1. MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015 THE FREE LANCE–STARFREDERICKSBURG, VA. D3.
YLAND: Ron Rosner YMCA’s game and garden is a community effort
FROM PAGE D1
opening of the Ron Rosner
YMCA’s new YLand (similar
to a giant CandyLand playing
board) and Learning Garden.
Scott Edson, the Spotsyl-
vania YMCA’s director of
operations, welcomed about
50 people to the grand
opening last Tuesday.
“This is the culmination of
a massive community team
effort,” Edson said. “It
brings together our three key
priorities—youth develop-
ment, healthy living and
social responsibility.”
Edson explained how he
had envisioned creating a
garden like the one at the
Massad YMCA Branch in
Fredericksburg, in which
food could be grown and
donated to needy families in
the community.
Edson was awarded a grant
through the CarMax Cares
Foundation for the project.
About a year ago construc-
tion began, with donated
materials from Home Depot
and volunteers from there
and CarMax. When the
planter boxes were complet-
ed, Quail Ridge Products
donated 15 cubic yards of soil
and helped spread it.
Boy Scout Drew Boyle of
Troop 165 built a fence
around the garden as his
Eagle Project.
“It was mostly me and my
dad working together,” said
Boyle, who along with his
dad and a few other volun-
teers logged 179 hours of
work. “The hardest part was
calling around to get dona-
tions.”
Phillip Gaul, also a
prospective Eagle Scout from
Troop 165, built a shed for
the garden.
Since the chosen garden
location was surrounded by a
sidewalk, YMCA staff mem-
bers began to imagine how it
could be incorporated into
the project.
They tossed around differ-
ent game board possibilities
until someone suggested
CandyLand. Megan Platenik,
who teaches youth fitness
classes at the Ron Rosner Y,
jumped on the idea.
“I thought we could do a
YLand, and focus it on
healthy living,” Platenik
said. “So we made it like
CandyLand, but generic, so
anyone can use it for whatev-
er they want.”
Platenik explained that for
her classes she had thought
of a lot of different ideas for
using the game. “But even
adult groups could use it,
just using different sets of
questions or activities,”
Platenik said.
“We wanted it to be so
basic, so easy, that anyone
could walk over, spin the
wheel, and know what to do,”
said Debbie Mason, Ron
Rosner YMCA Membership
Manager. “You can make up
your own game, whatever
you come up with in your
own imagination.”
Once again, Home Depot
provided materials and vol-
unteers to make the giant
game board into a reality,
painting the sidewalk blocks
and creating the all-impor-
tant spinner. Art students
from Massaponax High
School painted symbols and
words on some of the
blocks.
Fiv e -y e a r - o l d K a ty
Kilkenny was clearly delight-
ed with the result at the
grand opening. As she
jumped from one square to
another she said, “See, this is
what you’re supposed to
do!”
Katy and the other
preschool children helped
with the garden from the
beginning. She said her class
had planted potatoes, and
excitedly ran over to where
the plants are now about two
feet tall.
“This is what we planted!”
she said, and listed all the
different foods that come
from potatoes—french fries,
potato chips, hash browns
and more.
Her mom, Laura Kilkenny,
has been thrilled with Katy’s
involvement. “The other day
they ate lettuce from the
garden,” Kilkenny said.
“Katy came home saying, ‘I
love lettuce!’ ”
Many of the plants grow-
ing in the garden were donat-
ed by Rappahannock Adult
Activities, Inc., a horticul-
ture therapy arm of the
Rappahannock Area Com-
munity Services Board for
adults with special needs.
Martha Weston, repre-
senting the group, with sev-
eral special needs adults
from the program, attended
the grand opening and saw
how their donated plants are
thriving in the new garden.
At the grand opening,
LaToya Brown from the Fred-
ericksburg Regional Food
Bank accepted fresh produce
d o n a t i o n s f ro m t h e
preschool children, repre-
senting their future har-
vest—onions, radishes, snap
peas and more.
“You kids, you’re going to
help another boy or girl, you
are going to help feed a
family,” Brown told them.
“This just shows how even
though you are small, you
can make a big difference in
your community.”
Kilkenny said the Learning
Garden and YLand project
reinforces her faith in hu-
manity. “Look at how it all
came together!” she said. “It
shows that people here care
about each other and their
community. To me, that
means everything.”
Emily Jennings is a Stafford-based
freelance writer.
SUZANNE CARR ROSSI / THE FREE LANCE–STAR
Corinne Glass of the Rappahannock Adult Activities Center visits the YLand garden. The
surrounding sidewalk is painted for a game so children can learn about healthy living.
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK—James
Patterson, already one of
the book world’s most
popular authors, is now
becoming a publisher.
