Headway Newsletter : September 2005 Editorial The rather strange gait effected by many visitors to Headway House seems to have been cured overnight! Over the past few weeks, since we started collecting newspapers to raise funds, people have been coming through our front door with a curiously lopsided, stiff-legged walk! The reason? They have been hauling bags and sacks full of heavy newspapers to keep the demanding Mondi bags topped up. We are pleased to announce that two weeks ago we qualified to have our own Paper Igloo on our premises (just inside the gate) which has alleviated storage problems and improved the walking style of our visitors! On the Editorial Page in the Sunday Tribune this past weekend, reference was made to the need for charities to be accountable in light of the rather shocking news that only R7 million, of the Cancer Association of SA's R64 million budget, went to patient care. An earlier newspaper report revealed that the director of CANSA is paid a whopping R65 000 per month, which is thousands more than our entire monthly expenditure! Early on, we adopted a completely transparent policy towards our income and expenditure, disclosing every cent that comes our way (as you have no doubt noted in the newsletter!) and now we are grateful for this. Headway Committee Chairman, Rob Hartley, constantly challenges us on the issue of "non-core expenditure" and we sincerely thank him for his ongoing expert and straightforward guidance. The same newspaper editorial expressed the opinion that charities should make use of competent volunteers to reduce staff expenses. With 23 active and extremely competent volunteers currently helping at Headway, I think we come out smelling of roses on that score too don't you? Veronica Welcome to….. Barbara Despy, Ivan Mohoric and P Padayachee who joined us in September. We extend our warmest wishes to you and your families with our hope that, with our help, you will find support and comfort. Sad news We record the sad passing of Sam Lynn on 24 September. The Lynn Family has a strong connection to Headway - it was their home which was purchased to establish Headway House in 1997, Helen has served on the Headway committee for a number of years (and more recently has also been a volunteer), and Sam and Helen's son, Jack is a brain injury survivor. Sam was well-known in Westville as he was a hard-working Rotarian who cared deeply about the community. Our thoughts and prayers are with Helen and family at this difficult time. Inspiration from a Brain Injury Survivor At our General Meeting in September, held on the first Friday of the month, we were delighted to welcome back to Headway House a brain injury survivor who has made us very proud. Westville resident, Cathy Hanauer was involved in a car accident in 1999 whilst at Medical School in Cape Town, and initially her brain injury was undiagnosed until many of the signs and symptoms, with which we are all familiar, became evident. Cathy and her family went through a very difficult time and she was unable to return to her studies for a full year - but return she did - and what courage and determination she has shown! Despite struggling with lack of motivation, acute fatigue, short term memory problems and so on, Cathy completed her degree, qualified as a doctor and is currently carrying out her year of Community Service at a hospital in the Drakensberg. Cathy wanted to inspire our attendees and share some of the coping skills she has learnt. Her main message was that it is important to not compare yourself to others, to set your own goals and make the achievement of those goals your own small triumphs. She acknowledged that one of the hardest things to cope with following brain injury is not being able to keep up with your friends and her advice was to accept this and be open to making a new circle of friends. Studying for a degree in medicine posed enormous challenges for Cathy, particularly the intern year when inhuman hours of ward duty are expected on top of all the academic demands, and she had to dig deep to continue to pace herself and avoid total meltdown - not easy when you are dealing with a brain injury in addition to physical problems. Judging by the number of questions from the audience, Cathy's talk was well received and her story certainly was one of inspiration. You will probably receive this newsletter too late for the reminder about the General Meeting on Friday 7 October but timely notice was given in the previous newsletter and we hope you will be there to hear Dirk le Roux informing us of the benefits of Nitric Oxide in his talk entitled "Say Yes to N.O.". Don't forget that the meeting in November will be on the second Friday of the month, 11 November. Our speaker is June Prentice who is much in demand as a public speaker - not just because she is coping with a rare disease which has left her totally blind, but because her sense of humour is legendary. June says she has only two talks in her repertoire - one on coping with her world of darkness (which she delivered to Headway last year) and the other based on anecdotes about her life as a policewoman in England. She is at pains to ensure that her talk is billed as "My Part in A Great Train Robbery" not "The", lest anyone assume that she