Submitted by: Swan River & District Community Resource Council Inc.
Service to Seniors
Dr. Monica Cole provided a presentation in Birch River to talk about Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Approach to pain management. Her main approach is to stay physically and mentally active. With approval from your medical practitioner, stay as active as possible, keep moving, walking is an underrated exercise, it pumps the joints and may help with degenerative disk diseases. Social Well Being is a new term that just means if you walk, exercise or do an activity with friends it is helpful. Remember that time you went for a short walk with a friend and actually walked quite a bit further than anticipated. There are more people living to be 100, generally they are found living in an active community, have a purpose in life and enjoy a Mediterranean diet.
If you are stiff in the morning, warm up even before you get out of bed. Another way to warm up your muscles is to use heat pads, wrapping your hands around a warm beverage will work as well! Rule of thumb, every 45 minutes stop and move for 5-10 minutes. I think that is what tv commercials were invented for!
Supplements may help; there are many books on supplements that interact with prescription medications. Do your research.
• Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory spice; it is absorbed more effectively with a pinch of clack pepper and a healthy fat.
• Arnica can be found in topical creams for pain relief.
You can use Ice or Heat depending on whether the site of the pain is hot or not.
• When the site of your pain is hot use ice
• If your pain does not react well to ice, use heat.
• What works for your pain may not work for someone else, your pain is your own and needs individualized care.
Talking about pain management and how movement is a good thing, we invited Kamden Keith to go through some chair exercises to keep us mindful. We always enjoy the youth, and spirit Kamden brings with her activities.
Laura Rowan works within Prairie Mountain Health as a Community Engagement Liaison with Cancer Navigation Services. Her talk was geared to colon screening. She brought some home test kits to distribute to qualifying participants.
Cancer Screening Saves Lives! Have you been screened for cancer? Should you? Cancer screening means getting “checked” for cancer. Cancer screening:
• is for people who have no signs or symptoms of cancer.
• can prevent some cancers by finding and treating changes before they develop into cancer.
• can find cancer early when treatment may work better.
Most women age 21-69 should have a pap test every 3 years.
All adults age 50-74 should have a Colon Cancer test every 2 years
All women age 45+ should have a Mammogram every 2 years
Contact
Toll free: 1-855-952-4325
screening@cancercare.mb.ca
Novels of Fisher Lavell. She became a serious writer at 60! We welcome Fisher to my talk on becoming a writer and a reading about Grace and Forgiveness in Three Days Till Rapture. Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts through the Writers’ Union of Canada for partial sponsorship of this event.
Someone asked me recently how old I was when I became a writer, and I was reflecting that it’s been quite a process. I was always a reader, I always loved books. I was that girl, as a teenager who, when dad was watching hockey or the news in the next room and I was supposed to be sleeping, I’d have a flashlight with me under the covers and be reading my book. I just had to finish the chapter! When I left home for university, the plan was to be a psychologist but, in the words of John Lennon, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I always kept a journal, and I was when I was completing my Masters degree in the 1990s that I saw a call for submissions to a magazine called Prairie Fire. They were doing a special issue on lifewriting. Lifewriting is biographical but it identifies a key issue or story that symbolizes a person.) I decided to write a story about my tough, mythic grandmother, Josephine Lavell. So I sat down at the kitchen table and in about three hours, I wrote a story called My Father Remembers His Mother. I submitted it. There were 287 stories submitted and 20 were chosen for publication, and my story was one of them.
So that was exciting. And I even got paid. I received a cheque for $185 and I remember saying to my husband, Robert, “Wow, this writing thing really pays well.” It turns out I was wrong about how well writing pays, but I had started on the journey to become a writer. For the next thirty years, I worked as a lecturer at university and then as a school counsellor, raising our family. But when I had time, and especially in the summers, I would sit down and write. I published a few short stories, and I also published several non-fiction pieces in my field of psychology, a journal article and some textbook chapters. I wrote my first novel, A Seven Year Ache, over a period of about 14 years, and the second novel, Three Days Till Rapture, took about 12 years, overlapping with the first novel. It’s only now that I’ve retired (again) that I actually have the time to dedicate to my writing. Although there will be a third novel in the Roaring River Woman series, and also a prequel, I’m currently working on two books. The first is called Untamed, and it’s a memoir of my best friend from childhood and our lifetime friendship. She died under unusual circumstances when we were in our 50s. And I’m also working on a collection of short stories. These are rewrites or revisioning of some of the classic short stories that influenced my thinking when I was young. Often with a working class perspective, and/or in a smalltown/ rural setting.So that’s my story.
I want to finish off with some encouragement for anyone here who might have their own desires regarding writing. As a counsellor for years, I would sometimes ask adults or parents, people in their 30s or 40s, this question: What do you do that you love, that you’re good at, that makes you happy? And I was surprised when I so often got an answer something like this: Well, when I was young, I used to like to write. I wrote a few stories actually, but I don’t do that anymore. I always encouraged them to start writing again. Just because you got busy with work and family or farming or other obligations, don’t let that stop you from doing something you loved that made you happy.
So, if you were one of those, or if you are currently writing, I want to encourage you. First, just write. Write short stories, poems, memoirs, other people’s memoirs, articles for papers or magazines, creative non-fiction. Carry a journal with you to jot down story ideas. I had the great privilege and luck to do lifestory interviews with both my parents and a few aunts and uncles back in the 1990s, for which I’m grateful. I encourage you, if you’re able, to consider doing this with people you know.
Second, learn to edit your own writing. Even if you think your story is really good, look at it again. God got it right the first time he created. All the rest of us need to learn to edit. Read it again. You will find errors, or at least ways you can make your writing better. And after that, read it again. After 20 or 30 years of writing, I find that actually writing and then editing my own work, is often still the most productive thing for me to do.
