Topics

Not The Beatles

A Girl Scout leader, a Polar Express elf and a couple who takes their dog, Molly, to visit sick children.

Tina Collins, Michael Babbitt and the Freys — Brent and Dot — are rock stars to kids throughout Northeast Ohio.

Whether they’re on a train, at camp or next to a hospital bed, these four have parlayed the remarkable power of volunteerism into service that’s both fulfilling and fun.

In many ways, Michael, Tina, Brent and Dot are like thousands of other 50-and-older Northeast Ohio residents who share their time and talents. Volunteering is important to them, and children hold a special place in their hearts.

Christmas Spirit

Michael’s sparkling eyes and outgoing personality seem custom-made for his role as an elf-reader on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s annual Polar Express. He looks quite comfortable in his outrageously oversized Christmas hat and red shoes with toes that curl elaborately upward.

His elf job is riding the train with hundreds of excited children as they travel through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to the North Pole. He’ll ride on 14 trains between Nov. 11 and Dec. 21.

“There’s a role for everyone,” Michael says. “Some just want to serve hot chocolate, others write name tags and seat people.”

But all dress up in some fashion and ride the train or stand along the platform greeting children arriving at the North Pole.

No experience? No costume? No problem. “Volunteer once and you will become an expert,” Michael says.  While most volunteers supply their own attire, Polar Express organizers have tunics to lend to North Pole elves.

Girl Power

Tina got involved with Girl Scouts when she was a girl, and then again when her daughters were young. She liked it so much that she has stayed with Scouting for two decades and counting, volunteering as an outdoor trainer and most recently as leader of high school girls in Troop 90146 out of Northfield.

Fitness

Strength Training

I’ve been at this game called “exercise” my entire adult life, and it is my ever-growing certainty that no matter the issue, no matter the benefit sought, no matter the disease to be addressed or the problem to be surmounted, strength training seems to be the answer.

Want to look better in your clothes (or out of them)? Want to address diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other diseases?

Are you about to enter into chemotherapy? Are you suffering from depression? In almost all of these situations, strength training is the most effective measure you can take on the road to good health. Numerous studies in recent years have proven this.

Get Started

When it comes to strength training, I have definite opinions on the best and most efficient way to perform it, but those opinions are not as strong as my belief that you should perform strength training in almost any form. Muscle has evolved over billions of years and is the most adaptive and plastic tissue in our body. As such, strength training can be incredibly simple, precisely because muscle is so complex.

There are many different ways to train, and skeletal muscle will adapt to them all. My only concern is when improper training techniques pose an injury risk. As training expert Arthur Jones once said, “It won’t matter if you have 20-inch arms if you injure your back.”

In the past 10 years, scientific literature has exploded with studies that uncover benefits to strength training that we never imagined. Much of this is linked to myokines, the hormone-like substances released by exercising muscle that benefit other body tissues.

Like my lifelong focus, most of this literature centers on the why of strength training. As the why becomes more accepted and obvious, the focus will begin to shift to the how.

Arthritis Pain

What to Do, When to Get it Done

By Reuben Gobezie, MD

Question

I have bone-on-bone arthritis. Does that disqualify me from treatment?  

Answer

No, we have helped many with bone-on-bone, or stage four, arthritis. Regenerative medicine procedures are used to stimulate healing and speed up repair for a wide range of painful bone, muscle and joint conditions. We have found it is especially helpful for patients with osteoarthritis.

Regenerative treatments work by activating the body’s natural healing process through injections of the body’s own healthy stem cells to stimulate tissue regeneration and natural healing. Using our own stem cells for therapy is the standard of care for this sort of treatment, and is what has been regulated by the FDA.

We all carry stem cells that act as the body’s “repairmen.” With arthritis, the body’s ability to sustain healthy cartilage may have diminished. The Regen procedure takes healthy, regenerative cells from an area of your body, typically your hip bone, in which these cells are more abundant and injects them into the affected area. When stem cells are concentrated and injected into a joint with arthritis, this can help restart a new healing response that will eventually help ease pain and may also stimulate the growth of new cartilage in that area.

For many patients, these treatments have allowed them to avoid surgery or ongoing steroid injections, or lets them stop taking regular pain medications. Our patients walk out of the procedure and can return to normal activities in just a couple days after rest. Most patients find their mobility greatly improved with pain relief lasting for as long as two to eight years. The treatments are non-surgical and are outpatient, performed in one office visit, and result in little downtime for the patient.

BOOM!

Pop Culture Chronicles

You don’t spell success with dollar signs.

What does success mean to you? Look, I don’t try to write about sports. There are plenty of people who know a lot more about sports than me. At least they think they do and I don’t feel like arguing about it.

I want the home teams to win, and after that I watch the World Series or Super Bowl and chant “Wait ’til next year” like a mantra. Have to say I was really proud of the Indians this season. When I was growing up we used to say, “Go Tribe — and take the Cavs with you!”

The Browns were always hot, but at one point the Indians were selling players to make payroll. You went to an Indians game to see some of the greats playing on the other team.

For the past few years you saw the excitement and civic pride grow with each Tribe and Cavs season. Now, about the Browns. Close your eyes, sit in a lotus position and repeat after me: “Wait ’til next year. Wait ’til next year.”

Here’s what I’m getting at. We all have our own concept of success, but that should include celebrating every victory no matter how small it seems. Did you win the office pool? Maybe you got a prime parking space. How about if someone really liked a gift you got them? What if you were just proven right about something?

Another thing: You might be retired, your kids might be grown up, and you sit around in sweatpants all day. The only time you put on regular clothes is to go to funerals for people who exercised.

Now is the time to try something new, maybe something you always wanted to do. I used to work with Ben Holbert over at Channels 19 and 43.

Brain Games

By Kathryn Kilpatrick

Upgrade Your Memory Fitness Routine

WORD SEARCH

Make a word using one letter from each of the sets of letters. Do not change their order.

Examples                             Answers

W V       O K      N E               WON

H  Y       U  E      S C                 YES

————————————————————————————————————-

M B      L A     PI                           MAP

F S       O W    U R     S K                                                      FORK

K W     R A      L F      L I               WALL

B G      I N       R O    U L                                                      GIRL

E Z       R L       B I      K O    F W    ELBOW

A G     R W     S E     A I     T L                                             GREAT

P T      E A     R O    P Z     L  F     I  E                                   PEOPLE

A C      G A    O S    T M    R L     E Y    CASTLE

Memory Tip
If you want to remember something you read, look away and repeat it. Go over the information again. The key to remembering something you read or heard is repetition.

This puzzle and memory tip is provided by Kathryn Kilpatrick, a speech-language pathologist. She is available for Memory Fitness and Keep Your Brain Sharp programs and private consultations.