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Fairbanks Senior Center’s “Helping Hands Home Modifications” program is looking for veterans in need of home modifications. Improvements, even small ones, can make a substantial difference in household safety and quality of life: bathroom grab bars removable shower head enhanced lighting handrails for stairs and steps smoke and carbon detector installation If you know a veteran who could benefit from assistance like this, or other projects, contact Shawna Chastain with the Helping Hands program, 907-452-2562 or nscoa.admin@a...
We are in serious need of volunteers to help us produce much-needed events in communities across our amazing state. Our volunteers come from all walks of life, education and professional fields, medical and non-medical backgrounds. We assign important tasks for people of all ages. Help us to better serve your community by participating this season. If you are interested in knowing more, go to our website www.alaskahealthfair.org and click on “volunteer” below our logo at the top. Or call, in Anchorage 907-278-0234; Fairbanks 907-374-6853; Jun...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program office is located at 35477 Kenai Spur Highway, Suite 205 (located in the 4D Professional Building). You can call them at 907-262-1280 or email kpfcsp@soldotnaseniors.comkpfcsp@soldotnaseniors.com. Support meetings allow you to share your experiences as a caregiver, or support someone who is a caregiver. If you are helping a family member or friend by being a caregiver, learn what kind of help is available. There is no charge for these services and everyone is invited to attend. Call with...
Author's note: Life is a journey and circumstances change, as they always do. It was with bittersweet thoughts that I recently recalled this story from 10 years ago while tending a brush pile fire with my two grandchildren, rather than my husband, Gary. He moved into the Palmer Pioneer Home in February. Our daughter and grandchildren traveled from Colorado to visit us in July. Perhaps some of the glue that holds our almost 40-year marriage together is cutting and stacking firewood and burning br...
Fall in Alaska is to be treasured by Alaskans-no tourists, no tour buses clogging the roads, no sightseeing planes or helicopters flying overhead. Just the sound of the tree leaves floating through the air after they turn gold and fall to the ground. It's time to take a trip and enjoy the beauty of Alaska. September with Get Lost Travel Vans in Anchorage. Travel van and SUV rental rates are just $199 per night plus tax, with just three-night minimum for a savings of up to $100 per night over...
Fall in Alaska comes with many perks - sightings of migratory birds and Alaskans heading to warmer climes, but best is the darkness that brings the awesome Aurora Borealis. Now Explore Fairbanks has a website that shows you the potential for aurora viewing and how many hours of daylight there is at any given time. While it may be sad to watch the light fade, after Dec. 21 there is the joy of seeing the minutes of light adding up. Go to https://www.explorefairbanks.com/#tracker. Fairbanks is the...
This may be jumping the gun a bit for more northern latitudes, but Alaska gardens will soon give us plenty of vegetables for making crisp, brined pickles or tangy fermentations. Some may be wrinkling their noses at the very suggestion of these sour condiments and as a nutritionist, I can only cautiously promote pickles on the plate. At the same time, I love pickles and fermented foods. I love classic dills, I love sweet and sour, I love the complex salty, tangy flavors of fermented vegetables. C...
Many of you have been out catching fish this summer, one of the healthiest foods that is found in our wonderful state. Others might have been catching up on household or honey-do projects, sleep, sunshine, family, vacations and more. Now, we want you to focus on catching up on your health needs, which might be considered a rare catch, indeed. We offer dozens of community events and a number of office events that are open to the public each health fair season. The fall 2022 community and office draw schedules are now posted on our website at www...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program office is located at 35477 Kenai Spur Highway, Suite 205 (located in the 4D Professional Building). You can call them at 907-262-1280 or email kpfcsp@soldotnaseniors.comkpfcsp@soldotnaseniors.com. The program will hold caregiver trainings and support group meetings in August at the locations below. Support meetings allow you to share your experiences as a caregiver, or support someone who is a caregiver. If you are helping a family member or friend by being a caregiver, learn what kind of...
"I think I opened the wrong door and went into the 'men's'", her friend said to my sister, Shirley, after returning to their car, which was parked in the driveway of my house. "The one I went into had a urinal." Shirley laughed and said, "No, you found the right place...his and hers in the same outhouse." They had stopped at my house for a pit stop on their one-day trip from Glennallen to Anchorage a few months into COVID. Sometimes Shirley would call and give me a "heads up" first, but not...
In Fairbanks, OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program at University of Alaska Fairbanks, will begin registration in August for its fall semester classes and will use a new lottery system to accommodate high demand. Classes are offered to adults age 50 and older and topics cover films and photography, exercise and recreation, arts and crafts, foods and flowers, healthy living, science and mathematics, literature and languages, history, politics, other academics, and much more. The new registration system will allow students to sign...
When Land Office chief Andrew Christensen opened the auction for townsites above Ship Creek on July 10, 1915, bidding became so brisk that prospective lot owners couldn't hold down prices. After sales closed a week later, 655 lots had sold for almost $150,000 (more than $4 million in today's dollars). Christensen claimed the sale had "injected confidence in the people of the town" that soon would become Anchorage. But that confidence may have been tempered somewhat when the residents realized th...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program office is located at 35477 Kenai Spur Highway, Suite 205 (located in the 4D Professional Building). You can call them at 907-262-1280 or email kpfcsp@soldotnaseniors.comkpfcsp@soldotnaseniors.com. The program will hold caregiver support group meetings in July at the locations below. Training is from 1 to 2 p.m., with support group meetings following, 2 to 3 p.m. Unless otherwise noted, this month’s training features a presentation and discussion on “Assisted Living Questions,” with Melis...
