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It’s Not Ninety Degrees At Ninety Degrees South Latitude
Marie Brown views Antarctica from the Corinthian II’s deck for the first time. (Photo courtesy of Marie Brown)
By Suzanne Waring When most people think about a winter vacation, visions of beaches and warm water in Mexico or Hawaii come to mind. Instead, last year Great Falls’ Marie Brown, 60, dreamed about a two-week trip to Antarctica. After flight stopovers in Orlando, and Buenos Aires, Brown embarked on the Corinthian II at Ushuaia, Argentina, on January 10, with a touring group of close to a hundred people. “Everyone was required to have a signed statement from their physician stating that they were healthy and strong enough to take on the trip activities,” said Brown. “I found the group to be friendly and helpful to one another when needed.” The group started out its trip by “Drake-proofing” the ship in anticipation of the rough seas they would soon encounter. The 400-mile Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctica is famous for having some of the roughest seas in the world. In preparation, a rod was put through bureau drawer handles to keep the drawers from coming out. Underneath tablecloths, wet pads were added. This kept the dishes from rolling off the tables. “I inquired about a strap lying on my bed and was told that I would need to strap myself into bed. The first night, I told myself that I wouldn’t need it, but I did,” said Brown. The ship was rolling so much, Brown, like most of the travelers, became ill for a day before they reached calmer seas. January is summer time in Antarctica when the daytime temperature hovers around 32° F, and daylight is almost twenty-four hours long. The group took advantage of the sunshine to visit several islands beginning two days after leaving Argentina. They had been issued heavy jackets and Wellington boots that they disinfected between land visits to avoid carrying invasive microbes or seeds from island to island and onto the mainland. To leave the ship, travelers had to climb down ladders onto zodiacs, which are motorized rubber rafts. Preceding the first expedition from the ship, the group was taught how to exit the ship onto the zodiacs in case the two vessels were rolling in the seas at different heights. (Continued on page 81)
PAGE 2 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
A Journey Across Montana To Renew Friendships After 55 Years and they can calculate who the surface owner is us well. By Bob Campbell He was right and no one could have predicted The last two days of August my Sidney High and they send a check for using their mineral rights. At our high school graduation, our speaker was how many things could have been placed in some class of 1958 asked me to be the moderator at our 55th graduation reunion. It was a great time to take James T. Harrison, Chief Justice of the Montana of those wheelbarrows. We were able to live the extra days driving from Missoula along the hi-line. Supreme Court. He gave a short speech and said American dream and we were able to retire prior The first night I stayed in a homesteader cabin that this diploma was the first thing to put in our to the current financial crisis. MSN in Virgelle where my friend Don Sorenson has wheelbarrow as we pass through life and he wished transformed an old general store into a bed and breakfast to take you back a hundred years in Montana history. Driving across northern Montana I was struck by how green the pastures +RPH +HDOWK were compared to earlier years of dry fields. I had not appreciated the impor +RVSLFH tance of the Milk River and its hundreds +RPH 0HGLFDO (TXLSPHQW of miles of irrigation that end east of Glasgow. ,QIXVLRQ 7KHUDS\ The highway congestion increased near Sidney and the big rigs from HousACHC +RPH &RPPXQLW\ %DVHG 6HUYLFHV A CCREDITED ton were parked at my motel. Many of my class that lived on farms now have producing wells. They had the inside QDWLRQDOO\ DFFUHGLWHG KRPH story of what this boom is doing and many KHDOWK FDUH RUJDQL]DWLRQ :H &R IRXQGHG E\ 6W 3DWULFN +RVSLWDO DQG believe it is on a bubble that will burst as &RPPXQLW\ 0HGLFDO &HQWHU it did in the 1980s. KDYH EHHQ EULQJLQJ KHDOWK FDUH Every one knows that the precise KRPH WR SDWLHQWV DQG WKHLU drilling goes down two miles, and when saintpatrick.org IDPLOLHV LQ :HVWHUQ 0RQWDQD it hits the narrow Bakken formation they drill out miles in all directions to fracture the formation and bring up oil and natural gas. What I did not know was that they are >:DD@F=2 %!' (#) ))%) A@=D@? %!' ))$ )%"# drilling directly under the Sidney townsite, www.partnersinhomecare.org
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MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 3
Montana Senior News A Barrett-Whitman Publication
P.O. Box 3363 • Great Falls, MT 59403-3363 406-761-0305 or 800-672-8477 FAX 406-761-8358 montanaseniornews.com email: montsrnews@bresnan.net
New Subscribers Enclosed is a check for $40.00 for the coming five years, I do so enjoy your publication!!! As I told the lady who answered the phone – the last issue I picked up was for February/March. I have procrastinated long enough. For the price, I consider it a great investment for my reading pleasure! Thank you. Aiko Kawano Billings I picked up the Montana Senior News in Sidney, Montana, and I absolutely love it! Here is $16 for a two year subscription. Thank you. I wrote the following after my Grandma Esther Smith from Glendive died. It reminds us to stay in touch with each other. It has never been published, but you can publish it if you choose to. Can’t wait for the news! Sorry, The friend you had, you never called, you never wrote, you never went to see‌ died you know for want of love, lack of touch, and very lonely. Ah, but you can send your sympathy! Glenda L. Wilson Hunters, Washington
Observance Contest Lots Of Fun Thank you for a fun way to get acquainted better with your many advertisers. Seeing the observance “National Love Your Files Weekâ€? included in the Montana Medical Bill Review ad on page 45 made me wonder‌ hmm? I was pleased to find the Montana Senior News staff’s creation! Great Fun! PS. I started my search on S’mores Day. Joyce Utroske Union Mills, Indiana I was just given a new copy of your Montana Senior News a few days ago. Very nice. I tried your fun observances contest and worked very hard to find as many [observances] as I could. I hope I win. I am 87 and live in my own home. Thank you for such a nice newspaper! Mayme Mullis Kalispell This challenger was a lot of fun! I really enjoy the MSN for all the interesting articles and abundance of information. I usually try to work the puzzles and even though some are hard, they still are a lot of fun. Now I will go back and read all of the articles. Have a good day. Marene Johnston Great Falls
The Montana Senior News is published six times each year in February, April, June, August, October and December at 415 3rd Avenue North, Great Falls, MT 59401 and is distributed free to readers throughout the state of Montana. The mail subscription rate is $8.00 per year (6 issues). The Montana Senior News is written to serve the reading interests of mature Montanans of all ages. Readers are encouraged to contribute interesting material. Views expressed in opinion stories, contributions, articles and letters are not necessarily the views of the publisher. The appearance of advertisements for products or services does not constitute an endorsement of the particular product or service. The publisher will not be responsible for mistakes in advertisements unless notified within five days of publication. All copy appearing in the Montana Senior News is protected by copyright and may be reprinted only with the written permission of the publisher. Advertising copy should be received or space reserved by the 5th of the month preceding the month of publication.
Jack W. Love, Jr., Publisher/Editor Colleen Paduano Kathleen McGregor Lisa Gebo Jonathan Rimmel Peter Thornburg Sherrie Smith
Production Supervisor Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Production Assistant Graphic Designer Distribution Admin/Production Assistant
Contributing Writers Bob Campbell Connie Daugherty Clare Hafferman Sue Hart Kim Thielman-Ibes Gail Jokerst Bernice Karnop Craig Larcom Liz Larcom Michael McGough Jack McNeel Dianna Troyer Š 2013
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PAGE 4 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
Thank you for an informative and enjoyable paper to read. I pick it up at the senior center in Lodge Grass. This was the first contest I have entered and I really enjoyed it. Thanks. Joyce Pattyn Lodge Grass
More On How To Wash A Cat Your article How to Wash a Cat was the funniest thing I have ever read! It was very hilarious! We had both been very depressed that day. My wife picked up a copy of the Montana Senior News at the grocery store, started reading the article, and burst out laughing. And then she started to read it to me and I burst out laughing. We both laughed hysterically for ten minutes straight.
Change seems to be the perfect word to go with September – the change from summer to fall, from green leaves to gorgeous, from heat to chill, and from dew to frost. This month’s Remember When selection reminds us of these and many more of the changes represented by September. Thank you to Pam Brant of Great Falls for sharing September. Pam is the winner of our $25 Remember When prize for this issue. Remember When contains our readers’ personal reflections, contributions describing fictional or non-fictional accounts from the “Good ol’ Days,” or reflections on life in general. Contributions may
People should not take it so seriously, it was just a joke! My wife called all her relatives and read it to them. I could hear them laughing all the way across the room! That article sure cheered all of us up! It’s like they say, “laughter is the best medicine!” I don’t care how depressed or down in the dumps you are, any one will burst out laughing, once they read the article. We are new to Montana Senior News, but will continue to read it and enter the contests. Keep up the good work and thanks again for printing How to Wash a Cat. Steven and Grace Benesh Billings MSN
be stories, letters, artwork, poetry, etc. Photos may be included. Each issue of the Montana Senior News features the contributions deemed best by our staff. The contributor of the winning entry receives a $25 cash prize. We look forward to receiving your contributions for our December 2013/January 2014 issue. Mail your correspondence to Montana Senior News, P.O. Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403; email to montsrnews@bresnan.net; or call 1-800-672-8477 or 406-761-0305. Visit us online at montanaseniornews.com.
Mellowings By Pam Brant, Great Falls When I was younger, I felt a special sensation in September, a tingle of anticipation, fear, and excitement. I assumed it was because school was beginning – with its new experiences and problems. However… even though I graduated quite a few years ago, I still have that feeling. It is the feeling of a new season, the transition between summer and fall. Several weeks ago, the temperature topped 100. Now it’s the middle of September, and a chill wind is blowing. Where I live, the snow fence will soon be up. The Canada geese are already honing their flying skills. I was born in September, the day after Labor Day. I consider it “my” month! In those years, when I was in grade school in Great Falls, my birthday was always the first week of school. Often the very first day. It felt special. Everyone was fresh in new clothes and with clean notebooks. But mostly, with their fresh ideas. Today, college classes are already going strong. Business has upped its game and the football games are on, especially in Great Falls, and of course Bozeman and Missoula (Go Cats!). Everything has shifted from easygoing to full-on action. It is the feeling that this is the time to do something. To begin new projects. To go back to college. To solve all our problems. To finally get our yard and family perfect. September is different since September 11, 2001. The early years were rough and symbolic and that was needed. Although the heartfelt sadness has waned, we’ll always remember that one special day. Now, we remember but look to the future again. It is good to move forward. As Mao Tse-tung said to President Nixon during Nixon’s China visit in February 1972, “So many deeds cry out to be done and always urgently… seize the day.”
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
Perhaps Mao meant to enjoy each day as it comes. Enjoy September and its sense of hopefulness. And enjoy it as it is today… cobalt skies, zinnias, ripening apples, and plums. Languid days of picnicking, fishing, lounging. September is summer only better. The grass is
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 5
the best it will be (without nearly so much work). The trees are still full-leafed and generally green – but now, with September’s promise of a beautiful fall that should be savored as I will my currant bush – already a faint red. MSN
Saving and changing lives – 365 days a year. A Story about YWCA Billings Gateway Liza came to Gateway in the night, wearing only a nightgown. She had no shoes, glasses, cell phone, or money. Desperate to escape years of abuse and her husband’s alcoholism, she fled with nothing. Tracy and her kids landed at Gateway after she spent weeks in the hospital recovering from life-threatening injuries inflicted by her partner. The children were spared by hiding in a closet. Keesha was only three when we were called to the hospital to provide support for her and her grieving parents as they dealt with medical forensics after she was raped by her babysitter. While their names have been changed; their stories are real. There is a new story every day…
and hopefully it will not be about your daughter, sister, or coworker. YWCA Billings’ Gateway House provides safe harbor from domestic violence and sexual abuse, as well as a 24-hour help line, counseling, and support services. Gateway offers hope and healing to women and children in crisis at no cost – funding from generous donors allows us to be there when needed. Gateway saves and changes lives, 365 days per year. Learn more at www.ywcabillings.org or call 406-656-6020. Liza, Tracy, Keesha, and hundreds like them thank you! MSN
Learning For Your Lifetime – Great Falls College MSU Learning is a continuous process and we are never too old to learn. With constant change in our daily lives, it is important that we keep learning new things to keep our lives interesting and fulfilling. Great Falls College MSU Outreach is committed to offering affordable, lifelong learning opportunities for you, our best customers – men and women over 50. Our non-credit, Community Enrichment courses are short, fun and stress-free – just the ticket for learning new skills, hobbies, or just to have fun and make new friends! Our partnership with Great Falls Public Schools has enabled us to expand our offerings even more with cooking, automotive, woodworking, pottery, and dance courses through the use of their facilities and equipment – and there are even more possibilities on the horizon. Even if you live outside of Great Falls or are otherwise unable to participate in face-to-face courses, you still have options. There are literally hundreds of online, instructor-facilitated courses to choose from through ed2go, including courses like Getting Paid to Travel, Writing Your Life Story, or Speed Spanish. All you need is the Internet and you can study anytime, anywhere! Call TODAY 406-268-3737 or VISIT outreach.gfcmsu.edu to learn how to begin your journey with lifelong learning! MSN
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PAGE 6 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
New Research Advances From The Alzheimer’s Association International ConferenceŽ 2013 New studies reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2013 (AAICŽ 2013) in Boston cover the spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia research, including novel treatment and prevention strategies, possible new risk factors, advances in early detection and diagnosis, and an updated model of disease progression. Potential Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Factors Most kinds of cancer associated with decreased risk of Alzheimer’s; Chemotherapy adds additional decrease in Alzheimer’s risk.
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A study of the health records of 3.5 million U.S. veterans indicated that most kinds of cancer are associated with a significantly decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Results suggested that chemotherapy treatment for almost all of those cancers conferred an additional decrease in Alzheimer’s risk. The researchers found no association between cancer history and reduced risk of any other typical age-related health outcome. The scientists concluded that the findings indicate that the protective relationship between most cancers and Alzheimer’s disease is not explained simply by increased mortality among cancer patients. More research is needed to determine the cause(s) of the reduced risk, and therefore identify potential new therapeutic avenues for Alzheimer’s. Diabetes drug associated with reduced risk of dementia. Type 2 diabetes may double the risk of dementia. However, in a study of nearly 15,000 type 2 diabetes patients age 55 and older, patients who started on metformin, an insulin sensitizer, had a significantly reduced risk of developing dementia compared with patients who started other standard diabetes therapies. Trials are currently under way to evaluate metformin as a potential therapy for dementia and mild cognitive impairment. Older age at retirement is associated with a reduced risk of dementia. An analysis of health and insurance records of more than 429,000 selfemployed workers in France found that retirement at older age is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, with a lower risk for each added year of working longer. The researchers suggested that professional activity might contribute to higher levels of intellectual stimulation and mental engagement, which may be protective against dementia, though more research is needed in this area. Socioeconomic factors may explain higher Alzheimer’s risk. In the United States, older African-Americans are about twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s and other dementias as older whites are. But in a study of 3,075 black and white elders who were free of dementia at the beginning of the study, the risk difference was no longer statistically significant after researchers adjusted for socioeconomic factors including education level, literacy, income, and financial adequacy. Alzheimer’s Disease Detection and Diagnosis Online tests for Alzheimer’s do not measure up. A panel of Canadian experts – including geriatricians, human-computer interaction specialists, neuropsychologists, and neuroethicists – reviewed 16 freely accessible online tests for Alzheimer’s disease, and found that the tests
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
scored poorly on scales of overall scientific validity, reliability, and ethical factors. Self-reported changes in memory may be earliest clinical markers of Alzheimer’s. Four studies supported increasing evidence that subjective cognitive decline (SCD) – the self-reported perception of memory or cognition problems – is a potentially valid early clinical marker of brain and cognitive changes that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease. One study of cognitively normal older people showed a significant relationship between self-reported cognitive concerns and evidence of buildup of beta-amyloid protein, the main component of Alzheimer’s brain plaques, as revealed by PET scans. Another study indicated that a subjective concern about memory could be a marker of subsequent decline in objectively measured memory. Alzheimer’s Disease Therapies Update Preliminary results in studies of two new potential Alzheimer’s therapies. It has been suggested that amyloid plaques can stimulate microglia, the brain’s first-line immune cells, to produce inflammatory compounds that cause brain cell damage in Alzheimer’s patients. The experimental compound CHF5074 (Chiesi Pharmaceuticals), has been shown to prevent formation of brain plaques
and reduce deficits in mouse models of Alzheimer’s. In a 90-week clinical trial of CHF5074 in people with mild cognitive impairment, powered only for safety and dosing, not for efficacy, an interim analysis of cognitive tests of 32 patients showed statistically significant, dose-dependent improvements in participants’ cognitive abilities. Researchers reported results of an earlystage, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiple-dose study of the experimental medication MK-8931 (Merck), which inhibits beta secretase - one of two enzymes that produce beta-amyloid - in people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s. They found that the drug lowered beta amyloid in cerebrospinal fluid at the highest dose, and the drug was generally well tolerated. About the Alzheimer’s Association – The Alzheimer’s Association is the world’s leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support, and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s. Visit alz.org or call 800-272-3900. MSN
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MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 7
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
The journey to successful aging with dementia By Jennifer Crowley, RN CLCP While aging itself is a topic commonly avoided in everyday conversation, the reality suggests the opposite. In fact we are bombarded daily with advertisements about insurance, medications, and reminders to save money for retirement. Retirement is treated like an “era” or space in time that we all share when we reach a certain age and can stop working. Thoughts of retirement invoke emotions of happiness, lazy mornings, living within a comfortable financial zone, playing with grandchildren, and traveling. It’s no wonder we don’t talk about the real part of aging – the challenges that arise from nowhere and the subtle chipping away at livelihoods and independence. Shelly was 42 when her mother started forgetting important dates and misplacing objects. At first she thought it was a normal consequence of aging. Until the day her mother called her frantic, lost, five blocks from her home in the neighborhood where she had lived for over 10 years. Gradually her mother needed someone in the home daily and has now progressed to requiring 24-hour care. Thanks to previous conversations Shelly shared with her mother about advanced care planning, she knew her mother would stay in the home until the end-of-life. Together they projected 24-hour home care to cost approximately $9,000 per month and if her assets were liquidated, there would be enough cash to last three years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American retirement lasts 18 years. The life expectancy of a person with dementia can progress over a ten year period. Medications can now improve functions for those with cognitive impairment and delay the progression of the disease. While our communities and nation continue to work at being more prepared for an aging country, the responsibility for being prepared for the “golden years” relies on us. Long-term care planning is a necessity when considering retirement. Planning for long-term care can be simplified by using a step-by-step method that serves as a guide for discussion, setting goals, and taking action. Without a clear guide or someone to walk you through the process, the tasks can be overwhelming and confusing. The process should include a discovery of each person’s perception and expectations for their aging body and what urgent, as well as potential future needs exist. The most important time to set up a long-term care plan is when all parties are alert and able to make decisions. Often, individuals wait too long, until the care becomes absolutely necessary or something happens unexpectedly. Completing legal documents and allocating funds for long-term care can help in every aspect of care. From helping guide health care professionals, to ensuring services can be paid for and reducing the burden on loved ones, advanced long-term care planning is the cornerstone for aging with dementia. Jennifer Crowley is a long-term care planning specialist in Kalispell. She utilizes a step-by-step process to help guide clients through the process of decision-making. She can be reached at 406-752-5821. MSN
The Special Gift that Nourishes the Soul and the Environment
Aging has enough difficulties. Getting the care you need shouldn’t be one of them. Highgate Senior Living offers full care for all, no matter what your age or ailment. Our team of compassionate professionals can handle almost anything, including complex medical issues and post-acute hospital care. In fact, we specialize in services normally provided in skilled nursing, such as diabetic care and oxygen management, injectable medications, wound care, feeding tubes, catheter monitoring, two-person transfers, and hospice. Just call any of our three Assisted Living/Memory Care communities in Montana, and we’ll make sure your move into Highgate is one of the easiest things in your life right now. Highgate at Billings 406-651-4833
Highgate at Bozeman 406-587-5100
Highgate at Great Falls 406-454-0991
The Northwest Montana Tree Company in Libby is a subsidiary of Achievements, Inc., a non-profit organization that serves the needs of adults with developmental disabilities. In an effort to make our world better, Northwest Trees decided to create the opportunity for the rest of the world to have a part of what all Montanans share – the beauty of our trees. You can order trees and send them as gifts to friends and family – lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, western white pine, and Douglas fir. All are seedlings, 8-10 inches tall and cost $12.99 per tree. When you call in your tree order, it will be taken by someone excited to hear from you, proud to serve you, very unlikely to make a mistake, and who was born with severe autism, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, or one of many moderate to severe mental disorders. These dedicated employees will take your order and prepare and mail your tree(s) to you or to folks in any state except Alaska, California, Hawaii, or Arizona. Your purchase of a tree upholds the idea of environmental support, creates work for people, and nourishes the soul. Please order today by calling 406-283-1532, or visit us at nwmttrees.com or on Facebook. MSN
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
You can help find new Alzheimer’s treatments! You can help advance research, too! You may not be a scientist, but are you a caregiver? Or, do you have Alzheimer’s disease? Alzheimer’s disease is a public health crisis. More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, a number that could triple by 2050. Roughly, every minute someone is diagnosed with this devastating disease, the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. In 2011, more than 15 million family members and friends provided over 17 billion hours of unpaid care. The personal and financial cost – projected to exceed $200 billion in 2013 – will devastate families and cripple Medicare. Alzheimer’s Association TrialMatch® is our hope for the future. TrialMatch® is a free, easy-touse clinical-studies-matching service that connects individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, caregivers, healthy volunteers, and physicians with current studies. Our continuously updated database of 130+ Alzheimer’s clinical trials includes both pharmacological (drug) and non-pharmacological (non-drug) studies being conducted at nearly 500 trial sites across the country. As a caregiver and a person who cares about the future, you have an opportunity to participate in vital research that could change the course of Alzheimer’s disease and improve the lives of those it affects. Here is how! • Take part in studies specifically for caregivers. Quality-of-life studies provide insight into the stresses and effects of caring for a person with dementia. These studies explore ways to improve quality of life. • Participate in studies as a healthy volunteer. Researchers gain insights by comparing the patient groups to healthy volunteers, people with no known significant health problems. Healthy volunteer
participation is vital in advancing research. • Encourage a person with dementia to participate. Clinical trials enable people with the disease to play a more active role in their health care by accessing potential treatments before they are widely available. If you have Alzheimer’s disease, you hope for a cure. You hope new treatments will come along that will improve your quality of life. And you hope future generations will not have to endure what you must while living with dementia. Participating in clinical trials gives us optimism for today and promise for the future. They provide some participants with access to cutting-edge treatments and expert medical care. And some day they will lead us to the end of this devastating disease. We need clinical trials to accelerate progress and provide valuable insight. We need your help. Without participation, finding a cure is virtually impossible. As Alzheimer’s patient Ron Grant says, “I never had the ability to help anyone with Alzheimer’s disease until I got the disease and participated in a clinical trial. It would be hard to overstate the importance of getting involved.” Using Alzheimer’s Association TrialMatch® is easy. • Step 1: Access TrialMatch® online at alz.org/ trialmatch or by calling 800-272-3900. • Step 2: Complete a brief questionnaire, either online or over the phone, to create a profile. • Step 3: The Alzheimer’s Association will compare your unique profile to its comprehensive, continually updated clinical trial database. • Step 4: With your permission, a TrialMatch® specialist will contact you to provide a list of trials that match your specific eligibility and criteria. Specialists will not recommend any particular trial. Alzheimer’s-related clinical trials include:
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PAGE 10 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
• Treatment trials that test new treatments or combinations of treatments. • Diagnostic studies that find new tests or procedures for diagnosing the disease or conditions that may lead to the disease. • Prevention trials that investigate ways to prevent the onset of the disease. • Screening studies that test methods to identify the disease or relevant conditions at the earliest stages. • Quality of life studies that explore different ways to improve quality of life for individuals who have a chronic illness, their caregivers, and family members. For more information, call 800-272-3900, visit alz.org/trialmatch, or visit alz.org/Idaho. MSN
Aging In Place – Staying At Home As Long As Possible Provided by Home Care Assistance For many years, there have been different ways to take care of yourself or your elderly family member. The hardest part is choosing the right direction to go. Should you put them in a care home? Or should they continue to live with family members who can take care of them? The best thing about assistance at home is that it allows the individual to maintain a more independent lifestyle, rather than being confined in a care home. This kind of normalcy can be very important for people who are used to doing things for themselves. They can continue to remain in comfortable and familiar surroundings with the personal belongings, friends, family, and pets. The cost of home care can be lower than that of an outside facility. Because you only need to pay for the time a caregiver is present, there is much more flexibility and you can better stay within your personal budget. In some cases, your elderly loved ones or parents do not need the full time
care that these facilities provide. In an in-home care program, you can set how many hours each day that you need help. You can very easily personalize the care of an individual when they are getting this assistance. Their exercise regimen, medications, and doctor appointments can all be integrated into your plan. This kind of assistance also makes it easier for family members to visit and take their loved ones on day trips, vacations, and even simply to the grocery store. This kind of control and involvement is something that a full care facility may not be able to offer to the desired degree. Overall, home care assistance is a great idea for those individuals who need just a little help, but not full time care. It is much more affordable and allows for more customization to the needs of each individual person. The freedom that these programs offer though, regardless of the other benefits, is a priceless treasure in caring for your loved one. MSN
How to Get Paid for Being a Family Caregiver SERVICES
Senior Home Care, Respite, Medicaid Waiver
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By Jim Miller To get paid as a family caregiver, various government programs, tax breaks, and family payment options may be able to help you, depending on your mom’s financial situation. Here’s where to look for help. State Aid – If your mom is low-income and eligible for Medicaid, you may be able to get paid a small amount by the state. In 15 states, Medicaid offers a Cash & Counseling program (see cashandcounseling.org) that provides an allowance that can be used for various services, including paying family members for care. Many other states have similar programs for low-income seniors, even if the person receiving care doesn’t quite qualify for Medicaid. To find out about these options contact your local Medicaid office. Veterans Aid – In some communities across the U.S., veterans who are at risk of nursing home placement can enroll in the Veteran-Directed Home and Community Based Services program, that allows veterans to manage their own care, including hiring and paying their own caregivers. Also available to wartime veterans and their spouses, is a benefit called Aid and Attendance that helps pay for in-home care, as well as assisted living and nursing home care. This benefit can also be used to pay family caregivers. To be eligible your mom must need assistance with daily living activities like bathing, dressing or going to the bathroom. And, her income must be under $13,362 as a surviving spouse – minus medical and long-term care expenses. If your mom is a single veteran, her income must be below $20,795 to be eligible. Her assets must also be less than $80,000 excluding her home and car. To learn more, see va.gov/geriatrics, or contact your regional VA office, or your local veterans service organization. (Continued on page13)
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 11
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newwestmedicare.com New West Health Services is a health plan with a Medicare contract. Phone hours of operation 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information contact New West Medicare. Benefits may change on January 1 of each year. H2701_NW#469A-11-12 CMS Accepted.
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PAGE 12 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
You are making the right choice. The Generations Health Network offers a continuum of care including retirement and assisted living, short-term rehabilitation, long-term care, respite stays, memory care, and end of life care. We focus on the whole person and their needs, in addition to their medical conditions, offering personalized services in the environment of their choice.