Well, that’s my story and I’m stickin to it. I’m Fisher Lavell. Thank you for coming and thank you for listening.
Laurie Oaks and her daughter Ellie (who is studying to be a lawyer and practice in Swan River!!!) provided us with a full range of ideas and needs around the topic of Will and Power of Attorney. So I do not miss any pertinent information, I am attaching her direct notes. Oaks Law Office 204-734-4528
WILLS AND ESTATE PLANNING
A Will is one of the most important documents you will ever sign. A valid, up-to-date Will ensures your property is disbursed as you prefer, eases possible family issues over how to divide your assets and relieves stress and worry for your loved ones who are already going through a difficult time.
There are generally four equally important aspects of an effective estate plan, being:
1. The Will;
2. General (Enduring) Power of Attorney;
3. Health Care Directive or Living Will; and
4. Planning during your lifetime.
Your estate plan should achieve the following objectives:
• Maximize proceeds available for your beneficiaries;
• Distribute your assets according to your wishes;
• Name a trusted executor to administer the estate; and avoid:
– Needless taxes;
– Family disputes;
– Delays in settling the estate;
– Legal challenges; and
– Loss of control of family assets.
In addition to achieving these objectives, it is important to remember the effective timeline for the various aspects of your estate plan (i.e., Health Care Directives and Powers of Attorney are only effective while an individual is alive while Wills take effect upon death).
The Will
People will frequently ask why they need a Will or question what will happen if they do not have a Will. The rules that apply in the distribution of an estate where there is no Will are set out in The Intestate Succession Act. While the general rules are not in most instances unreasonable or unduly harsh, they don’t take your wishes into account, meaning you lose control over how your estate will be disbursed and our closest family members become your beneficiaries, whether you would have chosen them or not.
While it is possible to prepare a Will on your own (including handwritten) and it may even pass probate if prepared correctly, the legal advice from a lawyer who gets the full picture of your financial situation and personal wishes, can do the best job in getting you the end result you want.
You need to ensure your original Will is kept in a safe place, such as a safety deposit box or a lawyer’s fireproof vault. Also, make sure your executor knows where to find it and has access to your instructions to them. These instructions should tell them what assets you have, where they are located, list of all property you own, debts, and final wishes and any preplanning you have made, etc. This can make their job much easier.
Your Will does not expire but should be reviewed if you marry (invalidates it), you are going through a separation or divorce, new children are born, someone in your Will passes away, or any big life changes.
The Power of Attorney
You should consider appointing a power of attorney as part of your estate plan. You can prepare this in such a way that your attorney does not become effective until the happening of a specified event (i.e., mental infirmity) and will retain power if you are no longer able to manage your own affairs. Or, much more commonly, one which is effective as soon as it is signed and continues notwithstanding a mental infirmity.
Keep in mind that The Homesteads Act states that a spouse or common-law partner may not act as the attorney for the other spouse or partner when dealing with the homestead property. Accordingly, if the person’s spouse or partner is to be the named attorney, the person should name another attorney to act on matters involving homestead and complete the appropriate acknowledgment form.
It is always advisable to appoint an alternate attorney or attorneys in the event that the first person passes away or is unable to act for you when you need them. You may no longer have the mental capacity to sign a new Power of Attorney and will leave yourself without any person you have chosen to assist you. The Office of the Public Trustee can step in to manage your affairs until you pass away, which is costly and not the best option.
It is also possible to specify who is to receive an accounting of the attorney’s activities while using the power of attorney. If the document is silent, the “nearest relative” of the maker of the document is entitled to request that information once per year.
In choosing the people you appoint as your POA, trust must be your number one consideration. They have access to all of your assets, just as you do now. Ask yourself this before choosing: if my mental capacity was gone, would they take care of me the same way they would if I could see what they were up to?
The Health Care Directive
A Health Care Directive or Living Will is a document that allows you to give your specific wishes as to the level and type of medical treatment you do or do not want.
It also allows you to name a person or people who can communicate your wishes to the health care providers should you be unable to do so.
It allows you to choose if you are agreeable to organ donation or not.
It will also reduce stress and potential conflict for your family during this difficult time.
Lifetime Planning
It is also possible – and often very powerful – to do certain planning during your lifetime in order to achieve the goals and avoid the problems we talked about earlier. Many clients are surprised at how much control, tax savings, and family harmony they can create while they are still here to see it happen. Lifetime planning can include things like:
– Joint ownership arrangements with rights of survivorship (so assets pass directly to the surviving owner without going through probate);
– Naming beneficiaries on RRSPs, RRIFs, life insurance policies, and TFSAs (these flow outside of your Will);
– Gifting assets while you’re living (especially helpful for family farms or cabins when done thoughtfully); or-
– Strategic use of life insurance to cover taxes or equalize inheritances.
Whatever steps you’re considering, it’s important to review any existing estate plan first. What looks like a great idea today can unintentionally disrupt beneficiary designations, trigger taxes, or even unintentionally disinherit someone you care about if it isn’t coordinated properly. A quick check-in with your lawyer and accountant before you make changes usually saves far more time and money than it costs.
The best lifetime plans are the ones that work hand-in-hand with your Will, your Power of Attorney, and your Health Care Directive – giving you peace of mind at every stage of life, not just at the end.
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I thank everyone for attending our June sessions and wish for a good summer season for all. We will pause Coffee and a Chat for July and Resume in Swan River August 27 with Brenda Gaudry herbs and teas and health and Gordon Hornbeck, the travels of a Swan River man!