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Thanks in advance

Tori
http://lend4health.blogspot.com

Financial problems are the #1 cause of divorce and we all know that parents of kids with autism have a high divorce rate too. When you combine the too, it is often the perfect storm.

Parents should think long and hard before the borrow to pay for treatments. Your small amount loans probably won’t sink a marriage, but if parents see borrowing as the solution, they can quickly find themselves overwhelmed with debt and divorced. I think what you are doing is a good thing, but parents should know that borrowing money introduces increased risk in their lives.

FJH
http://autismparents.net

First, I think it’s important to note that, for many of the Lend4Health loan requestors, it’s not quite that they can’t afford it, but that they don’t want to waste time saving up the money. Many note that “early intervention” is critical, so with Lend4Health, for example, a family can pay for the testing/treatment/appointment NOW and then pay it back in small increments, rather than saving it up in small increments and THEN getting the testing/treatment/appointment many months later. It’s a time saver. It also helps families who would normally put some of these things on a credit card and then pay it back in monthly installments but with heavy interest rates. With Lend4Health, the loan is interest-free, so they’re still paying it back monthly, but just without the extra fees.

I also want to point out that I’m not doing as much “selection” as this article implies. So far, I have posted every loan request that has come in — except for one that I received today for a mom seeking hippotherapy (horseback riding) for her child. I did not post that one because hippotherapy is not considered part of the “biomedical” approach, and the mom had not yet pursued biomedical treatments for her child. Although I think hippotherapy is a valid pursuit, it didn’t fit well within the parameters that I intended for the site, so I thought the readers/lenders would feel “cheated” if the site didn’t stand up to what it said it would. Other than that, I’ve posted all of the loan requests. The only “selecting” I really do is to do what I can to check references and make sure that the requestors aren’t scam artists.

Similarly, I don’t consider what I’m doing “doling out micro-loans at [my] discretion.” If somebody out there makes a loan, I send it to the family once the full loan amount is collected. Each lender makes a specific loan amount for a specific child that they select (each PayPal button is specific to a certain child). I do not determine how much money goes to which child — the lenders choose the kid(s) they want to make loans for.

The article is correct that I am not a doctor. Most of the loan requestors are pursuing biomedical treatment under the direction of a Defeat Autism Now (DAN) Doctor; a couple of loan requestors are using their loans for their first DAN doctor appointments.

I am actually somewhat familiar with the biomedical approach – my own son has Sensory Processing Disorder, and I am pursuing a “light” version of the biomedical protocol for him, such as a gluten-free casein-free diet and a few supplements (vitamin C, biotin, etc).

I also think it’s important to mention that many of the borrowers are looking for money to cover testing – things like food sensitivity panels and urine or stool tests, or a trip to a GI specialist. These tests can be expensive and the full amount is usually due up front. The results of these tests help the parents and their doctors understand better what is going on with the child so that an individualized treatment plan can be developed. They aren’t necessarily “risky treatments” or “procedures” that people are seeking.

I also agree with the commentor named Fielding that this is not free money. My intent is that Lend4Health can be one “tool” of many in a family’s biomedical funding “toolbox.” A loan for $250 is not going to go very far in the world of biomedical, so families certainly will have to be doing other things to pay for their needs. But Lend4Health is there as a creative, community-based, “friendly” option.

I hope these comments help clarify what the site is about and how it is being used and operated. If anybody has any questions, I can be reached at lend4health@gmail.com.

Thanks!
Tori Tuncan
Founder, Lend4Health
http://lend4health.blogspot.com

We are doing biomedical treatments and seeing good results, but I have to say that borrowing to pay for these treatments should be the last resort. Parents in a financial bind can find themselves in more of a bind when they start repaying the loan and still need money for biomedical treatments. Before you borrow, you should have a garage sale, sell everything not nailed down, and maybe get the dreaded second job. This isn’t free money.

Just my two cents,
FJH
http://autismparents.net