Ulster County Respite Care

Apply by 12/30/07 for 2008

Garnette Arledge send this information for posting.

Yes it’s true! The Alzheimer's Association/ Hudson Valley, Rockland/ Westchester chapter has grants for respite care of someone with dementia that MUST be applied for the end of this year (2007) That’s just under 3 weeks! Here are the details;

1. The grants are for up to $500 (more $ may be available in some circumstances). They’re called TIME AWAY GRANTS and are to help caregivers of a loved one with dementia. The help is temporary, to allow the caregiver a respite, whether to attend an out-of town gathering, go away overnight, do errands, have a medical procedure done, or just sleep late for a change.
2. The person being cared for need not have Alzheimer’s disease (Dementia can be caused by many things, such as Parkinson’s, Vascular disease, etc)
3. The family must reside in Ulster County – but it’s a Big county folks…
4. The Respite care that the grant covers can include a home care aide, adult day care or temporary placement in a nursing home, assisted living, or adult home.
5. The care provider must be from a licensed agency only –no privately paid aides are eligible.

If you know someone who meets these criteria, or you think they meet the criteria, PLEASE notify me ASAP and I can interview them and get an application completed. And please pass the word, we’re running out of time.

Thanks.

Wendy K. Rudder, LCSW
Care Consultant
Alzheimer's Association
2 Jefferson Plaza Suite #103
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Tel: 845-471-2655 or 340-8474
email: wendy.rudder@alz.org

Older Volunteers in Demand

I'm just finishing up a client's application for an AmeriCorps program. The focus -- recruiting baby-boomers and retirees to work in NY state non-profits. And, here's a NYT article about increasing the number of older Peace Corps volunteers.

It's nice to know that our hard earned experience is valued. It's also opening up new opportunities for us to consider.

Now, where in the world would I like to go?

Peace Corps Looks for Older Volunteers - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 —The Peace Corps is asking older Americans who might have heard President John F. Kennedy’s call to service more than 40 years ago to heed his request. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Peace Corps Mr. Hesse, in Jordan, says he now has “access and credibility you just don’t have when you are 22 and right out of college.” Though older recruits are nothing new to the Peace Corps, it recently began an initiative to entice people age 50 or older into joining at a time when many of them are stepping away from a career and into the great unknown of retirement. The focus on the age group has meant new recruitment methods: contacting organizations like AARP and retired teachers’ associations, and employing older former volunteers to work in nearly every recruiting office. The Peace Corps has aimed for 15 percent of its volunteers to be at least 50 by 2009."

I always love a free lecture or two

Here are two free lectures from the Teaching Company

The Teaching Company Free Holiday Lectures:

In 'Christmas in Victorian Britain,' Professor Patrick N. Allitt explores the celebration of Christmas as we know it today, with decorations, music, and lavish gift exchanges, and where it began—Victorian Britain."

Explore "Christmas in 19th-century America." How did different ethnic groups in America celebrate Christmas in the early 19th century? Why did New Englanders often want to avoid all forms of celebration while Pennsylvania Germans dressed up, visited each other, and drank heavily? After the Civil War, Christmas celebrations began to be standardized throughout the nation under the influence of the new department stores, which ran the Christmas-oriented marketing campaigns we are familiar with today.

Classics in Religion Book Group

Kingston Library

Every Wednesday Morning

10:30 – 11:30 open to all

December 5 and 12, 2007

Agatha Christie's

Star Over Bethlehem
A Christmas Thriller

On two Wednesdays prior to the Christmas holiday we will read the famous mystery-writer's rendition of the Christmas Eve Story. Lucifer/Satan visits Mary to persuade her to kill the illegitimate child. He shows her the future, including the crucifixion, and tells her that her son will be tried and executed as a thief. Christie, an Anglican, offers a theological and spiritual quest in her own brilliant style.

