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The La Kiwanian
The Weekly Bulletin of the La Cañada
Kiwanis Club
Serving the Children of the World |
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007 |
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The Kiwanis Club of La Cañada meets
every Wednesday at Noon
Visitors
Welcome
Van
de Kamp Hall in Descanso Gardens
1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada, CA
91011 |
Upcoming Events
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March 31, 2007
TRAVEL ADVENTURE
A Canal Adventure in England,
Scotland, and Wales
7:30 p.m. Saturday at Flintridge
Prep School Auditorium
April 5, 2006
BOARD MEETING FOR CLUB AND
FOUNDATION
7:00 p.m. on Thursday Evening @
CitiBank, La Cañada
Click
on the following button to view
the long term calendar
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The Prez sez . . .
Steve called up Mary Gant, Diane DellaValle, Harriet Hammond and Gigi Schlueter. At the most recent
Chamber of Commerce mixer, pictures were taken of some Kiwanis
members. They are supposed to have their Kiwanis pins on when in
public gatherings. Mary and Diane were given “Good Girl” awards
for proudly displaying their Kiwanis pins in the pictures.
Harriet was given her Director’s Pin and Gigi was given a “Bad
Girl” award (?) for not having her Kiwanis pin on in the
picture.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Karl Johnson thanked everyone for bringing
in their old ink cartridges, soda tops and eye glasses for the
cause. $47 was raised.
Diane DellaValle announced that on
Tuesday, April 10th there will be an interclub at
Joselitos West with the Sunland/Tujunga Kiwanis.
Anthony Rinaldi announced Cow Chip Bingo.
Plots are $5. It is on April 22.
Mary announced a fund raiser for Ty Ritter.
It is a Gold Tournament on May 21st at the LCF
Country Club. The Soap Box Derby has an adult soap box challenge
for $50 each.
Bachy Bachman asked for donations to
Children’s Hospital in the canisters.
Bob Wallace announced the Travel Adventure
March 31st at 7:30pm.
Frosty Boyd’s SLA committee consisted of
Dick De Gray is status quo, Hal Thomas is getting adjusted to
new living arrangements and Tom Slaughter is progressing well.
SPECIAL
PRESENTATION
None
THE PROGRAM
Carl Christensen announced the speaker—Dr.
Zukerman. 5 million people have Alzheimer’s. 1 out of 10 people
have a family member with Alzheimer’s and 1 of 3 knows someone
with Alzheimer’s. It is normal as we age to have memory changes.
The thinking process begins to slow. We are born with 100
billion nerve cells. There are 100 trillion ‘gaps’ in between
them. By adolescence, we begin to loose some of them. We have
lost 10% of them by age 70, but this doesn’t interfere with our
daily lives. We may learn slower and the ability to attend and
concentrate diminishes. If you forget why you came to the room
you’re in, that is normal. Dementia is a category, not a
diagnosis. It is broad category or a group of symptoms. There
are reversible and irreversible causes of Alzheimer’s.
Reversible:
-Medication, i.e. sleeping pills,
antihistamines
-Depression—untreated is called “Pseudo
dementia”
-Poor nutrition—as you get older, your
appetite may diminish and some may not absorb vitamin B12
as readily.
-Low thyroid untreated
-Poor sleep
-Infections
Irreversible:
-Memory, judgment, personality changes
-Change in activities of daily living
Of all dementias, Alzheimer’s makes up 70%,
Vascular (i.e. strokes) make up 20% and others include
Parkinson’s, Pick’s, Huntington’s, and Luey Body. If you have
symptoms, see your healthcare provider immediately.
Although, there is no cure, some of the symptoms can be treated.
Warning Signs:
1st stages: Memory loss,
forgetful of recent events and unaware of forgetfulness,
forgetting the steps to something they’ve done many times,
language problems, disorientation, i.e. getting lost on the way
home from the market, decrease in judgment, decrease in abstract
thinking, unable to follow a conversation or plot of a movie,
misplace things in odd places, hiding or hoarding things (they
know they are forgetting and don’t want to make mistakes),
changes in mood or behavior, changes in personality, i.e.
becoming more withdrawn—they don’t want to make mistakes, loss
of initiative, i.e. become more passive, sleeping more,
increased TV watching.
