Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
B5
SENIOR LIVING
Get ready now for the unexpected
midcolumbiaseniorcen-
ter.com and click on the
Emergency Planning tab.)
There are three steps to
preparedness. 1) Make a
Kit, 2) Make a Plan, 3) Be
Informed.
Senior
Living
Scott
McKay
Make a Plan
I
T IS NOT IF, BUT WHEN.
We often believe an
emergency will never
happen and when it does —
we are unprepared. But to
save valuable possessions,
and many times lives, we
need to be ready for the
unexpected.
A great resource is
“Disaster Preparedness —
For Seniors by Seniors,”
developed by the Greater
Rochester Chapter of the
American Red Cross. The
impetus for this booklet
was a two-week power
outage when a massive ice
storm hit their area. They
learned from experience it
is best to plan ahead. (You
can search online for the
booklet or you can visit
When making a plan,
you may want to start by
meeting with family and
friends. Together you can
decide who will check on
you during a disaster, how
you will communicate with
each other, and if you have to
evacuate, how you will leave
and where you will go.
When making your plan,
consider the following: 1)
How your limitations affect
your response to an emer-
gency; 2) What transporta-
tion you need to leave your
home; 3) How to take care of
your pets; 4) Your arrange-
ments with your caregivers;
5) Who is your out-of-state
contact person to call or text
because it is often easier
to make an out-of-state
call than a local call from
a disaster area. A simple
text message such as IMOK
works well.
Make a Kit
Your kit should include
the necessary items to sur-
vive without electricity and
water for at least three days,
and preferably two weeks.
You can find an extensive list
of items for your emergency
kit on the “For Seniors by
Seniors” website which I
mentioned earlier. Besides
an extra supply of medica-
tions, often overlooked is
cash. If the power goes out, it
will be hard, if not impossi-
ble, to use your credit card.
Review your kit every six
months to keep it up to date.
You may need to replace the
food, water, batteries and
refresh your medications.
Be informed
Register with your local
Citizens Alert program so
you’ll be notified of local
emergencies. Talk with
your utility company about
emergency procedures and
how and when to turn off
your water, gas, and electric-
ity. And know what hazards
are most likely to happen.
In my 40 years-plus living in
the Gorge, there have been
floods, winter storms, train
derailments, and wildfires.
In many emergencies, you
may only have 20 minutes or
less to decide what you need.
(When I have little time
to think, my brain usually
shuts down and tells me as
it goes out the door, “Sorry,
you’re on your own!”) So be
prepared. Have a plan —
and practice it, have your
emergency kit ready, and
stay informed. As the famous
novelist and emergency
preparedness planner Franz
Kafka once said, “Better to
have, and not need, than to
need, and not have.”
•••
Many of us have been
embarrassed by auto-correct
but I learned from Mark
Fortin that “dinosaur” was
not an auto-correct mistake,
but a nickname for Dinah
Shore. Does anyone else
remember this?
•••
The song many of us
sang to relieve the boredom
was “99 bottles of beer on
the wall, 99 bottles of beer,
take one down and pass it
around, 98 bottles of beer on
the wall.” I received correct
answers from Bob Sallee,
Jeannie Pesicka, Barbara
Cadwell, Susan Ellis, Steven
Woolpert, Chuck Rice,
Margo Dameier, Lana Tepfer,
Richard Shaw, Patty Burnet,
Alan Winans, and Keith
Clymer, the winner of a six-
pack of Olympia and a quilt
raffle ticket.
This American singer and
ukulele player is best re-
membered for his hit “Tiptoe
Through the Tulips,” which
he sang in a falsetto voice.
For this week’s “Remember
When” question, who was
this singer? E-mail your
answer to mcseniorcenter@
gmail.com, call 541-296-
4788 or send it with the
name of the woman he mar-
ried on The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson on
Dec. 17, 1969.
•••
Well, it’s been another
week enjoying the change of
season. Until we meet again,
find the energy you need to
do what you love.
•••
“The greatest problem
about old age is the fear that
it may go on too long.”
— A. J. P. Taylor
•••
Nutritious home-deliv-
ered meals and pick-ups are
available for anyone over
sixty. For more information,
you can call the meal site in
your area.
Hood River Valley Adult
Center at 541-386-2060 —
now open for in-person din-
ing; Sherman County Senior
and Community Center at
541-565-3191 — now open
for in-person dining; The
Dalles Meals-on-Wheels
at 541-298-8333; Klickitat
County Senior Services
— Goldendale at 509-773-
3757 or the White Salmon
at 509-493-3068; Skamania
County Senior Services at
509-427-3990.
