Refocus Aug 2020
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By Jim Scanlon A REPORT OF THE CLEVELAND STROKE CLUB Aug. 2020 Cleveland Stroke Club, c/o Geri Pitts The MISSION of the Cleveland Stroke Club is 9284 Towpath Trail to enhance the lives of stroke survivors and Seville, OH 44273 their families through support, fellowship and 330-975-4320 socialization, education and advocacy. The Cleveland Stroke Club was founded on the basic self-help concept. That is, stroke survivors and their families banded together to exchange coping techniques for the many stroke-related problems they experience. During the time of Covid: all of our meetings are on Zoom. If you want to attend, contact us and we will send you a link and help you log-in. Contact Geri Pitts, If you or a member of your family has had a stroke, we invite you to visit our meetings anytime. New members and community professionals are always welcome. Both meetings have plenty of free handicap parking and are fully wheelchair accessible. Our zoom schedule, newsletter, resource list, & papers are online: www.clevelandstrokeclub.org ReFocus 2 Aug. 2020 Officers 5/2020-5/2021 By Geri Pitts President Your efforts to stay home and, when you must go out, masking yourselves Linda Davis while avoiding crowds has paid off because we have not heard of any new cases of Covid19 in our membership. Good for all of you. I hope you’re taking Asst. to the President advantage of what the community has offered to minimize exposure. When this is Linda Pfeffer over, no matter how long it takes, we’ll meet in person again and celebrate. There may Vice-President be new rules but we have to keep this tradition of the Cleveland Stroke Club going Deena and Brian Barrett beyond 46 years. 216-410-2306 Acting Secretary To keep our relationships strong, we offer monthly virtual gatherings that have been Kay Exl well-attended with much enthusiasm. Treasurer Caregivers meetings the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. John Pumper Stroke Survivors meetings the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. Assistant Treasurer Lunch with friends the third Friday of each month at 12 noon. Roger Gulbranson AND, last but not least… Then we have BINGO every Wednesday at 7 p.m. with time for conversation before and Founder after our games. As promised in the beginning of the pandemic, your BINGO prize is Bill Pitts getting your name in the ReFocus. Here are the winners for July: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Pfeffer, Arlene Beinhardt, Joyce Levy, Vivien Sekeres, John Pumper, Geri Pitts Linda Davis, Jackie Patterson, Peggy Price, Linda Pfeffer, Damon Smith, Bonnie Morris, Mary Pumper, Vinita Saggar, Charles Boone, Delores Jones, Raj Saggar, Executive Director & Editor George Borodi, Bonnie Morris. Some people have lucky cards and win each week; Emeritus some people have won three times in one night. We play four to six games each week Dorothy Norton so there’s ample opportunity to win. A special thanks to Arlene Bienhardt for doing what she does so well. Also to Kay Board Committees Exl and John Pumper for displaying and calling out the numbers. A huge thank-you Public Relations goes to Linda Davis, Damon Smith and Charles Boone who substitute when needed. Chairperson Sue Sheridan Membership Chairperson If you haven’t already played BINGO with us, please try it. It’s a wonderful way to Kay Exl keep in touch with your friends. Debbie Felt will mail you BINGO cards (440-944- 6794) and I (330-975-4320) will send you a link to the Zoom site in order to play. You Secretary to the Board can also print your own BINGO cards from a link on our website: Sue Sheridan Volunteer Coordinator www.clevelandstrokeclub.org Shirley Patterson Assistant to the Board Downloading the Zoom program is easy, free and safe. Zoom has helped us maintain Bonnie Morris contact with our members. Join us at any meeting and be a part of this outstanding 440-552-3970 club. Phone Caller Linda Pfeffer By Jean Nisenboum Caregiver Meeting Set-Up Hi, everyone. We hope you are enjoying the summer. Just wanted to tell Joyce Levy Katherine Sims you that Remote Speak Easy is off for a couple of weeks while the students are on break. We will back on Monday, August 24th. If anyone new is interested in ReFocus Assembly attending, you can email me at [email protected] or reach out to Deb and she will get Malcolm Gordon, in touch