Leader: Rev. Garnette Arledge

Rev. Arledge is a retired chaplain of the hospice program and co-President of the Kingston AAUW. A Woodstock resident, she is author of On Angel's Eve, a book title inspired by this Christie short story. The book is based on Arledge's Hospice work and the Hospice Volunteer training manual she wrote for spiritual and multi-cultural patient-centered compassionate care.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

From Garnette Arledge:

Here's a NY Times movie review for an important film. So important to me that I signed up to review the review at the on-line NY Times Forum. My first ever step-out into the erudite world of the Times.

Here's what I wrote:

Butterfly Effect Butterflies are more than metaphors to those of us who have first hand experience with the Hospice philosophy of patient-centered compassion. As a Hospice Chaplain, I provided staff, volunteers and families with this amazing book so we could remember, confronted with dying, inside that cocoon is vast consciousness. We can communicate, even non-verbally, through our presence, care and attention even to an eyelid flickering and pressure from a dry hand.

Highly recommend this brilliant and life-affirming movie which was first mentioned to me by AAUW member Denise Springer. The movie is in French with subtitles.

MOVIES | November 30, 2007
Movie Review | 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly': Body Unwilling, a Mind Takes Flight
By A. O. SCOTT
With “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Julian Schnabel demonstrates his own imaginative freedom in every frame and sequence.

Bravo, Fight Crimes: Invest in Kids!

I found this news heartening. Not the fact that we in NYS do such a bad job with our delinquent kids, but that our law enforcement professionals are ready to embrace the research and pursue an overhaul of a broken system.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York - Homepage: "Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York released a new report finding that four out of ten repeat crimes now committed by juvenile delinquents could be prevented by adopting proven reforms."

Listen to the NPR segment on Juvenile Justice

The leaders of organizations representing 300 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and victims of violence who make up the state chapter of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids met in Albany as the report was released and called on Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state legislators to overhaul New York's juvenile justice system in the 2009 session based on the report's proposals.

"It's clear that our current system is putting too many juveniles on a path to becoming career criminals," Perkins said. "It's expensive, it's not working and it's time to change."

Listen to the NPR segment. Check out the report on the Fight Crime: Invest in Kids website. You'll find plenty of interesting info there.

Give thanks to our troops

For Thanksgiving, send a Winter Holiday Card to one of our soldiers .

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a
child designed thank you postcard. Xerox Corporation will print it and
it will be sent to someone currently serving in Iraq and Afganistan .
You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the
armed services.

This is a great site, the cards are adorable. It is free and it only
takes a second. Of course whether you are for or against the war, our
guys and gals over there need to know we are grateful for them...
Garnette Arledge

Spend Nothing Day

Right after Thanksgiving, traditionally a time when we are called upon to spend, spend, spend, the Universalist Unitarian Congregation on Sawkill Road will join with churches across the country to hold a Spend Nothing Day. On Saturday, December 1st, you are invited to bring things you no longer want and to pick up things you need. For further information and specifics, call Annie LaBarge at 691-7283, or check on the UU website: UUCCKingston.org. Blessings--ViVi

World Kindness Day -- Pass It On

Today is World Kindness Day smack dab in the middle of World Kindness Week. Seems like it should be every day.

I've discovered the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. They serve as a resource for spreading kindness. That means when you visit their site you'll find ideas and materials for individual, school, youth group, community projects. You can exchange ideas, send e-cards, print an amazing array of bookmarks, labels, cards, stickers... And, everything is free. They accept no donations, grants, or dues; they provide no financial assistance. They just promulgate kindness.

Quote: Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

— Mark Twain

One Day University

I saw an ad in the NY Times about this program and thought other members might like to know about it.
Love,
ViVi

One Day University: "Remember When It Was Fun to Learn? We've gathered the country's brightest professors from the world's finest universities to create the most stimulating day of college available anywhere on earth. Our class lineup lets you partake in the latest thinking in world affairs, science, politics, history, art, literature, and more — and you don't need to spend $45,000 an academic year to enjoy it!"