Headway Newsletter : December 2006 / January 2007 Editorial It's not really too late to wish everyone a happy, healthy, successful and prosperous new year since this is actually our first newsletter of the year. Trouble is, now people are talking about Valentine's Day, and Easter! Christmas and the holidays seem to have been a long time ago. Another topic on everyone's lips is the HEAT! When we add on the degrees allowed for the humidity, we've been stifling in degrees of roughly 35C to 40C, maybe even more! Since it looks as though it's going to continue for quite a while yet, I've included an article about the importance of drinking water and keeping ourselves hydrated. The advice to drink at least 2 litres of water a day is nothing new. However perhaps not everyone is convinced about the necessity, or understands the reasons behind the advice. So, one good way to start off the year is to keep ourselves hydrated. Read the article, and I'm sure you'll be convinced! Rose Welcome ……… We extend a warm welcome to Mina Balbadhur, Johann Grobler, Eileen Kriel, John Neil, Pam Rigney, Sali Solomons, Roy Vincent and their families, and hope they will find the help and support they need with us at Headway. Sending our very best wishes………. Our thoughts and very best wishes go to Aubrey Marrs who has recently been in hospital. We wish him a speedy return to good health. Au Revoir……… I like to use the French term, au revoir, because it means "until I see you again". So we hope that Jessica Perritt, who ended off several years of volunteering at Headway at the end of 2006, will pop in to Headway from time to time. Jessica has been a wonderful volunteer since she came every week to read to Kevin Hollinshead, and during this time established a wonderful rapport with Kevin. Our sincerest thanks and appreciation go to Jessica, and we wish her well in all her other pursuits. One door closes and another door opens……… How does one adequately thank and say good-bye to someone as important and indefatigable as Veronica? Yes, after 8 + years of hard work and dedication, Veronica said farewell to Headway at the end of January. It is often said that one is never truly appreciated until one has left, and certainly Veronica is going to be a hard act to follow. Her selfless dedication to keeping Headway 'afloat' during an extremely critical period is the reason that Headway has managed to achieve the position of success which it has reached today. So we all owe her a far greater debt than most of us will ever know. I asked Veronica to give me a bit of her background and her initial involvement with Headway. Here's what she wrote: "I first became involved with Headway in 1998 when I was doing some voluntary work for The Association for the Blind. I was assigned the job of giving a lift to brain injury survivor Paul Bateman who was attending the Activity Programme at Headway. Paul's brain injury had caused cortical blindness and he was living at the John Palmer Hostel for the Blind in Sherwood. The staff soon got to know that I was a teacher and asked me to work one-on-one with two attendees who, through their brain injuries, had lost the ability to read and write. At the end of that year, just before Christmas, Rosanne, the Headway psychologist, phoned me and asked me if I could attend a meeting to discuss taking over as Administrator of Headway due to the sudden resignation of the incumbent administrator. I said that I would do it for 3 months until the committee could appoint someone with the right qualifications as I was very involved with part-time teaching at Westville JPS and Adult Basic Education and Training for Zulu staff in companies. The rest, of course, is history! I took on the job as Administrator in April 1999 squeezing all the duties in around my teaching commitments, and it was exciting and challenging as I had to "fly by the seat of my pants" having no formal training for this role. Things were going very well until the main sponsor of Headway was forced to pull out in January 2000 and that year was a very testing time indeed particularly as it coincided with the building on of the new wing (the physio gym and reception area). I had many sleepless nights and late sessions at the computer as I tried to cope with all the many suggestions from well-meaning people regarding who to contact for financial support. Rob Hartley and other committee members were a tower of strength at the time as we went into "crisis management". Happily, since those dark days Headway is now on a sound financial footing thanks in great part to contributions from National Lotteries, but many chewed fingernails have ensued between application and grant allocation! I nearly fainted the first time I opened the letter advising of the first grant we received - it was my birthday in February 2002 and was the best present ever! I have established good relations with various Foundations and Trusts and individuals who believe in Headway and give their support unstintingly. My fund-raising events tend to have a whacky element (eg Magic