"She takes an exercise class for seniors three days a week at Forest Grove Health & Fitness. They work on strength, including core strength, balance and grip using hand weights, bars, chairs and stretch bands. Walking and stretching are part of the class too. Campbell has exercised regularly for 35 to 40 years and knows that stronger muscles support aging joints.

She takes many more vitamins than she does prescription medications. The list includes the usual: B12, C, D, calcium and the supplement MSM. She isn't much of a coffee or tea drinker, preferring fruit juice and a lot of water. She says she's had alcohol "maybe twice" in her life. Her caregiver says she's easy to cook for because there's little she doesn't like. She eats meat, fish, fowl, whole grains, lots of fruit and "huge quantities" of vegetables. She consumes very little sugar because it makes her arthritis worse, and she says no to dill pickles."

You can read Lois' full story here >

If you are in trasition and need a bit of help with some home healthcare items, we are here for you, as well.  In the meantime, we'll be chearing you on to a healthier and more active you!

• Ability to sit in the same room without saying a word, yet enjoying each other.
• Not having to say, "don't mention this to anyone" because they already won't because they know it would embarrass you.
• A big hug from behind.
• A man who sneaks 'sexy eyes' at you in a crowded room making sure no one else sees.
• A clean kitchen in the morning and you didn't do it the night before, and coffee maker loaded.
• Coming to your defense or bragging about your accomplishments.
• Fixing stuff without being asked or having to put it on a 'honey-do' list.
• Still opening all doors on dates or even on errands.
• Teasing with love, and you always know there's no malice - just playfulness.
• Sharing an inside joke and holding back the snickers.
• Showing off integrity, quietly, because it's just engrained in him.
• Always counting on his word.
• A man that can cook and plate a meal beautifully without swearing or destroying the kitchen and then cleans up.

As our loved ones age, not always gracefully, remember they are still men and women.  They still enjoy many of the things you do and have not become numb to all things sexy, beautiful and stimulating.  It's difficult to not get grossed out sometimes thinking of our parents as active, sexual beings.  Give them the same respect that they are still aware, still want the pampering, love, remembering and respect that they were shown at your age.  Give them the dignity, the opportunity to show their romantic metel with each other or to be the gentleman and open the door for you - the younger daughter or granddaughter. It's engrained in them and gives them comfort.

I remind executive women, heavy-achiever types that men still want to be men. Allow them the ability to show off their manliness, gentleman ways and respect for you. We all know you can open a door on your own.  We all know you can pay.  Accept their kindesses, compliments with the dignity becoming a woman.  You could learn a few things from some senior members of society.  Ask especially those who enjoyed long marriages and have a calmness about them now.  Don't miss the opportunity to learn from those who have walked before you.  Just as your children think they know it all - AND DON'T.  Remember you are still coachable - I hope.

• Incontinence (disposable) - Briefs/Diapers
• Incontinence (disposable) -Baby & Youth Diapers
• Incontinence (disposable) - Liners & Pads
• Incontinence (disposable) - undergarments
• Incontinence (disposable) - Underpads
• Incontinence (disposable) - Protective Undergarments
• Incontinence (disposable) - Washcloths and Wipes
• Personal Care - Wipes & Towelettes
• Nightingale Incontinent Producs by Select Medical

A simple resolution if you care for someone at their home, in a facility or simply have a special person you visit frequently, tell them anything nice that strikes you about them.  Don't wait.

The song by Seals & Croft, "We May Never Pass This Way Again" is so true when it comes to those with health needs, the elderly, the infirmed.  Don't let the love or pleasant thoughts in your head stay stashed away.

I'm a member of a non-profit, Binky Patrol.  We make blankets for children and teens in hospitals and shelters and give them away.  Sometimes we get a lot of blankets.  Life gets busy and we don't always delivder them right away.  That doesn't do anyone any good.  Blankets in a closet bring no comfort. Same with kind words for those who need home health care, special home medical support and just those who may not get out that much.  Tell them the thought in your head that made you smile.  Don't miss the opportunity.

My mom had Alzheimer's for several years.  I tried to apply this concept to every visit with her.  In her case, I could tell her the same compliment each time and she was just as thrilled as hearing it for the first time.  She knew I was sincere and didn't notice I complimented her on her eyes, hair or laugh every time I saw her.  She beamed.

On the flipside of this, don't think you need to clear the air with everyone at every opportunity. Check your motives.  Are you doing it to truly make life better for them, or just to play out some anger, old tapes or past behavior by getting it off your chest?  No one needs you to barf on their shoes when they see you.  You won't change them with your "revelations" and "truths."  But you may cause more pain. Throw it to the wind or wish it into the cornfield and be done with it.  No one ever made the world a better place by spewing bile at people.

