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Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources: Holistic Pain Management for Seniors
This article is excerpted with permission from Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources. You can listen to my conversation with Angelica here. – Mark/Editor
By Angelica Herrera Venson,DrPH, MPH
Angelica Herrera Venson Pain is a serious problem for many seniors and caregivers. When Western medicine fails us, or is out of reach financially, the pain can drive many of us to explore alternative forms of therapy. Indeed, holistic pain management for seniors can be a powerful tool, where you are combining multiple approaches for reducing and managing your pain.
However, before you do that, make sure you understand the strength of the science behind these options and the limitations of what they can and cannot treat. You should also be aware of the risks, along with when such techniques might not be suitable.
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Ronni Sanlo’s This Day in LGBTQ History (September 3 – 9)
Ronni Sanlo’s This Day in LGBTQ History makes the past ever-present with daily rundowns of historic events and people.
Ronni SanloTHIS DAY in LGBTQ HISTORYSEPTEMBER 91898John Beverley Nichols (9 September 1898 – 15 September 1983) was an English author, playwright, journalist, composer, and public speaker. He wrote over 60 books and is best remembered for his books about his homes and gardens, the first of which was Down the Garden Path (1932). He was gay and is thought to have had a brief affair with a famous war poet, Siegfried Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967). Nichols’s long-time companion was actor and director Cyril Butcher (31 July 1909 – 23 February 1987).1992The Lesbian Avengers stage their first public action in the New York City borough of Queens when right-wingers attempt to suppress a multicultural “Children of the Rainbow” curriculum for elementary school children. The Lesbian Avengers was founded in New York City by Ana Maria Simo, Sarah Schulman, Maxine Wolfe, Anne-christine D’Adesky, Marie Honan, and Anne Maguire as “a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility.” Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged world-wide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class. On their first action, the Lesbian Avengers targeted right-wing attempts to suppress.This Day in LGBTQ History, Vol. 1 January-March – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SB3C75VThis Day in LGBTQ History, Vol. 2 – April-June.This Day in LGBTQ History, Vol. 3 – July-September -
An App for That: MyFitnessPal
An App for That is a regular feature at LGBTSr highlighting useful apps and technology tips for our readers. Have an app to recommend? Email me at: Editor @ LGBTSr.com
On my recent podcast interview with Angelica Herrera Venson of Kapok Caregiving Resources, she mentioned MyFitnessPal when we talked about apps and technology for older adults. I know this app well, having had it on my phone for the past couple years. It offers a lot of data, tracking and helpful information, and can be a handy tool in our health routine, especially if we want to keep track of what we eat and lose a few pounds in the process. I use the free version, of course, and only recommend apps that offer one.
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EVENTS: New Hope Celebrates Book Club, ‘Gay Bar’ by Jeremy Aherton Lin
When: Wednesday, Sep 22, 6:30 PMWhere: 162 Carousel Lane,Lahaska, PA 18931
Join us on Wednesday, September 22nd at 6:30 PM at the Lahaska Book Shop for the New Hope Celebrates Book Club! We will be discussing Gay Bar by Jeremy Atherton Lin.Jeremy Atherton Lin is an Asian-American essayist based in the UK. Jeremy studied playwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), then worked as an editor in San Francisco before transplanting to London, where he took a job in retail and hung out at bars. After gaining some attention for his candid observations in blogs and zines, he wound up on the Writing MA at the Royal College of Art (RCA). He has since contributed to The Yale Review, Granta, The White Review, ArtReview, Literary Hub, The Face, W, Tinted Window, and the Times Literary Supplement. His debut book Gay Bar (2021) was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Guardian Book of the Week. Jeremy’s mixtapes can be heard on NTS Radio, Spotify, and Mixcloud.
Learn more at https://bit.ly/3yQQpAO
Have an event you’d like announced? Email the details to: events @ lgbtsr.com
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Savvy Senior: How to Handle Your Medicare Coverage if You Move
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
My husband and I are moving to a different area of the country to be near our daughter. Will this affect our Medicare benefits? Will we need to adjust our coverage or re-enroll in a new plan?
Moving Away
Dear Moving,
Moving can indeed affect your Medicare benefits depending on the type of coverage you have and where you move to.
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On Dreamshaping: Today I (Insert Behavior Here)
Mark McNease
One of the tools I’ve used in shaping my own dreams is the ‘TODAY I’ list. It’s very simple: a regular, running list of things I’ve either stopped doing or begun to do. While putting things in the positive (‘Today I started ….’) is important, it’s also fine to say I stopped doing things that have been corrosive to my heath, mind, spirit, and dream.
It helps me stay observant of myself. I’ll notice myself engaging in some behavior, such as talking badly about someone at work, or gossiping, or being gratuitously negative, and I’ll add stopping it to my list. There’s a beginning to it the first time I write something down, but there is not set end: I may add to the list for the rest of my life, or, preferably, until I’m shaped my dream to the best of my liking and can confidently say ‘TODAY I stopped adding to my TODAY I list!’
