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SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
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We help
blind and visually impaired individuals
stay in their homes
and out of institutions
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Historically
our Flexibility is a Key to Success One of the things we are known for at Sierra Services for the Blind is how we have changed over the years to accommodate changes in the community. Twenty years ago our primary clients were school age and younger adults, and we had a client population commensurate to other blind agencies. But the community began to change, and we needed to change with it. First we worked with the schools and their work with blind students increased dramatically. Second the senior population began to grow as a percentage of the total population. When a percentage changes a demographic group is moving in, and it also means someone is moving out or the population would grow as it did in Placer County around Lincoln and Roseville. In just 5 years we went from a 16% to a 29% senior population, and that meant a different blindness. Rather than pigmentosa, accidents or other childhood causes, it became macular degeneration and glaucoma. What that in turn meant was we were dealing with progressive eye and vision problems and a client base that need less to learn how to live being blind, but how to adjust their lives using different methods. They didn't need to learn how to cook, just how to do it with limited vision. It also meant they were scattered around the county more. Younger blind could go to the Department of Rehabilitation for skill training, they could get a guide dog, and they knew to live near transportation. But seniors losing vision are losing it where they live. The issue was less how to accommodate their needs with changes in where they lived, it was adjustment to the home and lifestyle they now had. Three things emerged which are now the core of the program we offer the client. We learned early on that if we were going to do anything we had to provide the transportation for everything we do. Second we were dealing with a client base that had their lives changing slowly and adjustments would take years not days. That meant the type of education we offered had to be more designed around the un-served area of low vision and legal blindness, not actual blindness. Except for the sudden loss of a drivers license, the slow loss of vision is not suddenly life altering, it was more a matter of adjustment over time so that when blindness arrives you are ready. The third area was the change in your relationship with others and access to the community. Younger clients were forming their lives around the loss of vision. Elderly clients were adjusting lives around the loss of vision and that is quite different. Thus, the psychological needs became different. This doesn't mean you abandon what you have done for the younger client, you must add to it. Learning the skills of cane training or cooking are done by other agencies like the Department of Rehabilitation. Rather than duplicate services we continue to refer and do those things they do not do. But there were no specific programs for the elderly, so we had to create them based on what they told us they needed. Those who have had full lives experience the same shock, depression and confusion younger clients have, but there is a sense of loss deeper than others. The loss of a driver's license, especially in a rural community changes lifestyle almost as dramatically as the loss of a spouse. Other health problems or the feeling of loneliness and isolation combined can cause the individual to simply shut down. Younger blind know how hard it is to find and maintain friendships. Their lives often revolve more around family than a broader scope of friends. Seniors must learn after years with both family and friends both often leave us or will drift away an the isolation grows. Socialization became a major issue for the client and with it the agency program. It is common for us to find a client that has been in the house for several years unable or unwilling to go out. By using counseling, providing transportation and community access we can bring them back into the community with a new group of friends. They are friends that know what they are going through as they are also adjusting to changes themselves. That in turn makes the adjustments, the education and the willingness to reach out again even easier. In a group of five if you say you have found something you can no longer do, there will be four ways to do it in the group beyond what you would learn from formal instruction. With a majority of clients over eighty we also found that transportation to medical appointments was critical to overall health and expanded that aspect as well. As the new younger seniors who have moved to the community begin to age we will have to adjust once again. _________________________ o0o
_________________________ Experience is the name we giver
our mistakes. Oscar
Wilde _________________________ o0o
_________________________ _________________________ o0o
_________________________ About the time we can make the
ends meet, somebody moves the ends. Herbert
Hoover _________________________ o0o
