Visit our website: https://www.phinneycenter.org/village Summer 2019, Issue #29

by Riana Nolet On Sunday, May 18, 2019, we hosted our second annual Village Summit. A group of 45 members and volunteers came up with wonderful ideas to move our program into the future. Here are some of the ideas:

Talk Café at the PNA. The vision is to have a space where people can get coffee, tea, and simple snacks and connect socially. There would be no wi-fi or screens, just people engaging with other people. It was suggested that the café take place in the PNA gallery and that a partner (like FareStart) supply the coffee and baristas.

Committee speed dating event. Village committees need new members. Many great ideas come from members and volunteers, and we need people on committees to put these ideas into action. You’ve probably heard about this need many times but maybe don’t know enough about the committees and which ones you’d like to join. So, the idea is to have an event where you can “speed date” with committee members, learning things like what the committees do, who participates, and what the meetings are like.

No villager left behind. About a quarter of village members don’t use the Internet and prefer U.S. mail or phone calls to learn what’s going on in the Village. Concern was raised that these folks may be missing out on village opportunities. And we want to make sure we can support those who want to learn how to use the Internet. People interested in working on this concern will learn what we currently do to include everyone in our communications and generate ideas for improvements.

Hobby network. Members and volunteers would like to create a way to connect with each other over shared interests and hobbies. For example, if someone would like to go to the symphony, they could access a list of other people who are interested in going out to hear music. They could then invite the people on the list. We’ll first design a survey to gather everyone’s interests and then design a way to connect with each other.

These are all great ideas and we’re looking forward to working on them. When we say “we,” we really mean you! Village members and volunteers have contributed these ideas and are doing the work to move them forward. This is your Village. If any of these ideas are exciting to you and you’d like to help bring them to life, please let village staff know so that we can connect you with other members and volunteers who are working on them. The more helping hands and minds we have, the better. Here’s our contact information: 206.789.1217 or village@phinneycenter.org.

Ideas emerge from the Village Summit

Ideas percolating among Summit attendees

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Volunteer

by Cathie Scott

The PNA Village is incredibly fortunate to count Jack Herndon among its volunteers. His name comes up frequently during conversations with village members: “Jack just helped me sort through my tool collection” or “I count on Jack to fix whatever’s broken.”

Jack grew up in Falls Church, Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC. His father was in the military. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Arkansas and moved to Seattle. Unfortunately, it was in the early ‘70s when Boeing was in a slump and billboards across the city bore the message: Would the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights?

He then sought employment in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he held various jobs including wastewater and water quality testing. He even started a tofu manufacturing business called Prairie Soyl.

In 1984, he moved to Seattle again. This time it took!

He has worked for environmental testing laboratories, consulting engineering firms, and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Washington before retiring in 2012. Jack and his wife Sheila live in Ballard.

What inspired you to volunteer for PNA Village?

I was active in volunteering even before retirement, filling in as a PNA board member and volunteering for the hot meal program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ballard. The PNA auction is one

of my favorite activities. After retirement, I started volunteering for the Ballard Food Bank. I heard about PNA Village when Ed Medeiros was holding planning meetings to develop the program. A couple of years after the Village started, I thought I’d give it a shot and am glad that I did. What is your role at the Village?

The Village’s handy helper program is right up my alley. I have the tools and knowledge to do fix-it stuff, and I like the flexibility to take on assignments that suit my skills and schedule.

Along the way, I’ve developed a specialty in decluttering. It comes from a life-long battle with an inherited tendency to accrue things. One ongoing project involves helping a former artist to clear his workshop of jewelry-making and stone-carving tools. Sometimes I help village members sell items of value that they no longer need. The process requires lots of patience but is very satisfying.

Mostly, I love sitting and talking with the people I help. I’m good at that. They can be somewhat isolated yet have interesting stories about their pasts and what they’ve done with their lives. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not volunteering for the Village?

