GoFundMe page set up for stroke victim Mike Meno

Published 11:56 am Tuesday, March 1, 2016

By LYNDA LAYNE

Observer correspondent

ASTORIA — It’s not easy to keep a good man down, but in Mike Meno’s case, he currently has no choice.

Mostly confined to a bed at Clatsop Care Center in Astoria, Meno is making slow but sure progress with physical and occupational therapy, fighting to regain mobility from a stroke he suffered while in a hospital after Christmas when he was being treated for pneumonia. And as is sometimes the case with insurance policies, the longer he is in the care center, the less the company is going to pay. Mike Meno and his family need help.

Kallie Meno, his daughter, set up a GoFundMe account, titled Mikey’s Road to Recovery. Currently, $8,200 has been received through donations, but more is needed. Kallie, a 2005 graduate of Ilwaco High School, currently lives in Seattle, where she works as a head hunter for a company called Porch.

On the GoFundMe page, Kallie wrote, “If you’ve spent much time on the coast of Washington or Oregon, chances are you’ve met my father. He spent years on city council and volunteered as medical aid for our high school basketball and football teams. A physician’s assistant for 40-plus years, he took care of some patients for so long that he’d eventually take care of their children, too. While juggling all of these responsibilities, my father still made time to send my mother flowers for no reason and take me to breakfast every Saturday. In short, he’s a wonderful man with a very, very big heart.”

Mike’s wife, Vicki Meno, self-employed cleaning houses for more than 10 years, has had to stop work since Mike’s stroke, she said, “so I can try to be with him as much as possible.”

Vicki explained the stroke history and the current insurance predicament. “Mike has had at least three strokes that we know of, over the past six years. But in the past, the symptoms resolved within 24 hours.”

But with his stroke, his most severe yet, the results were worse. Vicki explained, “He took a small fall in his (hospital) room when they returned from MRI and that’s when the stroke happened. They did a video chat with U of O Neuro Department, gave him the clot-busting medication and life-flighted him there.”

With this stroke, Mike has lost the use of his left arm and leg. “In a perfect world,” Vicki said, “I would like him to stay at a place that he enjoys and can continue to get all the P.T. and O.T. for as long as he needs it. But that’s not the way our medical system works.”

Vicki’s wish is for Mike to be able to stay at this care center as long as it takes for him to recover enough to return home. But their insurance company is likely not going to pay for that to happen. Vicki said, “They’re already requesting that I get a hold of the state services, so they can look into our financial situation to see if we qualify for Medicaid.”

For a man who has given so much to others, this seems to be a travesty.

Steve Bellinger, Ocean Beach Hospital physician assistant and captain/paramedic with Pacific County Fire District #1, brought Mike Meno’s plight to the attention of the Observer in an e-mail recently. He wrote, “Mike has sacrificed a portion of his life and much of his finances to our community.”

He explained that Mike encouraged Bellinger to go back to school, after they first met in the late 1980s. Bellinger recalled, “I did return to college and ultimately attended the University of Washington and became a physician assistant just like Mike. I now have provided medical services to our community for almost 19 years.”

Through Mike’s dedicated tutelage, Bellinger said, “I feel I am one of the many indirect impacts Mike had on our community. I bring up my involvement not to highlight my deeds, but to highlight the vision and the impact that Mike’s visions had on our community and its individuals. As you know, Mike also during his time as a medical practitioner on the Peninsula built North Beach Clinic, now know as the Family Health Center. Again, he had a vision and this was to provide healthcare services to the residents of the north end, which are predominately senior citizens.”

Bellinger said Mike “served and sacrificed” in his contributions to this community. He encourages community members to give back through the GoFundMe page that Kallie Meno has set up.

SIDEBAR:

The Mikey’s Road to Recover GoFundMe page is: www.fofundme.comz2mu9hgs

Kallie said that, “For those asking where to visit my Dad or where to send cards,” the address is:

Clatsop Care Center, Mike Meno

646 16th St

Room 318/2

Astoria, OR 97103