with me. We can help you get connected! Damon Smith ReFocus 3 Aug. 2020 By Linda Davis ♥ 4 Obama Day ♥ 6 Nat’l Root Beer Float D ♥ 7 Int’l Beer Day Hello, everyone! ♥ 7 Nat’l Lighthouse Day ♥ 8 Int’l Cat Day I hope you are staying cool and taking it easy this summer. ♥ 9 Book Lovers Day ♥ 10 Nat’l Smores Day We hope you can join us on Zoom. We are having lots of fun. It is so nice to see ♥ 13 Int’l Left-Handers Day ♥ 15 Assumption of Mary everyone. Our schedule is below. Our lunch is a really nice time to get to know ♥ 15 Nat’l Relaxation Day each other. We are learning more and more about Zoom and we can help you log- ♥ 16 Nat’l Rollercoaster Day in, if you are new to this kind of meeting. Let’s stay in touch by phone, email, ♥ 20 Islamic New Year zoom, snail mail, and Facebook. Below are some pictures. ♥ 20 Nat’l Radio Day ♥ 24 Ukraine Indep. Day August Zoom Meeting Calendar ♥ 26 Nat’l Dog Day https://www.wincalendar.com/Holiday- Calendar/Aug-2020 Date Meeting Time Regular Meeting Day 8/3 Caregivers’ Meeting 7:00–8:00 First Monday of every Month 8/5 Bingo 6:30–8:00 Every Wednesday 8/11 Board Meeting 4:00–5:00 Second Tuesday of every Month 8/12 Bingo 6:30–8:00 Every Wednesday Linda Pfeffer 8/4 8/17 Survivors’ Meeting 7:00–8:00 Third Monday of every Month Chris Vuyancih 8/5 Michael Hamilton 8/6 8/19 Bingo 6:30–8:00 Every Wednesday Brian Hancock 8/8 8/21 Lunch 11:30–2:30 Third Friday of every Month Henry Campbell 8/10 8/26 Bingo 6:30–8:00 Every Wednesday Summer Smith 8/14 Dietrich Dick 8/15 Betty Ellsworth 8/22 Sue Sheridan 8/26 Our July Caregivers’ Meeting: Barry’s daughter joined us with her two children Steven Finowski 8/27 from Vermont. Judi celebrated her birthday with us! We discussed coping with nursing home lock-down, school re-opening, and our families. Love the support! Cassandra & Ike Nelson 8/6/2018 Steph Burke & Nic Goodall 8/11/2018 Jenny & Mason Camp 8/12/1978 Joanne & Dennis Losz 8/15/2014 Deena & Brian Barrett 8/17/1986 Ellen & Ben Richman 8/20/1961 Charlotte & Tony Starec 8/23/2003 Bonnie & Jim Lyle Morris 8/25/1973 Dottie & George Norton 8/26/1972 ReFocus 4 Aug. 2020 In July we hosted our first Zoom Survivor Meeting. Jean Nisenboum kindly agreed to continue hosting our Survivor’s meeting. Since this group had not met since March, we had a lot to catch up on. We went around the “room” and brought everyone up to date in our lives. Linda P. gave us the best news: her new grandchild is on the way. Everyone else is hanging in there and trying to enjoy the summer. Jean reminded us that the Survivor Group decided to write some handouts for new stroke survivors: Our Tips for Recovery. We will work on these handouts throughout 2020 and post them on our Website and on FB. Jean reminded everyone to wear a mask, but she knows that many masks interfere with hearing aids. She said some masks can clip on your glasses. Also, since Geri wears a hearing aid, she made a pattern and sews her own. They work! Jean also reminded people to keep their brains active. Puzzles that are a little challenging are great at keeping us sharp. We also need to remember to talk to family and friends to keep our speech skills improving. Exercise and stretching are also important. Many of our members are walking outside on nice days. Remember to drink lots of water and take breaks. Big thanks to Jean and everyone who participated. Hope to see everyone in August! Always room for one more! July Zoom Lunch. We had a nice time eating, drinking, and chatting with friends. We spent a little time catching-up and then we ended up talking a lot about chronic pain issues. Many of us have chronic pain in our joints: shoulders, knee, back, fingers, etc. We talked about exercises, medicines, patches, doctors, and rehab. It is so good to learn about other people’s experiences. Although the topic was serious, we felt better at the end of the lunch. Thanks, everyone! ReFocus 5 Aug. 2020 Our weekly Bingo game is a favorite and well attended. Geri opens the meeting at 6:30. We chit-chat until everyone gets in and then the game begins at 7:00 and lasts until 8:00. Geri hosts the meeting and her little dog tells time perfectly – so at 8:00 he bugs Geri to take him for a walk and the rest of us can hang around and chat. We have this down to a science. Kay or Linda shuffle the cards and hold them up. John or Charles or Gary or Damon call the numbers, Geri marks them off, and we celebrate the wins.