achieved fame in being involved with the infamous Ronald Biggs who pulled off arguably the most notorious crime in history! We are looking forward to an entertaining meeting so make sure you are there too as you will be sorry if you miss the fun! Headway AGM What a disappointing turnout for our 17th Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 28 September! After all the preparation and the anxiety that goes with ensuring that the AGM is presented according to legal requirements, it was a bit of an anti-climax to have so few people present. So we give a special vote of thanks to those who DID make the effort to attend, and make particular mention of Cynthia Miller of UBUNTU Community Chest who always supports our AGM, and Anton and Dolphy Mpulo who have never been to a Headway AGM before. The Committee remains unchanged at this stage but, happily, we are expecting the nomination of a person who can take on the role of Treasurer as this portfolio has been vacant for most of this year. We were unable to present the Financial Statements at the AGM as the auditing is not yet complete, and notice will be given of when the completion of the AGM will take place. We are also debating whether to hold next year's AGM in the daytime to ensure better attendance - what do you think? Therapy News Occupational Therapy Department OT Debbie reports: Spring has sprung and some faithful attendees have begun practicing for our Swimming Gala on Wednesday 12 October 2005. The water in the Headway pool is still a little chilly but the excitement of the challenge is keeping the guys focussed. If any of them asks you to sponsor their swim, be generous please as they welcome all the encouragement they can get! Our outing to the Umgeni Bird Park was a success and Ryan reports that the focus was on relaxation and fun. Unfortunately, I had to miss that particular outing as I was at UKZN with OTA student Walter Gwamanda for his first BIG exam. Thanks to Ryan and Zipho for running the outing so smoothly. All our hard work paid off at the Craft Market. We hardly sat still as our stall was so busy. Thankyou to everyone who supported us and especially to all our attendees, volunteers and staff who worked so hard. We realised again this month the importance of exercise in the form of Ten Pin Bowling. This is a great social sport which improves balance, hand-eye coordination as well as overall coordination. So if you want a good fun workout, join us on our next Ten Pin Bowling jaunt! Physiotherapy Department One of our physiotherapists (the job at Headway is shared by three brilliant part-time physios), Gillian Adams feels that it is time their department got some publicity in the newsletter and she submits this report on behalf of the threesome: Another big thankyou to the sponsors who are helping us build up the tools of our trade at Headway. We now have a useful selection of gym equipment. We are very keen to find ways to keep our members fit! In addition to general cardio-vascular fitness, the treadmill can also be used to improve walking patterns. Thanks to your generosity we will soon have a "pulpit" walker and an ultrasound machine which we will put to frequent use. Thank you also for sponsoring our five swimmers in the forthcoming KZN gala for the disabled. We hope to enter members for short walking and, yes, running races in the near future. Simon has done so well, reaching this level of recovery from his head injury. So too, Rob Nicolai who has now started to walk for the first time since his injury 8 months ago. We have many rewarding stories so watch this space! Pam, Liz & Gillian Fund Raising: We are very proud of the success of Fund-raising so far this year and are way over budget! There have been a number of excellent projects which have contributed to this very healthy financial situation:- The Headway Buskers This project has really put the FUN into FUNdraising! During September, the Tuesday Music Group visited three shopping centres and we must have made a very favourable impression if you judge by the amount of money collected. At Sanlam Centre in Pinetown, where we have traditionally had rather poor returns on our Street Collection days as well as the Christmas Busking last year, in just over an hour we collected R1083.00!! It has to be said that the position we were allocated, below the escalators, had a positive effect as the acoustics were very good with our voices wafting up to the floor above (and being enhanced by the distance!). To add to a happy morning, ex-Headway member, Debbie Dippenaar heard the singing from her Milky Lane shop above and invited us all for icecreams and coffee afterwards. Our efforts at Westville Village Market (which we visited at the end of August) and Hyper-by-the-Sea where we sang in early September, also yielded very good returns of R800 and R907 respectively. At the end of September we performed in the Westville Mall but felt slightly desperate as there were so few shoppers, the in-house music was blaring and the noise from the nearby coffee shop was very intrusive. Adding to this feeling of despondency was the fact that we could not hear the sound of any coins dropping into our collection drums and, after the customary hour of singing we tucked our tails between our legs