What do I do with this tremendous sense of loss? Last week, I learned through a Facebook message from a “non-friend” that Fred, a good friend and former significant other, was killed in a terrible motorcycle accident on May 12th not far from my home. The local paper reported the accident but did not name the rider and no follow-up story was done. The “non-friend” sent me the message on May 18th but it didn’t show up in my Facebook Messenger folder until June 8th. I am grateful to her for trying to contact me and we have since spoken.
“Once a week I make sure I turn on the ignition of Bill’s 1996 Dodge Dakota truck.
Often, I take it for a run to Safeway or King Soopers. I don’t want to let the battery die.
‘Don’t put much money into that truck. It’s old,’ a friend advises.
‘Sure, it’s old,’ I thought. ‘But it holds two decades of memories, the smell of Bill — freshly cut pine, sunscreen, chain-saw gas.’
Always reluctant to spend money on himself, Bill bought the truck only after much cajoling by family members.
The need for the truck came about when western Colorado’s mountains were being devastated by pine beetles. During the 1990s, green trees became spires of rusted iron.
An Illinois friend of Bill’s owned some raw land near Granby, Colorado — an area hit hard by beetles — but not yet decimated.
Surgical strikes in a few areas would take out the diseased trees, but distance made this task difficult for our Illinois friend.
Forests and mountains have always had a gravitational pull on Bill, so it didn’t surprise me when he jumped at the chance to tackle the beetle problem — one tree at a time.”
Retired psychologist Valerie McCullough and her late husband Bill came to Loveland in 1964 and raised four daughters here. She writes a blog on the Reporter-Herald website. She welcomes readers to share their own experiences or feedback on her column at [email protected] or by responding to her blog.
Have you made your advance directives? The following article is a great place to start. The PREPARE For Your Care website is an informative and easy to use resource to assist in making medical decisions for yourself and others. The advance directive form on the site is currently only for California residents.
User-Friendly Decision-Making Tools Help Older Adults Make Choices for Future Medical Care
Click on image to read this free pamphlet
UCSF Study Shows Promise for Patient-Driven Advance Care Planning
“A user-friendly website and advance directive form given directly to patients can be highly effective in empowering older adults to plan for their future medical care without the need for significant health system resources, according to a new study from UC San Francisco.
Researchers found that between 25 and 35 percent of older adult patients had evidence of advance care planning in their medical records after receiving simple decision-making tools. In the study, one group was given an easy-to-read advance directive, a legal document that allows patients to record their wishes for future medical care. This group had a 25 percent increase in advanced care planning. A second group received the advance directive plus a user-friendly website called PREPARE For Your Care, producing a 35 percent increase. Neither intervention required any clinician involvement, training or education.
Patients who received the PREPARE website also reported significantly more engagement in advance care planning, such as having discussions with family, friends and clinicians, and feeling more confident and ready to have these conversations.
The study, which appears online May 18, 2017, in JAMA Internal Medicine, shows promise for efforts to increase advance care planning among older adults, revealing that patient-driven initiatives can empower people to make decisions about their care.”
“Georgia Dyson of St. Paul, Minn., died in March after suffering the gradual shrinkage of her world. Through it all, ‘she always relished her independence,’ her daughter Christine Dyson Dahn said.
Over Dyson’s 84 years, her spine twisted in two directions from degenerative scoliosis. She had cataracts, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. She endured a double bypass heart operation, a mitral valve repair, a pacemaker, two hip replacements, a catheter, a hearing aid, dentures and, as you can imagine, periodic depression.
Linda Irgens has advocated for more independence, even though it brings risk for her father, Richard “Papa Dick” Irgens. (Photo by D. Browning)
Despite all of that — and despite some misgivings about Dyson’s safety — family members did whatever they could to support her, insisting at each crossroads that she be allowed to get back to her routines.
‘We wanted to respect that fire in her, but we worried about her,’ Dahn said. ‘What if she went out in her wheelchair and got hit by a car?’
Balancing risk and autonomy is one of the toughest things that caregivers do, whether they are professionals or family members. It’s especially difficult when the people they care for cannot advocate for themselves.”
Quality of Care or Quality of Life?
In the United Kingdom and some European nations like Denmark and the Netherlands, the focus is more on personal autonomy
Don’t Miss Senior Law Day in Jefferson County, Colorado
Saturday, June 3, 2017
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Mile Hi Church
9077 W. Alameda Avenue
Lakewood, CO 80226
“The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office is hosting its 7th Annual Senior Law Day on June 3, offering educational seminars for seniors and for others who may be facing challenges with their aging parents.
Eighteen valuable workshops include topics such as: Medicare Issues; Investment Fraud; Wills/Trusts; End of Life Issues; Powers-of-Attorney, Conservatorship and Guardianship; Tips for Probate; and Identity Theft. Attorneys and representatives from a variety of community resources will be available to answer individual questions. Free 15-minute consultation are available through the Ask-an-Attorney segment.
‘Our population is aging and older adults will be facing complicated issues,’ says District Attorney Peter Weir, ‘This information can change the quality of life for seniors and their adult children.’
Registration is $10 and includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and the new Colorado Senior Law Handbook, a publication of the Colorado Bar Association.”
For more information, or to register, contact Cary Johnson at 303-271-6970 or [email protected]
Local police departments restore peace of mind by phoning senior citizens once a day
By Jenni Bergal, Stateline and PBS Newshour
March 21, 2017
“Living alone can be tough for seniors. Some don’t have family nearby to check on them, and they worry that if they fall or suffer a medical emergency and can’t get to the phone to seek help, no one will know.
That’s why hundreds of police agencies in small towns, suburbs and rural areas across the country are checking in on seniors who live alone by offering them a free automated phone call every day.
Police officials say the computerized calling systems, which are fairly inexpensive and easy to use, provide an important service to a growing senior population that is expected to reach 65 million by 2025. Already, nearly half of women age 75 and older live alone.
And advocates for older adults say telephone check-in programs can help seniors remain independent in their homes and give them — and their family members — peace of mind.”
School is almost out for the summer, so why would I be writing about substitute teaching? If you’ve thought about working part-time, summer is a great time to prepare to substitute at your neighborhood schools this fall. If you hold a current teaching license or a bachelor’s degree you can become a substitute teacher.
Most states have a licensing procedure for becoming a substitute teacher if you don’t hold a current teaching license. Just check the state’s Department of Education website and search for substitute licensing. In Colorado for instance, you can apply for a one-year, a three-year or a five-year license. All three of these licenses require the applicant be fingerprinted and results submitted to the state’s Bureau of Investigation. Licensing in Colorado costs $60 for a one-year license and $90 for the three- or five-year license. The five-year license in-state applicants must hold or have held a Colorado teaching license. An out-of-state applicant must hold an unexpired (non-Colorado) teaching license.