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For contact information, call 800-827-1000. Tax Breaks – Uncle Sam may also be able to help if you pay at least half of your mom’s yearly expenses, and her annual income was below $3,900 in 2013 (not counting Social Security). If so, you can claim her as a dependent on your taxes, and reduce your taxable income by $3,900. See IRS Publication 501 (www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501. pdf) or call the IRS help-line at 800-829-1040 for information. If you can’t claim your mom as a dependent, you may still be able to get a tax break if you’re paying at least half her living expenses including her medical and long-term care costs, and they exceed 10 percent (or 7.5 percent if you’re 65 or over) of your adjusted gross income. You can
include your own medical expenses in calculating the total. See the IRS publication 502 (www.irs. gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf) for details. Family Payments – If your mom doesn’t financially qualify for the government aid or the tax breaks, can she afford to pay you herself or do you have any siblings that would be willing to chip in? After all, if your mom had to pay for home care services, the costs would be anywhere between $12 and $25 per hour. If she agrees to pay you, it’s best that you or an attorney draft a short written contract detailing your work and payment arrangements so everyone involved knows what to expect. A contract will also help avoid potential problems should your mom ever need to apply for Medicaid for nursing
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 13
home care. Another payment option to consider is for your mom to adjust her will, so you receive a larger portion of her estate for providing her care. But to avoid conflict, be sure all family members are aware and in agreement. Also, check to see if your mom has any longterm care insurance that covers in-home care. If she does, in some cases those benefits may be used to pay 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. MSN
Five Myths About Hospice That You May Believe Article provided by Heart ‘n Home Hospice & Palliative Care Many individuals have the wrong idea about hospice care, which usually arise from personal family experiences or those of friends. It is important to recognize that every hospice is different. Call your local hospice service and ask questions to make sure you know the facts and will be able to get the best care and service for you and your loved one when you need it most. Below are several common myths about hospice that you should understand. Myth 1: Hospice care should begin in the last days of a person’s life. The earlier a person is referred, the more hospice can do to help. Sadly, many people believe that hospice is unavailable until literally the final days of life. Hospice is a highquality care that focuses on comfort and quality of life. Myth 2: Hospice care is expensive. Hospice is covered 100% by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurances. Some hospices elect to charge co-pays for medications or as much as five percent of any respite care that is given. Fear of costs should never prevent a person from accessing hospice care. MYTH 3: Hospice is only for people with cancer. Hospice serves anyone with a life-limiting illness, regardless of age or type of illness. These illnesses include, but are not limited to AIDS, Alzheimer’s, stroke, kidney disease, lung disease, dementia, failure to thrive, ALS, liver disease, and many others.
MYTH 4: Hospice patients cannot keep their own physician and receive hospice care. Hospice does not require a patient to change physicians in order to receive hospice care. In fact, hospice patients’ primary physician works in coordination with the hospice team. Hospice is an added bonus, an extra service that works with the many other services that are available in the medical field. MYTH 5: After a hospice patient passes away, there is no grief support for the family. Hospice offers grief and bereavement services to family members to help them adjust to the loss in
their lives. Prior to signing your loved one up on hospice services, ask what type of grief support is available for families. Some hospices will offer visits, while others may only send information through the mail. If this information about hospice surprises you, take the time to find out more. No one is exempt, and the best time to learn about hospice is before you or someone in your family is facing a terminal medical crisis. Hospice gives you and your loved one the power to live the end of your life as you choose; to be at home if your wish; to be pain-free; and to be comforted and cared for. MSN
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
When You Get A Chance Pick Up A Charlie Salter Mystery By Clare Hafferman I have been remiss in not writing this review sooner, especially for you vigilant readers who enjoy reading mysteries, don’t go to sleep without reading something, are probably familiar faces at the local library, and don’t believe that everything in print needs to be viewed on a Kindle. I had forgotten about Eric Wright until I picked up one of his paperbacks, read it, and remembered why I liked his writing. Wright, a Canadian who emigrated as a young man, from England, was a teacher in Toronto, married with two daughters, and was born in 1929. St. Martin’s Press printed his last book, titled The Last Hand, in 2002, when he would have been 73. I think it is one of his best, but don’t start there. What you need to know about Wright’s series of books about a detective named Charlie Salter, is that they are lucid. Charlie solves the crimes he is presented by using his methodical methods drawn from dogged detail work. For example, Charlie was working with a young assistant who questioned why Charlie was noting so many things. Charlie replied, “I’m doing it by the book. That’s to cover my... if anybody asks, and maybe to cover yours, too.” Details count, but no blood and guts and very
little mayhem occur in these stories. Interspersed with his daily chores are a background description of the bosses he works for, his two sons and his wife, Annie. Charlie grew up in Cabbage town, a lower down the scale part of Toronto and married a girl from Prince Edward’s Island. Annie’s family members run various enterprises on the island and would like to see Annie, Charlie, and their boys move over and become involved. His wife mentions this option once, and although Charlie gets along with her in most discussions, he heads for the door on this one, saying, “Forget it. I’m a cop.” One of the crimes Charlie is involved in, is titled A Body Surrounded By Water, and does happen on Prince Edward’s Island, so there is a detailed description of that green piece of turf off the coast of Canada. And yes, it was the site for Lucy Montgomery’s story about the orphan named Anne. The other tales in Mr. Wright’s tales about Detective Salter are A Sensitive Case, A Fine Italian Hand, Smoke Detector, A Question Of Murder, Final Cut, and The Night The Gods Smiled. The author was awarded an Arthur Ellis for Distinguished Achievement and an Edgar for another
book not in this series. I found the ones I read through inter-library loan and recently re-read The Last Hand. In it there is a description of a poker game that Charlie is invited to sit in on, by a group of local lawyers. I know nothing about poker, but evidently Charlie did aided by a tip from one of the lawyers who had been involved in one of Charlie’s cases. As a result, Charlie wins the pot. These same lawyers move in and out of the story, which has an intriguing conclusion. When Mr. Wright was penning Charlie’s problems, the praise given the author would make any writer and his publisher happy. For Wright, the National Post said, “This is a tale that shows detective novels need not rely on DNA testing, excessive violence, and high body counts to challenge and entertain.” The Toronto Star declared, “Salter and Wright are very close to their top form in one of crime fiction’s most absorbing and rewarding series.” You can prepare your own opinion once you have followed Charlie and his cases, and if it is what I think it will be, pass it on to your fellow readers of good writing. MSN
Hi-Line Foundation Acquires Medical Technologies
Keep The Children In Your Heart
The Hi-Line Health Foundation wants you all to accept our heartfelt thanks for your generous support of the Foundation’s mission to provide quality healthcare services on the Hi-Line. As with other rural medical facilities, Liberty Medical Center has been affected by changing rules and regulations related to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. As these changes continue to affect our resources, we must not lose sight of the need to sustain funding for the best medical equipment, technologies, and supplies to provide effective treatment of our patients. Our hospital is funded by the mill levy from our Liberty County taxpayers designated exclusively for capital equipment and improvements of the facility. We thank our taxpayers for passage of the mill levy and will work to earn your continued support. Please consider the community benefit and personal satisfaction you can gain from year-end giving to the Hi-Line Health Foundation. In consultation with your accountant or other professional advisor please consider as charitable gifts bonds, cash, life insurance, mutual shares, retirement plans, and other securities. For more information or to make a donation, contact Karen Mattson at 406-759-5191. Together we can maintain our facility for the medical needs of the Hi-Line! MSN
At Shodair Children’s Hospital, our planned giving donors come from every part of Montana, from many different backgrounds, professions, ages, and experiences. As diverse as these folks may be, a common characteristic they share is passion for improving the health of Montana’s children, now and in the future. Ultimately, this virtue fosters the best legacy any of us can leave – healthy and well-cared-for children. One man who understood this and made an impactful life choice that ensures his legacy until this day, was Louis Shodair. Mr. Shodair was a modest man, a grocer and a concerned citizen in early Montana who desired to help sick kids. Louis gifted $200,000 to establish Montana’s first and only hospital exclusively for children – an impact that is still felt today and a benefit that affected over 1,600 Montana children in 2012 alone! Last year we provided $ 3.5 million in charity healthcare to kids like five-year-old Landen Phillips. Landen is our 2013 Champion Child from Billings. For more on Shodair Children’s Hospital contact Tom Figarelle, Foundation Director, at 406-444-7560 or tfigarelle@shodair. org. Shodair Children’s Hospital is located in Helena at 2755 Colonial Drive. MSN
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
The Big Open by Stan Lynde; Cottonwood Publishing, 2012 Willow by Lorretta Lynde; iUniverse, Inc., 2012 Reviewed by Connie Daugherty Talented brother and sister, Stan Lynde and Lorretta Lynde are familiar names to regular readers of this column; I have reviewed several of their novels over the years. But since they both released new books recently, I couldn’t resist discussing this brother and sister together in the same issue. It isn’t often that two talented writers come from one family. Since this column was originally written, Stan Lynde passed away. While it’s tempting to write a tribute to Stan here, I’m going to just note how much he gave to Montana and the world with his writing – his 25 years of nationally acclaimed cartoon strips – Rick O’Shay and Latigo – many of which were compiled into books, and his novel series. It is his last novel that I reviewed here. Stan and Loretta both set many of their stories in eastern Montana and draw from their life experiences. Both make history come alive with their words and vivid descriptions. Both tell tales of adventure and intrigue where what is apparent is not what it seems. Both create characters that are believable, memorable, and approachable. Both provide readers with a subtle message on the art of living life well. Both have created a series of novels that can stand alone, yet build on the previous one. However, each has a unique voice and style very different from the other. Stan Lynde’s novels are set in the 1880s with a definite “old west” flavor but always with a pinch of the contemporary experience tying the past to the present. Each story features the adventures of U. S. Marshal Merlin Fanshaw. In this most recent novel, The Big Open, Merlin mistakenly kills an innocent boy during a bank robbery in Miles City. “I never meant to kill the boy, but a bullet once fired doesn’t care whose life it takes.” Although his boss, the judge, and most of the public understand that what happened was a tragic mistake and do not blame him, Merlin puts away his guns and abandons his career. “I could no longer serve as a peace officer. Something inside me had broke and I didn’t know how to fix it.” Merlin sets off alone to rediscover, or perhaps redefine himself. He drifts along the wilderness of eastern Montana with no real plan. “I was a stranger to myself. No longer a lawman, I was not sure who I was. For nearly five years… I had done some good… now it had all gone wrong, I had lost the man I thought I was.” In The Big Open, Merlin wanders alone with his guilt and his regrets and stubbornly refusing to draw his gun even to shoot an animal for food – as though without a gun in his hand he could do no wrong. Eventually, hungry and tired he comes across an isolated cabin. The owner of the cabin offers Merlin food, a place to sleep, and information about where to find a job. Soon Merlin finds himself working for the small cattle ranch owned by Billie Hart. Billie’s ranch is struggling and she can’t afford many hands, so Merlin’s jack-of-all-trades skills are a perfect fit for the operation and for Merlin. He easily settles in. However, “trouble was coming to the Big
Open,” and “as sure as God made sunsets and good horses; trouble would touch [his] life as well.” The only question is how Merlin will deal with the trouble when it comes. Will he give in and pull his gun from its hiding place? He is certainly capable of creative thinking and of change, but which direction will that change take him? In The Big Open, anything is possible. In Loretta Lynde’s most recent novel, Willow: the Magpie Odyssey V, change and the struggle of situational evaluation and self-discovery are also main themes. The Magpie Odyssey books are a family saga with each story providing more insight into a complicated family structure. Loretta cleverly weaves the past with the present binding it all with Irish, Crow, and Montana ranching traditions and values. In Willow, young Aisling, a freshman at the University of Montana, is assigned a paper on her family’s belief structure. “Her thoughts raced… what could she write about her family… who would believe the truth about the magic and traditions that defined the Lorrahs?” She longs to be truthful, to take full advantage of the opportunity the assignment offers, yet she is fearful she might unintentionally “violate the privacy and the secrets,” of her family. At the same time, she wonders if the assignment will somehow help her better define herself, maybe figure out how she can fit into this world beyond the ranch and the family. Changing after her workout, she notices her reflection in a paneled mirror, “to the left was her much younger self… to the right was a woman she did not recognize… about thirty years old.” What disturbs her even more than the mysterious vision, however, is the sense that someone else was secretly observing her, spying on her as she stood naked in the shower. Finally, Christmas break begins and Aisling makes her way back home to Lodge Grass. Aisling feels safe and comfortable. “It was as if the Lorrahs lived in a secret place, their relationship knit so tightly that they might as well have been in another dimension apart from the rest of the world. Aisling loved it. Here was a place where she had no doubts of her role and deep sense of belonging.” She tells the family about her writing assignment, hoping for some direction. Aunt Colleen provides her with journals, diaries, and letters belonging to Velia, Aisling’s great-great grandmother and to her mother Anna. The minute she starts reading, Aisling is transported to the past. The writings of her ancestors introduce her to Willow, her great-grandfather’s sister who, “wasn’t like anyone else in the family… she was probably the most magical… she could not help choosing to walk a different path.” Over the next days and weeks as Aisling researches her family history we meet her aunt Willow, a willful, spoiled, favored child, and the most elusive of the Lorrah ancestors. There is something about Willow that draws Aisling and the more she studies old diaries and letters the more connected she feels to Willow. She can almost sense Willow’s presence sharing the rest of the story, the story that letters and diaries only hint at. And Willow definitely has a story to tell. It was when she was a teenager that, “her understanding of the extent of her powers came gradually as those abilities began to reveal themselves… she received a stunning revelation of how naturally magic came to her.” Willow reveled in her developing magical powers, and, in her selfcentered willful way sometimes misused her power. During one such encounter, “she suddenly became aware that her actions had caused pain to another person… It was a new concept to her, and an unpleasant one.”
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
Willow learned from that experience, and although she remained a self-centered woman, she was also aware of how she used the powers she had inherited. She came of age during World War II and though “she knew exactly what was going on overseas and inside the country, she seldom felt a personal connection to it. If she just kept moving, she believed she could sidestep the horror of what was happening in the world.” And so she kept moving, checking in at the Montana ranch occasionally, writing letters from wherever she visited. Then she found her way to Ireland, her family’s ancestral home. In a small remote village among strangers, fate connects her to her powers and to her family, “and she knew she could not flee from her heritage… half a world away and the mysteries had found her.” Now half a lifetime away back at the family ranch in Lodge Grass, Aisling who is so much like Willow once was is carefully uncovering those same mysteries. And even though young Aisling doesn’t realize it, she needs Willow. Their stories and their lives are destined to meld. Willow and The Big Open are definite must-reads for your fall reading list. They entertain and touch your heart at the same time. Loretta Lynde and Stan Lynde have done it again. There is something so poignant in The Big Open – a sense of ending, but also continuing – that seems in itself an apt tribute to San Lynde and his talent. Willow, as with most of Loretta’s books gives a feeling of continuity and connection. While Stan will be missed by all his fans, it’s comforting to know that the family talent will continue in Loretta’s stories. MSN
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 17
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Thoughts On Aging Do you know how to prevent sagging? Just eat until the wrinkles fill out. *** These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, “For fast relief.” *** The Senility Prayer Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference. *** An elderly woman decided to prepare her will and told her preacher she had two final requests. First, she wanted to be cremated, and second, she wanted her ashes scattered over Wal-Mart. “Wal-Mart?” the preacher exclaimed. “Why Wal-Mart?” “Then I’ll be sure my daughters visit me twice a week” MSN
Let us help heat your home This winter, we’re helping keep families safe and healthy by assisting with home heating costs. NorthWestern Energy customers who qualify for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) may receive a discount on their electric and natural gas bills. Customers who rent or own their homes may also be eligible for free weatherization measures. To apply, contact one of our state’s Human Resource Development Councils today.
Call National Energy Assistance Referral (NEAR) toll-free at 1-866-674-6327 or TTY 1-866-367-6228 for local agency information.
PAGE 18 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
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By Craig & Liz Larcom In winter, you could call Dungeness Spit downright loony. Red-throated loons dive close to the shore, in water that may be only a yard deep. Common loons swim a little farther out, Join us as we journey around and down the way, rafts South Central United States. of Pacific loons swim in the strait. The spit, a finger of New Orleans, San Antonio, Carlsbad, land that extends into Santa Fe, Plantation Tour, Swamp the Strait of Juan de Tour, LBJ Ranch, Tour of Cowboy Fuca on Washington’s Stadium and much more. north Olympic Coast, makes for a delightful beach walk, even without the loons. The expansive views, a rarity Toll Free 866-967-9700 in these forested parts, sweep from the Olympic Mountains to the south, to ocean-going vessels, to a lighthouse at the end of the spit, and on to Victoria, British Columbia across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pile of driftwood running up the middle of the strip of land creates plenty of impromptu benches, handy for any time a walker wants to sit for a spell and take in the view. And being close to sunny Sequim, in
the Olympic peninsula’s rain shadow, agreeable weather hovers here. No one will appreciate the spit more than the bird watcher who has stood on the thrumming deck of a super ferry attempting to find the saltwater birds that prefer to live a bit off the shore. The big ferries send the birds diving and flying just as they get into binocular range. But the person who hikes the five-and-ahalf-mile-long spit walks a sandy path, as narrow as 50 feet wide, into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Officially classified as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society, the spit offers excellent birding. Bob Norton, writing in A Birder’s Guide to Washington declares, “The prairies, wetlands, coastline, and offshore waters between Sequim Bay and Dungeness Spit, on both sides of the Dungeness River north of Sequim, are one of Western Washington’s best birding spots. Among areas of comparable size, only Ocean ShoresWestport can rival Dungeness in number and variety of regularly occurring species and for its long (and growing) list of rarities.â€? Long before these accolades arrived, the federal government set aside the spit as Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge in 1915. In that spirit, the east side of the spit, as well as Graveyard Spit which connects to it, is “for the birds.â€? Visitors cannot go there, though they can walk all the way to the lighthouse, peerÍť ĆŒĆľĹ?Ć?ÄžĆ? Ͳ FÄ‚ĹŻĹŻ Ĺ˝ĹŻĹ˝ĆŒĆ? TĹ˝ĆľĆŒĆ? ing over the driftwood Íť Ĺ?Ć?ŜĞLJ Ͳ ZÄ‚Ĺ?ĹŻ TĹ˝ĆľĆŒĆ? from time to time to see the birds in the closed Íť ĹšĆŒĹ?Ć?ƚžĂĆ? DÄ‚ĆŒkĞƚĆ? Ĺ?Ĺś 'ÄžĆŒĹľÄ‚Ĺśy area. Because of its mild winters, waterfowl from t the frozen northland gather here, and in some 3222 1st "WFOVF /PSUI t #JMMJOHT .5 years, snowy owls and TBMFT!NUXPSMEDMBTTUWM DPN even gyrfalcon. A tally XXX NUXPSMEDMBTTUWM DPN of bald eagles in winter might typically come to
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
40 or 50. Other seasons have their own highlights, notably shorebird migration in spring and fall, and a Caspian tern colony far out on the spit in summer. But winter may surpass them all. Brant, sea geese which are attracted by eel grass, concentrate at Dungeness. They arrive in late fall, but numbers build even more come April, typically peaking at about 8,000 birds before they head north. Smaller, saltwater cousins of the Canada goose, they fly fast in wavy lines that ball up from time to time. Shorebirds that reside in winter, such as dunlin, black-bellied plover, and sanderlings, also ball up, but they do not string out and are much smaller. Their formations shimmer as they dart and twist about in tight swarms. Harlequin duck, pigeon guillemot, surf scoter,
white-winged scoter, and black scoter are among the waterfowl bobbing on the water. Birders should also keep an eye out for Eurasian wigeon. Birders should not turn back too soon. Bird life changes as the spit gets farther into the strait. In fact, Bob Boekelheide, director of the nearby Dungeness River Audubon Center, says the best bird watching starts two or three miles after the walk begins. “The birding picks up when Graveyard Spit and a lagoon come into view. You will see thousands of ducks, and at high tide shorebirds roost on the driftwood. Offshore, in the final stretch to the lighthouse, you’ll see scoter, long-tailed duck, and red-breasted mergansers,” he says. Birds are not the only wildlife here. Hikers may see harbor seals sticking their heads out of the water along the way. The seals haul out in numbers
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 19
at the end of the spit. A hike at Dungeness offers a chance to walk one of the longest spits in the world, and to enjoy an abundance of saltwater birds at the same time. If you go: Allow 4 to 6 hours for the hike, which starts in the woods on the bluff above. Do not neglect your “strait” jacket. Even if it is sunny, the area is windy. Low tide provides the easiest walking. Dungeness tide tables are at www.kaleberg. com/tides/dungeness/index.html. From US 101 in Sequim, drive west 5 miles to milepost 260. Turn north onto Kitchen-Dick Road for 3 miles, then left on Voice of America Road. You will drive through the Clallam County Park and campground to reach the trailhead. Fee is $3. For more information, visit www.fws.gov/washingtonmaritime/dungeness or call 360-457-8451. MSN
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MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 21
car is necessary at Alert Bay if one doesn’t mind an outstanding park, restaurant, and overnight active outdoor pursuits are all available. some hiking around town, and a taxi can transport accommodations. It is noted for its fishing and Visitors to Vancouver Island will find expenses you if walking becomes too excessive. wildlife viewing areas. The town feels like an a bit higher than in the states. Food is somewhat U’mista Cultural Centre is located here, a inland community yet you can launch a boat here higher. Lodging costs aren’t too much different good place to start, particularly to learn about First and reach the open Pacific Ocean. with prices somewhat lower during the shoulder Nations life. A wonderful Black bears are seasons. A ferry from the mainland to Vancouver collection of old masks, very abundant on Island costs about $83 for a car and two passengers. all collected before 1920 Vancouver Island Entrance to Butchart Gardens is $27 per person. If and returned to U’mista and might be spotted you want to take “high tea” at The Empress Hotel, from other museums at any time, but to be plan on about $70. is now housed here. assured of seeing Whatever your budget, start planning today A brief movie helps bears plan an early fall because a vacation to Vancouver Island can be visitors understand trip when salmon are the vacation of a lifetime. MSN the meaning behind moving into streams these treasures and to spawn and bears the importance of the are congregating potlatch to Native along these streams people. The potlatch, to fatten up before where a family or a winter hibernation. tribe gives away much Burial totems in Alert Bay honor those who have passed In Zeballos and wealth, helps determine often with family crests. [Photo by Jack McNeel] Tahsis, viewing bears the social ranking of is as much a certainty tribes and individuals. as one might find anywhere. You will find overnight The world’s tallest totem pole, 173 feet, is accommodations and restaurants in each town located above town near the Big House, essentially and when watching bears use caution as some a large auditorium with tribal designs covering the of the natural timidity of these animals is gone outside. Its primary use is for holding potlatches. when so much food is swimming up the streams A burial site in the town proper contains many and hibernation is soon to come. totem poles. Visitors must remain on the street out The southernmost towns are Port Alberni, of respect but the poles are very close and readily Ucluelet, and Tofino. visible. Port Alberni is midway across the island Another community accessible by a 25-minute fully 20 miles from the Pacific but on a saltwater ferry ride from Port McNeill, is Sointula on Malcolm channel that cuts across from the west. It’s a Island. Sointula has a Finnish history. These modern town yet provides harbor-like views of Scandinavians settled on the island in the late fishing boats. 1800s and created a community full of artists, Ucluelet and Tofino are coastal towns musicians, shops, and galleries. It’s also possible separated by Long Beach, about a 20-mile to investigate without a car if one is fairly active. expanse of beaches and campgrounds. Ucluelet Overnight accommodations are also available. is a fishing village with excellent photographic Port McNeill is the second largest town in opportunities of the harbor and many boats. northern Vancouver Island located right on the Another location has views of the open ocean salt water of Broughton Strait. The seawall and beyond a lighthouse. The past few years harbor offer excellent photographic opportunities, have seen tremendous growth in overnight and the area is noted for such marine animals as accommodations, especially small B&Bs, plus orca and humpback whales, dolphins, porpoises, some small restaurants. Like all coastal towns seals, and sea lions – plus bald eagles. there are many opportunities for chartering a Another overnight option is Cluxewe Resort, fishing boat or going on a whale-watching cruise. a Kwakiutl owned campground right on the ocean Tofino has gone from a small First Nations waters of Broughton Strait and backed by the fishing village to a modern town with a full range Cluxewe River estuary. It’s a huge campground of accommodations, including some very upscale with extremely attractive campsites. There are also motels. However it still retains the character of a dozen modern cabins available for rent, each a Native town with many locations to purchase situated on the shore with a view out over the salt Native crafts or to sign up for a cultural cruise water. with a First Nations guide. Hiking, camping, bear Throughout northern Vancouver Island, watching, and whale watching cruises, and other numerous outfitters provide tours to view wildlife or opportunities to fish for salmon, halibut, lingcod, and snapper. Perhaps surprising to many visitors is the number of freshwater lakes found throughout the interior of the island. Some are visible from Highway 19, that runs essentially from Victoria You may qualify for free assistive telephone equipment through the to Port Hardy, but you will discover many more if you explore adjacent communities on the western Montana Telecommunications Access Program! shores. Port Alice is one such small community with
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
What is Fall Open Enrollment? Fall Open Enrollment occurs each year from October 15 to December 7. During Fall Open Enrollment, people with Medicare can make changes to their Medicare coverage with their new coverage taking effect January 1 of the following year. Outside of this time, people with Medicare generally cannot make changes to their Medicare coverage unless certain circumstances qualify them for a Special Enrollment Period. During Fall Open Enrollment, people with Medicare can do the following: • Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan;
• Switch from a Medicare Advantage plan to Original Medicare; • Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another Medicare Advantage plan; • Switch from one Medicare prescription drug plan to another Medicare prescription drug plan; • Join a Medicare prescription drug plan for the first time. Before making any changes during Fall Open Enrollment, it may be helpful for you to look at your current Medicare coverage to see whether your benefits and costs will change in 2014. If there aren’t any changes to your Medicare coverage and you’re satisfied with your coverage, you don’t need to make any changes during this time. However, if there are changes to your Medicare health and drug coverage or you are unsatisfied with your Medicare coverage, you have the right to make changes during this time. You can make as many changes to your Medicare coverage during Fall Open Enrollment, but keep in mind that your last coverage decision made during this time will take effect January 1, 2014. To avoid enrollment problems, it’s best to call 800-MEDICARE when making any changes to your Medicare health and/or drug coverage. If you plan to switch from a Medicare Advantage plan to Original Medicare during Fall Open Enrollment, can you also sign up for a Medigap plan during Fall Open Enrollment? Whether you are allowed to buy a Medigap plan during Fall Open Enrollment (October 15-December 7 of each year), depends on your circumstances and your state’s specific rules on Medigap enrollment. A Medigap plan is supplemental coverage designed to pay for out-of-pocket Original Medicare costs, such as deductibles and coinsurances. Medigap plans do not work with Medicare Advantage plans. You can only have a Medigap plan if you have Original Medicare. Under federal law, you have the right to buy
a Medigap plan at certain times. Federal law allows people 65 years or older to buy Medigaps; however, some states may extend that right to people who are under 65 years old and become eligible for Medicare due to disability, End-Stage Renal Disease, or Lou-Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). For exact rules and protections in your state about Medigap enrollment periods, contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) or State Department of Insurance. If you receive a grey notice in the mail that says you will no longer automatically qualify for Extra Help. What does this notice mean? Sometime in the fall, certain people with Medicare may receive grey Extra Help notices from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This grey notice informs people that they will no longer automatically qualify for Extra Help, beginning the first of the following year. Extra Help is the federal assistance program that helps pay the cost of prescription drugs for those with limited finances. Generally, people who receive this grey Extra Help notice automatically qualified for the program in the past by having Medicaid, a Medicare Savings Program or by receiving Supplementary Security Income. The grey notice is sent to individuals who will no longer qualify for Extra Help in the upcoming year, because they no longer qualify for Medicaid, have a Medicare Savings Program, or no longer receive Supplementary Security Income. People with limited income and resources may still qualify for Extra Help. However, they must apply directly to Social Security to continue receiving the benefit. They can do so by filling out the application attached to the grey notice or by visiting https://secure.ssa.gov/i1020/start. Marci’s Medicare Answers is a service of the Medicare Rights Center (www.medicarerights. org), the nation’s largest independent source of information and assistance for people with Medicare. MSN
When Planning For Open Enrollment, Remember What You Don’t Know About Medicare Part D Can Cost You By Teresa Ambord Do you skip doses of prescribed medicines to stretch your money? How about putting off getting your prescriptions filled? A survey by Walgreen pharmacies shows one in five people skip doses and delay getting their prescriptions filled. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the most common complaint people have about Medicare Part D is the cost. It’s Okay to Switch Pharmacies Most of the people who took the survey said they had a good understanding of Medicare D. But most of them didn’t know they might be Ž able to pay a smaller “Ask me about the AARP co-pay by switching Auto & Home Insurance pharmacies. In fact, many thought they Program from The Hartford.� could not switch drug stores except at open Now available in your area!
