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How to Create an Efficient ALS Mindset

ALS and efficient are two words not often used in the same sentence. But to me, they are a perfect pairing. Mention “ALS” and it’s easy to think slow, clumsy, and low energy, while “efficient” can describe quick, streamlined, and well-organized. I’ve combined the two into what I call…

The Boomerang Effect of Raising Awareness

A 1992 episode of the hit television series “Seinfeld” is a “life-imitating-art” story titled “The Pitch.” The character of George Costanza (with brief help from Jerry Seinfeld) attempts to explain the concept for a new show to fictional NBC executive Russell Dalrymple: George: I think I can sum…

Join Me in Advancing ALS Awareness Beyond May

The sun is setting on another ALS Awareness Month. If we’ve been successful at drawing attention to the disease, we’ve reminded those who are untouched by its tortuous path that ALS is an indiscriminate, relentless, amoral, sadistic, Machiavellian monster. But to what end? Pity is superfluous and attention-fleeting; empathy…

How You Can Get Medicare to Cover Home Healthcare

“What one man can do, another can do.” So said actor Anthony Hopkins, playing the role of Charles Morse in the movie “The Edge.” He used that mantra as inspiration to fell a rogue, predatory grizzly bear. It may be hyperbolic to equate the difficulties of securing one’s…

Working Around My Workarounds

Living with ALS certainly has its challenges, which lead many of us to rely on workarounds. These are creative, temporary solutions that solve an everyday problem; I first wrote about mine in “The ALS Workaround Dilemma.” But the key word here is “temporary,” because workarounds run the risk…

Revisiting Medicare’s Coverage of Home Healthcare

About a year ago, I wrote about how ALS patients may receive home healthcare on an uninterrupted basis, with expenses covered by Medicare. Since then, there has been both good news and bad news. The good news is that I recently “celebrated” my two-year anniversary of getting that coverage.

A Look at the ABCs of ALS During ALS Awareness Month

Awareness Breeds Compassion. Compassion Drives Enhanced Funding. Funding Generates Heightened Innovative Intervention Ideas. It all starts with awareness. May is ALS Awareness Month. It is not a coincidence that I chose three words beginning with the letter “I.” I believe that a single measure of awareness yields…