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The Twist Podcast #169: Hello September, One War’s End, Clapton’s Claptrap, and the Week in Headlines
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we welcome September, reflect on the end of the war in Afghanistan, Big Boo tired guitar god Eric Clapton, and take a look at the headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2021 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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The Twist Podcast #169: Hello September, One War’s End, Clapton’s Claptrap, and the Week in Headlines
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we welcome September, reflect on the end of the war in Afghanistan, Big Boo tired guitar god Eric Clapton, and take a look at the headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2021 MadeMark Publishing
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EVENTS: Philly Pride Returns September 4
When: September 4, 2021
Where: Starts at the Grand Plaza at Penn’s Landing
Time: 12:00 pm kickoffAbout Philly Pride
Philadelphia is home to some of the oldest events associated with LGBTQ pride in the United States. One of those events is Pride Day, which takes place on the second weekend of June. It encourages guests to share their own stories and experiences about coming out and to help others in need. The Philly Pride Festival usually takes place from Friday to Sunday every year, and always promises a colorful scene!
The Lesbian and Gay Task Force established a small office in Love Park in the 1980s and decided to host a Philadelphia Pride event that was open to the public. Several hundred people came out for the first parade and festival in 1988. In 2018, the organization celebrated the 30th anniversary of the event. Philly Gay Pride Weekend is now one of the largest events of its type in Pennsylvania.
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Alzheimer’s Association Offers LGBTQ Community Resources for Dementia
I’ll be speaking with Stephen Dolainski soon on an upcoming One Thing or Another Podcast about his experience as a caregiver for a friend with dementia, and about Alzheimer’s Los Angeles’ support group for LGBTQ caregivers. – Mark/Editor
From the Alzheimer’s Association
The LGBTQ community may face particular challenges related to Alzheimer’s and dementia, including finding inclusive and welcoming health care providers, less ability to call upon adult children for assistance, concerns about stigma and higher rates of poverty and social isolation.
Dementia and the LGBTQ community
These documents from the Alzheimer’s Association describe the issues that members of the LGBTQ community and their loved ones experience and offer guidance for navigating these challenges.
- Issues Brief: LGBT and Dementia, a collaboration with SAGE, outlines specific issues of concern related to LGBTQ people with dementia, including stigma, family composition, poverty and social isolation.
- LGBTQ Older Adults and Dementia is a guide for LGBTQ community members living with Alzheimer’s or other dementia.
- This infographic on the LGBTQ community and dementia includes important information about the LGBTQ community and dementia, including data about the challenges members of the community face accessing care.
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On the Map: Taking the Provincetown Cure
By Mark McNease
On the Map is a travelogue of places, restaurants and landscapes for your travel considerations. Sometimes near, sometimes far, always interesting. Crossposted from LGBTSr.com.
Last year I said, ‘It’s been a year,’ never expecting 2021 to be just as stressful. New president, new Covid variant, new expectations, new disappointments.
What better way to get away from it all than with an annual trip to Provincetown, Massachusetts? We have a timeshare there. My husband Frank has had it since 1985, and among all the things he’s saved over the years is his first ID card for the complex, complete with a photo from 36 years ago. It’s reserved for us the 34th week of every year, which is always at the end of August. For most of our time together (15 years), we didn’t go. I’d never been to Ptown. I’d read about it, but I had no personal experience of the place. Then, four years ago, we started making the trip. And I love it! Except the excruciating drive, which I’ll explain.
The timeshare is in a complex called Eastwood at Provincetown. It’s a very nice place, with a variety of unit sizes. Ours is a one-bedroom, two-bath, with a full kitchen, living room, and a sofa bed that’s too narrow to comfortably lie on but works if you have more than two people staying there. Each unit has a small deck area outside, with a modest size swimming pool in the courtyard. We’re on the second floor, and it’s nice to sit outside having coffee while other guests are downstairs at the pool. A lot of those guests are lesbians and gay men. And being a timeshare, you often see the same people year after year, as well as ones you’ll only meet once.
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On the Map: Taking the Provincetown Cure
By Mark McNease
On the Map is a travelogue of places, restaurants and landscapes for your travel considerations. Sometimes near, sometimes far, always interesting.
Last year I said, ‘It’s been a year,’ never expecting 2021 to be just as stressful. New president, new Covid variant, new expectations, new disappointments.
What better way to get away from it all than with an annual trip to Provincetown, Massachusetts? We have a timeshare there. My husband Frank has had it since 1985, and among all the things he’s saved over the years is his first ID card for the complex, complete with a photo from 36 years ago. It’s reserved for us the 34th week of every year, which is always at the end of August. For most of our time together (15 years), we didn’t go. I’d never been to Ptown. I’d read about it, but I had no personal experience of the place. Then, four years ago, we started making the trip. And I love it! Except the excruciating drive, which I’ll explain.
The timeshare is in a complex called Eastwood at Provincetown. It’s a very nice place, with a variety of unit sizes. Ours is a one-bedroom, two-bath, with a full kitchen, living room, and a sofa bed that’s too narrow to comfortably lie on but works if you have more than two people staying there. Each unit has a small deck area outside, with a modest size swimming pool in the courtyard. We’re on the second floor, and it’s nice to sit outside having coffee while other guests are downstairs at the pool. A lot of those guests are lesbians and gay men. And being a timeshare, you often see the same people year after year, as well as ones you’ll only meet once.
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EVENTS: Provincetown Events Calendar (Since We’re Here Anyway!)
We’re enjoying our annual trip to Provincetown, with a time share this week every year. This is one of my favorite vacation spots, even with the interminable drive from our home in New Jersey. There’s a lot going on in and around PTown throughout the year, so here’s a link to their events calendar. Check it out, sign up for something, and enjoy!