Where to begin? I have so many interests and activities. Here are a few:

Riding my bicycle. I recently rode to Anacortes. Gardening. I grow and can vegetables. My

rainwater collection system helps keep my garden green all summer long and saves on the water bill.

Consulting in energy efficiency. I earned an online degree in facilities management, specializing in energy efficiency. We did a high-tech efficiency upgrade on our home, which was built in 1910. After the upgrade, the house meets or exceeds the Seattle 2050 goals for carbon and energy footprint.

Sea kayaking. Crafting bowls and cutting boards. I make them

out of wood. I also make wind chimes out of glass tiles and solar lights.

Thank you Jack

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Are you willing to share your star landscaper, gardener, or electrician?

The Village’s Business Vetting Committee is starting to refresh its vendor list, and we’d love your recommendations for landscapers, gardeners, and electricians that we can add to the list. We’re thinking more broadly than traditional vendors, especially for services such as gardening and lawnmowing. If you know of Boy or Girl Scout troops or other community resources, let us know that too! Thanks, and we’ll put out a call for other vendor categories as we get to them.

Dean Banquet, the executive editor of The New York Times, was recently interviewed in Seattle as part of the Seattle Arts and Lectures journalism series. The interviewer said that U.S. newspapers had completely missed the story of the holocaust and asked Banquet if he could think of any other momentous stories they missed. Without hesitation, he said it was the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to cities in the North and West.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration fills this gap. Isabel Wilkerson’s historical study of the Great Migration received the National Book Critics Circle Award and other commendations.

Almost six million people joined this exodus from about 1915 to 1975. They were escaping appalling conditions and treatment, including a sharecropping system that operated completely at the discretion of landowners who often chose not to pay their workers. Not to mention the lynchings. Many of the migrants made plans, often in secret, to join relatives who had already fled. Although they experienced other forms of oppression in their new homes, most felt that the freedoms—even small ones such as walking on the same sidewalk as a white person—were worth the upheaval of migration.

Wilkerson interviewed more than a thousand people and reviewed extensive records and documents to write this book. She could have written a dry account, citing statistics and averages and providing a few examples to illustrate how they played out. She does provide this data, but most of the book centers on the lives of three people:

Ida Mae Gladney, who left sharecropping in Mississippi for Chicago, where she and her husband eventually bought a home and she, in old age, voted

Book Review by Cathie Scott

for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat.

George Starling, who fled Florida for Harlem, where he quietly fought for civil rights and jeopardized his job on the railroad, saw his family succumb to challenges of city life, and finally found peace.

Dr. Robert Foster, who left Louisiana for Los Angeles so he could practice medicine without the restraints imposed in the South. He became a much-loved practitioner, even the personal physician to Ray Charles, and lived a grand lifestyle while never totally overcoming the harsh realities of racism.

Don’t be intimidated by the size of the book. It is riveting. As you continue reading, you grow close to these people, cheering at their successes and sharing in their sorrows. And you learn about a pivotal chapter in our country’s history.

The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America’s Great Migration By Isabel Wilkerson

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Hauling Day

On June 7, a group of volunteers from

Windermere Real Estate, along with several PNA Village volunteers, hauled away junk and treasures for village members. At least 10 huge truckloads went to the dump and Goodwill!

Legacy Project

PNA Village partnered with the MMSC Jewish Day School on a Legacy Project. For almost a month, four village members shared their life stories with students. The project concluded with the students sharing presentations about the elders they interviewed. Everyone had a great time, and we hope to do more things like this in the future.

Enjoy Classic Summer Fun - BBQ and Potluck

Sunday, July 28, 1 – 3 PM

Ida Culver House Broadview, 12505 Greenwood Ave N

This is one event you don’t want to miss! Join other Villagers for some good food, fun, and (hopefully) sunshine! This is a potluck so, if you are able, please bring a salad or side dish to share. ERA living is graciously providing hamburgers (both meat and veggie), drinks, and dessert!

Valet parking will be provided. If you’re a full member, please let us know if you’d like a ride. As always, your RSVP is appreciated but not required at 206-789-1217 or village@phinneycenter.org.

