October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). Since the program began in 1985, mammography rates have more than doubled for women age 50 and older and breast cancer deaths have declined.
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
This is exciting progress, but there are still women who do not take advantage of early detection at all and others who do not get screening mammograms and clinical breast exams at regular intervals.
Women age 65 and older are less likely to get mammograms than younger women, even though breast cancer risk increases with age.
Hispanic women have fewer mammograms than Caucasian women and African American women.
Women below poverty level are less likely than women at higher incomes to have had a mammogram within the past two years.
Mammography use has increased for all groups except American Indians and Alaska Natives.
If all women age 40 and older took advantage of early detection methods – mammography plus clinical breast exam – breast cancer death rates would drop much further, up to 30 percent.
The key to mammography screening is that it be done routinely – once is not enough.
For more information about NBCAM, please visit www.nbcam.org. For additional information, please call one of the following toll-free numbers: American Cancer Society,
(800) 227-2345, National Cancer Institute (NCI), (800) 4-CANCER, Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, (800) 221-2141.
The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month program is dedicated to increasing public knowledge about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Fifteen national public service organizations, professional associations, and government agencies comprise the Board of Sponsors, who work together to ensure that the NBCAM message is heard by thousands of women and their families. For more information, please visit their website.
Falls are one of the leading causes of unintentional injures in the United States, accounting for approximately 8.6 million visits to the emergency department. Adults 55 and older are more prone to becoming victims of falls, and the resulting injuries can diminish the ability to lead active, independent lives. The number of fall deaths among those 65 or older is four times the number of fall deaths among all other age groups.
To prevent falls, the National Safety Council recommends:
Exercise, such as brisk walking, tai chi and yoga, helps reduce falls by improving strength and balance. Stay hydrated while exercising and consult with your physician before starting an exercise program.
Have a doctor or pharmacist review all of your medications. Some medicines, combination of medicines or other combinations (sun, alcohol, etc.) can make you drowsy or light-headed, which can lead to a fall.
Have your vision checked regularly by an eye doctor. Poor vision can greatly increase your chance of falling.
Pay attention when you walk or use stairs.
Avoid distractions, such as texting or reading while walking, that can lead to a slip, trip or fall due to a step, crack or hole in the ground.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Falls can happen in any location, even in familiar areas.
Click here to download the Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls PDF.
Preventing Slips Trips and Falls
Please visit the National Safety Council website for more information, articles, and downloads regarding National Safety Month.
Cremation is the most popular disposition choice in Western Washington
In Washington state, cremation is chosen as the preferred method of disposition for 73% of services. Religious restrictions and tradition aside, cremation is notably on the rise in the United States, as well as abroad. Cremation dates back to over 20,000 years ago, but is more recently becoming more acceptable. Among the reasons why people choose cremation are personal preference, preservation of land, saving money, and the desire for simplicity in funeral arrangements.
Cremation is, generally speaking, less expensive than traditional burial services. There are a wide variety of factors that impact the cost of a cremation service, including whether or not a witness cremation, visitation or viewing is selected, if there will be a gathering or memorial “Celebration of Life” service, and whether or not the ashes will be placed in a permanent resting place, such as a cemetery or columbarium, or in a mausoleum.
Prices vary a great deal from funeral home to funeral home. Depending on whether or not the funeral home is family-owned or owned by a corporation, if they own and operate their own crematory or if they outsource their cremations to a third party, and what kind of facility the funeral home operates out of (i.e. a beautiful, traditional funeral home with chapel as compared to a conservative, professional office setting), these differences can make the difference of thousands of dollars.
We encourage anyone who is interested in inquiring about services and the associated pricing to ask the following questions:
Where is your crematory?
Do you own it?
May I see it?
Also, many cremation service providers have a guaranteed identification tracking assurance. We recommend asking for a general price list to be supplied to you, either by email, mail, or you may ask if it is available online. Many families want to know whether or not a funeral home has their own care technicians (the team that comes to a home or place of death to perform the removal and take a loved one into their care), as well as what their average response time is in the local area.
Camp Erin, Where Children Learn to Grieve and Heal
Camp Erin is weekend-long overnight camp designed for children and teens, ages 6 to 17, who are grieving the death of someone close to them. It is a traditional, fun, high-energy camp combined with grief education and emotional support.
