New senior center manager meets citizens
When Senior Citizens of Marion County, Inc., met July 17 at the AGAPE Senior Center in Goessel, Rudy Schmidt, center president, introduced the center's new manager, Mary Graber.
The county organization's directors decided to wait until this Friday's meeting of the board, at Lehigh, to vote on two requests for funds from the mill-levy fund.
The Hillsboro Senior Center asked for $1,250 to help toward replacing a furnace and air conditioner. They had a bid from Flaming's and one from Funk's.
The other request was for funds for carpet cleaning at the Florentine Senior Center in Florence.
Noreen Weems reported on "ordinary places" and ordinary days, which compose "the majority of life." She also reported on the Kansas Department on Aging tele-conference held July 15.
Marion County was one of only nine entities that took part in the conference. During the conference Gov. Kathleen Sebelius announced her appointment of Pamela Johnson-Betts as Kansas secretary of aging, replacing Connie Hubbell.
Robert Carlton had presented an "end-of-life" issues program at Lehigh. People deserve good end-of-life care, he said. Most countries honor their seniors; the United States needs to work on this, he said.
He spoke also about grief support.
Dawn Sholtz reported that plans for the senior fair are going well.
Blanche Cowan reported on a pill to fight Alzheimer's disease. A recent study, she said, found that over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen and naproxen may dissolve and prevent formation of plaque that is believed to kill brain cells.
She said also that snoring may cause headaches by obstruction airflow and decreasing the amount of oxygen reaching the brain or disturbing sleep.
Gene Andersen, Silver Haired Legislator, reported that quality nursing home and home care were top issues looked at recently by the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature.
More volunteerism is needed, Andersen said. He said Congressman Jerry Moran, R-Hays, was recently in the Peabody area and talked about prescription drug proposals now before Congress.
