Vol. 17, Issue 208
January/February 2018
“Dedicated to Excellence”
From Delta Stroke Recovery Society (DSRS)
Delta Stroke Recovery Society… Celebrated the work of funding member, Alice McSweeney last week, as she leaves Delta for Vancouver Island. McSweeney has contributed considerable time and energy to the community-based cause since its inception in 1996. She joined the organization with her husband, Jack, to facilitate his stroke recovery and, over time, became president of the society.
Easter BLAST 2018 March 30th—April 2 at
After her husband’s passing,McSweeney emained a fixture with the group as both a caregiver and volunteer. In 2005, she was recognized by thet Stroke Recovery Association of BC, as Caregiver of the Year.
Having recently celebrated her 90th birthday, McSweeney is looking forward to her retirement, and to making friends in her new home.
Zajac Ranch has a warm pool, too...
Vol. 17, Issue 208
January/February 2018
ZAJAC RANCH—EASTER BLAST 2018
BLAST 2018 Early Birds… New location is Zajac Ranch on We leave for Zajac Ranch Good FriStave Lake in Mission, BC. day, March 30th and return Easter If your heart was set on Squamish. Monday, April 2nd, 2018. Please ask for a refund now.
Transportation, beddings, meals, and In Zajac Ranch, we’ll be using lower all activities included. bunks in large dorms. There are some Saturday Night Dance to ‘The Retroprivate rooms available on 2nd floor, Two.’ unfortunately, no elevator and will Warm pool, hot tub, horseback riding! cost $60 upgrade, queens $90.
THE SAGA CONTINUES…
I couldn’t just post the picture without honouring the family who have done so much for me and hundreds, maybe thousands of stroke survivors in BC.
Now, Bryan (son of Key) is a caregiver for his mother and the legend continues… I’ve been searching for this photo of the late Helen Singh. She, and the Uyede/Akeroyd family are well known in BC Stroke community. It began with Jean, thirty years ago. Her daughter, Key, was her caregiver. When her other daughter, Helen, retired she became coordinator of Templeton Stroke Recovery Branch of SRABC. In 2003, Helen hit her head on a cupboard and shortly after suffered a massive stroke. That was only a few months after Jean died. So, Key became Helen’s caregiver. Helen passed away not long ago. Shortly after (10 days?) Key had a stroke.
—shared by Deb Chow Stroke Survivor
STROKE RECOVERER’s Review Mailing Address: #105 - 1717 Adanac Street, Vancouver, BC V5L 4Y9 Canada Published every month, if possible. Contributions are always welcome. The articles should be in, not later than day 25th day of every month. Disclaimer: The views expressed in Stroke Recoverer’s Review newsletter: articles, submissions and spotlights are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of this newsletter or the editor of Stroke Recoverer’s Review. Editor reserves the right at any time to make changes as it deems necessary. It is the purpose of this periodical to share a variety of viewpoints mostly from stroke survivors January 2018 Karel Ley Deb Chow Jose Suganob
Production of SRR Jose Suganob
“Make every moment count Today is the day.”
ZAJAC RANCH Swimming pool…
Newest facility at thet Ranch is a 40 ft x 80 ft therapeutic swimming pool and therapeutic spa complete with an interactive water feature. The pool can accommodate 30 people at one time and has plenty of natural lighting. The pool complex is decorated with a mining theme. The pool and changing areas are fully wheelchair accessible.
Inside this issue:
Zajac Ranch — Easter BLAST 2018 The Saga Continues...
2
Happenings Around Us…
3
Zajac Ranch
4
Jokes
5
This is how I like to remember Helen. Page 2
Vol. 17, Issue 208
January/February 2018
Happenings Around Us…
“LISTEN TO THE DRUMS” by Helen Singh
I didn’t notice before that my scooter is my means of transportation everywhere. Now, my means of transportation is gone. Kaput! Eleven years, even I maintained it, but the years passed by.
All of us, without exception, hear only what we want to hear. A room full of people will hear an announcement and each of them will walk out with a different interpretation of what was said.
I have to find a scooter right away because I cannot go to the activities I go to. Mondays to Thursdays is very busy for me and scooter my way to go there.
Four siblings can live in the same household, have the same parents, the same experience. Yet, marked indelibly in their minds will be totally different memories of what their childhood was like. I speak from experience because the four siblings in my family seem to have been raised on four different planets. We are so different in personality and even in general appearance. We each heard and remember the family drums beating in a uniquely different way. Sometimes, we were the drummer, sometimes we danced to the beat and rarely did we just watch silently to the drums.
