News Briefs

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Sun Health Wellness offers online classes

Sun Health Wellness is holding many of its regular classes via video conferencing technology at no cost. Registration is not required. To see a schedule of the upcoming online classes, go to SunHealthWellness.org and click on the banner at the top of the page for the latest information.

The following classes are available on demand, accessible at any time by visiting SunHealthWellness.org. The classes were pre-recorded and may be watched free of charge at any time.

• Sun Health Strength at Home • Heart Healthy Cardio • Heartburn and Hiatal Hernia 101 • Staying Active and Mobile in Your Home • Train Your Brain! • The Relationship Between Heart and Kidneys • Nutrition & Kidney Health • Fall Prevention and Healthy Hearing • Understanding Memory Loss &

Healthy Hearing • Body Weight Core on the Floor • The Core to Strength Ep. 1 • The Core to Strength Ep. 2 • A Dumbbell Workout • Interval Training

Dr. Laura Bush’s slogan is “Just finish your book!” (Photo courtesy Dr. Laura Bush)

Quarantine the ‘Write Way’

Dr. Laura Bush is offering virtual and in-person writing coaching, ghostwriting, copy editing and proofreading.

Bush is the founder and owner of Peacock Proud Press, a nonfiction book writ 8 | JUNE 2020

ing, editing and publishing business. She works with corporate and community leaders, successful entrepreneurs and sought-after speakers who want to share their expertise in the form of a book. She also works with individuals who have a passionate commitment for writing a memoir with a message.

She also has a team of independent contractors who offer their professional help with book design, marketing and technology services. Her slogan is “Just finish your book!”

She earned her doctoral degree in English from ASU and taught writing and literature courses for more than 20 years in university classrooms. She is able to work with several different budgets.

Info: peacockproud.com

The Westernaires Chorus sets rehearsal schedule

The 85-member mixed Westernaires Chorus will conduct its first fall rehearsal at 8 a.m. Thursday, September 3, in the “back 40” of the Stardust Theater. The Westernaires, one of the oldest chartered clubs in Sun City West, will present its winter shows at the Stardust Theater Friday, December 4, to Monday, December 7. SCW residents interested in singing and performing with the Westernaires may contact Director Sylvia Collins, 623-214-6112.

Duet turns fundraiser into virtual event

The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced the cancellation of Duet: Partners in Health & Aging’s annual Partners in Compassion luncheon, but it didn’t eliminate the need the organization has for this impactful annual fundraiser.

To prevent the crisis from continuing to impact the community Duet serves, the event was reimagined as a virtual experience.

Instead of a luncheon, Duet is hosting a virtual lunch that highlights its services and the people the organization helps on a daily basis. Viewers can make a virtual donation to Duet directly from duetaz.org.

“Proceeds from the luncheon are a critical source of Duet’s funding, especially as we move into the summer months, so our Capacity Building Team opted to pivot to a virtual-event format,” says Lori Appleby

Celebrating the Soroptimists are Jennifer Harris, Consuelo Pacheco, Primrose Dzenga, Melissa Doty, Caren Sandoval, Kat Montoya and Gail Shriner, of Soroptimist International of Saguaro Foothills. Winners Lois Bridges and Ana Medina are not pictured. (Photos courtesy Soroptimist International of Saguaro Foothills)

Hoke, Duet’s community engagement manager. “One of our agency values is a commitment to fulfill our mission even when resources and energies are challenged, and so this was an opportunity to do just that in as safe a manner as possible.”

Soroptimists host annual awards ceremony

Soroptimist International of Saguaro Foothills handed out $11,000 in award money to 11 women and girls during its annual Live Your Dream ceremony.

The awards were established in 1972 and are available to women who are financial heads of household with dependents, demonstrate need and are motivated to achieve their education and career goals.

Jennifer Harris of Glendale was awarded $2,500. Harris has been attending Phoenix College and was recently accepted to ASU’s Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics to pursue a degree in sociology.