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enrollment time. This is false. If you are a Medicare D recipient, you are free to change pharmacies! Walgreen director of pharmacy affairs, Dan Lucy, said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important for everyone to be able to afford the prescriptions they need, and with recent changes to Medicare and other programs under health care reform, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical for beneficiaries to fully understand their options and the ways to make their health care dollars go further. If cost is a contributor to patientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; not adhering to medication therapies, as the survey findings show, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a concern because non-adherence can be a significant and costly barrier in treating illness. This underscores the need to educate Part D beneficiaries about how they can save on prescription and other health care costs.â&#x20AC;? Save $$ on Prescriptions The Walgreen survey also showed: â&#x20AC;˘ Medicare D beneficiaries take an average of eight prescriptions each week, and spend an
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average of $58 per month on co-pays. • Some pay over $100 per month in co-pays. • Most have switched to generic medications to lower their costs, and about four in ten have made another smart move… they are having their prescriptions filled for 90 days at a time. You should also know that if your Part D plan offers a preferred network pharmacy and you use it, you could save hundreds of dollars each year on co-pays. This seems like a great idea, right? But only about one out of four people on Part D knows if their plan has a preferred network pharmacy, and even fewer have made the switch. How much could you save on your co-pays? Up to 75%! What to Do? If you have concerns about the cost of your prescriptions, Walgreen recommends you have a talk with your pharmacist about how you can pay less for your prescriptions. You should also talk to other pharmacists to find out what you would pay for the same prescriptions elsewhere. And don’t
forget, you are free to change pharmacies. Do You Understand the Donut Hole? If you don’t understand that crazy thing called the “donut hole,” you’re not alone. How can something as delightful as a donut be associated with paying for prescription drugs? Admittedly, the name isn’t a good fit. Part of the confusion about the donut hole happens because Medicare Part D has two separate programs. One is for basic coverage, and the other is for catastrophic coverage. (According to Medicare.gov, once you’ve spent $4,700 out-ofpocket for the year, you’re out of the coverage gap. Once you get out of the coverage gap, you automatically get “catastrophic coverage.” It assures you only pay a small coinsurance amount or co-payment for covered drugs for the rest of the year.) In between, there is a gap called the donut hole. When the maximum benefits you get under basic coverage end and you are not yet covered under catastrophic coverage, you are sitting smack
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 23
in the middle of the donut hole. You should know, not all plans have donut holes. Every time you fill a prescription, Medicare should send you an EOB, or Explanation of Benefits. The EOB tells you how much you have spent for covered drugs, whether you are in the donut hole or not, and when you will have to begin paying out of pocket for your medications. Once you reach the donut hole, you will be given a 50 percent discount on your medications from the manufacturer. However, to get that discount you must: • Be enrolled in Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage Part C (which includes drug coverage) • And not be part of a program called “Extra Help” (a program to help people with limited income pay Medicare prescription drug costs, like premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance). When you read your EOB, check for errors. If it appears wrong to you, contact (SHIP) at 1-800551-3191. MSN
New Health-cost Tax Break for Seniors Starts this Year By Tait Trussell Seniors who list various deductions on their income tax returns are getting a little-known break. It deals with health costs. For 2013 taxes, the claim for health related costs was jacked up from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of Adjusted Gross Income – except for taxpayers or their spouses who are 65 or older. For us seniors the deduction remains at 7.5 percent from 2013 to 2017. If your health-care expenses this year are anywhere near those of the typical senior, they would be about $10,600 each for you and your spouse. In 2010, health expenses averaged $8,400, according to a report by the Urban Institute. And they have risen by about 6 percent a year since then, the report said. A senior who smokes or is obese is likely to run up even higher health costs. An operation during the year, say for a broken arm or a knee replacement, would drive your medical expenses up still higher – creating a larger tax deduction. Medical care expenses include the insurance premiums you paid for policies or for a qualified long-term care policy for yourself, spouse, or dependents. You can take this deduction for any dependent, if the dependent qualifies under the terms of IRS Publication 502. You can take only the medical expenses you paid during the year. Your total deductible medical expenses for the year must be reduced by any reimbursement of deductible medical expenses.
There are deduction limits on long-term care policies. For ages 51 to 60, the limit is $1,360. For ages 61 to 70, the deduction limit is $3,640. For ages over 70, the limit is $4,550. IRS publications may be downloaded from the IRS website – www.irs.gov, or ordered by calling 800-829-3676. You list your tax deduction on Form 1040. So, if you have medical expenses (including dental expenses) greater than 7.5 percent of your Gross Adjusted Income, you can deduct these costs. The IRS says medical expenses may include: • Payments to doctors, dentists, surgeons, psychiatrists, chiropractors, psychologists, and
nontraditional medical practitioners. • Payments for in-patient hospital care or nursing home services, including the cost of meals and lodging charged by a nursing home. • Payments to take part in a weight loss program to take care of a specific disease, including obesity diagnosed by a physician, “but not ordinarily payments for food items or payment of health club dues.” • Payments for acupuncture treatments or inpatient treatment at a center for alcohol or drug addiction, for participation in a smoking cessation program, and for drugs that alleviate a nicotine withdrawal that require a prescription.
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
• Payments for insulin and for drugs that require a prescription. • Payment for admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to chronic disease you or your spouse or dependents have “if the payments are essential to necessitated medical care. However, you “may not deduct the cost of meals or lodging while attending the medical conference,” according to IRS. • Payments for false teeth, reading or prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and for guide dogs for the blind or deaf. • Payments for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses, such as the “actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance or for medical transportation by personal care, the amount of your actual out-of-pocket expenses, such as for gas and oil, or the amount of the standard mileage rate for medical expenses, plus the cost of tolls and parking fees.” MSN
Five ways you can be a philanthropist without writing a check Authored by Montana Community Foundation When most people think of the word “philanthropist” they think of people like Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, or Warren Buffet – Americans who have made big impacts by establishing large foundations or gifting huge sums of money to worthy causes or institutions. But ordinary people can be philanthropists too. The word “philanthropy” combines two Greek words, philos and anthropos. Philos means “loving” in the sense of benefiting, caring for, or nourishing, and anthropos means “human being” in the sense of “humanity.” Philanthropy has a very simple definition: to love, affirm or enhance humanity or humankind. In this sense, a philanthropist is anyone who works for the benefit of others or society as a whole – not just those who have the ability to write large checks. You don’t have to be very wealthy to make a big difference for local people in need. In fact, there are lots of ways to give back to your community besides writing a check right now, and most can be accomplished through simple estate planning: 1. Give Your Retirement Plan Assets – Many people don’t know that they can use their retirement plans to make a gift to charity and that using these funds can be an effective estate planning strategy. Retirement plans, including IRAs, Keoghs, 401(k)s, and nonqualified deferred compensation may be subject to income taxes, federal and state estate taxes, and even excise taxes when plan holders die. These taxes can currently consume up to 75 percent of the assets in those plans. This tax makes retirement plans one of the worst assets to leave your heirs but one of the best vehicles for leaving a legacy to the charities you care about. Giving the remainder of a retirement plan is a way to make sure you have access to all your assets during your lifetime while protecting “left-over” funds from taxation. 2. Designate a Charity as a Beneficiary of your Checking or Savings Account – If you’re one of the 65 percent of Americans who doesn’t have a will, you can still leave money to charity by assigning a charity as the payable on death (POD) designated beneficiary of your checking or savings account. You retain control of these accounts during your lifetime, but after the death of the account holder, the balance in the account passes to the designated POD beneficiary – without a will and without your estate entering probate. 3. Bequeath Your Stocks, Bonds or Mutual Funds to Charity – Similar to a POD designation, the Montana Uniform Transfers on Death (TOD) Security Registration Act allows the issuer, transfer agent, or broker of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds to transfer the securities directly to the designated beneficiary upon the owner’s death. You can designate a charity as the beneficiary by filing a TOD registration with the company where the account is held. Just as with the POD designation, a TOD registration does not require a will to designate a beneficiary of these accounts. 4. Leave Your Property to Charity – You can designate your real property (located in Montana) to a charitable beneficiary without probate using a beneficiary deed. Owners can sign and record a beneficiary deed with the clerk and recorder in the Montana county where the property is located. You are not required to obtain the consent of the benefiting party, and the beneficiary has no ownership rights over the property until the owner dies. Using a beneficiary deed could give your favorite charity a new location, or an asset that could be sold for the benefit of the Montanans it serves. 5. Remember Charity in Your Will – Sixty-five percent of Americans don’t have any of the most basic estate planning documents, including a will. In a study that tracked 20,000 Americans over the age of 50 from 1995 to 2006, the University of Georgia found that among people who donate to charity, fewer than 9.5 percent had a charitable estate plan. But leaving a bequest to your favorite charity could make a big difference for the future of Montana. If Montanans left just 5 percent of their estates to charity between now and 2050, more than $6 billion would be given. That’s more than twenty times larger than the largest foundation in Montana! If you have a charity you support regularly, giving using one of these methods is a great way to see that support continue after you are gone. There are lots of ways to make a difference for future generations… and that’s the definition of philanthropy. MSN
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
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How to Find Lost Life-Insurance Policies By Jim Miller Dear Savvy Senior, When my father passed away, we thought he had a life insurance policy, but we haven’t been able to track it down. Do you know of any resources that might help? Searching Family Dear Searching, Lost or forgotten life-insurance policies are actually quite common in the U.S. In fact, it’s estimated that around $1 billion in benefits from unclaimed life-insurance policies are waiting to be claimed by their rightful beneficiaries. While unfortunately, there isn’t a national database for tracking down these policies, there are a number of strategies and a few new resources that can help your search. Here are several to get you started. Search records: If your dad died recently, searching through his financial records is a good first step. Check his files for a policy, records of premium payments, or bills from an insurer. Also contact his employer or former employer’s benefits administrator, insurance agents, financial planner, accountant, attorney, or other adviser and ask if they know about a life insurance policy. Also check safe-deposit boxes, monitor the mail for premium invoices or whole-life dividend notices, and review old incometax returns, looking for interest income from, and interest expenses paid to life-insurance companies. Contact the insurer: If you suspect that a particular insurer underwrote the policy, contact that carrier’s claim office and ask. The more information you have, like your dad’s date of birth and death, Social Security number, and address, the easier it will be to track down. Contact information of some big insurers include: Prudential 800-778-2255; MetLife metlife.com/policyfinder; AIG 800-888-2452; Nationwide 800-848-6331; Forethought 800-331-8853; John Hancock johnhancock.com – click on “Contact Us” then on “Account Search Request.” Get state help: Some state insurance departments have a policy locator service program that can help you locate lost life insurance, or offer resources that can help you with your search. To reach your state insurance department, see the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website at naic.org – click on “States & Jurisdictions Map.” Search unclaimed property: If your dad died more than a few years ago, benefits may have already been turned over to the unclaimed
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property office of the state where the policy was purchased. Go to missingmoney.com, a website of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, to search records from 38 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The pull-down menu under Links connects you to a map and addresses for unclaimed-property agencies. Or, to find links to each state’s unclaimed-property division use unclaimed.org. If your dad’s name or a potential benefactor’s name produces a hit, you’ll need to prove your
claim. Required documentation, which can vary by state, is detailed in claim forms, and a death certificate might be necessary. If you need a copy of your dad’s death certificate, contact the vital records office in the state where he died, or go to vitalchek.com. Tap MIB database: The MIB Group Inc., an insurance membership corporation whose main purpose is fighting fraud, offers a policy locator service to help consumers in their searches for life insurance policies. This service, however,
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only tracks applications for individual policies made since 1996. The service costs $75, requires an original death certificate to get the ball rolling, and takes about seven to 10 days to produce a report. To learn more, visit policylocator.com. 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. MSN
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Sticky Toffee Pudding By Gail Jokerst Here is a recipe that will delight your holiday guests… sweet, sticky, and yummy! Cake 1-cup finely chopped dates (see note), packed 1-cup water 1 stick butter or regular margarine, softened ½-cup dark brown sugar, packed 2 eggs 1-teaspoon vanilla 1-tablespoon golden syrup (see note) 13/4-cups plus 1-tablespoon all-purpose flour 1-teaspoon baking soda 1-cup plus 2-tablespoons light cream Sauce 11/2 sticks butter or regular margarine ¼-cup plus 2-tablespoons heavy cream 11/4-cups dark brown sugar, packed Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. If using regular supermarket dates (see note below), place in a small, covered saucepan with 1-cup water and bring to a boil. Simmer 5-minutes. Remove from heat and let sit, still covered, for 5 more minutes, until dates are soft. Then drain them well, wiping them with a paper towel to dry. In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and syrup. Stir in flour and dates. Dissolve baking soda in light cream and then add to batter, blending well. Grease an 11x7-inch or 8x8x2-inch pan. Pour in batter and bake about 40 to 50 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown and cracks slightly, the sides pull away slightly from the edge of the pan, the cake feels springy when touched, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. While cake is baking, make the sauce. Place topping ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer 3-5 minutes or until thickened. Remove pan from heat. Pour a generous ¼-cup of the sauce over the top of the cake and place the cake under the broiler until the topping is lightly browned and bubbly. Invert cake onto a serving plate and cut into pieces. Spoon some warm sauce onto individual plates and put slices of warm cake on top. Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, if desired. Serves 10. Notes: Medjool dates from a natural foods Accessible Space, Inc. store are generally softer than packaged supermarket dates. If you use them, you may skip the Premier Affordable Senior Housing first step of softening the dates. Corn syrup may be substituted for golden syrup. MSN
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Trick or Treat By Mary Stobie When I was a kid, I looked forward to Halloween. As costumed children approached our door, they heard my father’s deep voice over a loud speaker, “Don’t step on the dead body.” One little girl said, “I won’t.” It was fun as a child, but now that I’m an adult, Halloween makes me edgy. The darkness, the spooks, and the zombies give me the creeps. My husband, fondly known as Watermelon Man, and I moved into a new house last year and didn’t know what to expect on October 31. “I’ll bet we don’t get too many trick or treaters,” I said. “People take their kids to shopping malls these days.” As soon as it got dark the doorbell sounded, “Ding dong. A little ghost, monster, and goblin stood at the door. “Trick or treat.” We gave them candy and wished them well. But with a steady stream of costumed kids holding bags open, within an hour we’d almost run out of treats.
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“I’ll go to the market,” Watermelon Man volunteered. Yikes. I’d be alone at the house on Halloween with no candy. Would the kids play tricks? Put eyeballs on our lawn? Turn gophers loose in the garden? Bring bats onto the porch? When I gave away the last piece of candy, I got an idea. I made a circle of cushions on the lawn and lit a candle. The next group approached – Marmaduke, a tiny Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, a ghost, and a tall zombie. “Trick or treat!” “Jokes are your treat,” I said. “Have a seat.” They formed a circle. “Who was the most famous skeleton detective?” I asked. “We don’t know, who?” “Sherlock Bones.” They groaned. “Don’t you kids have a sense of humor?” I countered. “We want candy,” they countered. “Okay, here’s another one. Where do baby goblins go during the day?” “We give up,” they howled. “Dayscare centers.” Marmaduke barked. I hadn’t expected such a tough audience. “Trick or treat,” they shouted. Then I looked directly at the ghost. “What do you call a ghost who gets too close to the bonfire?” “What?” “A ghost toasty.” Lady Gaga giggled. I had a glimmer of hope. But my mind froze and I couldn’t remember any more jokes. “We want candy, we want candy,” they chanted. A gang of moaning zombies trotted toward me. My heart pounded. Watermelon Man screeched into the driveway with bags of caramels and chocolates. I ripped open the bags, gave candy to the zombies and other kids. I stuffed a Snickers bar into my mouth to calm my nerves. But the sugar and caffeine hyped me up even more. “That was close,” I gasped to my monster, I mean Watermelon Man. So next Halloween we will prepare early. We’ll fill the trailer with Hershey bars and Skittles. And I’m telling better jokes. MSN
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Driving in a Foreign Land Requires Advance Planning Rental cars and unfamiliar â&#x20AC;&#x153;rules of the roadâ&#x20AC;? can be a challenge Q: We are planning a trip to the Caribbean this year and we are thinking about renting a car to see more of the area. What should we keep in mind as we plan our trip? A: If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re planning on traveling outside of the U.S. and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re considering renting a car, it is important to do some research ahead of time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; driving abroad can be an adventure in itself. In more than 75 countries and territories, you drive on the left side of the road instead of the right, and the driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seat is on the right side of the car, rather than the left. In fact, about a third of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drivers go to the left, including motorists in many Caribbean islands. There may be more minor differences in other countries, for instance roundabouts or circular intersections, which are used less frequently on American roads. Before hitting the road in a foreign country, ask yourself a few questions: Do you know if you can turn right on a red light? Is it legal to use a cell phone while driving? Is your U.S. driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license valid? To help you determine the answers to these questions and stay safe while driving abroad, AARP Driver Safety recommends the following four tips. 1. Apply for an International Driving Permit. Some countries will require you to have an International Driving Permit (IDP) to operate a vehicle, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a valid form of identification in over 150 countries. According to the U.S. Department of State, the IDP functions as an official translation of a U.S. driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license into 10 foreign languages. While driving abroad, carry both your IDP and U.S. driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license with you at all times, in case both
forms of identification are needed. Take some time to research driving in the country you are visiting to see if an IDP is necessary, then check with your local AAA or National Auto Club office for more information about how to obtain an IDP. 2. Familiarize yourself with local laws and customs. Many countries have different driving rules than the U.S., so check the U.S. Department of Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s country directory [Travel.State.Gov] for traffic and safety information in the country youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re visiting. Use caution while driving abroad, especially if there are major differences in the rules of the road. For instance, if you must drive on the left side of the road, practice in a safe environment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like a secluded, pedestrian-free area â&#x20AC;&#x201C; before attempting to drive in heavy traffic. If the country you are visiting uses the metric system in cars and on road signs (and most outside of the U.S. do), take some time to explore common conversions. For
example, it may help to know that 30 kilometers per hour equates to approximately 19 miles per hour. Familiarize yourself with local speed limit laws, traffic laws, seatbelt laws and other restrictions. 3. Research the ins and outs of renting a car abroad. You may be more likely to experience a fender-bender in an unfamiliar area, especially in a country where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re less accustomed to the driving rules and customs. Check your auto insurance policy before your trip to see if it covers you for damages incurred while renting abroad. Most policies donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, but some may have a clause about driving in neighboring countries (such as Canada or Mexico). Keep in mind that some car rental companies overseas provide auto insurance, but the required coverage is usually minimal. Consider purchasing additional insurance coverage through the rental company that is at least equivalent to
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what you carry at home. 4. Study the route you will be traveling before hitting the road. Unfamiliar roads, traffic signs, and detours can throw you for a loop, and getting lost in an unfamiliar area can be stressful and unnerving. Using a GPS navigation system complete with the maps for the country you’re visiting can help prevent you from getting lost, but we also recommend that you keep a good road map with you and chart your route before you begin driving. If you’re staying at a resort or hotel, check with the concierge for the easiest and safest route to your destination. If you do get lost, don’t be afraid to pull over to a well-lit gas station or rest stop and ask locals for directions – even with a language
barrier, nonverbal communication such as pointing or drawing can be helpful. Still, use your best judgment and be cautious about whom you ask for information and where, as thieves target tourists in many countries. For more information, visit aarp.org/safedriving or call 1-888-227-7669. Do you have a question for AARP Montana? Send your question to “Ask AARP Montana” at MTAARP@aarp.org or 30 W 14th St., Helena, MT 59601 or call our toll-free hotline at 866-295-7278. As we receive questions, we will consult with both internal and external experts to provide timely and valuable advice. MSN
Aqua Zumba Anyone? By Peggy Henderson If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be making waves to the Latino steps of the salsa, tango, flamingo, yes, belly dancing and, God forbid, in a swim suit at the YMCA, I’d have firmly replied: in your dreams. It’s not that I don’t adore exercise but wearing an old lady swimsuit and performing foreign dance steps. At the very thought, my over-inflated ego screamed, “Play it safe. Why bother to take a chance and make a fool of yourself? Again.” It’s true, as the years spin by faster than Michael Phelps does; we tend to shy away from the unknown. It’s less stressful to rest in the minuscule details of our daily routine. I admit I do value my comfort zones. Nevertheless, I bought my much-advertised Miracle Swim Suit that promised a smoother, trimmer appearance. I rented my locker with a combination lock that immediately tracked me back to the angst of high school algebra combinations. Oh how our wily egos can shipwreck our opportunities for just plain ole fun. Trust me. Dancing with a giddy group of ladies of all sizes and shapes takes away all inhibitions and no matter how you feel easing into the cool water, you will step out of the water energized for the rest of the day. The Zumba is a Colombian dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto “Beto” Perez. Perez was forced to improvise one day in 1986, when he forgot his aerobics music for an exercise class. Using salsa and meringue rhythms, he combined the two, eventually produced a demo reel – and the rest is history. Presently there are 12 million people taking Zumba classes in over 110,000 locations across more
than 126 countries. Aqua Zumba classes are an hour long and are taught by qualified, young, hard-body instructors. Once the music fills the humid arena, ready or not, the party begins. The instructor dances front and center on the pool deck and conducts the group, starting with a brisk warm-up and then into raunchy, racy paces, and finally a much needed cool down. What I like about the swimming pool venue is I can push myself as much or little as I’m willing to challenge the water’s weighty resistance. Like other moderate, low-impact physical activities, the benefits are similar but dancing isn’t boring. It’s no secret that music unlocks the parts of the brain that contains our pleasure hormones. The good news is active participation for a shared purpose can add years to one’s life. For example, it can be bowling, shuffleboard, or maybe miniature golf. Any competitive game that excludes sitting down. The bonus – besides increased longevity – is a promise of improved emotional health and sharper cognitive skills. Surely even a plump, pessimistic goose or gander would find it hard to resist a few more years of paddling around a lake. The known risks of social isolation – meaning little interaction during a week with perhaps only a family member, church service or a medical appointment – is like Fido standing at the door waiting for his master to come home. This sedentary lifestyle for whatever reason creates an opportunity for debilitating depression. In addition, it’s a fact that due to such limited exercise, issues of cardiovascular complications, osteoporosis, and increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis rate high on the at-risk chart. Even scarier, medical experts report our immune system and brain alertness weaken due to little stimulation. What a bummer. More reason to get out of the house and put on our exercise/dancing shoes. You don’t have to go alone. Take a friend. Bribe them with a promise to take them to lunch. Much has been written about living the last chapters of one’s life with grace, wit, and gratitude to the point of ad nauseam. I’m still and will probably continue to fight my competitive ego to the last day of what I call my finishing school – even if no one else can see that I’m not dancing the correct dance movements, no matter that no one gives a cha cha cha that I’m moving right when I should be facing left. No matter. Tomorrow’s another day. For dancing. MSN
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How to Help Extend Driving Years By Jim Miller Dear Savvy Senior, What tips or resources can you recommend to help people with their driving skills? My 84-yearold mother is still a capable driver, but she has declined a little in recent years and could definitely use some help. Concerned Daughter Dear Concerned, With more and more Americans driving well into their 70s, 80s, and beyond, there are lots of tips, tools, and programs available today to help them drive safer and longer. Here are several that may help. Schedule an eye exam – Because about 90 percent of the information necessary to drive is received through our eyes, this is a good first step in ensuring your mom’s driving safety. So get your mom’s eyes checked every year to be sure her vision is up to par. Check medications – Does your mom take any medicine or combination of medicines that could impair her driving? A new resource that can help with this is Roadwise Rx, an online assessment tool at roadwiserx.com that provides personalized feedback on how the medications she may be taking can impact her safety behind the wheel. Evaluate her driving – A do-it-yourself driving assessment is a simple way to help your mom get a handle on her driving abilities and vulnerabilities. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has some
great resources on its website to help with this. Just go to seniordriving.aaa.com, click on Evaluate Your Driving Ability then on Self-Rating Tool, and have her take the Drivers 65-Plus self-rating exercise. Then, click on “Interactive Driving Evaluation” and download the AAA Roadwise Review. This free confidential online screening tool will test her vision and reaction time, which are very important for safe driving. Take a refresher course – AARP and AAA both have older driver refresher courses that can help your mom brush up her driving skills, and learn how to manage and accommodate common age-related changes in vision, hearing, and reaction time. Taking a class may also earn her a discount on her auto insurance. To locate a class contact your local AAA (aaa.com) or AARP (aarp.org/drive, 888-227-7669). Most courses cost under $20 and can be taken in the classroom or online. Another good resource to look into is CarFit. This free assessment program will help your mom adjust her vehicle for a better fit, making it easier and safer to drive. CarFit events are held around the country in select locations. See car-fit.org to look for one near you. Get a professional assessment – If your mom needs some extra help, consider getting a professional assessment done by a driver rehabilitation specialist. They will evaluate her driving ability and test for things like reaction time, decision-making skills, as well as how well she
and her car fit together, pinpointing trouble areas and offering solutions. This type of assessment can cost several hundred dollars. To locate a professional, contact the Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (driver-ed.org, 866-672-9466) or the American Occupational Therapy Association (aota.org/olderdriver). Make some adjustments – Recognizing vulnerabilities and adapting her driving habits to compensate for them can go a long way in helping keep your mom safe and driving longer. Some simple adjustments include not driving after dark or during rush hour traffic, avoiding major highways or other busy roads, and not driving in poor weather conditions. It’s also good to know if there are any older driver’s license renewal provisions in your mom’s state, which you can get by calling her nearby driver’s license office or at iihs.org/laws/olderdrivers.aspx. When to quit – If it gets to the point that your mom’s driving isn’t safe anymore and she needs to quit, The Hartford Financial Services Group and MIT AgeLab provide online resources and free publications like We Need to Talk: Family Conversations with Older Drivers that you can access at safedrivingforalifetime.com. 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. MSN
The Inside Track At The Horse Races Submitted by Julie Hollar A punter (gambler) was at the horse races playing the ponies and all but losing his shirt when he noticed a priest step out onto the track and bless the forehead of one of the horses lining up for the 4th race. Lo and behold, that horse – a very long shot – won the race. As the horses lined up for the next race, the priest again stepped onto the track. Sure enough, he blessed one of the horses. The punter made a beeline for a betting window and placed a small bet on the horse. Again, even though it was another long shot, the horse won the race. The punter collected his winnings, and anxiously waited to see which horse the priest would bless next. He bet big on it, and it won. As the races continued, the priest kept blessing long shots, and each one ended up winning. The punter was elated. He made a quick dash to the ATM, withdrew all his savings, and waited for the priest’s blessing that would tell him the horse to bet on. True to his pattern, the priest stepped onto the track for the last race and blessed the forehead of an old nag that was the longest shot of the day. This time the priest blessed the eyes, ears, and hooves of the old nag. The punter knew he had a winner and bet every cent he owned on the old nag and then watched dumbfounded as she came in last. In a state of shock, he went to the track area where the priest was. Confronting the priest, he demanded, “Father! What happened? All day long you have blessed horses and they all won. Then in the last race,
the horse you blessed lost by a mile. Now, thanks to you I’ve lost every cent of my savings!” The priest nodded wisely and with sympathy said, “My son, that’s the problem with you Protestants. You can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and last rites.” MSN
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Beyond the Controversy of Screening Pioneering psychotherapist shares three exercises for maintaining emotionally while coping with a diagnosis Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been one of the most successful campaigns to raise public awareness in recent history. Unfortunately, in terms of successfully reducing breast-cancer mortality, the results have been mixed, which has caused fierce debate among doctors, researchers, non-profit groups, and patients. “Embedded in the message driving the campaign every October includes instruction to women to strongly consider getting screened for breast cancer, which is often asymptomatic during the early stages, in the hopes Center for of finding cancer before it metastasizes,” says cancer psychotherapist Dr. Breast Health Niki Barr, author of Emotional Wellness, The Other Half of Treating Cancer, (canceremotionalwellbeing.com). Debate over the efficacy of screenings has arisen as new studies reveal possible shortfalls. Self-examinations have not been proven effective; Join us for a tour of younger women experience false positives due to denser breast tissue, as the new center, enjoy well as missed positives, despite clinical examinations; and recently pubrefreshments and receive lished studies such as The New England Journal of Medicine’s findings on a free Pedicure Kit. three decades of screening have been mixed, Dr. Barr says. Saturday, October 5 We listened to patients in our community talk The latter found that screenings did reduce late-stage cancer rates, to 11 am to 1 pm about their mammography experiences and a small extent, but mammograms also drastically increased over-diagnosis 801 N. 29th Street heard that little things could make a big (Second floor of the and unnecessary treatment, including surgeries, toxic drugs and an incaldifference in the experience. Our new breast Cancer Center) culable amount of stress and suffering, she says. center will help make the experience more “I think each woman needs to consider screenings on an individual baprivate and comfortable, and we also offer sis. Family history, age and other risk factors should be considered in their the newest 3D imaging – tomosynthesis. decision,” Dr. Barr says. “It’s equally important to remember that, should As always, our highly-trained and you or a loved one be diagnosed with breast cancer, you should care for experienced staff will your emotional well-being as much as you take measures to restore physimake you comfortable cal well-being.” and treat you with While doctors, nurses, and medical staff tend to your body, you can compassion and respect. And a tend to your mental health with some of these exercises she recommends dedicated breast to her patients: center radiologist will • “Catch” anxious feelings before they become anxiety. Prevent anxious always be onsite. thoughts from becoming full-blown anxiety by “catching” those feelings before they intensify. If you find anxious thoughts repeating themselves in your mind, take out some index cards and a pen and write them down, one by one, one per card. When you’ve written them all down, try to identify which one thought started the chain reaction. Then find the thought that came next. Continue until you have each thought in order. Now, go back to the first thought and write down a new thought that does not make you feel anxious. When the first thought comes to mind, substitute it with the second thought. Continue through the list until you have positive, empowering thoughts for each negative, anxious one. • Release painful feelings and then let them go: Writing down painful thoughts and feelings through journaling is an excellent way of exorcising them. Some people find rereading what they have written can be helpful, but others hesitate to use this tool for fear someone will find it and read To make an appointment, call their private thoughts. For those people, Barr suggests an extra measure (406) 238-2501 or 1-800-332-7156. of release: Shred the pages while focusing on “letting go” of those feelings. er www.billingsclinic.com/breastcenter • Give your mind respite by escaping through music and meditation: Music is a tonic for many things: It can help us relax, lift our spirits, and provide an escape from anxious thoughts and Your health – our commitment to you, from day one. the here and now. Always have favorite CDs easily accessible so you can escape with music whenever you need to. Meditation CDs are available to help you learn how to meditate and to provide guided imagery for meditation, which is scientifically proven to trigger soothing chemical changes in the brain. Try Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield or Guided Dizziness wasn’t planned for my workout this morning. Mindfulness Meditation Glad I talked to Community’s Nurse on Call. by Jon Kabat-Zin. Finally, sleep is an absolute Now, anytime you’re faced with a troubling medical symptom, we’ll put you in the fast lane to easing your mind. must for both physical Community Medical Center’s new 24-7 Nurse on Call telephone service will give you the answers you need to give you and emotional health. peace of mind. Call us. Our registered nurses will help determine if your symptoms require emergency care or whether they’re issues that can be handled by your primary care provider tomorrow. We are your local, trusted resource to If you are having troucheck symptoms fast, without having to look elsewhere. Call us at 406-327-4770. ble sleeping, there are CDs and downloads to For the level of care you need, when you need it, of course it’s Community. help! 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strom. “Having an actual box, with three-dimensional items, gives patients something tangible to use during a confusing time,” Dr. Barr says. Niki Barr, Ph.D. founded a pioneering psychotherapy practice dedicated to working with cancer patients in all stages of the disease, along with their family members, caregivers, and friends. In
her book, she describes an “emotional wellness toolbox” patients can put together with effective and simple strategies, ready to use at any time, for helping them move forward through cancer. Dr. Barr is a dynamic and popular speaker, sharing her insights with cancer patients and clinicians across the nation. MSN
Work Progresses on Blood Test to Spot Breast Cancer Early By Larry Goss, MT (HEW) Barrett Hospital and Healthcare British researchers have started work on targeting the earliest signs of breast cancer by analyzing the DNA in a woman’s blood. Early indications are the test will pick up cancer earlier than identifying lumps by x-ray. The blood test could also help tailor breast cancer treatments for individual patients according to Professor Charles Coombes, from Imperial College of London. “It could provide the clinician with some idea of what genetic abnormalities are occurring in the cancer, and that will help the clinician treat the patient more specifically and with less toxicity,” Coombes said.
