website.) In general, an employee with a work-related illness or
injury can get workers' compensation benefits regardless of who
was at fault -- the employee, the employer, a coworker, a
customer, or some other third party. In exchange for these
guaranteed benefits, employees usually do not have the right to
sue the employer in court for damages for those injuries.
♥Temporary
assistance for Needy Families (TANF): If we need help with
immediate cash assistance, we apply for Transitional Aid for
Needy Families through our local welfare office. The U.S.
Department of Health & Human Services, ACF (9/14),
identifies the goals of TANF as follows: The four purposes of
TANF are to: (1) provide assistance to needy families so that
children can be cared for in their own homes; (2) reduce the
dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work
and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of
out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and ( 4) encourage the formation and
maintenance of two-parent families.
ACF also explains the Healthy Marriage Initiative and
Responsible Fatherhood Program. The Healthy Marriage Initiative
is designed to strengthen families, foster safe and healthy
relationships between men and women who choose marriage for
themselves and promote the well-being of children.The
Responsible Fatherhood Program is designed to enable fathers to
improve their relationship with their spouse, significant other,
or mother of their children, to reconnect with their
children, and become a better parent.
Department of Health & Human Services ACF (9/17/12)
indicates that CCDF assists low-income families in obtaining
child care so they can work or attend training/education. The
program also improves the quality of child care, and promotes
coordination among early childhood development and afterschool
programs.
♥ After
our family's immediate needs for health and safety have been met
and we have become stabilized, those of us who are able seek
work to achieve financial independence through state employment
programs, or we seek financial aid so we can attend vocational
school or college. If we must apply for TANF benefits to make
ends meet, those of us who want to attend school or college
enroll in our educational program before applying for TANF
because welfare programs are designed to funnel new recipients
into low paying jobs; but TANF may under certain circumstances
approve an educational program as part of the work requirement
if the new recipient is already enrolled in the educational
program when the applicant first applies for TANF.
♥ General
Assistance: Those of us who are ineligible for any other
income maintenance program can apply for General Assistance
through the local welfare department.
♥Other
Assistance: Some of us can also apply for government aid through
the land bank program who pays farmers for not working their
land, farm subsidies, V.A./military benefits, and subsidies for
business firms confronting bankruptcy.
♥ Earned
Income Credit: If we are working and we qualify, we can
apply for the earned income credit on our yearly tax return.
According to the Internal Revenue Service; United States
Department of Treasury (www.irs.gov), the Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC) sometimes called the Earned Income Credit (EIC),
is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working
individuals and families. Congress originally approved the tax
credit legislation in 1975 in part to offset the burden of
social security taxes and to provide an incentive to work. When
the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax
refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit. To
qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax
return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated
to file a tax return. The EITC has no effect on certain welfare
benefits. In most cases, EITC payments will not be used to
determine eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income
(SSI), food stamps, low-income housing or most Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments. If you qualify to
claim EITC on your federal income tax return, you also may be
eligible for a similar credit on your state or local income tax
return. Twenty-two states, the District of Columbia, New York
City, and Montgomery County, Maryland, offer their residents an
earned income tax credit.
♥Affordable
Care Act: USA.gov (9/30/14) states that under the
Affordable Care Act, all Americans can get health insurance
regardless of income or health history.
♥Health
Insurance Marketplace: USA.gov (9/30/14) states that you
can only buy Marketplace health insurance during open
enrollment, but you may still be able to get health insurance if
you qualify for a special enrollment period. Open enrollment for
2015 coverage is November 15, 2014 through February 15, 2015. If
you'd like to identify private plans outside of the Health
Insurance Marketplace, you can use the Plan Finder. For these
plans, you must also apply during an open enrollment period,
unless you experience a qualifying life event. There is no
limited enrollment period for Medicaid or the Children's Health
Insurance Program. If you qualify, you can enroll at any time.
To get coverage visit HealthCare.com.
♥Medicaid:
If we need health care, we apply for Medicaid through our local
welfare office. USA.gov (9/30/14) provides information about
Medicaid health insurance. States decide on the benefits
provided under Medicaid, but Medicaid usually provides health
care for low-income children and families, and people with
disabilities. Covered services usually include doctor visits,
hospital care, vaccinations, prescription drugs, vision,
hearing, long-term care, and preventive care for children. Many
State Medicaid Programs are expanding coverage for low-income
adults and all states are improving their enrollment and renewal
processes. If you are eligible for Medicaid, you don't need to
buy coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
♥ The
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP): USA.gov
(9/30/14) sates that the Children’s Health Insurance Program
(CHIP) provides free or low-cost health coverage for low-income
children. Each state decides on the benefits provided under
CHIP, but all states cover routine check-ups, immunizations,
hospital care, dental care, and lab and x-ray services.
♥
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) formerly Food
Stamps: If we don't have enough money to adequately meet
our food needs, we apply for SNAP through our local
welfare office. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (11/2010, FNS-416), SNAP is
the national program name; some States may call it something
else. With SNAP, you get an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)
card.You use it like a debit card to buy food at the grocery
store. SNAP puts benefits on this card once a month. SNAP also
has programs to help you learn to eat healthy and be active.
SNAP is for people and families with low incomes. Anyone can
apply. If you qualify, you will receive SNAP. The amount depends
on your income, your expenses, and your family size. If you are
an immigrant, you have to prove you have legal status to apply
for SNAP. Getting SNAP will not hurt your chances to become a
citizen if you are documented. You may have a waiting period
before you can get SNAP. There are some immigrants that may be
able to get SNAP without having to wait: documented immigrant
children under age 18, refugees, and the elderly and disabled.
Your children may be able to get SNAP even if you cannot. The
application is in your children’s names, not yours. Learn more
for the sake of your children! The amount of SNAP you get
depends on: how much money you have, how many are in your
family, and some of your expenses. If you qualify, you get your
benefits within 30 days after you apply. If you have little or
no money, please let your SNAP worker know. You may be able to
get help sooner. To Learn More About SNAP call 1-800-221-5689,
or visit www.fns.usda.gov/snap.
♥ Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and
Children (WIC): According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (11/2010,
FNS-416), WIC provides a voucher or coupon each month. You use
it to buy foods that will help you and your children to eat
healthy. You can also learn about healthy eating, get support to
help you breastfeed your baby, and find out about healthcare and
other services. In some States WIC is using Electronic Benefit
Transfer (EBT) cards. In these States, you use an EBT card, like
a debit card, to buy food at the grocery store. You can apply
for WIC if you have a low income and have recently had a baby,
are pregnant, or are breastfeeding, or if you have children up
to 5 years old. You may be able to get WIC even if you do not
qualify for SNAP. To Learn More About WIC call your local health
department or, to find out where to apply in your State, visit
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/Contacts/statealpha.HTM.
Some
States offer WIC FMNP (Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program). It
gives you coupons you can use to shop at farmers’ markets or
roadside produce stands. You can buy fresh fruits, vegetables,
and herbs. Women and children receiving WIC or who are on a
waiting list for WIC can apply for this program. To find out if
your State offers FMNP in your community, ask your local WIC
office or visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/Contacts/farm.HTM to
find out who to contact in your State.
♥ Immediate
Hunger Needs: For immediate hunger needs, we visit our
local free meal program, food pantry, and local welfare office
to apply for emergency food stamp assistance.
♥ In
Loving Family, we help those who are hungry to access food
stamps, WIC, the local free meal program, and the local food
pantry. We are busy people and so we advocate for no stress
school breakfast and lunch programs that are free and available
for all children without stigmatization, so they can think
clearly and succeed in school without feeling like a second
class citizen because they are hungry. No child should have to
go hungry because they did not have time to eat breakfast or
pack a lunch before rushing out the door in the morning or
because their parents did not have enough food money. We believe
that food for our children should be a priority and that no
child should ever have to experience hunger. Spending our tax
dollars on nutritious food programs for our children is one of
the best investments we can ever hope to make and will
substantially reduce the need for medical, counseling, and
disability services now and later in life. We are spiritual
people with big hearts not stingy people with small hearts so we
let our leaders know we want our tax dollars to be spent
generously not miserly on nutritious food programs for the
people of our nation.
♥Housing
Assistance: Homelessness is a social problem caused by
cutbacks in funding for low-income and middle-income housing.
Each homeless person has a personal sad story of family
problems, illness, or substance abuse. If we are homeless, we
access housing assistance through HUD programs, our local
welfare office, and other agencies in our community, so we can
have decent livable housing. For immediate housing needs, we
contact our local shelter or Mission.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; U.S.
Department of Health & Human Services (8/4/2008) provides
the following information about national policy and programs
that address America's housing needs: The U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the Federal agency
responsible for national policy and programs that address
America's housing needs; that improve and develop the Nation's
communities; and enforce fair housing laws. HUD's mission is to
ensure a decent, safe and sanitary home and suitable living
environment for every American. HUD has programs to create
opportunities for home ownership; provide housing assistance for
low-income persons; programs to create, rehabilitate and
maintain the nation's affordable housing; enforce fair housing
laws; help homeless persons; spur economic growth in distressed
neighborhoods; and help local communities meet their development
needs. The primary programs administered by HUD include mortgage
and loan insurance through the Federal Housing Administration;
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to help communities
with economic development; job opportunities and housing
rehabilitation; HOME Investment Partnership Act block grants to
develop and support affordable housing for low-income residents;
rental assistance under the Housing Choice Voucher Program,
which benefits low-income households; public or subsidized
housing for low-income individuals and families; homeless
assistance provided through local communities and faith-based
and other nonprofit organizations; and fair housing public
education and
enforcement.
♥In Loving Family, we help others who are homeless to access
shelter, temporary housing, and permanent housing, and we
advocate for more low-cost and affordable middle-income housing
programs, so we can put an end to homelessness. We advocate for
interest rates on home mortgage loans to be regulated, so our
mortgage payments are reasonable, so we can afford to live a
decent life. We advocate for rental properties to be regulated
and inspected regularly, so that our landlords are required to
provide us with clean, safe, affordable housing. We also
advocate for tax incentives for private investment in housing.
There is a big need for special housing programs for the
homeless that can address budgeting and money management issues
for those who are unable to access other housing due to prior
evictions and poor credit ratings so we advocate for special
housing programs to meet the needs of the homeless. Good housing
is extremely important to maintain our health and well-being so
we advocate rigorously for good housing programs.
There is a need for low-income and moderate-income assisted
living centers for elders and dependent adults who can not be
adequately managed at home with care providers and other support
services so we advocate for and urge our political leaders to
develop low-income and moderate-income assisted living centers
so our elders and dependent adults can continue to maintain
independence at home while getting their needs adequately met.
We inform our leaders that we want affordable assisted living
centers to be developed that will provide meals, social
services, health care monitoring, socialization, and care to our
elders and dependent adults as needed. Affordable assisted
living centers would more efficiently utilize limited social
worker, nursing, and care provider staff through onsite
assistance to a community of elders and dependent adults who
would otherwise become socially isolated in the larger
community. Affordable assisted living centers should be built
ground-level in a circle so each elder and dependent adult can
have their own private outside entrance to their own home unit
with easy access for coming and going with no shared inside
entrances so privacy and individual health standards can be
adequately maintained. The assisted living centers should
contain a separate center hub building with a shared community
meal center, activity center, social service center, and medical
center so able residents can eat meals together, socialize, and
visit social service and nursing staff as needed. Onsite care
provider staff should be available to provide care to elders and
dependent adults as needed in their own home units and to
deliver meals to the those who are home bound. Onsite social
service staff should be available to visit home bound elders and
dependent adults in their own home units to assess and provide
social services as needed. Onsite nursing staff should be
available to visit home bound elders and dependent adults so
their health care needs can be adequately monitored at home. We
inform our leaders that we want all of our neighborhoods to have
affordable assisted living centers so our elders and dependent
adults can be adequately maintained in their own home units yet
as part of an active community. We bring public awareness to the
need for affordable low-income and moderate-income assisted
living centers so our elders and dependent adults do not perish.
♥ LIHEAP:
According to the ACF Office of Community Service-Low Income Home
Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) Program; U.S. Department of Health
& Human Services (10/14), LIHEAP is designed to assist
low-income households, particularly those with the lowest
incomes, that pay a high proportion of household income for home
energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs.
This assistance targets the costs of heating and cooling in
residential dwellings.
Unlike
some Federal programs, applications, eligibility rules, types of
assistance, and benefit levels can vary greatly among LIHEAP
programs throughout the country. The Federal government does not
send or accept applications for LIHEAP assistance. For
information on applying for LIHEAP assistance, please contact
your LIHEAP State or Territory agency or your LIHEAP Indian
Tribe or Tribal Organization agency. You may also contact the
National Energy Assistance Referral (NEAR) project. NEAR is a
free service providing information on where to apply for LIHEAP
assistance. NEAR can be contacted by e-mail energy@ncat.org
(please include your city, county and state in your e-mail
message) or by using NEAR's toll-free phone number
1-866-674-6327 (or 1-866-NRG-NEAR). If you have additional
questions about the LIHEAP program, send an e-mail to:
LIHEAPconsumers@acf.hhs.gov.
Safe,
reliable, and continuous home heating and cooling are a
necessity of life. The inability to heat or cool one's home
adequately can put people at risk for serious health and safety
problems. Households with a frail, elderly, disabled person, or
a young child are more prone to the effects of poorly regulated
indoor temperatures.
♥ Head
Start: Head Start, ECLKC, Administration for Children
& Families; The U.S. Department of Health & Human
Services (10/1/14) provides information about Head Start:
Head
Start promotes the school readiness of young children from
low-income families through agencies in their local community.
The Head Start program is authorized by the Improving Head Start
for School Readiness Act of 2007. Family members must apply with
a program in their area.
Head
Start and Early Head Start programs support the mental, social,
and emotional development of children from birth to age 5. In
addition to education services, programs provide children and
their families with health, nutrition, social, and other
services. Head Start services are responsive to each child and
family's ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage.
Head Start
encourages the role of parents as their child's first and most
important teachers. Programs build relationships with families
that support positive parent-child relationships, family
well-being, and connections to peers and community. Head Start
began as a program for preschoolers. Three- and 4-year-olds made
up over 80 percent of the children served by Head Start last
year.