She works full time as a fraud investigator at UNIFY Financial Credit Union. In addition to pursuing her certified fraud examiner license, Harris has full-time care of two family members and three children. She was selected as a finalist in the Golden West region of Soroptimist International of the Americas and will win an additional monetary award at the regional level.

This year, there were seven runners-up to the LYD award, each of whom received $1,000. The runners-up were Caren Sando val, Ana Medina, Primrose Dzenga, Consuelo Pacheco, Kat Montoya, Lois Bridges and Melissa Doty.

Sandoval is a Navy reservist and is pursuing communications at ASU.

Medina is studying accounting at Rio Salado Community College.

Dzenga is a student at Barrett, the Honors College at ASU. She is working toward a dual master’s degree in global studies and creative writing to assist her goal of improving the lives of rural women in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Pacheco is pursuing a degree in accounting at Rio Salado Community College.

A patient care assistant at Banner Health, Montoya is enrolled in the nursing

Bridges is pursuing a Bachelor of Sciing of love she gets from the children with ence in psychology. whom she works.

Doty is a pre-med student who wants to Those in attendance include the presiwork as a full-time physician’s assistant. dent-elect of Soroptimist International of

The Soroptimist “Young Women’s Serthe Americas, one of five federations that vice” award recognizes young women comprise Soroptimist International. who make their community and world a CCUSD Superintendent Dr. Debbi Burbetter place through their volunteer efdick; Carefree Mayor Les Peterson and forts. This program honors girls between his wife, Mary; Carefree Vice Mayor John the ages of 14 and 18 who contribute their Crane; and Cave Creek Councilwomen Sutime and energy to volunteer projects in san Clancy and Kathryn Royer also attendtheir schools and community. ed.

Each girl was awarded $500 along with Soroptimist International is a global $100 to their charity. The award recipients women’s organization working together this year are Maya Ochoa, Jaclyn Russek to transform the lives of women and girls. and Emily Spencer. It works at the local, national and interna

Ochoa volunteers at Veterans Heritage tional levels to improve lives through edProject and told the audience “what I have ucation leading to social and economic learned from the veterans I’ve worked empowerment. with has been life changing.” Info: sisaguarofoothills.org

Russek, who also volunteers for the Veterans Heritage Project, says she feels her Glendale Woman’s Club work with the charity has brought “new names executive board perspective to how she sees the world.” The GFWC Glendale Woman’s Club held

Spencer volunteers at Wild at Heart and its installation ceremony for the 2020-22 quotes Mahatma Gandhi, “The best way to executive board—Grace Kobojek, secfind yourself is to lose yourself in the serond vice president; Naomi Buerkle, first vice of others.” vice president; Marilyn Prince, supplies

The Soroptimist “Ruby” award hontrustee; Barbara Lentz, correspondence secretary; Eileen Deer, building trustee; Cheryl Kappes, president and rental trustee; Maricruz Barker, treasurer; Linda Moran-Whittley, recording secretary; and Pat Kennedy, parliamentarian.

ors women who have worked to improve the lives of women and girls through their profession and/or volunteer work. This year’s winner is Lee Anne Park, who leads the Extra Special Art program at the Sonoran Arts League.

Park ensures children with disabilities have the opportunity to communicate and express themselves through her adaptive art program. She realized years ago Jaclyn Russek was awarded $500 for her volunteer work. Here, that art can help special needs she’s with her sponsor, Barbara Hatch, and Betty Lou Olmsted of Soroptimist International of Saguaro Foothills. children develop self-confidence and self-esteem. program at Gateway Community College. She has taught art to the special needs She’s also taking online classes at NAU. Her children of Cave Creek for more than 25 goal is to become a registered nurse. years. She said her reward is the outpour

The public can watch the ceremony at youtu.be/wnnSVBL7xDU.

To learn more about the club and its mission, visit clubhouse4rent.com.

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Features

Care MINDFUL Maribeth Gallagher has spent her career understanding dementia

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Maribeth Gallagher has witnessed the power of music.

As a longtime professional singer, Gallagher moved audiences with her voice, warming up crowds for the likes of Donna Summer, the Beach Boys, Huey Lewis and the News, and Frankie Valli.

