June 2018

O'Hara has donated his platelets so often over the last 20 years that he's become part of the fabric of the Mon-roeville donation center. He and the staff talk about their families and their lives. "One day, I wasn't here and they called me at home to make sure I was all right. I was just running late, but I made it," O'Hara said. Blood donations are lim-ited to once every 56 days. Platelets, though can be given several times a month. That's because donors such as O'Hara actually keep their blood. Once the platelets are spun out and separated, O'Hara's blood is recycled back into his body. O'Hara, a U.S. Navy vet-eran, originally acted as a whole blood donor, something he had done while he served in the South Pacific. When a friend suggested he try the more time consuming process of giving his plate-lets, he jumped in and extended both arms, one from which the platelets were drawn and the other in which his blood was returned. The process has changed over the decades as ma-chines now draw platelets and return the blood via the same arm.

"That first year I donated platelets, around Christmas-time I got a card from a family whose daughter got my plate-lets. It just makes me feel good to donate," O'Hara said. Workers at the blood bank don't know how many lives O'Hara has helped to save, only that his donations are sorely needed. "What he's doing, though, is intense. To do it 500 times, it's like going to the World Se-ries three years in a row. That's special," said Rick McGrath of Monroeville. McGrath, a donor himself, learned of O'Hara's generosity and was so impressed that he earlier this year recommended him for the prestigious Jeffer-son Award for public service. For O'Hara, even after reaching his milestone, he said he expects to be back in the chair, arm out and ready to donate again in two weeks.

Rich Cholodofsky For 20 years Bill O'Hara spends every other Sunday morning at the Central Blood Bank in Monroeville to donate platelets that are used to by cancer patients and others who require infusions of the life-saving clotting agent. This Sunday, O'Hara made his 500th donation. "I don't do it for recogni-tion. I do it because it makes me feel good. If somebody needs what I got, then it's worth it," O'Hara said. O'Hara, 70, of Washing-ton Township, is a retired en-gineer who has made it his routine to come as many as 24 times a year to recline in a chair and doze off as his blood is drawn from his right arm, and spun in a centrifuge to separate platelets from his blood. Most days, O'Hara re-laxes as he listens to music or watches movies on a monitor that hangs above his head during the 90-minute proc-ess.. Sunday's donation was a little bit more celebratory. He was greeted with balloons and a cake on Sunday to commemorate the milestone. "I think it's absolutely amazing for him to donate so much of his time and blood. He has the biggest heart," said Kimberly Abbott, the technician who has overseen O'Hara's donations for the last 18 years. "It's something he looks forward to and I look forward to his coming in."

500 Donations, Countless Lives

Saved, For Platelet Donor

GOOD N

EW

S

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High-Flying Fireman, 94, Takes To The Skies Again at Fun Flights Biplane Rides at McClellan-Palomar Air-port in Carlsbad. "I love be-ing outdoors and I love fly-ing." Russell lives at Cypress Court retirement community in Escondido, where well-ness director Judy Lucous runs the "Dreams Do Come True" program. Every few months, she surprises a dif-ferent resident with a bucket-list wish. Past wish grants have included the chance to ride a bicycle again, go up in a hot-air balloon or spend an afternoon shopping at the mall. Lucous said Russell did-n't request the biplane ride, but after hearing about his high-flying career, she thought it would be an ex-perience he would enjoy. And he clearly did. Although he uses a walker to get around, Rus-sell virtually sprinted on his way to the airplane hangar. "This is tremendous," he said before climbing into the plane's tight passenger com-partment with the agility of a man in his 60s. Russell rode in the air-plane with his son, Donal S. Russell, 69, of Capistrano Beach. It was piloted by

