GFWC continues to raise funds
PLAINS - A very special guest gave the Women’s Club of Plains a very special visit Friday. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Montana (GFWC) President, Joyce Rogers, and the President-elect, Joyce Hooper, attended the club’s lunch meeting. Their purpose in attending was to introduce their special guest, Anne Loveless, the President’s Special Project Chairman: Heart Monitors.
Once lunch was finished and some quick announcements were made, it was Loveless’ turn to talk to the club about a project started by the administration of the GFWC in Montana.
The project, which has already raised $5,000, is a benefit to raise money to help rural Montana residents afford a special kind of heart monitor. The monitor is not a typical heart monitor, but one that measures a person’s INR value in their blood. A person’s INR value is a measurement of how long it takes for the blood to clot. The purpose of this monitor is to help a person who is on an anticoagulant measure his or her INR levels.
After a heart attack or stroke, a person will be prescribed an anticoagulant, such as Warfrin, to help prevent blood clotting, which could result in another heart attack or stroke. Arterial Fibrillation (AF) is a major leading cause of blood clotting. AF is irregular electrical impulses sent to the heart, which can cause the blood to pool in blood vessels, thus causing clotting. A person will be prescribed an anticoagulant if they have AF.
Typically, after a person suffers a heart attack, they are required by the hospital before being released to have a plan to make sure they do not have another one. As they take an anticoagulant, which is a blood thinner to prevent clotting, they must monitor their INR levels, the body’s clotting levels. This can be difficult because the person must constantly watch their level and report to the doctor to make sure the levels are correct. Too much of an anticoagulant can make it so the body cannot stop bleeding, not enough and they will experience blood clotting. With the monitor, a person can take INR levels readings the same way a person with diabetes reads his or her sugar levels. They can then call their doctor with the levels and have the doctor properly adjust the anticoagulant medicine amounts.
The monitors can be very expensive, along with the sticks that the person’s blood touches to take the reading. According to Loveless, Medicare and Medicaid and most other insurance companies will not cover the cost of the monitor. This is where the GFWC in Montana comes in.
Starting in October of 2014, the GFWC began a drive to raise funds to be given to the Providence Montana Health Foundation (PMHF) in a lump sum in April of 2016. The PMHF provides assistance to people who cannot afford medical care. The money given to PMHF will be solely used to offer the heart monitors to needy rural Montana residents that require the monitors and cannot visit their doctor regularly. Having the monitor will allow them to take levels and call their doctor. “We asked what they wanted, what they needed most, they said we want these monitors... These are what the doctors feel very strongly about,” explained Loveless to the group.
The GFWC is raising money in two separate ways. The first is during GFWC state conventions. This is where members from each club in Montana can attend a large group meeting. During three separate conventions a basket silent auction will take place. Each club makes a basket full of goods, which people will bid on. The money all goes to a collection to be given to the PMHF foundation. “We want to provide $10,000 worth of equipment, and we want to provide everything else for these patients.” said Loveless.
In October, the first of the three conventions in which money was raised for the foundation, the Plains’ Club raised $125 with their basket. “I’m betting that $125 helped two people.” said Loveless to the club.
The second way in which the GFWC is raising funds is a raffle. The members of the GFWC will be able to buy raffle tickets, including the public in hopes of winning a collection of valuable goods; a $500 Visa Card, a diamond necklace, Bob Galbreth prints, a trilogy of winter pictures and a wooden rocking horse valued at $500. The Plains club members will be going out into the community soon to sell the raffle tickets, five dollars for one, five tickets for 20 dollars.
The goal is to raise $10,000 by the deadline of April 16, 2016, when the check will be given to the CEO of PMHF. “My personal goal is $20,000.” said Loveless.