The changes the fires brought, tips to keeping your loved one with dementia save, photos from Corgi beach day in Orange County.
After the wine country fires, changes to emergency response are in store
Sunday marked the six-month anniversary of the devastating wine country fires in Northern California. The blazes killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes. Now some changes are being made in hopes to avoid that kind of destruction in the future.
KQED's Marisa Lagos spent five months investigating what happened when the fires hit Northern California and now she's looked into the changes that are in store.
So what new policies are going into effect?
- Statewide standards for emergency alerts could be put into place, if legislation from State Senator Mark McGuire passes. Lagos said the idea is widely supported, and we could see this go into effect as early as fall 2018.
- Wireless emergency alerts will be improved by becoming more targeted, and lasting longer.
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company will work on proactively shutting off power to areas when fire conditions are present. This is something that utilities in the southern part of the state are already working on, Lagos said.
California would set health service prices under new bill
A new bill seeks to rein in the soaring cost of care in California by putting the state in charge of setting prices. But it's not without controversy. The L.A. Times reports that backers are set to unveil more at a news conference Monday.
Chad Terhune is a senior correspondent for California Healthline and Kaiser Health News. He says that, under the bill, negotiations would be conducted by a select group.
This bill kind of envisions a state commission, independent, probably drawn from various walks of life. They would convene and set these prices. Now, generally, how it works in Medicare, they look at everybody's cost of operating. It varies by geography. Some places might be higher cost, and they come up with what's an appropriate rate for an MRI test or a surgery.
This would still be very controversial for the state of California to be getting into that business.
The lowdown on high deductible health plans (Hint: there are risks)
5 tips to care for loved ones suffering from dementia
Nancy Paulikas vanished 18 months ago. She was 57 years old at the time and suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease. Soon after her disappearance, fliers popped up all over Manhattan Beach, urging anyone who had information to step forward.
But today, Paulikas is still missing, though new theories on her possible whereabouts have emerged. Over the weekend, more stories like this one have surfaced, where elderly family members with dementia have gotten separated from their families. Maybe you have an elderly parent and are reading this, wondering how to prevent something similar from happening to a loved one.
Donna Benton is a Research Associate Professor of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, who recommends the acronym SAFETY as a guide.
SAFETY stands for:
- Secure
- Affect-alone agitated afraid
- Friends family planning
- Environment alternative
- Technology
- Y because we want to Bring our loved ones Home SAFE (get information from the county)
Benton has the following tips:
1. Proof the home
The first thing you want to do is make sure your family members are secure, which means you may need to 'proof' your home.
"That means you've taken precautions around the home so that the gas can't be turned on accidentally by maybe having a fake switch on there," Benton said. "You can use childproof things for the locks."
2. Routine
Routine keeps people from getting anxious, feeling alone, agitated or afraid, which, of course, you want to avoid with someone who has dementia. Benton suggests setting up a calling schedule and becoming acquainted with your family member's regimen.
Also, becoming acquainted with their friends and neighbors can be useful.
These are the eyes and ears of a neighborhood... they're going to know the routine also and be able to tell you, 'Oh wait, she usually always puts her shades up.' We tend not to know our parent's friends, but you need to have all that contact information readily available.
It's important not to infantilize your parents through this process. The goal is to have a plan in place in case something happens.
3. Technology is on your side
Nowadays there are many products available to make tracking a loved one easier.
We have so many things like bracelets, things that are geotagged so that you can find somebody... You can put some of these tags in sneakers, and then that way you would be able to locate the person if they happen to go off.
4. Up-to-date pictures
You NEED to have updated pictures at all times, in the event that your loved one is lost.
Fortunately, with camera phones, take pictures. You want those memories, but you want a recent memory of that person so that you can share it with the fire department or the police or the hospital.
5. Old-fashioned services can help, too
Don't be afraid to rely on old standbys like your local fire station, police station or hospital. Let them know there's a person in the area who is suffering from dementia. Bring them up-to-date photos when you can. That way, Benton said, if your family member happens to come into one of those facilities while they're agitated, they'll be aware of their condition.
