City Insider May 2017

MAY 2017

The Premier Senior Lifestyle Magazine for Sun City Texas

Walgreens’ RX for Success

(Pg 8)

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF CIT Y INSIDER ONLINE AT CIT YINSIDERTX.COM

What’s Inside:

SC Pet Club (Pg 4)

Getting To Know Your Central Texas Nina Stancil Burger Trail (Pg 15) Neighbors: (Pg 21)

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A Guide To Quality Living in Georgetown A local resource for residents of Sun City, Texas © 2017 Fidelis Publishing Group, LLC

CONTENTS 4 Sun City Pet Club: Making Life Better One Tail at a Time 6 Red Poppy Fest 8 Walgreens’ RX for Success 10 Hunks at Hunks of Burnin’ Love Chili Cook-Off 12 Georgetown Studio Painting with a Purpose 15 Central Texas Burger Trail 18 Boomers and Millenials Connect Life Skills 21 Getting to Know Your Neighbors: Nina Stancil 24 Mayor’s Update: Park Projects Get Started 25 Health & Wellness: Stroke Prevention 26 Ask Your Lawyer 29 Savvy Senior: Nifty Gadgets Help with Hearing Loss STAFF

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Info@CityInsiderTX.com P.O. Box 213, Jarrell, TX 76537 To Advertise in City Insider, call a sales exec at 512-746-4545 © Fidelis Publishing Group, LLC, 2017. All rights reserved.

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On the cover: Walgreens store manager, Josh Atkinson is known among Sun City residents for his personal customer service.

MAY 2017 | 3

SUN CITY PET CLUB Making Life Better One Tail At A Time

While it is called the Sun City Pet Club, much of this group is best known for its dog training and canine therapy the members provide as a community service. President Tom Olson says membership is based on households, “Because if one person has a dog, really, the whole house has a dog, so we have about 475 members in roughly 300 households. We have grown quite

Barb Carter and Quinn work on therapy training.

4 |MAY 2017

a bit from a few years ago when we struggled to keep the minimum club level of 50.”

When Tom and his wife Ruth moved to Sun City, they joined the club because Ruth owned a therapy dog and she has since had a lot to do with the partnership the group now has with Georgetown Pet Partners. “When other members of the club found out about the therapy training, we suddenly had a lot of people interested in doing it. Ruth has been training for about six years and put more than 400 dogs through the course.”

The Club does basic training for all dogs; beginner, intermediate and qualifications. Most recently they held a snake aversion training to help dogs refrain from their curiosity or aggression toward snakes. Therapy training goes beyond Sit and Stay to include behaviors that enable the dogs to provide comfort to humans in many different situations. The Pet Club visits schools to help youngsters with their reading, hospitals to help people with addiction treatment, assisted living facilities to share some love and affection with seniors, and there are even two courts in Williamson County that provide canines to alleviate some of the natural anxiety of being in front of a judge. “We have been at every nursing home and assisted living residence in Georgetown at some point. We love being there to provide a measure of comfort for people who are in any number of crises or states,” Olson says.

What makes a therapy dog team special is the bond between human and animal. “The handler and dog work very hard to build a greater

level of trust between them,” Olson says. “The dog must understand and trust that the owner will not let human behavior get out of hand and the dog will always be in a safe place. At the same time, the owner must be comfortable knowing that the animal will behave in relatively predictable ways and will be at ease in an environment that could easily be overwhelming. We work with 5- to 100-year old people and the both members of the team need to rely on each other to handle the variations.”

Therapy dogs are trained to be relaxed and allow people, sometimes many at a time, to pet and hug and kiss them. The owner remains nearby to be a familiar face and safety net if a human begins to act inappropriately. Dogs are limited to two hours of therapy a day to keep them from becoming overwhelmed. At interview time, Tom’s dog Bella had already had a busy week. “We went to a grammar school yesterday, a hospital today and tomorrow we will be at a special needs adult community. It means so much to me to see Bella with someone who is ill or struggling and they just cry in relief when the tension starts to leave their body.”

The Club also has social activities every year, most notably their open house and annual treat drive. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, members collect donations of toys, treats and other pet items to donate to three local shelters. The Club fills up three SUVs and delivers to Georgetown, Williamson County and Texas Humane Heroes in Leander, and last year donated $3500 in cash to various shelters for pet needs.

“We keep an eye out for special needs,” Olson

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the annual blessing of the animals in October, and we try to honor requests for home visits in Sun City for folks who are homebound and can use a little canine love. “ Club members also make good use of social media to help their neighbors when a dog is lost or found. “We never know when we can be part of something bigger, and it’s nice that our love of animals can help us do that.”

For more information and meeting dates, email: suncitypetclub@ yahoo.com.

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says. “Any time there is a big storm or a flood, our operating costs are low because we are all volunteers, so we are often able to share some of our dues money to help animals and their caregivers.”

They also provide pet activity at Sun City’s Junior Camp program in the summer. More than 20 teams participate in fun activities with kids in different age groups. “We love when the grandkids visit in the summer and we have silly things for the smallest three-pound dogs to the big 120-pounders. We also coordinate

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2017 Red Poppy Fest

The Sun City Georgettes are always a highlight of the parade. Above: Julie Tefft (N15); Inset: Barbara Dorrah (N10).