_________________________ Budget for
2010 - 2011 Set The Board of Directors of Sierra Services for the Blind has set the 2010 - 2011 Budget at $130,600, which despite the economy is only a rise of just $810 over last year. However there are some differences worthy of note, and a matter for some concern. First is of course the effect the economy is having on donations. General donations are down from both the public and client, and combined are down to less than half what they have been historically. Were it not for the residue from an estate we received a year ago which was added to the Investment account we would have not come near to balancing the budget. The reason is simple, the economy has effected not only how much money people have to spend, it has people worried. This means we are more dependent on the funds generated by the Endowment, and the Endowment principle can not be spent. With the economy the way it is that can not be assured. That means we are more dependent on the Investment account which is usable. However, the more of it we use, the less it generates as well. That means that unless we are as lucky has we have been over the last two years it will be depleted in two to three years. On the expense side we came in just under budget again in 2010 despite the rise in insurance and tax liability, especially at the state level. There was also a rise in transportation, energy costs and office supplies we had to assume. The bottom line for this year is that we have become more like other larger agencies. We need that once or twice a year large donation of $10,000 or more that comes from an estate or generous donor, or a bunch of smaller ones to compensate for the loss of the donations of $100 or less that have sustained us for years. Many who gave $100 can now only give $50, and the $50 donation become $35 or even $25 and so on. That is not a reflection on the donor, it is a reflection of the times we are experiencing. It should be noted that one area has remained constant. Service organizations such as the Lions clubs, Rotary and a host of others have continued to donate at a consistent rate and account for 10% of the budget again this year. In the end though it is for us to thank the small donor who dug a little deeper and the larger donors who were there for us, as well as the kindness shown in the Legacies left us that allows the board to maintain the present level of staff and support for the program without making cuts for another year. However next year may be one that brings us to issues we experienced several years ago when the economy dropped and we didn't have the Investment account to lean on. _________________________ o0o
_________________________ As a small business person, you have no greater leverage
than the truth. John
Greenleaf Whittier _________________________ o0o
_________________________ They Made a Study Humor is a part
of the process we use to keep our clients from succumbing to depression. As a nation we study everything that common
sense tells us before the study. They
studied laughter and found it adds years to your life. They also found as a side to the study it
makes you happy. I am happy to hear
that is now official. I guess if you
ask for a grant to study something that is common sense it makes sense to the
people who fund the study so they fund the study. Somehow we knew
that since the time the first King hired a fool. We have had a special relationship with
fools ever since, and we seem to make more of them all the time. P.T. Barnum said we make one a minute. And guess what? We find much of our humor in describing
common sense, as Mark Twain did when he noted, "A man who carries a cat
by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." He also noted "Age is an issue of mind
over matter, if you don't mind it doesn't matter." Unfortunately Will Rogers also had a point,
"Common sense ain't common." You have to take
example from those who did laugh their way through so you become less like
W.C Fields who believed you should, "Start every day with a smile and
get over it." Even Carl Sandburg
admitted, "I am an idealist. I
don't know where I am going, but I am on my way." Life is like that. While Winston Churchill felt, "A joke
is a very serious thing," the study on laughter and longevity again
proves Mark Twain, "Get the facts first.
Then you can distort them as you please." I guess that is why the part of the study
that says laughter makes you happy was a surprise to them. A few
more examples of a history of common sense humor Laughter
is the shortest distance between two people. Victor
Borga Common
sense and a sense of humor are the same thing moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense
dancing. William
James The
human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. Mark
Twain Sometimes
things are common sense funny, and some are just funny Who
is more foolish, a child afraid of the dark, or a man afraid of the
light? Maurice
Freehill The
good thing about all the Oakies leaving to go to California is that it raised
the I.Q of both states by ten points. Will
Rogers
_________________________ o0o _________________________ A Race in the Cure for Blindness There are two different directions
that a cure for vision loss is taking, and they seem to be in a race with
each other to get the word out. That
is a good thing as long as it speeds the process, and not so good if it means
they put something out before it is really ready. And that problem seems to relate to the
technology industry where Microsoft and Apple have been tossing things out
early for decades now. The difference
is this is a health issue, not the latest electronic trend. The one we have talked the most
about is the work being done with stem cell research, enzyme research and the
first round coming from the medical side of the problem in the form of Lucentis
and Avastin. Especially the stem cell
and enzyme studies that are now being tested all over western world show
great promise. They would seem to be
less than a decade down the road. Add
another decade for it to become commonplace.
