The Nugget Newspaper's Focus on Health 2025 // 2025-01-29
HELPING PATIENTS GET MOVING!
Physical Therapy • Aquatic Therapy
Post-Surgical • Sports-Specific Training
Strengthening & Conditioning
541-549-3574
2022 Desperado Trail, Ste 201 at Sisters Athletic Club www.therapeuticassociates.com/Sisters
Therapeutic Associates
Therapeutic Associates has added two new therapists to the team, which means there are plenty of highly trained physical therapists on staff to help you recover from injury, enhance performance, and keep going with all the Sisters Country activities you love to do.
Sarah Consiglio comes to Therapeutic Associates as a graduate of the OSUCascades Doctor of Physical Therapy program. She is passionate about providing innovative, research-based, patientcentered physical therapy interventions to empower people of all ages and abilities to achieve their rehab goals.
Natalie Zadeh comes to the clinic after working with Bend Athletic Club. She has a particular interest in injured worker recovery, and working with equestrian injuries — not an uncommon phenomenon in Sisters Country.
Therapeutic Associates offers a unique step-down program with Sisters Athletic Club, and access to the Sisters Athletic Club pool makes working through your program easy and effective.
Therapeutic Associates is also committed to educating clients on how to stay active. They are staffed to see patients quickly — and get them back into action.
FOCUS on Health
Somatré
We’re lucky to live in Sisters, where the air and water are so much cleaner than they are in many other places. Yet, we are still exposed to environmental toxins every day, from food packaging to household cleaners. And we breathe car exhaust — and sometimes are inundated with smoke.
Erika Swinth of Somatré offers help in releasing the load of toxicity. She has four ionic foot baths that can help release toxicity, and offers Young Living Essential Oils. She notes that substituting essential oils for candles can eliminate impacts from candle fragrances. Essential oils can also offer emotional support, reducing anxiety and trauma responses.
Inquire about air purifiers that can make your indoor environment safer and more healthy even when it’s not great outside.
Erika is planning educational programs to help people in Sisters avoid toxicity by finding alternatives for cleaning products and avoiding chemical exposure.
Toxicity can lead to symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, low energy, general malaise, and fuzzy thinking. Finding ways to avoid toxicity, and eliminate or minimize the effects of chemicals and toxins, is a key element in developing the healthy way of life we all prize in Sisters Country.
Whychus Health
When we find ourselves grappling with a condition that is difficult to diagnose — or are blown off when we seek help, told that there’s nothing wrong or that it’s “just anxiety” or “in our head” — it can be hard to know where to turn.
Robyn Lopez, DNP, FNP-BC, has created that place with Whychus Health. With a deep background as an ER and trauma nurse, she went on to become a boardcertified family nurse practitioner.
Her goal is to help people in Sisters optimize their health. She takes time to understand what is going on with her patients, listening without judging, and establishing a relationship of trust. Whychus Health uses evidence-based practice, so Robyn’s clinical decision making is always supported by current research and her top priority is safety. With that, she also believes in thinking outside the box and supports a holistic, integrative approach to medicine.
Whychus Health can provide services including bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, anti-aging therapies, and wellness-promoting services like nutrition planning and prescription weight-loss aids.
Robyn can also refer patients to her husband, Alex, a former Navy SEAL and firefighter who offers life-coaching services.
As someone who grew up eating well and had a mom who had dietary restrictions from the time I was 12, food preparation was a massive part of my routine. I enjoy the creative aspect of cooking, putting ingredients together to make something that looks good and tastes good, and is suitable to dietary needs. Cooking a meal is therapeutic and relaxing after a long day’s work. A self-proclaimed “foodie,” I tend to let my creative juices flow when I come up with a meal to cook.
I have researched many recipes to make healthy meals at home to accommodate a busy 9-to-5 work schedule and a 35-minute commute home. I discovered an Instagrammer, Kalena (handle: @kalenainthekitchen), and subscribed to her recipe blog, which included many 20-minute meals with budget-friendly ingredients. Immediately, I started to add many of her recipes to my weekly meal lineup. It was also important to me to find recipes with budgetfriendly ingredients accessible at most grocery stores, and that’s her recipe. It’s important that ingredients can be found in an easy stop on the way home from work — and are easy on the wallet. Finding a set of recipes or an influencer you enjoy can help inspire and motivate you to make healthier meals while staying on a budget, and even during a time crunch.
