Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Meet Trudy Byington, Your Community Nurse

It was a name tag worn by a friend that got Trudy Byington, Westminster’s community nurse, into nursing. Trudy had been working in a factory for thirteen years, and she and her husband had a three-year-old son and a set of twins on the way, when she saw the name tag that read “G.N.” She was curious.
It turned out that the friend had earned her licensed practical nurse degree, then attended New Hampshire Technical College for a year to become a registered nurse.


“I said ‘I can’t do four years, but I can do two years,’” said Trudy. So she took two years of evening classes while still working, then, as she says, “we took the plunge and said we’ll suffer through.” She quit her job in 1989 and went to school full-time at New Hampshire Technical College. “My mother [Henriette Swarts, a Westminster resident since 2009] was my biggest support, along with my husband [Rob],” Trudy said.


After graduating in 1991, and getting her R.N. license, Trudy worked at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene and then the Visiting Nurses Association, where she stayed for more than seventeen years. “I got a lot of experience, and met a lot of people in the community,” she said.


When Ronnie Friedman, Westminster Cares’ executive director, was looking for a community nurse in 2010, Trudy was ready to turn to more direct dealing with patients, and took the job. She also works part-time in some of the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union schools.


Trudy was born Trudy Swarts in the Netherlands, and then immigrated to Canada with her family when she was a year old. They moved to the U.S. when Trudy was four, and two years later to Bellows Falls.


As the community nurse, Trudy is referred by Westminster Cares to elderly and adults with disabilities who may not be eligible for home-based services from other agencies and organizations. Her care is free. She does nonemergency care, such as foot care and wound care, helps with medication, blood pressure checks and lots of assessment.


Many of her calls are to people who are unsure what they need. Are they ill enough to call a doctor? What should they do? Their health is starting to fail; what are their options?


“It’s a lot of education,” Trudy said. “Often it’s reinstruction of things people have already learned, like how to administer insulin. Often they just need somebody to talk to and to tell them what resources are out there. And it’s often connecting people back with their families. A lot of it is reassurance – is what I have normal or not?”


“I still like home care best, especially dealing with the elderly, ” she says.
If you think you or a loved one could use Trudy’s services, call Westminster Cares at 722-3607.
Westminster Cares honored the town’s 90-plus-year-old residents at its annual meeting November 4, 2012 at the Westminster Central Fire Station. There are currently seventeen Westminster people who are 90 or older-- eight of them attended the event, along with many family members and town residents. They enjoyed talking with townspeople, and were served lunch and cake to celebrate their birthdays.

Emcee Pete Harrison, Westminster Cares’ treasurer, related some information about each honoree, accompanied by a slideshow of photographs from the lives of many of them created by board member Don Dawson. Some were photos of their early years; many were photos of the houses in Westminster where they lived or live now.


Pete had many anecdotes to share. Here’s one, told to him by Artie Aiken: Artie borrowed a block and tackle from a neighbor, who told him, “Just bring it back when you are going by sometime.” Artie said he was very busy working on the railroad in those days and time got away from him. “Next thing I knew,” said Artie, “the local sheriff appeared in my yard and asked me about the tools I had borrowed.”


The sheriff at the time was George Woods. “Let me see that block and tackle,” George said. After looking it over, George told Artie: “You can keep it. The person you borrowed it from borrowed it from my father three years ago and never returned it.”


The photo of Evelyn Rhoades’ house, on Route 5 on the flats, was shown twice. Why? Evelyn Aubuchont lived there before she sold it to the Rhoadeses in 1976. Coincidentally, the two Evelyns both had maiden names of Evelyn Adams.


Here are the 90-plus-year-olds, and their dates of birth. There are two couples in the group: 

     Jack Keil 12/30/22 
     Dennis Payne 12/25/22 
     Betty Holton 2/2/22 
     Evelyn Aubuchont 11/26/21 
     Russell Blodgett 5/30/21 
     Barbara Keil 4/19/21 [Jack Keil’s wife] 
     Amelia Zezima 3/24/21 
     Doc Buck 2/23/21
     Arlene Reed 12/22/20 
     Arlene Bates 12/19/19 
     Evelyn Rhoades 4/26/19 
     Ralph Atkins 10/12/18 
     Everett Reed 7/20/16 [Arlene’s husband] 
     Margaret DiFredo 1/12/16 
     Everett Garland 9/5/14 
     Artie Aiken 6/10/13 
     Louise Morse 5/20/13 
     Dick Morse 3/31/13

These honored guests were able to attend: Dennis Payne, Dr. Ralph Buck, Arlene Reed, Arlene Bates, Evelyn Rhoades, Everett Reed, Artie Aiken, and Dick Morse.


When Westminster Cares celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2013, there will be three residents turning 100 years of age. Stay tuned for a big celebration! Meanwhile, the organization is in the midst of its annual appeal, and if it meets its goal of raising $12,000, the Thomas Thompson Trust will give an extra $10,000.


The Thompson Trust gives money to charitable organizations that provide health care and other social services in Windham County, Vermont. Any contribution can be designated as a memorial donation. For more information, you can call the Westminster Cares office at 722-3607 or email wecares@sover.net. For more information about Westminster Cares, visit the website at www.westminstercares.org.

Six Tips for Keeping Your Brain – and Memory – Youthful

Last month, we wrote about memory as we age. Although the brain’s ability to remember declines as we get older, there are ways to slow that decline.

