Northwest 50 Plus Metro Edition April 2021

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Your companion for living well in the northwest

Metro April 2021

BE WELL

Antiinflammatory Diet Good, and Good for You

Foot Care Black-owned Barbershop

Doctor or Salon?

a Community Legacy Visit us northwest50plus.com | Find us on social media @northwest50plus

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BE WELL

What’s an Anti-inflammatory Diet?

Not complicated, it’s good, and good for you.

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Behind the Words of Neil Diamond

Foot Care - Doctor or Salon?

Give your feet the care they deserve.

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Your Poor Feet: Give them a break!

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For the

♥ of Pets

Love is in the details. We love our pets, but it’s easy to miss important ways to show it.

Aging and your EYE Lifelong vision care is important, especially as we age. Dr. Hansini Prasad discusses concerns, prevention and solutions.

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Rebuilding a Shattered Life Started with Just One Thumb Jim Knapp couldn’t move for three months after a wreck at age 21. Nearly 50 years later, he is an athlete, fitness trainer, inspiration and beloved friend.

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Helping Hands

and a Heart of Service

Lucy Morgan is making fidget blankets to help calm those with dementia and brain disorders.

What began in 1949 as a basement barbershop and salon grew into a community unto itself.

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Spring is in the air

Let’s hear it for brighter, warmer days, vaccinations, and

businesses reopening!

As we begin getting out again, it’s a great time to check in on our physical well-being.

This issue explores wellness topics like the popular antiinflammatory diet (more about good food choices than what you can’t have), foot and vision care, and more. The garden and outdoor fun are calling, so let’s get out there strong, energized and ready to enjoy the season.

In other matters . . . we received a number of calls about “Hope Found Me” (March 2021). We love hearing from you! The connections we get to share with you enable us to better know and serve you, and they fuel our passion to make ‘50Plus your go-to for information, inspiration and connection.

Hope’s fate was a common concern, so we checked with Christy.

Here’s what she shared . . .

"Hope was pretty banged up and very thin. I took him straight to my vet and they asked me to leave him for a thorough once over.

One day slipped into the next, and I didn't hear... and didn't hear....

When I finally got the call. the vet tech spoke a little hesitantly, which scared me at first. But Hope was fine, it was just. . . she had fallen completely in love with him and asked if I might be willing to let him join her family. The tech was already a Border Collie mom, Hope’s breed. I knew her from clinic visits and liked her — a lot. Plus, our world was in chaos; we were working long hours to build our new home. SO, Hope went home with the tech, who later reported that he was the “best dog she’d ever had.”

So, yes: Hope lived happily ever after ♥ Please keep in touch with your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

We love hearing from you and strive to make “your magazine” something you look forward to each month.

Thanks for being part of the ‘50Plus family!

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VOLUME 25 | NUMBER 4

OREGON’S OLDEST & LARGEST 50+ PUBLICATION

3 Editions serving adults aged 50 and older Portland-Metro-Vancouver, Marion-Polk-Coast, South Valley: Linn-Benton Lane

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Publisher 971-200-9686 JMcCammon@northwest50plus.com DOREEN HARROLD Office Manager/Sales Assistant DHarrold@northwest50plus.com PAUL DELURY Account Executive 541.870.5484 pdelury@northwest50plus.com TAY JUNCKER Lead Designer TJuncker@northwest50plus.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Kristan Dael, Christy Doherty, Randal C. Hill, Kimberly Z. Miller, Dr. Hansini Prasad, Candy Puterbaugh, Vanessa Salvia, Maggi White P.O. Box 12008, Salem, OR 97309 4923 Indian School Rd. NE, Salem, OR 97305 503-304-1323 info@northwest50plus.com Northwest50Plus.com Subscriptions $26/year | $49/2 years Printed by Eagle Web Press, Salem, OR

Northwest 50 Plus is published monthly and locally owned and operated by Eagle Newspapers, Inc. The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted

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A Shattered Life Rebuilt Starting with Just One Thumb

by Candy Puterbaugh

Jim has worked with people with differing abilities and challenges, some training for triathlons or marathons.

“What I do best is work an ongoing program with seniors and people who have suffered a stroke, head or spinal cord injury, hip or knee replacement, multiple sclerosis, dementia or Alzheimer’s,” he says over the phone, all the while riding his stationary bike. “I feel, with these people, I can make a difference, make their lives a little bit better.”