Little Brown & Com-
pany announced Friday
that Patterson has
launched the “jimmy
patterson” imprint for
children’s books. The
imprint will feature
books by Patterson, who
has written numerous
children’s stories, and by
other authors. Patter-
son’s profits will be do-
nated to a variety of his
favorite causes, from
scholarships for teachers
to funds for libraries and
independent book-
stores.
In a statement issued
through Little, Brown,
Patterson said that the
goal of the imprint was
to inspire kids to say,
“Please give me another
book.”
“What could be better
than that?” added Pat-
terson, whose books
have sold some 300 mil-
lion copies worldwide,
according to Little,
Brown.
Patterson
puts his
mark on
kids books
FAMILY/ADVICE
DEAR ABBY
JEANNE PHILLIPS
HELOISE
Dear Abby: My mother has
Alzheimer’s. She has been in a
nursing home for 10 years. I
feel sorry for her because she
can’t verbalize that her teeth
are killing her, but I can see the
pain in her face and hear her
grind her teeth. When I asked
her if her teeth hurt, she
rubbed my arm up and down,
which I took to mean yes. I
asked for her to be seen by a
doctor, but at this time we
have to wait at least six weeks
to see one.
Something I would like peo-
ple to know is there is little
dental care available in nursing
homes. Because of improved
dental care by the general
public, many more people
arrive in nursing homes with
their teeth intact than they
used to. This sounds good, but
the problem is that patients
often refuse to allow anyone to
assist them with oral hygiene.
Eventually they may become
too frail to withstand the
stress of surgery or other
treatment that comes with
failing teeth.
As I understand it, not many
dentists are willing to shoulder
the extra challenge of caring
for this “difficult” population,
or the red tape of getting paid
for the care of patients in
nursing homes.
It is very important to take
care of our teeth as we age.
Once we or our loved one
enters a nursing home, we need
to continue their dental hy-
giene to the best of our
abilities. We can help over-
worked staff by encouraging
our loved ones to brush and
floss. Take them out for a
checkup every six months.
I can’t stand a toothache for
a day. I wouldn’t wish that pain
on anyone, especially someone
with Alzheimer’s who cannot
ask for help. I wish I had been
more aware. Please let the
public know how important
this is.—Nancy C. in West
Virginia
Dear Nancy: As you noted,
people are keeping their teeth
longer. We now know that a
healthy mouth is important for
good overall health, no matter
what your age.
In addition to dentists, there
are now dental hygienists in
many states who can provide
care for people in nursing
homes and homebound pa-
tients. Some specialize in
treating the developmentally
disabled and “difficult” popu-
lations.
Specially licensed dental hy-
gienists can provide services
outside of the dental office in
the states that allow it, and can
refer the patient to a dentist
for further service. In the
United States, individual
states determine the scope of
practice for providers, which
includes what types of services
dental hygienists may provide
in that state.
Several states are currently
working to expand their oral
care workforce and improve
access to care—in part to meet
the growing aging population
who are retaining their teeth.
In West Virginia, dental hy-
gienists are permitted to deliv-
er care in nursing homes and a
variety of other settings. If you
have additional questions, the
American Dental Hygienists’
Association (adha.org) can
provide further state-specific
information on this subject.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail
Van Buren, also known as Jeanne
Phillips, and was founded by her
mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact
Dear Abby at DearAbby.com or
Box 69440, Los Angeles, Calif.
90069.
Dear Readers: Here is this
week’s sound off, about the
downsizing of canned prod-
ucts:
“I have a Sound Off: the
downsizing of canned foods,
especially cream soups. The
smaller sizes mess up a lot of
recipes I use them in. I usually
double the recipes and have
been adding another can of
soup, which makes things a little
more soupy than they should
be.”—Beverly in Little Rock,
Ark.
Beverly, the can size (or
volume) has shrunk through the
years. Are you using an old
recipe? If you are doubling the
ingredients to make two batch-
es, the smaller size should make
it less soupy rather than more.
Most call for condensed soup. If
you are using the regular soup,
then yes, it’s probably going to
be soupy. Readers, can anyone
help Beverly?—Heloise
FAST FACTS
Dear Readers: Here are other
uses for fabric scraps:
Tie around a circular form
and make a wreath.
Cut up and use as stuffing
for a pillow.
Cover buttons or push-
pins.
Make gift tags or book-
marks.
Use to make a patchwork
throw.
—Heloise
RUST BEGONE!
Dear Heloise: What would you
suggest is the best way to clean
rust off a wrought-iron garden
piece? It’s too big to dip or soak.
If I sand it down, can I just cover
it with a rust-preventing prod-
uct? Won’t the rust just come
back?—L. Vela, via email
Sounds like you are thinking
in the right direction! Rust is
not just an ugly sight, it’s the
metal being dissolved. Do sand
down as much as you can
without harming the piece.
Next, vinegar to the rescue! You
will need a lot, so buy a gallon or
two of plain old white or apple-
cider vinegar. Next, place some
old towels or a lot of paper
towels over the rust spots, pour
on the vinegar and let it soak.