Fort Hood's 1st Cavalry Division Band.

6 |MAY 2017

Kiwanis Members Bill White (N42), Georgia Medler (N36), Sandy Dolan (N11), Jane Sweeney (N09) and Barbara White(N42) help with the club's annual "Hole In One Ball Drop" fundraiser.

Plungettes Alicia White and Fran Duncan.

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MAY 2017 | 7

Customer Care and Personal Service:

Walgreens’ RX for Success

By Ann Marie Ludlow aludlow@fpgtx.com Walgreens has been part of the nation’s pharmacy landscape since 1901 and is the second largest pharmacy retailer in the nation. The store’s history includes credit for the invention of malted milkshakes through an innovative recipe that came about in 1922 and had people standing in line year-round, fixing the Walgreens name in mid-20th Century popular culture.

As large as the company is today, it still benefits from Walgreen family influence, including one member who leads the company’s corporate social responsibility programs. Since 2014, following the purchase of an international retail pharmacy group, it has been part of the new Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. The new company has combined operations in more than 25 countries. Residents of Sun City are surely familiar with Walgreens Store #15140 at the corner of Del Webb Blvd. and Williams Drive but there is always news. Walgreens is innovating and is currently making plans to reconfigure and improve the store again.

City Insider spent some time with store manager Josh Atkinson to talk about what’s new and great at 8 |MAY 2017

this neighborhood store, including the fact that this store will model several new Walgreens innovations, including bigger aisles and more square footage to encourage broader shopping choices. Many of Atkinson’s customers know his name and light up when they share their high opinion of him and the services he provides.

Charlotte Dodwell, who has lived in Sun City for 14 years says, “Josh is the best person here. He’s so sweet and knows what he’s doing. Everybody in Sun City shops here. I buy everything here and I’ll pay a few more dollars to avoid crowds at the big grocery store.” And Josh says, “We really care about our customers here and we recognize the value of personal experiences. No one wants to be lost in a crowd, and that familiarity helps us look out for people as well, whether it’s prescriptions, wellness, or even recognizing a potential scam at our Western Union counter.”

Chief among Walgreens' missions is filling prescriptions. “Nearly 70 percent of our business worldwide is the pharmacy,” Atkinson says. “Although we accept them by fax, phone and in-person, we are excited about and encourage customers to send us their scripts via our new Walgreens smart app. You can get a refill just by scanning or taking a photo of the label and barcode on

the bottle. Of course we are happy of brand, and funds clean water to help people learn how to do that programs in Africa. They also donate on their smartphones. Just come more than 100 tons of food annuinto the store any time.” Staff are ally; products that have damaged also on hand to help with insurance packaging and can’t be sold, but are questions. still consumable.

Walgreens employees are all The company also cares about trained to some extent on pharmacy their immediate neighbors and their operations and most are excellent employees. Josh says, “We are on multi-taskers. “Our store is not open the ground to help out locally, like 24 hours, so we get a lot of work knocking down walls for Habitat done without a third shift and we all for Humanity during the floods last wear many hats. Walgreens sees to year, or handing out water during it that we are familiar with everything in the store.”

Walgreens is also a very socially conscious company, locally and globally. First is their Get a Shot, Give a Shot program, which donates money to the United Nations to provide an immunization overseas every time someone gets a flu shot at their stores. The Sun City store has the largest flu shot clinic out of 84 regional stores, administering thousands of immunizations annually. Walgreens also donates Charlotte Dodwell (N12) appreciates the individual care provided the same with vitamin by manager Josh Atkinson and his staff. purchases, regardless

“We really care about our customers here and we recognize the value of personal experiences. No one wants to be lost in a crowd, and that familiarity helps us look out for people.” ~ Josh Atkinson, Walgreens Store Manager

Popular beauty consultant Suzie Bobbitt is considered a de facto “personal stylist” offering suggestions and making product recommendations to many of her regular customers.

the Bastrop fires. Corporate has also created an internal means for employees to help each other. We can set aside part of our paychecks to fund things like helping an employee recover from a house fire or

losing their vehicle in an accident.

It’s a great company to work for.”

Josh is proof positive, since he has a degree in landscape design and started working at Walgreens—temporarily—11 years ago and has now

been a manager of three other stores in Central Texas.

The store is currently working on a remodel of the pharmacy inside the store. The changes will allow for greater efficiency and better service.

In August of this year, customers will also see a new cosmetics section, reconfigured to accommodate new brands and allow their very popular beauty consultant Suzie Bobbitt to provide makeovers. She has worked in Sun City since the store opened and as if on cue, the customer at her counter said “I cannot shop for my cosmetics if Suzie is not here. She helps me with all my colors.”

Among the new products are skin care and cosmetics from a European company they recently acquired, “No. 7”. Some of the changes

customers can look forward to are tools that measure moisture content in skin, and another that gives exact skin tones with color names like “Sexy Chocolate.” Bobbitt says everything will have a tester and they will do their best to keep the new popular products in stock.

