Sierra Services for the Blind Newsletter

November 2024

"We do not notice that to look at the past we must turn our backs on the future."  ~ A. Nonymous

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Mark Twain, wit and wisdom

In our newsletters we try to do three things.  The first is to educate and inform, which includes everything from the latest medical research to how agencies like ours are funded, or coming events.  The second is to entertain with a little humor, which often uses the third reason we use the newsletters.  Keep our minds active and leave the reader with something to think about.  To do that we use quotes, and to do that we use either the deep thinkers, or better yet those who combine wit and wisdom.  These range from Ben Franklin’s, Poor Richards Almanac, to Folks like W. C. Fields or Yogi Berra, or even Winne the Pooh or the Cat in the Hat.

Another favorite is Mark Twain, who was far more than a simple humorist.  His books are created out of his life and chronicles our nation in the 19^th century.  Books like Tom Sawyer which is derived from his childhood, to Roughing It which tells the story of his coming West where he finds a job writing for the Virgina City’s Territorial Enterprise and starts to let his pen make his living, and to make us look at ourselves both then, and now.  He used his observations of society and his wit to create little quotes as fillers for space in the paper.  Like Franklin who used fillers in his almanac, Twain speaks to all generations.  Here are but a few observations.

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"Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

"A clear conscience is the sign of a bad memory."

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way."

"A man who does not read has no advantage over a man who cannot read."

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it is a sure sign you are getting older."

And with a little more humor he would add one that means more than it says:

"Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society."

 Twain’s life was always interesting.  He was born in November of 1835 when Halley’s Comet was in the night sky.  He always said he had come in with it and would leave with it.  He died in April of 1910 when Halley’s Comet was in the sky again.

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"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something

he can learn no other way."  ~ Mark Twain

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Client Holiday Dinner

This year our annual client holiday dinner is scheduled for Friday, December 6th at the Love Building in Condon Park.  Dinner will be served at 1:00 P.M. again this year.

This event is a tradition held just after Thanksgiving as Sierra Services has done for the last 35 years.  It is our opportunity to use the Holidays to celebrate another year with our clients, and for a chance for many of them to meet each other for the first time.  We will be providing a complete traditional holiday meal, and there will be no cost to the client.  It is also a chance for clients to say thank you by bringing that individual who has also helped them over the last year.

It is also not a fund-raising event.  There is no cost to the client or the volunteer.  It is our gift to you.  Remember, each moment we have together is the gift of the season we all share.  That is why that moment is called the present.

We hope you can join us, and we will be making calls in late November.  We need the clients to let us know if they plan to attend a week in advance as we must know how much food to order and prepare.  And, of course, for us to plan the transportation which makes full use of our volunteers.   

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A time to keep careful watch for scams

Unfortunately, the holidays are also a time when scams hit a little harder.  They will be asking for money to feed one group or another, use the poor as a reason to give, or pretend to be some charity they are not, and simply pray on your sense of charity during the holidays.  This means you need to be more aware of how to treat a call from a number you don’t know.  They now have ways to make their call look like it is local on your phone’s caller ID.  Watch where you keep your credit card, others can use cell phones to read the information.

If the caller wants personal or financial information over the phone, hang up.  Never give out financial information to anyone you do not know over the phone or internet, especially medial information.

If the caller asks you, “Can you hear me,” don’t say “Yes.”  They record it and send you something you did not order, and if you complain they can use that recording to say you agreed.

Only give to charities you know of and know the work that they do.

If the caller offers you something at a greatly discounted cost do not take the offer.  They could simply add a higher shipping cost to send it, or it may be stollen items.  This is particularly true if they come to your door to sell you something they have in hand.  Also, catalogues sell your information to other catalogues.

If you are purchasing something to be delivered to someone as a gift at a different address than your own, make them clearly state the cost of shipping, and read back the location and shipping time.

If you ask for their contact information and say you will call them back, they will usually hang up on you.

If the call is from a computerized system, hang up.  Never talk to a person that is not real, just programmed to read a prepared script.  If it takes a while for them to respond when you answer, it is a robot call.

 And above all, use common sense.  If it sounds funny, or too good to be true it probably is.

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The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like,

and do what you would rather not. ~ Mark Twain

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Advances in Medicine Continue

The Foundation Fighting Blindness is an organization that gives grants specific to vision related research.  They have just announced that a new therapy for wet macular degeneration, now called simply 4D-150, is entering a new Phase Three clinical trial with 500 patients.  The treatment is designed to stop the growth of damaging leaky blood vessels underneath the retina.  How this differs from present treatments is that it requires administration of an injection only every six months.  It is an example of the medical community using your own genetic, hormonal and chemical systems to let your body heal itself.

The process uses a proprietary adreno-associated virus which works as a medium to place two therapeutic genes which produce four proteins to the cells and block vascular growth.  It was also noted in the study that dry macular degeneration leads to wet macular degeneration, and working with both it is hoped that process can be stopped very early in the process.  As one in four will develop macular degeneration by age 80 this new way to manage the progression of the disease will have a great impact on aging as well as vision.