Camp Erin will be held Aug. 24-26, 2012, at Camp Kuratli in Boring, OR. Activities begin Friday afternoon and end Sunday afternoon.
Camp Erin is offered at no charge to participants, thanks to the support and funding provided by The Moyer Foundation, Providence Medical Foundations and community donations.
Camp Erin, created and funded by The Moyer Foundation, is the largest nationwide network of bereavement camps for children and teens ages 6-17 who have experienced the death of someone close to them.
For more information, please contact Christopher Olson at 206-749-7689, or by email at christopher.olson@providence.org.
It is a weekend-long experience filled with traditional, fun, camp activities combined with grief education and emotional support — facilitated by grief professionals and trained volunteers. At Camp Erin, children are comforted knowing that there are other children who understand exactly what they are feeling and experiencing. At Camp Erin, grieving children have an opportunity to address their feelings and memorialize their loved ones. They are provided with tools and resources for use during and after camp, including memories and friendships that last long after camp is complete.
As founders of The Moyer Foundation, Karen and Jamie Moyer are more committed than ever to the growth and long term success of the Foundation and Camp Erin. In addition to volunteering their time and talent on a daily basis to raise funds and awareness for the Foundation’s mission, the Moyers have made significant financial contributions over the years including a $1 million dollar gift in 2007 to launch Camp Erin’s national expansion.
Support from The Moyer Foundation and local communities ensures that Camp Erin is free to all campers.
The theme for March 2011 is “Eat Right with Color.”
National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.
While the trees may be bare in March, there are still plenty of colorful and nutritious foods to fill your plate. During the 2011 National Nutrition Month®, the American Dietetic Association encourages everyone to add color and nutrients to your meals through this year’s theme: “Eat Right with Color.”
“Adding a splash of colorful seasonal foods to your plate makes for more than just a festive meal. A rainbow of foods creates a palette of nutrients, each with a different bundle of potential benefits for a healthful eating plan,” says registered dietitian and ADA Spokesperson Karen Ansel.
“Healthy eating includes more than counting calories alone. In fact, most children don’t get enough of all the essential nutrients critical to normal growth and development,” says Ansel.
“Food variety supplies different nutrients, so to maximize the nutritional value of your meal, include healthful choices in a variety of colors.” Ansel offers ways to brighten up your plate in every season with this quick color guide. Green produce indicates antioxidant potential and may help promote healthy vision and reduce cancer risks.
Fruits: avocado, apples, grapes, honeydew, kiwi and lime
Vegetables: artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, green peppers and leafy greens such as spinach
Orange and deep yellow fruits and vegetables contain nutrients that promote healthy vision and immunity, and reduce the risk of some cancers.
Fruits: apricot, cantaloupe, grapefruit, mango, papaya, peach and pineapple
Vegetables: carrots, yellow pepper, yellow corn and sweet potatoes
Purple and blue options may have antioxidant and anti-aging benefits and may help with memory, urinary tract health and reduced cancer risks.
Red indicates produce that may help maintain a healthy heart, vision, immunity and may reduce cancer risks.
Fruits: cherries, cranberries, pomegranate, red/pink grape fruit, red grapes and watermelon
Vegetables: beets, red onions, red peppers, red potatoes, rhubarb and tomatoes
White, tan and brown foods sometimes contain nutrients that may promote heart health and reduce cancer risks.
Fruits: banana, brown pear, dates and white peaches
Vegetables: cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, turnips, white-fleshed potato and white corn
Ansel recommends choosing a variety of colors when shopping for seasonal fruits and vegetables. “And for additional options in the color palette, choose frozen or dried fruits and vegetables available throughout the year,” she says.
“Instead of grilled chicken and mashed potatoes, consider painting a more colorful plate, such as grilled chicken topped with salsa, mashed sweet potato, asparagus and spinach salad with orange slices. A colorful meal is not only visually appealing, but it also contains a variety of nutrients and is quite flavorful,” Ansel says.
For more information on how to “Eat Right with Color,” visit ADA’s National Nutrition Month website for a variety of helpful tips, fun games, promotional tools, suggested reading lists, and nutrition education resources.