and returned to Headway. Imagine our surprise and joy when the money count revealed the staggering amount of R1 123.00! The lack of jingling money noise was because most of the donations were in "folding money". We are very grateful to volunteer Mavis Colley who directs and coaches the Music Group and who plays the electronic keyboard at the "gigs" and we attribute the excellence of this fund-raising project to her input. This year, in 5 performances almost R5 000.00 has been raised and with Christmas bookings from the shopping centres already being secured, we anticipate an even better result by the end of the year. John Dory's Charity Evening John Dory's Restaurant in the Pavilion wants to "give something back to the community" and have (very wisely) chosen Headway to be the beneficiaries of their generous gesture. On Tuesday 11 October they will donate a percentage of their turnover on that night to us!! The manager, Donovan has joined forces with Westville Rotary Club and Beetle Inc to launch the project and ensure that it gets the publicity it needs to make it a success. The Headway staff will make up a table and would welcome support from Headway members and readers of this newsletter. So here is your chance to have a good meal in convivial company and support the most deserving charity in KZN!! Scrapbooking Jamboree Remember, remember the 5th of November!! It's a Saturday and it is the day we have booked to have the first Scrapbooking Jamboree in Durban - with the proceeds going to Headway. Jamboree means "celebration/merry-making" so we think it is an appropriate name for what promises to be a day of creative fun and inspiration. If you are already hooked on Scrapbooking, here is your chance to have a wonderful day indulging your addiction! If you are not yet indulging in this fantastic hobby and wondering what it is about Scrapbooking that is making it the fastest-growing activity of this millennium - don't hold back! The day is being organised by Mandy Muller of "Crafts from the Heart" with the help of Mandy Bond and Veronica. Lunch is being sponsored by Westville SuperSpar and there are demonstrations and scores of prizes and lucky draws. Put the enclosed flier somewhere prominent to remind you, and book SOON either by contacting Mandy on 082 777 9020 or by speaking to Veronica at Headway 082 496 6387. Craft Market What a wonderful day we had on Saturday 1 October! The weather was glorious, the crafters were great, the Headway Crafts and Headway Sewing were superb, and in every way possible a really great time was had by all. As yet, we haven't got our final figure, however we can say that we made just over R9000 - a fantastic result reflecting the amazing amount of really excellent work which has been produced by those who attend Headway. Keep it up, guys, you just get better and better! We've got loads of people to whom we want to wish our special thanks, so here goes. First of all, a huge thank you to Rose McArthur and Rose & Stan Paterson for convening the Craft Market once again. All the hard work and organization paid off handsomely - well done! Of course, none of this could have happened without the wonderful support of our staff and our volunteers, and so heartfelt thanks go to Veronica, Ryan & Debbie, Gillian, Linda, Lazelle Krog, Marlene Smith, Sue Veal, Jenni Kriste, Irene Limbouris, Glen Lagesse, Saroj & Thanusha Naidoo, Inge, Rea Hoekstra, Kerry Crosson, Carol Barlow, Iain Kemp and Avril & Mandy Fish. We had some really scrumptious "edible" donations for the Tea Garden and the Cake Stall, and here we'd especially like to thank Elspeth Driver, Ons Hoekwinkel, Lyn Sumner, Vanessa, Cathy Keats, Pauline Couper, and Luke from the Avondale Spar Bakery. Our Cake Stall actually raised R947,10. While mentioning food, a huge thank you must go to Westville Superspar for their kind preparation, donation and serving of Chicken Breyani - a welcome addition to the lunchtime menu. The alternative for lunch was a generous and tasty boerewors roll, the 'wors being kindly donated by Rick Hardy. The most financially successful stalls were the Headway Sewing and the Headway Crafts, raising R1722 and R1675 respectively. Particular thanks go to Glenda Kirkirides for donations of her Amafu Fabrics. These were used to make quilts and bags which are stunning, attracted much interest and which were such good sellers - all of which helped to boost our funds. An addition this year was a Bottle Stall. This proved to be a great success, and our very grateful thanks go to all who donated bottles. We'll probably include the stall again next year so please think of us if you have any bottles (full) which you don't want/like. We'd also like to thank Sharon Bretherton, her sons and friends for the extra help they gave us as we were preparing for the big day. This whole venture would not have been possible without all the amazing help we received. To you all, our sincerest thanks and gratitude. (Thanks Rose McA for this report) Other Fundraising Projects this month included Collection Tins, Raffles, Room Hire, Book and Craft Sales, Funny Money and Miscellaneous Sales (R1 047) and Shop Sales (R1 444). Outreach Project We continue to lend our help to our Outreach Project, Zimele Molweni, but have somewhat loosened