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A Dramatic Surge in Clients

Sierra Services, like all non-profits has a rise and fall in the number of clients they serve.  Historically we hit a low a couple of years ago of 135.  COVID played a part in it.  We grew back to a more normal number of 150 over time and maintained that level for several months.  A few months ago, we had a sudden rise to 175, which also lasted a couple of months before another surge brought us to 192 as of this report. 

This means several things will change.  One of course is in the workload the office must accommodate.  That means more hours for part-time people and volunteers and cost goes up a little.  However, it is more important that we look at who these new clients are, and how does that affect how we serve them.  Our first reaction is that we will not change what we do as an agency.  We provide education, counseling and medical transportation to the blind and visually impaired in our community.  That is the basic need the community has, and it is our job to fulfill.  But we must also note changes in the character of the individuals we serve.  Many of our new clients still have a living spouse, others have come to live with their next generation, which means we have to offer our experience and advice not only to the client, but to the caregiver as well.

We have changed our intake process away from filling out the form, to one of meeting the client and family member that brings them in.  It is a first chance to counsel not only the client, but the caregiver as well.  But one example is finding out the client is not losing their mind when they see things, Phantom Vision is creating those things that are not there.  Often the caregiver or family member is more relieved than the client is.  It is also a chance for them to assess where they are in vision loss, and for us to give them a window to their future.  One of the main things we counsel is if you know what is ahead, you are ready to make the adjustments when it comes.  It is also important for the client to know they are not alone.  Others have laid the path, and they will help too.

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Our Funding Gets some Help

We have noted in several issues that the economy, specifically inflation, has had a negative effect on our funding.  We are glad to announce that a significant grant and two larger donations have added one quarter of out budget in the last two months.  And they portend well for the future.

We are also entering that season where some have to take a serious look at their tax burdens for the year, and donations specifically derived from our 501C(3) non-profit status will also have some positive impact.  This is true of some that have required minimum donations attached to their own investment accounts.  With that others also use the holiday season to make a donation, which occasionally is one made on the name of someone rather than a present under the tree.

We have also become a listing for Giving Tuesday which occurs the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  It is a day set aside nationally to recognize non-profit agencies and part of the many new ways you can give to an agency.  However, it is not just a way to make a onetime gift.  You can also use it to set up a giving plan, often through electronic donations set up with your bank, or investment company if you have one.  Remember the affects of small donations each month.  A twenty-dollar donation each month is $240.  If only a dozen individuals make the donation it produces $2,880, which equals many of our fundraising events.  We now have grown to 192 clients in the last few months.  If each of them, either individually or including relatives and friends gave $10 it equals $23,040 a year and pays rent for almost two years.

The giving of thanks is something Sierra Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired also remembers this time of year.  It is a time when we thank those that have given what they could no matter how small over the last year.  And we are also thankful for all of the kind comments and appreciation shown by our clients for the service we have provided.  A service which includes many hours and miles donated by our volunteers.  Volunteers without whom we could never accomplish the average over 5 trips to medical appointments each day.  Those comments of appreciation are the reminder that we serve people as well as the community.

While these larger donations mean we will not have to access our investment account for several months, it doesn’t eliminate the original problems.  We have also cut expenses in other areas as much as possible, but inflation continues where it hits the most.  One example is the cost of gas for our transportation program.  So, if you can use the holidays and tax season as a reason to remember us, please do.  And, as they also say in the holiday season, if you can’t we take our quote from Tiny Tim; “God bless us, everyone” as well.

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     What?

     There are strange obstacles to the loss of vision.  And there are strange answers our society has come up with to accommodate them.  Mostly they are things that people, Insurance companies, or the government invent.

     If you are on State Disability you must occasionally prove you are still disabled, or you can lose your benefits, and with it your income for many.  This includes the blind having to go to a state doctor out of town to prove you are still blind.  This often includes amputees, and folks with spinal injuries.  We had a client several years ago that was called in to the VA to prove he was blind or face jail because, they said, he had fraudulently been taking federal disability for years.  He claimed to have had an eye removed years before and they had no record of it.  When they demanded he prove it or be arrested by the armed guard in the room, he simply took out his glass eye and put it on the agent’s desk.

     We are required to have maps of the office on the wall showing the blind the way out in case of a fire.

     The Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA, has pages of accommodations from accessible bathrooms, parking spaces with room to accommodate a wheelchair, ramps at a certain angle to bypass a flight of stairs and many other very good ideas.  A car can be modified so the disabled can still drive.  But for the blind it essentially says, “Reasonable Accommodation,” because none of it matters if you can’t see it and they had no answers for the obstacles you will face.  What that means to the client who has lost their vision, find your own way of doing things and let common sense take over.  It also means you just have to ask someone to help now and then.  The electronics available must be audio, or at least on a huge screen you can’t take to the store with you.  At any rate, what is available like magnification our insurance won’t cover.