After the accident, Jim had spent three months in a hospital bed unable to move at all.

“I heard the doctors saying I’d probably be in bed forever,” he says.

A

Jim with client Jane Fuller

Almost fifty years ago, then 21-year-old Jim Knapp crashed through the passenger-side windshield of his friend’s car. It rendered him quadriplegic and shattered his life...for a while. Today, as a personal fitness trainer, he carries his rare perspective and a smile to clients’ homes to exercise their bodies, minds and spirits.

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“I believed I would die but couldn’t believe I was a quadriplegic. So, I concentrated on my right thumb and moved it for the first time in three months.

I worked on that thumb over and over, then my fingers. The doctors were amazed at my progress and called me ‘wonder boy’!”

After five months, Jim moved to his sister’s home and within two months was standing. He exercised daily for hours at a health spa. In 14 months, he was walking. Later, the spa offered him a job.

I remember being trapped in a body that couldn’t move and so try to help people in similar situations.

Eight years after the accident, working in another health club, Jim entered their fitness contest for over 1,400 employees nationwide . . . and won, doing 420 pushups. After a newspaper published his feat, he started getting daily phone calls, such as, “My son broke his back! Can you come?”

That publicity changed his career path, and his newfound fitness led him to compete in triathlons, entering 50 in five years. Jim went from building houses briefly and never working out before the accident to working out daily and becoming a personal fitness trainer.

Before Covid, Jim worked five 10-hour days a week. After nine months off during the shutdown he got a client call in December and things — like his thumb way back when — started moving.

Today he’s working seven hours a week with clients at a private home and an assisted-care community. A 94-year-old was just referred to him by a doctor. Referrals also come from word of mouth and physical therapists with whom he’s worked. He sees clients ages 14 to 99, some for 20 years. He works in kitchens, living rooms, assistedcare hallways and swimming pools, exercising along with his clients in one-hour sessions two or three times a week.

“One man who lived on a golf course wanted to make it to 100,” Jim says. “Golf was his life. I’d wheel him to the putting green so he could putt from his wheelchair or a walker. He died 20 days before his 100th birthday. It’s always hard to see them go.”

Although he was a winning wrestler in junior high and high school in Hillsboro, Jim didn’t see fitness in his future. Today he’s thankful life led him to it.

His clients become like family. “I see most of them more than their family does,” he says. “I take clients on picnics, to concerts and dinner, fishing on my boat. . . even to Alaska! I remember being trapped in a body that couldn’t move and so try to help people in similar situations.”

AGING IN PLACE

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BE WELL What's an Anti-Inflammatory Diet?

It's not complicated, it’s good, and good for you

by Vanessa Salvia

Inflammation is a natural occurrence. When we fall and skin a knee or cut a thumb while cooking, our body fights infection by increasing the production of white blood and immune cells and substances called cytokines.

Redness, pain, heat and swelling of a wound signal that the inflammatory response is working.

Fever is also an inflammatory response, but rather than targeting a knee or thumb, is a system-wide fight against infection. A little fever while fighting a cold is okay, but one that goes too high or too long can be harmful.

Same goes for inflammation in general. A little shows your body is doing its job, but chronic inflammation means your body is constantly working overtime. Eventually, chronic inflammation can damage tissues and organs, and play a role in diseases from asthma to cancer.

Laura Ligos, aka the Sassy Dietician, says an antiinflammatory diet is often recommended to prevent this.

But it's not a strict "diet.”

"It's more of an 'eat more of this and less of that' kind of thing," Ligos says. "Most people recognize it as a kind of Mediterranean diet, but it is called different things. I see a diet as just a habitual way that. . . you choose foods that help with anti-inflammation, not as a restriction."

Scripps Medical Center says the Mediterranean diet is a perfect example of an anti-inflammatory diet. Foods on the menu include salmon and tuna, avocado, dark chocolate, red

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wine, tofu, walnuts, flax seeds, soybeans, walnuts, grapes, celery, blueberries, garlic, olive oil, tea, and spices such as ginger, rosemary and turmeric.