The collaborative study at Leicester University and Imperial College London is also looking at applying the same technique to lung and bowel cancer. In the same line of research and development, Eventus Diagnostics in Miami, Florida is developing a new class of immune-based blood tests for cancer detection. The company has been approved to market its blood test to women in the European Union with false negative mammography results. The blood test will reduce concerns about missed cancers. All of these new blood tests for breast cancer are currently being verified in clinical studies at major cancer centers in Israel, Italy, and the United States hopefully to provide new and more effective diagnostic tools. MSN
Finding Comfortable Furniture Dear Savvy Senior, I am in the market for some furniture and could use some help. My husband and I have arthritis and have gotten to the point where getting up from a seated position – especially from our living room couch and recliners – has become a real chore. Can you recommend some good cushioned lift chairs or furniture accessories that can help us? Can’t Get Up Dear Can’t, The task of sitting down and/or getting up from soft cushioned furniture is a common problem for
many people who struggle with arthritis pain and mobility issues. Fortunately there are a variety of home furnishing products and accessories that can help give you a boost. Lift Recliners - Having been around for nearly 30 years now, “electric recliner lift chairs” are one of the most popular types of senior-friendly furniture on the market today. While they look just like regular recliner chairs, lift recliners come with a built-in motor that actually raises and lowers the entire chair, which makes sitting down and getting up much easier.
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How to Choose - With literally dozens of different types and styles of lift recliners to choose from, here are some key points to help you cut through all the options and select a good fit for you and your husband. • Chair size: The recliner needs to fit the person setting in it, so your body size (height and weight), or your husband’s, will actually determine the size of chair you need. • Reclining options: Aside from the lifting system, the degree in which the chair reclines is your choice too. Most lift recliners are sold as two-position, three-position, or infinite-position lift chairs. The two-position chairs recline only to about 45 degrees, which makes them ideal for watching TV or reading. But if you plan to nap, you will probably want a three-position or infiniteposition chair that reclines almost completely horizontally. • Fabric and features: You will also need to choose the type of fabric and color you want the chair to be, or if you want any extra features like built-in heating or massage elements, or a wall-hugging chair. Where to Shop - While there are many companies that make lift recliners – such as Med-Lift, NexIdea, Health Circle, Catnapper, Berkline, Franklin, and even La-z-boy – Pride Mobility (pridemobility.com) and Golden Technologies (goldentech.com) have been around the longest and have the best reputation. With prices typically ranging between $600 and $2,000, you can find lift recliners at many medical supply stores and online. You will also need to know that Medicare provides some help purchasing a lift chair. They cover the lift mechanism portion, which equates to about $300 towards your purchase. If, however, the lift recliners do not appeal to you, here are several other products on the market that might. Risedale chairs - These are open-legged, wing back chairs that are very different from lift recliners because only the seat cushion lifts instead of the whole chair. Made by Uplift Technologies (up-lift.com, 800-387-0896), the Risedale retails for around $500. Uplift also sells a variety of portable seat lifts that can work with any chair in your home and can be used when you are traveling. Couch Cane - Made by Standers, this nifty tool acts as a support handle that makes sitting and standing much easier, and it works on both couches and recliners. The base fits directly under the feet of the furniture for sturdy support. Couch Canes sell for around $100 and are sold online at medical
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 39
equipment sites like medexsupply.com (888-433-2300) and activeforever. com (800-377-8033). Furniture risers - Increasing the height of your existing furniture a few inches is another inexpensive way to make it more accessible. Furniture risers typically range from 2 to 5 inches in height, are made of heavy-duty plastic or wood, and are inserted on the base of the legs or supports of your furniture. They cost from a few dollars up to $50 and can be purchased at Wal-Mart and Target, or online at amazon.com and mobilityhome.com. Send your 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. MSN
Osteoarthritis Symptoms Often Treatable With A Trip To A Physical Therapist Tyler Ladenburg, DPT; Orthopedic Rehab, Kalispell Working with the very active residents of the Flathead Valley, local physical therapists (PTs) see daily the toll that osteoarthritis (OA) takes on our aging population. If you are experiencing symptoms of OA such as morning stiffness, decreased mobility, creaking and cracking of your joints, or pain, you are not alone. Currently, 30 percent of the US population has either been diagnosed by a physician as having OA, or is experiencing activity-limiting symptoms. This includes 50% of those over 65. The most common form of arthritis, OA most often affects the hips, knees, shoulders, spine, and fingers and can cause swelling and joint deformity. Simply knowing you are in the majority as a person with OA is probably not particularly comforting. The real question is, “What can I do to get back to the things I want to do?” There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that without surgery, OA cannot be cured and never “goes away.” The good news is that OA symptoms can be improved dramatically without surgery, using a combination of conservative treatments. These include various medications or injections for pain prescribed by your physician, proper nutrition/hydration, and exercise tailored to your specific needs and limitations. A physical therapist can develop an exercise program for a person with OA that includes strengthening, stretching for improved joint range of motion, and balance exercises. These can be done in a variety of settings, such as an outpatient physical therapy clinic, a warm water pool, or a health club. Strengthening the muscles around joints affected by osteoarthritis improves not only strength (measured by the amount of weight you can push/ TM pull) but also functional abilities (measured by the is a geometrically stable walker! return to activities you enjoy). These exercises With the large wheels forward the Walk`n´ChairTM strengthen the muscles that surround an arthritic can navigate rough or uneven terrain easily. joint, as well as any other measured weaknesses. TM is unlike any ambulatory aid currently available on the market! By strengthening these supporting muscles, stress TM converts from a walker to a wheeled chair placed on the joint can be altered or reduced, leadwith a twist of its patent pending reversible handles. ing to reduced pain and joint wear. Your PT can give you options so your exercises TM is a light weight walker/wheeled chair and completely collapsible for portability! can be performed with as little pain as possible. Lock the brakes to provide stationary seating when needed, or use as a wheeled chair Exercises might include stair-stepping, walking on with or without assistance. a treadmill, or traditional weight-lifting exercises in TM please visit our web site the gym. If these exercises cause increased pain, www.walknchair.com or contact us by phone: (855) 925-5663 or by email: sales@walknchair.com isometrics (in which muscles are exercised but joints do not move) or open chair exercises (during which Here to there and most everywhere in between! the painful joint does not bear the weight of your (406) 388-1248 (Telephone) www.walknchair.com (Web) body) may be used. If none of these exercises work (855) 925-5663 (Toll Free) sales@walknchair.com (Email) 40 Buckskin Road (406) 924-7005 (Fax) Belgrade, Montana 59714 for you, your therapist may suggest warm water pool therapy so that the water’s buoyancy reduces the stress your joints must absorb. Decreased range of motion (ROM) of an ar-
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thritic joint is another consistent symptom of OA that affects the ability of your joints to perform to their full function. PTs use hands-on techniques designed to stretch muscles and restore proper joint motions. These techniques, known broadly as manual therapy, consistently improve joint ROM, and therefore overall joint function.4 If needed, your PT can design a safe exercise program aimed at weight loss. Increased body weight puts you at a greater risk of developing OA. In fact, OA affects 21.7% of those classified as overweight, and 30.6% of those classified as obese.1 Only 16% of those classified as normal or underweight suffer from OA. A weight loss of only 11 lbs. can decrease the risk for OA in some
by as much as 50%.5 These numbers should be encouraging to those who are experiencing mild OA symptoms. Remember, a diagnosis of OA is not an automatic trip to the operating room. If you are feeling stiff and sore, or even if you have had long-standing painful symptoms, it is worth calling a physical therapist. He or she can help you take steps to reduce your pain and get you back to the active and busy lifestyle we all enjoy here in Montana. 1. Arthritis Rheum 2008, 58(1):26-35; 2. Physical Therapy 2005, 85(12): 1301-1316; 3. Physical Therapy 2010, 90(4): 592-601; 4. Physical Therapy 2008, 88(1): 12-21; 5. Arthritis Rheum 1998; 41(8): 1343-1355. MSN
I Can’t Hear You Without My Glasses By Cathy Zimmerman I’m never on the phone for chatting, for small talk. I’m there to hear things that I really want or need to hear, and that’s why I need my glasses when using the phone. When a person has trouble hearing, phone conversations are usually short simply because it’s too difficult to struggle with unheard words. Typically, he/she will say what has to be said, listen to what little can heard, and then get the call over as quickly as possible. That was my method of using the phone until I was introduced to captioned telephone (CapTel). Now I read the other person’s words on the bright, built-in display screen. The words stream across the screen and are powered by a captioning center operator who hears only the voice on the other end of the phone – not mine – and uses voice recognition technology to convert what’s being said into captions. The conversations are confidential and the service provides what I need most – a view of what’s being said over the phone. Who Is This? It’s important for me to know who is calling. There is something very painful about trying to understand names on the phone. Like an owl, I spent the first part of the conversation repeating the word “Who? Who?” But with the CapTel phone, I do not have to ask again and again who is calling. Having the ability to hear what I can, while
reading word-for-word captions of what the other person says, allows me to conduct my phone conversations with confidence. In the past, I would have to gather all the details I could and wait while my brain processed the bits and pieces into something that made sense to me. As a person who regularly conducts business over the telephone, it’s often difficult to anticipate what the subject of the phone call will be. By using Captioned Telephone, I read everything the caller says. Now I can see the day and time of my doctor’s appointments and other important details without asking several times. A Little Louder, Please! When using the CapTel phone, I can increase the volume of the call, as it has several ranges of amplification up to 40dB. This allows me to hear voices that I have been missing – my children who live farther away, my grandchildren whose little voices sound like pleasant whispers, my sisters, brothers, and a couple of cousins. Even before I had the CapTel phone, I would willingly enter into a phone conversation with these dear people, just for the voices themselves. Even though I couldn’t hear everything that was said, I was able to recognize the voices that I’ve heard for many years. They are unique to special people in my life. CapTel Solves Other Problems. There are still many people who don’t want others to know they have hearing loss, and I was one of those people many years ago. Now it doesn’t bother me to admit or even broadcast the fact. With captioned telephone, I can be in control of my calls. I explain
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I’m not stage II breast cancer.
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Our team of doctors, specialists and dedicated Breast Health Navigators answer your questions and arrange the best possible treatment. They’re also a resource for nutritional and spiritual guidance during a difficult time. We provide this service as part of our mission to combine clinical trials and the latest technology with a personal approach to cancer treatment. To learn more, call (406) 238-6290 or visit svfrontiercancer.org.
PAGE 42 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
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to the caller that I’m reading their words on the phone so there may be a slight delay in my response. My family is glad that they don’t have to repeat what they have said, so it saves a good bit of aggravation for both sides of the conversation. Special Features. A marvelous feature of the CapTel 800i phone is the permanent phone book. Once the names and numbers of your favorite people are programmed into the phone, simply locate their name and pick up the phone to call them. You don’t have to dial. I may not be a technological person, but I am impressed with that feature – and if I was able to put the phone numbers and names into the unit, anyone can. Here’s something else that you might want to think about. A person like me, who doesn’t hear well even with a hearing aid, must learn to compensate to stay in the real world. On the CapTel 840i phone, there is a feature that saves up to 480 lines of conversation captions so that I can review them after the call is complete. So if I’m not sure whether someone said what I thought they did, I can review the captions again and again. Many times, persons with hearing loss will hand the phone to a spouse or someone
else in their home. I understand that perfectly because that’s what I used to do, but not any longer. Now I can hear the familiar voices and enjoy the giggles and excitement in voices, and be able to listen politely when the occasion is serious and someone needs my understanding. Since I can read everything that’s said, I don’t have to worry any more about whether I’m ordering something accidentally or replying foolishly to a question. With CapTel, I’m active in my conversations again. All I need is my glasses. Where did I leave them this time? Captioned Telephone Relay Service (CTRS) is available in both English and Spanish. The service is provided free of charge through many state programs. Placing and receiving calls is simple and easy, but a CapTel phone is required. It requires an analog (traditional) or internet phone line for both voice and captions. Hamilton Relay and other relay services also offer a Web-based relay and recently mobile phones applications have been made available to provide captions on the move. Visit hamiltonrelay. com and captel.com for more information. MSN
Five Ways Older Adults Can Be More Active By The National Diabetes Education Program (NAPS) – As you get older, your risk for health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, increases. You also have a greater chance of getting type 2 diabetes if you have a family history of the disease. But it’s never too late to lower your risk. Research shows that modest weight loss through healthy eating and being active can help to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people over age 60. If you are overweight, losing 5 to 7 percent of your current body weight can help you prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. If you weigh 200 pounds, this means a weight loss of about 10 to 14 pounds. Talk to your doctor about setting safe weight loss goals and ways to be more active. Getting Started & How to Get Moving – Once you set your goals, decide what small steps you will take to get started. For example, you might say, “I will walk for 10 minutes after lunch to be more active each day” until you reach at least
30 minutes a day, five days a week. Be active, move more and sit less to help yourself lose weight or stay at a healthy weight and be more flexible and strong. Ask your health care provider how you can safely start to be more active. Before being active, be sure to warm up to get your body ready. Shrug your shoulders, swing your arms, or march in place for three to five minutes before you begin any activity. Five Ways to Be More Active – There are many ways you can get active at little or no cost, such as walking or doing chair exercises. Find an activity you can enjoy so you can stay at it. This will make it easier to stick to your plan and reach your goals. Try these ideas: • Around the House. Things that you do every day can help you be more active. Stand up from a chair and sit down again without using your hands. Rise up and down on your toes while standing and holding on to a stable chair or countertop. When you watch TV, stretch and move around during commercial breaks. You can also walk around the house when you talk on the phone. Follow along with a video for older adults that shows you how to get active. • Around Town. Being more active can also be a great way to meet friends. Join a local walking group. Always walk in safe places Welcome New Patients such as the mall, muFlynn Sherick, D.P.M. seum, or a community Michael Reed, D.P.M. center. Wear shoes that 406-721-1171 fit your feet and provide 2831 Fort Missoula Rd, Ste 302, comfort and support. Physician Center #2, Missoula • While Running ErSt. Joseph Medical Ctr, Polson www.ankleandfootcareclinic.com rands. Make getting ac-
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tive a part of your regular day. If it is safe, park the car farther away from stores or restaurants. If you take the bus or train – and the area is safe – get off a stop earlier and walk the rest of the way. • With Your Family. Get your family involved to make being active more fun. Teach the younger people in your life the dances you enjoy. Plan a trip to the local pool and go for a swim together. Moving around in the water is gentle on your joints.
• Get Outside. When you can, get active outside. Take care of a garden or wash your car. Enjoy a brisk walk with friends or family around a park, museum, or zoo. For more tips to help prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, download or order the It’s Not Too Late to Prevent Diabetes. Take Your First Step Today tip sheet or Small Steps. Big Rewards. Your Game Plan to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: Information for Patients booklet from
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 43
the National Diabetes Education Program at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org or call 1-888-6936337; TTY: 1-866-569-1162. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Diabetes Education Program is jointly sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the support of more than 200 partner organizations. MSN
Science is an integral part of culture. It’s not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It’s one of the glories of human intellectual tradition. - Stephen Jay Gould
Back Pain Causes You Won’t Hear about from Your Doctor Knowing these Causes Can Help You Get Relief and Prevent Future Problems, Expert Says By Ginny Grimsley Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” has never been more apt considering the millions of Americans who suffer from back pain. “But how can anyone take preventative measures when most back-pain specialists take a one-dimensional perspective on this common problem after back trauma has occurred?” asks expert Jesse Cannone. Most people experience significant back pain at some point in their lives; unfortunately, the response from the medical community is too often surgery, which fails 60 percent of the time, according to a consensus of surgeons. “The back consists of many intricate anatomical parts, all of which are dependent on the smooth functioning of each other, but there are many factors people don’t know about that affect the back’s function throughout a lifetime,” says Cannone, author of “The 7-Day Back Pain Cure,” (www.losethebackpain.com). “In order to better heed Franklin’s advice, more people need to know how back pain starts. Sadly, in most cases, they won’t get this profoundly helpful info from their doc.” Health should always include a comprehensive view, including vigilance for mental, dietary, and physical well-being,
he says. Below, Cannone covers in detail the physical causes that often lead to back pain over time: • Minor problems can lead to major back dysfunction: When a physical condition isn’t corrected, the body starts to break down. Tight muscles can pull the vertebrae out of alignment, pinching a nerve or creating a herniated disc. Physical dysfunctions can pressure joints and, over time, stress them to the maximum until they develop inflammation and injury. Overworked muscles can go into spasm, causing pain and forcing the body into physical dysfunction. Pain from this condition is often triggered by a specific activity, like heavy lifting, which is why most people believe they’ve “thrown out” their back in a singular event. In reality, however, it was a long process. • Muscle imbalances – the tug of war inside your body: We’re born with well-balanced bodies, but rarely do they stay that way. Over time, we tend to favor one side of our bodies, and with repetitive activities, we often create imbalances by working some muscles too much while underutilizing others. Sitting is one way of creating imbalance, but various activities – writing, eating, cleaning, cooking, laundry – in which we favor one hand over the other can, too. • Lack of muscle use: Unlike other machines, which wear out the more they’re used, the human body grows stronger the more you use it. When you don’t use all of
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your muscles regularly, the muscles that keep the body balanced wither. • Loss of muscle flexibility: Women who frequently walk with high heels often suffer a variety of problems as a result. One problem is the shortening of the calf muscle. Imagine the muscle as a rubber band that extends from the back of your knee to your heel. When you wear high heels, the
rubber band shortens and, over time, the muscle adapts to this contracted position. When you take off the heels, the calf muscle will feel pulled. This frequently happens to other muscles in the body, throwing off body balance. Jesse Cannone is a leading back-pain expert with a high rate of success for those he consults.
He has been a personal trainer since 1998, specializing in finding root causes for chronic pain, and finding solutions with a multidiscipline approach. Cannone publishes the free email newsletter Less Pain, More Life, read by more than 400,000 worldwide, and he is the creator of Muscle Balance Therapy™. MSN
Shingles Vaccine Protects And Is Covered By Medicare Older adults who get the shingles vaccine can actually cut their risk of getting the painful condition in half, and those that do happen to get it are likely to have a milder case if they’ve been inoculated. Here’s what else you should know about the shingles vaccine, along with how it’s covered by Medicare. Shingles Overview – Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a burning, blistering, often excruciating skin rash that affects about 1 million Americans each year. The same virus that causes
chickenpox causes it. What happens is the chickenpox virus that most people get as kids never leaves the body. It hides in the nerve cells near the spinal cord and, for some people, emerges later in the form of shingles. In the U.S., one out of every three people will develop shingles during their lifetime. While anyone who’s had chickenpox can get shingles, it most commonly occurs in people over age 60, along with people who have weakened immune systems. But you can’t catch shingles from some-
one else. Early signs of the disease include pain, itching, or tingling before a blistering rash appears several days later, and can last up to four weeks. The rash typically occurs on one side of the body, often as a band of blisters that extends from the middle of your back around to the breastbone. It can also appear above an eye or on the side of the face or neck. In addition to the rash, more than one-third who get shingles go on to develop severe nerve pain that can last for months or even years. Vaccination Coverage – The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone age 60 and older should get a one-time shingles vaccination – called Zostavax. Even if you’ve already had shingles, you still need the vaccination because reoccurring cases are possible. See zostavax.com or call 877-974-4645 for more information or to locate a vaccine provider in your area. The vaccine is also very safe. For most people the worst side effect is mild redness or arm soreness. You also need to know that Medicare covers the shingles vaccine as one of its preventive benefits. But, unlike some other vaccines that are paid through Part B, the shingles vaccination is covered by Part D. If you have a Part D prescription drug plan, it will pay for the vaccine itself and for your doctor or other health care provider to give you the shot. You are only responsible for paying the plan’s approved copay at the time you get vaccinated, which usually runs $60 to $80. But, you need to make sure you follow your plan’s rules in order to keep your out-of-pocket costs down. If you’re vaccinated at a drugstore, check to make certain it’s in your Part D plan pharmacy network. Otherwise, the shot will cost you more than your usual copay. If you’re inoculated in a doctor’s office, check to make sure the office can bill your plan or at least can work through a drugstore in your plan’s network. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay the entire bill upfront and then claim reimbursement from your plan. Just to be safe, call your Part D drug plan ahead of time and ask which pharmacies and doctors in your area you can use to receive the shingles vaccine at the plan’s regular copay. 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. MSN
Dear Betty Addresses Medical Errors Dear Betty, My neighbor told me she read an article stating that about 15 percent of hospitalized Medicare patients experience some kind of serious medical error. Great! I am heading to the hospital for a hip replacement and I am scared to death enough already. I can hardly walk now, so I cannot postpone this. I am just going to say a prayer and hope for the best - and ask if you have tips for coming out of this in one piece. Ideas? - Scared of Surgery Dear Scared, While it is estimated that one in seven hospitalized Medicare patients may experience an adverse event, there are things you can do to reduce your chances of landing in that group. For starters, find an advocate who will stick with you from doctor visits to hospital time. When
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you’re worried, stressed, heavily medicated, or in pain you’re not in the best shape for remembering information, reading medication labels, or checking to see if healthcare workers are following safety protocols. Ask your spouse or another close family member or friend to be your advocate. Once you have got your “back-up,” get going on these other safety measures: Know your medicines, including dosage, and why you take them. Be sure your doctor has a list, too, and knows about any allergies you have. When new medicine is prescribed, learn why you need it and about possible side effects. Make sure the medicine you are given is what the doctor ordered for you. A recent study of hospitalized Medicare patients showed that medication errors – wrong drug, wrong dosage, or not addressing side effects – were a factor in more than half the patient fatalities. Be informed about your condition and recommended treatment. Physicians and hospitals frequently offer patient literature. Websites of respected medical groups offer information, too. Above all, ask questions when you do not understand what your doctor is telling you. Make sure your doctor and your surgeon agree on what will be done during your operation, and find out who will manage your care in the hospital so you can contact that person if you have concerns. When tests are ordered, know when to expect
results. Do not assume the results were fine if you do not hear anything. Paperwork could have been misplaced or sent to someone else. When results come, read them carefully. You want to make sure they are your tests and not someone else’s, and note any questions for your doctor. Be sure your care providers wash their hands before they touch you. If you are embarrassed to ask, remember that hospitals all across the nation are currently engaged in hand-washing campaigns. This simple step has been shown to help prevent hospital-acquired infections, of which 1.7 million occur each year causing nearly 100,000 deaths. Also, check out the patient safety record of your hospital, particularly for surgical measures, at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Switch hospitals if you need to. Finally, before you leave the hospital make sure you know which problems to watch for and who to call if they happen (see www.medicare.gov/ publications/pubs/pdf/11376.pdf). For more checklists see www.campaignzero. org and www.hospitalinfection.org/protectyourself.shtml. Consumer Reports has good tips on protecting yourself in the hospital as well (www. safetypatientproject.org: Topics/Medical Errors/ Staying safe in the hospital). MSN
How to Choose a Home Blood Pressure Monitor
By Jim Miller Dear Savvy Senior, What can you tell me about home blood pressure monitors? My doctor recently told me that I have hypertension and need a monitor for the house so I can keep an eye on it. But with all the choices, I’m a little overwhelmed. Hypertensive Helen Dear Helen, Everyone with high blood pressure (140/90 or higher) or prehypertension (between 120/80 and 139/89) should have a home blood pressure monitor! Home monitoring can help you keep tabs on your blood pressure in a comfortable setting. Plus, if you’re taking medication it will make certain it’s working, and alert you to a health problem if it arises. But with all the styles and options available today, selecting one can be confusing. Here are some tips to help you choose. Types of Monitors - While there are various types of blood pressure monitors on the market (manual monitors, automatic and semi-automatic upper arm monitors, wrist monitors, and finger monitors) the most popular option that’s also recommended by the American Heart Association is an automatic monitor for the upper arm. The reason? They’re reliable and simple to use. With an automatic arm monitor, you simply wrap the cuff around your bicep, and with the push of one button the cuff inflates and deflates automatically giving you your blood pressure reading on the display window in a matter of seconds. Semi-automatic models work the same way, except you inflate the cuff manually by squeezing a rubber bulb. Manual blood pressure monitors on the other hand aren’t nearly as popular because they require you to check your own blood pressure with a stethoscope which is difficult for most folks. And wrist and finger monitors are not recommended because they’re not considered to be as accurate. What to Know - To help you choose a good monitor that meets your needs, here are several things you need to check into: • Cuff size: If you’re opting for an arm monitor, make sure it has a cuff that fits your bicep. Blood pressure readings will be wrong if your cuff is the wrong size. • Accuracy: Check the packaging to make sure the monitor has been independently tested and validated for accuracy and reliability by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation or the British Hypertension Society. Many monitors on the market are not, and their readings may not be reliable. A list of validated monitors is available at the British Hypertension Society’s Web site at www.bhsoc.org. • Display: Be sure you can read the numbers on the display comfortably. Most automatic models offer
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The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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extra-large digital displays and some even have voice-announced readings. • Extra features: Depending on your wants and needs, many automatic arm monitors come with a variety of additional features such as a built-in pulse (heart rate) measurement, irregular heartbeat detection, memory to store previous readings and computer connections so you can download the data to your computer. • Portability: If you plan to take your monitor
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with you while traveling, look for one with a carrying case. Where to Shop - While there are many companies that make and sell automatic blood pressure monitors, the leading supplier in the industry and the one most often recommended by Consumer Reports is Omron (omronhealthcare.com, 877216-1333). Other top makers include LifeSource, ReliOn, Microlife, HoMedics, Proton and Lumiscope. You can find these and other monitors at most pharmacies, medical supply stores or online at prices ranging from $30 to over $100, and you don’t need a prescription to buy one.