Early
Head Start serves pregnant women, infants, and toddlers. Early
Head Start programs are available to the family until the child
turns 3 years old and is ready to transition into Head Start or
another pre-K program. Early Head Start helps families care for
their infants and toddlers through early, continuous, intensive,
and comprehensive services.
Local
services are delivered by about 1,700 public and private
nonprofit and for-profit agencies. These agencies receive grants
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Head Start agencies design services for children and families
that meet the needs of their local community and the Head Start
Program Performance Standards. Some cities, states, and federal
programs offer funding to expand Head Start and Early Head Start
to include more children within their communities.
Both
Head Start and Early Head Start programs offer a variety of
service models, depending on the needs of the local community.
Programs may be based in centers, schools, or family child care
homes. Early Head Start services are provided for at least six
hours per day, whereas Head Start preschool services may be
half-day (four hours) or full-day. Another program option is
home-based services, in which a staff person visits children
once a week in their own home and works with the parent as the
child's primary teacher. Children and families who receive
home-based services meet twice monthly with other enrolled
families for a group learning experience facilitated by Head
Start staff.
For
more information call toll-free (1-866-763-6481) Monday -
Friday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. ET,email HeadStart@eclkc.info or visit
http:eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/about.
♥ Social
Security Benefits: We help our older family members to
apply for Social Security benefits through our local Social
Security office to replace income lost due to retirement.
According to the Social Security Administration (8/4/2008), your
Social Security benefits are the foundation on which you can
build a secure retirement. The three major elements of your
retirement portfolio are: benefits from pensions, savings and
investments, and Social Security benefits. Most financial
advisers say you'll need about 70 percent of your pre-retirement
earnings to comfortably maintain your pre-retirement standard of
living. If you have average earnings, your Social Security
retirement benefits will replace only about 40 percent. The
percentage is lower for people in the upper income brackets and
higher for people with low incomes. You'll need to supplement
your benefits with a pension, savings or investments. Your
benefit amount is based on your earnings averaged over most of
your working career. Higher lifetime earnings result in higher
benefits. If you have some years of no earnings or low earnings,
your benefit amount may be lower than if you had worked
steadily.Your benefit amount also is affected by your age at the
time you start receiving benefits. If you start your retirement
benefits at age 62 (the earliest possible retirement age) your
benefit will be lower than if you wait until your full
retirement age.
♥
Supplemental Security Income (SSI): We also assist family
members who are aged, blind, or disabled to apply for
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) through our local Social
Security office for a guaranteed floor level income. According
to the Social Security Administration (10/14), the Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) program pays benefits to disabled adults
and children who have limited income and resources. SSI benefits
also are payable to people 65 and older without disabilities who
meet the financial limits. People who have worked long enough
may also be able to receive Social Security disability or
retirement benefits as well as SSI. Supplemental Security Income
(SSI) is a Federal income supplement program funded by general
tax revenues (not Social Security taxes). It is designed to help
aged, blind, and disabled people, who have little or no income;
and it provides cash to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and
shelter.For more information visit www.socialsecurity.gov.
or call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or 1-800-325-0778 if
you are hard of hearing.
♥Social
Security Disability Insurance Program (SSDI): According to
the Social Security Administration (10/14), Social Security
Disability Insurance pays benefits to you and certain members of
your family if you are "insured," meaning that you worked long
enough and paid Social Security taxes, and you have a medical
condition that has prevented you from working or is expected to
prevent you from working for at least 12 months or end in
death. For more information visit www.socialsecurity.gov.
or call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or 1-800-325-0778 if
you are hard of hearing.
♥Medicare:
We assist our elderly family members to apply for Medicare
through our local Social Security office for necessary hospital,
medical, and prescription insurance. Social Security (10/14)
states that Medicare is our country’s health insurance program
for people age 65 or older. People younger than age 65 with
certain disabilities or permanent kidney failure also can
qualify for Medicare. The program helps with the cost of health
care, but it does not cover all medical expenses or the cost of
most long-term care. You may buy a Medicare supplement policy
(called Medigap) from a private insurance company to cover some
of the costs that Medicare does not. Medicare is financed by a
portion of the payroll taxes paid by workers and their
employers. It also is financed in part by monthly premiums,
usually deducted from Social Security checks.
Medicare has four parts: Hospital insurance (Part A) helps pay
for inpatient care in a hospital or skilled nursing facility
(following a hospital stay), some home health care and hospice
care. Medical insurance (Part B) helps pay for services from
doctors and other health care providers, outpatient care, home
health care, durable medical equipment and some preventive
services. Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) are available in
many areas. People with Medicare Parts A and B can choose to
receive all of their health care services through one of these
provider organizations under Part C. Prescription drug coverage
(Part D) helps pay for the costs of prescription drugs. For more
information call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or visit
www.socialsecurity.gov.You may also visit the Medicare Web site
at http://www.medicare.gov or call toll free, 1-800-MEDICARE
(1-800-633-4227).
♥ Other
Senior and Elder Services: Other services we help our
senior and elderly family member’s access are reduced bus rates;
reduced utility and phone rates; senior housing; property tax
relief; special federal income tax deduction; the Retired Senior
Volunteer Program (RSVP) that matches work and service
opportunities with elderly volunteers; foster grandparent
programs that pay the elderly for part-time work with needy
children; the Service Corps of Retired Executives that provides
consulting services to small business; senior citizen centers
that provide leisure-time and recreational activities to the
elderly; food stamps; Medicaid; homemaker services to help with
household tasks; the In Home Support Services program, care
provider services to assist with care needs; home health
services for medical and visiting nurse services; hospital and
physician services; Adult Day Health Care Centers for daily
health care monitoring and socialization; Meals on Wheels for
the housebound incapable of preparing their own meals; financial
management services; board and care homes, assisted living
homes, or nursing homes for those who can no longer manage at
home; and a nursing home ombudsman program to investigate
concerns expressed by residents in nursing homes. Our church,
faith-based organization, or local welfare office can assist us
in locating needed services for our elderly family members.
♥Other
Disability Services: Other services that we help disabled
family members to access are funds and services from sheltered
workshops that provide a variety of services which include
vocational evaluation, sheltered employment, work adjustment,
counseling services, and placement services. If our disabled
family members are eligible, we help them to access Federal
Vocational Rehabilitation funding for retraining. We also help
disabled family members access what is needed in the way of
day-care centers for socialization and leisure-time activities,
hospital and physician services, Meals on Wheels for the
housebound incapable of preparing their own meals, the In Home
Support Services program, care provider services, Home Health
Services for medical and visiting nurse services, Homemaker
Services to take care of household tasks, Medicaid, food stamps,
and Worker's Compensation Insurance. If our disabled family
member is unable to live at home, we help our disabled family
member to find appropriate housing in a group home, halfway
house, nursing home, or residential treatment center. If we have
a disabled child, we make certain our child participates in a
special education program designed to meet our child's specific
needs. Our church, faith-based organization, or local welfare
office can assist us in locating needed services for our
disabled family members.
♥ Alcohol
and Drug Abuse and Treatment. The self-help twelve-step
based recovery groups of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Alateen,
Adult Children of Alcoholics, and Narcotics Anonymous are free
of charge to all who wish to participate. These groups have been
an extremely helpful resources for millions of people to recover
from the effects of substance abuse. Alcoholics Anonymous helps
the suffering alcoholic to recover from alcohol abuse.
Alcoholism is ranked among the first three of our nation's
health problems and it is the chief cause of traffic accidents,
liver disease, and divorce. Narcotics Anonymous provides
support to those who suffer from drug abuse. Al-Anon and Alateen
provide support to family and friends of those who suffer from
alcohol or drug abuse. Adult Children of Alcoholics provides
support for those who grew up in an alcoholic home. Check your
local phone book for local twelve-step program listings. Some
alcoholics and drug abusers may require more extensive treatment
than a twelve step program is able to provide and they should
seek treatment from a good social model residential treatment
program that is based upon the twelve step principles of
recovery.
Alcoholism can be defined as an intimacy disorder since the
alcoholic has a love affair with alcohol instead of with another
person (Covington, 1987; Doweiko, 1990). It is normal for
emotionally secure people to desire sexual and nonsexual
intimacy but many people do not feel comfortable with the desire
for sexual intimacy (Doweiko, 1990). Many of these people turn
to alcohol in order to be sexual. Shame, guilt, and pain
resulting from past physical, sexual, or emotional abuse leads
to alcohol use as a way of dealing with anxiety involved with
intimacy (Covington, 1987; Doweiko, 1990). A past history of
abuse inhibits trust making it difficult to surrender to a
sexual experience (Covington, 1987; Doweiko, 1990). Alcohol use
is a way of dealing with lack of intimacy skills but alcohol is
a poor substitute that only leads to continued isolation and
more use of alcohol or drugs.
Increasing blood alcohol levels leads to an increase in
perceived sexual arousal but to a decrease in strength of
erection and time to orgasm for men and to vaginal changes and
time to orgasm for women (Farkas & Rosen, 1976; Wilson &
Rosen, 1976; 1978; Malatesta, Pollack, Wilbanks & Adams,
1979; Malatesta, Crotty, Pollack, & Peacock, 1982; Avis,
1993). Chronic alcohol use disrupts sexual desire, performance,
and satisfaction (Gold, 1988; Doweiko, 1990).
Chronic alcoholism causes liver damage that impacts the body’s
ability to regulate hormone distribution. In men, this causes
atrophy of the testes, impotence, and infertility (Van Thiel,
Gavaler, Cobb, & Chiao, 1982; Schiavi, 1990; Avis, 1993).
Furthermore, estrogen synthesis is increased resulting in
feminization with decreased body hair, breast development, and
female pattern of body fat. In women, chronic alcohol use causes
menstrual difficulties, infertility, and loss of secondary sex
characteristics–pubic hair, breast and hip size (Wilsnack,
Klassen, & Wilsnack, 1984; Avis, 1993).
Excessive alcohol use is the most common cause of impotence in
middle-aged men which causes fear of further problems and
avoidance of sexual activity (Masters & Johnson, 1966;
Doweiko, 1990). Alcohol may decrease the intensity and pleasure
of orgasm in the male and it also makes it more difficult for
women to achieve orgasm (Masters, Johnson & Kolodny, 1986;
Doweiko, 1990). Sexual desire will simply disappear in chronic
alcoholics (Masters & Johnson, 1966; Doweiko, 1990). Alcohol
and drug treatment can lead to normal sexual functioning for
both men and women.
Alcoholism is a generational disease that runs in families:
•"Fifty to sixty percent of all
alcoholics have or had, at least one alcoholic parent.
Alcoholism is a generational disease. A fact receiving more
substantiation every day is that alcoholism runs in families"
(Alcoholism, The National Magazine, Spring 1985 p.13).
•"It is estimated that 50% or more of alcoholics
have an alcoholic parent and perhaps 85-90% have one or more
alcoholic grandparents (Alcoholism, The National Magazine,
Spring 1985 p.13).
The San Francisco Chronicle, This World
(12/30/84) also provides some facts about children of alcoholic
parents:
1.They tend to drop out of school
voluntarily in larger numbers than any other group of children
studied.
2.They have more problems with alcohol and drug
abuse themselves.
3.They run a greater risk of developing not only
emotional problems but physical problems as well.
According to Ellis the word "epidemic" is
being used in connection with drug-addicted newborns. Data from
a study of 36 hospitals around the country suggested that
375,000 newborns a year faced the possibility of health damage
from their mothers' drug abuse (Brody, 1988; Ellis, 1989).
If you are a woman
of child bearing age, pregnant, or a nursing mother, it is
critical that you seek treatment immediately if you abuse
alcohol or drugs. Alcohol and drug treatment can protect the
health of mothers who abuse substances and the unborn
babies of mothers who are addicted.
♥ Need
for a Guaranteed Family Income. A generous
guaranteed annual income program with work and education
requirements for those with abilities would substantially reduce
the need for other public assistance programs by reducing
governmental expense spent on recipient benefits; high paying
public employee salaries, pensions, and health insurance; and
upkeep on public office buildings. A guaranteed family income
program, based upon yearly income tax returns, would go a long
way towards preserving the human dignity of the poor, disabled,
elderly and of families since they would not have to contend
with complicated government rules and regulations and punitive
government workers. A generous guaranteed family income program
would also safely reduce rates of crime and
incarceration.
♥Charity
for Panhandlers. There is always a need for charity
but the need for charity increases during tough economic times.
These days it seems that many are in need of a little assistance
and the numbers keep growing. Street corners are inhabited by
numerous panhandlers hoping to benefit from charitable giving.
Each panhandler has a story worth hearing yet most of us avoid
eye contact as we walk briskly on our way or drive by in the
comfort of our automobile.
Panhandlers hold up signs that have various messages that are
telling. “Hungry, need food.” “Ran out of Gas.” “Need ride
home.” The signs differ in shapes and sizes and are made from a
variety of materials. Some panhandlers hold up cardboard
signs with messages that are hastily scribbled while other
panhandlers hold professional quality laminated signs
printed on crisp white paper. The message on the sign of one
particular panhandler seems to hit the nail right on the head:
“Need Cash Please Give Thanks Alot.”
There
are many reasons why we are reluctant to give to panhandlers.
Some of us just cannot afford to give money to panhandlers.
Others are already giving to organized charities. Some of us
believe that the panhandler will just use the money for alcohol,
drugs, or gambling which is frequently the case. Some of us
think that the panhandler can seek help from social welfare
programs instead of begging on the street. Indeed, many
panhandlers do already receive some kind of assistance from
welfare or Social Security disability benefits.
If panhandlers who are already receiving welfare or Social
Security disability benefits need additional money, why don’t
they just do what the rest of us do and get a job? Obviously
some are too disabled to work. Otherwise, the answer is a bit
more complicated. Most welfare programs and disability programs
are based upon need and job earnings are often deducted
from the amount of the monthly check that is received. There is
really no incentive for someone on welfare or Social Security
disability to get a job unless he or she is able to find a job
that pays substantially more than the amount that he or she
receives on his or her monthly welfare or disability check.
Without job training or a college education, the chance of
finding a good paying job is very slim. Getting a job also
requires a major act of faith. Most prefer to hang onto the rock
that is drowning them rather than to let go of the rock and have
faith in their ability to succeed.
If we ever really become serious about helping those who
are poor and the disabled, we must put a good guaranteed
income program in place that does not discourage the poor or
disabled from seeking legitimate employment. We must let go of
our stinginess and of our need to control others, and we must
have faith in the ability of the poor and disabled to move
forward and succeed if we remove obstacles and get out of their
way.