The Arthritis Foundation says what's NOT on the menu are:

6 Sugar 6 Saturated fats (cheese, red meat, full-

fat dairy products)

6 Trans fats - hydrogenated oils 6 Omega-6 fatty acids - mayo, dressing, and many oils

6 Refined carbohydrates – white foods

such as flour, rolls, crackers, rice, potatoes

6 Mono-sodium glutamate (MSG) 6 Gluten (found in wheat, barley and rye) and casein (found in dairy products)

One key is that helpful foods contain omega-3 fatty acids. One of the three main omega-3 fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), is essential to good health but isn’t made by the body.

Ligos says people with early chronic inflammation may not even know they are sick. "A lot of people experience joint or general pain or they're prediabetic, or otherwise going down a path of maybe developing some type of disease," she says. "An anti-inflammatory diet can't cure you, but it definitely helps to reduce inflammation."

The success of an anti-inflammatory diet depends on several factors, such as the degree of inflammation and length of time untreated.

"You may not see results overnight on an antiinflammatory diet," Ligos says, "but you want to be consistent. For some people that means taking baby steps to get there."

For 52-year-old Eugene resident Laurie Inglish, an anti-inflammatory diet has made a huge difference. A few years ago, Inglish saw multiple doctors and had myriad tests for foggy brain, trembling and fatigue.

She feared multiple sclerosis or a neurological disorder, even testing for Lyme Disease. Her search uncovered fibromyalgia, which is characterized by widespread joint and muscle pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. There is no known cause, but it is believed to be triggered by physical and emotional stress. Doctors say the adrenal glands become hyperactive, leading the body to be in constant "fight or flight," eventually depleting the adrenals.

Before her diagnosis, Inglish kept getting worse.

"I explain it to people that I felt like I had been beaten with a baseball bat and then shot with a tranquilizer dart," she says. "I felt like I had been drugged and my muscles and body ached to the point that it was hard to move, and my brain wasn't functioning."

She started to cut out sugar and caffeine (the latter being hard on your adrenal gland), avoided dairy and gluten as much as possible, and rebuilt her adrenals with supplements. A few years ago, having made progress, she craved a piece of cake.

Eating it put her in bed for three days. "I noticed that if I ate a lot of vegetables I felt a lot better," she says.

Inglish also takes supplements for sleep so her body can really rest, meditates to relax her mind, and avoids stress. Now, she says, if she does crash, it's not as extreme as it used to be.

"Now, I think if I were to go back to eating sugar and all the other things and not getting the foods I need, then I would go right back to that place where I was before," she says.

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BE WELL

Aging and your EYE

by Dr. Hansini Prasad, OD

Changes in the human body that stem from aging are inevitable. One of the most common and earliest changes happen to the eyes. The good news, however, is that annual eye exams can detect abnormalities early and there are often simple fixes to preserve vision.

Nearly everyone as they hit their 40s or 50s will find themselves squinting at the page of a book or pulling their phone in close to see a text. This is a result of presbyopia where the eyes gradually lose their ability to focus on near objects. This form of farsightedness is easy to correct with glasses, although sight will continue to deteriorate so annual exams will be crucial to ensure a proper lens prescription.

Aging can also cause dry eyes which can be somewhat bothersome or can cause severe discomfort and be debilitating. Fortunately, this problem too can be easily rectified upon diagnosis by an eye care provider.

Cataract is another condition that can impair vision as we age. It comes from a clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye and it slowly progresses. This can cause blurring and glare, especially during night driving. An eye care practitioner can easily diagnose cataract and remedy the problem with a simple and safe outpatient procedure that has dramatically positive results.

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While many eye conditions that stem from age are easily fixed, there is a potentially serious but not uncommon eye condition that can cause a loss of the central field of vision called Agerelated Macular Degeneration (AMD). Some of the symptoms of macular degeneration include blurry, distorted vision where straight lines appear wavy.

This may gradually lead to dramatic loss of central vision if left untreated. Another serious condition is glaucoma where increased pressure within the eyeball can lead to a painless loss of overall vision.

For any of the conditions listed above, as well as retinal changes due to systemic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol, early detection and treatment will help preserve vision. Schedule regular eye exams, especially after the age of 45, to protect your sight for years to come.