By suspending cremated remains within solid glass globes and pendants, Memory Glass provides a unique method of memorializing your family, friends and pets.
Memory Glass can accompany any other cremation service, including urns, scatterings and burials. Using an extremely small amount of cremated remains, every member of the family can have their own tangible keepsake that will last forever.
Each Memory Glass and Memory Glass Pendant is stored, made and shipped, individually with the utmost care and respect, and our procedures and security measures ensure that your loved one is returned to you safely.
As your trust is of our utmost concern, please don’t hesitate to call/email us to learn more about our procedures.
Memory Glass is a beautiful permanent memento containing your loved one's ashes
Ask your arrangement planner about memorializing your loved one with Memory Glass. We can be reached anytime at 425-641-6100.
Although women generally outlive their spouses, it’s still common in this day and age for husbands to handle long-term financial planning with little or no involvement from their wives. Once widowed, women often find that financial advisers who did business with their husbands fail to address their concerns. In fact, 70 percent of widows considered firing their advisers within three years of their husbands’ deaths, according to research by Minneapolis-based Allianz Life Insurance Co.
“Advisers often aren’t as responsive as they should be, they talk down to widows, or they take the ‘Don’t bother your pretty little head’ approach and fail to explain things,” says Washington, D.C.-based financial planner Alexandra Armstrong, co-author of “On Your Own: A Widow’s Passage to Emotional and Financial Well-Being” (Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc., 2006). Some women cede control not only because they’re overwhelmed by the estate-settling and grieving processes but also because they doubt their abilities when it comes to “high finance,” says behavioral psychologist Matt Wallaert, the lead scientist at Thrive, a New York-based financial management Web site (JustThrive.com).
Women routinely handle day-to-day household finances such as paying bills and managing bank accounts, Wallaert adds, but due to lack of exposure they tend to underestimate their investment management capabilities. When put to the test, though, women usually know more about investing than they think they do.
The basics of financial planning can be learned. Meanwhile, newly widowed women should make it clear they intend to retain control over their investments, that they’ll make adjustments in their own time and that they won’t tolerate strong-arm tactics or dismissive treatment. However, Armstrong advises against making immediate changes. Unless an adviser’s dealings seem shady, in the beginning it is easiest to work with that person because he or she is already familiar with the couple’s situation. This also applies to lawyers and accountants, Armstrong says. “In six months to a year, you can reassess these relationships,” she says.
A widow’s first order of business when working with an adviser is calculating how much it will cost her to live. The adviser should provide her with a list of records she needs to assemble. She might want to take someone with her who’ll ask questions that don’t occur to her. Before inviting a family member, she should consider whether that person’s interests might be self-serving. She should take notes and ask that any recommendations be put in writing. “It’s a difficult time. Things go in one ear and out the other,” Armstrong says.
A widow also should find out whether the adviser has an assistant who can answer basic questions. That way, she’s less likely to feel like a burden or like she’s being ignored in the event the adviser is busy with other clients.
Initially, the goal is to make sure the widow has sufficient income to pay her current expenses. “Very rarely is there a situation where something immediate needs to be done with the investment portfolio,” Wallaert says. So if an adviser presses, a widow might want to hire a replacement once the estate is settled.
Often, “adult children kind of swoop in and take over,” Armstrong says. “Don’t succumb to any undue pressure from anyone, including family.” If a widow ultimately decides to hire a new financial planner, she should ask other trusted advisers (accountant, lawyer, banker) for recommendations, as well as her widowed friends. An adviser should offer an initial consultation for free. Wallaert recommends asking whether the adviser is incentivized to steer clients toward certain investments and to regard such a setup as a potential red flag. Armstrong recommends asking whether the adviser belongs to an Estate Planning Council. Many competent advisers don’t, she says. But membership is a good indication the adviser is interested in working with widows.