Until we have a guaranteed income program in place we should
give charitably to the poor and the disabled no matter if they
receive welfare or disability payments or not. Some actually do
need the money for food and to pay bills. Panhandlers work hard
at what they do. They must brave the outside elements and
convince others to do what they do not want to do–part with
their cash. They also fulfill an important function in society.
They give employment opportunities to police officers who arrest
them, judges who hear their cases, and to reporters who are
looking for a good human interest story. They also provide us
with an opportunity for spiritual growth and development through
charitable giving. Instead of condemning the panhandler for
having a separate reality, dig deep into your pocket when you
are asked for spare change. You just might change your own
reality and bring a smile to your face.
Emotional Problems
♥
Emotional problems are also serious social problems we
recognize. We help each other to work through unwanted emotions,
such as depression, anxiety, obsession, compulsion, excessive
fear, and feelings of being a failure by supporting one and
other and listening to each other. We do not label each other as
being mentally ill since labeling does not serve a good purpose;
instead, labeling only stigmatizes us in our social
interactions, makes it difficult to secure employment, be
promoted, retain legal rights, and serves as an excuse for not
taking personal responsibility for personal actions. We advocate
for public education efforts to inform the general population
about the nature of emotional problems and the adverse effects
that results from inappropriate labeling. We make necessary
changes in our lives to resolve problems that cause anxiety,
depression, or tension, and we avoid using mental health drugs,
alcohol, and illegal drugs for relief from our unwanted
emotions. If we need professional help to resolve our emotional
difficulties, we seek spiritual guidance from a qualified
spiritual adviser, counseling, or psychotherapy. If we are
having marital problems, considering a divorce, or feel that our
marriage is empty, we seek spiritual guidance or faith-based
marriage counseling.
Dangers
of Mental Health Drugs. Scheff (1984) states that
Psychiatrists, by law, overwhelmingly dominate the mental health
field, and the treatment they use is tranquilizing medication.
One of the chief dangers in the overuse of tranquilizers are the
physical side effects, like the irreversible brain damage caused
by prolonged intake of thorazine, and sedation. There is cause
for even more concern about the possibility of the chemical
suppression of distressful emotions in light of the enormously
widespread prescription of tranquilizers like Valium.Scheff
finds it hard to believe that these drugs are being used to
correct metabolic errors, but instead that, they are used to
mask negative feelings like fear and anxiety. If this is the
case, we are facing a social problem of almost incalculable
magnitude, a problem that is both cause and result of the
established perspective on mental health and illness: the
medical model. Present mental health laws, which establish
medical dominance in the mental health field are costly and
probably unwise. These laws encourage treatment policies and
practices which overemphasize chemotherapy and under-emphasize
sociopsychological treatment.
Chemotherapy is the treatment of mental disorder that currently
prevails in the United States. Particularly, for the more severe
disorders, it has been established that tranquilizers and
antidepressants are, in many cases, a quick, cheap, and
effective way of stopping symptoms. Although chemotherapy has
brought many benefits, it is conceivable, given what we already
know, that an examination of the entire structure of the medical
use of psychoactive drugs would show that the risks and costs
outweigh the benefits.
The
most dramatic changes in the field of mental health in recent
years have been brought about in part by use of thorazine
(generic name: chlorpromazine) in the treatment of
schizophrenia. Treatment with this drug played a major role in
the great reduction of the patient population in mental
hospitals that has been occurring since the early 1950s.
Thorazine, like the other drugs of its type, the phenothiazines,
appears to have distinctly anti-psychotic properties; that is,
the phenothiazines do not merely sedate but also interfere with
the production of psychotic symptoms, at least in some cases. It
should be clear, however, that these drugs do not cure the
disease; they merely stop the symptoms. Eisenbert (1973; Scheff,
1984) writes: "Extensive clinical research has documented the
effectiveness of the phenothiazines in terminating an episode of
schizophrenia. The natural history of the disorder, however,
indicates a substantial risk of recurrence and little residue of
benefit from prior treatment." The evidence concerning the
phenothiazines suggests that the drugs are effective
in some cases, especially in the beginning of treatment, not
effective in others, and actually harmful in others. From the
beginning of the use of these tranquilizers, it was known
that they sometimes produced detrimental physical side effects:
"sedation and symptoms resembling
Parkinson's disease are a problem for some patients and
serious toxicity (persistent rhythmical involuntary movements
of tongue and face, abnormal pigmentation, low white-cell
count and jaundice) afflicts a substantial minority"
(Eisenberg, 1973; Scheff, 1984).
Eisenberg's estimate of the dangers of the side effects of the
phenothiazines, like most psychiatric opinion, is probably
understated. It would appear that a new syndrome of central
nervous system disorder, tardive dyskinesia, has been created by
phenothiazine use. According to Crane (1973; Scheff, 1984) it
manifestations are:
"slow, rhythmical movements in the region of the mouth, with
protrusion of the tongue, smacking of the lips, blowing of the
cheeks, and side-to-side movements of the chin, as well as
other bizarre muscular activity. More careful examinations of
patients on long-term drug therapy revealed that, not only the
mouth, but practically all parts of the body could exhibit
motor disorders, such as myoclonia, chorea, and athetosis.
Over-extension of the spine and neck, shifting of weight from
foot to foot, and other abnormal postures indicated that the
coordination of the various segments of the axial musculature
was also affected. Less frequently, the syndrome resembled in
every respect known neurological diseases, such as
Huntington's disease, dystonia musculorum deformans, and
postencephalitic brain damage."
For patients on "maintenance" doses (ie.,
long-term treatment), Baldessarini and Lipinski (1973; Scheff,
1984) estimated that this reaction occurs in 3 to 40% of the
cases, with a mean of about 15%, a not inconsiderable group.
Crane found 51% of the patients in his sample suffering from
physical side effects. In the more severe reactions, the
syndrome continues after the drug is removed. Like lobotomy, the
phenothiazines may cause permanent, irreversible brain damage
(Crane, 1973; Scheff, 1984). The manufacturers also warn that
these drugs have had many other side effects including "sudden,
unexpected and unexplained death." This range of severe physical
effects suggests that in some instances phenothiazine treatment
may be worse than the disease it is supposed to cure.
Of
perhaps equal significance are the psychological and social side
effects of these drugs. Although it is difficult to make a clear
assessment because of inadequate and conflicting evidence, most
psychiatrists think that part of the effect of thorazine is
sedation. For example, Allan (1975; Scheff, 1984) writes:
"thorazine is extremely beneficial in calming the patient, and
is distinct from the anti-psychotic properties of the drug."
Hartlage (1965; Scheff, 1984) reports as follows:
"Results of studies involving a number
of animals, normal subjects, and psychiatric patients tend to
show significant declines in learning on a wide range of
tasks, with a linear decline in learning with increased dosage
levels."
Similar comments apply to the other major
psychoactive drugs, the anti-depressants and lithium carbonate,
which are used for the treatment of depression and of
manic-depressive psychosis, respectively. As in the case of
phenothiazines, existing studies demonstrate that these drugs
are effective in some cases, ineffective in others, and harmful
in others. Without further studies that include consideration of
physical, social, and psychological side effects, one cannot
accurately assess their value to society.
In the
case of the anti-anxiety drugs, the picture is still less
positive. The case of meprobamate is instructive. This drug,
known as Miltown, was introduced in the late 1950s as an
anti-anxiety tranquilizer. After many years and millions of
prescriptions, it became clear in controlled studies that the
drug could not be shown to have any more effect than placebos,
and clinical experience indicated that the drug was addictive
(Greenblatt and Shader, 1971; Scheff, 1984). For these reasons,
meprobamate has been quietly withdrawn from use. In its place
have come a number of other anti-anxiety tranquilizers, the
best-known of which are Valium and Librium. Once again, however,
history may be repeating itself--it now seems possible that
Valium and Librium cannot be shown to have any effect greater
than a placebo, and that they can be addictive. Nyswander (1975;
Scheff, 1984), a psychiatrist well known for her studies of
addiction, has warned that sustained use of Valium in large
doses brings about "a far worse addiction than heroin, morphine,
or demerol." The history of the use of meprobamate, Valium, and
Librium, when considered in the context of the histories of
earlier psychiatric innovations such as lobotomy and
electroconvulsive therapy, does not suggest a particularly
optimistic outcome. Scheff is not suggesting that chemotherapy
has no value at all. The effectiveness of phenothiazines and
lithium carbonate for some cases of mental illness has been
clearly established as well as the promise of advances in the
understanding of the neurological bases of these types of mental
illness. But the total costs and risks of chemotherapy, in the
context of the medical practice in which it is based, may be
unacceptably great.
One
area where considerably more research on tranquilizer effects is
urgently needed concerns dosage levels and psychological and
social effects of drugs. Drug manufacturers acknowledge that
there is sedation of some patients even at optimum-dosage
levels. The problem is greatly magnified in cases where the
dosage level is too high. The patient's reaction time, visual
and verbal acuity, and social responsiveness are affected.
Scheff suspects there is great temptation for the physician to
err toward overdose rather than under-dose.
Considering the dangerous side effects of many psychoactive
drugs, we prefer to manage our emotions by talking or writing
our problems out, prayer and meditation, regular exercise, good
nutrition, and by identifying and feeling our negative emotions
as well as our positive emotions. We do not act on our emotions
unless it is morally and legally appropriate to act that way.
Wide
spread use of psychoactive drugs may serve as an effective means
of behavioral social control by dumbing down the masses and
keeping the masses socially isolated from each other but it is
hardly conducive to the formation of a healthy population and a
well educated stable democracy.
Domestic violence
♥Another serious social problem that we recognize is family
violence. Domestic violence is rooted in poverty, social and
gender inequality, unemployment, sexist attitudes, cultural
approval of violence in general, and family stress. Each family
has its own sad story of reasons for domestic
violence.
We do not excuse family violence for any reason. Instead, we
take responsibility for our own actions, and we do not under any
circumstance participate in child abuse, spouse abuse, or other
physical violence. We do not inflict physical abuse on any
family member by directly slapping or beating, withholding food,
clothing, medicine, personal care, or necessary supervision. We
do not inflict psychological abuse on any family member by
verbal assaults, gestures, evil looks, or threats that provoke
fear. We do not inflict material abuse or theft of money or
personal property on any family member. We do not violate the
rights of an elderly family member by forcing the elderly person
out of his or her home into a nursing home. We understand that
violence not only causes physical harm in our families, but each
incident also weakens the loyalty, attraction, and trust between
family members that are basic to positive family functioning. We
choose family love over family violence, so all family members
have a chance to thrive.
Those of us who are battered women seek help through shelter
homes that have been established in many communities. Shelters
can provide us and our children with safe shelter, so we can
escape an abusive situation. Shelter homes can also provide us
with counseling, assistance with finding a job, assistance with
accessing services and resources, and legal help. Women have a
legal right not to be abused, and we help abused women to access
resources to stop
abuse.
We understand that it is just not wives who are abused and that
husbands are also abused but that the greatest physical damage
is usually sustained by women because men are physically
stronger and cause more serious injuries. We do not condone
mutual domestic violence. If our relationship has become
mutually abusive, we seek faith-based marriage counseling and
domestic violence counseling. Those of us who are battered men
seek help through programs that have been established to assist
men who are battered. If we are a batterer, we seek help to deal
with stress and anger management. Some areas have programs for
batterers which include group therapy and twenty-four-hour "hot
lines" that encourage potential spouse abusers to call when they
are
angry.
No
matter how much stress we are under or what problems we may be
facing, we never subject our children to abuse or neglect. We
also protect our children from acquaintances, friends, or
relatives who may abuse or neglect them. We do not under any
circumstance subject our children to beatings, abandonment,
malnourishment, lack of supervision, lack of proper clothing, or
lack of proper shelter. We do not subject our children to living
in filth, inappropriate sleeping arrangements, denial of
essential medical care, opportunity to attend school regularly,
exploitation, overwork, exposure to unwholesome or demoralizing
circumstances, or emotional abuse involving denial of normal
experiences that permit a child to feel loved, wanted, secure,
and worthy. We do not subject our children to rejection or to a
home climate charged with tension, hostility, and
anxiety-producing occurrences. Instead, we provide our children
with emotional nurturing necessary for the development of a
sound personality.
We
never under any circumstance subject our children to sexual
abuse of any kind, including sexual intercourse (genital or
anal), oral-genital contact, fondling, or exposing oneself to a
child. At some point hugging and kissing also become
inappropriate. If incest is occurring in our family, we seek
help immediately from our qualified spiritual adviser,
faith-based social service agency, or counselor who can offer
intervention, individual and group treatment, assertiveness
training, and family therapy to assist us in protecting our
children and building a healthy functional family system that is
free of incest.
When natural parents neglect, abuse, or exploit a child, the
state has the legal right and responsibility to intervene. We
realize that marital problems, economic pressures, social
isolation, alcohol and drug abuse, exhaustion, health problems,
limited education and limited job skills sometimes trigger abuse
and neglect, so we seek and accept whatever help we need to
control our stress level and to prevent all forms of family
violence and abuse, so the state is not forced to intervene.
If we
lack resources to properly care for our children, we seek cash
assistance, food, housing, and Medicaid from social service
agencies. If stress is a problem, we seek help from our
qualified spiritual adviser or counselor.
Crime
♥We
recognize crime as another serious social problem. The U.S.
Department of Justice — Federal Bureau of Investigation
(September 2012) provides the following information on crime in
the United States during 2012:
Violent
Crime is composed of four offenses: Murder and
non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and
aggravated assault . Violent crimes are defined in the UCR
Program as those offenses which involve force or threat of
force.
•In 2012, an estimated 1,214,462
violent crimes occurred nationwide, an increase of 0.7 percent
from the 2011 estimate.
•When considering 5- and 10-year trends, the
2012 estimated violent crime total was 12.9 percent below the
2008 level and 12.2 below the 2003 level.
•There were an estimated 386.9 violent crimes
per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012, a rate that remained
virtually unchanged when compared to the 2011 estimated rate.
•Aggravated assaults accounted for 62.6 percent
of violent crimes reported to law enforcement in 2012. Robbery
offenses accounted for 29.2 percent of violent crime offenses;
rape accounted for 6.9 percent; and murder accounted for 1.2
percent.