Alaska for the first time is getting a USGA championship. Anchorage Golf Course will host the 60th U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship, July 30-Aug. 4, 2022. It will mark the first time the USGA has taken one of its championships to the 49th state. Located on a hillside overlooking the city of Anchorage, this course is a municipal golf course designed by architect Bill Newcomb. The 6,600-yard layout features rolling, tree-lined fairways that lead to well bunkered, undulating greens. The...
The Alaska International Senior Games (AISG) is the official Alaska state qualifier for pickleball for the National Senior Games Assoc. (NSGA), which is a national organization of athletes age 50 and older. And this year's AISG Games will be the Alaska qualifying event for the NSGA Pickleball Championships in Pittsburgh, Pa., July 7-18, 2023. Diann Darnall, president of Alaska International Senior Games (AISG), says pickleball was requested to be included in the games in 2011, and was...
Living at our place on Chena Hot Springs Road out of Fairbanks the spring of 1975, my husband Gary and I wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible. We had five acres, but no electric power. Besides tending our garden, greenhouse and two honeybee hives, we decided to raise our own meat. So, we purchased thirty Cornish Cross chicks and two Holstein calves. Of course, these cute little peeps soon outgrew their cardboard box. We built a small plywood shelter and created a fenced enclosure with chi...
While travel by car seems prohibitive with gas prices at an all-time high of $5.51 in June, a drive to a festival may be the cure for he several years of isolation due to the pandemic. Get out and meet your fellow Alaskans or travel to a town you once lived in and see old friends. Kachemak Bay Highland Games, July 2-3, Homer. Men in skirts! Highland games of skill like tossing the caber – a big hunk of wood as far as you can. Clan regalia will be on sale. On Saturday night at 6:30 p.m., there's...
Since writing about clinical trials several editions back, I’ve earned about $40 in gift cards. Now I search for more. Participating in clinical studies can put a jingle in your pocket while contributing to medical science. Even my 5-year-old granddaughter realized this contribution -- when I gave her a microscope for her birthday, she said, “Now I can cure people!” The webpage that details current clinical trial research in your area is www.clinicalconnection.com/search-clinical-trials. I have to say, using this website was a little more...
The loyalty of many long time clients and the curiosity of many new ones has helped us at Alaska Health Fair to ride the crazy, wild waves of 2020-2022 and we didn’t go under water during the process. Our staff and volunteers will now take a short summer break, and dream of or take advantage of long weeks of camping or fishing as many of you might dream of. We use summer for personal leave, to rest and recover, write grants, do inventories, restock supplies, catch up on reports, book events and carefully prepare for the whirlwind of what we c...
Low-income Alaskans now qualify for discounted or free internet access, thanks to an expanded federal program announced by the White House May 16. The White House estimates the program will cover 48 million households, or 40 percent of the country. The Affordable Connectivity Program grants up to $30 a month to pay for high-speed internet for households who qualify under certain programs and income levels. Do you qualify for this program? There are two main ways to qualify for the Affordable Connectivity Program: Your household income, which...
Spring blood test dates end statewide in late May. Health fair services will be offered again in early August. We continue using our appointment-based model, which works extremely well. Remaining event details can be found at www.alaskahealthfair.org. May health fair event dates: May 5 Ninilchik, 3 to 6 p.m. May 6 Ninilchik, 8 a.m. to noon May 14 Central, 8 to 11 a.m. May 21 Anchorage, 8 a.m. to noon In-office draw dates – Anchorage May 3 and Fairbanks May 3, 10, 17 Use our website at www.alaskahealthfair.org to schedule a blood test a...
Alaska is a place of endless sky, steep mountains, rolling tundra and miles of coastline. It is a place of climatic and geographic extremes, dynamic and diverse habitats, and abundant resources. Each year millions of birds make the journey from their wintering grounds to this state that we call home. They include over 300 different species from petrels and loons, sandpipers and plovers, hawks and eagles, to hummingbirds and swallows. They depart from six different continents and travel north...
Knowing all too well the effects of social isolation on the health of seniors, both mental and physical, the Fairbanks Senior Center has temporarily pivoted to a new rented space at Shoppers Forum Mall next to Planet Fitness. The ribbon cutting was on April 13, when visitors got to see the new location. "It's the first of many good days for our seniors to meet, have lunch, use the internet and who knows - probably some exercise classes in the future," Fairbanks Senior Center Executive Director D...
The Alaska Commission on Aging will hold a quarterly meeting May 9 through 12 in Fairbanks at the Wedgewood Resort. Items of discussion will include updates on dementia programs, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, veterans issues, senior housing, Alaska Pioneer Homes and other topics pertaining to Alaska seniors. Meeting hours are Monday, May 9, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. and Tuesday, May 10, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Wednesday, May 11, the commission members will lead listening sessions throughout the area. Thursday, the commission meets from 8:30...
Ride sharing and van service for older adults in Alaska has taken a terrible beating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many transportation services in much of the state were cut back or eliminated. Now, as the pandemic is winding down, ride services are returning. Fairbanks Senior Center Executive Director Darlene Supplee, executive director said the pandemic changed the center’s operations and how ride requests were handled. Many older adults were unable to go to and from their medical appointments. “Now, we are moving back to congregate mea...