Planning meals and preparing ahead of time can also lessen stress during the week and provide a sense of convenience. Having concise recipes at my fingertips allows me to follow through on making the meal. It is so easy to fall into a pattern of blowing off a meal that has to
HEALTHY EATING eat the rainbow on a schedule and a budget
By Ceili Gatley
As we enter a new year, everyone has goals of eating better and working out more. Sometimes it is hard to know where to start. If you work full time, five days a week, with a commute, cooking a wholesome and healthy meal can feel overwhelming.
be prepared when you’re tired and burnt out from a work day. But then you aren’t eating the healthiest meals most likely, as most easy premade meals are packed with artificial flavors and stripped of nutrients. Dr. Mark Hyman, an American physician and author, often speaks about the lack of nutrients in America’s food industry and what we can do as consumers to eat more nutrient-dense foods. You can listen to his podcast (one that I frequent often). One of his mantras, and something I’ve tried to incorporate, is to “eat the rainbow.” This means eating varied, colorful foods and a variety of meats, vegetables, and grains to get wellrounded meals every time. This can be tough, especially on a budget, as many “superfood” items can be pricey at natural food stores. I’ve found adding these ingredients to meals is made possible by buying produce as fresh as possible from the grocery store and, during the summer, from local farms in Sisters such as Seed to Table or Mahonia Farms.
There are many ways to adapt a recipe to your dietary needs and/or goals. The options are endless; whether you want less carbs, more protein, or gluten-free, there’s something out there for everyone. I begin a recipe by considering my goals and restrictions and figuring out how to adapt it while creating something tasty and pretty.
I invested in a magnetic dry-erase board menu to write out the meals for the week, see them right on the fridge, and know what kind of meal or how much time it might take each evening. There is such a benefit to eating a healthy meal as early in the evening as possible, but it’s hard to make that happen if you’re not getting home till after 6 p.m. But if you know what you’re making ahead of time, you can budget the time to make what you want and how you want it, which benefits your sleep health. According to the National Library of Medicine study: “Limiting and/or avoiding food before nighttime sleep has been proposed as both a weight-loss strategy and approach to improve health and body composition. Indeed, negative outcomes have been demonstrated in response to large mixed meals in populations that consume most of their daily food intake at night.”
Eating at a reasonable time is essential to allow your body to properly digest the food and get into a proper circadian rhythm and good rest.
Keeping up with your goals for a new year can be challenging, but planning and inspiration from influencers/ authors help me keep up with my goals and unwind after a workday — by being creative in the kitchen.
FOCUS on Health
Inspire Dance & Fitness Studio
Exercise and strength training are vital to health and well-being, especially as we age. Benefits include maintaining muscle mass, improving mobility, and increasing the healthy years of life. To stick with a program to build strength and fitness, it’s important to do something you enjoy and want to do consistently. For many people, nothing is more delightful than dance.
Inspire Dance & Fitness Studio is dedicated to bringing quality, affordable dance and fitness instruction to the community of Sisters. The studio is a comfortable space where everyone can have fun, learn to dance, improve their fitness and health, meet new people, and freely express themselves. Cindy Miskowiec established IDFS to inspire and motivate members to take control of their health, and have a blast doing it.
Inspire offers various barre, dance, and yoga classes designed to boost your physical fitness while having fun. The goal is a strong, toned body with full range of motion. Dance can improve posture, flexibility, and strength, and relieve stress and make you feel energized .
Drop-ins are welcome; first class is free.
Prayer’s Dog Biscuits
Motivate & reward your dog Biscuits are homemade and preservative-free AVAILABLE AT... Oliver Lemon’s Sisters Feed Sisters Groomery
Prayer’s Dog Biscuits
Prayer’s Dog Biscuits is a small Sisters business that specializes in happy pets — and happy people. Prayer’s Dog Biscuits makes handmade, preservative-, filler-, and additive-free dog biscuits and training treats. Products are made with minimal ingredients to promote good health digestion. You can find all sizes, including halfpound, at www.prayersdogbiscuits.com.