•Information collected regarding types of
weapons used in violent crime showed that firearms were used
in 69.3 percent of the nation’s murders, 41.0 percent of
robberies, and 21.8 percent of aggravated assaults. (Weapons
data are not collected for forcible rape.)
Property Crime includes
the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle
theft, and arson. The object of the theft-type
offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no
force or threat of force against the victims.
•In 2012, there were an estimated
8,975,438 property crime offenses in the nation. The 2-year
trend showed that property crime declined 0.9 percent in 2012
when compared to the 2011 estimate. The 10-year trend showed
that property crime offenses declined 14.1 percent in 2012
when compared to the 2003 estimate.
•In 2012, the rate of property crime was
estimated at 2,859.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, a 1.6 percent
decrease when compared to the 2011 estimated rate. The 2012
property crime rate was 11.1 percent less than the 2008
estimate and 20.4 percent less than the 2003 estimate.
•Of all property crimes in 2012, larceny-theft
accounted for 68.5 percent. Burglary accounted for 23.4
percent and motor vehicle theft for 8.0 percent.
•Property crimes in 2012 resulted in losses
estimated at $15.5 billion.
Persons Arrested: The FBI’s
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program counts one arrest for each
separate instance in which a person is arrested, cited, or
summoned for an offense. The UCR Program collects arrest data on
28 offenses, as described in Offense Definitions. (Please note
that, beginning in 2010, the UCR Program no longer collected
data on runaways.) Because a person may be arrested multiple
times during a year, the UCR arrest figures do not reflect the
number of individuals who have been arrested; rather, the arrest
data show the number of times that persons are arrested, as
reported by law enforcement agencies to the UCR Program.
•Nationwide, law enforcement made an
estimated 12,196,959 arrests in 2012. Of these arrests,
521,196 were for violent crimes, and 1,646,212 were for
property crimes. (Note: the UCR Program does not collect data
on citations for traffic violations.)
•The highest number of arrests were for drug
abuse violations (estimated at 1,552,432 arrests), driving
under the influence (estimated at 1,282,957), and
larceny-theft (estimated at 1,282,352).
•The estimated arrest rate for the United States
in 2012 was 3,888.2 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants. The
arrest rate for violent crime (including murder and
nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and
aggravated assault) was 166.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the
arrest rate for property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor
vehicle theft, and arson) was 528.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.
•Two-year arrest trends show violent crime
arrests declined 1.8 percent in 2012 when compared with 2011
arrests, but property crime arrests increased 0.3 percent when
compared with the 2011 arrests.
•Arrests of juveniles for all offenses decreased
10.4 percent in 2012 when compared with the 2011 number;
arrests of adults declined 0.9 percent.
•Nearly 74 percent (73.8) of the persons
arrested in the nation during 2012 were males. They accounted
for 80.1 percent of persons arrested for violent crime and
62.6 percent of persons arrested for property crime.
•In 2012, 69.3 percent of all persons arrested
were white, 28.1 percent were black, and the remaining 2.6
percent were of other races.
♥ Murder. Murder is
undoubtedly the worst crime. One human beings puts an end to the
life of another human being. Most of us at some point or other
have felt like killing someone. Some of us act upon those
feelings and actually commit murder. We are all capable of
committing murder. A quick look at the daily news confirms that
people murder all the time and for many reasons. Many murder out
of greed for wealth and money. Many others murder from jealously
or rage. Others murder out of fear for their own life or fear
for the life of another.There is big profit reaped in
Corrections from prisons that are full of people who commit
murder.
There
is also big profit in sensationalizing murder and sensational
news headlines abound:"Husband Kills Wife to Avoid Having to Pay
Divorce Settlement." "Wife Murders Husband to Collect Insurance
Money." "Boyfriend Kills Girlfriend Caught Cheating."
"Disgruntled Employee Goes on Killing Rampage at Work." "Husband
Kills Doctor Over Wife's Untimely Death." "Nurse Found Strangled
and Murder." "Wife Kills Abusive Husband." "Wife Murders Husband
Caught Abusing Child." Movies and television shows also
sensationalize murder. We can't seem to get enough entertainment
about murder.
Yet, murder is forbidden by God. The sixth Commandment states
clearly "You shall not murder" (Deuteronomy 5:17, Holy Bible,
NKJV, 1982). Jesus taught that if we want to enter into life we
must keep God's commandments. "You shall not murder" is one of
the commandments that must be kept to enter into life.
The
first murder occurred when Cain killed his brother Abel.
Jealousy drove Cain to kill Abel. The Lord respected Abel and
his offering but he did not respect Cain and his offering.
Instead of trying harder to seek the Lord's acceptance, Cain
allowed sin to rule over him. Cain became very angry when he was
not recognized by the Lord. Cain could not kill God so he took
his anger out on his brother and he lashed out and killed Abel
when they were alone in the field. When the Lord discovered the
murder, He cursed Cain to live as a fugitive and vagabond.
The institution of capital punishment came into being when God
told Noah and his sons that whoever sheds man's blood, by man
his blood shall be shed. People murder each other only because
God permits them to do so for reasons known only by God Himself.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ states that when the lamb opened
the second seal a fiery red horse went out and it was granted to
the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that
people should kill one another; and there was given to him a
great sword.
God's love for us is so great that He permitted the murder of
Jesus only so those who believe can inherit everlasting life. So
great was the love of Jesus that He washed us from our sins in
His own blood so we could be redeemed to God. Love then is the
fulfillment of God's law but we must live as God commands. We
must love God and love one another if we are to inherit eternal
life. Murder begets murder and love begets love. Murder is not
the way to life. Love is the only way to God and eternal life.
The next time you feel like murdering someone remember it is to
your own benefit to love that person instead.
We value our marriages, families, and job stability because
these aspects of our lives are important in protecting us from
being drawn into criminal activity and deviant behavior. We do
not jeopardize our family life or job stability by participating
in criminal behavior of any kind. If our juveniles are out of
control, we seek family counseling immediately from our
spiritual adviser or faith-based organization, so we can regain
control and help our juveniles to avoid arrest.
♥ Crime
Prevention. To prevent crime, we lock our windows
and doors at home, install security alarm systems, and we use
bright outside lighting to discourage burglary attempts. We cut
back shrubbery around the house, so burglars cannot hide. We do
not leave the key to our home under the door mat, in the
mailbox, or on top of the door ledge. We prevent sliding glass
doors from being opened by putting metal rods or wooden dowels
in the lower tracks. We never let uninvited door-to-door
salesmen or repairmen into our home. If we hear someone breaking
into our home at night, we make a lot of noise to let the
intruder know we are there, so the intruder can leave, but we do
not try to confront the intruder. Instead, we yell "get the
gun!", we scream out the window to the neighbors for help, and
we call 9-1-1 to request assistance from the police. We install
a deadbolt lock on the inside of our bedroom door, so we can
lock our bedroom door if an intruder enters our home.
If we are not home, we make our home look like we are there by
leaving on lights, music, or television. If we are expecting a
visitor and we are unable to be at home, we do not leave the
door unlocked with a note on the door inviting the person to go
inside because an intruder can easily enter. When we go on
vacation, we make arrangements to have a friend check our home
every few days. We invest in a locked mail box so others do not
notice our mail accumulating while we are away. We install light
timers to light a few rooms in the evening to make our home look
like we are
inside.
We engrave identification numbers on our possessions to
discourage fencing of our stolen property, so our possessions
can be easily identified. We do not leave our possessions on our
lawn or in our driveway at night because they can be easily
taken. We put important papers, expensive jewelry, and large
sums of money in a bank security deposit box to protect our
valuables from burglars, fires, and natural disasters. We do not
put flashy equipment on our car because it invites theft.
We install security alarms and devices on our car to discourage
theft and vandalism. We always lock our car, put valuables in
the trunk, and we never leave the key in the ignition. If we
leave our car at the airport or some place else for a few days,
we pull the center wire out of the distributor, lock the car,
and take the keys. We leave identification off our key chains,
so if our keys are lost or stolen, no one will know what they
open. We do not carry a large sum of money in our wallet or
purse. If we must carry a large sum, we take along a second
wallet containing a few bills and some expired credit cards that
we can give a thief if confronted. We frustrate pickpocketing
efforts in a crowd by putting our wallet in a buttoned pocket.
We never hitchhike or pick up hitchhikers because it can lead to
robbery and assault. We avoid going alone to a dark parking lot
late at night. Those of us who are single women list only our
last name and initials on our mailbox and in phone directories.
We avoid becoming a rape victim by learning physical techniques
of self-defense and by distasteful approaches such as vomiting
or urinating on the rapist, informing the potential rapist we
have herpes or the AIDS virus, squeezing the genitals of the
rapist, using pepper spray, and poking our fingers into the
rapist's eyes. We protect ourselves and our family members from
becoming victims of assault and battery or attack by learning
physical techniques of self-defense, carrying pepper spray, or
carrying a permitted weapon if absolutely necessary. If we can
scare an attacker off by screaming, verbal assault, or by
sounding and looking dangerous or crazy we do. If we must
physically defend ourselves, we attempt, as much as possible, to
disarm or disable an attacker rather than permanently injure the
attacker. We are careful never to use unwarranted excessive
force against an attacker because we do not want to go to jail.
We protect ourselves from harassment and other forms of abuse by
seeking a restraining order or other appropriate legal action.
If we become the victim of harassment by an entire group or
community of people who are looking for a scapegoat or who are
seeking to dominate a situation through intimidation or by
pressing their belief systems on others then we seek appropriate
legal action against the entire group or community in a neutral
jurisdiction.
♥ Role
of Churches. To reduce crime rates, we attempt to
build a society that is less unequal, less depriving, less
insecure, less disruptive of family and community ties, and less
corrosive of cooperative values. We take on the enormous tasks
of creating conditions in our community life in which
individuals can live together in compassionate and cooperative
ways.
We
believe that spiritual and moral rehabilitation is the only true
rehabilitation and that our nation's crime and prison problem is
fundamentally a moral and spiritual problem that only God can
heal. Churches have always had a role in addressing our serious
social and cultural problems. We believe that faith-based
organizations can become a key resource for crime reduction by
working more effectively with our juveniles, substance abusers,
inmates, and the poor.
Religious groups operate from a sense of mission and do more
than might be expected. Church members understand that we can
change because their own lives have changed as a result of their
beliefs. Churches offer us a sense of security, stability, and
belonging. We find family within our congregation--people with
whom we can relate and people who truly care about us.
Churches build stronger neighborhoods where informal social
bonds work to reduce the level of offending. Churches have a
role in crime prevention and intervention. Funding the
grassroots prevention and intervention efforts of faith
organizations is good common sense. Examples of prevention
efforts include church programs that offer educational
opportunities, employment opportunities, drug abuse prevention
programs, shelter programs, child care programs, sports
programs, recreational programs, and counseling programs for
children who have witnessed domestic violence. Examples of
intervention efforts include social model twelve-step based
church programs for substance abusers, familial restoration and
support programs, gang intervention, job placement, continuing
education, and court diversions.
We believe that the best way to alleviate the crime and prison
problem is to fund the grassroots prevention and intervention
efforts of our faith-based organizations at the same level of
funding that is currently being spent on maintaining the booming
business of prison programs. Initially this will be expensive
for us, but as crime rates and prison populations begin to drop
prison funding can be substantially decreased.
We are alarmed by the continuing growth rate of the U.S. prison
population and the growth of prison costs. Especially alarming
to us is the escalating growth rate of crime among juvenile
offenders. Equally alarming to us is the growing rate of
children being raised in homes without fathers given the
established correlation between father absence and crime.
Without a doubt, our society must be protected from criminals.
We must all feel safe in our homes and on our streets. We must
feel that it is safe to send our children to school and to
normal childhood events. Unfortunately, prisons have turned into
holding tanks for high school drop outs and drug abusers. The
prison culture is a breeding ground for gang formation,
violence, and homosexual rape. Churches help to prevent and
reduce crime.
♥ Prison
Violence. Zimbardo (1973) suspected that prison
violence is rooted in the social character of jails themselves,
not in the personalities of individual guards and prisoners. To
test his hypothesis, Zimbardo and his research team constructed
a realistic-looking prison in the basement of the psychology
building on the campus of Stanford University. Then they placed
an ad in a local newspaper, offering to pay young men to help
with a two-week research project. Zimbardo and his team
administered a series of physical and psychological tests and
then selected the healthiest twenty-four to participate in the
research project. Half of the men were then randomly assigned to
be prisoners and half of the men were randomly assigned to be
guards. Neither group of men had any history of crime, emotional
disability, physical disability, nor intellectual or social
disadvantage. The plan called for the guards and prisoners to
spend the next two weeks in the mock
prison.
The
prisoner subjects remained in the mock prison 24 hours per day
for the duration of the study. Three were arbitrarily assigned
to each of the three cells; the others were on stand-by call at
their homes. The guard subjects worked on three-man eight-hour
shifts remaining in the prison environment only during their
work shift and going about their usual lives at other times. All
subjects signed a contract guaranteeing a minimally adequate
diet, clothing, housing and medical care as well as financial
re-numeration of $15.00 per day in return for serving in the
assigned role for the duration of the study. The contract
specified that those assigned to be prisoners should expect to
be under surveillance and to have some of their basic civil
rights suspended during their imprisonment, excluding physical
abuse. They were given no other information about what to
expect, or instructions about behavior appropriate for a
prisoner role. The assigned task of the guards was to maintain
the reasonable degree of order within the prison necessary for
its effective functioning, although the specifics of how this
duty might be implemented were not explicitly detailed. The
guards were given only minimal guidelines for what it meant to
be a guard. An explicit and categorical prohibition against the
use of physical punishment or physical aggression was emphasized
by the experimenters. Otherwise, the roles of the guards were
relatively unstructured. Each group of prisoners and guards were
issued uniforms. Researchers filled the roles of Superintendent
of the prison and Warden.The prisoners began their part of the
experiment when real police officers arrested them at their
homes. After searching and handcuffing the men, the police drove
them to the local police station, where they were fingerprinted.
Then police transported their captives to the Stanford prison,
where the guards locked them up.
The experiment turned into more than anyone had expected. Guards
and prisoners showed a marked tendency toward increased
negativity of affect, and their overall outlook became
increasingly negative. As the experiment progressed, prisoners
expressed intentions to do harm to others more frequently.