Walgreens has a photo shop that customers can access online and come in to pick up photos and specialty items or have passport photos taken. Visit Walgreens.com and look up store #15140 for weekly specials and Senior Days on the first Tuesdays of most months. You can even build your own healthcare dashboard. If it seems a little overwhelming, we’re pretty sure you can visit the store and ask Josh for help.

MAY 2017 | 9

HUNKS AT HUNKS OF BURNIN’ LOVE CHILI COOK-OFF

Officer Chuck Lambert, Officer Todd Dulin, Assistant Police Chief Cory Tchida representing the Georgetown Police Department took home a second-place win.

The Texas Capital Chapter 1919 Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) hosted the 1st Annual Hunks of Burnin Love Chili CookOff April 22 at the Legacy Hills Pavilion in Sun City.

Chefs and teams consisted of military heroes and first responders, and despite the cool temperatures of the day, more than 100 guests stopped by to visit and taste entries from the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, Georgetown Police, Round Rock Police retired and veterans, Heroes Night out and more.

Rene Tennison and Linna Lette of Our Part US took away the honors of Best Chili and bragging rights for 2017. Williamson County Veterans Service, sponsored by Sport Clips, won for best decoration. Organizer Ted Acheson (N13) said teams began cooking at 7 10 |MAY 2017

am and “worked their tails off.” He thanked team sponsor Vic Anderson, builder Steve Klein, Dale Ross, The Oaks Georgetown and several others.

The money raised provided a brand new track chair for Shane Savage, a combat-wounded veteran. He received the track chair thanks to the efforts of the Independence Fund, which provides funding for wounded veterans with 40 percent disability related to mobility. Savage said, “Like a lot of veterans, I always appreciated the work of groups like the Independence Fund but I felt like there had to be others out there who needed it more than I did. I have a prosthetic but recently have been unable to use it due to some complications with blood clots. Now that I live in the country, it’s difficult getting around outside and

Top: James Scott (N23) and Ron Garland (N04) Bottom: Proceeds from the event helped provide combat-wounded Veteran Shane Savage a new track chair.

Sponsor (& Chef) Rick Plummer of The Oaks was an event sponsor.

spending time with my family.

This chair lets me get back to all the outdoor activities I love.”

Mr. Savage also wanted to encourage anyone qualified to contact the Independence Fund and apply for help. “Their mission is to help restore independence to wounded veterans and I can’t emphasize enough how much they want to help. They awarded over 300 track chairs last year and regaining that mobility is more than just getting around. It helps emotional healing as well.”

Visit IndependenceFund.org The Military Order of the Purple Heart provides many programs and services dedicated to helping all veterans and their families. Acheson says they are looking forward to doing it again next year.

MAY 2017 | 11

New Business Owner Giving Back with a Twist

G eorget o w n S t udio P aint ing w it h a P urp ose “I really live by the ‘live here, give here’ philosophy and I want to work with all the boots-on-the-ground organizations.”

After a serendipitous turn on Undercover Boss, Bree McCleskey is Georgetown’s newest small business owner.

By Ann Marie Ludlow aludlow@fpgtx.com

Bree McCleskey recently moved to Georgetown with a business plan and the desire to give back. This edgy artist and cheerful new owner of Painting With a Twist (PWAT) on S. Rock Street has had ups and downs in her life, to the point of taking a job in a restaurant so she

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could bring leftovers home to feed her kids.

With that in mind, she has a special place in her heart for organizations and charities that focus on food insecurity, and she plans to donate her resources to the residents of Georgetown, Sun City and surrounding, on a regular basis.

While in Rockwall, Bree and her mother took care of her great-grandfather. They cooked and cleaned and, over time, discovered many of his neighbors were hungry.

Some could only afford to eat cat food or shared similar circumstances. Bree and her mom, for years, brought casseroles with them on their visits and helped several neighbors around the house. “Food charities are my thing and my family gives to those groups all the time. We kind of had our own Meals on Wheels thing going and it was eye-opening to see just how many people were in the same situation.

No one in this country should have to be that hungry.”

Fast forward to 2016 when McCleskey was working at PWAT in Rockdale while still giving back in her community on her own time.

Her life changed when “Savannah”

~ Bree McCleskey

came into the store with some television cameras.

Here’s the twist. (Yes, we went there.)

Savannah was actually Renee Maloney, one of the co-founders of Painting With a Twist, and McCleskey was a featured employee on CBS “Undercover Boss.”

While tasking Savannah with a new painting, McCleskey explained that one of the downfalls of the job is creating new original artwork that the painters are not compensated for like commercial artists.

McCleskey’s original “Country Sunflower” is one of While an employee, PWAT’s designs. she had developed a series of animal pictures is in a historical home. It is nearly targeted at her younger audiences, 100 years old and I just love old and and although it made money for unusual things.” the company, there was no bonus Maloney also added her “animal or stipend for the artist. When the cracker” paintings to the stable of show was broadcast, Maloney said PWAT artwork. The company now that the practice needed to change. contributes a percentage of all At the conclusion of the show, royalties from the Rainbow Zebra Maloney awarded Bree a studio of across all 300 stores to Hunger her own. “This is only one of two Free America nationwide. studios in the whole company that McCleskey says she is already

Thank you Sun City!