Prayer’s Dog Biscuits now offers free delivery to your home or business within Sisters, Redmond, Bend, and Terrebonne. They can also set you up with a subscription that automatically refills the quantity you need at the frequency best for you. Happy customers, pets and their people, tell the story. Shelly and Roger said, “We happened across Prayer’s several years ago and our fur babies immediately loved them. Since then we have continued to make our fur babies happy and satisfy their love of these treats. We can’t thank Missy and George enough for their support, responsive service and great product.”
Purchase products locally at Sisters Feed Store, Oliver Lemon’s, and Sisters Groomery. Any questions can be emailed to prayersdogbiscuits@gmail.com.
Prayer’s Dog Biscuits says “thank you” to their customers and vendors for the support.
STARS
Health and well-being have been cornerstones of STARS’ mission since its beginning in 2019. Their tagline, “Keeping Sisters healthy, one ride at a time,” is about knowing every ride matters and understanding proper medical care for seniors, disabled, and underserved residents makes Sisters a more livable community.
STARS rides increased by 33 percent in 2024, and committed volunteer dispatchers and drivers met the demand professionally and with kindness.
Passenger Gary expresses why the organization has such a great reputation, “I’ve gotten to know many of their drivers. They’re really nice people who donate their time and I respect them highly.”
STARS would not exist without caring volunteers who believe getting people to medical appointments is essential for a strong community.
STARS driver Melanie explained why she volunteers, “I’m helping people who need that help. It’s satisfying and I feel I’m doing something worthwhile.”
STARS is grateful for community support and asks volunteers interested in making a difference in people’s lives in as little as a few hours a month to join the team.
THE VITAL ROLE OF IN OUR LIVESsleep
By Ashlee Francis
We all know sleep is important. Kids should be getting 10-12 hours every night, and most adults need at least seven. But let’s be honest; winding down can be a real challenge, especially when we don’t feel tired. Understanding what happens during sleep can help us appreciate its vital role in our overall health and motivate us to prioritize it.
Imagine life split evenly into three parts: sleep, work, and play or social time. Unfortunately, in today’s fast-paced world, that balance has tilted. Many find their sleep window shrinking, overshadowed by work and social obligations. This neglect of sleep inhibits our ability to manage emotions, absorb new information, and maintain focus throughout the day.
WHY SLEEP MATTERS
1. Energy Recharge: Sleep is nature’s way of allowing our bodies to “recharge.” While we rest, our energy consumption decreases, enabling us to wake up refreshed and ready to tackle whatever the day throws our way. A good night’s sleep not only boosts our mood but also enhances our interactions with others, helping us manage stress more effectively.
2. Healing and Growth: Sleep is a critical time for our bodies to repair and regenerate. It aids in healing wounds, promoting growth, and repairing essential tissues and organs. For children and teens, adequate sleep is especially vital for normal growth and development, while adults benefit through the repair of the heart and blood vessels, ultimately contributing to lower blood pressure.
3. Immune Boost and Metabolism: Our immune system flourishes during sleep, fortifying our defenses against infections. Plus, sleep regulates hormones that control hunger and fullness, making it a crucial element in weight management.
4. Brain Processing: During sleep, our brains do heavy lifting. They clear out toxins, consolidate memories, and organize information learned throughout the day. This process is essential for cognitive function and problem-solving, leading to clearer thinking and better decision-making come morning.
Now that we understand why sleep is so important, let’s prepare to dive deeper! In the upcoming weeks, we’ll explore how to curate a bedtime routine that promotes better sleep, examine how sleep needs change as we age, discuss the effects of supplements on our sleep patterns, tune into our circadian rhythms, and reveal what happens to our bodies when we consistently cut our sleep short.
Stay tuned! Pick up a copy of The Nugget next week to learn more, and let’s prioritize sleep together!
Health & wellness GOAL SETTING
Being a gym owner and enthusiast, I am all about goal setting. I like to make crazy goals, like climbing 3,200 feet every single day for a year, or running the amount of miles in years I’m turning on my birthday each year. I’ve realized my insane goals are easy for me to attain because they are so out of the ordinary that I put a lot of focus on achieving them.