Dr. Hansini Prasad, OD is with Oregon Eye Specialists - Aloha Clinic

Dr. Hansini Prasad

NORTHWEST 50 PLUS | METRO April 2021

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BE WELL

Love Your Feet M

Maintaining the appearance of one’s feet may seem frivolous to some, but proper foot care is an important component of overall health. Certain symptoms and podiatric issues can indicate more serious underlying conditions and can also affect a person’s mobility and quality of life.

It can be difficult for seniors with limited range of motion to give their feet, ankles and lower legs the care they need, so this aspect of personal care often falls to their family or caregivers. However, something as simple as improperly trimming toenails can cause pain and even infection. For many older adults, adequate foot health involves more than a regular pedicure at the salon.

It can be difficult and occasionally stomach-turning to handle a loved one’s foot care. For those who wish to outsource the job, it can be hard to know whether care calls for a doctor or a salon. Below are valuable points made by veteran caregivers who shared their insights and experiences with agingcare.com about caring for a loved one’s feet, whether for simple aesthetics, or more serious podiatric conditions such as arthritis, neuropathy or poor circulation.

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Doctor or Salon?

A spa pedicure every two months is a good idea. Feet are exfoliated, nails and cuticles trimmed, calves are scrubbed and massaged. For some, the experience is all about the massage chair!

Selecting a good salon is important, especially if the loved one is diabetic.

Caregiver Mary says, “Many diabetics develop nail and other fungal issues. In this case, use only a podiatrist! Older folks have suppressed immune systems.”

When seeking a podiatrist, one caregiver identified as “gardenartist” obtained a list of all podiatrists working at the hospital she used and called them all, saying, “many were quickly eliminated.” The podiatrist she chose always checks for pedal pulse and skin integrity. Assistants prep the feet with gauze pads, the doctor does the trimming and scraping of any excess growth on the top of the nails, then the assistant applies moisturizers. “It’s more like a spa treatment than just toenail clipping. If you do decide to go to a doctor, ask what services

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accompany nail trimming. For older feet, I think it’s always a good idea to check for pedal pulse and circulation issues.”

Another caregiver took her dad to a podiatrist that it turned out “didn’t do toenails.” This led them to seek care at the local VA clinic, which did do toenails, as well as providing additional services for her dad, a WWII vet. “They have some good programs for helping vets age in place as long as possible,” she reports.

Caregiver CarolLynn warned against a salon over podiatrist in the event any circulatory conditions are present, "such as diabetes, venous insufficiency, peripheral artery disease, etc.”

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Samsmom43 says her 83-yearold father is on blood thinners and must see a podiatrist. In the event he cut himself, he would be in serious trouble. “Medicare pays for it, and I know he will get them done safely,” she says.

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BE WELL

Your Poor Feet: Give Them a Break!

by Kimberly Z. Miller

With 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, it’s no surprise that 80 percent of Americans report foot pain at some point in their lives. From plantar fasciitis and shin splints to blisters and bunions, foot injuries can significantly impact our overall health.

Our feet do a lot: they are crucial for shock absorption, balance and general mobility.

Beyond caring for your feet on the surface by keeping them clean and free of cuts and abrasions, there are steps you can take to keep your feet healthy and strong. And yes: strength is important. Your feet are designed to take the impact of movement.

When you walk, your feet absorb the impact force of 150 percent of your body weight!

When feet and ankles are affected by swelling, neuropathy, injury or even loss of strength, the issue rarely stays localized.

A blister may throw off your gait and that can work its way up to affecting your knees. A loss of strength in your foot extensors, the muscles that run from the lower leg to the tops of the toes, may lead to toe-drop and cause trips and stumbles. Even footwear can have an impact: ill-fitting shoes can cause swelling and numbness and flip flops can trigger plantar fasciitis.

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4 ways to care for yourself from the ground up 1 Legs up the wall This position gives your feet a break and improves circulation from your lower body to your core. Lay on your back with your hips as close to the wall as possible. Use a folded blanket or small pillow under the small of your back for more support. If you can’t get your legs perpendicular, start with your hips farther away and work closer as you can. Hold for up to 15 minutes.

anchored and your leg straight.

Tap back down and repeat. Start with 10 seconds for each foot and increase from there. Alternate with heel raises where you lift your heels off the floor and balance on the balls of your feet.