Despite the fact that guards and prisoners were free to engage
in any form of interaction (positive or negative; supportive or
affrontive, etc.) the nature of their encounters tended to be
negative, hostile, affrontive and dehumanizing. Prisoners
adopted a passive response mode while guards assumed a very
active initiative role in all interactions. Verbal affronts were
used as one of the most frequent forms of interpersonal contact
between guards and prisoners. Both guards and prisoners became
embittered and hostile toward each other. Guards humiliated the
prisoners by giving them jobs such as cleaning toilets with
their bare hands. The prisoners resisted and insulted the
guards. Within four days, the researchers had removed five
prisoners who displayed extreme emotional depression, crying,
rage and acute anxiety. Before the end of the first week, the
situation had become so bad that the researchers had to end the
experiment.
The reality of the Stanford prison was attested to by a prison
consultant who had spent more than 16 years in prisons, a priest
who had been a prison chaplain, and a public defender, all of
whom were brought into direct contact with the simulated prison
environment. Further, the depressed affect of the prisoners, the
guards' willingness to work overtime for no additional pay, the
spontaneous use of prison titles and I.D. numbers in non role
related situations all point to a level of reality as real as
any other in the lives of those who shared this experience.
The role of being a guard carried social status within the
prison, a group identity, and the freedom to exercise an
unprecedented degree of control over the lives of other human
beings. This control was expressed in terms of sanctions,
punishment, demands, and with the threat of manifest physical
power. Guards showed in their behavior and revealed in post
experimental statements that this sense of power was
exhilarating. The use of power was self-aggrandizing and
self-perpetuating. Not to be tough and arrogant was to be seen
as a sign of weakness by the guards. After the first day of the
study, practically all prisoner rights (even the time and
conditions of sleeping and eating) came to be redefined by the
guards as privileges which were to be earned by obedient
behavior. Constructive activities such as watching movies or
reading were arbitrarily canceled-- until further notice by the
guards--and were subsequently never allowed. Reward became
granting approval for prisoners to eat, sleep, go to the toilet,
talk, smoke a cigarette, wear eye glasses, or the temporary
diminution of harassment.
At first prisoners exhibited disbelief at the total invasion of
their privacy, constant surveillance, and atmosphere of
oppression in which they were living. Their next response was
rebellion, first by the use of direct force, and later by subtle
divisive tactics designed to foster distrust among the
prisoners. They then tried to work within the system by setting
up an elected grievance committee but when that failed to
produce meaningful changes in their existence, individual
self-interests emerged. The breakdown in prisoner cohesion was
the start of social disintegration which gave a rise not only to
feelings of isolation, but deprecation of other prisoners as
well. It is likely that the negative self-regard among the
prisoners noted by the end of the study was the product of their
coming to believe that the continued hostility toward them was
justified because they deserved it.
The experiment at the Stanford County Prison supported
Zimbardo's hypothesis that prison violence is rooted in the
social character of jails themselves, not in the personalities
of individual guards and prisons. The finding of the research
raises questions about our prisons and suggests the need for
basic prison reform--alternatives to existing guard training as
well as questioning the basic operating principles on which
penal institutions rest.
We might question whether there are meaningful nonviolent
alternatives that can be used as models for behavior
modification in real prisons. In a real prison world where men
are either powerful or powerless, everyone learns to despise the
lack of power in others and in oneself. Prisoners learn to
admire power for its own sake--power becoming the ultimate
reward. Real prisoners soon learn the means to gain power
whether through ingratiation, informing, sexual control of other
prisoners or the development of powerful cliques. Since both
prisoners and guards are locked into a dynamic, symbiotic
relationship which is destructive to their human nature, prison
guards are also society's prisoners.
♥ Solutions
to Prison Violence. If the mock Stanford prison
experiment could generate the extent of pathology it did in such
a short time when guards have power over prisoners, then we
might also question the amount of pathology being produced in
other situations where one group has power over another
group--social workers over clients, doctors and nurses over
patients, teachers over students, or in situations where one
individual has power over another individual--parent over a
child, a husband over wife, or boss over an employee. We might
want to consider alternatives rooted in Christian principles of
cooperation, true democracy, and real life opportunities as
alternatives to power and control, exploitation of the weak by
the strong, discrimination, and oppression if we are serious
about reducing pathology not only in our prison system but in
our everyday interactions with one another.
We
believe that safety must be a basic human right that offenders
are entitled to and that prisoners must be able to feel safe
while doing time in prison. We believe that no effort should be
spared to rehabilitate the offender. We believe that the
offender's family must also receive services as it does no
good to rehabilitate the offender without rehabilitating the
entire family system. We realize that the offender will need a
healthy supportive family to return to after he or she leaves
prison.
We
believe that prison ministries offer a ray of hope for
addressing the fundamental moral and spiritual problem that is
at the heart of the crime problem. Work, education, and drug
programs, although important, cannot change the inner person
that is the target of faith-based programs. Prison ministries
offer a way for the inmates to change their inner life.
We also believe that prison programs must be dramatically
altered. Prisons must provide educational, employment, and
social model twelve-step-based drug treatment programs for
inmates. The physical design of prisons must be altered to
protect inmates from gang violence and homosexual rape.
Prisoners must not be allowed contact of any kind with each
other as prisoners influence each other negatively.
Cells must be converted into individual apartment dwellings with
large fenced yards. Prisoners must be kept busy with meal
preparation, laundry, cleaning, studying, working, praying,
exercising, and visiting with group teams of professionals.
Prisoners must not be allowed cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, TV, or
trashy reading materials. Group teams of teachers, employment
specialists, drug treatment specialists, health care
specialists, nutritionists, and clergy must visit and assist the
prisoner daily.
Professionals must always work in teams for their
self-protection when they visit an inmate. A correctional guard
must also accompany the professional teams when they visit an
inmate. Violent inmates must be separated from their visitors
with protective safety glass. Each inmate must have an
individualized rehabilitation program schedule that includes
spiritual enrichment, work activities, educational activities,
twelve-step-based alcohol and drug counseling and treatment,
health care, nutritional education, private conjugal visiting
time, and supervised family visiting time.
At the same time prison programs are being altered, faith
organizations must increase their efforts to alleviate the
spiritual and moral bankruptcy that pervades the homes and
communities in America today. Faith organizations must
especially concentrate on familial restoration and support.
Specifically, family support group programs are needed. The
growing juvenile crime rate is a wake up call to our society
that parents must be taught to accept responsibility for the
nurturing and care of their children. Parents must realize they
cannot trust schools and day care centers to do their job. An
all out effort must be made to keep fathers in the home and
involved in child rearing responsibilities. Women have tried to
raise healthy well-adjusted children alone, but it is very
difficult for women to do a sufficient job raising children on
their own. Children need the love and care of both their mothers
and fathers.
Mothers and fathers must be taught how to love and respect each
other and how to settle their differences not only for the sake
of their children but also for their own selves. The basic ways
in which mothers and fathers relate to each other must be
examined and challenged. Mothers and fathers must learn to
relate to each other as equals and to face their lives together
as a team. There has been some progress in this direction in
recent years but much more work remains. For this to happen,
mothers must continue to establish themselves as equal providers
of family income, and fathers must continue to establish
themselves as equal child care providers. Furthermore, mothers
and fathers must learn how to comfort and nurture one another.
They must also find a way to communicate with one another that
is truthful and comprehensible yet caring and compassionate.
Mothers and fathers must be taught how important a stable
well-adjusted home life is for the healthy growth and
development of their children. Once mothers and fathers have
learned how to properly relate to each other, they will be free
to establish healthy relationships with their children. Children
who witness love and compassion grow into loving and
compassionate adults. Healthy well-adjusted adults and children
are much less likely to turn to drugs and crime and other
behaviors that alienate.
It will not be easy for some mothers and fathers to change the
way they have learned to relate to each other, for now there is
a gulf between some mothers and fathers as big as the gulf
between heaven and hell. Nevertheless, it must be done or soon
we will all end up either in prison or with a disconnected
professional managing our lives.
We rally for a public service campaign to educate the public on
the importance of a father's role in the home. Just as
importantly, we are advocates for faith-based programs that
support fathering that is healthy and loving.
We are advocates for faith-based crime prevention programs to
control perpetuating crime rates. Once a person is jailed and is
labeled as a criminal, he or she views himself or herself as a
criminal as a result of the labeling which leads to future
criminal activity. Faith-based crime prevention programs can
help keep people out of jail and help reduce crime caused by
labeling. We are advocates for law enforcement to stop
discriminating against minority populations by arresting them
unfairly. We also are advocates for programs within the
correctional system that reduce future criminal activity,
including prison ministries, twelve-step-based alcohol and drug
counseling, prison education, vocational training, prison labor,
early release for good conduct, parole, and probation.
Those of us who feel called become involved in prison ministry
programs, Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous
twelve-step work, faith-based programs for crime prevention,
programs that support healthy fathering, child care programs,
juvenile outreach programs, and other church service work.
. . ."You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and those that are great exercise authority over them.
Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to
become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever
desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--just as
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:25-38, Holy
Bible, NKJV, 1982).
Educational System Problems
♥
Problems within the educational system are other serious social
problems we recognize. We believe that our children's schools
should teach the basic skills of reading, writing, and
arithmetic; however, we also believe our children should learn
music, arts, drama, and sports, so we urge school systems to
expand their curriculum. We advocate to increase incentives for
our children's teachers so our children can have a quality
education. Since schools provide inferior educational
opportunities for students who are poor and for members of
minority groups, we advocate for reform of school financing so
that an equal amount of money is spent on each student's
education no matter if the student lives in a low-income,
middle-income, or upper-income school district. We advocate for
freedom of choice in deciding which school our children should
attend. We also advocate for programs to assist disadvantaged
students, disabled students, and gifted students.
Regarding college, we believe that the value of a higher
education cannot be measured in dollars alone. Besides offering
college graduates the potential for a lifetime of higher
earnings, higher education also leads to a self-discovery and it
opens the channels of creativity. Higher education also leads to
an awareness of self in relation to others and it allows us to
understand other people and other cultures. Higher education is
our pathway and hope for improving the world we share with
others. For it is only through higher education that our complex
social and environmental world problems will be resolved.
We urge our leaders to develop programs to restructure the
higher educational system so everyone, rich and poor alike, can
easily access knowledge. We urge our leaders to restructure
higher education to be legitimate work for the common person so
that the common person who chooses to pursue higher education
can receive decent financial compensation and a fair academic
work load. We advocate for an expansion of college programs and
training programs that offer paid on the job learning as a
component to the degree or certificate in addition to quality
class room learning. We advocate for massive job development and
job creation in preschools, day care centers, elementary
schools, middle schools, high schools, community colleges, state
colleges, state universities, and all other fields as well, so
we can have access to meaningful employment with good pay and
benefits upon completion of our degree or training program.
There
will always be those of us who are not interested in education
and learning, and there must be an equal place for us in the
labor market as well. We advocate for good livable wages, good
working conditions, job security, and opportunities for
promotion for those who chose not to attend college. Those of us
who are only interested in education for social status and
monetary advantage must realize financial gain and social status
can be more readily found beyond the walls of higher
education.
We advocate for federal financial aid reform. We inform our
political leaders that federal financial aid should be based
solely upon individual resources and should not be based upon
resources owned by parents or spouse that may or may not be
available to an individual. We inform our leaders that federal
financial aid should be based only on current earnings and
should not be based on past earnings. We inform our leaders that
federal financial aid programs should assist students who attend
faith-based colleges and universities as well as all other
students. We inform our political leaders that we want fair
student loan practices, and we do not want to be burdened with
student loans that exceed what the labor market will afford us
to repay. Those of us who are interested in attending
college apply for federal student financial aid through the
college financial aid office. We also assist our college-bound
children with applying for financial aid. Federal financial
assistance includes federal grants that do not have to be paid
back, loans which do have to be paid back, and work-study money
which can be earned and does not have to be paid back.
Conviction of drug distribution or drug possession may make a
student ineligible for financial assistance. We avoid taking out
student loans because owing money causes undue worry, pressure,
and stress, and the money must eventually be paid back. We
advocate for tough restrictions on student loans and eventual
elimination of student loan programs.
According to a 2008 health poll, when people are dealing with
mountains of debt, they're much more likely to report health
problems too, such as ulcers, digestive problems, migraines and
other headaches, anxiety, severe depression, heart attacks,
muscle tension, lower back pain, trouble concentrating, and
difficulty sleeping. That finding is supported by medical
research that has linked chronic stress to a wide range of
ailments.
The
survey found that upwardly mobile, middle-class families were
among those who had the most debt stress. Others were women,
couples with small children, low-income working families,
Democrats and those who graduated high school but haven't taken
college courses. Those least likely to be stressed from debt
include men, retirees, empty-nesters, college graduates and
Republicans.
Work Related Problems
♥Work-related problems such as alienation, unemployment, loss of
good paying jobs, and occupational health hazards are also
social problems that we recognize. Alienation is the sense of
meaninglessness and powerlessness that some of us feel about our
jobs. We work at jobs we find intrinsically satisfying to avoid
work alienation.
Long-term unemployment has serious adverse effects, including
depletion of savings; loss of self-respect; loss of friends;
isolation; and feelings of embarrassment, anger, despair,
depression, anxiety, boredom, hopelessness, and apathy. If we
are unemployed and need job training, we access local job
training programs. If we are unemployed and need assistance
finding a job, we access services through our local Employment
Development Departments.
There has been a loss of good paying jobs in America due to
problems in the economy caused by globalization, multinational
corporations, and outsourcing of good paying jobs to other
countries. We inform our political leaders that we want stricter
controls set on multinational corporations and laws passed that
will require American corporations to remain in America. We
advocate for massive job development and job creation in
America, so we can have access to meaningful employment with
good pay and benefits. We inform our political leaders that we
don't believe in job segregation (a job market for the rich and
a job market for the rest of us), and that we want only one
labor market in the United States that offers equal access and
equal opportunity for all American citizens.
Occupational health hazards include on-the-job accidents,
working conditions that lead to work-related physical diseases
(exposure to chemical substances can cause cancers and other
illnesses years later) and job stress that may lead to
psychosomatic illnesses. If we are unable to resolve unsafe
working conditions within our places of employment, we contact
OSHA.
