Page 23 - 060120 Senior Voice Citrus24 proof 4
P. 23
Senior Voice of Citrus County - NOVEMBER 2020 • 23
Guardian ad Litem in Take Stock in Children
Need of Volunteers - Seeks Adult Mentors
Children Need Your Help Take Stock in Children of November. Students must
maintain a 2.5 GPA and
Citrus County is seeking
adult mentors for middle attend enrichment workshops
Become an advocate for an to advocate for abused school students who are throughout the program.
abused or neglected child and neglected children, seeking higher education Mentors meet with their
GAL volunteers make sure
Yes, we can end child abuse. kids do not get lost in the opportunities. students once a week, right
We can end it when we overburdened legal and social Take Stock in Children was now, virtually, through Zoom,
all become advocates for service systems or languish established in the Tampa Bay which is paid for and managed
children. in foster homes. Volunteers area in 1995 as a non-profit by Take Stock in Children.
For some of us, that advocacy advocate for the children until organization that provides Students who successfully
complete the program receive
comes in a formal role. their court case is closed and a unique opportunity for a two-year tuition-free college
Teachers, childcare workers, the child is placed in a safe, deserving low-income youth/ scholarship to a Florida public
health care providers and permanent home. students to escape the cycle college.
others who come into daily For many abused children, of poverty through education.
contact with children can be their GAL volunteer is the Take Stock offers students “With the wealth of
vigilant for signs of abuse one constant adult presence in college scholarships, caring knowledge and experience that
and neglect. Their actions to their lives. volunteer mentors, and hope seniors possess, they are
report suspected abuse or to for a better life. Services start among the most sought-after
offer extra time and attention If you are interested in in middle school, continue individuals to become mentors
to fragile children can do making this cause, your through high school, and to a student in the Take Stock
more than make a difference. cause, become a Guardian include their transition into program,” said Pat Lancaster,
It can save lives. ad Litem volunteer. Contact college. student services coordinator
Diana Gisonni at 352-812- for Take Stock in Children of
Guardian ad Litem (GAL) 6971 or email her at diana. The program currently has Citrus County.
volunteers also put their gisonni@gal.fl.gov. For more 49 students in Citrus County,
passion for the well-being of information, visit our website ranging from grades seven For more information,
children into action. Assigned to 12. New students will be contact Pat at plancaster@
– www.guardianadlitem.org coming into the program in takestockcitrus.org.
HOSPICE told me that it was because know that we thought my CMH
continued from page 5 the coronavirus pandemic wife was having her last continued from page 17
caused a shortage in their breaths, they almost didn’t
to my wife lived in either staff. My question is, make to our house before rating is calculated using
Homosassa or Crystal River. why did they take on my she passed. a combination of quality
So, it took 45 minutes plus wife’s case if they were so I would recommend to measures for specific
before anyone ever showed shorthanded? There are our readers if you ever procedures performed
up. A couple of times we other hospice organizations are in need of a hospice by an STS Adult Cardiac
had to call more than once that could have given my organization, please do your Surgery Database
because no one ever came to wife much better care if we research to find the right participant. Historically,
help. had known this one couldn’t one for you and your loved
handle the case. approximately 4%–7%
We were told at the one. of participants receive
beginning, do not call 911, There were too many other VITAS Healthcare was the three-star rating for
call hospice if my wife instances to name where this definitely not the one for us. AVR+CABG surgery. The
needed medical help. 911 hospice came up short on latest analysis of data for
could have been to our giving my wife the care that AVR plus CABG surgery
house in five minutes and she needed and deserved as Jim Vavala covers a three-year period,
would have been able to she was dying. from January 2017 to
treat my wife a lot sooner. When we called this hospice Publisher December 2019.
This hospice organization organization to let them Senior Voice