Savvy Tips - After you buy a monitor, it’s a good idea to take it to your doctor’s office so they can check its accuracy as well as teach you the proper techniques of how and when to use it. And for more information on high blood pressure, including tips on how to check it, visit “Your Guide To Lowering High Blood Pressure” at www.nhlbi. nih.gov/hbp. Send your questions to Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit www.savvysenior.org. Jim Miller is a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of The Savvy Senior. MSN
Debunking the Myths of Older Adult Falls Many people think falls are a normal part of aging. The truth is they’re not. Most falls can be prevented – and you have the power to reduce your risk. To promote greater awareness and understanding about falls, here are five common myths – and the reality – about older adult falls: Myth 1: Falling is something normal that happens as you get older. Reality: Falling is not a normal part of aging. Strength and balance exercises, managing your medications, having your vision checked and making your living environment safer are all steps you can take to prevent falls. Myth 2: If I limit my activity, I won’t fall. Reality: Some people believe that the best way to avoid a fall is to stay home and limit activity. Not true. Performing physical activity will actually help you stay independent by strengthening your muscles and improving your balance. It is never too late to start an exercise program. Myth 3: Taking medications doesn’t increase my risk of falling. Reality: Taking any medication may increase your risk of falling. Medications affect people in many different ways and can sometimes make you dizzy or sleepy. Be careful when starting a new medication. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist
about potential side effects or interactions of your medications. Myth 4: I don’t need to get my vision checked every year. Reality: Vision is another risk factor for falls. Aging is associated with some forms of vision loss that increase risk of falling and injury. People with vision problems are more than twice as likely to fall as those without visual impairment. Have your eyes checked at least once a year and update your eyeglasses. For those with low vision, there are programs and assistive devices that can help. Ask your eye doctor for more information. Myth 5: Using a walker or cane will make me more dependent. Reality: Walking aids are very important in helping many older adults maintain or improve their mobility. However, make sure you use these devices safely. Have a physical therapist fit the walker or cane to you and instruct you how to use it correctly and safely. For more information on preventing falls, contact the MT Department of Public Health & Human Services Injury Prevention Program at 406-444-4126 or dphhs.mt.gov/. Information provided by 2013 National Council on Aging, All Rights Reserved. ncoa.org/falls MSN
Montana Neuroscience Institute Conducting Diabetes Clinical Trial By Kacia Bundle, RN According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 10.9 million people over the age of 65 are affected by diabetes and by 2050, 1 in 3 people will have the disease. It is the leading cause of new cases of blindness, stroke, kidney disease, and heart attack. Frequently, symptoms in the elderly can be missed because they resemble common conditions of aging such as increased urination, thirst, vision, and mental problems. With continuing diabetes research, patients are offered new hope for a successful treatment or cure. Through the Montana Neuroscience
Institute (MNI), patients have access to many of these cutting-edge clinical trials. The Montana Neuroscience Institute is a nonprofit, collaborative effort between the University of Montana and Providence St. Patrick Hospital. The mission of the institute is to bring innovative clinical research trials to patients suffering from a variety of neurological illnesses, as well as to provide education to students, medical providers, and the public. Aside from diabetes, the institute has conducted studies related to Parkinson’s disease, MS, ALS, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. If you would like additional information about the institute or any of our current trials, please contact us at 406-329-2664, or visit our website at www.mnif.umt.edu. MSN
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“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ – Martin Luther King Jr. All major religious traditions carry basically the same message that is love, compassion, and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. – Dalai Lama Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do. – Khalil Gibran MSN
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Indian summer has come and soon will be replaced with fall’s chilly mornings, beautiful sunrises, spectacular sunsets, and frost on the pumpkins. We are all enjoying the brightly colored changes brought by the new season. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone new in your life with whom to enjoy the beauty of this time of year? Take time today to write a personal ad or reply to one of the personal ads on these pages. To respond to any of these personal ads, simply forward your message, address, phone number, or email address to the department number listed in the particular personal ad, c/o Montana Senior News, P.O. Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. We will forward your response, including your address, phone number, and/or email address to the person placing the ad. When you answer an ad in this section, there is no guarantee that you will receive a response. That is up to the person who placed the ad. Please be sure you submit your correct address plainly printed, so you can promptly receive responses. Respond to the ads in this issue, and also sit down now and prepare your own ad to run in our next issue. There is no charge for this
service, and your ad may lead you down the path of true love! Responses to personal ads appearing in this column can be submitted at any time. However, to place a personal ad in the December 2013/ January 2014 issue, the deadline is November 10, 2013. DWF Christian, an attractive young 67, 5’4” and 130lbs, looking for Christian spiritual man with interests similar to mine. A beard is a plus! I enjoy concerts, gardening, hikes, reading, nature, and many other things. I have three years of college with a major in art. Reply MSN, Dept. 30101, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. DWM, 70, 5’11” 200 lbs. Good health, many outdoor interests including camping, fishing, hunting, and yard sales. Would like to meet a lady, 65-73, from the Thomson Falls area please. A photo and phone number would be great. Reply MSN, Dept. 30102, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. SWM seeks lonely lady who cannot find anyone to be with. I will be here for you. Looks and age are unimportant to me for a long-term relationship. Phone and photo appreciated. I will answer all replies. Reply MSN, Dept. 30103, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. Single white Christian woman seeking a lifelong mate. I am clean and free of smoking and drinking. I am a little fuller of figure. I also
love to cuddle, be close, and be passionate. I enjoy cooking and baking for others and I am tired of doing it for just myself. I am only 50, but age is just a number, you are only as old as you feel. I am interested in older men, 55-70. I like bicycling, scenic drives, picnics, pool, fishing, swimming, and playing cards. When I watch TV, I like a good mystery or game show. Please send a picture, with your address and phone number and I will answer all letters of response to this ad. Thank you! Reply MSN, Dept. 30104, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. SWF early 60’s, not slim, but attractive, intelligent, mutli-talented, fun, opinionated, faithful, outspoken, romantic, tenderhearted, and with high morals. I live a happy, busy life and enjoy singing, dancing, church, classic rock, picnics, camping, art, movies, plays, shooting pool, bowling, family friends, TV, eating out, board games, and card games. Seeking ND, NS Christian man who doesn’t abuse drugs or gamble. He must live in Hamilton area or be willing to move here. My home is paid for and I have family nearby. The only thing missing is you! You need not be gorgeous or rich but truly love Jesus and have some income. I prefer slim to medium build, but height, age, and race are unimportant. It’s more important that you’re honest, affectionate, kind, generous, dependable, and still practice chivalry. Singing, playing guitar, and working a 12-step program would be bonuses. If you’re tired of being alone and desire a Christ-centered relationship starting as friends, please include address and photo with your letter. Reply MSN, Dept.
October is Volunteer Appreciation Month. Contact MTBL to find out about the new BARD Mobile apps available soon. To learn more, visit MTBL at 1515 East 6th Avenue in Helena or call 800.332.3400.
MTBL is a Regional Library of the National Library Service.
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30105, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. SF 61-years-young, NS would like to meet a trustworthy Christian man 51-70 who likes camping, fishing, yard sales, card games, church music, etc. Deep knowledge of outdoors and willing to teach is a plus. Let’s start with friendship and see what the future may hold. Within an hour or so from
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Missoula, please. Enclose photo with letter, please. Reply MSN, Dept. 30106, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. WWF, 70-years-young and still looking good. My husband was a good man, so I am looking for the same. If you lost that special person, look now… I could be the one. Reply MSN, Dept. 30107, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. MSN
Dance Shoes Lead to the Big Question By Mary Stobie Life often surprises me. Living single in a Colorado mountain town, I doubt I’ll remarry. Besides the lack of men, weddings give me the willies. But after living alone a few years, my neighbor Sally, invites me to take dance lessons. When the evening arrives, I wear a black dress and silver shoes. Sally wears a flowered dress and heels – we barely recognize each other. She drives me to the dance studio in Denver. Inside the dance hall, I gaze at a group of women in evening dresses. The men – mostly wearing suits and ties – wait across the dance floor from the women. The memory of being a wallflower at Junior High Cotillion flashes across my mind. “Find a partner for the waltz,” the instructor says. Following the steps of a man proves difficult for me. With fits and starts, I let go of my ringleader tendencies and begin to enjoy myself. After the class, the instructor says, “Mary, dump those flats, you need dance shoes.” And she tells me where to get them. The next day on a street with quaint shops, I fail to locate the dance store. The sign for Grandfather’s Books catches my eye. Figuring a book person will know the area, I open the door. Bells jingle. A handsome man with silver hair is eating potato chips and reading The Hobbit. It turns out he’s the owner, Dick. I ask him for directions to the dance store. “Yes, I know where it is, but tell me something first. Who are you?” He engages me in conversation and we talk for an hour, discovering we have much in common. From our great conversation, I agree to help in his non-profit bookstore as a part-time volunteer. Before I leave, he says he likes to do the jitterbug. And so with Dick’s directions, I find the dance store and buy a pair of Capezio shoes, not realizing I have met the man who will change my life. After volunteering in Dick’s bookstore and nine months of get-togethers, I wonder if we should keep it the way it is – a friendship. But then something romantic happens. On Valentine’s Day, we attend a centering prayer group. Afterwards we go Dutch to Denny’s! Our conversation sizzles, and our rela-
tionship steps up to another level. After a year of hikes, ski trips, movies, and dinners (and some aren’t even Dutch), we find we are together more than apart. At a mountain lake, Dick gets down on bended knee. It is a touching sight to see him gazing up at my eyes. “Will you marry me?” he asks. I am surprised but pleased at his offer. But since I hesitate to accept, he says he’ll give me time to think. Luckily, Dick keeps his offer of marriage open. His sense of humor entices me, and we continue to see each other. “I know you’re in love with me, I can see it in your eyes,” he says. Finally, I tell Dick, “Yes, I’ll marry you. How about a destination wedding in Mexico?” “No,” Dick says. “My friends won’t be able to travel to Mexico, especially my friend in a wheelchair.” “I concede,” I say. “My mother’s in a wheelchair, too.” Now it’s time to announce our wedding plans to friends and relatives. When I tell Sally I’m getting married, she says, “Really? You?” “Yes, me.” For the wedding, I choose a white lacy top with a long black skirt and add my black Capezio dance shoes I bought the day I met Dick. Because my mother is in fragile health, we hold the ceremony in the guest dining room of her nursing home. When I walk in, Dick is waiting, looking handsome in his new wool blazer, slacks, and shined shoes. His blue eyes light up as we approach each other. My mother and my elderly aunt beam. As we’re surrounded by the warmth of family and friends, I am thrilled to feel love for Dick and his love for me. With a priest friend officiating, Dick and I say our sacred vows to each other, promising to share our hopes, dreams, fears, and laughter. And after three years am I ever glad I married him – the companionship, conversation, and physical affection are all delightful. To love and be loved again is a blessing. And I have a fun partner who smiles at me when we’re dancing and still calls me his “beautiful bride.” Sometimes I wonder how it happened. Yes, life is full of surprises. MSN
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Tips to Extend the Life of Your Car, Truck, or RV Provided by State Point Media Your vehicle is one of your biggest investments, so taking care of your car or truck just makes good sense. While regular wear and tear cannot be avoided over time, there are some important steps you can take to keep your vehicle on the road longer: Wash Your Car – Regularly washing your car may keep you riding in style, but a clean vehicle is not just for appearances. Keeping your car or truck clean and free of debris and detrimental road salt will prevent rusting and costly repairs down the line. Oil Changes and Filters – To protect your engine, follow your manufacturer’s recommended oil change intervals. Instead of conventional oil, consider using high performance synthetic motor oil designed to reduce wear, heat and fuel consumption. Just like motor oil, not all oil filters are of the same quality. Since the oil filter prevents contaminants from circulating through the system and causing damage, opting for a premium oil filter will extend the life of your vehicle. For example, Royal Purple oil filters use micro-glass filter technology. Advanced micro-glass oil filters are designed to extend the life of vehicles and equipment. In addition to superior filtration media, the other internal and structural components are of higher quality materials, making for easier installation and removal. More information on motor oil and filters can be found at www.RoyalPurpleConsumer.com. Driving Smoothly – The way you drive can affect your vehicle’s performance and longevity. Take care to accelerate and decelerate smoothly.
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Not only will you increase your fuel economy, but also you’ll extend the life of your brake pads. Avoid feel-good driving maneuvers like revving the engine and try not to drive on a nearly empty gas tank. Neither of these behaviors is good for your engine and could result in costly repairs. By following a maintenance routine and practicing good driving habits, you can extend the life of your vehicle well after driving it off the lot. MSN
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Classic DVD’s: Historical Films By Mark Fee Over the decades, Hollywood has produced many films about historically significant men, women, and events. Films like El Cid (1961); Becket (1964); Zulu (1964); Agony and the Ecstasy (1965); and Anne of a Thousand Days (1969) were inspiring, breathtaking, overwhelming, and unforgettable. Because of the onslaught of multiculturalism and political correctness, historical films have all but vanished from the screen. El Cid (1961) would be considered intolerant and perhaps banned. The media might consider Becket (1964), about a prodigious conflict between the church and state, too religious. Despite rampant political, academic, and entertainment mindlessness (it’s referred to as “mindfulness”), there are many classic historical DVDs worth watching. Listed below are some of my favorites and a few sleepers. In El Cid (1961), Charlton Heston plays Spanish nobleman, Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar. Rodrigo is in love with the exceedingly lovely, Chimene (Sophia Loren). Rodrigo unintentionally kills her father, so Chimene hates Rodrigo and swears revenge. Rodrigo must fight to the death to regain Chamine. He leads the armies of Spain against the advancing and amassed forces of a fanatic Islamic leader. El Cid is an opulent, stunning, rich historical epic about sacrifice and honor. Anthony Mann directs with a master’s eye for action and drama. Not rated; 3.5 stars. In Becket (1964), Richard Burton plays Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Becket is the friend of King Henry II, played by Peter
O’Toole. Becket and the king are boisterous, lustful, drunken friends. Becket manages the finances for the realm. When Henry asks Becket to become Bishop of Canterbury, Becket has a change of heart. He cannot serve two masters. Henry wants more and more power, including the church. Becket won’t bend; neither will Henry. Henry has his friend killed by loyal barons. Becket is a profoundly moving and monumental film. Burton is somewhat stiff as Becket; O’Toole is exuberant. Rated PG-13; 3.5 stars. In Zulu, Michael Caine and a small garrison of British troops withstand the assault of 4,000 Zulu warriors. The battle, which took place at Rorke’s Drift on January 22, 1879, is exceptionally staged. John Barry’s soundtrack is almost symphonic. The script is devoid of clichés. The men of Rorke’s Drift are as heroic, as they are human. The Zulu are treated with honor and respect. The film was something of a sleeper, when it was released. It packed theaters in England for a few years and was a huge hit in the USA. Not rated; four stars. Charlton Heston plays the artistic giant, Michelangelo in Sir Carol Reed’s glorious epic, The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). Rex Harrison plays Michelangelo’s patron, the military pontiff, Pope Julius. The film dramatizes Michelangelo’s ongoing conflict with the Pope, who wanted complete control over the painting to the Sistine Chapel. The film is set during the Italian Renaissance. It is astonishing, meticulously produced and photographed cinematic treasure and a must see! Not rated; four stars. In Anne of a Thousand Days (1970), Genevieve Bujold gives an unprecedented, bravura performance as the wife of King Henry III, Anne Boleyn. Bujold should have received an Oscar for her performance. Richard Burton plays Henry. Henry wants a son and divorces his first wife. Anne is a feisty, brilliant, and rebellious woman, whose will matches Henry’s. Henry is obsessed with having a son. Anne gave birth to a daughter, who years later will become Elizabeth I. Henry has Anne executed. The film is a powerhouse drama and tragic. Rated PG; 3.5 stars. In The Last Valley (1971), Omar Shariff plays
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a teacher/philosopher, who stumbles into a valley, that has been untouched by the ravages of the 30 Years War. The war has spread pestilence; thousands are dead. Michael Caine is the leader of a ruthless band of mercenaries. Caine and his
men enter the valley at the same time Shariff does. Shariff, Caine, and the villagers build an uneasy alliance. The villagers plot Caine and his men’s death. James Clavell’s (author of Shogun) film wasn’t well received. Most critics dismissed it.
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It’s an overpowering epic that is both violent and reflective. John Barry’s soundtrack is haunting and unforgettable. Rated R; three stars. Until the next time, enjoy these powerful historical dramas. MSN
Where Are They Now... Vikki Carr? By Marshall J. Kaplan Vikki Carr may have been known for her voice and music, but theses days the beautiful Ms. Carr uses her talents to help raise money and awareness for numerous charities and foundations. Vikki Carr was born as Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona on July 19, 1941 in El Paso, Texas. She began singing at just four years of age and was offered her first recording contract from Liberty Records in 1961. In 1962, Carr’s single, He’s A Rebel, became a hit in Australia. Her next single, It Must Be Him, became a hit in England. One year later, it made its way to the U.S. charts and earned Carr four Grammy nominations. Dean Martin called her ‘The best girl singer in the business.” A string of hits followed including Pen In Hand, Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, and The Lesson. Carr says her songs were successful because, “I’m telling a story with my music. And a lot of people may identify with the songs. I cannot even begin to tell you what it feels like when you see people just smile while you perform.” Carr had ten singles and thirteen albums that made the U.S. charts. Vikki became the darling of the White House performing for Presidents, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. President Ford called her “My favorite
Mexican dish.” Vikki was also the darling of major television networks, appearing on dozers of shows from Ed Sullivan and Carol Burnett to Perry Como, Dean Martin, and The Tonight Show. In addition, Carr proved to be a strong actor, acting in film, television or on the stage. Fourteen years ago, Vikki took a step back out of the limelight for a period of time, when she got married. “I married into a family that had two little grandkids. I always wanted to be a grandma. I wanted to stay home and I loved being at home. I then got to the point where I was saying to myself, “Now, it’s time to get back and start performing again. So, I perform sporadically.” More importantly to Vikki is the work she does for charities and foundations. “My voice is a gift and a gift is nothing unless you can share it. Foundations and charities are ways that I share my gift.” She devotes her time and talents to such charities as the United way, American Lung Association, St. Jude’s Hospital, and Muscular Dystrophy Association. Vik ki also has established The Vikki Carr Scholarship – offering College scholarships to Hispanic students. To date, more than 280 scholarships have been awarded. MSN
Yellowstone Art Museum – Montana’s Art Center A gathering place… a stage for the artistic community… a cultural hub… Montana’s flagship art museum… a forum for ideas… a partner. Phrases like these come to mind when we ask what the Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) means to our audiences. In thinking about YAM, have you ever wondered, “I have lived in Montana my entire life and never been there.” Why? We get busy with our families, jobs, friends, activities. But why do we let ourselves miss out on what brings vivacity and insight to our lives? The YAM is unmatched in our community as a crossroads for the examination of ideas. The YAM itself is a monument to philanthropy and exists thanks to generous donors of all kinds. All give to what matters to them, and the reflections, memories, and moments of wonderment that the YAM presents are among life’s essentials. Without the YAM, the vibrant diversity of art in Montana would be difficult for our state’s own residents to access. Donors help us present artists working in surprising modes of expression – artists who speak through their work with a power words can rarely convey. We invite you to contribute to the YAM! Please call us today at 406-256-6804 or visit www. artmuseum.org. MSN
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Music Echoes Across The Richest Hill On Earth The Butte Symphony is celebrating its 64th exciting season with 4 concerts at the beautiful Mother Lode Theatre. Maestro Luis Millan starts the orchestra and season with a beautiful clarinet concerto feature world renowned clarinetist Kellie Lignitz playing Massenet’s Solo de Concours on October 12.