Used ones is okay,...phone or email me... —Jose Suganob Stroke Survivor
“Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first was just luck” INCREASINGLY FAVE CRAVES
Plant-based alternatives to milk, yogurt, and cheese. Plant waters, e.g., aloe, artichoke, cactus, and maple. Vegetarian food with meat’s texture and taste, such as yellowpea burgers and shredded jackfruit “pulled pork.” Mayonnaise made from aquafaba (liquid in which chickpeas have been cooked and/or canned.
DID YOU KNOW?
1) Consumers want beef raised on “regenerative grazing” land (fertilized by the animal’s manure 2) Soy protein, not salt, is being used as a flavor enhancer.
The drums I love the best come from a brown wood grouse. The sound builds up from up from a putt… SPEAK 5 LINES to YOURSELF EVERY MORNING…
1) I am the BEST.
2) I can do it.
putt...putt like motor just being started. Then it gets louder and louder and faster and faster. It echoes easily through the forest. The male is saying “Here I am ladies. Come and get me. I am available.” Wouldn’t it be nice if human males had feathers and wings to thump together against their bodies to make a drumming sound like the grouse? That sure beats guessing. Then, again already too many men are thumping their wings when they really are married and not available. Maybe it’s safer to stick to grouse. I had spent the night in the woods alone some years back checking trails for Scouts and Girl Guides. Just as dawn was breaking, the sound of grouse started up. A city girl would have totally freaked out but I loved it. I felt he was beating his drums calling to the female grouse, but it was a drum beat concert just for me. It was so beautiful. The End… —Helen Singh
PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT…
Improving air quality with ‘living walls’ of grass, ferns, or mosses
Pills with sensors that tell physicians, we swallowed them
Software-enabled caps that detect brain wave activity and direct it to control wheelchairs and cars
Small-scale, wearable, batterypowered air purifiers.
Freestanding furniture (not built cabinets) or ‘feet’ on lower kitchen cabinets for a furniture-like look.
3) God is always with me. 4) I am a winner. 5) Today is my DAY… “Don’t read success stories, you will only get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success”
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Vol. 17, Issue 208
January/February 2018
“ZAJAC RANCH” WILL BE THE BLAST 2018...
My head is so full, I don’t know where to begin. The past month has been a whirlwind of location ideas. They all sound good until someone actually goes for a tour. We are lucky, Margaret’s knee is good to drive. She has been all over scouting Springbrooke, Loon Lake, Luther, Alexandra, and Zajac. All with pros and cons. Heather, Martha, and Blair also did some scouting. It’s Margaret who’s seen them all, mostly in the pouring rain. THANK YOU! We’ve decided on Zajac Ranch at Stave Lake. It is the only place with an indoor pool and they will heat it to 33.3 therapeutic temperature. It is also the most accessible, except for a second floor. I don’t have floor plans yet to determine how many we can sleep at ground level. The downside is bunk beds and a rough 8 km gravel road before you reach Zajac. I think, we are fortunate to be anywhere. As long as we are somewhere, I know will have a BLAST! I hope, we like it! We looked at it in 2009. There have been a lot of changes upgrades and buildings, including the beautiful pool. Proceeds stay with Zajac, so it looks like they will be around for a while. I like that it is a ranch. Horses are very intuitive animals with a calming effect. I don’t have details on amenities yet. If riding is available, it would be an individual cost. Things at Britannia are going well. We don’t have a program, per se, but Jeanie comes to do exercises, and Cat is there to keep us singing. Often, Bryan swings by to pick things up so Jetson doesn’t have a load to carry.
I enjoy the community feel at Britannia. People are very caring. Oh yes, and a wonderful thing has been offered. We may be able to use a bus through Britannia for BLAST. We’d pay gas and driver. No middleman. I have no idea of cost of gas these, or a driver. I’m sure it will be less than any company would charge. That day really sent me home smiling. I went to a Britannia Renewal meeting last week. Wow! What an undertaking. It will be pretty awesome to see it evolve. Everybody needs space. We need space. They are planning to build in empty while keeping ongoing activities. The Project involves Park board, School Board, Municipality, First Nations and I thinkone other maybe the community center itself. Currently, on site there is: Daycare, Elementary, High school, Swimming pool (hot tub, sauna, steam and weight room), Ice rink, library, and seniors center; where we meet. Tuesday, February 15th is an important meeting to attend: Gym D at 5:30 pm., light meal, 6 pm Presentation. They will be 3 options on display. Try to be there. A lot of work has been done by the Seniors, Elders, and Advocates (Those aren’t the proper words. I missed what is correct and why) to have more space than the over crowded AML centre.