Stand near a wall or other stable surface for balance. Start with 10 repetitions and increase as you feel stronger.

3 Towel curl This exercise keeps your feet strong. While seated, put a small towel under your feet and crunch it up by curling your toes, then spread the towel back out by using the opposite motion. This is challenging to get the hang of — stick with it.

4 Tennis ball This exercise keeps feet flexible. While seated, grab a tennis or similar sized ball. Place it under your right foot and press down onto it as you move it back and forth under your foot 5-10 times each direction. Repeat with your other foot. For tired or sore feet, try this with a frozen water bottle.

2 Toe taps/heel raises This exercise keeps your shins and calves strong to reduce tripping. Standing, shift your weight onto your left foot, lift your right toes and the ball of your foot, keeping your heel

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See photos for all moves at northwest50plus.com Kimberly Z. Miller, director of Health and Wellness for the Eugene Family YMCA, is a 17-year fitness veteran.

Family Barbershop and Salon a community legacy

by Maggi White

If walls could talk, the oldest continuously operated black-owned barbershop in Oregon would have many stories to tell.

So does Kim Brown, granddaughter of founders Benjamin and Mary Rose Dean, who grew up in Dean’s Beauty Salon and Barber Shop. She is third generation owner, stylist and manager. t t NORTHWEST 50 PLUS | METRO April 2021

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The small business is not just a place where men and women get a style, cut or shave. It is a community unto itself. You could say it has a soul.

Stories, recommendations and opportunities are shared — for a great babysitter, financial resources, or a job. Sharing is part of the Dean’s community dynamic. As is a 98-year-old offering sage advice, or a fiveyear-old finding a playmate. This is an all-ages community.

Here, a teen or pre-teen might help by calling a cab for someone (sometimes earning a tip). A client short a few bucks might find a helping hand. Here, black folks run into people they’ve known but not seen in years.

Scanning the barbershop, you’ll see young men waiting for haircuts seen lately on Trailblazers.

On one visit, a man in his 80s recalled as a young man walking 20 blocks early in the morning to avoid the line to get in.

“My grandmother never realized she was operating a community space,” says Brown.

Photos: Pg 15: Kay Dean-Toran, Gloria Dean-Tims, Rose Dean (seated) Rose Dean Pg 16 top: Ben and Mary Rise Dean Pg 16 bottom: Daughters Rose Dean, Gloria Dean-Tims, Kay Dean-Toran Pg 17 bottom: Granddaughter Kimberly Brown

Her grandparents came to Portland from Birmingham, Alabama because of the shipyards during World War II. Her grandmother was already a licensed beautician. In 1949 she and her husband bought a home and started the barbershop and salon in their basement. She wanted her own place, so in 1954 they opened the shop two houses away, on NE Hancock, where it's been ever since.

Grandmother, according to Brown, was a woman with a

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commanding personality who created a business focused on African Americans when that was not commonplace.

Dean got his barber license and styled hair, straightening with hot combs and curling with an iron to create the marcel wave, the most popular style at the time. Catering to doctors, lawyers and maids, [Dean’s] “ran the gamut.”

“My grandmother was the most amazing woman in my entire life. In those years there was no possibility of a business that catered to African Americans in the Eliot neighborhood.” Brown says her grandmother “created a legacy for us. Men and women were drawn to her. She knew something about everything and raised four children, three of whom are still living.”

When her grandmother died in 1979, Brown’s mother Gloria Tims became owner, manager and stylist.

After operating the business for 50 years, she is now retired, living with Brown, and dealing with Alzheimer’s.

While Brown describes her mother as a gentler personality, her grandmother, she says, was “my way or the highway but not in a mean way. She was the boss and we all listened. She gave good advice, whether it was about church, relationships, cooking or any other topic, but she did so with grace.”

“When I didn’t want to go to Sunday school, I found myself there and liking it. She had a way of making things happen.

“I remember when she told me that it was time to go to beauty school. Instead, I married. I left for seven years and traveled with my

s t h g i n K of s a i h t y P ent

My grandmother was the most amazing woman in my entire life. remembers Brown as a child running around the salon. Brown feels fortunate that she grew up in her culture, attending the 100 percent black Immaculate Heart Catholic School, her African American Morning Star Baptist Church, and growing up in the salon. It was only when she attended and graduated from Grant High School that she was surrounded by her culture.

husband who was in the military to other cities and to Italy. In the end, what I thought I would never do, I now absolutely love to do. I am glad I didn’t go to work there right after high school because I didn’t feel trapped. I interact with people all day and most of my clients I’ve known for 30 years. I know their children, their babies, their divorces, and about their remarriages.”