Reflecting on those iconic John Hughes films in the #MeToo era
In her New Yorker essay published last week, Molly Ringwald reflected on her iconic John Hughes roles that made her famous:
If attitudes toward female subjugation are systemic, and I believe that they are, it stands to reason that the art we consume and sanction plays some part in reinforcing those same attitudes.
I made three movies with John Hughes; when they were released, they made enough of a cultural impact to land me on the cover of Time magazine and to get Hughes hailed as a genius...There is still so much that I love in them, but lately I have felt the need to examine the role that these movies have played in our cultural life: where they came from, and what they might mean now.
Almost three decades later and in the era of #MeToo, Ringwald found the Hughes films full of misogyny and racism. She found this scene particularly problematic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OFROViP0J0
"Many people, including me, grew up loving [the films]," said Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan, "because they made a teenage girl a protagonist which was rare and rarer still was they took her interior life seriously."
Keegan explained why these problematic points may have been easier to overlook in the '80s. After all, movies about teenagers depicted as actual people was a novel concept.
Unfortunately, as [Ringwald] writes in this New Yorker essay, they also had embedded in them a lot of ideas about consent that as a culture we're now sort of trying to unlearn. And they were almost exclusively white, and when there was a kid who wasn't white, he was often the object of ridicule.
Some art ages well, and some doesn't.
Also:
- An unusual horror movie won the box office. Now "A Quiet Place" is even stirring up some Oscar talk.
- The Cannes Film Festival lineup is due this week, but there has been a major hiccup in the planning. Netflix is threatening to pull five of its films over the festival’s rules.
- Roseanne is presenting a dilemma for Emmy voters. They want to embrace a big network hit, but can’t stomach Roseanne Barr’s politics.
On The Lot, Take Two's weekly segment about the business of entertainment and Hollywood, airs every Monday.
SoCal Corgi Beach Day is perfectly pawsome
Elaine Hanson spoke for a lot of people this weekend when she said, "This is crazy. This is nuts."
Hanson had flown all the way from Virginia to Southern California for what’s becoming a bit of a tradition here. SoCal Corgi Beach Day is a triannual canine confab when corgis from all over converge on Huntington Beach.
This Saturday it was the usual assortment of fat ones, and fluffy ones, tawny ones and tri colors. Many of them sporting hats and kerchiefs and tutus to show off one of their best assets.
"I was just kind of flipping through Facebook and saw that Corgi Nation was on the Saturday we were here, so we decided that California was going to be where we spend Spring break and we would bring our dog," Hanson said.
Jasper is her dog's name. He was one of many lookalike low riders happily romping through sand and surf at an event that draws ever more dogs each time.
Kelly Macklemore started SoCal Corgi Beach Day with her husband Dan almost six years ago.
"We just wanted to make friends," Macklemore said. "Meet other corgi people. Pet other corgis."
What started as a 15-dog meet and greet grew.
"We did it three months later, and 75 corgis showed up, and then we did it again and 200 showed up, and before we knew it... there were thousands of people and corgis."
Macklemore was wearing this year’s themed T-shirt, with three corgis driving a vintage VW bus – something most corgis would probably try if given the chance. The breed is known for its free spirit.
SoCal Corgi Beach Day also sells towels and hats, but there are plenty of other vendors, pushing everything from designer poop bags and corgi pillows and picture books – for the humans – to dog treats and colorful bowties – for pup.
"I don’t know where they all come from really," Macklemore said. "I never knew there were this many here, but people come from all over."
Sean Campanella is from a little bit closer by, in Glendora. He and his corgi Mocha wore coordinating outfits for this year’s tiki-themed beach day -- Sean in a Hawaiian shirt and Mocha with a floral lei ringing his copious neck fluff.
He’s a Corgi Beach Day old timer.
"I’ve been coming for the past five years," Campanella said. "It’s awesome. I love seeing all the little dogs hanging around and so does my little pup."
One attendee really took the tiki theme to an extreme. He was wearing a grass skirt and a floral head wreath. And so were the three corgis trailing him.
There were also corgis dressed like lifeguards, hotdogs, ballerinas – even a corgi mermaid with a long blue tail hiding her butt tuft, laying at water’s edge. A lot of them were competing in the day’s costume contest.
But Corgi Beach Day doesn’t discriminate. Plenty of other canines were in on the fun, including Noodle, the basset hound.
