A Healthy Living story last month described Henrietta Propps and her need for a transplant and money to help cover her medical bills. Now, another local family is in the same situation.

Norman White of Locust Grove is working to raise transplant funds for his wife, Debbie White, through the same non-profit—HelpHOPELive—that the Propps family used.

HelpHOPELive, formerly the National Transplant Assistance Fund, has given the White family a $500 grant to help boost their efforts, according to a press release from the organization.

The Whites are trying to raise $10,000 through HelpHOPELive, the release said, and have raised $6,500 so far. But White said in an email that the long-term financial needs will be much greater.

“The cost of a transplant is over $850,000. Her insurance will hopefully pay 80 percent. The rest is ours to pay,” White wrote. “The cost of the injection medicine is $750 a month, which we will pay. We both are on disability, so funds are tight.”

To learn  more about White’s situation or to make a donation, visit helphopelive.org and type in Debbie  White’s name. Or, checks can be mailed to HelpHOPELive, 150 N. Radnor Chester, Suite F-120, Radnor, PA, 19087. Put White’s name in the memo section.

HelpHOPELive has a 4-star rating—the highest possible—from Charity Navigator, a non-profit that evaluates and rates more than 5,000 charities on its website, charitynavigator.org.

It’s Screen-Free Week, an annual effort to get people to step away from their laptops, stop checking Facebook and find other things to do than watch TV and play video games. Reading and going outside come to mind.

The week used to be called TV Turnoff Week; the name change is a nod to how many different monitors people stare at nowadays.

The effort to get people to unplug has its fans and its cynics. The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages children’s doctors to talk about the week during office visits, and it refers people to the AAP’s Media and Children web page.

“Studies have shown that excessive media use can lead to attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders, and obesity. In addition, the Internet and cell phones can provide platforms for illicit and risky behaviors,” the AAP page says.

Then there’s the position of David Kleeman, president of the American Center for Children and Media. In a column in the Huffington Post, Kleeman wrote that it’s better to manage an electronics habit than to go cold turkey. “In the DVR/streaming/tablet era, a weeklong media fast, as with a crash food diet, is likely only to prompt binging afterward,” Kleeman wrote.

Learn more about Screen-Free Week here: commercialfreechildhood.org/screenfreeweek/

For still more nutrition advice, check out Jen’s column on soda in Sunday’s Healthy Living section. The section also will feature a story on pedicure safety and how certified medical nail technicians can provide an extra level of care.

Other upcoming health-related events in the Fredericksburg area include:

– A discussion of back and neck pain by Dr. Mudit Sharma of Virginia Spine Specialists, tomorrow (April 17) from 3-4 p.m. at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center.

– Babypalooza, a free health fair for expecting and experienced parents, April 28, from 9 a.m. to noon at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center.

– Karma Yoga, a free Project Yoga Fredericksburg class led by Suzanne Ludlum of Trinity Yoga and Healing, on April 28 from 4:30-6 p.m. Location: Heart to Sky Yoga studio inside BOA Martial Arts center, at 930 Bragg Hill Road.

– Operation Medicine Cabinet, a free drug disposal event, on April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop off old or expired medicines at several locations including Mary Washington Hospital and Stafford Hospital.

You can hear information and gather relevant documents from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the atrium at Mary Washington Hospital (1001 Sam Perry Blvd. in Fredericksburg) or at Stafford Hospital (101 Hospital Center Blvd.)

The purpose of the event is to ”improve our facilities’ ability to provide appropriate services and help families avoid heart-breaking decisions they may have insufficient information to make,” says a statement on Mary Washington Healthcare’s website, mwhc.com.

The healthcare organization will be encouraging its own employees to complete advance directives so they’re better able to answer patients’ questions about the documents. Call 540/741-0640 to learn more.  