Turning 60 last September, Brown has been working at Dean’s for 35 years.

In 2018, Oregon Black Pioneers honored Dean’s as the oldest African American-owned business in the State of Oregon.

Brown said one of her clients would soon be 98. That client

“I had a wonderful growing up because of it, despite Oregon being a predominantly white state,” says Brown. “My life has been different in that respect than most black people. I have been surrounded by black people.”

Brown says it was when her mother visited her in Italy and seemed burned out that she knew she needed to help and moved back to Portland.

Today Brown has three stylists working with her at Dean’s. Her two grown sons have successful careers — son Adrian heads up Nike’s Converse division in Boston; Aaron is a security specialist with Bonneville Power. Neither wants to inherit the business However, she intends to continue the legacy and has asked her sons to never close the shop but to see to it that good, competent people run it. There is a nine-month-old grandson Brian, though, so you never know!

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♥

♥

♥

Beloved Bud Lewis, whose giant smile graced the cover of our October 2020 issue, died on February 20th at age 100. Larger than life in size, personality, athletic ability, humility and heart, Bud was a WWII veteran, Portland police officer and commander, driving instructor, volunteer, history and poetry buff, and five-time MAC decathlon winner in his 70s with perfect scores—always cheering for others. That good cheer made him a friend to all.

"Take time to say hello. People are a treasure."

— Bud Lewis

For the

♥of Pets

Love is in the details

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by Christy Doherty

Now is a good time for a friendly reminder for every pet parent whose beloved travels in a crate.

I was spurred to share it with you after a recent sad and unthinkable incident happened to a well-meaning pet parent, taking her kitty in for routine vaccines.

Because Covid19 has turned our world upside down, every single appointment we attend is handled differently – whether with our own doctors, or our pets’.

With the latter, in most cases, we now must phone the clinic’s front desk from our car, and when the vet is ready, a vet tech comes out to collect the dog or cat and take them inside.

Instead of the face-to-face conversations we’re accustomed to having with the vet we know and trust, we now rely on our phones. Diagnoses and treatment plans are addressed over the airways, as are payments. Once everything is completed during a visit, our dog or cat or bunny or ??? is returned to us, again via the

vet techs we also love and appreciate, along with any meds or written instructions needed.

It all sounds very tidy, and it works, right?

Yes. Except when it doesn’t.

For example – when was the last time you really inspected your pet’s crate/carrier? I mean, checking every single zipper, screw and latch?

If you’re like me, you likely haven’t, barring the day you put it together. But here’s the thing – those parts were “moving” when you assembled them, they can also “move” as time goes by, and of course they don’t tighten themselves.

But when you hand off your best friend, entrusting them into someone else’s care, you need that carrier to be in top condition, able to endure the unexpected.

Because guess what? That vet tech may be skilled and nice, but they aren’t “Mom” or “Dad,” and if something terrifying happens, their comforting voice might not do the trick, because they aren’t YOU. You can’t afford to have a latch work partway. While you always know to jiggle it into place, you’re not there when someone else is putting your baby back inside, expecting the door to stay closed on the way to your car.

The kitty was a big beautiful ginger boy. No one knows whether the crate itself failed, or just hadn’t been properly closed, but between the clinic entrance and the waiting owner’s car, a noise from the nearby road frightened the cat, who went a lot crazy. He wanted out, and he got out. Then he was terrified by the loud traffic. In spite of every effort of the tech and the terrified owner, the cat disappeared into nearby brush.

Searchers went out, posters went up, live traps were set. Days turned into a week. Ultimately, his body was returned to the clinic, a victim of the traffic. A heartbreaking end to a story that never should’ve happened.

The things we do for love of our pets are many. Things like quality food, thrilling toys, comfy beds come first to mind, while practical precautions are easy to miss.

In that beautiful ginger kitty’s memory… please inspect your pet carriers.

