news-record.com

I am a longtime reader, but my vision is deteriorating due to macular degeneration. One of my favorite things to do — read the newspaper — is more difficult every day. Can someone help me?

— Judie Wood, Greensboro

That’s a yes, according to Greensboro Central Library’s Belinda Lam, reference librarian to people with disabilities. She shared this:

Newsline, a free service, offers the reading of 280 national and local newspapers and magazines (including the News & Record, according to N&R librarian Diane Lamb) to blind or legally blind people through the Federation of the Blind.

To get the service, all a person needs is a doctor’s note and a touch-tone phone.

For details on how to help someone apply, call toll-free (866) 504-7300. Visit www.nfb.org/nfb/Newspapers _by_Phone.asp to hear a demonstration of how the service allows users to hear news, sports, TV listings and local meeting schedules from their favorite publications.

Talking Book, another free service to anyone who cannot read regular print, is available through the N.C. Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Raleigh.

Outreach librarian Gina Powell said the library provides a four-track player and a selection of up to 12 books on tape at a time from a catalogue of 186,000 titles, by the genres or authors the reader selects.

The tapes are mailed in a sturdy green plastic box, and the state even pays the postage. For details on how to apply, call (888) 388-2460 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or visit www.statelibrary.ncdcr.gov.gov/lbph/lbph.htm for details on who is eligible and how to apply.

Happy reading!

In our fragmented mental health system, where can family members find help and support in times of crisis?

— Patricia Leake, Greensboro

Three excellent options are available locally, in the form of nonprofit groups that offer family support, education and an array of respite services.

The local chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) has a monthly meeting where more experienced families pair off to help families new to the system advocate for their ill family member.

That meeting is 7 p.m. the third Monday of each month at Fellowship Presbyterian Church, 2005 New Garden Road, Greensboro. NAMI also has a client meeting each Thursday, 7 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 2300 W. Friendly Avenue.

And for parents or caregivers of children and adolescents with ADHD or major mental health problems, a free six-week course runs Tuesdays from 7-9:30 p.m. April 21 through May 26.

To register, call 299-8859.

The Mental Health Association in Greensboro sponsors free weekly support groups for people dealing with a variety of issues. The different groups focus on anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, a group for friends and family who have lost someone to suicide, and several Spanish-speaking mental wellness groups for Latinos.

The MHA also has a Compeer program of trained volunteers who give encouragement and support to individuals with mental illness who are working to get well.

For details, call 373-1402.

Sanctuary House, a daytime clubhouse at North Elm Street and Fisher Avenue, works with people diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and major depression.

The club offers social opportunities, as well as help in managing symptoms, developing job and independent living skills and physical wellness.

It also offers community support, with the goal of helping clients and their families avoid red tape and spending endless hours looking for referrals and resources when entering the system.

For details, call Sanctuary House at 275-7896 or visit www.sanctuaryhousegso.com

You may feel you are at the end of your rope, but based on the calls reporters in the newsroom get, you’re not alone.

— Lorraine Ahearn