This month, we offer a few strategies on how to keep that memory agile. These tips are also taken from a presentation given to the advisory board of the Bellows Falls Senior Center last February by Sue Ann Forcier, elder care outreach coordinator for Senior Solutions.


It’s important to stay mentally active: learn a new pastime, play cards or games, memorize anything new— a line from a song, a rhyme or prayer. Challenge yourself with learning a new route while driving; pay attention to the details and write them down when you get home. It’s just as important to stay mentally active. That helps stimulate executive functioning as you follow the flow of conversation, reading and interpreting the others’ responses. It also helps reduce isolation, one of the factors contributing to dementia.

  1. The task: Go on a guided tour of a museum or another site of interest. Pay careful attention to what the guide says. When you get home, try to reconstruct the tour by writing an outline that includes everything you remember.
    Why: Research into brain plasticity (the ability of the brain to change at any age) indicates that memory activities that engage all levels of brain operation—receiving, remembering and thinking—help to improve the function and hinder the rate of decline of the brain.
  2. The task: Choose a song with lyrics you enjoy but don't have memorized. Listen to the song as many times as necessary to write down all the lyrics. Then learn to sing along. Once you've mastered one song, move on to another.
    Why: Developing better habits of careful listening will help you in your understanding, thinking and remembering. Reconstructing the song requires close attention and an active memory. When you focus, you release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a brain chemical that enables plasticity and vivifies memory.
  3. The task: If you've ever thought about learning to play an instrument or take up an old one.
    Why: Playing an instrument helps you exercise many interrelated dimensions of brain function, including listening, control of refined movements and translation of written notes (sight) to music (movement and sound).
  4. The task: Do a jigsaw puzzle that will be challenging for you—no fewer than 500 pieces.
    Why: Mundane as they may seem, jigsaw puzzles can provide real help for your brain. Completing one requires fine visual judgments about where pieces belong. It entails mentally rotating the pieces, manipulating them in your hands, and shifting your attention from the small piece to the big picture. To top it off, it's rewarding to find the right pieces.
  5. The Task: Increase your physical activities, no matter how small.
    Why:
    New research indicates that exercise has positive benefits for the hippocampus, a brain structure that is important for learning and memory. It can even help your brain create new cells.
  6. The Task: Get a good night’s sleep.
    Why: Scientists believe that our brains consolidate learning and memories during sleep. Studies have shown that people who don't sleep enough have more trouble learning new information, while sleeping well after learning something new helps the brain effectively put that information into long term memory.
Westminster Cares offers many opportunities to volunteer. You can deliver Meals on Wheels, take an elderly neighbor to the doctor or shopping, visit someone who lives alone, take a walk with a neighbor or serve on one of our committees. To find out how you can volunteer, call Westminster Cares at 722-3607 or email wecares@sover.net

Taxes Can Be So Taxing

As hard as it may seem, April is just around the corner, when we’ll all be scurrying to get our taxes ready for April 15.

Taxes are incredibly complex in this day and age, say Patrick Madden and Annette Spaulding of Spaulding & Madden Tax Services in Westminster. The very first Form 1040 in 1913 was only three pages long and now, when your return is complete, you end up with a small encyclopedia. Tax issues and planning for seniors is one of the most important issues tax preparers deal with. There are too many issues to cover but here are a few, according to Spaulding and Madden:

  • Seniors are often faced with medical issues that can also lead to home improvements or renovations due to medical problems, and that can have tax implications.
  • For those who are still working and receiving Social Security, you must plan your tax withholding, as up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxable, depending on your earned income.
  • Pensioners after age 70 must have Required Minimum Distributions taken out of their pensions or face penalties.
  • Seniors with investment income fared well the fast few years, as the capital gain rate was set at 15% or less for 2012. It can even be 0%, depending on circumstances. This affects you if you sell stocks or property other than your primary residence. But who knows what Congress will pass this coming year?
  • One of the most important issues that seniors must deal with is estate planning. It is critical that you consult with a professional to properly plan for your estate. “We cannot stress enough the importance of sitting down with a tax professional and discussing your situation in order to properly plan for your retirement years,” Spaulding and Madden say.

Resources for you

There are resources available to assist you with your tax preparation and the sooner you get started, the easier it will be to submit your taxes in a timely manner. For starters:
  • SEVCA (located at 91 Buck Street in Westminster, next to Allen Brothers), in cooperation with the United Way, will provide FREE tax return preparation. This service is provided through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which offers free tax help for taxpayers who have household income up to $50,000. For more information, call SEVCA directly at 802-722-4575.
  • H & R Block will provide a free “second-look” service for any of your tax returns over the last three years as well as reviewing this year’s return, prior to submittal. They’ll make sure you’re receiving all the proper credits and deductions you may (or may not) be entitled to. Contact one of the local offices in Bellows Falls (802) 463-4633 or Brattleboro (802) 257-7809.

Additionally, you can dial 2-1-1 to find out more about getting assistance for tax preparation. The Vermont-based website - http://www.vtlawhelp.org/taxes - will also provide you with detailed information on how to get tax preparation. There are some requirements, so be sure to read or to call and ask questions first.

AARP also provides an online service where you can look for agencies that provide free tax support. Please visit http://www.vtlawhelp.org/node/160 for more information.





   

Westminster Cares offers many opportunities to volunteer. You can deliver Meals on Wheels, take an elderly neighbor to the doctor or shopping, visit someone who lives alone, take a walk with a neighbor or serve on one of our committees. To find out how you can volunteer, call Westminster Cares at 722-3607 or email wecares@sover.net