They are subject to the FDA for approval, meaning they must prove
their worth before they hit the market. We also have a recent long term
study that shows very little difference between positive effects of Lucentis
and Avastin beyond the cost. But they
are designed to slow down or stop the problem and possibly improve it, they
are not the absolute cure. The second field that is now
showing up on the market is coming from the technology and engineering
sectors of our search for cures.
Telescopic vision attached to your glasses has been around for years,
and does work for some people. There
is a group in San Diego that has developed a small telescope that can be
implanted in the eye and they are now finding good results. Another group at the University of New
South Wales in Australia has started testing on a system which implants a
chip on the optic nerve which receives an electronic stimulus from a small
camera in your glasses. The advantage
is that it doesn't matter what the eye disease is, it sends the image direct
to the optic nerve so it works as well on Pigmentosa as it does for Macular
Degeneration. Like all of the
treatments they are dependent on early detection. Once the optic nerve and brain functions
have been gone for a period of time they are less effective. Implants have a physical rejection rate that
must be addressed just as any medical procedure does. It is a classic battle between
genetics and technology that goes back thousands of years to when disease was
treated with a dance by a man in feathers and interesting kinds of
smoke. We progressed with either an
idea about good diet or the technology when the first broken arm got a splint
made of sticks and string. We need to
be patient, not everything worked.
Remember they used to bleed people for everything from the common cold
to gout and cancer. It is still a
classic race between biology and technology and both will have a place at the
table when the time comes. John Glenn said, "There is no
cure for the common birthday."
Time is an issue for some of us.
That does not mean if you are a candidate for one of the programs to
test it you should not participate. You
may be one that gives the future to another generation. U.C. Davis is on the cutting edge of some
of these programs and you may have a chance to be one of the first to say,
"I can see again." _________________________
o0o _________________________ Experience is
the name we give our mistakes. Oscar
Wilde _________________________ o0o
_________________________ 12th Abalone Banquet is September 11th There is a reason why all
non-profit newsletters always mention something about the events which generate
funding for an agency, if we don't fund the agency there would be no reason
for most newsletters. Then again,
there would be no services for the client, and in our case the blind and
visually impaired of our community, and no reason for our newsletter designed
more for news. Sierra Services for the blind has
two fund raising events each year. The
June Golf Tournament, and the September Abalone feed. They are the backbone of both funding and
how we put ourselves out in the community.
We are no longer the best kept secret in town because of these two events. We also know we are the little guy, and we
have to do a better job than agencies with budgets to put on events. The Abalone Banquet is the
example, and it is also our opportunity to thank a community. While we provide the Abalone, it is the
chance for restaurants to also show themselves off. The rest of the meal this year is provided
by Friar Tucks, Las Katarinas, Paulette's Country Kitchen, and the new
Stonehouse Culinary Academy. For those
who don't like Abalone, SPD Deli is providing the alternative of Cordon
Bleu. Nevada City Winery will provide
their wares as well, and Caroline's will present the coffee. Music will be provided by Kelly Flemming,
and there will be a raffle. There is a
donation of $100 to get in the door, we are not allowed to sell the Abalone,
and each entrant will be given one complementary wine and raffle ticket. We can also give a break to groups and
provide a table for 8 for $700.
Tickets are also by law sold only in advance, so sales drop off the
day before. It is being held at the
Miner's Foundry. Hors, d'Oeuvres and
music start at 5:30, and dinner is served at 6:00. The best recommendation we could
have is that we have a very large percentage of people who return each year. We must be doing something right. We hope you can join us and see why they
keep returning, and become one of them.
For ticket information and questions, call the office at 265-2121, send a check and we will
mail you your tickets, or come by with your credit card, Sierra Services for the
Blind 546 Searls Ave. Nevada City, CA, 95959 _________________________ o0o _________________________ Sierra Services for the Blind July - September 2010 Newsletter You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going,
because you might not get there. Yogi
Berra _________________________ o0o
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