Pam Kragen

If there's one thing Donal L. Russell loves most, it's being outdoors. For nearly four decades, the 94-year-old retiree trav-eled the state by airplane as a wildlands firefighter. And at the Escondido, Calif., re-tirement home where Rus-sell now lives, he can relia-bly be found on the patio each day enjoying the sun-shine. So when he was offered the chance recently to take a ride in a 1929 biplane, he was thrilled at the chance to thread the clouds once again. Back in his firefighting days, Russell often rode in a biplane on "seeding" mis-sions, where he'd fly over burned areas dropping pounds of groundcover seeds in hopes that the new plant roots would stabilize the soil to fend off mud-slides. But Russell retired in 1974, so it's been a long time since he has been able to enjoy the exhilaration of the open cockpit. "I'm not at all afraid of going up," he said Thursday during a pre-flight orientation

Brian "Biggles" Shepherd, who bought the 1929 Travel Air B-4000 airplane with his wife, Janene, in 2013. They launched Fun Flights a year later. The three-seat air-plane, one of just 40 of its kind still flying today, cruises at an altitude of 1,500 feet and travels about 85 miles an hour, which Shepherd said feels like "riding down the free-way with the top down." "This is real flying," he said. "There's nothing auto-mated in this plane. It's all stick and rudder." After the half-hour flight, which traveled down the North County coast, Russell was over the moon about the experience. "It was outstanding, it was thrilling, it was wonder-ful, it was great," he said. "I'm so grateful for what Judy and everyone did to make it happen." Russell was born into a ranching family on Sept. 23, 1924, in Long Beach. When he was in high school, a family friend gave him a part-time office job answering phones over-night at what's now the California Department of

Forestry and Fire Protec-tion. After high school, he became a firefighter and retired 36 years later as a division chief. The job required him to fly all over the state battling fires. Most times, the fire-fighters traveled in a DC-3, but for seeding operations, they rode in biplanes, which was one of Russell's favorite jobs. For most of his career, Russell lived in Ramona. He and his wife, who died in 2003, had four sons to-gether, two of whom served in the military. His son Donal, who has a twin brother, Dan, said his fa-ther has thrived in recent years in the companionship of friends at Cypress Court. He credits his dad's longevity to "living life r i g h t . " But his f a t h e r said he has his own se-c r e t elixir. " I t ' s just good beer," he joked.

Page 4 HOME HEALTH NEWS 1. San Francisco, 2. Missouri, 3. Camptown Races, 4. Texas, 5. London Bridge, 6. Carolina, 2. 7. Oklahoma, 8. Chicago, 9. St Louis, 10. Paris, 11. London, 12. Calcutta, 13. Hawaii,

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lion, turtle, owl, cheetah, tiger, monkey, bear, elephants, leopard, parrot, koala Giraffe, penguins, polar bear, porcupine. Fish, gibbon, reindeer, zebra, sharks, insects, frogs

This Months Employee All Stars

Andrea

LVN

15 Years

Mary T

HHA

24 Years

Krista

HR

2 Year

Haley

RN

4 Years

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Zip-Lining Seniors Defy Acrophobia

lercoaster years ago, and she hopped aboard. Bernie a lso has 14 great -grandchildren and four sur-viving sons. They’ve all learned it to be pointless to suggest restrictions. Most of the zip-liners were in their 80s, with some in their 60s and 70s. The youngest — a woman 59 — agreed to take the first ride. She made it fine — twice. This provided the

Don Newbury If you were driving re-cently in picturesque Palo Duro Canyon, don’t think the high elevation was getting to you, hallucination had begun or that your eyes were in trick mode. Pshaw, it really may have been a 103-year-old man zooming down the zip line. More specifically, it may have been Elvin Howell from the Carillon LifeCare Com-munity in Lubbock. The able-bodied cente-narian wasn’t alone. He was joined by 18 others who made the 90-minute bus trip to the canyon where a thrill-ing ride and picnic awaited. If you think “bucket lists” came into play, give yourself an “A.” At one of their “what-shall-we-do-next” sessions prior to the outing, they watched a movie promoting zip-lining at Palo Duro Can-yon. The prospect of zoom-ing down a cable rising as far as 230 feet from the can-yon floor seemed appealing. They’re still talking about the experience, and Howell, a retired Tulia edu-cator, is delighted to learn he’s the oldest person ever to ride the zip line, which now is in its fifth year of op-eration. Perhaps least sur-prised are his two sons, three grandsons and six great-granddaughters, who have been advised that rid-ing the Ruidoso, New. Mex-ico, zip line now is near the top of his new “bucket list.” The next oldest Carillon rider recounting the zip-lining adventure is Bernie Wilson, a 91-year-old widow from Snyder. Be careful not to dare her. One of her 17 grandchildren did so at a Six Flags Over Texas rol-