Last year, I made a goal to drink 80 ounces or more of water every day. Did I knock this goal out of the park? Absolutely not. I struggle with hydration, even though I know the importance of adequate water intake for my health. I bought water bottles with times of day printed along the side to keep me chugging throughout the day. I paid for an app where I could track my intake for accountability. Nothing was working and by February 1, I had forgotten my goal and moved on.
When I asked my gym clients if they were setting goals this year, the majority answered with a firm no. They claimed they could never keep their goals, and it made them feel poorly about themselves. We should be able to set goals and feel good about that decision. How do we set health goals and keep them in 2025?
KEY STRATEGIES FOR REALISTIC HEALTH RESOLUTIONS:
• Start small: Instead of aiming to exercise for an hour every day, begin with 20 minutes of walking three days each week.
• Be specific: Clearly define your goals, like “walk for 30 minutes, three times a week” instead of just “exercise more.”
• Focus on habits, not just results: Instead of saying “lose 20 pounds,” focus on “eat a serving of vegetables at every meal” or “park further away from the grocery store entrance.”
• Make it enjoyable: Choose activities you genuinely enjoy, whether it’s dancing, biking, or hiking, to increase your likelihood of sticking with it.
• Find an accountability partner: Share your
By Ashlee Francis
goals with a friend, online community, or join a fitness class to stay motivated.
• Track your progress: Use a fitness tracker, journal, or app to monitor your progress and see your achievements.
• Reward yourself: Celebrate small wins with non-food rewards to reinforce positive behavior. Buy yourself that pair of shoes you’ve been wanting if you can hit your step goal every week for a month!
If you are looking for some motivation for 2025, here are some examples of realistic health resolutions:
STRESS MANAGEMENT:
• Practice mindfulness meditation for 10 minutes daily.
• Engage in relaxation techniques like deep breathing for 15 minutes daily.
NUTRITION:
• Add one extra serving of vegetables to each meal.
• Plan healthy meals ahead of time.
EXERCISE:
• Take a 20-minute walk four days per week.
• Do bodyweight exercises at home for 15 minutes three days a week.
SLEEP:
• Establish a consistent bedtime routine.
• Avoid screens an hour before you plan to go to bed.
• Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
To make realistic approaches to New Year’s health resolutions, focus on setting small, achievable goals, starting with habits you can easily incorporate into your daily routine, and prioritize process over outcome, rather than aiming for drastic changes overnight. Even a little bit of progress is better than not starting. Consider finding an accountability partner, tracking progress, and rewarding yourself for small wins. These small things can help you accomplish big results.
FOCUS on Health
BREATHE • MOVE • RECOVER SMALL GROUP & PERSONALIZED TRAINING
• Blend of mobility, strength, Pilates
• New routines every day
• Fascial stretch therapy
• Clinics for run, ski, stretch, pickleball & more 541-390-8983 • www.sweatpnw.com
392 W. Main Ave., Sisters
Sweat PNW
Sweat PNW offers group classes and clinics designed to restore strength and mobility and encourage the body to lock in the benefits of breathwork and movement. Classes are designed to build strength from the stabilizing core muscles, increase mobility, teach the body to relearn healthy movement patterns, and improve breath rate and recovery. Classes begin with breathwork to prepare the mind and lungs, then a blend of cardio and strength training, transitioning into a guided stretch.
Classes and clinics focus on exercises for strength, balance, stabilization, and flexibility. A blend of Pilates and weight training complements proper form and awareness of your body and its unique design. The primary objective is to help each member meet their own health and fitness goals in a fun, safe way supported by a like-minded community.
Sweat PNW offers personal training, fascial stretch therapy, and clinics to improve skills in pull ups, pelvic floor strength, skiing, pickleball, mobility, and more. Upcoming clinics include: Beginner to Strength Training, the 30-Day Lifestyle Challenge, 6-week Running and Nutrition, Biking Strength, Triathlon Training, Backpacking/ Hiking Clinic, and Pickleball Agility.
LARGEST SELECTION OF NEW & USED FITNESS EQUIPMENT IN CENTRAL OREGON!
