June 27 National Health Care Day of Service Projects (Second Life)

Background information about the Day of Service.

MyBarackObama: National Health Care Day of Service: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hcserviceattend

Serve.Gov: http://www.serve.gov/

Additional information about today’s National Day of Healthcare Service events in Second Life from Siri Vita, the Second Life event coordinator.

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This summer, Organizing for America will fight to ensure Americans receive much-needed health care reform in 2009. Community service is a critical piece of our health care campaign. National DOS events are taking place all over the US in RL on June 27th 2009. Organizing for America – SL is organizing the effort in SL.

These health care service projects give volunteers a chance to make an impact in their own communities and improve the lives of their neighbors in the short term while we simultaneously fight for long term, systemic health care reform

To stay informed on Day of Service events please join the Organizing for America Group.

Please contact Siri Vita via notecard inworld if you can spend a little time on Saturday June 27th helping any of these amazing organizations.

Current events planned for Saturday June 27th include Pixel to Pixel (P2P), Virtual Ability Island, Hospice Development, SLHealthy, and Opportunity for America.

(1)
Service Opportunities with Pixel to Pixel
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Artropolis/38/56/52

Pixel To Pixel Foundation (P2P) was established by Jadyn Firehawk in 2009 to enhance the Second Life experience for people living with disabilities.

Second Life is a lifeline to many people who live with disabilities. Some (for example, those who suffer from clinical depression) live in isolation from others in their daily lives, and SL keeps them connected with others in the outside world. Others may have physically disabling conditions, and SL allows them the virtual thrill of full mobility, and even gives them wings to fly.

P2P, which exists only in SL, helps give direct financial assistance in the form of linden-dollar stipends to people with disabilities who currently do not have a paying job in real life and who are supporting themselves solely on disability assistance program benefits. Givers (donors) are matched up directly with recipients by the foundation, and giving is done directly – hence the name, Pixel To Pixel (as in, avatar to avatar). The amount of the stipend is $500 lindens a week, which is equivalent to only about US$2 in real life.

P2P is currently seeking volunteers to design and begin implementation of an outreach campaign within SL for both recipients and donors. Volunteers who would like to participate in a brainstorming session and start to flesh out a plan will meet on P2P’s foundation office on June 27th. Translators are also needed to translate their existing communications.

(2)
Service Opportunities with Virtual Ability Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/127/127/22

What VAI needs from DoS in SL

THE BIG CATEGORY- Publicity

**stories about SL and Virtual Ability placed in the newsletters/journals of the major national disability groups in US (listed on our website but will have to find editor and contact info. We will give some bullet points for them to write from.)

I would like to match the story writers with people from our group who subscribe to those magazines who would tell their stories about SL as part of the magazine article.

**mini biographies of our group members for posting on our website (see above- seek co-writer with each group member)

**content to put into social media- can be reworked from our website

**collect “how to” information about different forms of assistive technology and how they’re used in SL (interviewing one or several members using the same AT)

**create “outfits” for people with disabilities, either by selecting from among existing clothing and relabeling it properly, or by creating new clothing

ANOTHER BIG CATEGORY- services to members

**check links in the resources page of our website (boring but necessary)

**check links in materials at Healthinfo Island

**makeovers for members (always popular for self-esteem)

** hour-long classes on the topics of our Advanced Tutorials

**creating other Advanced Tutorials (the volunteers will need to understand that we don’t really mean advanced, just more advanced than really basic- for instance we need on on building that will explain only how to rez and what the edit menus mean in general, not all the fancy stuff)

**need a little slide show of the different materials available on Healthinfo Island together with a bit of recorded narration (I believe Daisyblue Hefferman has the script for that narration)- this all goes in a kiosk at the Welcome Center there

**participate in a project to label SL objects so blind users will be able to know what’s in their surroundings (this is done using a HUD, and it is quite appropriate for several people to be describing the same objects)

OUR MEMBERS NEED OPPORTUNITIES TO VOLUNTEER

**Do any health care providers or policy makers want to participate as listeners in a topical focus group? Our members are happy to speak out.

(3)
Service Opportunities for Hospice Development

Kaznats Oh is an SL Builder and owner/operator of a hospice in RL and SL. Utilizing vw’s to facilitate meetings with relatives and friends is an important component of Kaz’s hospice work. Since LL TOS do not allow children in SL, there is an effort underway to develop a private grid on Open Sim. Grid space has been offered. The vision for this project is a comprehensive health care area with a portion of the grid dedicated to hospice care. Kaz is looking for synergies with other health care related groups that would like to explore expansion to this new grid.

The administration of this project is key to it’s success. As such a full time administrator will be sought. Grant funding will be needed and volunteers are needed to explore grant opportunities online during the Day of Service. Also, content can be created in SL and opened on Open Sim. Volunteers who are interested in donating time on the day of service to create builds for the hospice would be most welcome.

(4)
Service Opportunities for Opportunity for America

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cedar%20Island/36/163/22

Organizing for America Group membership and participation

As part of the ongoing effort to provide accurate information and a forum for discussion and debate on the Health Care Reform currently being developed in Congress, Organizing for America will be holding weekly hour long meetings at the Nosotr@s cafe on Cedar Island. The first meeting of the OFA in SL group will be on June 27th 2009 as part of the National Day of Service.

We welcome your voices and your participation. These meetings will continue as the bill develops and this is an opportunity for you to actively participate in policy debate. Learn how you can make a difference.

OFA will also be providing opportunities to discuss a myriad of issues facing our nation. Please join the group to stay posted on upcoming events.

(5)
SLHealthy
http://slhealthy.wetpaint.com/

SLHealthy is a community of volunteers who collect information about health locations, communities, and events in Second Life, then make the information available to the public and easily discoverable through the SLHealthy wiki.

How can you help?

LEVEL ONE – Individual Contributions
1) Join the wiki, and ask to become a writer.
2) Check your groups to make sure the health groups are listed.
3) Check for groups on health topics that you care about, and make those are listed.
4) Check information in the wiki to make sure it is accurate and current.
5) List health events in the Calendar.
6) Add pictures and articles and other information to enrich what is available.
7) Have another idea for how to make it better? Make a suggestion!

LEVEL TWO – Projects

a)
It would be wonderful if SLHealthy could be converted to a database driven website. This would require a project team, server space, programming skills, archiving, and possibly funding for a domain (unless it could be integrated with the existing site).

b)
It would be even better if the SLHealthy content could be queried and searchable or displayable within Second Life itself.

For more information, contact:
Perplexity Peccable

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Selected other blogposts

Lane’s List: http://laneslist.blogspot.com/2009/06/national-health-care-day-of-service.html

Causecast: http://www.causecast.org/news_items/8654-national-health-care-day-of-service-this-saturday-june-27

Related

Helen Keller Day:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-270433
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/education/blog/2009/06/17/beautiful-visions-beyond-sight-guide-dogs-and-helen-keller-day-in-second-life
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=44622

National HIV Testing Day: http://www.hhs.gov/aidsawarenessdays/days/testing/index.html