Health Care and Hospice -- Please Give us Your Help, Suggestions, or

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Dearest Pamho Member Prabhu,

 

 

Please give us your help, suggestions or comments.

 

HYPERLINK

"http://www.sonic.net/~jordonez/dharma/#Headline#Headline"Render The

Most Important Seva, One Hour Per Month!

We Need one Hour per Month from one Volunteer From Every Temple...

..to Serve Your Local Ashram Devotees with Health Care and Hospice. We

like to quote Shastra that ‘service to the devotees is the highest

service;’ perhaps this is your opportunity to spend one hour each month

on performing the highest yajña-sacrifice and offering to the Lord.

The Good news is that the GBC, headed by Badrinarayana Prabhu and Murari

Gupta Prabhu from Miami, have indeed begun researching very practical

strategies for the long-term procurement of health care for the asrama

devotees and temple householders in the United States, with the plan of

later expanding to other non-socialized nations. These contingencies

are, in my opinion, very realistic for the long-term and we ask everyone

to encourage and support the leaders to continue such development.

There are a dozen mature, qualified and professional devotees

researching options and developing practical models. An excellent

example is a model already working in Miami, where a non-profit clinic

run by Murari Gupta Prabhu is already providing all the health care

needs for the local temple, exclusively from their non-profit proceeds

at the clinic itself. This same model is in the process of being cloned

at Alachua in the not too distant future and then to other cities in the

USA. This particular prospect is truly very exciting and Murari Gupta

Prabhu has already proven his capability and success in the Miami

working model.

Other such strategies are being researched and you will be able to read

about them as they develop, on

http://www.spiritualstrategicplanningteam.com/in/healthcare.html.

The bad news, however, is that for the ‘short-term’, here and now, there

are no health insurance plans to cover at least catastrophic

hospitalization for most temples, what to speak of general medical care.

True, in a lot of cases, if one is in good standing with the local

temple and is part of the core ashram, the temple president will pay for

regular doctor office visits and small emergencies, *if* the money is

available. Although, we know that many times those funds are just not

available or earmarked for these needs, because ‘festivals need to go on

and buildings need to be maintained.’ Moreover, there is no

catastrophic hospitalization plan and devotees are fated to lower

quality care that is set aside for the homeless and impoverished, with

longer waiting periods and less qualified health care professionals,

sometimes in bad facilities. In some extreme cases devotees who are

seriously injured just have to go back home to their parents or families

who then brunt the cost of their care.

There *are* insurance policies out there that would cost the temples

literally pennies out of each incoming dollar to maintain the health

care of the devotees. The problem is having to “Rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Most temples are already under-budgeted and it is difficult for some to

justify downgrading festivals or preaching programs for the sake of such

new programs, which we are so accustomed to doing without for so long,

and which are yet to be proven.

Therefore, I have a practical solution. This solution has already

proven itself in the form of the Temporary Vrndavan Hospice

(www.buddhiyoga.org/Hospice). We have succeeded in collecting very small

amounts from a number of devotees each month globally ($5 or $12, $27)

to secure larger amount of funds for the hospice of dying devotees in

Vrndavan. For the last five months, we have been able to collect and

distribute funds to help six (6) devotees in need of hospice, funerals,

and even medical care and operations. The program has been quite

successful because the hearts of the donors are tremendous and the

amounts collected from each person monthly are extremely minimal. We

even have donors on public assistance who are still able to give a few

dollars each month. At the end of the month, we have a substantial

resource of funds to help devotees in need. This is a huge success and

a sobering reality.

I would like to offer the congregations of each temple the opportunity

to take this service into their own hands and drive a donation fund for

their city or locale that will be exclusively used for the health care

and hospice needs of their local temple and asrama devotees. After

careful consideration, I and those who advise me, have concluded that

the Indian community, life members, and independent householder

disciples of each temple location would be best suited to effectively

and successfully perform this very important Seva for the devotees of

Lord Krsna.

We hereby ask you, the reader, to help us find a member or a small group

of members from your community to please volunteer one hour a month to

run and maintain a very similar monthly donation fund as we have done

with the Temporary Vrndavan Hospice. It is quite simple and incredibly,

incredibly easy. It is all done on-line over the internet and it is

mostly all automated by PayPal.com. There is very little for you to do

after asking your friends and congregation to to a monthly

donation of around $12 from their debit or credit cards each month. The

biggest reward is in watching the hearts of the congregation open up

with compassion and their will to render this important and valuable

service to help those devotees in need. This experience builds

incredible family bonds among those involved and those whom we are

helping. We have seen this and are experiencing great love and affection

among our donors and with those families whom we are helping with the

Vrndavan Hospice Fund.

I will personally help you set up a PayPal account and help you, if

needed, to write promotional letters and assurances to your

congregations of your intentions and of our transparency and

accountability. Our existing model will testify to that. The PayPal

account will act as a transparent escrow account where the funds will be

kept until properly distributed each month to pay for the health care

insurance policies and hospice needs of your local devotees. You will

handle all the funds and I will always be there, if needed for support

or advice.

Ideally, we are asking for one or two volunteers, from each temple

congregation around the United States, either from your local Indian

community, life members, or independent grhastas who have some social

access to the rest your local congregation. One task is to approach

people via email, phone, in person, letters, etc. to kindly give around

$12 each month by going to your new Paypal.com account and subscribing a

monthly donation. Another task is to post the donations on a very simple

and user-friendly online spreadsheet (which I will provide for you),

identical to the one we use for the Hospice fund. A third, but

one-time, task will be to find a local insurance broker and a premium

health plan that covers catastrophic hospitalization as well as some

general care, and then sign up those devotees who qualify as full time

temple devotees. I can help you with this action item as well. The

monthly premium payment will go directly from the donation fund to the

Insurance Company. All this could be handled by one person, very

part-time; but, it would be ideal to have a small 2-3 person team-effort

to minimize the work and help watch over the entire operation. It is

actually quite fun; those who are helping me with the Vrndavan Hospice

Fund are genuinely happy with this service, knowing that they are

touching a lot of hearts and making others feel appreciated and safe.

This is a very rewarding Seva for all.

If you are interested in volunteering to help your local temple devotees

in this manner, please contact me and I can show you how and where to

begin. I will even personally assist in setting up each temple’s fund

online as we have done with ours. Our formula works, please volunteer

and contact me as soon as possible.

You can contact me at yadu (AT) yadu (DOT) org and visit our web site at

http://www.buddhiyoga.org/. I am sure I can answer all your questions

and that you will find a place in your heart for this very personal Seva

to the Lord.

All glories to Krsna’s devotees, they are very few and very delicate,

and they always need our help.

Sincerely and with a twig between my teeth,

Your friend and servant,

Yadunandana Pada Dasa

 

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