I'm speaking from experience. I'm a 40 something woman, in tech and communications and have been since 1988. I work from home at my desk. Until last Christmas I was the proud owner of a pink Razer phone - you know the type - the flip fronts where if you want to text someone you are pushing each key three times to get the one you want. It was so bad that my friends would applaud when I would text because they realized the effort it took. I enjoyed being unplugged and taking technology breaks. I also would print directions from Mapquest or Google Maps and rely on my Thomas Guide once I was out - or would call home to be talked in to a destination. Pathetic, yes, especially for someone who makes a living from technology.

When I opened my gift that was labeled, "From your clients.." I knew the time had come. The decision had been made for me that I needed to move forward to better serve my clients. I received an iPhone4 and literally backed away from the box due to intimidation. How would I get all my "stuff" into it?  How would I learn ANOTHER device. I'm a PC. This was daunting - for about 4 hours. Going back isn't an option. I'll give up pedicures, manicures, anything to keep the additional unlimited texting plan and service. I am less frustrated and lost about 90% less than I used to be.

So if you have an older person in your life that you want to help by giving them tools to make communication, directions and gaining information easier, go easy on them.  Find some apps that fit their lifestyle and download them, set the settings for each one, program in the stuff you know they won't know how to find.  Get their address book in there - somehow.  You are doing them no favors giving them a box with a toy.  They need help teaching the toy the tasks and turning into a useful tool.  Love is spending the time and effort making is less intimidating for them.

Some newspaper and magazine apps to look for, depending on their lifestyle:

Other apps of which I'm a fan:

• Time Magazine (free)
• New York Times (free)
• Star Walk ($3.99 and SO WORTH IT!) shows you the constellations as you move your phone around and point to the sky. Gives info about all satelites, stars and planets.
• Yelp for restaurant ideas, reviews and directions to businesses without knowing the address
• Birthday Cal - to load up ALL family birthdays
• Fandango for movie reviews and tickets
• Pandora to choose THEIR type of music and create a station just for them.

Pacific Medical Supply Salem serves a wide range of ages.  We have our young customers who may need mobility and incontinence products, wound care and daily health aids.  We also serve people into their 90s that very much remember these news reels as their window into the world beyond the United States.

Newsreels have long since been supplanted by television news, but filmmakers never stopped making advocacy pieces. When director Frank Capra saw Leni Riefenstahl’s notorious pro-Nazi documentary Triumph of the Will, he wrote, “Satan himself couldn’t have devised a more blood-chilling super-spectacle.” Capra responded with Why We Fight, a seven-part, Oscar-winning documentary that put the government’s objectives into terms moviegoers could understand.

Our Baby Boomers may remember more current films that tackled political issues. To some extent all films are political, because all films have a point of view. Movies that deal with perceived injustices—in Spielberg’s case, The Sugarland Express and Amistad—are on some level criticizing a system that allows them to occur. Even Spielberg’s mass-oriented adventures, like the Indiana Jones series, express a points-of-view: Jones, on the surface apolitical, is drawn into battling tyrannical regimes that threaten the American way of life.

On the other hand, setting out with the goal of making political points through film almost never succeeds, as the graveyard of recent Iraq war-related movies shows. A film has to capture the zeitgeist, it has to deliver a message that moviegoers are ready to accept, in order to have an impact of the culture. When it works, as in the phenomenal box-office results for titles as disparate as Iron Man and Avatar, it doesn’t even matter whether the films have artistic merit.

To read the full article on this topic, please visit the Smithosonian Magazine's blog.

Did you know a lot of these archived news items are available for viewing online at archive.org ?

The Conquest has a 1170 CC engine and can hit 60 mph within 7.6 seconds. Top speed - get this - 105 mph. That would curl your nose hairs! No need to feel like you're missing out on the exhilarating ride with the wind in your hair just because your body has changed or isn't cooperating like it used to due to injuries or health conditions.

You may be wondering, "I need a caregiver to travel with me or my spouse. I can't afford two of these, what do I do?" Stop wondering - The Conquest has room for passengers and high-end suspension at both ends. There is a ramp at the back for the driver to mount the wheelchair. The trike accommodates both you the driver AND your wheelchair - locking you in with a push-button release. Six gears and you're off for your next thrill ride. You can learn more about these motorcycles/trikes at: http://www.mobilityconquest.com/

Childern born with multiple sclerosis, cerebal palsey, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and many other diseases will require more patience, care, money, and hands.  Even when parents adopt these children who need special care, a shower should be given to celebrate a family being formed - and gifts are needed to help them cope with what they will be living with throughout the life of their child.