Check once in a while, and when
you see the rust coming up on
the towels, pour on more vine-
gar! Keep at it until you have
removed as much as possible.
Hose down the garden piece. Let
dry, and you should be ready to
paint with a paint that inhibits
rust. Vinegar can work wonders
on a lot of household problems.
Want to find other solutions
with this one simple bottle?
Order my pamphlet to find out
what else you can do with
vinegar. To receive, go to my
website, Heloise.com, or send $5
and a long, self-addressed,
stamped (70 cents) envelope to:
Heloise/Vinegar, Box 795001,
San Antonio, Texas 78279-
5001.
Have a rusty padlock that no
longer opens? Soak it in some
vinegar to get it working again.
—Heloise
Send a money-saving or timesaving
hint to Heloise, Box 795000, San
Antonio, Texas 78279–5000, or
you can fax it to 210/HELOISE or
email it to Heloise@Heloise.com. I
can’t answer your letter personally but
will use the best hints received in my
column.
Dear Dr. Roach: Are there any
natural substitutes for blood
thinners? Natural ingredients in
aspirin work on some aspect of
thinning the blood, perhaps for
everyone taking them. It seems
to me that testing natural sub-
stances would be relatively easy
and cheap.—G.T.
The term “blood thinners” is
a misnomer. Although blood
viscosity can very occasionally
be abnormally high, the antico-
agulants (substances that reduce
blood clotting) do not affect the
thickness of the blood at all, but
rather work against the
platelets—circulating blood
cells that start the clotting
process—or the clotting factors,
which are proteins made mostly
in the liver that make a mature
clot.
For years, the dominant anti-
coagulant on the platelet side
has been aspirin. Extracts of
willow bark, the source of
salicylic acid, have been used for
thousands of years. By modify-
ing the natural compound,
chemists were able to create a
less-irritating and precisely
dosed form of the extract.
Hence, aspirin.
Similarly, on the clotting
factor side, a veterinarian in
Wisconsin figured out in the
1920s that the cows who had
abnormal bleeding had eaten
sweet clover, and researchers at
the University of Wisconsin
later identified dicoumarol in
the clover as the substance that
blocked production of clotting
factors. This led to the develop-
ment of warfarin (Coumadin).
Aspirin and warfarin are very
inexpensive drugs, and their
newer, largely synthetic alterna-
tives are many times more
expensive but not necessarily
better for everybody.
Other sources of anticoagu-
lants found in nature that might
have promise in medicine in-
clude mosquito saliva, since it
contains a substance to prevent
clotting as well.
In general, for centuries, the
history of drug development in
medicine has been to take
natural products with known (or
even suspected) properties,
identify the active substances,
then purify and test them for
effectiveness. The list of suc-
cessful drugs developed from
nature is enormous. Although
there is the argument that some
effectiveness is lost by purifying
and standardizing only one
component, the benefit of being
able to precisely dose the com-
pound prevents overdose of
drugs where the toxic range is
near the therapeutic range. Tak-
ing digoxin is much safer than
chewing foxglove leaf, for exam-
ple.
Dear Dr. Roach: What is your
opinion on baking soda? I hear it
is an antacid, a neutralizer, a
fungus killer, it can prevent
cancer and so on. This seems too
good to be true. Your opinion
would be appreciated.—D.D.
Baking soda, sodium bicar-
bonate, has many uses in the
home and in medicine. It cer-
tainly is an antacid. The bicar-
bonate system is our body’s
primary buffer system, the way
we maintain pH at very precise
levels despite wildly different
food intakes. “Antacid” and
“acid neutralizer” are different
ways of saying the same thing.
Baking soda neither prevents
nor cures cancer—that would be
too good to be true. I had not
heard that baking soda has
antifungal properties, and was
surprised to find that at a
concentration of 10 grams per
liter (very roughly a tablespoon
in a quart), a baking soda
solution can inhibit fungus
growth. This is partly why you
can use baking soda and water to
clean kitchen surfaces. Unfortu-
nately, it lacks enough activity
to be effective for clinical fungal
infections.
The booklet on sodium,
potassium chloride and bicar-
bonate explain the functions of
these body chemicals and how
low or high readings are correct-
ed. To obtain a copy, write: Dr.
Roach—No. 202, Box 536475,
Orlando, Fla. 32853-6475. En-
close a check or money order (no
cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Can.
with the recipient’s printed
name and address. Please allow
four weeks for delivery.
Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to
answer individual letters, but will
incorporate them in the column
whenever possible. Readers may
email questions to ToYourGood-
Health@med.cornell.edu or request
an order form of available health
newsletters at Box 536475, Orlan-
do, Fla. 32853-6475. Health
newsletters may be ordered from
rbmamall.com.
TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH BY DR. KEITH ROACH, M.D
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