Commun ty Matters Fulton Presbyterian Manor COMING UP IN COMMUNITY MATTERS:
Everyone has a story to tell
July 2016
Volunteers provide relief with Twiddle Muffs
Thanks to the handy work of the local Charity Knitting group, Fulton area patients with Alzheimer’s, dementia and autism are finding relief with a unique and handmade item – the Twiddle Muff.
So far, Charity Knitting has donated more than 200 Twiddle Muffs to agencies in central Missouri. This includes Fulton Presbyterian Manor, who recently received 30 Twiddle Muffs for residents.
We will focus on healthy aging in an upcoming issue of Community Matters. What are your secrets for staying healthy as you age? What advice do you have for others? Have you faced a health crisis and made life-altering changes as a result? If you’ve got a story to share, contact Keri Edwards and your story could be featured in an upcoming edition of Community Matters.
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“They’re basically two tubes,” said Peg Dzicek, RSVP (Retired & Senior Volunteer Program) Director. “The outer tube has eye lash yarn, four or five rows on the outer tube with different textures. The inside tube is soft yarn and they put things like buttons, beads, ribbons and rick-rack inside, so there are all different textures.”
The Twiddle Muff was created to calm busy hands by allowing patients to insert their hands inside the tubes and handle the objects sewn to them. According to Peg, this lessens their desire to pick at things, which is a symptom of their medical conditions.
“I read a study that proves these work better than some of the drugs used by Alzheimer patients because they relieve a need,” Peg said.
“You have no idea the difference this makes for some of our patients,” said Beth Boyd, activities director. “It relieves stress and even chronic pain. These are a blessing for our residents and our staff.”
Charity Knitting operates through RSVP, the Retired &
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Senior Volunteer Program, which is a program of Senior Corps, sponsored by the Corporation for National Community Service (CNCS) and administered through SERVE, Inc. The group’s goal is to provide the Twiddle Muffs to hundreds of people.
“We will NEVER sell a Twiddle Muff,” said Peg. “All of the ones made by the RSVP volunteers are going to be donated. And, we are always looking for more knitters (we’ll even teach you how), donations of yard (new or scraps) and financial donations to add to our ‘yard fund.’” If you’re interested in volunteering your time or materials or making a financial contribution, contact Peg at 573-6426388.
Alice Kimble, SERVE volunteer, Peg Dzicek, SERVE volunteer director, and Anita Houston, SERVE volunteer pose with Twiddle muffs.
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Community Matters is published monthly for residents and friends of Fulton Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at PresbyterianManors.org.
Dawn Smith, executive director Keri Edwards, marketing director To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact kedwards 2@pmma.org. Telephone: 573-642-6646 Fax: 573-642-2202 Address: 811 Center St., Fulton, MO 65251-1922
Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values. FultonPresbyterianManor.org
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Call 573-642-6646 for more information.
Getting Rid of Possessions: It’s Harder Than You Think If you’re ready to move to a smaller space or think you might want to downsize in the not-too-distant future, take a deep breath and start planning. It’s a much bigger task than you’ll ever imagine, partly because the process entails far more than just deciding which possessions to keep and which to toss.
Most people acquire things over a lifetime — one decade, year, month or day at a time. Through the years, possessions from clothes to decorative arts can accumulate: Flexible Flyer sleds tucked away in the basement crawl space; bridesmaid’s or flower girl dresses stored in closets; Valentines, birthday cards and other personal correspondence stashed in night table drawers. Why We Won’t Toss
Why have we accumulated so much and refused to toss so little? “People took pleasure in the things they used, cared for and valued,” said Gary W. Small, director of the UCLA Longevity Center and president of the American Society for Geriatric Psychiatry. But keeping all those things can become, frankly, a burden. “It overtakes your life,” Small noted.
Trying to sort and toss possessions is a deeply psychological task as much as a decluttering one. It means, in a way, dismantling a life that once was and no longer is, at least not in the same way. We hang onto things that remind us of
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than waiting until you are older when you may be less healthy, strong and mentally acute, experts say.
“We’re at greater risk for cognitive decline at 85 than at 65,” Small said. Specifically, he noted, at 65, the risk of cognitive decline is 10 percent, while at 85, it’s 50 percent. And according to the Alzheimer’s Association, 11 percent of Getty Images people 65 and older have Alzheimer’s disease, but 32 a pleasant time. Sorting through old percent age 85 and older do; 82 letters from friends or family members percent of people with Alzheimer’s is “pleasure for a moment,” Small said. are 75 or older. “It’s a momentary experience.” Some Aren’t Sentimental When lightening your load, emotions come into play. Some are sweet and others are less so, including the often hidden feelings within us that rise to the surface, reminding us of the past and of the limits of life itself. Seeing items you haven’t thought of or seen in a while can trigger sweet memories of times past or of loved ones no longer alive. Dealing With Mortality and Balance
The difficulty of dismissing stuff can be rooted in mortality and the realization that no one lives forever. At a certain point in life, there is more past than future, and that, in itself, can be daunting. “We’re all mortal,” Small said. “The issue is balance.You can’t hold onto all things. One of the upsides to downsizing is it allows us to live more in the present.” It’s preferable to start shedding possessions in your 50s or 60s, rather
Some boomers, of course, aren’t sentimental about hanging onto family possessions. “Baby boomers don’t care mostly,” said Deborah Heiser, an applied developmental psychologist based in Great Neck, N.Y., and coeditor of the book, Spiritual Assessment and Intervention with Older Adults: Current Directions and Applications. For many, the attitude is “new home, new me,” Heiser said. “It’s freeing — liberating in a way.”
The best way to complete the task is to do it in a systematic way, maybe over a period of as long as two years, leaving sufficient time to evaluate, sort, send to relatives, give away, sell or hire a professional to help with any and all of it. It’s “one closet at a time, one drawer
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at a time, so as not to be overwhelmed,� Small said.
The Storage Solution
If you’ll no longer have room for certain possessions that are meaningful to you or another family member, you might want to store them until you — or a relative — have the space, said Dana Tydings, owner of Tydings Design in Laytonsville, Md. Figure on paying between $40 to $300 a month
COMMUNITY MATTERS JULY2016
for storage, depending on the size and location of the unit.
Going the storage route can also be a good idea for items you feel ambivalent about. Sometimes the best solution is to postpone a final decision until you’ve comfortably settled in your new space. In that case, “put items in storage for a few months and relax and revisit it,� Heiser said.
Just bear in mind, renting a storage locker might mean taking a risk. Even if storage is “climate-controlled and you have insurance, [the items] may not
come out the same way� as they went in, Tydings said.
In the end, people are more comfortable with downsizing when they are in control of how they’ll live the next chapter of their life as opposed to waiting until they’re unable to rid themselves of their possessions. The more control you have over what you’ll keep and what you’ll discard, the greater likelihood you’ll love your new life.
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