"Being able to get just ONE obnoxious billing department off my back completely gave me a huge sense of relief. ... Providing me with an advocate, was especially empowering."
You can email here , call 1-800-374-9215 to leave a message, fax us at 1-888-299-9513, or speak to any of your local RESCU Reps for your faire. Our main mailing address is RESCU Foundation, 2206 N. Main St. # 223, Wheaton, IL 60187. If you are in need of assistance, we have a Medical Aid Request Form that needs to be completed before consideration.
Applying for help from RESCU is simple. You may download the Medical Aid Request Form directly from our website, or you can get it through your local RESCU Rep, mailed to you, or emailed to you. Simply return the completed paperwork to RESCU by any of the above means, with copies of bills, and RESCU will contact you. By law, all recipients of assistance must fill out this medical financial aid form and submit copies of outstanding bills to be considered.
3. I know RESCU helps entertainers, but can others apply?
RESCU offers its assistance to ANY PARTICIPANT of a Renaissance Festival, past or present, anywhere in the country. To receive medical assistance, one must be a Renaissance Festival worker (crafter, entertainer, gamer, employee, and any other participant). If you have or had a participant pass from a festival you could be eligible. If you have retired from Festivals you could be eligible. We will do the utmost to serve this entire community with medical assistance.
5. Will my personal medical and financial information be kept confidential?
For your privacy and protection, all information will be held in confidence in strict accordance with the HIPAA mandates and privacy laws. We hope that those we do assist choose on their own volition to inform others about what we have specifically done to help.
6. Who decides the recipients of the funds and how much they receive?
The Disbursement Committee, consisting of three trusted Board Members; receive the completed applications with copies of medical bills. They then determine eligibility; decide what amount should be given for medical relief, and whether advocacy or other assistance programs are needed. Some people with ongoing, acute illnesses or injuries may be given more than one disbursement and have assigned caseworkers.
A case is assigned an advocate to fight for medical rights and to assist in accessing as many available resources as possible. An advocate can perform many duties, including negotiating medical bills received from doctors, hospitals and collection agencies; assisting with confusing medical correspondence; establishing payment plans; locating prescription assistance programs; and assisting with applying for financial assistance from hospitals or other organizations.
RESCU can also offer emotional support, counseling, and recommendations. We are working to establish a Doctor’s Network and RN Program to help alleviate the stress of finding affordable healthcare on the road. We are compiling data for a directory of free or reduced care clinics in the surrounding areas of each faire (and greatly need any suggestions you may have). We strive to provide our community with information on preventative healthcare.
9. Why should I donate my money if there is no specific recipient?
When we began, each rally raised money that was collected and then disbursed within that community. RESCU has grown to where the need for aid surpasses the areas we are able to raise funds. One example is an artisan who was diagnosed with cancer. She has worked festivals for 20 years, but presently only works shows where we have little or no fundraising presence. She is facing both a medical and financial crisis, but if we followed our original design, she could be under-assisted. RESCU now recognizes that our recipients can be both local and nationwide. All rally and fundraising proceeds are now consolidated into one fund and utilized for anyone in our festival community in medical need.
As a federally compliant 501c3 organization, RESCU Foundation has an Executive Board of Directors, of which our President and Treasurer controls, maintains, and monitors all financial activity of the foundation.
There are many ways to help. You can donate money, items for auction or your time. Donating time may be as little as helping out at a rally or bake sale, or you can volunteer to help with a number of small jobs that need to be done at any time, or volunteer for one of our committees. RESCU also has many ideas and goals with not enough people available to see them to fruition as quickly as we would like. If you have time and vision to offer, you can help us execute the next steps in growing our organization. Interested in Helping our FunRaising or Marketing Committees? Interested in becoming a Board Member? We are always interviewing for possible openings. You can also become a RESCU Advocate, an active and vital part of RESCU and program where we are always in need of reliable volunteers.
Go to our website! Or, if you are at a show, please talk to any RESCU member about any help you may have to offer. You can hang flyers, help decorate a rally, collect rally items from crafters, research online free and reduced care clinics near faires for our directory, network to local doctors; there are so many things we need help with at each faire. You can serve on a committee or the board. What are your skills? What ideas do you have? VOLUNTEER TODAY!!!
13. What changes are occurring to improve the operation of RESCU?
Because of the sheer magnitude of need for our services and the overwhelming workload, RESCU Foundation, Inc is currently undertaking the initiation of staff positions. Compensating an Executive Director, Bookkeeper, and Advocacy Program Director is becoming necessary for the Foundation to continue being effective. This will change our completely volunteer organization to being one that has three key positions nominally compensated. This will help guarantee the existence of RESCU for future generations.