Zajac Ranch Accommodation Three centrally-located lodges comprise the Ranch’s accommodation — Palomino, Pinto, and Mustang. Each lodge’s ground floor level sleeps 30 individuals in shared accommodations solid wood bunk-beds with quality mattresses. The upper level of each lodge offers an additional 8 private and semi-private rooms - which can accommodate an additional 8-12 people. A limited number of medical beds with lifts are available. Bathrooms and lodges are wheelchair accessible. The main floor of each lodges is divided in the center, allowing for easy separation between boys and girls. Each side is equipped with its own washroom stalls and private showers.
Additionally, three teepees have been constructed as part of the First Nations Village. Each teepee is 28 feet tall, equipped with a fire pit, and can sleep 10 people. The Teepees are operational from late spring, through the summer into early fall. BLAST DINNER
Stroke Survivors, Caregivers, and Friends!
Come, join us for dinner! February 15th, 2018 (Thurs ) Dinner starts at 5:30 pm
—Deb Chow, BLAST deb@turtletalk.ca 604-253-8665 after 11 am
Trocadero’s 2411 Nanaimo St, Vancouver, BC (North of Broadway & Nanaimo St.)
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Vol. 17, Issue 208
January/February 2018
JOKES PORSCHE! New! $500 jokeonli
A man was reading the newspaper when an ad caught his eye: $500 Porsche! New! The man thought that it was very unusual to sell a Porsche for $500, and he thought it might be a joke, but thought it was worth a shot. So, he went to the lady’s house and sure enough, she had an almost brand new Porsche. “Wow!” the man said. “Can I take it for a test drive?” Unlike what he expected, the man found that the car ran perfectly and took it back to the lady’s house. “Why are you selling me this great Porsche for only $500?” “My husband just ran off with his secretary, and he told me I could have the house and the furniture as long as I sold his Porsche and sent him the money.” SCREAM...Jokeonli
A drunk gets up from the bar and heads for the restroom. A few minutes later, a loud, bloodcurdling is heard. A few minutes after that, another loud scream reverberates through the bar. The bartender goes to investigate why the drunk is screaming. “What’s all the screaming about in there? You’re scaring my customers!” “I’m just sitting here on the toilet and every time I try to flush, something comes up and squeezes my nuts.” With that, the bartender opens the
doors, looks in and says, “You idiot! You’re sitting on the mop bucket!” CONFUSION jokeonli
Two men met at a bus stop and struck up a conversation. One of them kept complaining of family problems. Finally, the other man said, “You think you have family problems? Listen to my situation. A few years, I met a young widow with a grown-up daughter and we got married. Later my father married my step-daughter. That made my step-daughter my stepmother and my father became my stepson. Also, my wife, became mother-in-law of her father-in-law. Then, the daughter of my wife, my stepmother, had a son. This boy was my half-brother because he was my father’s son, but he was also the son of wife’s daughter which made him wife’s grand-son. That made me the grandfather of my half-brother. This was nothing until my wife and I had a son. Now, the half-sister of my son, my stepmother, is also the grandmother. This makes my father the brother-in-law of my child, whose stepsister is my father’s wife; I’m my stepmother’s brother-in-law is her own child’s aunt; my son is my father’s nephew and I’m my own grandfather!”
from bad to worse when one wing is struck by lightning. One woman in particular loses it. Screaming, she stands up in the front the plane. “I’m too young to die!” she wails.” Then, she yells, “Well, if I’m going to die, I want my last minutes on Earth to be memorable! I’ve had plenty of sex in my life but no one has ever made me really feel like a woman! Well, I’ve had it! Is there ANYONE on this plane who can make me feel like a WOMAN??” Then, a man stands up in the rear of the plane. “I can make you feel like a woman.” He was gorgeous—tall, muscular, and had long, flowing black hair and jet black eyes. He starts to walk slowly up the aisle, unbuttoning his shirt at a time. No one moves. The woman is breathing heavily in anticipation as the strange man approaches. He removes his shirt. Muscles ripple across his chest as he reaches her. He tosses his shirt to her and whispers, “Iron this.” A HAND FOR THE BASH…jokeonly
In his later life, a former Bishop of Lincoln, UK, found himself having difficulty rising from a park bench where he had stopped to take the weight off his feet. After struggling ineffectively, he was delighted when a little girl offered a helping hand.
Trans-Atlantic Flight… jokeonly
“That’s very kind of you, my dear,” he told her, “But, are you really strong enough?”
On a Trans-Atlantic flight, a plane passes through severe storm. The turbulence is awful, and things go
“Oh, yes,” the child retorted, “I’ve often helped my daddy when he was much drunker than you.”
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