A25Abbotsford News Friday, November 27, 2015

Veteran “volun-deer” encourages community to help Operation Red Nose

For the past 20 years during the holiday season, Op-eration Red Nose (ORN) has helped hundreds of peo-ple make it home safe after a night of drinking. Their objective is to keep impaired drivers off the road by deploying a group of volunteers (or “volun-deers”) to take them home in their own vehicle.

PacificSport Fraser Valley (PSFV) is the host organi-zation for ORN in the Abbotsford/Mission and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows areas. Although ORN’s services are free, donations are accepted and go towards as-sisting with the expenses of the athletes and coaches that PSFV serves.

As a founding member of PSFV, and secretary of its board of directors until 2007, Peg Wenting recalls when the organization was looking to host a fund-raiser 20 years ago.

“It was most fortunate that the board accepted the idea and ORN began in  Abbotsford,” she says. ”It’s important to the community to get our clients home safely and off the road if they are impaired, and I’m sure they appreciate having their car back home as well as themselves.”

Wenting has remained heavily involved with ORN since its launch, even though she jokingly admits that she no longer volunteers for the 4 a.m. shifts.

Her involvement with the community has spanned far beyond ORN, beginning when she and her hus-band bought a small bicycle shop in town in 1978. Now located in Mission, Wentings’ Cycle & Mountain Shop’s cycling club hosted the Canadian National Road Cycling Championships in 1998. Wenting held the role of Sport Chair for Cycling for the 1995 West-ern Canada Summer Games, the Abbotsford BC Summer Games in 2004, and the Abbotsford BC Se-nior Games in 2006. She is also the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award (City of Abbotsford), the PacificSport Fraser Valley Builder Award, and the Community Sport Hero Award (Sport BC).

She continues to volunteer at the Red Cross depot, which loans out equipment such as walkers, wheel chairs and crutches, and she belongs to the Abbots-

ford Quilters  Guild, where she makes quilts for the nursery at the hospital and transition houses.

Still, ORN remains an organization closest to her heart.

“The volunteers are a great group to work with,” she says. “They are dedicated, fun, and good at what they do.”

ORN is currently looking for volunteers for the up-coming season. If you want to get some volunteer hours on your resume, this seasonal program is a great option with impact.

“Jump on the train and contribute, enjoy, and feel good about what you do,” says Wenting. “The community will benefit too. “

A typical volunteer shift is 8:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., sometimes longer. Volunteer training is provided on each night of service.

For more information, including volunteer application packages, visit pacificsportfraservalley.com

SOCIAL | HEALTH | WELL-BEING | LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST

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Peg Wenting is a founding member of PacificSport Fraser Valley — the host organization for Operation Red Nose.

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A26 Abbotsford NewsFriday, November 27, 2015

LivingADULT

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Heart health should be a concern for people of all ages, but especially for men and women over 50. That’s because even men and women who are free of cardiovascular disease at age 50 are at a significant lifetime risk of developing the disease.

Heart disease does not have to be an accepted byproduct of aging. Maintain-ing or increasing physical activity after age 65 can improve the heart’s well-be-ing and lower risk of heart attack.

In addition to increasing physical activ-ity as they age, older men and women who understand heart disease and learn to recognize its symptoms have a greater chance of minimizing its affects and lowering their risk of having a heart attack.

What are the symptoms of heart disease?

Heart disease is a blanket term used to describe a host of conditions, so symp-toms vary depending on the condition. The following are some widely known conditions and their symptoms:

• Hypertension: Also known as high blood pressure, hypertension is a largely symptomless form of heart disease. The idea that hypertension produces symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, facial flushing, nervousness, and sweating is a misconception. Symptoms typically do not alert men

greatly, from a single premature beat to a series of premature beats that occur in rapid succession. Arrhyth-mia that lasts long enough to affect heart function may include symp-toms such as rapid heartbeat, fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, and chest pain.

How can I protect my heart?

Heart healthy habits take some effort, but men and women can protect their hearts regardless of their age.

and women to the presence of hyper-tension. Include routine visits to the doctor’s office as part of your health regime, where blood pressure can be taken.