Those of us who are working may contact our Employment
Assistance Program if we require social services, such as
alcohol and drug abuse counseling, career counseling and
education, credit counseling, and retirement planning.
Discrimination
♥"My
brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into
your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there
should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay
attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him,
"You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You
stand there," or "Sit here at my footstool," have you not shown
partiality among yourselves, and became judges with evil
thoughts" (James 2:1-4, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
We also recognize discrimination as a serious social problem.
There are many federal laws against discrimination. The laws
were passed to protect people who are denied rights because of
their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or
disability. Discrimination can happen when an individual
attempts to vote; rent or buy a home; use a public facility;
obtain a job, an education, or a bank loan; or do many other
things.
Discrimination is illegal when an individual is denied an
opportunity or a service based on:
•race--generally understood to be
membership in a racial group. Depending on which law is
involved, membership in an ethnic group can also constitute
race;
•color--a person’s actual skin shade, may
constitute a separate discrimination factor regardless of the
person’s race;
•sex--gender;
•religion--a person’s religious beliefs and
practices, or lack thereof, or a person’s membership in a
religious group;
•national origin--a person's country of origin,
the origin of a person’s ancestors, or the physical, cultural,
or linguistic characteristics of a particular nationality.
This includes characteristics such as last name, accent, and
cultural heritage;
•age--persons aged 40 or over;
•disability--physical or mental impairments that
substantially limit one or more major life activities of a
person.
Among the federal laws that require people to
be treated equally are the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil
Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
Executive Order 11,246 (1965), as amended by Executive Order
11,375 (1967), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967,
the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Equal
Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, the Equal Educational
Opportunity Act of 1974, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, the
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act of 1975,the
Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, the Immigration Reform and
Control Act of 1986, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987,
Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, Voting Rights Language Assistance Act
of 1992, and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
Many federal agencies are responsible for enforcing these laws
and the regulations to implement them. Some agencies require
individuals to complete a complaint form before they act against
an individual or organization that violates people’s rights.
Because laws and regulations frequently require that complaints
be filed within certain time limits, it is important to file
immediately after the discriminatory act occurs. Complainants
are strongly encouraged to submit a written complaint, attaching
copies of all pertinent information.
States, counties, and municipalities also have laws against
discrimination, which sometimes provide different protection or
relief. If they have laws that apply to your complaint, you may
file with them instead of, or in addition to, filing with the
federal government. The federal government has arrangements with
some state and local governments to refer certain kinds of
complaints to these localities for processing.
Before
you file a discrimination complaint, you should seek more
information from:
•an attorney or trained legal counsel;
•federal, state, and local officials; and/or
•public service organizations
If you believe that you have been
discriminated against and want to file a complaint you may
contact the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' Complaint Referral
Service. However, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR)
has no power to enforce laws and, hence, cannot resolve
individual complaints of discrimination. The U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights' complaint referral service is designed to help
place you in contact with the appropriate office for obtaining
information about the complaint process. You may contact the
Commission at the following address and the Commission can
assist you by referring your matter to the appropriate civil
rights enforcement agency:
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Office of Civil Rights Evaluation
COMPLAINTS REFERRAL
1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 1150
Washington, DC 20425
(202) 376-8513
(800) 552-6843
TTY Relay: 711
Fax: (202) 376-7754
www.referrals@usccr.gov
♥When we are victims of race, color, national origin, or ethnic
discrimination, others take action to exclude us from certain
types of employment, educational and recreational opportunities,
housing areas, membership in certain religious and social
organizations, certain political activities, and access to some
community services. Race or ethnic discrimination affects our
self-concept causing us to feel socially inferior. Besides heavy
psychological costs, racial discrimination has heavy financial
costs as well by pushing us into low-paying jobs, inferior
schools, and segregated housing. Racial discrimination results
in social disadvantage. We fight racial and ethnic
discrimination by promoting human rights; understanding that
each racial and ethnic group has its own unique culture,
language and history that must be respected and appreciated;
abiding by civil rights legislation; eliminating and confronting
racist and ethnic remarks and actions; and by confronting
problems in our inner-city ghettos.
When we are victims of sex discrimination, we are treated
unfairly because of our gender. Sexism is the belief that one
sex is superior to the other. Sexism results in men having more
power and resources than women. Sexism limits the talents and
ambitions of women. Sexism has resulted in the acceptance of
violence against women and of women being concentrated in
low-paying jobs. Sexism encourages men to behave in high risk
behaviors--substance abuse, reckless driving, and playing
dangerous sports-- that result in accidents, suicide, violence
and stress-related diseases such as heart disease. Sexism also
limits opportunities for men in intimacy and trust. Women have
been socialized to be passive, submissive, dependent, emotional,
and feminine while men have been socialized to be dominant,
strong, self-reliant, aggressive, unfeeling, masculine, and
brave. Sex-role stereotyping is pervasive in our society, with
aspects being found in our child rearing practices, educational
system, employment practices, religion, psychological theories,
language, mass media, business world, marriage and family
patterns, and our political system. The socialization process
and sex-role stereotyping have led to many problems, which
include sex discrimination in employment with men being paid
substantially more than women; double standards of conduct for
males and females; power struggles between men and women; and
women being unhappier in marriages and more depressed. To fight
sexism, we have passed laws against sex discrimination. Women as
well as men are now pursuing new careers and are taking on roles
and tasks that run counter to traditional sex stereotypes. Men
have become freed from having to be the model man who is the
sole provider, who hides emotions, never cries, never feels
depressed or anxious. In Loving Family, we understand that true
sexual equality for men and women means that we are free to be
ourselves.
When we
are victims of religious discrimination, we are treated unfairly
and denied opportunity because of our religious beliefs and
practices or membership in a particular religious group. The
United States Constitution grants all citizens the right to
religious freedom. We fight religious discrimination by
promoting human rights, abiding by our constitutional bill of
rights and civil rights legislation, and by confronting
religious discrimination in the work place and community. As
Christians, we draw others to Christ by our own Christ-like
example. We never force our beliefs upon others. We believe in
the power of love and that God will lead unbelievers to the way
of salvation. However, as Christians, we take a firm loving
stand for God and fight to keep America one nation under God
since our nation will be doomed if we ever put man's law above
God's law. As Christians, we fight to keep prayer in our public
schools and public events and we fight to keep God's Ten
Commandments visible in our government offices since our country
was founded upon God's laws and we want to keep America forever
great.
When we
are victims of age discrimination, we are denied fair
opportunity due to our age. To fight age discrimination we abide
by civil rights legislation; we judge the performance of others
based on their abilities and not on their age; and we promote
opportunities for older people to engage in meaningful work and
community activities based upon limited ability.
When we
are victims of discrimination due to disability we are treated
unfairly due to an impairment. To fight disability
discrimination we promote opportunity for the disabled so
they can achieve optimal development and competence by using and
employing what abilities they do possess.
We
believe in fair treatment for the disabled but we do not believe
those with disabilities should have the right to impact the
health and well-being of others. Discrimination against
asthmatic, people with allergies, and people with an aversion to
dogs has yet to be addressed. It is only a matter of time before
an asthmatic or allergic person dies from an asthma attack or
allergic reaction as a result of the Americans With Disabilities
Act which forces asthmatic and allergic persons to
have interactions with dogs in public buildings. It is
only a matter of time before a service dog or their owner
becomes injured by a scared frustrated angry person who has an
aversion to dogs and who happens to encounter a dog in a public
building. It is only a matter of time before all adults and
children are plagued by public health problems transmitted by
dogs to people--worms, lice, ticks, and disease--because
dogs are permitted in public buildings. Now is the time to amend
the American With Disabilities Act to forbid access to service
animals. Now is the time to stop discrimination against people
with asthma, allergies, and an aversion to dogs by permitting
them equal access to public buildings that are free of dogs so
they do not have to become ill as a result of doing daily
business in public buildings. Now is the time for everyone to
speak up so this hideous form of discrimination can be halted.
Now is the time for everyone to take action and fight back to
rid public buildings of dog filth. Take action now to keep dogs
and all other animals outside of public buildings!
Health Care System Problems
♥Health
care system problems are other serious social problems that we
recognize. Problems in our health care system include the dual
and sometimes conflicting objectives of providing service and of
making a profit; an emphasis on costly treatment rather than on
prevention; costly, unnecessary or harmful care; costly
unnecessary lab work and testing; controversy over the use of
costly life-sustaining equipment; the general high cost of
medical care; unequal access to health services for the poor and
minorities; low-quality health care for the elderly; the high
rate of medical errors; dangerous side effects of many
prescribed drugs; and pollution of our water supply by
prescription medications.
In the United States, medical expenses are paid for by direct
payments from us to our health care provider, by private
insurance, and through government programs such as
Medicaid and Medicare, or Marketplace health insurance. Under
the Medicaid program benefits vary from state to state. Health
care is costly and so is health insurance, Medicaid, and
Medicare. Those of us who are not covered through group plans at
work must purchase private health insurance or qualify for
reduced or no cost insurance through the Marketplace health
insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare. Even with Obamacare in place,
insurance can still be too expensive depending upon other debts.
A number of us still fall between the cracks--too rich for
Medicaid, too young for Medicare, too poor to buy health
insurance, and too poor to pay medical bills. Those of us
who have health insurance often find it difficult to pay
deductibles and co-pays.
The
problem with mass government healthcare programs in America,
like Medicare and Medicaid and Marketplace health insurance, is
that these programs only provide services to certain groups of
people--aged, disabled, the poor, and those unable to afford the
full cost of private insurance. Those who can afford to
pay for private insurance must also pay taxes so the aged,
disabled, and poor, or those in need can qualify for free or low
cost coverage. Once you treat any group differently than
everyone else problems arise due to human jealously, greed,
hatefulness, etc. People in Canada, Denmark, Sweden, etc. are
all happy with their healthcare because everyone is equally
entitled and they all receive benefits regardless of their age,
social class, income, and health condition. We should get a clue
in America and stop treating certain groups of people
differently since it only leads to discord!
Health
Care Fraud. In November of 2005, LexisNexis launched
advanced information and data access technology in association
with the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA),
law enforcement and regulatory agencies (Medical Billing
Advocates of America; MBAA; 2008). Conceived as a public service
for the healthcare industry, it was created in response to what
the company calls a: “$51 billion issue” and a “crime
phenomenon” The MBAA states that the issue they're talking about
is healthcare fraud, and it accounts for an estimated 3% of
America's $1.7 trillion annual healthcare cost that you are
paying for. "Health care spending in the U.S. is five (5) times
that of defense and three (3) times that of education," the
article says. "Health care insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, and
consumers bear the cost of fraud, which represents an
ever-growing burden in the form of increased premiums, taxes,
co-pays and deductibles." Of this $51 billion issue, upwards of
$10 billion of it is likely coming from overcharges on medical
bills like yours. MBAA states that today's complex medical
billing system allows fraud and abuse to go undetected. Studies
have shown that as many as 9 out of 10 medical bills from
hospitals and providers contain errors. Their errors are
compounded by the fact that insurance companies are not
reimbursing correctly--they just pay the incorrect bills
unquestioningly, but deny legitimate charges. MBAA states that
healthcare costs are skyrocketing due to healthcare fraud from
medical billing errors. MBAA is fighting to keep healthcare
costs down for consumers, businesses and healthcare providers.
Medical
Errors. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
(Publication No. AHRQ) provides important information
about the epidemic of medical errors. HHS states that The
November 1999 report of the Institute of Medicine (IOM),
entitled To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health System,
focused a great deal of attention on the issue of medical errors
and patient safety. The report indicated that as many as 44,000
to 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as the result of
medical errors.
Even using the lower estimate, this would make medical errors
the eighth leading cause of death in this country—higher
than motor vehicle accidents (43,458), breast cancer (42,297),
or AIDS (16,516). About 7,000 people per year are estimated to
die from medication errors alone—about 16 percent more deaths
than the number attributable to work-related injuries.
The President ordered the Quality Interagency Coordination Task
Force to make recommendations on improving health care quality
and protecting patient safety in response to the IOM report. The
Report to the President on Medical Errors was issued in February
2000.
Errors occur not only in hospitals but in other health care
settings, such as physicians' offices, nursing homes,
pharmacies, urgent care centers, and care delivered in the home.
Unfortunately, very little data exist on the extent of the
problem outside of hospitals. The IOM report indicated, however,
that many errors are likely to occur outside the hospital. For
example, in a recent investigation of pharmacists, the
Massachusetts State Board of Registration in Pharmacy estimated
that 2.4 million prescriptions are filled improperly each year
in the State.
Medical errors carry a high financial cost. The IOM report
estimates that medical errors cost the Nation approximately
$37.6 billion each year; about $17 billion of those costs are
associated with preventable errors. About half of the
expenditures for preventable medical errors are for direct
health care costs.
The serious problem of medical errors is not new, but in the
past, the problem has not gotten the attention it deserved. A
body of research describing the problem of medical errors began
to emerge in the early 1990s with landmark research conducted by
Lucian Leape, M.D., and David Bates, M.D., and supported by the
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, now the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The final report of the President's Advisory Commission on
Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry,
released in 1998, identified medical errors as one of the four
major challenges facing the Nation in improving health care
quality. Based on the recommendations of that report, President
Clinton directed the establishment of the Quality Inter-agency
Coordination Task Force (QuIC) to coordinate quality improvement
activities in Federal health care programs.
The
QuIC includes: the Departments of Health and Human Services,
Labor, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, and Defense; the Coast Guard;
the Bureau of Prisons; and the Office of Personnel Management.
While there has been no unified effort to address the problem of
medical errors and patient safety, awareness of the issue has
been growing. Americans have a very real fear of medical errors.
According to a national poll conducted by the National Patient
Safety Foundation:
•Forty-two percent of respondents had
been affected by a medical error, either personally or through
a friend or relative.
•Thirty-two percent of the respondents indicated
that the error had a permanent negative effect on the
patient's health.
Overall, the respondents to this survey thought
the health care system was "moderately safe" (rated a 4.9 on a 1
to 7 scale, where 1 is not safe at all and 7 is very safe).
Another
survey, conducted by the American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists, found that Americans are "very concerned" about:
•Being given the wrong medicine (61
percent).
•Being given two or more medicines that interact
in a negative way (58 percent).
•Complications from a medical procedure (56
percent).