For supporting Chunky Cow Cafe & Creamery and Florence Diner’s

1st Annual Florence Crawfish Boil Allen Lewis, owner of Chunky Cow Cafe & Creamery, presents a check to Gail Gorman, Director of Volunteer Services at Dell Children’s Hospital.

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McCleskey has already done a party for Brookwood in Georgetown, and is happy to do home or club parties, and is looking forward to partnering with groups all over Georgetown. “The beauty of PWAT is that you don’t really need to be an artist to enjoy it. We show you how to get your best painting and you can bring your own adult beverages. It’s just a night out with the girls, or the boys, and you get to take your artwork home at the end of the night.”

The new Painting With a Twist is having a grand opening June 1 and McCleskey says she plans to have monthly Paint With a Purpose nights for all of Georgetown’s favorite non-profits. “It’s important to me to do it, to help and maybe even to inspire one more person to do it too.”

Visit PaintingWithATwist.com/ events/viewevent.aspx?eventID=1111782 for the MOW event or a night out with friends. The studio is at 1008 S Rock Street in downtown Georgetown.

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familiar with the number and commitment of the charitable organizations Georgetown is known for.

“I really live by the ‘live here, give here’ philosophy and I want to work with all the boots-on-the-ground organizations.”

To illustrate her point, she has scheduled her first Painting with a Purpose Night to benefit Opportunities for Williamson & Burnet Counties Meals on Wheels program. There are 65 seats available on May 17 to paint “Sunflowers”, and McCleskey is donating every dollar to the Meals on Wheels program, which serves hot, homecooked, nutritious meals five days a week to hundreds of seniors around Sun City, Georgetown and Jarrell who are home-bound or able to visit their activity centers. McCleskey is also including some of her best artwork for guests to win as door prizes, and she will donate paintings for Opportunities to gift to clients when they deliver lunch.

Outside of special events, Painting with a Twist is open every night

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Aspiring painters (or just those seeking a fun night out) can visit the newly re-opened Painting WIth A Twist location on Rock St. in Georgetown.

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They’re the mainstay of backyard barbecues, the draw of most major fast food restaurants, and come in limitless variety. The smell of one cooking is enough to time travel back to your favorite childhood cookouts, make your stomach rumble, and for the past 22 years they’ve had an entire month dedicated just to them. We are talking, of course, about the humble hamburger...or cheeseburger or even veggie or turkey or bison burger. However you choose to enjoy these patty americanas, you can find a multitude of flavors and styles and a wonderful variety of places to eat them.

Fortunately, whether you have a bucket list or just a craving for burgers, in Central Texas, we are never more than 30 minutes from a country town with a beautiful square, a big city with a hole-in-the-wall diner, or an out-of-the-way spot where an actual mom and pop are cooking up burgers alongside other local favorites like fried pickles or anything smoked.

For those who live in Georgetown, you don’t really even have to leave the city limits to be on a road that looks like open country, so it would only take minutes to gather up friends and family to meet you there.

Many of us remember, in our younger years, a family trip to McDonalds was a special outing, or even a celebratory dinner.

National Hamburger Month is the perfect time to pile everyone into the car and take a drive to any of a dozen small towns that are just a scenic hop from here and homes to original burger recipes and comfort food. Maybe even leave the electronics at home, unless you need Google maps to find that quintessential Texas spot at the end of a very long road. What better way to start the summer than quality time with friends or family, and a tradition as old as the hamburger itself.

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Boomers & Millennials Connect Life Skills

Top Left: Karl Fielder (N10) shows Sarah Long woodworking techniques. Top Right: Gerry Charlebois (N48), Joan Keppler (N41) and Dorinda Williams (N25) demonstrate the art of clogging.

Families of all ages participated in a free Family Fun Day filled with intergenerational activities April 22, at Williamson County’s historic courthouse on the Georgetown square.

The event was designed to give older adults and kids the opportunity to showcase their talents and teach those skills to younger and older generations. Activities included ice cream making, fishing demonstrations, face painting, handcrafts, photo booth, woodworking demonstrations and games, and the Sun City Cloggers performed several times to kick off the Courthouse tours.

Sponsors of the event included Area Agency on Aging of the Capital Area, Commissioner Cynthia Long, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, The Williamson Museum, Williamson County and Women Helping Others (WHO). Commissioner Long said, “May is Older Americans Month and while we have always recognized it, this year we wanted to celebrate in a big way that brought multiple generations together; get people out and moving around, sharing all the things that Sun City has to offer. There are activities and crafts here that my parents’ generation 18 |MAY 2017

knew how to do and we want younger folks to get familiar or even adopt those skills.”