Get multiple, certified copies of the death certificate
Find the will and any trusts
Find any life insurance, including company insurance, and put in a claim immediately
Inventory the safety deposit box
If you’re covered under your spouse’s company health insurance, find out immediately about keeping the policy
Find the rest of the assets (including deeds, securities, bank accounts, retirement accounts, stock options) and liabilities (including mortgages and debts)
Pay all bills on time if they relate to your personal life
Claim any benefits you’re entitled to (Social Security, veterans, and professional organization benefits)
Call your spouse’s employer to see how much money is due, and follow up with a letter
[Source: “Making the Most of Your Money” by Jane Bryant Quinn (Simon & Schuster, 2010)]
Now you can make cremation or burial arrangements online on our website. By clicking “Purchase a Plan,” a family member can choose a funeral service that fits their needs—all from home! Feel free to take a look and let us know what you think.
You may not think of December as the peak of produce season. But, some vegetables are actually abundant — and favorable — during the winter months.
Root vegetables
What these veggies lack in looks, they make up for in nutrients. They’re high in dietary fiber and vitamins — and low in calories and fat. Here are some ways to savor them:
Parsnips can be steamed with carrots — then tossed with a bit of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and pepper.
Beets can add a tasty twist to salad. Or, roast them with a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh thyme.
Sweet potatoes creamed with orange juice is a fresh take on mashed potatoes. Or, add thin, cooked slices to a sandwich.
Winter squash
Zucchini is a favorite summer squash. But, winter has some star varieties, too — especially when it comes to nutrition. For example, a half-cup of baked butternut squash has more than twice the recommended daily amount of vitamin A. And, acorn squash has 5 grams of fiber for the same half-cup serving.
Winter squash goes well in pies, soups or mixed with grains and beans.
Cooking greens
Why not turn over a new leaf with a healthful crop of greens? They’re full of vitamins A and C — and are very low in calories, too.
Typically, greens are slowly simmered or boiled until they’re soft. But, there are other ways to make them part of a meal. For instance, you could use:
Mustard greens to give a fresh, peppery flavor to pasta
Kale to add body and texture to stews
Swiss chard to dress up a burrito
And, there’s good news if you find a veggie you especially enjoy. Many varieties are available year-round.
[ Click here to visit the original article at WebMD.com byKathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD ]
Halloween unofficially marks the beginning of the holiday feasting season. And for anyone trying to watch his or her weight, the scariest part of Halloween is the ever-abundant Halloween candy which is all over the stores over a month before. Sugar and mostly empty calories is what you get in candy, and the truth is that most of us don’t exercise enough to warrant those extra calories.
Those cute little fun-size candy bars seem harmless — and they are, if you can limit your consumption which is easier said than done. But there are ways to keep your hands out of the candy jar so you can avoid packing on some extra pounds even before the holiday season starts. Here are tips to help you avoid the temptation of Halloween goodies, at home and at the office.
Buy candy you don’t love. If the candy in your pantry is stuff kids like but you don’t enjoy, it will be easier to resist opening those bags and diving in.
Out of sight, out of mind. Ask your co-workers to keep their candy jars and bowls inside their desks or in a cabinet in the break room so you won’t be tempted every time you see it.
Savor one piece of your favorite candy a day. Decide what time of day you most relish the sweet stuff, and save your special treat for that time. Then sit back and slowly savor the taste sensation. Indulge your sweet tooth on occasion, because denying yourself completely could lead to an all-out binge.
Chew gum. Sugarless gum gives your mouth a burst of sweet sensation for very few calories. Studies have shown that gum chewing can also help relieve stress, mentally focus on tasks, satisfy a sweet tooth, overcome the urge to eat candy, and help manage hunger pangs to hold you over until your next meal.
Count the empty wrappers. It’s so easy to pop fun-size candy bars into your mouth that you can lose track of how quickly the calories are adding up. If you keep the wrappers on your desk, it will remind you of how many you ate and hopefully inspire you to exercise moderation and stop after one or two.
Take a walking break. Getting away from your desk for a breath of fresh air can invigorate you and help you get over the mid-morning or mid-afternoon slumps that are often mistaken for hunger.
Manage your hunger. Eat breakfast before coming to work and plan for a few healthy snacks along with a satisfying lunch. Your preplanned meals with keep you feeling satisfied and make you less likely to raid the candy bowl.
Sip on a low-calorie beverage. Keep your hands and mouth busy by drinking a zero-calorie cup of hot tea (rich with disease-fighting antioxidants) or big glass of water. And light hot chocolate can satisfy your sweet tooth for few calories than most fun-size chocolate bars.