LYLE NEWS
Downtown walk-a-thon scheduled Sept. 25
■ By Mildred E. Lykens
You can also stretch your
legs again while having lots
of fun at the Lyle Walk-a-
thon Saturday, Sept. 25. So
shake the kinks out of those
legs, don your spandex and
headbands and head for a
day long walk (from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m.) in beautiful down-
town Lyle. A parade of young
children will start it all off
and who doesn’t like to see
the smiling faces of the wee
ones showing off their par-
ticipation in a grand parade
to Grandma
and Grandpa
and dear
Aunt
Matilda?
The Lyle
Community
Council is
Mildred E.
hosting this
Lykens
event as a
fundraiser to help them fi-
nance other activities during
the year. So, come one,
come all, to this extraordi-
nary event that will provide
both physical activity and
health-wise education for
that curvaceous body of
yours. For more information,
contact Cindy Bluemel at
bluemel1@mac.com.
Lyle Good Food Pantry
could not open last week,
and that could happen again
in the future. There seems to
be a lack of employees and /
or volunteers to get the job
done.
If anyone is looking for
a part time job, WAGAP
is wishing to fill this posi-
tion with someone from
our community. Contact
509-281-0884 or email
lylefood-bank@wagap.org
so we won’t lose the needed
organization entirely.
I don’t know for how long,
but signage on Highway
14 states that there will be
45 minute closures at mile
marker 68 between Lyle and
Bingen. So if you’re headed
that way, allow for the time
delays. Try to be patient and
think of the initial outcome
of better roads, a better
bridge — just think, hopeful-
ly we won’t have that thump,
thump, thump as we drive
over each and every bridge
expansion which will give us
a better travel experience.
I certainly wouldn’t want
to go back to the old days of
the Lyle Ferry Crossing —
the wait for it to cross the riv-
er, unload, reload, re-cross,
unload the cars it brought
from the Oregon side, then
drive my car on to it and feel
the dip and sway as it rocks
back and forth on the river
surface.
If you’re first in line, you
have to pull up as close
as you can to the chain
stretched across the bow,
the only thing holding your
car from toppling over and
into the river. Each car after
that had to snuggle up close
to the others while those
behind only hope there’s
room enough for them … or
they will have to wait all over
again.
So, the small time we have
to wait now does not com-
pare to the time back then.
•••
Send news to Mildred E.
Lykens, 509-365-2273 or
lykensme41@gmail.com.
Agencies to hold second roundtable
on Affordable Housing issues
Virtual meeting
set for Oct. 6
Tamara Kaufman
■ By Washington
Gorge Action Programs
BINGEN — The second
in a series of virtual discus-
sions focused on building
awareness of affordable
housing and sharing
strategies to address this
growing challenge through-
out the Gorge will be held
from noon to 1:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, Oct. 6. The bi-
state event will be hosted by
Mid-Columbia Community
Action Council (MCCAC),
Washington Gorge Action
Programs (WAGAP), and
Mid-Columbia Housing
Authority (MCHA).
“We want to continue the
conversation started with
our first roundtable held in
July,” said Leslie Naramore,
WAGAP’s executive director.
“The feedback we received
prompted us to continue
the discussion with a similar
format as we work to include
more communities in the
discussion.”
The group will be keeping
these discussions targeted
on how lack of affordable
housing affects low-income
residents, so the focus will
remain on those that earn 80
percent or less of the Average
Median Income (AMI).
Encouraging underrepre-
sented communities in the
region to express their voice
is also a continuing priority.
The Oct. 6 event will
start with an overview from
Margaret Salazar, executive
director of Oregon Housing
and Community Services.
Debra Whitefoot, the execu-
tive director with Nch’i Wana
Housing, will share more
impacts on Native families.
Representing Comunidades,
Ubaldo Hernández, senior
organizer with Columbia
Riverkeeper, will share more
impacts on Latino families.
Panel interviews will
include conversations
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with David Sauter, Klickitat
County Commissioner, and
Kathy Schwartz, Wasco
County Commissioner.
The previous roundta-
ble, held July 14, included
presentations from Adria
Buchanan, executive
director of the Fair Housing
Center for Washington,
and interviews with Mayor
Marla Keethler of the City of
White Salmon, and council
member Megan Saunders
of the City of Hood River.
A link to the recording
of the first roundtable is
available online at www.
wagap.org/newsfeed/
roundtable-recording.
The roundtable will be
presented via Zoom. To
participate, go to the RSVP
meeting link online at forms.
gle/mvWUnzJjUTApY-
1ZQ9. For any questions,
contact Kenny LaPoint at
541-848-1667.
401-K Plans
Start Ups- Rollovers-
Consulting-Education
Sept. is 401-K month.
Gary Akiyama, CPIA
AKIYAMA FINANCIAL
SERVICES, LLC
AKIYAMA FINANCIAL
SERVICES, LLC
Call 800-620-0950 or email
gary@akiyamafinancial.net.
Call 800-620-0950 or email
gary@akiyamafinancial.net.