On the other side of the courthouse, the younger generation was also providing mentoring. The Williamson County 4-H Mentor Up builds relationships between senior adults and youth to keep seniors connected with family and friends through technology. Mentors visit senior facilities across Georgetown and work with seniors to understand the ins and outs of their tablets and phones. As an exercise, the youngsters also tape their fingers together and wear special covered glasses to simulate and adapt their teaching to the physical challenges of their senior counterparts.

The Woodworking Club was also demonstrating detailed carving and provided projects for all the visitors. Members of 4-H made ice cream by hand, and the Gardening club provided advice and ideas about horticulture.

Commissioner Long was pleased with the turnout, given the cooler temperatures but all the participants are looking forward to doing it again next year.

Joey Girvam, Afton Compton and Avis Nelson represented the younger generation as part of theTexas A&M AgriLife Extension.

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Getting To Know your Neighbors

Nina with WHO ladies preparing for Christmas cookie delivery

Nina Stancil (N43) wants to be a cause for seniors. No question she has accomplished that goal, and still has plans for more. She is one of those friendly neighbors who is like a lot of people in Sun City—she helps out and gives back all the time. And, similarly, she is also one of those people who had an amazing life and career before she moved to Georgetown.

Born in Kerrville, she spent much of her life after high school out of state.

While attending American University in Washington DC, she took a “temporary” job at Interstate Electronics to help pay expenses and ended up working there for 42 years. During her tenure, she worked as a secretary and eventually became a finance director; she saw computers evolve from punch cards and tape drives to the Internet and thumb drives. Her company worked on test instrumentation for nuclear submarines during the Cold War and Vietnam eras. They also developed the technology that became GPS. When she retired, she was single and living in California but wanted to come home to Texas. While friends told her moving to Texas alone was questionable, she visited Sun City and fell in love with Georgetown. But a few months of solitude made her think maybe her California friends were right.

“On Christmas Day 2007,” she says, “I decided I was not going to have a pity party for myself and I got up to see who I could help to celebrate Christmas.”

She connected with Beth Jen-

kins to deliver meals for WBCO Meals on Wheels and The Caring Place and discovered so many people who had no place to go spending the holiday alone.

“At that time, Monument Cafe was providing meals to anyone who could come in. I couldn’t believe all these people who were so caring and giving and spending their time delivering food and helping out. That was when I met Anna Poole.”

Anna was 87 years old and she wasn’t sure if she had been signed up

“One thing I want to do is make sure that our local dollars stay local. The Austin-based Central Texas Meals on Wheels program advertises in Sun City all the time and I want people to know that we have MOW right here in Georgetown. One of my goals is to promote the differences, so people here aren’t donating money that will be spent in Austin.” for Meals on Wheels or not, but Nina made sure she got a meal and spent the afternoon with her. “She was delightful and cranky and lovely and she had outlived her friends and family. All she wanted was to stay in the apartment she’d lived in for the past 35 years, so I helped her do that. She also really

wanted to see her 90th birthday, so when the time came, her hospice worker and I had a huge party for her. So many people brought flowers and cards and she told me, ‘Until today, I thought God had forgotten about me and now I know I am loved and cared for.’” Anna passed about a month later but Nina became convinced that while it may not be earth-shattering, she could and would make a difference. Nina still misses and mentions her friend Anna a few times, but is grateful that rewards like her keep coming in her life.

From there, Nina’s ability to give back grew exponentially. She and some of her neighbors started a little group called Women Helping Others, commonly known as The WHO Ladies.

They provided cookies at Christmas and toiletries for seniors in need. Her small neighborhood group is now a chartered club with over 200 members and they provide support to more than a dozen non-profits around Sun City and Georgetown. Through WHO, she met Kathy Pierce, who introduced her to the Capital Area Agency on Aging, which led to her involvement in the Georgetown Commission on Aging.

She soon found out there was a waiting list for home-bound seniors to receive Meals on Wheels services.

Locally, Meals on Wheels is managed

by Opportunities for Williamson & Burnet Counties. Not content to wait for the money to come in, Nina and her friends began cooking their own food and delivering it to people on the list.

Not surprisingly, she was recently asked to become a member of the Board at Opportunities and hopes to bring greater awareness and resources to their efforts to grow the Meals on Wheels program. “One thing I want to do is

Nina Stancil make sure that our local dollars stay local. The Austin-based Central Texas Meals on Wheels program advertises in Sun City all the time and I want people to know that we have MOW right here in Georgetown. One of my goals is to promote the differences, so people here aren’t donating money that will be spent in Austin.”

Again, not content to just feed the hungry, she is also a cancer survivor and volunteers at the Georgetown Oncology center to help staff and patients who are undergoing chemotherapy. “I’m also working with (grin)...Knitted Knockers; those ladies make washable and gentle inserts for women who have had a breast removed. It’s so much better than a prosthetic and it’s so much fun.”

She never stops trying to help seniors in Georgetown and Sun City, which makes her life complete. “It takes a village, you know. I’m happy and independent and I realize there may come a time I will need some of these services so I want to do all I can to make sure they are thriving and here for all seniors to age in place with dignity.

“Seniors are lovely people with beautiful minds. And I always say, we may not have everything together but together we have everything.”

Nina with Jasmine Harris and Diana Phillips at Meals on Wheels fundraiser.