May Lunch, Christmas in July and Scrapbooking Jamboree etc) and anyone who has ever attended our Christmas Crackers will testify to this" Despite resigning, Veronica will be doing one last Fund-Raiser - see the back page snippets for details. The month of February will be devoted to packing up house, as Veronica will be moving at the end of the month. A daunting task!! We wish her and Clive so much happiness in their new home, and endless hours of enjoyment with their new grandson. It has been an enormous privilege for me to have worked with Veronica for the past 6 years. We will all miss her lively personality at Headway, and our loss is quite definitely some other organisation's gain since I know that Veronica loves to be involved and share her expertise and many talents. Thank you so much, Hamba Kahle, and the best of luck from us all. TIPS FOR NEW YEAR AND THE HOT SIZZLING MONTHS AHEAD How much water do you need a day? Water is an important structural component of skin cartilage, tissues and organs. For a human being, every part of the body is dependent on water. Our body comprises about 75% water: the brain has 85% , blood is 90%, muscles are 75%, kidneys are 82% and bones are 22% water. The functions of our glands and organs will eventually deteriorate if they are not nourished with good, clean water. The average adult loses about 2.5 litres of water daily through perspiration, breathing and elimination. Symptoms of the body's deterioration begin to appear when the body loses 5% of its total water volume. In a healthy adult, this is seen as fatigue and general discomfort, whereas for an infant it can be dehydrating. In an elderly person, a 5% water loss causes the body chemistry to become abnormal, especially if the percentage of electrolytes is overbalanced with sodium. One can usually see symptoms of ageing, such as wrinkles, lethargy and even disorientation. Continuous water loss over time will speed up ageing as well as increase the risk of diseases. If your body is not sufficiently dehydrated, the cells will draw water from your bloodstream, which will make your heart work harder. At the same time, the kidneys cannot purify blood effectively. When this happens, some of the kidneys' workload is passed on to the liver and other organs, which may cause them to be severely stressed. Additionally, you may develop a number of minor health conditions such as constipation, dry and itchy skin, acne, nosebleeds, urinary tract infection, coughs, sneezing, sinus pressure and headaches. So, how much water is enough for you? The minimum amount of water you need depends on your body weight. A fairly accurate calculation is to drink an ounce of water for every two pounds of body weight. It won't cost you anything, so keep hydrated!! Donations……… Donations and public generosity are the life blood of charitable organisations. So it really is important and so heart-warming to feel that each month we know that we will be extending our gratitude to so many who support us. This month we thank the following people for their kindness and ongoing support. Jenny Kriste, Jessica Perritt, Margaret Marrs, Kirsten Norris, Fiona Heinold, Chris Campbell, Mr & Mrs Govender, Karen Morgan, Cindy Goodman, Glenda Kirkirides, Jenny Micklewood, R Ramaraj, John & Ann Andersen, Yvonne & Brennon James, Mr Castleden, Carla Raaths, Peter Kok, Barbara Strong, Dan Potgieter, Miss Knight, Richard Obertik (Metropolitan Health Group), Inge O'Connor, Una & Alan Grimshaw, Mr Solomons, Lynn & Mike Amos, Glynis Walker, Riet van der Elst, Gem Vivien, Bradley Radloff, Mrs Meer, Mavis Colley and Mrs N Boutalje. Collectively we received - clothing and shoes, a glass cheese platter, miscellaneous items for our 2nd Hand Shop, materials and patterns for the Sewing Group, books, a splint, cards, a large cot and baby pram, a dot matrix printer, plastic chairs, a pink blind, 8 pairs of long pants, HP 610C printer, kitchen shelves, briefcases, curtains, men's suits, coffee, tea and sugar, computers, asbestos heater, household blinds, lots of printer cartridges, jumble, formal dress suit, ornaments, tin of Ricoffy, magazines, bird feeder, 'white elephant', a corset, jewellery, long pants, toys and games, note pads, black municipal bags, R150 - Bert & Glenda Jager, R12 from Marlene Smith's granddaughter, Kirsten, from the sale of key rings which she made, R50 towards beverages for Headway - Rob & Pat Campbell and R160 from the Dawncliffe Book Club. Then, Sheila Naidoo - Prakashan's mother - made an absolutely scrumptious chicken and prawn curry for the staff the day of our Christmas Crackers. Oh Boy! Were we spoiled! It was so appreciated and so delicious. Finally, we have some corporate thank yous to - the Natal Sharks & Astrapak Flexible for the balance of the benefits from tries scored in the Headway "block" (R6000) - sadly the decision has been made that only 1 charity will benefit this year and they have chosen to sponsor one home for the SOS Children's Village in Pietermaritzburg -; Alliance Property Group, Roy Alderdice (R1000); Just