Residential and Commercial Reasonable delivery and installation rates! backinactionfitnessequipment.com
Estate Planning Attorneys
541-420-5985
Back In Action
Fitness Equipment
To get and stay in shape, Back In Action Fitness Equipment Sales & Service can provide you with anything you may want or need. From a foam roller to a treadmill; from dumbbells to a rowing machine.
Whether you’re setting up a small gym at home or have a commercial facility, Back In Action offers full delivery and installation to set up your equipment for you.
Since 2008, Back In Action Fitness Equipment Sales & Service has been supplying equipment for home users and commercial facilities alike. Owner Kevin Roll says that the most popular pieces of equipment are treadmills, with bikes and ellipticals coming in second, followed by free weights and functional items.
Quality cardio equipment has become increasingly affordable — and it is adapting to the needs of the population. Recumbent elliptical machines are popular among an aging population. Staying fit is more important now than ever. Back In Action Fitness Equipment Sales & Service is your local dealer and service provider and is always there for you!
Evashevski Ellio PC
Estate planning is an important step for anyone with assets. That’s not just the wealthy. Anyone with real property or a healthy bank account has something they will leave behind. Planning for that eventuality offers real benefits.
Estate planning ensures that your wishes will be carried out. Knowing that your wishes are documented and legally binding offers peace of mind. Planning also removes a burden for your heirs, relieving them from potentially complicated court processes.
While it is not always easy to take on the subject, Ashley Tuttle and John H. Myers of Evashevski Elliott PC make things comfortable, welcoming, and unintimidating. It’s akin to talking with a financial advisor.
They offer a free 30-minute phone consultation to get to know your circumstances and goals, and to educate the client on wills, trusts, and probate.
Once you determine what path is best for you, Ashley or John will guide you through the process that takes just a few weeks to complete — a process that ends with true peace of mind.
Give Evashevski Elliott PC a call at 541588-2414 to schedule your consultation.
The POWER of being
By Matt Van Slyke
I have three kids. They are LOUD. Sometimes I can’t hear myself think. Even when I can hear myself think, I usually drown it out with a device. I turn on the TV or my phone: social media, music, podcasts — anything.
Recently, I found myself in the lobby of a care center during a family member’s appointment. I was holding my infant daughter as she slept. There, in a rocking chair, with a sleeping baby, I reached for my phone.
But why? I had a golden opportunity to savor some sweet silence. I kept the phone holstered and held my little one cheek-to-cheek. I closed my eyes and rode a moment of Zen for the better part of an hour. When it came time to snap back to reality, I thought, “Wow, I feel great!”
What was that? Why don’t I do it more often? Why don’t we do it more often? I asked Erin Fourier, a Sisters-based therapist and licensed clinical social worker.
“What you’ve not only described the action of, but then the result of, is a mindfulness practice or a meditative practice,” said Fourier. “Science tells us that it is exceptionally beneficial to the brain.”
Fourier talks to her clients about working some sort of meditative practice into their day,
still
If you’re kicking yourself for not kicking your new year into gear, don’t. One of the best things you can do for yourself is next to nothing at all.
though she finds that they often misunderstand what that entails.
“People get really afraid when they think of meditation. They think of sitting in the Lotus position, but it doesn’t have to be that. It can be five minutes of just sitting in a quiet room, or even 30 seconds of keeping your mind clear — or trying to keep your mind clear — but not using that as an exercise to judge yourself,” she said.
Simply put, “it’s using intention to quiet the mind,” Fourier says.
There’s something about screens, social media, scrolling, and swiping that makes it infinitely more difficult to put down and walk away from digital devices.
“We’ve become a society of instant gratification,” Fourier said. “We shop online; we can have it in a day. We buy a book online; we can have it accessible immediately. Music, movies... you don’t have to wait for anything anymore. We’ve kind of trained our brains that we should be able to entertain ourselves right away, and that we shouldn’t have to wait or quiet our minds.”
Experts are finding it to be a detriment to youth, Fourier says, adding that adults are not modeling good digital behavior, either. Kids are
complaining about parents on their screens.
“I have heard kids speak to their parents, asking for changes in behavior that they are not also exhibiting, like ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ I think the word that I’ve heard the most from teenagers is ‘hypocrisy’ when parents are asking children to make changes, absolutely. They are watching you like a hawk, and the best thing you can do is make those changes yourself,” Fourier advises.