the apron strings recently. The Zimele committee chairman, Meshack Mchunu has established an administration office at the centre and we are gradually handing over control to him. The annual Spring Open Day was held recently and it was good to see how well organised it was. We are just very saddened by the attitude of the National Lotteries Board in refusing to give Zimele a grant this year (on a technicality), as we believed a good rapport had been established with regular reports, financial figures, photographs and expressions of gratitude from us keeping the lines of communication open. Efficiency at the Lottery office in Pretoria seems to be slipping and it is now becoming difficult to talk to staff members who have any interest in or knowledge of the projects. Appeals for funds from other sources are now a priority if the centre is not to be closed down. Answers to Quiz in August Newsletter So! How many of the questions about Strokes did you get right? Here are the questions and answers for you to check how right you were - and to make sure you know the correct answers! 1. A Stroke is a kind of heart attack? FALSE. Stroke is a 'brain attack" and causes damage to the brain because blood flow in the brain has been interrupted. 2. Women account for more than 60% of all stroke deaths? TRUE. In fact, the latest figures show women suffer 60.3% of all stroke fatalities. 3. Eating a banana a day can lessen your risk of having a stroke? TRUE. Research suggests that dietary potassium prevents plaque build-up on artery walls. 4. Stroke always hits without warning? FALSE. Stroke symptoms are clear and recognisable. If warning signs are heeded, many strokes can usually be avoided. 5. Sudden blurred/decreased vision is a warning sign of stroke? TRUE. Other warning signs include: weakness; numbness or paralysis of the face, arm or leg on one or both sides of the body; difficulty in getting words out or understanding simple statements; sudden and severe headache; dizziness, loss of balance or an unexplained fall. Recognise these warning signs and call for immediate medical help. 6. Data from a recent study shows that people with high blood pressure are 7 times more likely to have a stroke? TRUE. High blood pressure is the single most important controllable risk factor for stroke. Others include: heart disease, smoking, high cholesterol level, heavy drinking, being overweight, and lack of exercise. 7. More than 50% of all women 55 or older have high blood pressure? TRUE. High blood pressure is greater than 140/90. Have you had yours checked recently? 8. The risk of stroke for a 65 year old is double the risk for a 55 year old simply because he or she is older? TRUE. The risk of stroke DOUBLES for every decade over 55 … meaning a 65 year old is twice as likely to have a stroke. That means it is even more important to take charge of controllable risk factors. 9. Men have a 25% to 30% greater risk of stroke than women? TRUE. Researchers think that it is because of high blood pressure and poor health habits. 10. Stroke kills more women every year than does breast cancer? TRUE. Stroke strikes middle-aged South African women the hardest. Stroke is that third leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability. Memorise these facts about stroke today! Donations Received this month were donations from Durban Early Car Club (R500), WBI (R348), R Munisamy who saw a Craft Market promotion photo of Headway attendees in the Highway Mail and responded generously (R100), Neil and Lynne Laing in memory of Sam Lynn (R200) and our usual Friendship Pledges totalling R450. A big thankyou for this support! More Thankyou's Phew! Where to start?! With the flood of items donated this month for the shop, jumble and our own use as well as the craft market, the list of people to thank would take up almost the entire newsletter so please excuse us if we just focus on a few. Wally Blom donated coloured paper and card for printing of the Joke Book and Craft Market fliers, Gerald Lucas donated a wheelchair, National Brands donated 30 boxes of Notta cereal bars and there was lots of support for the Craft Market from Westville Rotarians and Anns. Thanks everyone! Appeals Side plates needed! Every time we have a function at Headway which involves the serving of food, we are forced to (rather sheepishly) put out saucers instead of side plates! For some reason we have PLENTY of saucers but only a handful of small plates. Please check your cupboards and see if you have any odd small plates that you no longer need or use. Newspapers! Keep 'em coming please! Don't forget the new igloo is just inside the gate but please pop in and tell us if you have delivered so that we can thank you! Dates for Diaries Sun 9 Oct 10.00-11.00 a.m.: Headway will be featured on SABC 1 in a programme called Spirit Sunday (it will be a 5 minute insert). Tues 11 Oct: John Dory's Restaurant at the Pav Sat 5 Nov: "Scrapbooking Jamboree" Wed 7 Dec: "Christmas Crackers" - Headway End-of-Year Christmas Carol Service & Concert Thu 15 Dec: Closing Day Braai - booking essential Mon 9 Jan 2006 : Headway re-opens And finally a chuckle from Rose Mac's Joke Book: Doctor, doctor! What's good for excessive wind? A kite.

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