Plastics - 50 plastic bottles for our beading project; Ubuntu Community Chest - table cloths and hand towels and lastly, Nashua Durban, Clive McLean - a photocopier for use at Zimele Molweni. What wonderful generosity! We thank you all so much. Occupational Therapy update………(from Debbie) We had a great end to 2006 with lots of festivities ending with the year-end braai! We had the privilege of having many OT students and I would like to thank all the OT students at UKZN for all their help and enthusiasm during their elective practicals. Our prize giving was a success and all our members were acknowledged for all they achieved in 2006. Our Survivor Award for 2006 went to Rob Nicolai. Well done, Rob. Our program for 2007 has started with great gusto! (Copies are available at reception). We have re-planted some herbs and veggies in our veggie garden and we have made two scarecrows to do what scarecrows do best! We have enjoyed a Hawaiian Day with stir-fry, fruit salad and great memory games… thank you to Marie (student) and Nhlaka for all their effort to make the morning a success. We held a volunteers meeting on 19th Feb which was a great success. Other than lots of laughter we introduced ourselves, shared new ideas and I spoke about the potential of therapeutic activities, how to get members to participate and how to handle various types of behavior. We have a great team of volunteers and we would like to thank them in advance for all their help and dedication. Here is a Headway story which illustrates, in a funny way, just how "sharp" our attendees are! It happened in the speech group on 9th January - the first day back at Headway. We were all relaying, in detail, our stories about the Christmas holidays. Eventually it was the turn of one of our volunteers - Jenny Kriste - & she shared with much excitement that she was now able to e-mail her family in Australia on a daily basis. This has allowed her to have more up-to-date news about her grandchildren. She told us how her son is adamant that his son would one day become an All Black rugby player, and so he has this view of him being a real man's man! That was until one day during the Christmas holidays he had a glimpse, much to his horror, of his son running around with the girls wearing fairy wings! Jenny said it was funny to hear how horrified her son was, but what was even funnier was Howard Bennett's reply to the story ..…"Don't worry he can be a FLY HALF"!! It was very funny at the time! Physio update………(Gillian) We have streamlined our approach with pro-active joint goal setting and are joining our speech., occupational and neuropsychology therapists in creating a programme whereby we can keep up to date with the latest knowledge to benefit our members, the carers and ourselves. News is that this is Health and Fitness Year for Headway ! We are prepared to educate members, carers and staff in how to make the most of your health, one of your most precious possessions. But we would like to tell us what you need! We will draw up a list of fitness possibilities for our members and please leave a note with Darina marked 'Health and Fitness' to tell us what YOU need. Let's support each other in this quest, amidst KFC, Cadbury, endless kinds of cooldrinks, icecream, etc etc….. Other news is that we've decided to stage our own fun Gala on 30th March (date to be confirmed awaiting City Council approval). We have asked for a Friday morning between 9 and 12 at the Westville Swimming Pool. Watch this space… We would love staff, parents and carers to participate so be warned!! We have done this so that many more members can be included. . BUT any member who would like to take swimming or any other sport more seriously and start competing in national championships, please make this known to Gillian. Remember, you could even represent our lovely country one day! Thank you for your donations of splints and other equipment. Please don't stop… Feedback time……… There were several happy and enjoyable events in December which really need to be mentioned. Firstly, there was our annual Christmas Crackers. This has become such a favourite, and it really is a delightful way to end off the year and to celebrate the festive season. This year the format changed slightly and we began with the "variety" part before going into the more meaningful part by decorating the Christmas Tree while telling the story behind the traditions, and singing carols. In the first half, Rose played her flute, followed by Sue Veal singing - with a great Cockney accent! - "Wouldn't it be luverly" from My Fair Lady. Then our polished "Bottle Group" blew 2 Christmas carols, Neville Hebrard gave a funny and touching performance of "The bare (bear) necessities of Life" - suitably dressed in a bear suit! -, Pam Dawson (one of our Physios) played her guitar, and 3 traditional carols were sung 'a capella' by Rose, Mavis, Rea, Riet, Peter and Graham. Peter was our MC as usual, and had his amazing repertoire of jokes and stories to keep everyone entertained. The first part ended with