She says making small changes, like walking, driving, vacuuming, or folding laundry sans digital distraction, goes a long way.
“Anytime you make a change, it doesn’t necessarily have to be something that happens for the rest of your life. The important piece is that you’re doing it with intention. That’s how new habits are made. That’s how we kind of take back control over what electronics have taken from us.”
We often go into the new year making big resolutions, but if they’re too big, they’re easy to put to the side.
“Making small, achievable changes for yourself will help you maintain and then keep those habits in the long run, and I think that applies to using your electronics and screen time as well,” Fourier said.
FOCUS on Health
Living Well With Dementia Sisters
With a population that skews older, Sisters has a significant number of residents facing dementia. Living Well With Dementia Sisters offers one-on-one guidance to help families “get down this path as gracefully as possible,” in the words of co-founder Debbi McCune. They offer hands-on tools to help with difficult conversations and understanding the challenges of what can be a long and difficult journey. The founders of the group have first-hand experience as care partners, so they understand the challenges inherent in the role.
Caring for care partners is as critical as caring for the person experiencing dementia, and Living Well With Dementia Sisters offers support and resources toward that end. It helps to know you’re not alone. The Living Well With Dementia Sisters support group is for caregivers, adults supporting parents or siblings, and those living with dementia to come together and discuss challenges and successes. It is helpful to recognize and work to alleviate the cumulative stresses that come with caregiving. The group meets the second and fourth Wednesdays at Sisters Senior Living.
Inscape Plant Co.
Folks in Sisters Country understand the healing powers of nature; we love to get outdoors amongst the trees. Our indoor environment, where we inevitably spend most of our time, can be just as healthy and healing. Indoor plants enhance aesthetics, providing a soothing touch of green to our lives — and provide air filtration and various other significant health benefits.
“Positive effects can be felt from having just one plant in your space,” says Danielle Durham of Inscape Plant Co. in Sisters.
Plants can improve mood and memory, reduce stress and anxiety, and enhance creativity and productivity.
Inscape Plant Co. can provide that one plant — and many more — along with the expertise to make sure the plants in your indoor environment thrive. Durham says that a lot of people come in and believe that they’re not good at keeping plants alive, but she wants to encourage everyone to try. She can point to a number of plants that are very easy to care for and can tolerate different conditions. There are many varieties and sizes available so you can find what works best for your home or work environment.
Stop by the shop at 161 E. Cascade Ave., Ste. E, to find you next (or first) plant.
Sisters Physical Therapy
Sisters Physical Therapy offers a holistic approach to rehabilitation and human performance, providing physical therapy, personal training, and small group classes. Led by Paul Erlebach, who blends his expertise in physical therapy and strength and conditioning, the clinic creates personalized programs tailored to each individual’s needs. With experience as the strength and conditioning coach for Outlaw Football and as the inhouse physical therapist for Sisters Senior Living, Paul has the skill to work with clients of all ages and abilities.
Sisters Physical Therapy specializes in functional movements and fascia-based training to help clients return to their preferred activities, whether it’s playing sports or enjoying time with family. Sisters Physical Therapy focuses on restoring mobility and strength while ensuring a safe, effective path to recovery. With the flexibility of appointments available within 48 hours, patients can quickly get the care they need. Visit Sisters Physical Therapy today to start achieving your goals with personalized, expert support.
By Jim Cornelius
Being a caregiver for a loved one dealing with a longterm, chronic health crisis is as tough a road to walk as any you could find. The burdens are acute — physically, emotionally and spiritually. And they’re cumulative. The pileup along a long and often dark road of a health crisis.
The Mayo Clinic identifies a syndrome of “caregiver strain.” Signs include:
• Feeling burdened or worrying all the time.
• Feeling tired often.
• Sleeping too much or not enough.
• Gaining or losing weight.
• Becoming easily irked or angry.
• Losing interest in activities you used to enjoy.
• Feeling sad.
• Having frequent headaches or other pains or health problems.
• Misusing alcohol or drugs, including prescription medicines.
• Missing your own medical appointments.