You can see a copy of an advance directive at: marywashingtonhealthcare.com/images/stories/documents/pdf/Advance_Directives/advanceddirectivepktbasiceng1.12.pdf

Is it fair to compare a geriatrician to a Nazi if he suggests stopping IV fluids for a patient who has suffered a major stroke and has stated in writing that she doesn’t want to be kept alive by any artificial means, including hydration?

Dr. Daniel Matlock, a Colorado geriatrician, has written about this situation at geripal.org/2012/03/being-accused-of-murder.html. Matlock wrote that after he suggested withdrawing IV fluids for the stroke patient, a colleague told him, “You would have been hung in World War II for doing what you are doing now.”

He’s still infuriated. “Frankly, I wanted to just drop the gloves and go at it with fists. I still do,” he wrote.

Matlock’s piece raises provocative questions about care for seriously ill patients and highlights the clashes that can take place when health care professionals disagree. There’s a longer discussion of Matlock’s piece, and palliative care, on The New Old Age blog at nytimes.com.

Do you drink too much?

It’s Alcohol Awareness Month, and if you’ve ever wondered whether your drinking (or that of a loved one) is problematic, consider participating in a quick, online assessment. The screening questionnaire asks about how often you drink, whether you’ve felt guilty after drinking and whether you need to drink in the morning, among other questions.

You can find the alcohol quiz here: mentalhealthscreening.org/screening/HDYS

Workshop for kids whose siblings have special needs

The next in a series of Sibshops will be held April 21 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church for kids in first through fifth grades who have a brother or sister with a special need.

Participants get to engage in fun games and activities while also getting the chance to talk and bond with kids who understand what it’s like to have a sibling with special challenges.

Cost to attend is $15 for one child or $25 per family. Registration by April 16 is a must; contact Jenny Fain at 540/373-2559 or jfain@cildrc.org. Scholarships are available.

“Lose weight themselves,” said Kerri N. Bouelle, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. “In this study, it was the most important predictor of child weight loss.”

The study involved 80 parent-child groups involving kids 8-12 years old. According to a press release, the study evaluated the effectiveness of changes in the household food situation; the parents’ efforts to model and promote their own weight loss; and parenting style and techniques, such as providing encouragement and trying to limit their children’s eating.

What mattered most, it turned out, was whether a parent’s own Body Mass Index changed.

“Consistent with previously published research, parent BMI change was the only significant predictor of child weight loss,” according to a press release from UC San Diego.

The results were published in the online version of the journal Obesity.

While Medicaid will cover much of the cost of a transplant if Henrietta Propps gets one, Propps first must show that she can afford the out-of-pocket expenses that she’d face as a transplant patient, said her daughter, Virginia Bradshaw.

Bradshaw, of Spotsylvania County, said the family needs to raise a minimum of $6,000 up front—with a longer-term goal of $12,000. Without the money, Propps’ name “will never be placed on the heart transplant list,” Bradshaw said.

The family has organized a fundraising yard sale for tomorrow and Sunday at 10706 Bent Tree Drive in Fredericksburg.

You can learn more about Propps’ situation and other fundraising efforts on her behalf at helphopelive.org. The non-profit, formerly known as the National Transplant Assistance Fund, helps patients and their families raise money to cover transplant costs — through online donations and the promotion of other fundraising events.

Propps, 62, is currently receiving treatment at the UVA Medical Center. She has a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), the same device former Vice President Dick Cheney relied on until he received a heart transplant earlier this month.

A more detailed story about Propps will appear in an upcoming Healthy Living section. In the meantime, call Bradshaw at 540/847-1476 for more details about her mother’s needs and the complex insurance and financial issues affecting her care.

The allliance is a coalition of small business owners affiliated with Virginia Organizing, a Charlottesville-based group that supports the health care reform act President Obama signed into law in 2010. The US Supreme Court is currently weighing the legality of that law.

Over the past year, alliance members have reached out to business owners statewide to promote the benefits — such as tax credits — of the health care act. You can learn more about the alliance and its views on health care reform at virginia-organizing.org/category/issues/small-business.