The Holiday Concert on December 14 features the Butte and Anaconda High Chorales for an exciting evening of holiday music. Stop by our new office at 21 North Main in Butte or visit www. buttesymphony.org for season or individual tickets. And remember, a great gift for children and grand-
children are student tickets for the entire season at only $30!!!! For additional information on how you can support the Butte Symphony in your estate planning please call us 406-723-5590. We would love to hear from you! MSN
Another defense department By Bill Hall As I write this, the American West is toasting over huge fires like a giant marshmallow. Even people who never lie are glancing down to make certain that their pants are not on fire. While this summer of fire and sooty lungs is beginning to look unprecedented, the friends of Smoky Bear and other good souls have come to the rescue. They are struggling against the fires with bravery and skill. You can almost feel in their efforts that this battle is dedicated to those 19 wild fire fighters who were killed June 30 by a wind that turned the fire in Arizona around and more or less murdered those men. That memory feeds the resolve of brother and sister fire fighters who now test the theory that you can slow a fire with tears. The fire fighters and their overwhelming support from the people of this land demonstrate that, in most matters, this nation will not hesitate for a moment if any of its citizens are in danger. When people are dying or threatened with death, this country has the capacity and the zeal to come running with all the money, machines, blood, and sweat that it takes to save as many as
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possible. And that is true whether you are talking about the national government, the states, the cities, or the counties. Witness that throng of exhausted fire fighters. Lives are threatened along with homes. This country is not going to take that lying down, no matter what the price tag. And because of that, few if any will die. Similarly, city and county fire departments race into danger if so much as one small home is on fire. Virtually every community in the nation is stubbornly prepared with training and equipment for that kind of danger. And because of that, not many die. The same is true of floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. One false move from an angry, storm and both the professional and the volunteer responders come to the rescue. Because of that, the death toll is remarkably low in such emergencies. The picture is the same on a global scale. If lethal cranks kill 3,000 people in New York City, the whole nation and many international friends pitch in. Because of that and modern ways of minimizing death while making war, fewer than 1,000 of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have died each year. Compare that to the enormous death tolls of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Even though the expense in dollars has been massive, few citizens have questioned the cost. When people are dying, even on a small scale, few begrudge the expenditure. With one glaring exception: Medical care. About half the people in this country prefer not to provide all of their fellow citizens with medical care. They decline to pay for saving the lives of what are now about 22,000 of our citizens who die each year of treatable diseases because they can’t afford to seek treatment. Nearly every one of those 22,000 deaths can be avoided. These are not terminal cases. They could be saved if that cause had support in the same spirit as war, forest fires, home fires, and lethal storms. How strange that the people of the United States understand and appreciate every use of state and national defense – except the one defense that lets the most people die. If terrorists attack, the defense department rides to the rescue. It protects 100 percent of those who are threatened. If diseases, cancers, and strokes are killing thousands of Americans each year, that’s considered unfortunate, but large numbers of voters are not interested. They support fighting fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and terrorists, but not bacteria and viruses – at least not for everybody. Why aren’t attacks on us by diseases and
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Pushing Frontiers with Historian Ken Robison By Bernice Karnop Historian Ken Robison researches and writes about the state’s frontier history. He writes monthly articles in the Great Falls Tribune and the Fort Benton River Press and he’s published several books about north central Montana’s past. The Montana Historical Society honored him as a Montana Heritage Keeper and the History Museum awarded him its legacy award. Frontiers aren’t restricted to past centuries, however. Ken explored frontiers every bit as daring, violent, and adventuresome as the ones he chronicles today. He faced these frontiers as a Navy intelligence officer. “In Naval intelligence, seven days a week, around the clock, you were concerned about the threats on a ship or on the shore,” he says. “It was always exciting.” He entered the Navy in 1960 after he graduated from Great Falls High School and the University of Montana. He served in combat operations off the coast of Vietnam and worked on contingency operations when North Korea seized the U.S.S. Pueblo and when they shot down the EC 121 a few years later. “We didn’t launch any retaliatory strikes during those crises, but you can imagine the kind of planning and day to day tension the intelligence took to be ready to execute contingency plans,” he says. Ken welcomed freshly released the Vietnam War POWs at Clark AFB in the Philippines during Operation Homecoming in 1973. They assigned each POW an escort who also debriefed the former prisoner. Some men had only been in the camps for a few months. Ken was assigned to Navy POW Captain James Stockdale, the highest ranking POW and one of the longest held in captivity. He escorted Stockdale home to California, and then met with him almost daily for ten weeks to hear his story. He wrote the reports documenting this remarkable leader’s seven and one-half years
under extremely difficult circumstances. ing fourteen times in their 28 years of service. His Stockdale survived torture, maintained military career also provided great family times and an discipline, and communicated with new prisoners international education for their two children. when they came in. Even today Stockdale is a They were stationed in England, Hawaii, and model of great leadership as a prisoner of war. Sweden. Sweden, sandwiched between the Soviet When Stockdale received the Medal of Honor for Union and NATO countries, was an intriguing place his resistance and his exceptional performance in to be during the Cold War. The country was “not captivity, he credited Ken for aligned in peace time and how effectively he reported neutral in war time.” Ken’s his story. job as the Naval attaché Ken was the intelligence in Stockholm from 1975officer on the USS Nimitz in 1978 meant reporting on the Indian Ocean during the sensitive political and other Iran Hostage Crisis in 1980. events. The family also had With the rescue plan ready, plenty of time to roam the they waited off the coast of country of his ancestors. Oman for permission to go Ken spent his final asahead. After a frustrating signment on the staff of 113 days, President Carter the Director of Naval Intelgave them the go-ahead. ligence from 1985-1988. The rescue group held their Emerging technology made final briefing in Ken’s office, feasible innovative develtogether with the three-star opments such as real time admiral’s staff. reporting from the battleThe rescue attempt fell field and aerial reconnaisapart for a variety of reasance. He’s since watched sons, according to Ken, some of these projects including a low level sand being implemented. storm. Ken worked for a na“It was a very complex tional consulting firm in operation but it could have northern Virginia after retirsucceeded if everything Life Lif on the th frontier f ti is i familiar f ili to t Great G t Falls’ F ll ’ ing and before coming back had been just perfect, and Ken Robison. He not only writes about the early to Montana. At the same especially if it had been au- days in Montana, he lived on the frontiers of time he earned a degree some important events in his own time as a Navy thorized one or two months Intelligence officer. [Photo by Bernice Karnop] in Colonial History from earlier. As it turned out, howGeorge Mason University. ever, it was a colossal failure,” Ken says. “They always accused Naval Intelligence OfThe highlight of Ken’s career had little to do ficers of telling history instead of predicting the with the Navy. He met and married his wife of future. We did a lot of research, analysis, and writnearly 50 years, Michele, in England where her ing,” Ken says. With those well-honed skills, it was Air Force dad was stationed. The Navy family’s natural for him to step into the research, analysis, challenges included his 11 years at sea and mov- and writing he does today. (Cont’d on pg 70)
PAGE 60 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
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Computers Designed for Inexperienced Users By Jim Miller There are actually several companies who make and sell computers designed specifically for those who have little or no computer experience. Here are some top options to check out. Desktops – If you’re primarily interested in a home desktop computer, the Telikin (telikin.com, 800-230-3881), which has been on the market for over two years now, is an excellent option. Ready to go right out of the box, this allin-one touch-screen computer provides a big button menu that displays all your favorite functions on the screen at all times. By simply touching the menu option of your choice with your finger, you can get instant access to the Web, email, games, video chat, photo sharing, news, weather, and more. Available in two sizes – the 18-inch LCD touch-screen with a 320-gigabyte hard drive that costs $699, and the 20-inch LCD touch-screen with 500-gigabytes for $999 – all Telikin computers come with built-in speakers, a Web camera, microphone, and wired keyboard and mouse. They even offer “tech buddy” software that your loved ones can download on their computers, so they can access your Telikin remotely to help you when need be. Running on Linux software instead of the standard Windows or Mac OS, the Telikin is also virus-resistant, comes with a 60-day trial period, a one-year warranty, and free tech support. It’s also worth noting that Telikin has a partnership with firstSTREET – a senior product direct marketing company – that is also selling the 20-inch Telikin for $999, but have rebranded it as the “WOW! Computer for Seniors.” Another option to consider is the MyGait Elite Computer (mygait.com, 866-469-4248), which costs $899 plus a $20 monthly service fee. This mouse-operated PC has a 20-inch highresolution monitor, a large-letter color-coded keyboard, one-click functionality for all pages, a simple zoom feature that lets you magnify your email or Web page up to 200 percent, and an ergonomic trackball mouse that’s easy on the hand and wrist. It also comes with a built in Web camera, DVD/CD player, unlimited storage space, dozens of games, and a unique customer service
package that guarantees protection against viruses and spam, provides ongoing computer updates, and offers a help line if you ever get stuck or need assistance. Tablets – If you’re interested in something mobile, there are several new tablets on the market you should look into like the Claris Companion (clariscompanion.com, 866-284-4939), which combines a computer, digital picture frame, mobile phone, and passive monitoring device into one package. It has a 10-inch touch-screen with huge text and buttons, amplified sound, and comes in a thick bamboo frame that’s easy to hold, plus a stand that props it up. It also provides simplified access to email, text messaging, the Web, video chat, and photos. Along with exercise videos, event, medication and other reminders, it gives family members the ability easily to monitor you if you need an extra hand. It even let’s you or your loved ones personalize the tablet to handle your specific needs and abilities. The Claris Companion offers a variety of pricing packages that start at $100 with a two-year contract, plus a $59 monthly subscription fee. Another option to consider is the $400 In-Touch Senior Tablet (seniortouchpad.com), which is also a 10-inch tablet that provides simple one-touch, bigbutton access to the Web, email, text messaging, your calendar,
video chat, medication reminders, and more. 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. MSN
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Neighbors Helping Neighbors At NeighborWorks (NWGF), we hear success stories every day. Our stories weave a fabric of community revitalization, homeownership, and safe and affordable rental housing for seniors and families. Combined with antiforeclosure work and development of workforce housing, NeighborWorks fuels business growth and expansion. We just mourned the passing of our first client to receive a NWGF-built home. Kenny Pahrman was a fixture in Great Falls for years as he and his sister rode their bikes around selling newspapers hot off the press from midnight to 2 a.m. every night. His was the first home NWGF ever built. Earlier this year, Kenny called NWGF and said he would like to donate his home to NeighborWorks upon his death. No one expected that sad day would come so quickly. Now NWGF is preparing to sell Kenny’s home, and the organization will put the money into its endowment fund. What a caring gift to our community! NWGF is thankful to have people like Kenny among its “alumni.” Please consider a planned gift to the NeighborWorks Endowment – A Place to Call Home – and help us continue to create success stories. To learn more, please call Sheila Rice at 406761-5861 or visit nwgreatfalls.org. MSN
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Building Homes… Building Hope – Providing A Legacy For Decent Housing “Habitat for Humanity operates internationally, yet every year we see direct results at the local level – like here in Great Falls and other Montana cities,” says Stu Nicholson, board member of Habitat for Humanity in Great Falls. Habitat for Humanity fosters hope and enhances communities by building homes in partnership with volunteers and families deserving a decent place to live. Individuals in the Great Falls area have the opportunity to provide a continuing legacy for this worthwhile program through estate planning. “Tax law provides certain advantages for estates using wills or other instruments for giving to designated charities. These plans can include gift annuities,” says Randy Knowles, a financial advisor in Great Falls. “Since each estate is unique, no single plan can work for everyone. Thorough research is the key.” Habitat for Humanity encourages you to speak with your financial planner or advisor and then consider a legacy gift that can support Habitat’s efforts for years to come. For more information please call us at 406-453-5972 or visit greatfallshabitat.org. MSN
Phone Calls From The Dead By Bill Hall There is a scene in a recent television series where a disconsolate young man keeps calling his dead girlfriend’s cell phone just to hear her voice. Her cell phone account eventually closes down. Her phone no longer answers his calls. Her voice was the last tangible part of her to die. The only question, it would seem, is whether his obsession with that cherished voice was a comfort or a torture. The same question is raised by a case I read about in the New York Times: A mother has left her dead daughter’s voice on the answering machine for seven years. Presumably, in that mother’s case, there is more comfort than torture, or she would not continue. However, one of the mother’s friends is freaked out by not being able to call the mother without going through a deceased gatekeeper. What would our elders from the past think of that? They were born before telephones, before voice recording devices, before home movies with sound. They lived in a time when voices died as soon as their owners did. In those times, people who thought they heard voices of the dead in the wind or in the creaking of old houses were imagining things. On the other hand, since the world began, religions of every sort have produced people who hear their version of God speaking to them personally and often in ways that give them clout in their religious communities – or sometimes get them committed to the happy farm for the excessively imaginative. Voices from the Great Beyond or from that creaky voice of ghosts in old wooden stairs have been part of the background sound in our lives since long before telephones and recorders. If a person could see all the way back in time, he might find respected cave elders listening to a wise and spiritual owl, an owl that tells humans the wisest ways to live. The young man who clings to the telephone voice of the woman he loved and the mother who hangs on every word of a daughter who lives only in an answering machine reminds me of my sad third grade teacher. Those were years before machines answered our telephones for us. That poor teacher was a forlorn, humorless, and emotionally exhausted woman. Her classroom was mostly a cheerless place. Then one day, she was reading us the Eugene Field poem, “Little Boy Blue,” about a boy who played with a little toy soldier and a little toy dog and then put them away for the night, promising he would see them in the morning. But he never returned. Nonetheless, according to the poet, the toy soldier and dog waited for him for years, until they became covered with rust and dust. Our teacher explained that the boy had died and his mother could not bring herself to put the toys away. She could not remove what a dear small hand had placed there. It was at that point that our teacher opened up and paid us the great
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
compliment of confiding in us. She said her small son had died a few years before. He had left a handprint on a window. And she said that she just could not ever bring herself to wipe it away. Her mood was better after that revelation. I think some of the hurt was purged by sharing her story with the living third graders who occupied her time. Just the same, if the telephone answering machine had been invented and her childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice had been on it, that child would have been heard
from daily for years to come. So let the young man in the television series listen to the precious voice of his lost love. And let that mother whose dead daughter answers each phone call listen as much as she needs. As long as life goes on and the obsession remains more salve than crippling pain, to each his own on how long a wounded soul should cling to the sweetness that used to be. Fortunately, I have never been compelled to
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go through so much grief as that. But on a smaller scale, I admit, when I enter our little greenhouse, I always look down at the concrete floor where the feet of two favorite kittens made their mark one day in wet cement. Those cats are long gone now but their memory keeps on calling. Bill Hall may be contacted at wilberth@cableone.net or at 1012 Prospect Ave., Lewiston, ID 83501. MSN
What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others. - Lucretius
By Joe Cline What do the letters behind a real estate agentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name stand for? Real estate agents, like doctors, lawyers, and other professionals can earn designations, certifications, and other credentials. These are usually shown by putting a series of initials after the agentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name. The most common designations and certifications are Broker, REALTOR, e-Pro, CHMS, GRI, ABR, and CRS. What does an agent have to do to obtain the designation or certification? e-Pro requires an agent take a class on basic computer skills. It has no real estate content, but ensures your agent can use email and the web. It should really be a bare minimum bar for the technology aptitude of your agent. REALTOR is the one of the easier credentials to obtain (but one of the hardest to live up to). A REALTOR is a real estate agent that belongs to the National Association of REALTORS and agrees to follow the Realtor Code of Ethics. You can read about the code at realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/ Code?OpenDocument. Broker is a bit harder to obtain than REALTOR is. In some states, a broker license is required to be able to operate your own real estate company. An agent must have their license for 2 years and complete over 600 hours of real estate education prior to applying for a brokerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license. The brokerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license is granted upon completion of an exam administered by the state. Brokers are real estate agents with advanced educations. GRI stands for Graduate Realtor Institute. Less than 50% of agents have this designation. The GRI requires 12 days of continuing education with passing grades on three exams. There are no production or time requirements so an agent can literally earn this designation by sitting in class for 12 days and passing the tests. This designation is in no way a measure of real estate sales experience. ABR stands for Accredited Buyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Representative. Less than 30% of agents have this designation. This designation combines 2 days of classroom work and an exam with the requirement that the agent show proof of at least five buyer sales. This designation shows that the agent has had both formal classroom time and inthe-field experience. CRS stands for Certified Residential Specialist. Less than 4% of all agents have this designation. This is the most difficult designation to obtain and is a measure of a high degree of formal education and real world transactional experience. To obtain a CRS, the agent must attend three 2-day classes, pass three exams, and provide proof of 25 closed transactions within the last 24 months. While the transaction experience isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a huge amount, it does weed out the inexperienced agents and the classes weed out those agents who arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dedicated to
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continuing education. SRES or Seniors Real Estate Specialists designees are REALTORS qualified to address the needs of homebuyers and sellers age 50+. By earning the SRES designation, the agent has demonstrated the necessary knowledge and expertise to counsel clients age 50+ through major financial and lifestyle transitions in relocating, refinancing, or selling the family home. Other designations are out there, but for the most part they are issued by inconsequential groups, have no real bearing on the agent’s abilities, and are used more for marketing purposes than anything else. MSN
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The decision to buy or sell real-estate properties requires substantial planning and commitment from the owner or owners. Property or home valuations are constantly changing and are affected by a variety of external factors such as the economy, the growth of the area, market demand, and other considerations. Whether you are buying a new house or selling your current one, it’s hardly ever a quick decision-making process. For most transactions, there are several steps to follow and procedures to be completed to make sure that everything is completed smoothly and without too much hassle. Amidst all the paperwork to be filled out and steps to be undertaken in real estate transactions, a real estate agent can be of much help especially with all the elements that you may not know a lot about. Finding the best real estate agent for your needs can be a challenge as well, so make sure to keep a few things in mind as you look for the most competent real estate agent. Of course, the agent you work with has to show in-depth knowledge of the local area and its property realities. The agent has to have proven experience in successfully closing deals within the same area as the property you are interested in, or the property you are selling. On the other hand, if while talking to a prospective agent you get a sense that he or she doesn’t have a lot of understanding of the area; it might be a sign to look elsewhere. If you are looking to sell property, the real estate agent you list with should be someone who is an expert in selling that type of property. Selling and marketing a 2-bedroom condominium unit, is different from selling a threebedroom house real estate suburbia, so your agent has to be someone who has a proven track record in selling the type of property you have. The success of a real estate agency or firm also relies much on the quality of its support staff, so take some time to get to know the team behind your prospective agent or firm also. Are they competent, professional, and patient in dealing with you and other clients? For big-name real estate agents it is the support staff that could be making and answering phone calls or email inquiries, professionalism can determine how successfully your transaction can be completed. The entire team should be one that is driven to succeed. MSN
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What to Do When Foreclosure Rears its Ugly Head By Teresa Ambord If you are like many people these days, you might be worried about the possibility of losing your house. If not, you probably know someone who is. Right about now, anyone in danger of foreclosure probably hates the bank, but you should know the bank does not want your house. That’s not to suggest that all bank personnel in all cases have acted honorably. In general, the bank that holds your mortgage is not in the real estate business and would rather you stay in your house, paying your loan. Here are some tips from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help those who are having trouble keeping up with house payments. 1. Face it head on. The problem will not go away if you ignore it, and the longer you wait and further you get behind, the harder it will be to reinstate your loan. That’s when the danger of losing your home escalates. 2. Call your lender right away. When you realize you have a problem, reach out to talk to your lender as soon as possible. You no doubt feel threatened, but rest assured the bank does not want your house. They have options that may help your save your house. 3. Open the scary letters. If you go to your mailbox and find a letter from your mortgage holder, it may be tempting to set it aside. But you should know the first letters you receive might be good letters, containing helpful information about how to prevent foreclosure and get through these tough times. But, you have to act. As time goes on, the good information turns to notices of pending legal action. If you end up in court, failure to open the mail is not a viable excuse. 4. Determine your rights. When you bought the house, your lender gave you documents that say what could happened if you fail to make payments. These documents lay out your rights. Foreclosure laws vary by state. You can find out what the laws are in your state by contacting the state government housing office. 5. Learn the options. Start by contacting HUD and talking to a HUDapproved housing counselor. These counselors are provided free, nationwide. They can help you understand the law and your options. They can also help you get your finances organized, and will represent you in negotiating with your lender if you need this help. 6. Prioritize spending. You may be under a boatload of debt, but make your house payment the first priority. Take a hard look at what you are spending and eliminate what you can, like cable TV and expensive phone plans and memberships. Put credit card payments and other loan payments on hold as long as you can, to get your house secured. 7. Look at your other assets. If you have a whole life insurance policy, this could be a source of cash. Also look at what you can sell (a second car, expensive jewelry, etc) to raise cash. Is there someone in the household who can get an extra job, even a few hours a week? If you’re way behind on your mortgage, you may not be able to raise enough through these methods to get you up-to-date, but your efforts will demonstrate to your lender that you are serious. 8. Don’t get involved with a foreclosure prevention company. This will waste money you need to pay your mortgage payments. Some of these companies are legitimate, and some are looking for the next easy buck. But legitimate or not, they may charge you a bundle for services and information you can get free from a lender or a HUD counselor. 9. Don’t accidentally sign away your title. This may sound like a nobrainer, but there are companies that will claim to be able to halt a foreclosure process if you sign their form, allowing them to act on your behalf. Don’t believe it! The form may actually lead you to sign away your title, effectively making you a renter in your own home. To be safe, don’t sign anything without getting professional advice from an attorney, a financial professional, or a HUD housing counselor. Options That Can Help You Retain Your Home Don’t give up too easily. HUD has programs that are not charity, but that can help by refinancing your home, lowering the payments, or reduc-
ing the principal. Here are a few: • Reduced payments. The details vary, but you may be able to get your mortgage payment lowered to 31% of your gross income. That of course, makes it more likely that you can keep up with the payments. Typically, this type of modification can result in lowering a payment 40%. HUD reports that among homeowners who do this, 18% see a payment reduction of $1,000 a month or more. This program is called HAMP, or “Home Affordable Modification Program.” • Underwater. HUD also has a program known as HARP, which stands for Home Affordable Refinancing Program. This is for homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, meaning, they owe more than the house is now worth. Ask your HUD counselor about this program. • Reducing the principal. Like HARP, this program helps homeowners whose homes are worth less than they owe. It’s called PRA or Principal Reduction Alternative. This may also be available for homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages. Contact HUD for other options involving refinancing or loan modification. HUD also has assistance programs for homeowners who are unemployed, and “managed exit” programs. Managed exit programs help homeowners transition into more affordable housing. You may also contact the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to get answers to questions and to help you understand your options at1-800225-5342. Or call the National Servicing Center at 1-877-622-8525, and if you are hearing or speech impaired, call 1-800-877-8339. MSN
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From the time we were small children and someone was reading to us until we were reading to our children and grandchildren, we have been familiar with nursery rhymes, television cartoons, animated movies, and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storybook characters. And what enjoyment we had, whether it was our own big eyes imagining the story or the eyes of our children and grandchildren. This issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winning quiz, Characters for Real and from Reel, was submitted by Jean Carr and will reacquaint you with some of those personalities. Thank you and congratulations, Jean! Because last issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Can You Find These Observances? quiz came from our staff, the $25
prize for submitting the winning quiz in this issue was doubled making Jean a $50 winner. Thank you to all who participated in our Can You Find These Observances quiz that appeared in the August/September issue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and there were many, many of you! Whether you were one of the winners or not, we hope that you had fun playing the game and reading the Montana Senior News. The winners with correct answers selected from the people submitting answers are: â&#x20AC;˘ $100 winner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sherri Alexander from Kalispell â&#x20AC;˘ $75 winner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Joyce Utroske from Union Mills, Indiana â&#x20AC;˘ $50 winner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Beverly Bermes from Billings.
With the exception of special contests such as last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, two cash prizes are awarded from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Contest Cornerâ&#x20AC;? in each issue of the Montana Senior News. One prize goes to the person who submits the entry that our staff selects as the featured quiz or puzzle in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Contest Cornerâ&#x20AC;? for that issue. Be creative and send us some good, fun, challenging, and interesting puzzles! Please mail your entries to the Montana Senior News, P.O. Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403, or email to montsrnews@bresnan.net by November 20, 2013 for our December 2013/January 2014 edition. Be sure to work the crossword puzzle on our website montanaseniornews.com.
Favorite Animal Pets and Cartoon Characters for Real and from Reel Submitted by Jean Carr This monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quiz challenges you to name the character/personality that goes with the numbered description. Just number a sheet from 1-25, write your answer to each question, and mail or email your answers to us. Have fun! 1. Who said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The sky is falling, the sky is fallingâ&#x20AC;?? 2. Who is the talking horse of television fame? 3. Who was famous for building dams in the ponds? 4. Who in film is the little deer in the forest? 5. What was Fred Flintstoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s petâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name? 6. Who had a little lamb with fleece as white
as snow? 7. Who was Santa Clausâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; famous red-nosed reindeer? 8. Whose nose grew longer when he told lies? 9. In the cartoon, who is Odieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cat friend? 10. Who is the bird that hammered holes in trees? 11. Who is the forest fire prevention mascot? 12. Name any two famous television or movie dogs. 13. Who was married to Minnie Mouse? 14. From what materials did the three pigs build their houses? 15. How many men were washing in a tub?
16. What did Cinderella lose on her midnight dash home? 17. Who went to the cupboard to get her doggie a bone? 18. Whom did the princess kiss to get her prince charming? 19. Who called himself â&#x20AC;&#x153;the sailor man?â&#x20AC;? 20. Who was the little girl without parents? 21. Who took goodies to her grandmother in the forest? 22. Who was called to come blow his horn? 23. Who said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I thought I saw a puddy cat?â&#x20AC;? 24. Who was the friendly ghost? 25. Who sat on a tuffet? MSN
Answers to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can You Find These Observancesâ&#x20AC;? PG 3 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 15 16
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ACROSS 1. Promo piece 6. *Ruler of prime time 9. Voyeur’s glance 13. Film director Sergio _____ 14. Black gold 15. It’s tops at a beauty pageant 16. Multibillion dollar power company 17. *This country’s viewers determine winner of “American Idol” 18. Bitter 19. *It stars Simon Cowell 21. *Crime-solving novelist 23. Consumes 24. “SNL” segment, e.g. 25. *UK prime time giant 28. French “place” 30. Cause to become 35. Commuter line 37. Abounding with elms 39. Red _____ of 20th century 40. “____ the Wild,” movie 41. Word of mouth 43. *America’s choice 44. Like a lemon 46. Opera house box 47. Often goes with Scotch 48. Silently agreed 50. French Riviera city
OBSERVANCE India Pale Ale Beer Day All American Breakfast Month National Waffle Day National Ice Cream Sandwich Day International Eat An Apple Day Be Kind To Humankind Week Senior Citizen’s Day National Toasted Marshmallow Day What Will Be Your Legacy Month Happy Cat Month National Navajo Code Talkers Day National Safe at Home Week World Water Monitoring Day Neither Snow nor Rain Day National Thrift Shop Day National Dog Day Rice Krispie Treats Day Google’s Birthday Sewing Machine Month Citizenship Day Sewing Machine Day National Hunting and Fishing Day
52. “___ and the City” 53. Sleep in a convenient place 55. One to one, e.g. 57. *Claire or Phil, surname 60. *A hit show revolves around this theory 64. East Asian peninsula 65. Caustic chemical 67. *_____ Boo Boo 68. Southeast Asian org. 69. Campaigner, for short 70. _____ poll 71. One rotation around sun 72. QB exclamation 73. Slides or slips DOWN 1. Show the guns? 2. Table extension 3. I, to a Greek 4. *_____ “Nucky” Thompson 5. Traveler’s mode of transportation 6. NCAA’s Final ____ 7. Post-Soviet Union alliance 8. “Car Talk” brother 9. Scot of long ago 10. Between marquees and viscount 11. Buffalo’s lake 12. Often found under a mouse 15. Gustatory sensations
PG 34 34 34 35 35 39 39 39 42 42 42 43 43 43 44 44 44 45 45 46 46 46 47 47 47 47 48 49 50 50 51 52
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 67
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20. Twig of willow tree 22. It’s hot in some people 24. Court call 25. *Canine on “Family Guy” 26. “Bank” in Venice 27. Commended 29. Twelfth month of Jewish civil year 31. *Mark Harmon/Sasha Alexander show 32. Wainscots 33. Lose ground 34. Chill 36. He ruled the flies 38. Quotable Berra 42. Straight muscles 45. Patient’s toilet 49. *Homer’s catchword 51. Crazy ______ card game 54. Airy spirit 56. Kindle download 57. 2 aspirin, e.g. 58. Carbamide 59. Getting warm 60. Aaron Rodgers pantomimes this 61. Not in favor of 62. Opposite of want 63. Training spots 64. Mary ___ 66. Texter’s u MSN
OBSERVANCE National Keep Kids Creative Week National Hug Your Hound Day National Good Neighbor Day National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Virgin Mary Day Ancestor Appreciation Day International Day of Peace Remember Freedom Day National Good Neighbors Day Friendship Day National Trademen Day Wiggle Your Toes Day National Bargain Hunting Week Inter Strategic Thinking Month Building and Code Staff Apprec Day Swap Ideas Day International Enthusiasm Week National Zucchini Day National Love Your Files Week Weird Contest Week Kiss and Make Up Day National Nutrition Week Peas and Radish Month Family Health and Fitness Day National Garage Sale Day American Artists Appreciation Month Play In The Sand Day National Piano Month Elephant Appreciation Day Happiness Happens Day National Anthem Day Hunger Action Month
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COPPER CANYON HARLEY MINERAL MUSEUM WORLD MUSEUM OF MINING HITCHIN’ POST SECOND EDITION BOOKS THE DILMART COPPER VILLAGE MUSEUM & ARTS FOUR PAWS RESCUE JOE’S PASTY SHOP MAGRATH GOLF CLUB FIRST GOLD HOTEL
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Sturgis Rally Autumnal Equinox (Autumn) National Boss/Employee Exchange Day National Peach Day Book Lovers Day National Home Furnishings Month Worldwide Art Day International Homeless Animals Day National Potato Day Golf Month According to Hoyle Day
PG 61 61 61 62 63 63 63 64 64 64
ADVERTISER BW HERITAGE INN REC ROOM SYMES HOT SPRINGS MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY CONNER GROCERY STORE & DELI COTTONWOOD INN ZOO MONTANA B&B AUTO PARTS SPEEDOMETER & AUTO ELECTRIC WHITEFISH AUTO PARTS
OBSERVANCE Play Days National One-Hit Wonder Day Labor Day American Indian Heritage Month S’mores Day International Tree Climbing Days World Animal Remembrance Month International Drive Your Studebaker Day National Grandparent’s Day National Tell A Joke Day
HONORING OUR VE Novem By Jim Cotsana With the approach of Veterans Day and the daily reports of our troops still fighting two wars along with possible intervention in Syria, I pictured the young officers and men currently in harm’s way. This got me thinking about my days at the USMC Officers Candidate School (OCS) in Quantico, Virginia. In 1970, I reported to Quantico and was assigned to a platoon of approximately 35 other
“candidates.” The first couple of days were spent getting our uniforms, boots, socks, and buzz cuts before we began the trials and tribulations hoping to become “90 day wonders” and commissioned as 2nd lieutenants. As I recall, each platoon had a 1st lieutenant in charge along with two E-6 staff sergeants and two E-5 sergeants, who all had significant combat experience in Vietnam. Their goal was to begin molding young, raw men into officers capable of leading troops in combat situations. First, we had to learn the military language, how to salute and march, and the very basics with respect to weapons and tactics. However, the emphasis was on conditioning and pushing the body far beyond what we felt we were capable of. When you thought you could not go on any further or take another step, the platoon sergeants pushed you even harder. After the third or
Leave No O
fourth week, one of my platoon’s staff sergeants, whom I will call Staff Sgt. Smith, for some reason had my number. Whenever I made a mistake (and there were many), he belittled me, called me every name in the book, and rode me. No candidate was immune to his wrath but, for some reason, I received extra attention. In addition, I swear all the platoon sergeants must have gone to stand-up comedy school. Some of the comments and remarks they came up were hysterical and it took all my effort not to laugh aloud. However, I could not control my facial expressions and, of course, this caught the attention of Staff Sgt. Smith. He could be at the far end of the squad bay chewing a candidate up one side, down the other, and come up with a comment that would break me up. He knew it and would immediately turn to me and say, “So you think this is funny?” I would reply, “No, platoon sergeant.” But that was for naught. All he said was “begin” which meant for me to start doing “bends and thrusts.” I had to ask how many and he would say “forever.” I was only allowed to stop after a large pool of sweat was on the deck (floor) surrounding me. This went on for the majority of time I was a candidate and the others kept asking how I got on his bad side, but I had no answer. However,
The Montana Veterans Memorial overlooks River Drive and Black Eagle Dam in Great Falls, Montana. The Memorial was the brainchild of Michael Winters and took shape approximately seven years ago. It was originally conceived as a large 40-foot diameter circle with 6-inch by 12inch granite tiles covering the interior walls. Each tile was to be etched with a veteran’s name and branch of service. These tiles were the major fundraiser for the memorial and each cost a $200 donation. Early on, some voiced reservations about whether there would be sufficient interest in tiles to cover the circled area. The old adage “Be careful what you wish for” came into play because within a year it became
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
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OBSERVANCE Intn’l Creepy Boston Dynamics Robotic Horse Day National Bluebird Of Happiness Day World’s Alzheimer’s Day National Honey Month Homemade Happiness Week National Rehabilitation Awareness Week One-on-One Month September Is Healthy Aging Month Crackers Over The Keyboard Day
PG 75 75 77 77 78 79 81 84 84 86
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 69
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ETERANS mber 11 & Always ne Behind! during the last two to three weeks, I got the impression he took some special interest in me and was pushing me to excel; to go beyond what I thought my capabilities were. During the last week of OCS, even though we started with approximately 35 in my platoon, some washed out during the initial training for a variety of reasons – medical, did not demonstrate leadership skills, could not maintain the physical requirements, or just could not cut it. Finally, graduation day came, and those who successfully completed the 90 days from all the other platoons entered a large auditorium with our brown 2nd Lt. bars in our pockets. Included in the graduation ceremony were the all platoon staff along with candidate’s family members and other invited guests. Upon completion of the ceremony, we were officially commissioned 2nd Lt. and many of the newly commissioned officers had family pin on their bars. I had no family attending but I walked over to Staff Sergeant Smith and rather sheepishly asked if he would pin on my bars. To my great surprise and delight he said, “It would be an honor.” Once pinned, he was the first to salute me and call me “Sir,” a whopping change from what I had been accustomed to. What he said next I have never forgotten.