• Heart attack: The symptoms of a heart attack are different than the symptoms of heart disease that may lead to heart attack. Signs that you may be heading toward a heart attack include undue fatigue, palpitations (the sensation that your heart is skip-ping a beat or beating too rapidly),

• Get sufficient exercise. At least 30 minutes of exercise per day can pro-tect against disease.

• Quit smoking. Smoking increases your risk for a host of ailments, in-cluding heart disease. Quitting is a great way to start getting your heart and other parts of your body back on track.

• Include heart-healthy foods in your diet. A diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables and low in cholesterol, salt and saturated fat promotes heart health.

• Don’t drink alcohol to excess. Like smoking, drinking alcohol to excess can lead to a host of problems, such as high blood pressure, arrhythmia and high cholesterol, each of which increases your risk of heart disease.

• Lose weight. Being overweight or obese is a major risk factor for heart disease. If you have already started to exercise daily and eat a more heart-healthy diet, then you’re on your way to losing weight. Consult your physi-cian if diet and exercise don’t seem to be helping you to shed pounds.

Heart disease kills millions of people across the globe each year, many of whom are over 50. But men and women who learn about heart disease and how to reduce their risk stand a far greater chance of fighting the disease.

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Keep your heart running strong

A27Abbotsford News Friday, November 27, 2015

LivingADULT

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southeast and forming a natural border between Serbia and Ro-mania. Stop in Belgrade, the

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A28 Abbotsford NewsFriday, November 27, 2015

LivingADULT

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Laura MartensALPH HEARING

Working as a hearing practitioner, and managing two hearing clinics, I became aware that seniors in as-sisted living and care homes are falling through the cracks when it comes to their follow-ups and ad-justments. The emotional toll is devastating, let alone the toll on physical and social health.

Requests from seniors and their children for ‘in home’ hearing care is frequent. Anytime individuals need to rely on someone else to bring them to appointments, it can be an inconvenience. Dedicated ‘in home’ hearing services, with ongoing follow-up support will eliminate this.

Not long ago, I visited a patient liv-ing in a care home with his wife. Both expressed they knew ‘Joe’ needed hearing aids desperately. Their delay was based on two fac-tors: No transportation (they did not want to burden their adult children, who were already so in-volved with careers and raising ‘their grandchildren’). Secondly, they felt discouraged by lack of fol-low ups to ensure he would hear properly. Their adult children lived just outside of town and when they did visit with their grandchildren, they wanted to

spend quality time enjoying con-versation and having lunch. This was meaningful, especially now that he could hear and communi-cate with his family.

Quite often, behind hearing loss is a dignified story of the sacrifices these individuals have made for their families - working in noisy, industrial environments to make a comfortable home for their family and to provide a college education for their children who are now productive in their careers.

Stress is part of everyday life, but for people with hearing loss, it be-comes an extra challenge. Imagine if your mom or dad is having diffi-culty hearing the doctor’s words about his/her medical condition and follow up care. They feel con-fused, frustrated, and vulnerable. Financial and travel matters along with personal safety are challeng-ing for those of us with normal hearing. This is more difficult, not to mention exhausting for individ-uals who are unable to hear clearly.

When a patient is fit with hearing aids, they are often set at a gentle setting. Why? Too much sound stimulus could cause anxiety for individuals, and they may not want to wear their hearing aids.  So, we set the hearing aids to a gentle sound and gradually move

up.  Follow-up ensure hearing bet-ter, feeling better.

Also, perception of sound varies by each individual. Once hearing aids are custom fit/programmed according to an individual’s hear-ing loss, we need to consider the patient’s perception of sound and provide them with ongoing sup-port to ensure optimal hearing and speech understanding.

In short, hearing loss affects many aspects of life for seniors, from physical well-being to emotional health and family relationships. But the hearing aid fitting is the beginning - follow-ups are key for success. Fortunately, the solution lies in just one call to an in home and after care clinic.

Hear your future