“I went to nursing school and moved to San Francisco, where I was offered a singing job, which was kind of bizarre,” says Gallagher, a Brooklyn native.

“I thought, ‘This will last six weeks.’” Her career spanned 30 years.

“That led to me being in some places where maybe an American New York woman wouldn’t be received so warmly, shall we say,” she says.

“On the stage, you can feel the energy of the crowd. So, when I was in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, I noticed in about three songs that it was very, very different. Our differences started to melt away. Our similarity and connection would start to emerge just naturally. I started to appreciate early in my career that music was so much more than entertainment. It really was a powerful medium.”

Now she is taking that medium and improving the bonds between dementia patients. As the director of Hospice of the Valley’s dementia program, Gallagher encourages families to listen to music together.

She has seen those with dementia slowly begin to remember words to songs. Gallagher saw one family sing Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” together.

“They said, ‘We can sit there and hold hands,’” she recalls. “‘We start out by listening to it, then she’ll start singing and then we’ll start singing and then we’ll sing together.’”

It’s the depth of that connection where words aren’t required, she explains.

“It gets the job done—the expression of spirit, the expression of personhood.”

New chapter

Gallagher is about to enter a new chapter with Hospice of the Valley.

The organization broke ground earlier in the year for the Hospice of the Valley Dementia Care & Education Campus, 3811 N. 44th Street, in Phoenix’s Arcadia area. The comprehensive facility will transform the way the community sees dementia, treats those living with it, and supports caregivers who are struggling to cope with this incurable disease.

Many other buildings that house dementia programs are painted in dark tones. But, Gallagher says, there are moments of love and joy when caring for dementia patients.

“We’re building it from the ground up,” she says. “We’re able to use a lot of architectural principles that maximize the abilities and comfort levels of people living with dementia.

In addition to an assisted-living center and an inpatient-care home for those at all stages of dementia, the campus will provide an intergenerational connection by providing interaction between the adult and child centers. The cornerstone of the campus is an education center for medical professionals, caregivers, students and the community. The Dove

Hospice of the Valley’s Maribeth Gallagher was inspired to study dementia care after a relative was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (Photo by Pablo Robles)

Café, which will be open to the public, will be a dementia-friendly space for family caregivers to share experiences.

For example, contrasting colors and appropriate lighting will help dementia patients become more comfortable in the new setting. Guests and residents can expect art and music to be a big part of the center.

“We love adult day care centers when they’re done well,” she says. “They need supportive environments where they can interact with others.”

Next to the adult day care center will be a child care center, as people suffering from dementia enjoy observing children laughing and playing.

“They can sit in the shade and watch children play,” she says. “They could bring joy. We really love the idea of intergenerational enrichment.”

Dementia is the fourth-leading cause of death in Arizona, and the projections are alarming: a 43% increase by 2025. Nearly a third of Hospice of the Valley patients have dementia—a disease that often lasts years and can be overwhelming for family caregivers who are seldom prepared for the challenges ahead.

Early inspiration

Gallagher didn’t know anything about the journey of being a caregiver until a family member developed Alzheimer’s.

“From pre-diagnosis until death, we supported her through this process,” she says. “I learned so much, and I felt called to try to make a difference for people with dementia and for their caregivers.”

She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and became a nurse practitioner in psychiatry. Then, she found a job with Hospice of the Valley using some of the methods she had learned. She has since earned her doctorate.

She’s sharing her knowledge a lot these days to help families and dementia patients deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Gallagher says the key to it is “mindfulness.”

Gallagher teaches mindful-based dementia practices, which are even helpful to those who have a propensity to tense up.

“How do we calm ourselves?” she asks rhetorically. “We create a calm environment around us. At the education center, we’re learning about changes in the brain and how they impact the person.”

COVID-19 has made things like this difficult.

“The people with dementia who are enriched by walking outside every day and doing socially interactive things haven’t been able to do that,” she says. “Life has changed for them as they know it. People living with dementia do well with routine. This has disturbed the routines of the dementia patients and the care partners, but we’re here to help.”

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