clear that the inside of the circle would be filled, so another wall was created that doubled the space for tiles. When this wall was filled with tiles, a third space was created followed by a fourth space on the east side that will open in late 2013 or early 2014. About 5,700 granite tiles inscribed with veterans’ names and branches of service currently cover the walls at the Montana Veterans Memorial. If you would like more information on how you can support this important memorial to the service and sacrifice of our armed forces, please contact us at 406-454-9070 or visit montanaveteransmemorial.org. MSN
The man who tormented me for nearly 90 days said the following: “Remember that a 2nd Lt. is lower than “whale dung” (although he used a different, more descriptive word). Also, “once you’re incountry (meaning Vietnam) pay close attention to your experienced NCOs, they will keep you and the people you lead alive.” And finally, “Marines leave no one behind.” I took all this to heart and have never forgotten his advice. Finally he said,” It would be an honor to serve under your command.” After graduation, we immediately spent another six months at the Basic School, also in Quantico, for far more advanced training. Unfortunately, we never did meet up again but I often think of him
and his advice and the torture he put me through that made me a better man. I only hope that the young officers currently fighting and leading their troops were blessed to have a Staff Sergeant Smith instill in them what it means to be a United States Marine Officer. MSN
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
Historian Ken Robison - continued from pg 59 “Fort Benton is the birthplace of Montana,” he says. Every era of the state’s history played out here – Native American, the early fur trade, the steamboat, the overland trade, the Canadian trade, open range ranching, military history, and the homesteading era. He adds to that the people of Fort Benton and Shep, Fort Benton’s internationally famous dog. Ken was introduced to these topics while attending the Nelson country school near the family’s farm on the Square Butte Bench east of Geraldine. On Achievement Day, the country schools in Choteau County gathered in Fort Benton and competed scholastically and athletically. Ken, from
fourth grade on, beat everyone else for the history prize. Today Ken is a historian at the Joel F. Overholser Historical Research Center and serves on the board of the River and Plains Society that oversees the must-see museums in Fort Benton. This decade is a centennial for families who came during the homesteader era so the Research Center is busy helping families ferret out the family homestead. They receive questions from descendants of fur traders, passengers on the steamboats, and other characters who hung out in Fort Benton. Ken has compiled 16,000 names from the passenger files for the steamboats that docked at Fort Benton from 1860 to about 1890. That’s only a bit more than half of the people who arrived on the steamboats during those decades. Ken also serves history groups in Sun River and Great Falls. He’s spent time researching and writing about minorities in the early days, especially Chinese and African American communities. He co-authored the nomination of Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church for the National Register of Historic Places. He was a key figure in researching the Ozark Club and recreating A Night
at the Ozark for the History Museum. He spearheaded the Black Heritage Evenings at the Library and helped create the Alma Jacobs Foundation. He encouraged renaming of the library plaza for Jacobs and convinced the Montana Historical Society to showcase black history on its website. Ken’s fingerprints show up on preservation projects all over the area. With the Great Falls/ Cascade County Preservation Advisory Commission, they restored and saved the first structure in Great Falls. Vinegar Jones’ cabin sits today in an ideal spot in beautiful Gibson Park. On the horizon are the restoration of the Arvon Building and the burned out Rocky Mountain Building on Central Avenue and its Pantages Theater. Ken Robison won’t run out of new projects any time soon with a Civil War book coming out in October and plans to publish books on the Chinese in Fort Benton and early-day community of African Americans in the area. History is one of Ken’s passions. Another is spending time with his two grandchildren, no doubt infecting them with his own adventuresome, frontier spirit. MSN
Book Review: Life and Death on the Upper Missouri: The Frontier Sketches of Johnny Healy, Edited by Ken Robison Reviewed by Bernice Karnop It becomes apparent how sanitized our history is when we read the raw, unadulterated reporting of Irish immigrant and frontiersman-adventurer Johnny Healy. Healy wrote these sketches circa 1878 for Fort Benton’s first newspaper, The Benton Record. Ken Robison then edited Healy’s stories into book form. The sketches include Healy’s adventures during his early days in Montana. For example, readers get a close up look at Healy’s skirmish with the Snake Indians along the Lander Cutoff and read about his hunt for gold on Nez Perce land where he knew he had no right to go. The book is a first hand look at the challenges of weather, wild animals, and running out of supplies. Healy tells about conflict between partners
on the trail, in the gold fields, and how dire necessity could make people get along. “Healey blazed a wide swath across the Upper Missouri frontier as a miner, Indian trader and fighter, sheriff, politician and merchant,” says Ken Robison. With all this material at hand, he was also a master storyteller. He gives readers a peek into the minds of these frontiersmen, unfiltered by modern sensibilities. Readers may not always be comfortable with his opinions and actions but they won’t find a better record of how Healy and his contemporaries saw the frontier, the Native people, and “life and death on the Upper Missouri.” For those who prefer their history in smaller, more digestible bites, pick up Ken Robison’s Postcard History Series books, Cascade County and Great Falls and Fort Benton. These photo books provide history in picture form with short but toothsome captions. They would make great Christmas gifts for friends and family who have left Montana but hold tight to their roots. For additional information com MSN
Can There Ever Be Too Many Puns? Submitted by Julie Hollar Brantley I changed my iPod name to Titanic. It’s syncing now. I tried to catch some Fog. I mist. When chemists die, they barium. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Than it dawned on me. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I’d never met herbivore. I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I can’t put it down. I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words . They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type-O A dyslexic man walks into a bra. Energizer bunny arrested. Charged with battery. Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn’t control her pupils? When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble. What does a clock do when it’s hungry? It goes back four seconds. MSN
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
Pet Paw-See to the Rescue! Senior Cats for Senior Companions By Bernice Karnop If all goes well they visit once a month. The Pet When Cambridge Place resident, Charlotte, Paw-See mentor transports the cat to the vet for lost her cat, she wanted another one. She contact- regular check-ups and the non-profit organization ed Pet Paw-See, a Great Falls organization whose pays veterinarian bills as needed. When the Senor goal is to find “furr ever” homes for discarded or Companion can no longer take care of the cat, homeless pets. She they take it back. filled out an application “Most of the menfor their Senior for Setors end up not only niors program, which helping a cat, but a matches older cats friend, too,” says Jeswith older caregivers. sica Plunkett, who Charlotte chose envisioned Pet PawSapphire, but after See’s Senior for Sespending time togethniors program three er, decided that she years ago. was not the right kit“The Seniors needty. Pet Paw-See took ed a little company Sapphire back and and the cats needed a later found her a home home. It seemed like a Birdie and Loomis, who could be mistaken for Salt and with someone at The Pepper, are held by Pet Paw-See volunteers, Kate Buckles win-win for everyone,” Rainbow. Charlotte and Roseanne Moris. The cats are cared for by the Great she says. Pet ownpicked Sassy, a shiny Falls rescue organization and are at Petco each weekend ership can decrease looking for a home where they will be loved and well cared black cat who lived for. blood pressure, chohappily with her for lesterol levels, and Roseanne helped start Pet Paw-See with others who several years. When wanted to help stray animals. When firefighters brought in triglycerides. A pet she moved to Hospice, a litter of ten-day old Siamese-tabby kittens that they found encourages exercise Sassy went with her. abandoned in a stump after a grass fire on Gore Hill, she and helps alleviate She curled up with took them in. Their paws, backs, and ears were burned and loneliness and stress. she had to feed the ten-day-old kittens every three hours for Charlotte on her bed two weeks. Each one found its “furr ever” home, Roseanne Without the Senior and was with her when proudly reports. [Photo by Bernice Karnop] for Seniors program, she passed away. many Senior CompanAnother family at Hospice requested to have ions would not have a cat of their own. Seniors Sassy move in with their loved one. When that don’t replace their pets because they feel it’s not individual went home to her own three cats, Sassy fair to the animal. If they become ill or otherwise had already found a new home at Poor Clare’s unable to care for the monastery, where she still lives. pet, they don’t know Leslie Raynes, the president of Pet Paw-See, what would happen to and Sassy’s mentor, has been with the cat through it. The Pet Paw-See all the changes. Each cat in the Senior for Se- Senior Companion has niors program has a carefully screened mentor. peace of mind because This person initially checks weekly to see that they know the cat will the cat and Senior Companion are doing all right. be taken care of by the
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organization as long as it lives. When one Senior Companion was hospitalized, the mentor came in daily and took care of her cat in her home until she returned. Jessica worried that a cat they placed with a vision-impaired companion might slip outside without her noticing. The cat now wears a little bell on its collar and has been with her companion for more than two years. As a back up, each Senior for Seniors cat is micro chipped in case they do get out. Then if someone picks them up they can be taken back home. The Senior Companions are happy to have a cat, but they aren’t the only ones who benefit. One waiting cat lived in a cage at Petco but the busy environment caused it so much stress that it developed skin and other health issues. A Senior Companion chose the orange cat because it looked like the one she had just lost. Today the Senor Companion is delighted with the cat and the cat is healthy, unstressed, and happy in her new home. So far, there are about a dozen Senior for Seniors matches. The seniors adopt older cats
who know enough to use the litter box and are more inclined to curl up on your lap than climb the curtains. The cats go only to non-smoking homes, and they aren’t allowed outside. Although Pet Paw-See takes in dogs and puppies as well as cats, the Senor for Seniors program only deals with cats. Pet Paw-See started in 2007 when a group of people who truly care about animals got together. They are not part of a larger organization. Each of their rescued animals is tested for diseases, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered before placement. Potential owners are screened and given support as needed. The group is at Petco on the weekends to promote the cats, kittens, dogs and puppies, and to sell colorful pet blankets and toys to help pay for food and care. They also educate people about the crisis of homeless pets and the responsibilities of pet ownership. For more information and applications for the Senior for Seniors program, contact Jessica Plunkett at 406-268-1492. To contact Pet Paw-See call Leslie at 406-231-1132 or visit the web site. Money donations are always welcome! MSN
Betty Fox: Art Classes are a Draw at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art By Bernice Karnop newspaper. The last art classes she’d taken were It’s been years since Betty Fox attended ju- years ago at the YWCA and the notice intrigued nior high school in the big old stone building on her. She decided she’d like to test her unexercised Central Avenue in Great Falls. Though it hasn’t talent and see if she could learn some new things. been a school in deThe Tuesday afternoon cades, Betty’s back in classes are free and the a classroom at the old materials are provided, Paris Gibson School. so she could hardly go Things haven’t changed wrong. so much. Good teachers Teacher Dan Price challenge her thinking, is knowledgeable and raise her awareness, encouraging. He pulls test her abilities, and out the pencils, charhelp her discover her coal, crayon, pen and talents. ink, or whatever they The Great Falls landare working with on a mark was renovated into given day. He brings in Paris Gibson Square Teacher Dan Price gives Betty Fox some pointers during items to sketch or, on Museum of Art, and it’s a drawing class at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art a nice day, takes them a dynamic place in the in Great Falls. [Photo by Bernice Karnop] outdoors. He demoncommunity. Its mission strates how to make includes teaching art classes, and the on-going certain features stand out and how to add different drawing class Betty takes is specifically for people effects, shading, and texture. 60 and older. The class includes people with a wide a range Betty learned about the classes from the of talent from beginners to some who are very
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
good. The variety and challenge keep it interesting and Betty has been attending for more than a year. In addition to improving her art skills, the classes improve Betty’s ability to appreciate art. Because she’s tried them herself, she notices such things as technique, shading, and background. She encourages others to come. You can’t draw? That’s no excuse, according to Betty. Just pick up your pencil and put something on paper, as she does. “Sometimes I’m surprised,” she says with a laugh. Betty, an active community volunteer, also takes another 60+ class at the Square. When she signed up for seated Tai Chi she wondered what in the world they could do for an hour sitting in a chair. She finds that teacher Cynthia Quarta
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 73
keeps them moving every minute. Her health and flexibility have improved with this practice that includes controlled breathing, stretching, and muscle movement. “Great Falls is so fortunate that the Paris Gibson building has been preserved and that they have made it into an art center so the public can come in,” she says. “They are doing positive things all the time. I don’t know why more people don’t take advantage of it.” Find the 60+ classes offered at the Square at www.the-square.org. Click on education, then 60+. To sign up for a class call at 406-727- 8255. Visit Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art is at 1400 First Avenue North in Great Falls. There is no admission charge. MSN
True Partners In Art And Life: Echo and Ron Ukrainetz By Gail Jokerst; www.gailjokerst.com In the Pulitzer-Prize winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George, lyricist Stephen Sondheim ends his story of painter Georges Seurat with words that Echo and Ron Ukrainetz live by: “Order, design, composition, balance, light, tension, and harmony.” Like artists everywhere, who also happen to share the same mailbox, Echo and Ron strive to bring an aura of order, balance, and harmony into their marriage and artwork. With her lush jeweltoned and sepia batiks depicting native peoples as well as birds and Western scenes, Echo has quickly earned a well-deserved reputation as a fabric artist. She taught herself this ancient art form in the early 1990s and kept experimenting until she reached a point five years ago when she realized people would happily pay for her creations. “Some pieces have up to 18 or 20 values from different dye baths. It’s always a surprise to see how things turn out,” remarks Echo. “So much can go wrong. I think I’m taking a trip to France but
end up in Italy.” Which, more often than not, turns out to be a good thing for Echo’s growing list of collectors. Ron, on the other hand, has long been known statewide and internationally for his paintings of vibrant landscapes, wildlife, and intimate depictions of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. Even when he worked as an aircraft electrician for the Montana Air National Guard, Ron found his cartooning and painting skills in demand. As he says, “the whole base knew I painted and sketched. I was doing caricature portraits of people as they’d retire. It could have been a full-time job.” The Ukrainetzs, who also count themselves fans of Georges Seurat, agree that maintaining a sense of order and balance in their everyday life can often seem harder than reflecting those qualities in their artwork. Considering how involved each is in the Great Falls community, both artists are extremely prolific. Echo teaches full-time at Great Falls High School, a job she has held for 18
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years. Ron, a living historian with the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard, participates in reenactments, teaches art workshops, and builds his own frames in addition to creating his award-winning paintings. Fortunately, harmony prevails over tension in their life as husband and wife and as artists. Anyone who knows Echo and Ron can see how much they love and respect one another. Which certainly comes in handy since they critique each other’s creations honestly and objectively. “We’re both sensitive to the other’s feelings. If we see something that doesn’t look right, we tell each other and listen in a respectful way,” says Echo. “I’m very lucky. I live with my mentor and he is so supportive. When I’m ready to throw a piece away, he encourages me to keep working on it. Once, when I brought one of those pieces I’d struggled with to a gallery, it sold the same day.” That stunned Echo but not her husband, who is equally grateful to have an in-house art critic. “If I’m working on something she’ll tell me how she feels about it. I help her with composition but not with her drawing. That’s her soul and I won’t touch that. I’ll offer suggestions if asked or if I see something that doesn’t work for me,” adds Ron. “We’re considerate of each other’s feelings but open in what we have to say. We usually take the advice offered. I’m not that good to ignore hers. Plus Echo is a redhead; I’m not that stupid. We laugh a lot together and that helps. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.” However, when it comes to their particular media the Ukrainetzs definitely take seriously their quest to convey a sense of tension, or contrast if you will, between colors, lighting, and composition. These native Montanans would be the first to tell you that is what intrigues viewers about a piece of art. What also intrigues people unfamiliar with Ron and Echo’s backgrounds is learning how they came to be married. They met during their C.M. Russell High School years in the school art club and dated back then. However, after graduation they went different ways. Each married someone else and eventually divorced. It seems fitting that they reconnected through a Great Falls
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art show where Echo bought one of Ron’s eagle prints 25 years after they had last seen each other. “I wouldn’t take any money for it; she was a single mom. But she told me I needed the ten dollars more than she did,” recalls Ron. “She threw the money at me anyway. It took a year for me to call her but I knew I’d meet up with her again. I just felt it. The following year, 1993, she came to another show and we visited. I agreed to teach a session for her art class in high school and things took off from there.” After they married, Ron helped raise Echo’s two sons telling them, “I’m not going to be your father. You’ll have only one father. But I will be the best friend you’ll ever have.” And then he proceeded to do just that as he also pursued his interests in plein aire and studio oil painting as well as engraving on clayboard, which he glazes with acrylics. Ron has received so much recognition for his artwork, the list is too long to include here. Some highlights include Paint the Parks Top 100, PaintAmerica Top 100, plus multiple Best of Show, Jurors’, and People’s Choice Awards at the Western Heritage Art Show. When it comes to what he is proudest of, though, neither awards nor accolades figure into the design of that picture. “I’m deeply humbled by the awards but it’s the friends I’ve made – other artists, gallery owners, customers – that mean the most to me. I’m proud to be called their friend. That wouldn’t have happened without this career,” says Ron. “And I’m enormously proud of Echo. Her batiks have gotten into major art auctions throughout the state including the Russell. It has just been amazing.” For more information, visit www.EchoUkrainetz. com, www.RonUkrainetz.com, or call 406-7276828. MSN
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Faith And Love Are Partners With Cecil And Lynne Walborn By Lynne Walborn At 73, Cecil Walborn turns beautiful wooden objects on his lathe. His retirement has him anxious to go to his workshop daily to see his next project in the wood. Cecil says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;God put the beauty in the wood, and I expose it.â&#x20AC;? At 67, Lynne Walborn goes to Hair â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;n There to do her art in hair. After defeating a 5 year illness, she is back at work being a cosmetologist and loving her work and catering to older clients. It all started for this couple when Cecil and Lynne met and married 25 years ago. It had been four years since Cecilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife died of cancer. They had 23 years of marriage and now alone, Cecil was hit with a second whammy that almost cost him his life. A split-rim-tire explosion at work left him with four years of pain, loneliness, and discouragement. He thought, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not going to look for a mate, anymore. If I am to be married, she will have to come to my door.â&#x20AC;? Ly n n e â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s 2 3 - y e a r marriage had ended in a divorce. She was confused, lonely, and prayed for an honest man! Little did she know there was one down the street praying for someone to knock on his door. When her teenage children were acting out because of the divorce, Lynne decided to call for help. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I figured the local
Come experience life.
City Judge, who was widowed, could give me sound advice.â&#x20AC;? So she picked up the phone and called Cecil Walborn. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a knock on the door, but it was a call for help. Through that next year, the phone calls were every evening. Things were sometimes better and sometimes harder. Cecil and Lynne learned to communicate about children, life, living, scripture, death, and Kansas â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they were both natives and raised 60 miles apart. Cecil had moved to Montana with his parents in 1956. Lynne had moved to Fort Benton in 1981 as a reconciliation attempt. Five years later, she was divorced and had set her roots in Fort Benton as a hairdresser. After a few months of advice, the calls became more of a date. After a particularly hard evening with teenagers, Lynne called Cecil for consolation. Cecil suggested they should get married. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then I would be there to help you with these situations.â&#x20AC;? That was all Lynne needed to hear, she knew Cecil was an honest man and all she needed to hear was when! Discussing dates, they discovered their birthdates were only one day apart, but whose should be their wedding day? Lynne suggested, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s get married at midnight.â&#x20AC;? But Cecilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elderly parents said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;No! we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stay up that late.â&#x20AC;? The wedding was on September 23, 1988 at 7 p.m. and yes, it was Lynneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birthday. Cecil and Lynne moved to Great Falls and worked together managing a mobile home community. It enabled them really to know each other. Cecil had resigned his 13-years as city judge; the teenagers had graduated and moved out. Cecil wanted to start a hobby, so he bought a Shop-Smith, and Lynne saw the artistic side of Cecil. He developed a passion for turning wood
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Cecil Walborn displays his creations at the Great Falls Farmers Market. Using a peddle operated lathe. Shoppers can watch Cecil transform a plain-looking piece of wood into a plate, bowl, or goblet that reveals the natural beauty of the wood. [Photo courtesy of Lynne Walborn]
objects on the lathe portion of the tool, and decided in retirement he wanted to become a wood artisan. Since Cecilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retirement was coming along sooner than Lynneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s was, they bought a property with a large garage suitable for his work studio. Lynne went to work in her own salon in an assisted living home where she came to know many wonderful people who helped heal her heart and mind. Meanwhile, Cecil was honing his skills on the lathe, creating pieces for juried art shows, craft shows, and eventually, the Farmers Market. As his biggest fan, Lynne joined him every Saturday to sell his pieces. She also took on a second job at a dress shop to help support the family that now
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects. - Herman Melville
included her 14-year-old grandson. Cecil was the stability she needed. But not all was perfect â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at age 60, Lynne was diagnosed with a very debilitating hereditary disease. She had to quit working until her doctors were able to get her illness under control. As she slowly recovered, she went to work for a warranty company for the next four years until she could receive Medicare. Then, she left the ringing of the telephone. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted so badly to open a small boutique or gallery for Cecilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wood products.â&#x20AC;? But it was not to be, so Lynne joined the salon team at JCPenney in Great Falls in the fall of 2012. That Christmas at a craft show, Lynne and Cecil met Jodi Burgess who shared Lynneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream of an artisanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gallery. Jodi said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;My dream for a gallery is art to be enjoyed by everybody, affordable art. Art work that is made with a passion â&#x20AC;&#x201C; art that has a voice that speaks to you, and can be passed down to the next generation.â&#x20AC;? Jodi is a crochet artisan and became the answer to Lynneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream of having a place to show Cecilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artistic talent. In Great Falls since May, Montana Mosaic in Times Square, features artisansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work in many media - glass, pottery, wood, needle work, etc. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for sale. Cecil fills his days turning wood, and Lynne works at the salon doing hair. Growing older, wiser, and productive together, 25 years have passed with love and dreams fulfilled. MSN
MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 77
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C.M. Russell Museum Store Now featuring Raggedy Ann & Raggedy Andy handmade dolls, perfect holiday gifts for your loved ones! These beloved huggable ragdolls are heirloom treasures to be passed along for generations.
