Wednesday, December 24, 2014

CROWD FUNDING FOR OBESITY AFTER THYROID CANCER

After being diagnosed almost twenty years ago, Ms. Edwards decided to perform a case study on obesity and autoimmune diseases, which sometimes develop after having major surgery to have the thyroid removed. Thyroid cancer survivor, DaVida Edwards, is fundraising to create awareness about thyroid issues and the health ailments associated with this type of illness.

As a result she started a fundraising campaign which will provide help to those with obesity and thyroid issues who want to get healthy and stay healthy. Starting with a small garden in her back yard she plans to expand her vegetable garden in order to supply much needed organic meals to families in the community who otherwise may not be able to afford them.

Since her diagnosis Ms. Edwards researched all healthy natural products that don’t include any harmful chemicals or hard to pronounce toxic ingredients. She plans to make those all natural products such as deodorant and shampoo, readily available to the public by launching a new website via this crowd funding campaign.

Visitors to the site will also have the opportunity to apply for grants to help with any obese or thyroid related health issues they may have, for instance, loosing a lot of weight after being obese leaves behind excessive skin that needs to be surgically removed. In the event this procedure is not covered under their medical insurance, people can go to the site helpwiththyroidissues.blogspot.com (just an example) to seek the assistance needed.

After the tragic incident with Mr. Eric Garner, city medical examiners concluded that Garner was killed by neck compression, along with "the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police"; however, contributing factors included bronchial asthma, heart disease, obesity, and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Obesity is an epidemic.

When asked why she started this fundraiser her response was, “I’m a Philadelphian and studies have shown that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is home to more than 1.5 million residents, is tackling obesity throughout the community. Approximately 67.9% of adults in the city and approximately 41% of youth aged 6-17 are overweight or obese. Additionally, nearly 70% of youth in North Philadelphia, the majority of whom are black or Hispanic, are overweight or obese, which is nearly double the obesity and overweight rate for youth in the United States. Fruit and vegetable consumption is a challenge for residents, with nearly 25% of youth and 30% of adults getting only one serving or less per day. Further, approximately 25% of youth do not get sustained physical activity even once a week.”

Upon being contacted by The Doctor Oz Show in regards her thyroid issues, Ms. Edwards decided to seek support among the medical community from doctors and dieticians who specialize in treating patients with thyroid issues, obesity, arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, gum disease, sleep apnea, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, depression and eating disorders. These doctors would then become a part of her efforts to help others with obesity and thyroid issues to not only get healthy, but encourage them to stay healthy as well.

U.S. health care spending has spiraled to $3 trillion this year, a 42 percent jump since 2006 according to CBS News. UnitedHealthcare (UNH), the biggest U.S. health insurer, is taking aim at controlling costs of cancer treatment with a new pilot program that will provide a set sum for a patient's coverage. The program will focus initially on patients with head and neck cancers, although the company said it may eventually expand the pilot test to include other cancers and to start pilots with other large cancer centers in the U.S. Recent studies have also shown American patients and their insurers shelled out $37.2 billion for oncology treatments in 2013. Prices in the U.S. are higher than in Europe, where medications can cost as much as 38 percent lower.

Donate to this campaign and go with Ms. Edwards on her journey to visit Dr. Sircus in Brazil and find out how his all natural treatments work out as she creates a video documentary on her wellness quest showing what remedies she sought out to get healthy and which ones she avoided.

The fundraising goal is $100,000. As she performs her case study on obesity and thyroid cancer and how to possibly prevent or overcome any autoimmune diseases by teaching others what she did to overcome and/or avoid such ailments altogether. Once Ms. Edwards raises enough capital for the video budget she plans to start making journal style videos and documenting her journey.

Also, planned are annual seminars, "Healthy Lifestyle Seminars" to help others find products and services to cope with their medical issues. The website will also make these products and services readily available to consumers.

A portion of the proceeds from her ebooks sales, 90 Day Bible and The Fred Johnson Experience will also be donated to this fundraiser which is appropriately titled, “Help Me Fight Back To Help Others” and upon reaching the $100,000. milestone, 1,000 child safety kits will be donated to underprivileged families with cancer survivors.

For more information how to support, participate in the events, and/or make a donation to teach others, despite their income, how to live a healthier lifestyle visit:
https://www.youcaring.com/helpmefightbacktohelpothers

Here's the low-or should I say no-budget video...


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Building Your Own Hawaii Minimal House For A Vacation's Cost

Kristie Wolfe spent $5000 to build herself a tiny home on wheels in her hometown of Pocatello, Idaho. It started off as a yearlong experiment in simple living, but she liked it so much she decided to keep living small, not only in Idaho, but she began looking for land to build a tiny vacation home.

She bought a plot of land in Hawaii sight-unseen for $8000. A year later she bought a plane ticket, packed her bags full of tools and with the help of her mother, began to build a bamboo “treehouse” that to fit the surrounding jungle (though rather than using trees for support, she built it on stilts). After two months of building every day “from dawn to dusk” and an $11,000 investment, she had a second home.

For Wolfe, the fact that it’s small- 15’ by 15’ or 225 square feet- is an asset. “My original house was 97 square feet so that was really tiny so this feels huge… I think small homes are beautiful because it fits with my lifestyle. I think having a lot of stuff mentally weighs you down even in ways that you don’t realize.”

Building her own home meant that Kristie was able to design everything custom: from a toilet-sink to save water (she’s not only off-grid, but she relies on rainwater capture for water) to an indoor/outdoor shower with cork-bark tiling. Whether she ever moves here permanently or simply moves on to building yet another home, she now knows she can build her own shelter.



Filming credit: Ivan Nanney at Travel Movements http://travelmovements.com

Kristie's blog: http://tinyhouseontheprairie.net
Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/building-your-own-hawaii-minimal-house-for-a-vacations-cost

Monday, December 22, 2014

Stacked Cargo Containers in New Haven's "LEGO" Apartments

Christian Salvati of Marengo Structures thinks shipping containers make great building blocks, and in time, he hopes it will become an affordable and quick method of building homes.

As full-scale R&D, in 2012, he built Connecticut’s first shipping container homes: a two-story duplex built from six containers. Two years later, he stacked higher using 27 containers to build a 6-unit apartment complex he hopes to rent to students in the New Haven area (the building is wedged between Yale and University of New Haven).

While containers are uniform, modular and easily sourced (Salivati buys from a depot in Newark, NJ), the building process is still slower and more expensive than it should be given the lack of codes for this type of building.

Salvati thinks that by sharing information, architects and builders can help improve both zoning issues and the currently steep learning curve that prevents containers from becoming a more universal modular alternative. Here's the video...