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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2017)
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 Pacific Coast Wind Ensemble plays Saturday The Pacific Coast Wind Ensemble will perform a bene- fit concert Saturday, May 6, at the Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw, beginning at 2 p.m. The program will feature marches, medleys, show tunes, a Dixieland number, an over- ture or two and more. Plus something special: To highlight the closing of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, the band will cover that most iconic of circus marches: “Entry of the Gladiators.” The band is currently led by director Tom Muller, from Waldport, whose knowledge and enthusiasm have combined to create a lively program for the band’s annual Spring Concert. A donation of $10 per person is suggested, with steep dis- counts for families. Proceeds from this concert will be donated to Siuslaw High School’s band program. For further information, con- tact Eric Bigler, band secretary, at 541-563-7642 or email him at ebigler@europa.com. Respite not a reduction in both. The solution to the Memory Loss Respite Center’s immediate needs for additional staffing and their rent is clear: the center needs caring individuals to donate their time as volun- teers and those with the financial ability to make a tax deductible donation to the Memory Loss Center. For more information on the Memory Loss Respite Center at the Florence Senior Center, call 541-902-8539 or visit www.florence seniorcenter.org. Another motivating factor in the quest for improved aca- demic performance is the more tangible incentive of Club Bucks. Club Bucks are awarded to club members for a number of reasons, including receiving good grades on their report cards and helping out at the club with clean-up and event preparations. Kids can also earn Club Bucks by allowing Aaron to review their homework after turning it in and receiving grades from their teachers. This gives staff an idea of the aca- demic progress of the individ- ual students and reinforces the correct answers with the stu- dents. Bucks earned can then be redeemed at the Club Store for school supplies, snacks and other items. Each month there is a special prize for Club Buck recipients and the monthly special can be almost anything, with this month’s prize being the highly desired Fidget Spinner, a device that helps “fidgety” stu- dents concentrate by giving them something to work with their hands. The recent academic success of the students that attend the Boys and Girls Club is not sur- prising to Aaron. She feels the discussion groups get the young people thinking about the big picture and another pro- gram offered encourages them to think of the everyday details. “We have also started our ‘Game of Life,’ which is part of the Money Matters program,” Aaron said. “The kids all choose careers, lifestyles, whether or not they have chil- dren, and if so, how many and how old they are, and their starting bank balance. They will also be choosing an apart- ment or house, purchasing a car and figuring out their utilities, childcare and grocery bills.” The combination of under- standing the complexity of real life situations and dis- cussing the larger issues that young people face has been well received by club mem- bers. Results are in and they are very good. “These programs have had a huge impact on the kids, even without them knowing it. When I first made them partic- ipate, I was met with whines and groans, because the kids didn’t want to have to sit and learn anymore. But now, they are excited about attending every week, and look forward to playing the games,” Aaron said. “They are seeing that COURTESY PHOTO hard work and effort goes a long ways. This is a super smart and competitive bunch.” For more information on the Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County, call Boys and Girls Club after school programs help club members attain academic success and learn real life lessons they can use after graduation. WE BUY GUNS FLORENCE GUN SHOP B U Y, S E L L & T R A D E 539 H IGHWAY 101, F LORENCE (541) 997-0500 WWW . FLORENCEGUNSHOP . COM Saturday May 6 Present 8th Annual FLORENCE GREEN FAIR 2017 Explore the exciting possibilities of going green on the Oregon Coast Over Speakers & Demonstrations 30 Exhibitors Eco Activities For s id K Health & Wellness Center Special Screening @ 1pm 10am-4pm Florence Events Center 715 Quince St., Florence Admission is $3 OR FREE with canned donation to Mapleton Food Share or by bringing in your plastic planter pots to be recycled Give Take or Give Take unwanted items things you can use 10:30am to 4:00pm Anything you need and can use! Sponsored by: NO You can give: We cannot accept: books, DVDs/CDs, Garden ware, IT, Tools, Clothes/shoes, small furniture, small electrical items, toys Large furniture Major appliances Broken and dirty items Lane County Waste Management 541-997-8233 IC 4 County Transfer & Recycling 02-7 1) 9 55 AL OS P COAST DIS AL IL E Nothing broken or dirty please just things someone else can use! YES M 9:00am to 2:00pm Your Chance to pass on things you no longer need and pick up something you do for FREE! V R SE “Our purpose is three fold. First is to provide socialization for the person with memory loss. Equally important is to provide respite for the caregiv- er, and, thirdly, we want to provide a service to the com- munity,” Duncan said. Unfortunately, the center is finding it more difficult to ful- fill this mission. The respite center runs entirely on volun- teer staffing and those volun- teers are becoming harder to find. The center also needs an infusion of funds to pay the Florence Senior Center’s monthly rental fees. As such, volunteers are con- cerned that the services they offer will soon be unavailable to members of the community. “We’ve had volunteers that have been with us for years an years. As with any volunteer organization, there are times when some volunteers decide to move on. So, we have had to close one day a week, on Wednesdays, because we are unable to staff the center that day,” Duncan said. Memory care clients pay a minimal daily fee that goes to paying the monthly charges for the space used. The center also offers scholarships to those who cannot afford the daily fee of $10. The center’s programs are based on the model accepted by the state as the strategy best suited to preserve the dignity and self sufficiency of a per- son afflicted with memory loss for as long as possible. “We use the ‘best friends’ model here, which has been accepted by the State of Oregon as the best approach for dealing with people with memory loss,” Duncan said. The “best friends” approach is as simple as it sounds. The volunteers at the respite center are trained in tech- niques that honor a person’s life experience and their intrin- sic value as an important member of the community in which they live. Volunteers then incorporate those experiences and the per- sonal history of clients into the daily discussions and activities in which they participate. The center operates primari- ly on donations and the daily fee charged to patients. The $10 charge clients pay includes a healthy lunch and four hours of caring, attentive and engaged client supervi- sion. Duncan and Memory Loss Respite Center volunteers are dismayed by the reduction in service hours they were recently forced to implement. Mostly because the need for their services is rising, with trends showing an increase from 9.9 percent of the popu- lation having Alzheimer’s to more than 33 percent by 2030. This increase is likely to lead to an additional increase of 38 percent in Medicaid costs by the year 2025. The Alzheimer’s Assoc- iation, the primary advocacy group for victims of the ill- ness, estimates that nearly 1,500 Oregonians die each year from the disease, making it the sixth leading cause of death in the state. These are trends that speak to the need for increased fund- ing and additional services — from 1A 4 from 1A Club CEN (5 TR 10 A E W I TH A S