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MAYOR’S U P D AT E Park Projects Get Started

BY MAYOR DALE ROSS This is shaping up to be a big year for our city’s parks system as we begin to modernize our oldest and most popular park and, at the same time, start developing what will be one of the largest city parks in Texas. The City officially started work on two major park projects this spring. In addition, we completed renovations to a third park with softball fields north of downtown and are starting renovations to Founders Park, a small park near the Square.

a bond for an additional $10 million for park development.

San Gabriel Park Phase 1

Garey Park Construction Starts

The city officially began work on March 31 to transform a ranch on west Leander Road into what will become the largest park in the city.

Jack Garey and his wife Doris joined City Council members to officially break ground on Garey Park. Their 525acre ranch will be become Garey Park, a city park that will be 1.5 times larger 24 |MAY 2017

than Zilker Park in Austin.

Garey Park will include a playground, a splash pad, a dog park, an equestrian arena, pavilions, six miles of hiking and equestrian trails, and the Garey House event center.

The ranch was donated to the City

by Jack Garey and late wife Cammy in 2004 along with $5 million for park development. In 2008 voters approved

Also in March, the city started work on Phase 1 of the planned improvements to San Gabriel Park. The Parks and Recreation Department broke ground on the Phase 1 improvements on March 24.

The project includes a new playground, improved signage, restoration of natural spring channels and native vegetation, additional pavilions and restrooms, and parking improvements.

Other improvements will include utility and drainage upgrades, realignment of the Morrow Street and Chamber Way intersection, and trail and accessibility improvements. The park will remain open during the Phase 1 work with limited access in some areas.

The Phase 1 area includes the southwest quadrant of the park between Morrow Street and the San Gabriel River.

The $2.5 million Phase 1 project is scheduled to be completed in 10 months. Funding for the project was approved by voters in a 2008 parks bond election.

Design work for Phase 2 improvements for San Gabriel Park was ap-

proved by the City Council at the April 25 meeting. Phase 2 work includes the southeast quadrant of the park between Morrow Street and the San Gabriel River. This phase includes riverfront areas from the grape arbor picnic pavilion to the College Street Bridge.

An extension of the hike and bike trail from the park to the Katy Crossing subdivision on FM 971 also is included in the Phase 2 work.

VFW Park Reopens

The Parks and Recreation Department completed the renovation of VFW Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 6.

At the reopening event I was honored to throw out the first pitch for a series of Georgetown Youth Girls Softball Association games held that night. We also unveiled a “First Purple Heart City in Texas” sign and a plaque at the park that is dedicated to Purple Heart Medal recipients.

The 12-month renovation of the park on Second Street included a complete rebuild of the three softball fields, concession stand and restrooms as well as parking improvements, field lighting, a batting cage, bleachers and a playground.

HEALTH & WELLNESS Stroke Prevention: Know the Signs and Act Quickly

By Jonathan Conner, M.D.

Founder’s Park improvements

A renovation of Founder’s Park, a small park at Ninth and Church streets near the downtown Square, starts this summer. After getting input from the public last year, the City will make a number of improvements to the park, including new walkways, seating areas, picnic tables, a water fountain, and public art. New sidewalks and improved accessibility are also part of the upgrade project.

It is exciting to see these major expansions and improvements to our

parks system, which was already topnotch. We received confirmation of our wonderful park system earlier this year when the Parks and Recreation Department was awarded the Gold Medal Award for cities with populations between 50,001 and 100,000 from the Texas Recreation and Park Society. It was the fifth time for the city to win the Gold Medal since 1993.

I hope you will visit our fantastic parks this summer and experience part of what makes Georgetown such a great place to live.

According to the American Heart Association, someone in the U.S. has a stroke about once every 40 seconds, and stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability.

May is National Stroke Awareness Month, so it’s a good time to make sure you understand the potential causes and symptoms of a stroke.

As with many diseases, being aware of possible causes is the best prevention. Medical conditions highly correlated with strokes include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and sickle cell disease. If you have one or more of these conditions, it is important to discuss the possibility of a stroke with a health care provider.

The good news is that many stroke risk factors are controllable— and up to 80 percent of strokes can be prevented. While not all strokes are preventable, there are precautionary measures that can decrease the risk of a stroke, such as:

At signs of a stroke, immediate attention is critical. The earlier stroke victims receive medical treatment, the better their chances are for a full or improved recovery.

If you think you or someone you know could be having a stroke, use the FAST method to identify warning signs, and make sure you call 911 immediately.

F – FACE DROOPING – One side of the face droops or feels numb A – ARM WEAKNESS – Sudden weakness in the arm, leg or entire side of the body

S – SPEECH DIFFICULTY – Trouble speaking, speech is slurred or hard to understand

• Exercising regularly

T – TIME TO CALL 911 – If a person shows any of these symptoms, dial 911 immediately for help Other symptoms may include vision changes; loss of balance or coordination while walking or standing; sudden or severe headaches; changes in alertness, including sleepiness; or sensation changes that affect touch or the ability to feel pain, pressure and temperature.