Most people believe that medical errors are
the result of the failures of individual providers. When asked
in a survey about possible solutions to medical errors:
•Seventy-five percent of respondents
thought it would be most effective to "keep health
professionals with bad track records from providing care."
•Sixty-nine percent thought the problem could be
solved through "better training of health professionals."
This fear of medical errors was borne out by
the interest and attention that the IOM report generated.
According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 51
percent of Americans followed closely the release of the IOM
report on medical errors.
The IOM
emphasized that most of the medical errors are systems related
and not attributable to individual negligence or misconduct. The
key to reducing medical errors is to focus on improving the
systems of delivering care and not to blame individuals. Health
care professionals are simply human and, like everyone else,
they make mistakes. But research has shown that system
improvements can reduce the error rates and improve the quality
of health care:
•A 1999 study indicated that including
a pharmacist on medical rounds reduced the errors related to
medication ordering by 66 percent, from 10.4 per 1,000 patient
days to 3.5 per 1,000 patient days.
•The specialty of anesthesia has reduced its
error rate by nearly sevenfold, from 25 to 50 per million to
5.4 per million, by using standardized guidelines and
protocols, standardizing equipment, etc.
•One hospital in the Department of Veterans
Affairs uses hand-held, wireless computer technology and
bar-coding, which has cut overall hospital medication error
rates by 70 percent. This system is soon to be implemented in
all VA hospitals.
The IOM defines medical error as "the failure
to complete a planned action as intended or the use of a wrong
plan to achieve an aim." An adverse event is defined as "an
injury caused by medical management rather than by the
underlying disease or condition of the patient." Some adverse
events are not preventable and they reflect the risk associated
with treatment, such as a life-threatening allergic reaction to
a drug when the patient had no known allergies to it. However,
the patient who receives an antibiotic to which he or she is
known to be allergic, goes into anaphylactic shock, and dies,
represents a preventable adverse event.
Most people believe that medical errors usually involve drugs,
such as a patient getting the wrong prescription or dosage, or
mishandled surgeries, such as amputation of the wrong limb.
However, there are many other types of medical errors,
including:
•Diagnostic error, such as
misdiagnosis leading to an incorrect choice of therapy,
failure to use an indicated diagnostic test, misinterpretation
of test results, and failure to act on abnormal results.
•Equipment failure, such as defibrillators with
dead batteries or intravenous pumps whose valves are easily
dislodged or bumped, causing increased doses of medication
over too short a period.
•Infections, such as nosocomial and
post-surgical wound infections.
•Blood transfusion-related injuries, such as
giving a patient the blood of the incorrect type.
•Misinterpretation of other medical orders, such
as failing to give a patient a salt-free meal, as ordered by a
physician.
Research clearly shows that the majority of
medical errors can be prevented:
•One of the landmark studies on
medical errors indicated 70 percent of adverse events found in
a review of 1,133 medical records were preventable; 6 percent
were potentially preventable; and 24 percent were not
preventable.
•A study released last year, based on a chart
review of 15,000 medical records in Colorado and Utah, found
that 54 percent of surgical errors were preventable.
Other potential system improvements include:
•Use of information technology, such
as hand-held bedside computers, to eliminate reliance on
handwriting for ordering medications and other treatment
needs.
•Avoidance of similar-sounding and look-alike
names and packages of medication.
•Standardization of treatment policies and
protocols to avoid confusion and reliance on memory, which is
known to be fallible and responsible for many errors.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (AHRQ
Publication No. 11-0089, 9/11) explains that the best way you
can help to prevent medical errors is to be an active member of
your health care team. That means taking part in every decision
about your health care. Research shows that patients who are
more involved with their care tend to get better results.
The
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (AHRQ Publication
No. 11-0089, 9/11) also provides us with the following 20
Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors:
Medicines
1.
Make sure that all of your doctors know about every
medicine you are taking. This includes prescription and
over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements, such as
vitamins and herbs.
2.
Bring all of your medicines and supplements to your doctor
visits. "Brown bagging" your medicines can help you and
your doctor talk about them and find out if there are any
problems. It can also help your doctor keep your records up to
date and help you get better quality care.
3.
Make sure your doctor knows about any allergies and
adverse reactions you have had to medicines. This can
help you avoid getting a medicine that can harm you.
4. When
your doctor writes a prescription for you, make sure you can
read it. If you cannot read your doctor's handwriting,
your pharmacist might not be able to either.
5.
Ask for information about your medicines in terms you can
understand—both when your medicines are prescribed and when
you get them:
•What is the medicine for?
•How am I supposed to take it, and for how long?
•What side effects are likely? What do I do if
they occur?
•Is this medicine safe to take with other
medicines or dietary supplements I am taking?
•What food, drink, or activities should I avoid
while taking this medicine?
6. When you pick up your medicine from the
pharmacy, ask: Is this the medicine that my doctor prescribed?
7.
If you have any questions about the directions on your
medicine labels, ask. Medicine labels can be hard to
understand. For example, ask if "four doses daily" means taking
a dose every 6 hours around the clock or just during regular
waking hours.
8.
Ask your pharmacist for the best device to measure your liquid
medicine. For example, many people use household
teaspoons, which often do not hold a true teaspoon of liquid.
Special devices, like marked syringes, help people measure the
right dose.
9.
Ask for written information about the side effects your
medicine could cause. If you know what might happen, you
will be better prepared if it does or if something unexpected
happens.
Hospital Stays
10.
If you are in a hospital, consider asking all health care
workers who will touch you whether they have washed their
hands. Handwashing can prevent the spread of infections in
hospitals.
11.
When you are being discharged from the hospital, ask your
doctor to explain the treatment plan you will follow at home.
This includes learning about your new medicines, making sure you
know when to schedule follow-up appointments, and finding out
when you can get back to your regular activities. It is
important to know whether or not you should keep taking the
medicines you were taking before your hospital stay. Getting
clear instructions may help prevent an unexpected return trip to
the hospital.
Surgery
12.
If you are having surgery, make sure that you, your doctor,
and your surgeon all agree on exactly what will be done. Having
surgery at the wrong site (for example, operating on the left
knee instead of the right) is rare. But even once is too often.
The good news is that wrong-site surgery is 100 percent
preventable. Surgeons are expected to sign their initials
directly on the site to be operated on before the surgery.
13.
If you have a choice, choose a hospital at which many patients
have the procedure or surgery you need. Research shows
that patients tend to have better results when they are treated
in hospitals that have a great deal of experience with their
condition.
Other
Steps
14.
Speak up if you have questions or concerns. You have a
right to question anyone who is involved with your care.
15.
Make sure that someone, such as your primary care doctor,
coordinates your care. This is especially important if
you have many health problems or are in the hospital.
16.
Make sure that all your doctors have your important health
information. Do not assume that everyone has all the
information they need.
17.
Ask a family member or friend to go to appointments with you.
Even if you do not need help now, you might need it later.
18.
Know that "more" is not always better. It is a good idea
to find out why a test or treatment is needed and how it can
help you. You could be better off without it.
19.
If you have a test, do not assume that no news is good news.
Ask how and when you will get the results.
20.
Learn about your condition and treatments by asking your
doctor and nurse and by using other reliable sources. For
example, treatment options based on the latest scientific
evidence are available from the Effective Health Care Web site.
Ask your doctor if your treatment is based on the latest
evidence.
"Now a
certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and she
suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all
that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse" (Mark
5:25-26, Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982).
♥
Dangers of Anti-psychotic Drugs for the Elderly.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA; 6/16/08) exercised
its new authority under the Food and Drug Administration
Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) to require manufacturers of
"conventional" anti-psychotic drugs to make safety-related
changes to prescribing information, or labeling, to warn about
an increased risk of death associated with the off-label use of
these drugs to treat behavioral problems in older people with
dementia.
In
2005, the FDA announced similar labeling changes for "atypical"
anti-psychotic drugs. At that time, Boxed Warnings, the FDA's
strongest, were added. The Boxed Warning will now be added to an
older class of drugs known as "conventional" anti-psychotics.
The warning for both classes of drugs will say that clinical
studies indicate that anti-psychotic drugs of both types are
associated with an increased risk of death when used in elderly
patients treated for dementia-related psychosis.
"It is important that health care professionals and consumers
have the most up-to-date drug safety information," said Thomas
Laughren, M.D., director of the FDA's Division of Psychiatry
Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "The
prescribing information for all anti-psychotic drugs will be
updated to describe the risk of death in elderly patients being
treated for symptoms associated with dementia."
Anti-psychotic drugs commonly are categorized into two classes,
the older "conventional" anti-psychotics and the newer
"atypical" anti-psychotics. Both classes of drugs are dopamine
receptor antagonists that work by blocking the action of
naturally occurring dopamine in the brain. They differ primarily
in their side effects, with the atypical drugs having a lower
incidence of neurological side effects such as involuntary
movements or "tics."
Neither class of anti-psychotic is FDA-approved for use in the
treatment of dementia-related symptoms, which can include
forgetfulness, poor memory, and an inability to recognize
familiar objects, sounds, or people. The drugs are FDA-approved
primarily for the treatment of symptoms associated with
schizophrenia. The decision to use anti-psychotic medications in
the treatment of patients with symptoms of dementia is left to
the discretion of the physician. Such use is often called
"off-label" use and falls within the practice of medicine.
Recently, two observational epidemiological studies were
published that examined the risk of death in elderly patients
with dementia who were treated with conventional anti-psychotic
drugs. The investigators compared the risk for death with use of
an atypical anti-psychotic versus either no anti-psychotic or
the use of a conventional anti-psychotic. These studies have
limitations that preclude reaching a definitive conclusion about
comparative death rates for atypical and conventional
anti-psychotic drugs. Nevertheless, the FDA has concluded that
these studies, along with the earlier evidence for atypical
anti-psychotic drugs, suggest that both classes of drugs should
be considered to have an increased risk of death when used in
elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis.
An explanation of the data and advice for treating patients is
available in an FDA notice to health care professionals. The FDA
issued letters to the manufacturers of both types of
anti-psychotic drugs, under the new authority of FDAAA,
notifying the manufacturers that they should make changes to
drug labeling. Manufacturers of both classes of drugs are being
asked to change labeling so that all of the drugs carry uniform
warning language.
People taking anti-psychotic drugs should not abruptly stop
taking them. Caregivers and patients should talk to the
patient's health care professionals about any concerns.
The
medications involved in this action are:
Conventional Anti-psychotic Drugs
Atypical Anti-psychotics
Compazine
(prochlorperazine)
Abilify (aripiprazole)
Haldol (haloperidol)
Clozaril (clozapine)
Loxitane (loxapine)
FazaClo (clozapine)
Mellaril (thioridazine)
Geodon
(ziprasidone)
Moban (molindrone)
Invega
(paliperidone)
Navane (thithixene)
Risperdal (risperidone)
Orap (pimozide)
Seroquel (quetiapine)
Prolixin (fluphenazine)
Zyprexa (olanzapine)
Stelazine (trifluoperazine)
Symbyax (olanzapine and fluoxetine)
Thorazine (chlorpromazine)
Trilafon (perphenazine)
Similar
results were found in a study funded by the Canadian Institutes
for Health Research .“Anti-psychotic Therapy and Short –Term
Serious Events in Older Adults with Dementia”, May issue of
Archives of Internal Medicine (Institute for Clinical Evaluative
Sciences in Toronto (ICES), Canada, 5/26/08). According to
the ICES, elderly people who take anti-psychotic drugs are at an
increased risk of having an event that is serious enough to lead
to hospitalization or death within a month of starting therapy,
says new research from Ontario’s Institute for Clinical
Evaluative Sciences (ICES).
The
ICES study looked at all Ontario residents aged 66 years and
older diagnosed with dementia. 20,682 older adults with
dementia lived in the community and another 20,559 matched
individuals lived in nursing homes between April 1, 1997 and
March 31, 2004. The study looked at the risk of developing
serious events that led to hospitalization or death within 30
days of starting the therapy. “It’s a double edged sword,”
says lead author and Sr. ICES Scientist, Dr. Paula Rochon, “on
one hand the drug may cause serious harm to the frail elderly
and on the other, they may make life easier in some very
difficult situations. Anti-psychotic therapy is widely used to
manage behavioral problems in dementia and frequently prescribed
around the time of nursing home admission. We need to proceed
with caution even when short term therapy is being prescribed,
to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks for
the individual.”
ICES provides the results of the study as follows:
•Community dwelling older adults
dispensed an atypical anti-psychotic therapy were 3.2 times
more likely to develop any serious event during the 30 days of
follow up compared to those who were not.
•Those dispensed a conventional anti-psychotic
therapy were 3.8 times more likely to develop any serious
event during the 30 days of follow up.
•The pattern of serious events was similar but
the differences were less pronounced in the nursing home
population.
•Serious events as indicated by a hospital
admission or death was frequent following the short term use
of anti-psychotic therapy in older adults with dementia.
•Anti-psychotic therapy should be used with
caution even when short term therapy is being prescribed.
Rochon states “our study demonstrates the
importance of post-marketing surveillance of new drugs.
Clinical trials that are used to determine if drugs are safe
before they are licensed often fail to detect problems that
occur when these same drugs are used in real world settings by
more frail individuals. Studies that look at a wide range
of different adverse events in large groups of individuals can
provide new and important information. Ongoing safety
monitoring of drug side effects in a cohort context, larger
real-world populations is vital. Experts from regulatory
bodies such as Health Canada, the Food and Drug Administration
and drug plans that pay for these drugs will have to consider
our findings in the context of all the evidence so far, to
decide the future of these drugs. Our results exploring
serious adverse events likely identify only the tip of the
iceberg.”
ICES states that Anti-psychotics are a group of drugs commonly
but not exclusively used to treat psychosis. Conditions for
which anti-psychotic drugs might be used include schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder, mania, and delusional disorder. Over time
different classes of anti-psychotics have been developed. A
first generation of anti-psychotics, known as typical
anti-psychotics, were discovered in the 1950s. Most of the drugs
in the second generation of anti-psychotics, known as atypical
anti-psychotics, have more recently been developed and come into
use in Alzheimer patients. The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has ordered manufacturers of atypical, or
second-generation, anti-psychotic medications to add a new
warning to already existing black-box warnings noting that the
drugs are associated with an increased risk of death related to
psychosis and behavioral problems in elderly patients with
dementia.