NORTHWEST 50 PLUS | METRO April 2021

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Helping hands

and a heart of service

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by Kristan Dael

When Lucy Morgan retired years ago, the opportunity to own a moving company serving seniors “fell into my lap.” After owning and working in the industry for another 15 years she was ready for her next adventure.

She loved to sew, and had done so professionally in the past. As winter’s cold, rain and gray skies were challenging for her, she pondered how she might do something involving sewing. Her first thought was to create clothing for those with handicaps — designing apparel with back closures rather than front, and other details to support dressing and undressing with ease.

Kicking the idea around with longtime friend Maxine Tammany, a professional in hospice care, Maxine asked, “What about fidget blankets?”

Lucy replied, “What’s that?”

Maxine explained that fidget blankets are lapsized quilts that provide sensory and tactile stimulation for the restless hands of those with

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Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, as well as ADD or autism spectrum disabilities. Fidget blankets often give people with these conditions a way to feel settled by keeping their hands busy.

Inspired, Lucy’s project was born. Lauren Heinatz, a longtime friend and Transitions Director of Comforcare in Salem, helped get the word out for donations of “fidgety” items, and welcoming requests for fidget blankets. “We’ve had a very generous response,” Lucy says. “My sewing room looks like a hoarder’s now, with rice for weighting the blankets, gift cards, trinkets, fake furs, beans for bean bags, broken jewelry, beads.”

Lucy had to take a brief break in February due to downed trees and an 11-day power outage, but has recently resumed production. In fact, she thinks she might just add fidget blankets for kids with ADHD to her offerings.

If you would like a fidget blanket — for yourself, a friend or a loved one — contact jmccammon@northwest50plus.com. Lucy welcomes requests for one or “as many that would be useful.” As mentioned, her inventory of “fidgety” items is currently at capacity.

Behind the Words of Neil Diamond

by Randal C. Hill

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Humorist Dave Barry once invited the readers of his weekly syndicated column to vote for the worst pop song of all time. When over 10,000 letters piled up in his Miami office, he assembled them into Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs. “MacArthur Park” took the highest “honor,” but fun-loving Barry offered jabs at several other tunes as well.

One was Neil Diamond’s “I Am…I Said,” with Dave citing these particularly odd lyrics:

I am…I said / To one there / And no one heard at all / Not even the chair.

Barry asked with glee: “What kind of line is that? Is Neil telling us he’s surprised that the chair didn’t hear him? Maybe he expected the chair to say, ‘Woah, I heard THAT!’”

Holiday Inn room in a funk because he felt (correctly) that he had failed the audition.

Sitting alone at a small table with two chairs, he gazed out the window at the world of golden sunshine and palm trees. He was homesick for his native Brooklyn and feared his recent move to California was a mistake. (In his earlier minor hit, “Brooklyn Roads,” Diamond waxed nostalgic about gazing out the window of his third-floor childhood apartment.)

Okay, funny enough. But a closer look reveals some serious surprises.

Neil picked up his guitar and within an hour wrote “I Am…I Said,” which would eventually become his sixth Top 10 single since 1966. He spent four months honing the tune to his satisfaction.

Diamond, born Noah Kaminsky in New York in 1941, screen tested in 1970 in hopes of playing comedian Lenny Bruce in a forthcoming film. (Dustin Hoffman got the role.) In an interview years later, Diamond described returning to his Los Angeles

Diamond’s label, Uni Records, questioned his line about the chair, but Neil insisted it stay. To him, it represented where a hotelroom companion would have sat if he’d had one that day. Others have pointed out that Diamond, who is Jewish, may have

subconsciously gleaned the chair image from the Passover, which involves keeping an empty chair at the table for Elijiah, who will eventually announce the coming of the Savior.

Diamond has since admitted that much of the bulk of his song came from time spent in therapy in Los Angeles. “It was consciously an attempt . . . to express what my dreams were about, what my aspirations were about and what I was about. And without question, it came from my sessions with the analyst.”

He has since proclaimed “I Am…I Said” was “by far the most difficult song I have ever written — and probably the best song I have ever written.”

By the way, Barry was so overwhelmed by the tsunami of hate mail that flooded in from Neil’s fans that he soon wailed in print, “Please stop writing! You’ve convinced me! Neil Diamond is a music god!”

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