In addition to monetary and wrapped gifts, consider the gift of time and respite.  A friend of mine has a teenage daughter who is bound in her hospital bed at their home 24/7 unelss her mother and a friend are able to get her strapped into her wheelchair to take her out. This teen's mind is there and alert, but her body just won't 'work right' to allow her to be mobile without a lot of help.  Her mother would lose her mind if it weren't for her network of friends that give her several hours a week to just leave and get outside to take a break. They even team up to take the mother on outings to distract her from the day-to-day routine. This allows the mother to recharge and be ready for the rest of the week. 

When parents know their child will be born with certain conditions, or they are adopting a child with special needs, they are aware of what the future holds. Your acknowledging this through your well-thought out gift gives them respect rather than "wishing it away" with all of the frilly gifts. It tells the parents, respectfully, you are there for them and are trying to understand what they may be going through with this support.

I don't have the patience or training to be able to stay at home with the child, but I would be willing to pay for a special sitter to allow the parents a date night. 

Here are some ideas of items that may help:

• Pediatric wheelchairs: http://bit.ly/p3JJKq
• Bath seats: http://bit.ly/q6eDWx
• Grab Bars: http://bit.ly/qpEmqR
• You can never have too many wipes - but they do dry out if they are not used:  http://bit.ly/nYIU0z
• Diapers for all sizes of children: http://bit.ly/rqwPI2
• Bed liners and underpads: http://bit.ly/naJnnT
• Hospital beds for home care: http://bit.ly/pRnXhA

Drummer Costume. Attach containers (e.g ice-cream containers, empty paint-cans) to a wheelchair with rope, duct-tape or similar material. Use a hoola-hop with card-board for the bass drum (over the front of the chair). Use paint-brushes or large pencils for drum-sticks. Dress in appropriate attair for the music to be played (e.g. rock, 50s etc)

Pirate Ship.  Jimmy has CP, MR, is deaf and blind, but still wanted to participate in Halloween - here's what he did: 

Laura Medcalf of Indianapolis was the belle of the ball three years ago when her mom transformed her wheelchair into Cinderella's carriage. Some foam board, paint, tape and a few glued-on jewels did the trick. Laura, now 9, was dazzling in a baby blue dress with silvery accents. Indianapolis Star/ News Photo by Kelly Wilkinson.

Nico Toscano, 13, of Rochester, N.Y., with the help of his family and nurse, built a 1934 Bugatti of foam core around his wheelchair. The one-of-a-kind vehicle also featured flashlights for headlights, an old-fashioned bicycle horn and a go-cart steering wheel.

Michelle Cohen Lev of Baltimore has put together a book based on the wheelchair costumes she's made for her son, Ofek. Here's Ofek, now 7, as a train conductor and Aladdin on his magic carpet. Each costume can be made for $10 or less, Lev says, using things around the house such as boxes, wrapping paper and spray paint. All costumes ©1998 Michelle Cohen.

• 
  Many Halloween costumes can be adjusted to fit a wheelchair.  Just keep in mind not to use anything that might get caught in the wheels and interfere with movement.

We've also come to like saving money by paying bills online, sending e-cards, emailing everyone for holidays and promoting our businesses through the Internet and email.  It's no wonder that this enterprise of delivering mail daily to homes and businesses is going down in flames.

There is talk that 'Junk Mail' may be the last hope for the USPS.  Ironic, isn't it.  We've all been battling these companies that flood our box with items we haven't requested, marketing messages we just assume toss or line the birdcage with.

From AdAge:

The pitch -- to be bolstered with an ad campaign touting new easy-to-use direct-mail programs -- is not without irony. It was direct marketers, after all, that contributed to some of the service's woes when they began pulling back mailers in the face of the recession and a steep rate rise in 2007 on catalog postage rates. But direct mail is making a comeback of sorts, with couponers and catalogers still viewing it as an effective tool, even in the digital age.

"Even though we've tried really hard to find out a way of unlocking the secret sauce of electronic media to make it as productive as mail, it's still not as productive," said Hamilton Davison, president-executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association. "You can't make me open your email; you can't make me visit your website. But if you send me a mail piece, you can compel me to pick that mail piece up and give you a third of a second dwell time to determine whether I'm going to read it or recycle it."

In other words, direct mail ain't going nowhere.

Ok. Fair enough. But what if it doesn't work? Have you thought what that means to you?  Perhaps you are ready to make the leap and forego all first class, third class, junk and media mail and rely on private companies to get it there faster such as UPS and FexEx for a higher price.  This will open up more opportunities for a private company to meld the two ideas and perhaps offer a 3x per week or twice a week delivery of what used to be first and third class mail at a higher rate, but not by comparison to the cost to send it through UPS or FedEx.  This may be fine for those of us online regularly and who have embraced digital transactions and a digital way of communicating.