     Insurance companies require you to have an expensive separate healthcare policy for three things.  Vision, dental and hearing.  Well, as we age, guess what?  They know as we age, we will need all three.

     What this tells the Sierra Services client is that the education side of our service is critical, but it is also more directed at the individual.  Medically you are on your own and it is expensive at a time when your income has dropped with retirement.  That is one more reason we do not charge for any of our services.  You have enough problems negotiating the system, having one more expense, and more thing to worry about will not come from us.  At the same time, when you need someone to guide you through it, we will do what we can.  And if you must fuss with the system, do it with a smile like the client who put is glass eye on the investigators table.  If they give you a glass of water and reaching for it you spill it all over the papers on the desk, remember to apologize.

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Wisdom is gained not by the words you hear from others,

but by the questions those words raise for you to answer.

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Keeping Sharp

One of the main concerns about aging is getting a lot of attention these days.  Officially called “Cognitive Ability”, it is more commonly known as losing your mind.  Simply, it is the loss of memory, either short or long- term memory loss often starts when you can’t remember the name of something or somebody.  Putting things in funny places and you can’t find them.  Walking into a room knowing you went there for a reason but forgot the reason.  It can be quite severe when you don’t know your own spouse or children.  There seem to be two kinds, one is simply age related and enhanced by inactivity, Alzheimer’s is a medical condition, and a lot of medical research is looking into it.  There are a lot of other causes, but the whole idea scares people.

Those who are losing vision have another problem.  Phantom vision.  They see things that are not there because the mind is used to seeing things, and diminished information from your eyes starts to make things up.  They must learn now to identify it.  We see more relief on the faces of both the individual and the caregivers when they learn they are not losing their mind, they are just seeing a symptom of vision loss.

The issue is what can you do about it.  Both as an individual, and as a caregiver.  For the individual the key is to keep active.  Your brain has some of the characteristics of a muscle, you have to keep it working or atrophy sets in.  Reading not only keeps the brain active, it also stimulates the imagination.  If you lose vision, talking books do the same.  Keep active, get up to cook that meal, and maybe use a recipe you have never done before.  Give yourself a regimen to close cupboard doors every time you use them and to remember to turn the stove off.  The same with keeping your house in order.  Make it something you do on a regular basis.  Visit friends, family, or just get out in public now and then to meet people and have conversations with someone other than the dog or cat.  Loneliness causes both the mental and physical to deteriorate.  Music and art are more stimulating than watching television.  Poetry, read and re-read is excellent as you find new meanings and cadences in it.  Poetry and quotes from others let you also flex your imagination.

But mostly, don’t just sit alone.  Physical health is tied directly to mental health.  Oxygen is the key, and if you are moving you will breathe better than sitting.  If you must sit, take a few deep breaths now and then.  Raise your hands over your head to open up your lungs.  Exercise by moving your arms with something in them even if it just a can of beans in each hand as you take a short walk around the house or yard.  Especially in winter when we are forced inside due to cold and weather the house gets stuffy; go outside when you can.

The main thing is keeping active both physically and mentally.  Don’t abandon that hobby, find a better way to do it with vision loss.  Or find a new interest.  Set goals and write them down, they do them one at a time.  It all requires a level of patience, both for the individual and the caregiver.  Laugh about it now and then. 

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We are looking for volunteer drivers! Interested? Please talk with Melissa,

(530) 265-2121

Would you like to receive our newsletter in your mail box? Our newsletter is sent quarterly and in it you will find: Information about blindness Information about research Upcoming Events What is new in the office Inspirational Quotes Please fill out the form below and we will be sure to get you on the list for the next mailing. Why do we ask for you mailing address? This is not an e-news letter. It is delivered by the post office!

New From BARD

Cotton's War DBC13565 By Phil Dunlap. Reading time: 7 hours, 54 minutes. Read by Nelson Goud. A production of Indiana State Library, Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library. Western Stories When Virgil Cruz and his gang kidnap the woman he loves and threaten to kill her if he interferes with their plans, Sheriff Cotton Burke turns to Memphis Jack Stump, the only man he trusts to infiltrate Cruz's gang, for help. Some descriptions of sex, strong language, violence. __oOo__ Smithsonian Magazine, July 2018 __oOo__ The loss of the S.S. Titanic: its story and its lessons DB 91999 By Lawrence Beesley. Reading time 4 hours, 40 minutes. Read by Steven Carpenter. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. Subjects: Travel Description: The personal record of one of the 705 survivors of the Titanic disaster in 1912. His eyewitness account is augmented by those of other passengers who were spared, contributing to a general report of events and behavior the night the ship sank within three hours of colliding with an iceberg. 1912. BARD is a National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. __oOo__