To find out if you are at risk for a stroke, visit StDavids.com to take a Stroke Health Risk Assessment.

• Knowing your family medical history and high-risk medical conditions

Jonathan Conner, M.D. is the emergency medical director at St. David’s Georgetown Hospital.

• Not smoking

• Reducing alcohol consumption • Eating a healthy diet and eliminating or reducing salt consumption • Managing stress

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By John W. Bickle, Attorney at Law

Welcome to another in my series of articles regarding matters involving Texas and Federal law which I hope will be interesting and useful to you. As before, I’ll continue to reprint from, quote liberally from and use the format which was inspired by the Elder Law Handbook of the Tarrant County Bar Association. However, remember this is information and not legal advice. For legal advice, ask your lawyer. This month let’s continue our look at some aspects of ELDER ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND NEGLECT.

1. What are some signs of self-neglect?

Unfortunately, sometimes elders neglect their own care. Of course, this can lead to injury or illness. Some signs of self-neglect include behaviors like (1) failing to take essential medicines or refusing to seek medical treatment for serious illness; (2) poor hygiene, hoarding, poor housekeeping, and becoming forgetful while cooking; (3) not dressing appropriately for the weather conditions; (4) becoming easily confused; (5) and becoming dehydrated. The majority of cases reported to adult protective services involve self-neglect, which can be paired with isolation, declining health, drug or alcohol dependency and neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or dementia.

2. What can be done about self-neglect?

If the problem is discovered soon enough, elders may be connected to community support which can allow them to continue living on their own. Some conditions like depression and malnutrition may be successfully treated through medical intervention.

However, if the problems persist and become severe enough, a guardian may need to be appointed.

3. Who are the abusers of older people?

Family members are more often the abusers than any other group. In earlier studies, research showed that adult children were the most common abusers of

family members. However, more recent information indicates that spouses are the most common perpetrators when you combine data concerning elders and other vulnerable adults. The bottom line is that elder abuse is a family issue. In this area, just like it’s always been, the family is the last line of defense for older people. Additionally, as far as the types of abuse are concerned, neglect is the most common type of abuse studies identify.

4. Are there criminal penalties for elder abuse?

Criminal penalties vary under Texas law, depending on the specific charges and circumstances. Convictions can lead to penalties including probation, court supervision, restitution, community service, counseling or a jail or prison term.

5. What can I do if I suspect elder abuse?

Call the police or 911 immediately if someone you know is in immediate, life-threatening danger. If the danger is not imminent, but you suspect that abuse has occurred or is occurring, relay your concerns to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services by telephone at 1-800-252-5400, or to the U.S. Department of Health and Service’s Eldercare Locator help line. The Eldercare Locator can be reached by telephone at 1-800-677-1116. The Locator is open Monday through Friday, 9am to 8pm, Eastern Time, and specially trained operators will refer you to a local agency that can help. Finally, if you are a victim or have been a victim of elder abuse, please call your doctor, a friend, or a family member you trust.

I’ll be back next month with more questions and, hopefully, more answers. Remember, we’re all in this together and the more information you have the better questions you can ask your lawyer and the better decisions you will make.

John W. Bickle resides in Sun City, is licensed to practice law in Texas and continues in practice today as a member of the Williamson County bar. He can be reached by phone at (512) 868-8593 or by email at jbbickle@msn.com

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Nifty Gadgets That Can Help Seniors with Hearing Loss by jim miller

Dear Savvy Senior, What types of products can you recommend to help people with hearing problems? My 65-year-old husband has some hearing issues, but doesn’t think he needs a hearing aid, so I’m looking for some alternative devices that can help.

Loud Talker Dear Loud, If your husband feels he’s not ready for a hearing aid but needs some hearing help, there are dozens of “assistive listening devices” on the market today that can make a big difference.

Assistive listening devices are over-the-counter electronic products (they are not FDA approved hearing

Here’s a breakdown of some of the different devices that can help.

Personal amplifiers: For better hearing, especially in noisy environments, there are personal sound amplification products that can be worn in the ear like a hearing aid, and are designed to amplify sound while reducing background noise.

Two top rated products to consider that were recently recommended by Consumer Reports are the SoundWorld Solutions CS50+ and the Etymotic Bean.

The CS50+, which costs $350, looks like a Bluetooth cell phone headset, and has customizable settings that can be programed with a smartphone. The Etymotic Bean, which costs $399 a pair or $214 for one, is ready to use right out of the box and is best suited for those with high-frequency hearing loss.

If these are too pricy, there are also a number of small hand-held or body-worn amplifiers – like the Williams Sound Pocketalker ($139) and Bellman & Symfon Mino Personal Amplifier ($188) – that have a microphone and headphones or earbuds that are very effective too.

TV amplifiers: To hear the tele-

Jim Miller is the creator of Savvy Senior, a syndicated information column for older Americans and their families that is published in more than 400 newspapers and magazines nationwide. Jim is also a regular contributor on NBC’s “Today” show and KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City,and is the author of The Savvy Senior, The Ultimate Guide to Health, Family and Finances for Senior Citizens, (Hyperion).