Let's think about those without computers; those that are poor, elderly, confined due to illness and on very fixed incomes with no one to help guide them into this technology.  What will they be missing? 

• Grandma won't receive the photos in the mail of the children as frequently - only a lump package a couple of times a year.  Is that enough?
• Banking - cashing checks and paying bills. Are you ready to step in and set up bill pay through mom's account and take responsibility to get everything paid on time for her?  Can you see her regularly to keep her up on her own money so she doesn't feel totally out of control of her financial life and security?
• And what about the children?  Mine love getting the cards from their aunties and uncles, sometimes containing stickers, a small check for a present, drawings by their cousins. These will also leave off to online gift cards, emailed photos and scanned drawings. More to print at home.
• Freelancers who rely on clients to pay them via check. Will their clients be willing to embrace the direct deposit approach?  What about THAT security allowing your client to access your bank account - even if it is for a deposit?  Can they transition?  Will they no longer be able to say "the check's in the mail?"
• What will be the new excuse they will have to give: "Oh, my bank had a transaction error and said they will fix it soon, they aren't sure what happened, but it happened to a lot of their customers..."
• What about small parcels you order through small mail order companies, including prescription drugs?  Those who are ill cannot "go into town" to pick these up and cannot always wait to order a large order to save on shipping costs.  Many private company fees outweigh the product you are purchasing.  A $2 item may be $6.50 to send ground. 
• What will that do to EBay, Etsy, all online shopping?  No more media rate, Barnes & Noble and Amazon - costs will go up. 
• Think about tax filings.  The ritual of going to the local post office April 15 to meet the midnight deadline, what will we all do? Some of my neighbors while growing up only saw each other that night. It became quite the social event.

But what is the alternative?  Subsidizing this poorly run, out-of-control with pensions company that hasn't been in the black in decades?  What could the government do with that money?  Knowing them, we'll never see the savings, nor will the consumer ever benefit and we'll have a lot of people out of jobs that had counted on this for their retirement. No winning.  But change is coming, one way or another.

Are you ready?  Are your parents or those you care for ready for this type of sweeping communications change?  You  may want to start gathering info and setting new systems in place to lessen their dependence on first class and third class mail.

1. Find out the restrictions for direct deposits by 'other' people and companies.
2. Does their/your bank offer free wire transfers that can all be done online?
3. Is there a penalty to do wire transfers with the help of a customer service person on the phone?
4. Can you set up bill pay easily and export a report each month for accounting purposes and to set your folks' minds at ease or to import into QuickBooks for easy end of the year accounting?
5. Do you have an EIN if you are an independent contractor or sole proprietor so you don't have to give our your SSN to those wishing to pay you?
6. If you haven't already, you may want to get emails from everyone on your holiday card list and keep it updated.  I for one love sending out 250+ cards each year to those people who have touched the lives of my family.  So nice to send a bit of cheer.  Ecards just don't say the same thing. Hand delivering to the neighbors is OK, but the distant cousins who are struggling and are looking for any ray of sunshine, out of luck.  Bummer.
7. Make a list of all magazine subscriptions. Do they have an online version?  Do they have an online ONLY version for less?
8. Make sure you have "whitelisted" all banks, vendors, suppliers, utilities, etc. because if this is the only way they will communicate with you, you cannot afford to allow their mail to go to the junk folder.
9. If you are a company doing work with independent contractors, be sure their electronic invoices do not go into your junk folder, either and that you can receive attachments from them.
10. Consider setting up rules for the banks, vendors, suppliers, utilities to put them in an "incoming mail" type of folder at first so you can view them at a glance every couple of days and handle them all at once.
11. Then, set up a REMINDER event in your online calendar that REMINDS you to check that folder and deal with it all.
12. After you've read or followed up with these companies, FILE the email away, just as you would when you pay bills. Statements, etc.should go into invidvidual email files based on tax categories:
    • utilities
    • auto related
    • household
    • loans/credit cards
    • dining/entertainment
    • client gifts
    • software
    • hardware and equipment
    • subscriptions/dues
    • hosting fees
    • photography, rentals, etc.
13. Check with your tax analyst or CPA for ideas in this area and suggestions of back ups and exports.
14. BACK UP YOUR EMAIL and COMPUTER and/or have it in a SAFE cloud in case your computer and new filing system go kaplooey!  "Holy Electronic Meltdown Batman!"