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by Robin Shapiro

I never check my medical records. When I made an appointment recently, I noticed an error in my record through the patient portal. What can I do to make sure my information is accurate? Is it important to do this?

Keeping your own personal health record (PHR) is important. You want to make sure your medical providers have the most up-to-date medical information about you, including recent tests, allergies, current medications, and diagnoses. If this information is inaccurate or incomplete, you could be at risk. For example, if your doctor doesn’t have a current medications list (including supplements), she or he could prescribe a medicine that may interact negatively with your other medications.

Your personal health record is different from your medical record. YOU are responsible for your personal health record:

YOU have control of the information, so you can make sure it is correct.

YOU can keep your information in any manner you wish (electronically on your computer, with a service, or on paper).

YOU can easily update your information, including the following:

• Contact information • Medications list • Allergies • Recent tests and results • Medical providers and pharmacies

Others manage your medical records. Medical records personnel manage patient portals and medical records available through your doctor, hospital, and/or health system. As part of your medical visit (doctor or hospital), always ask for a copy of the visit summary. If it is not available on the day of your visit, ask when and how it will become available. If you discover an error in your record, you will likely have to go through the medical records system to correct the mistake.

Keeping your personal health and medical records up to date

My Life, My Health is a regularly featured article dedicated to answering your questions and offering resources on healthcare advocacy.  Please submit your questions to Robin Shapiro, the Board Chair of the Washington State Health Advocacy Association (WASHAA) at robin.shapiro@washaa.org.

Learn How to Manage Your Medicines

PNA Village and the Greenwood Senior Center are hosting a free community session, “Taming the Medicine Cabinet,’’ at 1 pm on Thursday, September 12, 2019, at the Greenwood Senior Center. Join Robin Shapiro for a free session about how to manage your medicines more effectively. Be ready for an interactive hands-on session where you’ll learn must-know tips. Contact 206.789.1217 or village@phinneycenter.org to sign up.

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How to part ways with items

the city won’t accept

by Laurie Radin Do you have a collection of old light bulbs and

batteries you’re not sure how to dispose of? Have you ever wondered how to recycle the ubiquitous, annoying plastic wrap around products like toilet paper? We just learned about a great local resource that will come to your aid.

Ridwell is a subscription service that picks up troublesome items that you can’t toss in the city recycle bins or trash. The company was formed in 2017 by a father and his 6-year-old son. They began a recycling carpool for their Ballard neighbors but soon found that so many people wanted to participate, they needed staff to help.

Once you enroll in Ridwell’s program, the company drops off a white bin for you to fill up. It picks up the bin’s contents every two weeks and disposes of them properly. The fee is $10–$14/month. The service is available in much of north Seattle; it doesn’t serve the whole city yet.

Ridwell picks up four categories of recyclables: light bulbs, batteries, thin plastic bags or film, and old clothes. In addition, the pickup includes a “rotating fifth category” such as styrofoam, books, and latex paint. The rotating fifth category changes every pickup and is designed to help local nonprofits in our community. For example, Ridwell collects used eyeglasses that the Northwest Lions Club distributes to people in need.

You can check out Ridwell’s website https://www.ridwell.com for more information or to sign up. (Note: Ridwell has not yet been vetted by the Village or put on the list of recommended businesses. Keep posted!)

Getting Connected...

Donna, a village member and an enthusiastic recycling customer, says, “It is so great that Ridwell has done the research and developed relationships with companies that can utilize this material in making things like composite decking.…It’s such an easy way to consistently follow through on not contributing to a landfill.”

A Volunteer’s Grateful Experience

by Elena Louise Richmond The PNA began life as a community center for

Phinney Ridge. It has expanded into an octopus of goodwill and services that encompasses other northwest Seattle neighborhoods, kind of like a community center on steroids but in a bighearted way. My neighborhood of Crown Hill is touched by one of its tentacles. The Greenwood Senior Center, where I hold “all present” and my song circle for people with dementia, is part of the PNA. And the Village has been operating under PNA’s umbrella for several years.

