Previously, all my posts have been about what led up to the present state of The Health Club for Seniors. From now on, all the posts will be about recent happenings related to The Club and tips and lessons learned about how to improve our health.

These past two weeks have flown by because we have been having so much fun. Okay, not fun, but we have been having progress, and that has been enjoyable. There was a bump in the road, but we are over the bump. I won’t go into details here but let it suffice to say that it had to do with the financing and government requirements and paperwork. The Small Business Administration loan application process has been an adventure in paperwork. I am surprised that I am not having nightmares about being buried alive in an avalanche of paperwork or some similar scenario. But the gentleman who is handling the loan through a local bank assures us that everything is moving along at a fairly normal pace. He should know. He has been doing these SBA loans for years. We began the application process in January and it still is not complete. We were told we were approved for financing from the bank, but I am not sure that means we are approved from the government. It seems we first had to go through all the paperwork the bank requires, and now we are going through all the paperwork that the government requires.

We are trusting God. We know that if He wants it to happen, it will happen, and in His timing, not ours. This journey has definitely strengthened my relationship with my Lord, and I walk with Him and lean on Him daily. I humbly submit to His will, and I know that he loves me. He loves all of us!

We have been meeting with nurses and last Saturday some of the nurses we have met got together with us for a brainstorming session to determine how the Wellness Map should be written. The Wellness Map is a personalized nursing care plan with the whole person in mind. It is designed to be readable and usable by non-medical people. Each member of The Health Club for Seniors will have a copy of their individual Wellness Map, and we, the team of health professionals at The Club, will keep a hard copy, as well as an electronic copy. The State of Kentucky has many regulations that must be fulfilled, of course, so we went over those and talked about how to use The Wellness Map to focus on prevention as well as health improvement in addition to the regulations.

The brainstorming nurses kindly consented to being used as an ongoing resource for developing The Wellness Map, so the ensuing week was packed with creating the contents of The Wellness Map, and making revisions and improvements via email. We will be continually improving it as time goes on. I believe in continual improvement in all aspects of my life and our business.

The past couple of weeks have also been used to network and create relationships that will benefit the members of The Health Club for Seniors. It is important to know who is trustworthy, conscientious, and dedicated to excellence in their work so we feel good about referring people to them when their services are needed.

Last but not least we worked on creating a mascot of sorts. It has come to my attention that many people do not think about how their daily habits impact their health. They have other matters on their minds: their jobs, family, homes, cars, etc. Health is cumulative, however, so daily habits add up to be life habits and that equals trouble for some when they are older. We thought that a mascot that “bugs” people in little sound bites might encourage them to change their habits for the better. More on that later.

Lawrence and I judged some entries in “The Lexington in Bloom” contest last week. It was fun driving around and looking at the beautiful yards. I also hosted a garden club meeting last week. I love to entertain because it motivates me to clean house and spruce up the place. And I just love to entertain because I love people and I want them to have a good time. We had Dave Leonard here with his assistant Brooke and her daughter to tell us about chemical free lawn care. Dave went into detail about the chemical composition of lawn products and how they are powerful poisons that are making us and the environment sick. The chemical companies value profit over health, and do their best to hide what is really in their products. Buyers beware! Your lawn does not need that stuff. If you mow your lawn at three and a half inches of height, over time, the weeds will be eradicated. Clover is good. Keep the clover. Our image of an ideal lawn has been shaped by marketing ploys.

When I was an art teacher I used to tell my students that they should not put anything on their skin that they would not put in their mouths and eat, because our skin is porous and absorbs substances. The same is true for what we breathe. If you inhale something, it becomes part of your body, the same as if you had eaten it. Be careful of exposing your body to poisons. Toxins, over time, will cause cancers and other problems.

Oh, we also had our new (used) van repaired. It had squeaky brakes and the previous owners were smokers so we had the cabin filter changed. Hopefully that will improve the air quality. Altogether it cost $384.34. Vehicles. So expensive, but can’t live without them in this culture. And now we can’t live without cell phones, the internet, and computers too. Oh, and GPS. What is next?

June 26 is the inaugural Bluegrass Elder Abuse Prevention Committee’s Conference to raise public awareness in hopes that if we all work together we can improve the statistics. It is going to be held at the Tates Creek Christian Church from 9:00 to 3:00 and registration is required. Go to BluegrassEAPC.com or call 859 317 9361 to register. Hope you can attend!