Risk Factors:
Age—the older you get, the greater the
chance of getting Alzheimer’s. At 65 you have a 5% chance of
getting it. The risk doubles every 5 years, so that at 70 your
risk is 10%, 75—20% and 85 1 in 2.
If you live long enough, chances are you’ll
get it. There is a lot of research and many breakthroughs.
Genetics:
A gene has been isolated that cause one
type of Alzheimer’s. It is very rare. 200 family lines carry it.
There has been a gene identified to increase the risk for
another type of Alzheimer’s. At this point, testing for this is
not recommended as it has a poor predictive value.
The normal brain weighs 3 pounds. In
Alzheimer’s, the brain begins to shrink. Autopsy is the only
certain way of diagnosing. On autopsy, plaques of abnormal
protein are bound. Wherever there is damage in the brain,
physical symptoms will be expressed in the body.
Diagnosis and treatment
The only sure way to diagnose Alzheimer’s
is through autopsy. They will rule out everything else and
interview the patient. This will produce a 90% accuracy of
diagnosis. There are two classes of drugs. Aricept, Exelon,
Razadyne are for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s and will keep the
needed chemicals in the synapses longer. There is Namenda for
moderate to severe Alzheimer’s. They will give sedatives for
insomnia.
Caregivers:
The most important thing for caregivers is
education. They will be taught about behavior modification
techniques. They will be taught things like, if the patient is
right handed and leaves the house and gets lost, go out the
front door and look to the right. Support groups are helpful.
HAPPY & SAD
BUCKS
Linda Magarian gave happy bucks because her
broken ankle got her out of jury duty, thanks to everyone for
driving her around and sad bucks for being unable to drive.
Patsy Christensen gave happy bucks for
getting see her new granddaughter.
Daryal Gant gave happy bucks for UCLA and
Ohio State and for going to Sacramento.
Mary Gant gave happy bucks for Mark Anthony
who will join the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis.
Jack Dawson gave happy bucks for the last
of the properties to come down and for the city manager to tell
us what is happening now.
Mark Alexander gave happy bucks because
they will begin grading the area for the Town Center in 2 weeks
and it will be ready July 2008.
Diane DellaValle gave happy bucks because
it was good to see Mark Anthony.
Harriet Hammons gave happy bucks to thank
those who helped support the BSA auction. They raised $800.
Ellie Wildermuth gave happy bucks for UCLA
and Ohio State.
Pat Anderson gave sad bucks for Liberty
Publishing for LCF. If they approach you, do not give them
money—it is fraud, and let Pat know.
FACTS AND
FICTION
Music: piano tunes by Tom Burrows and
leading us in America the Beautiful, verses 1 & 2 Ed
Moulton.
Opening:
flag salute by
Anthony Rinaldi
and the inspirational message by
Howard Bacher.
Guests:
Mark Alexander welcomed Carl Alimita.
Lloyd Welch welcomed his wife Irene.
Mary Gant thanked Carl Christensen for
helping at the Food & Wine event. She welcomed Mark Anthony,
chiropractor, who was a prior member of the Kiwanis and the RN
working with him, Alice Abramian.
Diane DellaValle welcomed Anthony Renaldi
who won the 50/50 last week and was here to sell ticket this
week.
Ken Lowe welcomed the president of the LCHS
Key Club, Teddy Lee.
Ed Moulton led us in Hi Neighbor.
Master of the Cash Box: Mark
Alexander
Anniversaries: none
Birthdays: Diane DellaValle donated to the Jack Benny
club by giving $39.
Fines: Those without Kiwanis pins.
Secret Greeter: Steve Hagarty. If you ignored him, you
owe $1.
Fifty-Fifty Drawing: Al Restivo
This Week's Editor: Gigi Schlueter
This Week’s Photographers: Diane del Valle
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