“green light” for other Caril-lon participants to get strapped in for the fast ride down. Someone said that we are once an adult and twice a child. I’ll go along with a child-like approach in later years. Another sage said, “I want to be like green toma-toes. As long as we’re green, we grow. It’s when we think we’re ripe that we start to get rotten.”

If you visit the Carillon, expect to hear animated conversations about what residents want to do next, and more zip-lining may be included. If so, it’ll be inter-esting to learn if residents in wheelchairs choose to go. They also are invited, since there are no age or physical restrictions unless weight exceeds 350 pounds. Oh, they make more sedate trips, too, including visits to Fredericksburg, Caprock Canyons State Park and the Abilene Zoo.

Answers: 1. love, 2. father, 3. watch, 4. sports, 5. gadgets, 6. after shave, 7. loyal, 8. handmade card

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Heart Of

Texas

Network

At Early

consolidated

Business Company

2410 Songbird Circle, Brownwood - 325-643-9056

Retirement & Assisted Living

Alzheimer’s Support Group

Meets the 4th Wednesday of every Month at 2 pm

Answers: 15, 4, 6, 12, 11, 9, 14, 13, 1,

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Parkinson’s Support Group

2501 Morris Sheppard Dr., Brownwood, TX 76801

325-643-2746

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Meets 2nd Thursday of every month at 12:00 pm

Color Me

Spot the 17 differences

Page 12 HOME HEALTH NEWS

A Personal Touch at Duty's End

Army Arlington Ladies. "We give the personal touch." In swelter and snow, Arlington Ladies ensure that no active-duty or veteran soldier, sailor, airman or Coast Guardsman is buried alone. The envelopes contain a condolence card from the armed service's chief of staff and a note that the Arlington Lady has handwritten, often after researching the service member online. Arlington Ladies began in 1948, when Air Force chief of staff Gen. Hoyt Van-denberg and his wife, Gladys, noticed that some-times only the military chap-

Marsha Mercer

On any weekday in Arlington National Ceme-tery, as many as 30 war dead and veterans are laid to rest. The funeral ritual in-cludes a spit-and-polish honor guard, the sharp crack of a rifle volley, a bu-gler's mournful taps and the presentation of a folded American flag. Then comes a moment of comforting. An Arlington Lady qui-etly speaks to the family and gives an envelope to the next of kin. "A military funeral is very precise," says Margaret Mensch, chairman of the

lain was present at Arling-ton funerals. Someone from the Air Force family should always be there, they agreed, and she re-cruited friends at the Offi-cers' Wives Club. In 1973, Julia Abrams,

wife of Army Gen. Creighton Abrams, formed an Army wives' group. A Navy group started in 1985, and the Coast Guard followed in 2006. A representa-tive of the Marine com-mandant's office at-tends every Marine funeral. Altogether, about 200 women (in the past, their numbers also included two men) participate in the pro-gram at any given time. Each has a connection to the service as wife, m o t h e r , w i d o w or veteran. One day a month, Sandra Griffin, 52, who retired as a major after 23 years on active duty, writes sympathy notes to Air Force fami-lies she's never met and attends funerals. "It's a way to still serve," she says. "It's a comfort to the families. Some reach out to hold your hand and say 'Thank you.' " The total number of