Veronica and Rose, dressed up as domestics, singing "Three Little Maids from Headway are we" (with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan!). Yes, there should have been three, however the 3rd little maid (Gillian, another of our physios) succumbed to flu, and, as we all know, the show must go on! It was great fun, and many, many thanks go to all the above-mentioned for sharing their abundant talents in so many different ways. We are really fortunate to be surrounded by so many amazing people. In the second half, Sue and Mavis, who had been working very hard rehearsing our singing group, performed the story behind the decorating of the Christmas Tree. Howard Bennett, Nikki Draper, Cameron Milton were narrators, while Tim Pekarik, Emmanuel Latchmagidou, Simon McArthur, Kirsty Dawson decorated the tree according to the script. It was very beautifully done, and it was most interesting finding out about the traditions. Thanks to our attendees, and a huge thank you to Sue for her wonderful idea and hard work. The lady who makes this all happen? Mavis Colley. Thank you so much, Mavis, for all your dedication and the endless hours you put in to make sure that we always put on a great show - no matter where or when we're performing!! Secondly, our final, closing braai was a resounding success. It must have been attended by at least 90 people - it just grows every year. Once again, the meat was provided by a very dear friend of Headway, Norman Lourens. His generosity is wonderful, and I think it gives him enormous pleasure to see people enjoying themselves. Thank you so very much, Norman. And our thanks also to Debbie Dipenaar for providing us with a scrumptious ice cream cake as usual. As detailed in the last 2 Newsletters - Oct. and Nov. - one of our volunteers ,Joan Britz, was organising 2007 Calendars which we had hoped to have ready for distribution before we closed in December. They arrived later than we had hoped, however the motive behind them was more about Public Awareness than making money. They duly arrived and a few were distributed before the new year, but the bulk have been delivered at the beginning of January to companies and retail outlets in and around Westville. R250 was received by Headway from Robert Spencer of RAF Engineering for the calendars we gave to his firm. Calendars were also given to each of the Neuro departments of all the hospitals, as well as to individual Neurosurgeons and Neurologists. Our grateful thanks to Joan for initiating and "running with" the project - including many of the deliveries, and to Tony Stagg - Braby's; Tilly Mitchell, who fielded all our anxious phone calls and to Jani Joannides - Associated Industries - for providing us with such a superb calendar at no cost. Back page snippets……… Interested in Scrapbooking? Would you like to attend a real value-for-money Scrapbooking Jamboree? This, sadly, will be Veronica's last Fundraiser for Headway, however it promises to be a wonderful day and an absolute delight for all the local keen scrapbookers. The details are as follows: Venue: Headway-Natal, 11 Menston Road, Westville Tel. 031 266 2709 Date: Saturday 3 March, 2007: 9a.m. to 4p.m. Cost: R170.00 - including Lunch and 2 Workshops (kit included) PRIZES : RAFFLES : GOODIE BAGS : SALES TABLE Many more details are available at Headway, or you can phone Mandy on 082 777 9020 Grateful thanks to Westville Superspar for doing all the catering. Attractive, large 2-bedroomed unit to rent near Musgrave Centre. Quiet corner unit, overlooking garden and pool. Tel Barbara Hanauer - 082 786 1831 for more details. Please note that Headway is open for clients from 8.30 until 1.00. The afternoons at Headway are reserved for administration, and our therapists see private clients. Our Second-Hand Shop is open on Wednesdays & Thursdays. Our wonderful raffle, organized by our volunteer, Joan Britz, was won by Sophie Thomson. Lucky Sophie, and we hope she and her family enjoyed every moment of it. Due to several recent resignations from our Executive Committee, there are now a couple of vacancies. If anyone would be interested in serving on the Committee, please contact Ryan, at Headway. The New Year started, but our vacuum cleaner and 2 of our air-conditioning units didn't!! So, if anyone has, or knows of someone who has, a spare vacuum cleaner or air-conditioning unit, please let us know. Makes you think!!……… I'm a huge fan of Monty Python films, and John Cleese in particular. So, to get you thinking and to kick off your year with a bit of a brain-teaser, I present the following: PORT SHOEM by the SPEVERANT ROONER I've a Gouse and Harden in the country, an ace I call my plown A treat I can replace to when I beed to knee alone. Catterfly and butterpillar perch on beefy lough And I listen to the dats and cogs as they mark and they biaow. Yes, wature here is nunderful, there is no weed for nords While silling at my windowflutter biny little tirds.

© Copyright Headway Natal For queries regarding the creation of this site please email: webmaster@aat.co.za