Always free store admission! Handcrafted Native American & Montana artist gifts $IBSMFT . 3VTTFMM QSJOUT t +FXFMSZ t 8FTUFSO XFBS BOE BDDFTTPSJFT t )PNF EFDPS t #PPLT t /FX BSSJWBMT EBJMZ Roundup artist Lee Steenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comical stick people fill a room at Paris Gibson Museum of Art in Great Falls. [Photo by Bernice Karnop]
GREAT FALLS COMMUNITY CONCERT ASSOCIATION ITS NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN US FOR THE 2013-2014 SEASON FIVE NATIONAL SHOWS FOR $70 - SPECIAL STUDENT PRICES AVAILABLE OR ONLY $7 THE ABRAMS BROTHERS SPECIAL CONCERT Tuesday, Oct.29, 2013 SONS OF THE PIONEERS Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014 THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC Thursday, Mar. 6, 2014 AUDIOBODY Saturday, Apr. 12, 2014 MACK BAILEY OF THE LIMELITERS Sun. May 18, 2014 (2:30 matinee)
THE SINGING SONS OF BEACHES Saturday, November 16, 2013
Only $10 per ticket with new season membership Non-member tickets $30 each Tickets available at the Mansfield Box Office - Great Falls Civic Center, at 455-8514 or online at ticketing.greatfallsmt.net Additional concert information available at gfcca.org All shows at the Mansfield Theater at 7:30 pm unless otherwise noted
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New Events for Fall 2013 at Ursuline Centre in Great Falls! Ursuline Centre is gearing up for late autumn as we rejoice in our continued mission to “meet the needs of the people.” Currently, the well known Apantao Cursillo nondenominational retreat is scheduled for the weekend of Oct 10-13. Contact Rocky or Kelly at 406-453-7064. Father Haffey will host a 12-step Serenity Retreat on December 6-8. There are spaces remaining for this retreat. Meals and housing are offered with the registration fee. The Ursuline Centre, over 100 years old, is a fascinating and remarkable historic struc-
ture. Ursuline staff member Georges DiGeorgio leads regular historic tours and presentations this fall. Call for more information. Ursuline Pre-school is in full swing now and the Centre continues to nourish our community with daily, weekly, and monthly meetings. Please keep us in your heart and prayers as we work to secure continued support for this grand Great Falls landmark. Contact our Development Director Kristi Scott to talk about planned giving that provides support for both you and the Centre in your senior years. Call 406-452-8585 for more information, to register for a retreat or to find out how you can help! MSN
Do Not Miss Conrad’s Day Of Holiday Wonders Lon & Joyce Bowman
Conrad comes alive each holiday season with our “Day of Holiday Wonders” celebration of tradition and attractions for both young and young-at-heart alike. The Christmas Stroll on December 7 is a unique time of community and fun. A popular addition to the Stroll is the “Warm Up to Winter” bonfire. With Popcorn and hot cocoa, carols and hayrides, this new addition will warm your holiday spirit. Throughout the day “stroll” and browse from business to business to create your holiday wish list. With the big man himself leading the Christmas Cardboard Parade, you will feel the spirit of the season as local talent entertains and delights with Christmas carols for the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony – a special attraction that always proves to be a joyous experience. The Live Christmas Tree/Wreath Auction is very popular. Folks will bid on 24 designer, custom decorated, one-of-a-kind Christmas trees and 12 equally creative wreaths. From old-fashioned hayrides to Christmas carols filling the air, your holiday fancy will be tickled. The Conrad Area Chamber of Commerce wishes you the best Christmas celebration for your family, friends, and community! Please contact Barbie Killion at 406-271-7791, friend us on Facebook, or visit conradmt.com for more information and a schedule. MSN
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Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Prevents Child Abuse with PURPLE Montana Pediatric nurse Daylyn Porter worked in the E.R. and often witnessed babies after they had been shaken. She wondered what would lead a parent to do such harm to their baby, but with her second child, she learned that she could have become one of those parents. Daylyn’s daughter was a “high-crier/colicky” and Daylyn was frustrated beyond belief. Through research, she learned that such crying in babies is normal and is known as the Period of PURPLE Crying. Back at work, when a shaken three-month old was brought to the E.R. Daylyn kissed her forehead and said a prayer knowing that if she lived it would be a life of suffering, seizures, blindness, or
worse. The other alternative, death, perhaps was the lesser of two evils. As the life-flight took the innocent infant away, Daylyn pledged to make sure all parents learned about the normalcy of crying and how to prevent shaking. Four years later PURPLE Montana does just that. Preventing one baby from being shaken saves taxpayers $1 million-plus, so for just $2 per family we plan to teach the parents of all 12,000 babies born in Montana each year and prevent needless tragedy. For more information or to support the PURPLE Montana Program, please e-mail Daylyn at purple@hmhb-mt.org or call 406-449-8611. MSN
Listen to the Buzz about Honey Article & Photo By Bernice Karnop Edwin Galloway, 82, Great Falls, heard the buzz about honey from beekeeping guest-speaker Brian Rogers at a prostate cancer support group a few months ago. Edwin was in treatment at the time and he learned that honey is a probiotic which helps kick-start your system after chemotherapy. After the talk, Edwin bought ten pounds of raw honey and takes a tablespoon each day, off the spoon or as a sweetener on his fruit or cereal. Skin blemishes have faded and disappeared and it’s soothing to his throat. He can’t measure the probiotic effects, but plans to buy another ten pounds of honey this fall. Edwin, whose journey with life-threatening thyroid cancer began in 1959, can’t explain a lot of things from the eight decades he’s lived. He defied expectations by surviving thyroid cancer surgery and extreme radiation treatments. The then 28-year old father worried about providing for his wife and three little children. His insurance paid next to nothing, so he did the only thing he knew to do. He went back to work as a carpenter. He sawed, hammered, and lifted, ignoring the bulky white bandages swathing the raw skin burned by the radiation. “I think work is what saved me,” he says, 54 years later. Dr. Sue Pollington, clinical social worker at the Sletten Cancer Institute in Great Falls, set up the support group’s talk on the health benefits of honey. She uses honey herself, to manage arthritis pain. “A combination of honey and cinnamon is a wonderful anti-inflammatory,” she says. The healing properties flow not only from honey, but also from bee pollen and even stinger venom. Local honey made from pollen growing in the area builds tolerance that helps alleviate allergy symptoms. Honey kills bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms without harming the healthy cells as antibiotics do. Honey may help with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and more. Buckwheat honey is especially helpful for coughs. Honey made from the pollen of bitter weed is dark and has a distinct
taste, but it builds tolerance for those who have allergies to it. Like fine wine, every year’s honey crop is different as it takes on the taste and color of the local plants on which the bees forage. Sue met Brian Rogers when she and a friend attended his beekeeping class at the Great Falls Public Library on a whim. Beekeeping captivated her and she and her husband now have a couple hives in their backyard. They’ve planted clover and other plants that bees like. “It is truly wonderful,” she says.
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The predominance of older men at the bee- may be labeled “honey sauce” and it will not give keeping class reminded her of the older men in the health benefits of raw honey that we are after her prostate cancer support group. She realized as consumers. that they would benefit from learning how raw Brian says individuals need to be aware of the honey could help their health, but could also be differences in what they choose to buy as honey. introduced to beekeeping as a hobby. Honey that’s heated and ultra-filtered so it contains Brian Rogers took up beekeeping after retiring no pollen bits or crystals is just a sweetener. from a tech oriented career in the Air Force. BeeWhile there are many valid ways to raise keeping is the polar opposite to bees, Brian’s goal is to raise the black and white results he survivor bees. He describes could predict in his first career, them as bees who can adapt to he discovered. It gave wings to anything the local environment his curiosity and his imaginathrows at them. His bees are tion. Because it is so different treatment free and as free from from anything he’s done in the chemicals as nature allows. past he’s not hampered by They don’t get trucked around preconceived notions. If he dethe nation. He disturbs them cides to do something outside as seldom as possible, reading of the traditional boundaries, the hive by watching bee activhe just does it and learns from ity outside the hive. His goal is the empirical data. Learning “at for the bees to thrive. the speed of obsession,” he imWhen he decided on the mersed himself in bee culture minimal policies, he expected and their products. heavy losses. After five years, Two stinging facts stood his bees are doing just fine. “I out to Brian. Honey from the don’t know if it is because of grocery store shelf may not me or in spite of me, but the have these health benefits, and bees are doing fantastic,” he honey that looks most like what says. “Something just plain Great Falls beekeeper Brian Rogers dis- works and I can’t argue with he thought honey should look like, is probably not the best. plays an array of honey in different hues. the results.” Honey takes on the characteristics of the The reason is that in the last pollen the bees use to make it. [Photo by He seeks balance with few decades honey producers Bernice Karnop] nature, and he keeps learning have altered the raw honey so it from the bees. looks more “honeyish”. They heat it so that it won’t As for Edwin Galloway, he keeps playing crystallize so quickly. They filter out all the bits of pinochle, socializing at the Senior Center, and pollen, the desensitizing agents which help with helping his son at the business he started, Great an individual’s allergies. Commercial beekeepers Falls Lumber and Do It Best Hardware. may truck their bees around the country so they He also plans to continue taking a tablespoonare pollinating far-away individual crops instead ful of honey every day. “There’s no reason to stop,” of gathering from multiple local sources. They im- he quips with a grin. port honey from places like Australia, China, and Call Brian Rogers at 406-781-6331 to ask Thailand which can not help with local allergies. about buying honey, swarm removal, or beekeepIf the honey contains additives like corn syrup, it ing classes. MSN
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Neighbors Helping Neighbors As we approach the holiday season, plans are being made to bring family and friends together for feasts that can take days of preparation and hours to enjoy. Regardless of our ethnic background, most traditions revolve around food. For 65% of Montanans, the food on our tables is easy to come by. But for the remaining 35%, finding food on a daily basis, let alone for special celebrations, is not quite as simple. These are the children, adults, and seniors who are food insecure – they do not have access to food in a consistent manner requiring emergency assis-
tance or frequently skipped meals. These are the families and individuals who must make the choice of paying for their utility or medical bills over groceries. More than 300,000 individuals in Montana are hungry– not just during the holidays, but year round. So please provide your financial support to the Great Falls Community Food Bank through regular donations at 1620 12th Avenue N Great Falls MT 59401. Thank you. MSN
It’s Not Ninety Degrees - continued from cover Next they were told they would often have wet zodiac landings in which they would get out of the zodiac and wade to shore. Brown was visiting a continent double the size of Australia but inhabited by only a thousand to five-thousand people – most of whom were there temporarily in the austral summer. In 1961, the Antarctica Treaty, signed by 48 nations, designated that Antarctica be utilized for peaceful and scientific purposes. As a result, many countries have kept a presence there by maintaining a shack in different degrees of upkeep. The group visited the one maintained at Port Lockroy by the British government. During the summer, four volunteers staff the weather station and run the gift shop, museum, and post office. Brown was told by one of the volunteers that the Argentinean government does as little as possible for upkeep of their site; the British are conservative; but the Americans continue to sink money into theirs. On different island stops, Brown was able to enjoy seeing various species of penguins. Some were sitting atop their nests piled high with rocks while others were feeding their recently hatched chicks.
“Whenever we were on islands with penguins, there was an odor, but in time I got used to it,” said Brown. Minke and Humpback whales were often swimming near the ship, and seals were seen on shore. Many different kinds of birds were observed from the ship’s deck. The turquoise-tinted icebergs made Brown reach for her camera, and distant jagged, snow-encased mountains stretched into the blue skies. One day Brown hiked to the highest point in the area to take in vistas both on land and on the ocean. “From what I saw of the continent, I thought of it as being vast, stark, empty, but beautiful,” said Brown. The area of the Antarctica that she visited was on the opposite side of this ice-covered continent from McMurdo Station where the primary American research center is located and where most stories coming out of the Antarctica originate. Brown was ecstatic about the trip. “I would easily give up the beaches and warm water of Mexico and Hawaii in January to visit the continent again,” she said. “The next time I would like to see the other side of Antarctica via New Zealand.” MSN
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Medora Is A Great Winter Getaway Exploration and enjoyment in and around Medora are always available and not to be missed. There is so much to enjoy in the North Dakota Badlands through all the seasons — and the offseason for tourist travel is so inviting. For openers, experience the sights and sounds of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP), one of North Dakota’s treasures. They are open 24/7, 365 days a year. In the fall, the trees are starting to turn and the colors are spectacular. “It’s a good time to see the wildlife when it is quieter and when the days become shorter,” says Eileen Andes of the TRNP. “You are more likely to see elk plus the natural lighting is the best for photographers during our crisp days and cool nights.” “Our Annual photo contest is just starting, with great photo opportunities in the fall, winter, and spring. Photographers have a whole year to work on photographs by the August 31, 2014 deadline,” adds Andes. The scenery is beautiful during the winter months. If there is enough snow in the park, skiing and snowshoeing are permitted. On nice winter days, it is fun to explore the animal landscape, and one will see flowers start to come up and migratory birds return as winter turns to spring and a new generation of feral horses, bison, deer, antelope, prairie dogs, and elk arrive. In December the Theodore Roosevelt National History Association participates in the Old Fashioned Cowboy Christmas event. The visitor center in the South Unit is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The TRNP hosts the Eats on the Streets with savory treats from cheese balls to nuts for everyone to taste. Save the following dates on your calendar to discover Medora’s off-season magic.
October 26 — October’s Annual Craft Fair held at the Medora Community Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 26. Shopping opportunities in downtown Medora feature some of the stores re-opening for this weekend. November 8 — The Hunter’s Wildlife Feed is set for November 8 at the Medora Community Center. Enjoy this “wild” buffet! Hunters and friends are all welcome to this annual food extravaganza. December 6–8 — The 18th Annual Medora’s Old Fashioned Cowboy Christmas takes place this year in downtown Medora. What a unique way to celebrate the holiday season! The fun continues through the weekend with great food, fun, holiday activities, and lively music. Holiday activities set to kick off Friday evening include oyster stew, veteran’s memorial service and wreath ceremony, wine and beer sampling, Medora holiday melodrama, spirits of the season holiday bar stroll, and late night buffet. On Saturday, breakfast, Eats on the Streets, kids games and crafts, sleigh and hayrides, Cowboy Snow Sculpting, Cowboy Christmas Supper, Smokehouse Band, and a dance concert. Sunday there will be breakfast, Christmas cookie decorating with Santa, Morning Rush Outhouse Races, and an Ethnic Buffet at the Chateau deMores. Of course many of Medora’s businesses including restaurants and lodging places for those who want to enjoy the spectacular badlands scenery during the off season are open. Please go to www. medorand.com to contact the businesses. For more information, contact the Medora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau email bcm@midstate.net, call 701-623-4830, or visit the website at www.medorand.com. MSN
Casper, Wyoming: Historic Trails, Cowboys, Oil, & More By Bernice Karnop Red and black lines showing the nation’s highway system crisscross maps of the United States like a closely woven net. Maps of the Western U.S. in the 1840s didn’t look like that. One broad red line slashed across the country from Independence, Missouri, to South Pass in what’s now Wyoming. And that red line isn’t a highway, but a Trail. It splits into paths leading to Oregon, California, or Salt Lake City. People today are fascinated and amazed by how difficult it was then to cross the continent and by how many people did just that. A good place to learn the stories of these pioneer immigrants is at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. More than 500,000 people – roughly the population of Wyoming today – crossed the North Platte River at Casper on their way west to Oregon, California, and Salt Lake Valley between 1840 and 1869. The unpaved trails through this area carried one of the most impressive human migrations in the history of the world. The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center tells the migration story through the experiences of those travelers, and qualifies for the must-see list of any visitors to Casper today. The center is near Interstate 90 on the north side of town, just before you drop down into the city. Near the entrance, which resembles a covered wagon, guests linger out on the veranda to enjoy an overview of the city and the river with Casper Mountain in the background. Inside a visit begins with a short multi-media
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program called Footsteps to the West. It recreates around 1847, and the Platte Bridge, built in 1859. the lives of the pioneers, often in their own words The museum at Fort Caspar covers cultural taken from journals and diaries. After this intro- history from prehistoric times through recent deduction, visitors explore seven galleries, starting velopment. with a look at the Native Americans who lived in Those who are interested in seeing other trails the Casper area and then moving to the earliest sites may drive out to Bessemer Bend, Prospect European Americans to travel west, the trappers, Hill, Independence Rock and other places a short traders. and missionaries. distance from Casper. Wagon ruts may be spotted Separate galleries for the Oregon Trail, the in many places across the landscape, notably the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail explain the deep ruts in the rocks near Guernsey. different reasons people left the relative comforts Other Interesting Things to do in Casper. of the east for the grueling journey west. Special Fittingly enough, todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Casper also has an features include a virtual river crossing of the North outstanding network of recreational trails for its Platte River, which could be 300 yards across and citizens and visitors to enjoy. The Platte River four feet deep. Participants crawl Parkway Trail follows the into the wagon and follow a man on river for ten miles through a horse who guides them though the city. Other trails feed the water. They feel the jolts from into it, including the Casper the uneven riverbed and witness Rail Trail that follows the an upset. In another area, a visitor former Chicago & Northcan heft a backpack like the miners western Rail Line through carried to the gold fields in Califordowntown, and a spider nia. Visitors may try pushing and web of city trails and streets pulling a handcart like the ones with bike lanes. This striking Thi t iki bronze b meets t visitors i it as Mormon converts took over the they come to the National Historic Trails Casper Mountain, 8,500 mountains. feet high, multiplies the Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. One group of handcart push- [Photo by Bernice Karnop] outdoor recreation possibiliers, according to a DVD playing in the center, was ties with fishing, canoeing, other water sports at the Martin Handcart Company party. They started Alcova and Pathfineder Reservoirs, cross-country too late in the season and were caught in an Oc- and downhill skiing and other winter sports, hiking, tober blizzard west of Casper. They took shelter hunting, picnicking, and more. in what is now called Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cove but nearly 200 Other museums in Casper are the Salt Creek of the Martin party died from hunger and exposure Oil Field Museum that explains Wyomingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oil before a rescue party from Salt Lake reached them. history, the Tate museum Another gallery at the Historic Trails Interpre- that explores local geoltive Center tells the short but exciting history of ogy, the Casper Planthe Pony Express. The Pony Express carried the etarium which studies the mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to San Francisco, universe. The NicolayCalifornia, in ten days. Before this, delivery took six sen Art Museum features months. The Pony Express lasted for 19 months modern art. and halted when the telegraph lines were comCasperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting pleted from coast to coast. This story is a revelation downtown was built with for people of the digital age as they learn about cowboy and oil money the men, the horses, the organized relay, and the and is filled with historic dangers of sending messages in the 1860s. buildings, good indepenFort Caspar Museum and Nearby Trail Sites. dent restaurants, and lots A short drive from the Interpretive Center to the of shopping. river takes visitors to old Fort Caspar. At this recIf your â&#x20AC;&#x153;trailâ&#x20AC;? leads to reated fort, originally called Platte Bridge Station, Casper, plan to stop and where hoards of people crossed the river, visitors enjoy some of what it has see replicas of the Mormon Ferry, established to offer. MSN
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Health Insurance for Canada Travel A Wise Decision By Steve Cogger While we as U.S. residents think often about travel insurance coverage when we’re traveling overseas we’re not so quick to worry about health insurance for Canada travel. This is especially true if our voyage to Canadian provinces is by car and not by air. We don’t expect to need health insurance for Canada travel to protect us from exotic diseases or militant uprisings. Health insurance for Canada travel should not be ignored, however. Your medical insurance provider in the U.S. will typically only cover a medical emergency in Canada if the emergency was precipitated in the U.S. and the nearest emergency medical care is Canadian. This is especially true if you’re a senior whose only form of medical insurance is Medicare. Health insurance for Canada travel is, therefore, a must.
When you’re shopping for coverage you’ll want to consider several things in your decision. They are: what is excluded from coverage (what particular incidents and situations would your trip coverage not reimburse you for); what sports you can participate in and still be covered by your health insurance for Canada travel; whether you might be excluded from coverage for a pre-existing condition; and if there is a deductible. The coverage that is customary is for a hospital stay, although the per day limitations and ceilings will vary plan to plan; medical care, in-patient and outpatient, including physician fees, as well as those for any nursing care, surgery or anesthesia; medical testing such as x-rays and laboratory work; transportation to or from medical care by ambulance; medical care provided by a private RN (registered nurse); medical equipment such
as wheelchairs, walkers, splints and slings; prescription medicine; and the cost of repatriation of the remains of a deceased member of your travel group. Probably the most crucial part of the plan you choose for health insurance for Canada travel must be good coverage in the case of an emergency evacuation back to your home for medical reasons. This is especially true if you are traveling by airline. The cost of changing travel plans, especially if you’ve purchased non-refundable tickets and must now arrange a new flight last minute can be exceedingly costly. Even from Canada, you must assume a cost of $10,000 for this coverage alone. Planning ahead by purchasing health insurance for Canada travel will go a long way towards making your Canada vacation a serene stay. MSN
SS Moyie: The Sweetheart Of Kootenay Lake By Bernice Karnop Certainly one can see it was a labor of love. The faithful supporters in the small British Columbia town of Kaslo gave the Sweetheart of Kootenay Lake a facelift that restored her youth and beauty. To some, the 113-year-old sternwheeler (whose name is actually the SS Moyie) might seem like an old relic, but they worked so hard on the restoration that they have fallen in love with her all over again. The city purchased the Moyie for $1.00 in 1957 from the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). She had steamed back and forth across the lake for some 59 years and was worn out. They beached the ship and went to work raising money to restore her good looks. Today, the last operating passenger sternwheeler in Canada serves as a museum and is considered the best-preserved passenger steam vessel in North America. History of the SS Moyie – The SS Moyie was conceived in 1898 by the CPR, with the idea of creating an all-Canadian route to the Klondike gold fields. However, the plan fell through because a bill authorizing essential railway service failed to pass the Canadian Senate. The railroad shipped the 161.7-foot long vessel to Nelson for service on Kootenay Lake. At the time, the railroad ended at the lower end of Koo-
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tenay Lake. Passengers would leave the train and board the boat to complete their journey. The SS Moyie, with room for more than 200 passengers, served in this way from 1898 until 1906, when a larger, faster ship took over. It continued working on Kootenay Lake, however, for another half-century. It hauled freight, moved railcar barges across the lake, and provided excursion services and passenger service to towns along the lake. As the go-to worker for whatever was needed, the Moyie worked right up until 1957 when it was retired. Restoration – The restoration started with replacing the rotting decks and dealing with rusted beams. Different challenges arose when they were ready to restore the inside. There were few photos and few people who could remember how it had originally looked. Fortunately, as the restoration crew carefully removed paint and upholstery that had replaced the original décor, the Moyie gave up her secrets through paint chips, a stray curtain tie that dropped into a cavity below the windows, and hints found on faded postcards. When you visit, pay attention to treasures such as the crimson tufted mohair upholstery in the women’s salon, the gold pin striping and stenciling, and the cast plaster features that had long been absent. Appreciate the hours of hard work it took
to discover and replicate these lovely features. Visit the SS Moyie – The SS Moyie, a National British Columbia Historic Landmark. Visitors start with a nine-minute video, then take a brochure that leads the self-guided tour. Guided tours may be arranged. The site includes a Visitor Center that is built to look like a Canadian Pacific Railway station and the beach along Kootenay Lake. Nearby amenities include good restaurants and shops. Entrance fees are $7.50 for adults, $5.30 for students, $5 for 65 and older, and $3.30 for children 6-12. Children under 6 years old are free. The Kootenay Lake Ferry – You can find a Sweetheart of a deal crossing Kootenay Lake today on the Kootenay Lake Ferry. The ferry ride is free but the mountain lake scenery is priceless. Instead of being part of the Canadian Pacific Railway like the SS Moyie, these ferries are part of Highway 3A. The 35-minute ride across one of British Columbia’s largest natural lakes is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. The MV Osprey 2000 operates all day between Balfour on the west side of the Lake and Kootenay Bay on the east starting at 6:30 a.m. The MV Balfour provides extra service during the summer. The ferries carry motor vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians. MSN
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A natural-born amateur shrink By Bill Hall I have the bad luck and the great honor to be a member of a profession that most of us require years to learn. The same is true of fiddle players, quarterbacks, dog trainers, photographers, landscape architects, and psychiatrists, among others. People who have an urge to follow the craft populate most lines of work, but they require years of practice. However, almost all such professions are shadowed by a handful of almost instant naturals who are born to practice that occupation. You may have noticed that the list of professions above includes a possible deviation – a psychiatrist, a professional who has invested countless years trying to master that inexact science. Nonetheless, there are amateurs outside formal psychiatry who read human emotions like a book with large type. They have some instinctive ability to understand, soothe, and even repair troubled people. That coincides with the fact that, just or not, psychiatry sometimes looks to the lay person like a hit and miss brand of healing, no better in some ways than a wise grandparent, an intuitive older brother, a great classroom teacher, and the occasional preacher. We recently saw a stunning demonstration of a natural therapist without a degree. I speak of Antoinette Tuff, the elementary school bookkeeper who eased the fury of a deeply troubled young man with an AK-47 and an itch to kill cops outside the school. She is one of those enchanted naturals that have no formal training for dealing with mentally troubled people. But they have a practical, inborn level of common sense that informs their encounters with muddled and murderous minds. Antoinette Tuff instinctively treated that young man as if he were sane. She persuaded him he was a better person and, for the moment, he be-
came one. She bonded with him like a dear old aunt, treating him with respect and compassion. In response, his fury folded. He told her he was not on his medication and he should have gone to a mental hospital instead of invading a school. He hinted at suicide. “No, you don’t want that,” she said. “You’re gonna be okay. I thought the same thing. You know, I tried to commit suicide last year after my husband left me, but look at me now. I’m still working and everything is okay.” So he told Tuff that he was sorry. And then, on her behalf as much as his own, he laid down the weapon and his anger. She immediately latched on to and rewarded his decision to be a good boy. “It’s gonna be all right, sweetheart,” she said. “I just want you to know that I love you, though, okay? And I’m proud of you. That’s a good thing that you’re just giving up – and don’t worry about it. We all go through something in life.” In a strong and level voice, she fed him the opportunity to believe he wasn’t a bad person at heart. In one of the old Star Trek series, Whoopi Goldberg plays an “empath.” It’s a word for people with built-in empathy, a name for softhearted souls who can virtually feel the pain, or at least the heartache, of other humans. The Star Trek version may be a bit exaggerated, but such people do exist. Most of us know a few friends and relatives who were born with a large, warm shoulder to cry on. They are great listeners and common-sense counselors. They have a gift for steering people toward happier lives. They spot the sagging face of a depressed adult across a crowded room and go strike up a conversation. They tell unruly children therapeutic things like, “How would you like it if the cat deliberately
Bring Potato Chips Author unknown A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips, a six-pack of root beer, and started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man who was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so the boy offered him some chips. The gentleman gratefully accepted and smiled at the boy. The old fellow’s smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, he smiled at the boy. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him,
“What did you do today that made you so happy?” The boy replied, “I had lunch with God.” But before his mother could respond, he added, “You know what? He’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!” Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and the son asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy? “The man replied, “I ate potato chips in the park with God.” However, before his son responded, he added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.” Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime… embrace them all! Have lunch with God... bring chips. MSN
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stepped on your tail?” Sometimes, they softly persuade young men with guns that they really don’t want to kill themselves or anyone else. They cover the troubled and the mentally ill with a big warm blanket of sympathy and rationality. They are the empaths and it is a comfort to live on the same planet with them. Meanwhile, somebody should give Antoinette Tuff the congressional medal of sanity. Hall may be contacted at wilberth@cableone. net or at 1012 Prospect Ave., Lewiston, ID 83501. MSN
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Book Review: They Called us D.P.s by Alicja R. Edwards, 2013 Reviewed by Bernice Karnop History is about the acts and decisions of high officials in governments. History as it is experienced in the lives of ordinary people may tell a different story. Few decisions made by heads of state were as crushing as the Yalta Agreement of 1945 that ignored the Polish government–in-exile in London, shifted Poland’s borders to the east, and set the country up with a Communist government. Alicja Edwards’ first book, And God was Our Witness tells how, after her family in Eastern Poland survived the German bombing, Soviet “liberating” troops arrested and imprisoned her father. Then, in a late-night raid, these troops pulled Alicja, age 16, her younger brother, mother, and grandmother from their comfortable home, and shipped them in crowded stock cars to Soviet Kazakhstan in 1940. They were slave laborers for the next three years, constantly facing mistreatment, hunger, sickness, and death. In her second book, They Called Us D.P.s, Alicja, who now lives in Eureka, Montana, relates the story of their march across the Karakum Desert, the three-day boat crossing of the Caspian Sea to Persia, (now Iran) , and the early days of developing identities beyond that of displaced persons – or D.P.s. “We were items, not quite human yet, but we became human. We had nothing, but we began to breathe a very fresh air, the air of freedom. We didn’t have to look behind us and to the side and see if there is a whip or something worse waiting for us,” Alicja said in an interview. They arrived in Persia ridden with diseases including malaria, bloody dysentery, and yellow jaundice. The Iranian doctors treated them with compassion and kindness, which she will never forget. Alicja writes with passion, with humor, and with brutal honesty as she relates her delight at being in this ancient land where the likes of Omar Khayyam and Hammurabi lived. Readers see, not only what the crowded camps were like, but also glimpse the personal lives of the people who once lived ordinary, cultured, peaceful lives in Poland. She tells how they slowly began to reinvent their lives after their ordeal in the Soviet Union. She shares her own determination to get an education and to transform the perception from a displaced person to a person of value. The hopes and dreams of the D.P.s and the energies of Polish soldiers were directed at going back home to Poland. Those hopes were dashed when Churchill and Roosevelt gave in to the demands of Stalin, “the Red Butcher of the Soviet Union” to making Poland a Communist country. The Polish people paid a high price for that appeasement. Alicja, whose writings are all about the power of freedom in directing one’s life and fate,” calls these leaders “three arrogant sharks,” and “a decadent trio, unhealthy and mentally sick.” The Allies were in Persia shuttling supplies to Stalin’s government. Alicja met Ernest Edwards, an officer in the U.S. Army during the three years as a refugee. They were married in Iran in 1945, but when he received orders, she was unable to accompany him without proper documentation. She came to the U.S. the following year after wading through reams of red tape. Among the holocaust stories from WWII, this largely untold one involved nearly two million Poles and other Eastern Europeans. At the time, Alicja was warned not to speak of their enslavement by the Soviet Union. Finally, the story is being told. The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. contains a copy of her story, And God was our Witness. Alicja, an accomplished artist, illustrates her books with paintings that reflect her memories of these events. Telling her story is healing for her. “People take freedom for granted,” she says. “Freedom is the most precious asset that we have. I know because I lost it.” She is now writing her third book about her life as a war bride. You may order Alicja Edward’s books at Amazon.com, contact Alicja Edwards by mail at Around the Corner Antiques and Art, 305 First Avenue East, P.O. Box 526, Eureka, MT, 59917, or phone her at 406-297-7263. MSN
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