All Posts in "Month: October 2017"

The only requirement to take part in the Washington State Senior Games is that participants be 50 years of age by the end of the year of the event.

But it helps to have a lot of enthusiasm and interest in staying active, which is exactly what the competitors brought to the 2017 games.

Jack Kiley, president of the Senior Games, a non-profit organization, said this was the 21st year of running the largest Olympic-style multi-sport event in Washington. Competition for the 2,000 participants took place at various sites through the South Sound,.

Washington got on board with the Senior Games in 1996 when a couple moved here from Pennsylvania. “They had been active in the Senior Games in that state and found we didn’t have one and started things rolling,” said Kiley.

The Washington games started with a few participants and a couple of events, and today they are up to 24 sports staged in Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and various parts of Pierce and Mason counties during the month of July.

Games include archery, basketball, badminton, bowling, cowboy action shooting, cycling, dance, disc golf, golf, pickle ball, power walking, race walking, racquetball, 5 and 10K runs, rock climbing, shuffleboard, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field, trap shooting, triathlon and volleyball.

On July 30, the badminton competition, hosted by the Tacoma Badminton Club, was held at Lakewood Community Center. The athletes were excited and ready to play, proving to everyone that badminton is more than just a backyard sport.

Titian Niosi of Bremerton, who plays badminton at the center on a regular basis, was taking charge of keeping things on track as a volunteer coordinator during the Games competition. He kept busy making sure all participants knew when and where they were scheduled to play.

Patrick Ip came to watch and cheer on his wife, Katherine, in the women’s doubles. Meanwhile, Hentley Liem of Seattle and his partner, Ike Abbasi, teamed in one the men’s events.

Abbasi traveled to New Zealand recently to play in the World Master Games and came home with a gold medal in singles, a silver medal in men’s doubles and a bronze in mixed doubles.

Joe Moelders started running the show for the badminton event when Kiley asked him to help out a number of years ago. Moelders he and his wife welcome everyone and make sure everything is in order with sign-in sheets, scorekeepers, and snacks and juice on hand for competitors and guests.

Moelders is passionate about the Games and belongs to the Lakewood Badminton Club, playing once a week on Mondays.

“I don’t watch much TV,” he said.

Moelders said in the beginning, badminton in the Games started out with about eight or 10 participants. “I made it my duty to inform people who were part of the badminton club that I run, and the interest skyrocketed,” he said. “We had 15 people the next year, then 20 and 40 people last year, which was a qualifying year for the Senior Games on the national level.”

Every other year is a qualifying year for the Senior Games.

Kiley said participants don’t need to be a top athlete or even have participated in sports all their lives. Everyone is welcome.

“The goal is to get seniors off the couch and get them involved,” Kiley said. “A good number of our participants are constantly thinking about their health and quality of life, but what we are really here for are those that are doing too much TV and too much on the couch.”

The Washington State Senior games are an all-volunteer organization. More information is available at http://washingtonstateseniorgames.com/index.htm.

 

Hentley Liem (left) of Seattle and Ike Abbasi took a break during badminton competition at Lakewood Community Center during the Washington State Senior Games. (Joan Cronk/for Senior Scene)

 

Contributing Author by — October 17, 2017 in Spotlight

The hurricanes and flooding in Texas and Florida brought warnings from doctors and emergency officials about post-hurricane health hazards that can make storm or disaster victims sick or even kill them.  The warnings can apply anywhere in the wake of flooding or power outages:   

  • Carbon monoxide poisoning. You can’t smell it or see it and it’s not just caused by natural gas, generators even charcoal grills can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Never use a gas or coal burning stove in your home, basement or garage. Keep it at least 20 feet from any window, door or vent.   

Also, keep generators outside your home, at least 20 feet from a window or door 

  • Electrocution. Irma ripped apart the electrical grid in Florida, leaving millions without power.     A young man in Houston died when he tried to rescue his sister’s cat. While the flood water was knee deep, he did not realize a “hot power line” had electrified the water.   

Treat all power lines as if they are still connected to electricity. 

Never step in a flooded area of your home, like the basement, where water could be in contact with electrical outlets. 

When possible, locate your home’s circuit breaker and make sure all electricity is shut off to the house. 

  • Toxic water. Flood water is a breeding ground for bacteria.    

Heavy contamination caused by raw sewage and toxic chemicals can lead to many parasitic infections like E. coli.  Wounds can also be easily infected by dirty water. The New York Times just completed tests that discovered dangerous bacteria in post Harvey floodwaters in Houston.

While the CDC recommends boiling water before use, most storm victims do not have access to electricity. 

Water from private wells is also at risk of contamination and should be tested before use. 

 

  • Contaminated food. When in doubt, throw it out. 

When the power goes out everything in the fridge is safe to eat for no more than four hours, two days for the freezer. After that, all perishable food, including meat, chicken, seafood, milk, eggs, is at risk for bacteria, molds and yeast that cause it to spoil.   Even if you cook spoiled food thoroughly, you can still get food poisoning. Eating food contaminated with bacteria can make someone sick within 20 minutes to 3 days.

Salmonella is the most common food borne illness; children are at higher risk than adults. Symptoms of salmonella are like the stomach flu — fever, cramping, vomiting and diarrhea. 

 

srmedia by — October 17, 2017 in News

The Alzheimer’s Association is hosting town hall meetings in Tacoma, Seattle and Bremerton for discussions of the Washington State Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias. Here’s the schedule:

  • Tacoma, Nov. 14, 9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. at People’s Community Center, 1602 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
  • Seattle, Oct. 17, 2-3:30 p.m. at Queen Anne Public Library, 400 Garfield St.
  • Bremerton, Oct. 24, 2-3:30 p.m. at Norm Dicks Government Center, 345 Sixth St. Information: www.alzwa.org/calendar/
srmedia by — October 17, 2017 in News

Anne Leigh Parrish, who got her start as an author by winning a college-sponsored contest in Vancouver, Wash., has debuted her second novel. 

“Women Within” is a multi-generational story of three women whose paths cross at the Lindell Retirement Home. Constance Maynard, fierce, independent and proud, reflects on her long life promoting women’s rights through her career as a professor of history. Eunice Fitch, the perfect caregiver, is often unlucky in love, yet even in middle age refuses to give up searching for the perfect man. And Sam Clark is a young aide with a passion for poetry and small, beautiful things, but at war with her own large, ungainly physique.

The book’s publisher is Black Rose Writing.

Parrish, a Pacific Northwest native, graduated from the University of Colorado, then moved back to Seattle to attend graduate school at the University of Washington. After earning a degree in business, she realized her “first and only love was writing” and has pursued it “relentlessly,” she said.

srmedia by — October 10, 2017 in News