Earlier this year I did research to help me decide whether to sell my house (and free up some equity) or to remain without pots of money to keep it standing. I learned about a lot of programs and services for seniors. I’m on the young side of aging, but the research helped me look ahead and make decisions.

One outcome was to join PNA Village. One morning, five able-bodied and energetic young women came over and worked in the yard for an hour in a half, doing things I and my gardening buddy Tim couldn’t have done in months of work. Another time, someone grounded four electrical outlets for me. I’ve had wood chopped and trees pruned. One volunteer, who has come twice, brings his adorable little dog named Smalls.

I was so grateful after five volunteer visits that I became a volunteer as well. Last fall as part of a news-free weekend for myself, I went to an orientation for volunteers. I can’t do the physical things that have been done for me, but I can do other things: visit, play piano duets, play Scrabble, sing songs, take walks. But the salient thing here is the gratitude. In my earlier life as the self-erasing daughter of alcoholic and mentally ill parents, I often felt taken for granted—“used” really. For me to choose to do something that in my earlier life I would have resented is a measure of how grateful I am.

It was a lovely news-free weekend and being part of the Village is a better way to spend my time than wringing my hands over the news of the day.

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Resources for Seniors

Gold Card for the Golden Years by Elena Louise Richmond

The City of Seattle offers a discount program for seniors (age 60 and older). All you need to do is pick up a free Gold Card and show it to a variety of attractions and businesses to receive your discounts. Some of the most popular uses are:

Seattle Aquarium – free admission Woodland Park Zoo – reduced admission Seattle Animal Shelter – 50 percent discount on dog and cat licenses

You can find a list of all the places that offer senior discounts, with or without your Gold Card, at this website: www.tinyurl.com/afsdiscounts. This site also tells you where you can get your Gold Card, including the PNA Village office in the Greenwood Senior Center, other senior centers, Seattle Parks and Recreation community centers, and the Seattle Animal Shelter.

The City also issues a Flash Card that offers discounts to adults age 18–59 with qualifying disabilities. Questions? Contact Community Living Connections (206.962.8467).

by Elena Louise Richmond

PNA Village thrives on community connections. The Bellevue Softball team strings Christmas Lights, nurses from Virginia Mason garden for us, Windermere Real Estate staff hauls away our piles of junk! Yet so many people still don’t know about us. Who do you know who needs to know about us? Do you know of a group just itching to get involved? Or are you friends with a movie star who has influence to throw around? Please let us know: village@phinneycenter.org or 206.789.1217.

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Ph inn ey N eighborhood As soc ia t ion

PN A Vi l l ag e

525 N . 85t h S t r eet

S ea t t l e , WA 9 8103

Phon e: 2 06 -789 -12 17

E m a i l : v i l l ag e@ph inn eyc ent e r .o rg

Quarterly Village Statistics

Member Requests

April 2019: 89

May 2019: 118

June 2019: 93

PNA Village has:

191 Members in 150 households

177 direct service volunteers

208 total volunteers (direct service, committee

members, and support)

Over the life of the program (since April 2012),

volunteers have given 26,703 hours of their

time.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Cathie Scott

LAYOUT: Jean Davis

CONTRIBUTORS: Marguerite Langlois, Alice Dews,

Rebecca Fogarty, Riana Nolet, Robin Shapiro, Elena Louise

Richmond, Laurie Radin

BECOME PART OF THE VILLAGE

PNA Village provides services for members, social

engagement, and trusted business referrals. The

Village helps people to remain in the homes and

neighborhoods they love while staying engaged as they

age. You can become part of the PNA Village in several

ways. Ask about our various levels:

Full membership

Builder membership

Volunteer

Call 206.789.1217 and speak with either Riana or

Rebecca to get more details. You might also want to

ask when the next information or orientation meeting

will occur. Our office is located in the Greenwood

Senior Center at 525 N 85th St.