♥
Pharmaceuticals in Water Supply. Unfortunately,
studies now show that our water supply contains levels of
several pharmaceuticals. The Associated Press (Bob Russ,
Repository Suburban Editor, Canton Rep.com 4/17/08) spent five
months studying 62 major water providers nationwide, searching
for concentrations of pharmaceuticals and they found them--as
many as 56 different drugs in a single sample--in the drinking
water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. Worse, that's
likely just the tip of the iceberg, since 34 of the 62 systems
contacted do not test their water for drugs. Of the 28 systems
that were tested, 24 were found to have drugs in the drinking
water--antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, sex
hormones, pain medication, anti-anxiety and anti-epileptic
medications and dozens more. Russ indicates that the federal
government doesn't require any testing for drugs in drinking
water, and even if it did, hasn't determined what concentrations
would pose a hazard. As a result, drinking water for major
cities such as Houston, Chicago, Miami, Baltimore, Phoenix,
Boston, New York, and others might be loaded with drugs but it
is unknown because those cities don't test for them. According
to Russ, the Associated Press study noted that although the
"exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random
combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals" are not yet
known, "recent studies...have found alarming effects on human
cells and wildlife." Russ notes that high levels of the female
hormone estrone and other estrogenic chemicals were found in New
York City's Jamaica Bay and Jamaica Bay is where researchers
discovered a male flounder which had developed female sex
organs. Alan Goldhammer, Deputy Vice President for Regulatory
Affairs at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
(Martha Mendoza, Associated Press; startribune.com 4/15/08)
indicated that his organization has researched the issue for
years and found no problems. "In summary, there appears to be no
demonstrable risk to human health from detected concentrations
of pharmaceuticals in surface water," Goldhammer said. Jennifer
Sass, Senior Scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council
(Martha Mendoza, Associated Press; startribune.com 4/15/08)
disagreed with Goldhammer and she indicated that "although the
human health impacts of these exposures to pharmaceuticals and
personal care products are poorly understood, what we do know is
troubling. For example, we know that widespread exposure to
antibiotics is contributing to the growth of bacterial
resistance, and this problem is of grave
concern."
♥
In Loving Family, we advocate for solutions to improve our
current health care systems, which includes requiring all health
care providers to have training in preventative health care,
alternative health care, holistic health care, natural remedies,
vitamin and supplement therapy, the social sciences, social
model addiction training, humanities, and ethics in addition to
their standard medical training since many factors affect health
and there are many pathways to wellness; allowing doctors to
advertise their services and fees; regulating medical treatment
costs and reducing medical billing fraud by developing standards
for pricing; requiring physicians, hospitals, laboratories,
other healthcare providers and insurance companies to work
together to let patients know their exact share of cost for
care, treatment, lab work, and tests before services are
administered; expanding the use of generic drugs; encouraging
patients to seek a second opinion before consenting to an
operation; developing more preventive medical programs;
encouraging patient's to be an active member of their health
care team; encouraging patients to use prescription medications
only when absolutely necessary and to use medications exactly as
prescribed; expanding the use of health maintenance
organizations; and controlling medical fees, prescription drug
costs, and health insurance costs.
We let our leaders know that we want health care reform. We let
our leaders know that we want the health care industry to be
converted to a volunteer health service organization, so the
profit motive can be eliminated from health care, health care
problems can be solved, physicians can have an easier time
abiding by the Hippocratic oath, medical errors can be reduced,
and so all patients-- rich and poor alike-- can receive high
quality affordable health care. A volunteer health service
organization could be set up so that health care workers could
enlist for two years, four years, etc., or for a life career and
be paid a reasonable but good stipend. Increases in stipend
could be earned based upon merit (overall health and well-being
of patients) and time served. Health care providers could work
at community controlled health centers and hospitals. A system
of checks and balances could be implemented so medical decisions
and treatment plans were made and approved by the patient with
input and recommendations made by their physician (s), medical
provider (s), and medical monitors. Most important, we advocate
for developing affordable user friendly non-mandatory
comprehensive national health and dental insurance programs that
covers everyone, so we can put an end to our current health care
crises. We also advocate for our water supply to be kept clean
and free of
pharmaceuticals.
When
the Lord comes in His glory with all the angels and all the
nations are assembled before Him, we want our heritage to be the
kingdom of heaven not eternal punishment. Therefore, we see the
Lord in each hungry person, we see the Lord in each thirsty
person, we see the Lord in each stranger, we see the Lord in
each naked person, we see the Lord in each sick person, and we
see the Lord in each prisoner. Since we do not want to neglect
the Lord, we do not neglect to feed the sick, give drink to the
thirsty, make the stranger welcome, clothed the naked, or visit
those who are ill or in prison. Since we are one nation under
God indivisible, it is our responsibility as a nation to see
that the Lord in each American citizen has access to the help we
all need. And that is not enough; as a great nation, we must
also accept our responsibility to all people in all nations and
not neglect to see that the Lord in each person on earth has
access to the help we all need.
♥THE SOCIOLOGY OF GLOBAL
CONCERNS
Jesus stated: "Now is the judgment of this world;
now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself"
(Holy Bible, NKJV, 1982, John 12: 31-32).
Resource Management
♥ There
are three main approaches to resource management in the world
today. The capitalist approach is based upon principles of a
free market economy with price set by supply and demand. Staunch
believers of capitalism in the United States today are the
Republicans, mainly white upper class men and women. Capitalist
believe that if something does not have a price attached it must
not be worth having or owning. At one time, the capitalist
approach had the potential for building a strong economy. Small
businesses, small corporations, and Mom and Pop enterprises used
to thrive under the capitalist approach but that is no longer
true. Jobs available for most people today are low-paying jobs
with little or no benefits. Large multinational corporation
states rule America and the world today. Small businesses, small
corporations, and Mom and Pop enterprises cannot compete against
the giants. Multinational corporation States dictate policy
behind the scenes, and our political leaders must bow down to
them. Price fixing is the rule rather than the exception.
Multinational corporations are squeezing the masses at the gas
pump, the grocery store, and at the big box stores. Big Box
stores have no pride in workmanship. Products sold at Big Box
stores have a high price tag but they are of poor quality.
Clothing is made from inferior materials and it is sold cut but
not stitched to be finished. Other products are made from low
quality plastics, cheap metals, flimsy wood, or particle board.
Life happiness is low for the masses under the capitalist
approach in America today.
The socialist approach is based upon resources being managed by
a central government. All citizens get to enjoy free or nearly
free services--health care, higher education, housing, and
social care-- in socialist countries. Taxes are high under the
socialist approach but citizens generally enjoy higher life
satisfaction than citizens under a capitalist regime. Denmark,
Norway, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Canada,
Finland, Israel, Sweden, and New Zealand are countries that all
out rank The United States on the OECD Better Life Index for
2012 with Denmark ranking first, Norway second, etc. The Better
Life Index analyzed 11 topics that the OECD determined were
essential for well-being in terms of material living conditions
(housing, income, jobs) and quality of life (community,
education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction,
safety and work-life balance). Citizens in socialist countries
have more time for leisure and creativity since government meets
many of their basic needs.
The middle-of-the-roaders believe in a two-system approach to
resource management and services provided are paid for from
taxes collected from the population at large. Social Workers,
bleeding heart democrats, and liberals comprise those who
believe in the middle-of-the-roader approach to resource
management in the United States today. Middle-of-the-roaders
believe in one system for those in need and another system for
everyone else. Case workers and Social Workers determine
eligibility for services based upon income and strict government
regulations. Unfortunately, there is a social stigma involved
with receiving services that recipients can never quite overcome
even if they find a job and go off of services.
Another problem with the middle-of-the-roader approach to
resource management is that most of the available tax dollars
are used to pay the salaries of administrators, case workers,
and social workers and very little money is actually spent on
those in need. We would be better off making direct payments to
the citizens while eliminating high cost positions if we are
really serious about helping the poor and needy.
Another problem with the middle-of-the-roader approach is that
it is ripe with recipient exploitation and abuse. Professional
workers must control their clients’ behavior. This frequently
results in oppression due to the dynamics involved with power
and control. Many professional workers actually refer to their
clients as “our folks” or “our people” as if they actually owned
their clients and indeed for all intensive purposes they
actually do. A close alliance between health services and social
services often results in money being given with one hand only
to be taken back with the other hand. Eventually even the
administrators, case workers, and social workers become prey due
to the high cost of health services.
Another insidious problem for government employees is the
mistrust it breeds amongst workers. Many government employees
work under cover or out of class so you can never be certain if
the nice clerk or assistant you are smitten by is really a clerk
or assistant or your supervisor’s right-hand man or psychologist
situated only to derail you from pursuing your personal vision
if it differs from that of your organization. Since government
employees are given standard lines to say to their clientele,
you can also never be certain if a friendly co-worker is
actually being friendly toward you or if they were coached
before hand on what to say to you.
Of all the approaches to resource management, the
middle-of-the-roader approach is the most dangerous threat to
American principles based upon freedom, justice, and liberty for
all. If we are not careful, the middle-of-the-roader-approach
will lead us straight down the path to fascism.
So what approach to resource management would Jesus take if He
walked the earth today? Jesus was neither a capitalist, a
socialist, nor a middle-of-the-roader. Jesus was a worker who
bartered His services in exchange for what He needed. Jesus
healed the sick, He performed miracles, and He taught the masses
in exchange for a place to stay, food to eat, and human
companionship. Bartering encourages social interaction and
social discourse so it is not surprising that Jesus bartered His
services. If we are to move beyond the social isolation that is
rampant in America today, we must be able to interact with each
other and talk to each other before we can ever begin to love
each other as Jesus taught us to do.
We draw others to Jesus by practicing our Christian beliefs and
principles. We believe that all the worlds' people are entitled
to food, shelter, medical care, education, and employment. We do
our part to help those who are lacking obtain what help they
need. We do this best by living a God centered life and living
as Jesus lived. If people are hungry, we feed them until they
can feed themselves. If people are cold, we provide shelter
until they can shelter themselves. If people are ill, we give
them medical care until they can provide medical care for
themselves. If people are ignorant, we educate them so they can
become capable of functioning independently. If people are
unemployed, we help them to secure decent employment. Most of us
are not experts on solving global problems, but we do what we
can as individuals and groups. We inform our church leaders and
our political leaders that we are in favor of improving the
quality of life for families worldwide, and we support programs
that help needy people in undeveloped nations. Many churches
have good programs in place to help the poor in undeveloped
countries. The United Nations and the Peace Corps also
have good programs in place for helping the poor in undeveloped
nations.
♥ United
Nations. The United Nations is an international
organization founded in 1945 after World War II by 51 countries
to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly
relations among nations, and promote social progress, better
living standards and human rights.
The
United Nations works to:
•Keep peace in the world.
•Develop friendly relations among the nations.
•Help nations work together to improve conditions
of the poor; end hunger, disease, and illiteracy; and
encourage respect for the rights and freedoms of each nation.
•Act as a center to achieve established goals,
♥ The Peace Corps. The mission
of the Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship. The
Peace Corps has been a leader in international development
and citizen diplomacy for more than 50 years in more than
139 countries. The Peace Corps works on problems such as climate
change, pandemic disease, food security, and gender equality and
empowerment. Peace Corps volunteers help to stop disease, feed
the hungry, and address other worldwide challenges through
innovative, grassroots solutions. The Peace Corps works in
countries from Asia to Central America, and from Europe to
Africa. Volunteers work with governments, schools, and
entrepreneurs to address changing and complex needs in
education, health and HIV/AIDS, business, information
technology, agriculture, and the environment.
♥ We
inform our political leaders that we want stricter controls set
on multinational corporations to protect jobs in America and so
undeveloped nations can have a fair chance to develop. To fight
global terrorism and global poverty, we urge our political
leaders to pass laws that will stop multinational corporations
from exploiting Third World countries and to find ways to close
the gap between First World and Third World nations. We inform
our political leaders that we want stricter environmental
controls that will put a stop to pollution and land erosion, so
our earth can continue to sustain us. We inform our political
leaders that we want safe low-cost alternative energy sources to
be developed and made readily available to us.
We promote global peace and prosperity by preferring to live
simply and independently. We buy locally as much as possible to
bolster our local economies and so not to contribute to the
overgrowth of multinational corporations. We eat more fresh
fruits, fresh vegetables, grains, and less meat not only to
improve our health, but because eating less meat is ecologically
sound. If we are landowners, we plant trees and grow gardens to
slow the degradation of the earth's soil. We are careful to
control garden pests and weeds with organic methods, so we do
not contribute to water pollution.
We walk, ride bicycles, use public transportation, and car pool
as much as possible to conserve on fossil fuels and to cut back
on air pollution. We use alternative energy sources such as
solar power as much as possible. We purchase economical,
fuel-efficient vehicles, and we avoid purchasing large, luxury,
gas-guzzling vehicles. We are advocates for economic solar
powered electric vehicles to be developed and made readily
available for our use.
We dress simply, and we wear our clothes out before buying new
ones to cut back on garbage accumulation. We also recycle our
aluminum and steel cans, glass, plastic bottles, containers,
paper products, and other materials to conserve our resources
and reduce refuse accumulation.
For 2007, it estimated that $40.8 billion will be spent on pets
in the U.S. We remember to think of all the starving children
and people of the world before we decide to purchase or keep a
dog. We spend our excess funds on helping poor people rather
than on providing pets with an expensive diet, costly pet
medical and dental treatments, ridiculous pet toys, and pet
accessories. We remember to save our own soul by not giving what
is holy to the dogs.
We avoid getting on a treadmill of work and spend just because
others are on it. We need our sleep and relaxation, so we are
not hard to get along with. We enjoy spending time with each
other and with our children. We realize our children need time
with us more than they need an endless stream of toys and
useless gadgets. We are careful not to become obsessive about
global concerns. This is, after all, God's world, and we put our
faith in God to heal the planet.
Since Jesus calls us His friends, we call those we would help
friends as well. Jesus helped us to become equals in Him, so we
help others to become equals in Him as well. Under no condition
do we help others so we can lord it over them. There is only one
Lord our God.
♥
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have
loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down
one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do
whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for
a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have
called you friends, for all things that I heard from My father
I have made known to you" (John 15: 12-15; Holy Bible,
NKJV, 1982). ♥
Other Books by Sharen
Visions of Our Life: Forever Young
Stars of the Word: Star Light Reflections
♥