funerals Arlington Ladies have attended is not known, but to give an idea, the Army volunteers have witnessed almost 30,000 funerals since 2000. Ladies wear name badges and have a military escort. Each group has its own rules. For example, Navy Ladies also attend funerals of spouses of liv-ing servicemen and veter-ans. "We're not there as a sympathizer or mourner" but as a witness, says Nancy Reed, cochair of the Air Force group. Paula McKinley, an Arlington Lady for 25 years and chair of the Navy group, calls their participa-tion "a team effort." Joyce Johnson be-came an Army Arlington Lady four years after her husband, Dennis, 48, was killed on 9/11 in the attack on the Pentagon and bur-ied at Arlington. "We do it from our hearts," she says. "My heart breaks at every funeral." One unwritten rule ap-plies to all Arlington Ladies: They don't cry. Ever. "Once in a while you come close to tears — when it's a young active-duty soldier, a young widow and young kids," Mensch says. "But you don't cry."

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Heart Of Texas

Ostomy

Support Group

At Brownwood Regional Medical Center

For more information Contact Joan Countess 325-643-5820

Page 15 HOME HEALTH NEWS Answers:

1. All are tables 2. All are worms 3. All have rings 4. All are cracked 5. All have whites 6. Types of berries 7. All have holes 8. All have Lincolns 9. All are pitched 10. Types of boards 11. Types of poles 12. Types of tellers 13. All have shells 14. All can be carved 15. Types of winds 16. All have capes 17. Types of mail 18. Can be tuned 19. Make deliveries 20. All have pockets

Across 1. Shower 3. bean 8. one 9. hopscotch 11. June 12. eat 13. hot 16. zoo 17. July 19. beach 20. swimming 25. tar 27. rest 28. retreat 29. muggy 32. sandals 33. thunder 34. exciting

Down 1. sis 2. watch 3. breeze 4. note 5. September 6. solo 7. sunny 10. catch 13. hobbies 14. tracker 15. summer 18. best 21. water 22. nest 23. lotion 24. humid 26. August 30. late 31. are 32. sit

CMS HEALTH CARE, INC 1102 Early Blvd Early, TX 76802

BROWNWOOD PHONE (325) 643-4900 (800) 643-9152

COLEMAN PHONE (325) 625-2186 (800) 870-3773

WEBSITE

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Owners David & Becky Furry

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CFO Jennifer Furry, LVN Director of Nurses

Kasey Bonnema, RN

Coleman Branch Manager Luana Saverance, RN

Nurses Haley Bell, RN

Karen Bessent, RN Skye Burleson, RN

Brandye Chandler, RN Michelle Day, RN Beckie Ehlers, RN

Tiffinie Greenrock, RN Jennifer Moody, RN Dena Pinkston, RN Laura Preston, RN Debbie Quick, RN

Shayre Strickland, RN, BSN Shelbi Taylor, RN

Andrea Chambers, LVN Regina Davidson, LVN Shandelyn Dickey, LVN

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Kristy Keith, LVN Debbie Pinson, LVN Angie Powell, LVN

Home Health Aides Deanna Ballard, HHA

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Margie McMillian, HHA Mary Thornhill, HHA

Rachael Zuniga, HHA

Therapists Justin Atkinson, OT

Russell Beasley, LPT Tracey Carr, OT

O. E. Gammill, LPT Jennifer Garcia, ST

Amy Hardy, LPT James Huang, LPT

Jamie Hurst, OT Yumiko Kai, OT Scott King, MPT

LeAn Warren, LPT Dorinda Braun, PTA Chris Evans, PTA

Vicky Gammill, PTA Kerry Huang (Babcock),PTA

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Rachael King, COTA Sam Ruiz, COTA

Medical Social Worker Mary Stephenson, LSW

Office Staff Carolyn Barkley

Bonnie Barr Markie Grantham

Denean Rice Robin Tyler

Cathy Wiedebusch Krista Womack

Business Development Tina Judkins

Quality Assurance / Compliance Director

Raedel Rind, RN,MSN

Newsletter Linda Inabnet

1988

1988

1988 - --

2017

2017

2017

CELEBRATING

30 YEARS

OF EXCELLENCE