Because those burdens become part of the day-to-day, caregivers often aren’t fully aware of the toll the work is taking on them.
“They oftentimes don’t know how to recognize it,” said Debbi McCune, one of the founders of Living Well With Dementia Sisters. “They don’t often know how to identify it, much less manage it.”
This is not a theoretical problem for McCune; she’s living it as the caregiver for her husband.
A key element of Living Well With Dementia Sisters’ mission is helping care partners, as the group calls them, recognize what they are going through, and learn to care for themselves as well as their loved one.
“That’s a big chunk of what we do,” McCune said. {We recognize the challenges, and we’re here to provide guidance, hope and support for them.”
Living Well With Dementia Sisters hosts a support group each Wednesday at Sisters Senior Living. For information visit www. livingwellwithdementiasisters. com.
Kay Grady has been caring for her husband, David, since
his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2017. She regularly participates in the support group, and is eager to share any aspect of her story that can help others. She advises people who are just starting out on their journey as a caregiver to talk with others.
“Take all the opportunities that you can to hear from people who have walked the walk,” she said.
She strongly advises caregivers to develop a network of people in similar circumstances as early as possible. Such a network can help provide support and mutual respite coverage that can be prohibitively expensive if sought from a professional agency.
Before moving to Sisters, Kay was a teacher and David was an Apple executive living in the Bay Area. They had a very active life together, and remembering that is important. She remembers a passion for cycling.
“We did the (100-kilometer) Marin Metric; we did the whole Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge,” she recalled. “We bicycled all the time. I try to remember that. We did have a life before this. Remembering that is one of the things that brings me the most relief or comfort.”
CARING FOR THE caregiver
“I am so fortunate,” she said. “He is still kind. He is still loving.” Grady said that she has had to learn to not over-explain things, and to recognize that David is very repetitive.
The couple always loved music, and David still enjoys going out to see live music in Sisters — which is a vital tonic for Kay. He can also still go to the movies. Once a week, Jeff Smith and Don Hedrick take David to Sisters Saloon for lunch.
She also craves connecting with friends who are able to carry on a full conversation.
Once very involved in the community, she continues to serve where she can.
“I am serving on the Sisters Schools Foundation board, which keeps my finger in just a little bit,” she said. “I so miss working with the mentorship program ASPIRE, and I would in a heartbeat be one of the Circle of Friends mentors.”
“We’re not always nice. When you’ve had it, or heard the same thing 50 times in a day, then it’s time to put on music and dance around the living room.”
— Kay Grady
“It’s good for him to be with guys, I think,” Kay said.
She has had to give many things up. Travel to visit family; hikes on the Metolius; a night out with the girls. She knows she needs to access whatever she can for herself.
“I’m interviewing someone to come and give me a break,” she said. “A little freedom would be good.”
Kay emphasizes small elements of self-care.
One of the most difficult things to grapple with as the caregiver for a person with a long-term and ultimately terminal diagnosis is grieving the loss of a loved one before they are physically gone. There are feelings of guilt for wishing the ordeal was over, or for losing patience with someone who can’t help being slow or not remembering things. Sometimes the person being cared for can be ill-tempered or even mean — which is often not a choice but a symptom of their condition. Grady is very grateful that that is not her situation.
She strives for patience, but she acknowledges that it can get to be a strain.
“We’re not always nice,” she said. “When you’ve had it, or heard the same thing 50 times in a day, then it’s time to put on music and dance around the living room.”
She said her current go-to tunes are from a Sisters Folk Festival band, Fantastic Cat.
Kay seeks time to herself and connection with others.
“I call our nieces and nephews, because I crave younger people,” she said.
“I play all the New York Times word games and try to finish them all before I go to bed,” she said.
She once got advice to read or view something funny before going to sleep as a means of easing a troubled mind — so she hunts up amusing cat videos to share with her granddaughter.
“So…” she said. “Silly things.” Those small or even silly things are a way of maintaining equilibrium on a long and trying journey with little respite and no prospect for improvement. It’s a hard road — but Sisters is rallying around its population of caregivers, and there is no shortage of advice and support for those who seek it.
Kay Grady has been caring for her husband, David, since his 2017 diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease.
