Free Republic

Federal budget cuts to child-welfare services may cost California hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade and could short-circuit efforts to keep thousands of children with family members, local county welfare officials and policy experts say. The cuts, advocates say, are a direct effort to sidestep a federal court decision that helped open up payments to thousands of relatives who are caregivers in several Western states. These cuts could immediately affect the care of some 4,000 to 5,000 children in California alone, according to the advocates. "If the state can't backfill for the lost funds, I think it...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2005 – President Bush traveled today to the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md., near here to thank an "incredible team of healers" whom he said bring comfort, aid and solace to those who have been hurt on the battlefield, as well as their families. The president recognized the military medical caregivers' "decency and compassion and skill" that assures military members that, if hurt, they will receive the best medical care possible, he said. "And so we're here to thank the nurses and the docs and the healers and the volunteers who put the smile on...

Well folks, something good is coming out of something bad. As some of you are aware, my mother died June 29th 2004. I had been caregiving my mother for the last 2 years. I left my job in May 2004 at the Northfield Police Department as a 911 Police/Fire Dispatcher to take care of her because the stress of doing both was too much. During the 2 years of caregiving boy did I learn a lot! What our poor Seniors have to go through is overwhelming. Certainly EVERY senior needs an advocate, and I know they are not all fortuneate...

FINDINGS Influenza has been added to the recommended schedule of shots for all infants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend that, beginning in fall 2004, all children age 6 months to 23 months, as well as household and out-of-home caregivers for such children, receive an annual influenza vaccine, the CDC said. The CDC had been moving toward the recommendation even before this past flu season, which began early and featured a nasty strain of virus that killed...

Patron Saints of Desperate, Forgotten, Impossible or Lost Causes Saint Philomena Little is known of her life, and the information was have was received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church. In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person. In 1805 Canon...