"You know what? Every corgi beach day needs a Noodle in the mix," said Kelly Bojarski, who drove all the way from Murietta with her non-corgi. "She doesn’t quite know what to make of all these, but you know? We are dogs without boundaries. Anywhere there’s dogs, we’re there."
And as long as there’s a SoCal Corgi Beach Day, so are a lot of other people and their pets.
SoCal's allergy season is never-ending and could get worse
Spring has arrived in Southern California, and a lot of people are looking forward to spending more time outdoors, frolicking through the majesty of the spring bloom.
But for an estimated 30 percent of the population, spring means deliberating which drug ad features the most robust-looking people and the least intimidating list of quickly rattled-off side effects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfvaTwdLSgs
We have the medical condition, Allergic Rhinitis, to thank for our sneezing, coughing and general state of grumpiness. For the unlucky few, our bodies freak out when exposed to trees, grasses and weeds — you know, because it's so easy to avoid those things while living on planet Earth.
The immune system of an allergy sufferer treats plant pollens like a virus. So the body gets confused by the foreign presence of pollen and kind of attacks itself, much like when you get a cold.
As one of these poor, unfortunate souls, I've spent years sneezing on my keyboard every morning to the dismay of my cubicle mates. I wanted answers.
To help you get the picture, this is me if I were a bunch of cats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVj6q9oLnSs
So, I asked a fancy allergy doctor, 'What exactly in Southern California is waging war on my sinuses? And what did I do to deserve this?' Sadly, Dr. Shijun Cindy Xi could only help me with the former.
Dr. Xi teaches at USC's Keck School of Medicine and treats sad sacks like me every day. Maybe that's why she was so patient with my bitterly pointed questions about outdoor allergies in Southern California.
She says the start of spring can trigger allergies, but it's not the big, beautiful flowers like roses that are to blame. Flower pollen typically travels by bees. It's the pollens that travel by wind that cause the most trouble.
This season, grasses are the culprit. At last, the grass is not greener on the other side. "We're starting to go into grass season right now," Dr. Xi said. "Weeds are really summer and early fall. And trees are mostly winter and early spring."
As I heard Dr. Xi say these words, an alarming realization set in. My vision narrowed and my heart quickened.
You mean to tell me allergy season never ends? I attempted to ask Dr. Xi this while maintaining some level of professionalism, but the sad news was too painful to bear.
In short, people like me who are allergic to grasses, weeds, and trees, we don't get a break when spring and summer end. Southern California's warm climate means there's pretty much always something sending pollen my way.
And don't get me started on tree pollen. Trees are particularly problematic. Those suckers are determined to reproduce. "They're really adapted to travel for long distances," Dr. Xi said. "Sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles to try and find that female counterpart."
Apparently, you can run but you cannot hide from tree pollen.
Friends, the news gets worse. If you're like me and your symptoms are feeling a little worse than they used to, there could be a reason for that, other than the seasons.
"With climate change and with pollution, there's increased numbers of the same pollen," Dr. Xi said. "And then when the pollen interacts with air pollutants, they can actually cause more health problems."
Great. The future will be hot and also sniffly.
In case you're still struggling to imagine, here's me if I were a bunch of babies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QE_vWkqh-g
There is a chance of relief though. Doctor Xi says over-the-counter antihistamines can help, to a point. She recommends nasal sprays, too, but you have to be committed.
"I hear all the time that people have tried it, it didn't work, they stopped using it but it really takes a week or two or using it on a regular basis before it starts working," Dr. Xi said. "And if you do have seasonal allergies, using it before the season starts makes it the most effective."
If you're looking for solution that doesn't involve medication, you can try the age-old tactic of nasal saline irrigation. I use something called a Nety Pot. It is both effective and terrifying. Be warned, when you're getting used to using it, you might feel like you're drowning yourself. Don't worry, that's perfectly normal.
When all else fails, Dr. Xi said it's best to see a doctor. Severe cases, especially those with asthma, will benefit from medical intervention. Regular injections can treat indoor and outdoor allergies with personalized immunotherapy.
We may as well take advantage of modern science. It took wearing silly looking things like this to get to where we are today.
To all the other allergy sufferers out there, stay strong.
I'll see you sorry folks in the tissue aisle.