Jim is frequently quoted in articles about issues affecting senior citizens and has been featured in numerous high profile publications, including Time magazine, USA Today and The New York Times.

In addition, he has made multiple appearances on CNBC, CNN, Retirement Living Television and national public television.

vision better, there are TV listening devices that will let your husband increase the volume and adjust the tone to meet his needs, without blasting you out of the room.

Some of the best options include wireless infrared, radio frequency or Bluetooth devices that come with standard or stethoscope headphones. Sennheiser makes a variety of quality products with prices running between $130 and $450.

Or, for a more affordable solution, consider the Serene Innovations TV Sound Box for $120. This is a wireless amplified TV speaker that would sit near your husband, and provide clear stereo sound from the TV without the need for headsets.

Amplified telephones: To have clearer phone conversations, there are a wide variety of amplified telephones that offer enhanced volume and tone adjustments, and they usually come with extra loud ringers and flashing ring indicators to alert him when a call is coming in.

Some top makers of these products are Clarity, ClearSounds and Serene Innovations, and a top seller today is the Clarity XLC2+ Amplified Phone ($144), which is a cordless phone that provides three tone settings and 50 decibels of amplification.

Alerting devices: There are also a variety of alerting devices that can help people who have trouble hearing the doorbell, phone, alarm clock, smoke detector or even weather radio. These products use flashing lights, multi-tone ringers or vibrating devices as a means to alert you.

Some popular products in this category include: The Bellman & Symfon Care Home Alerting Solution that provides door and phone notification with a flashing alert ($198); the Silent Call Weather Alert Radio with strobe and bed shaker ($165); and the all-inone Serene Innovations CentralAlert CA-360 Clock/Receiver Notification System, which provides alarm clock, doorbell, phone, motion and storm warning alerts ($180).

To locate these and any other hearing loss products visit Harris Communications (HarrisComm.com, or call 866-476-9579), which offers more than 2,000 assistive devices and provides customer support services to assist you.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org.

Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

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aid devices) that can amplify and improve sound to help your husband in different listening situations. It’s also important to know that these products are best suited for people with mild to moderate hearing impairment, and they usually aren’t covered by insurance or Medicare.

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Leander Rd. & Scenic Dr. The Best Is Here.

MAY 2017 | 31

Pokey's Current Listings Property Address 174 Whispering Wind DR 121 Verbena DR 123 Bass ST 318 Kickapoo Creek LN 103 Mud Creek CV 225 Winter DR 157 Dan Moody TRL 312 Essex LN 110 Bluebell DR 111 Salt Creek LN 109 Martin Creek LN 159 Blazing Star DR 119 Saddle TRL 110 Stetson TRL 106 Yellow Rose TRL 921 Dome Peak LN 105 Landmark Inn CT 104 Klondike DR 503 Rio Grande LP 106 Bonham LP 522 Farm Hill DR 101 Dandelion DR 108 Medina Creek CV 107 Lariat DR 105 Yucca CV 304 Lake Sommerville TRL 323 Bartlett Peak DR 310 Armstrong DR 120 Camp DR 105 Holly Springs CT 608 Breezeway LN 217 Scissortail TRL 215 Scissortail TRL 407 McKinney Falls LN 109 Yucca CV 127 Lone Star DR 104 Potter LN

(pending sale)

(pending contingency) (pending contingency)

(pending sale)

(pending sale) (pending sale)

(pending sale) (pending sale)

(pending sale)

Floor Plan

Appr. S/F

Lot Type

List Price

Angelina Angelina Angelina Gray Myst Gray Myst Bluebonnet Medina Monterey Medina Pine Spring Gray Myst Cypress Dickinson Brazos San Jacinto Copper Ridge Surrey Crest Monroe Monroe Magnolia Magnolia Burnet Surrey Crest Trinity Trinity Lexington Vernon Hill Devaca Williamson Bowie Cortez Travis Burleson Sheridan Colorado Rio Grande Custom Home

1,310 1,310 1,328 1,388 1,388 1,404 1,422 1,426 1,442 1,467 1,471 1,587 1,654 1,668 1,670 1,696 1,712 1,717 1,717 1,755 1,755 1,756 1,788 1,904 1,915 1,976 1,983 1,994 2,008 2,156 2,370 2,452 2,470 2,581 2,651 2,848 3,914

P

$209,950 $239,950 $219,500 $264,500 $243,950 $236,950 $239,950 $196,950 $235,000 $247,500 $254,500 $239,950 $259,500 $267,500 $249,950 $299,500 $318,500 $279,950 $273,950 $254,950 $269,950 $264,950 $359,900 $289,950 $297,950 $324,900 $342,900 $329,950 $337,500 $399,950 $339,950 $378,750 $375,000 $434,950 $387,500 $509,900 $899,000

GC = Golf Course, HC = Hill Country, GB = Green Belt, P = Privacy

GB GB, P GB GB

GB

GB, HC GB GB, HC GB, HC P GB, HC GC, GB, HC GB, HC

GB, HC GB, HC GB, HC GC GB P P GB, GC GC GB, HC