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January 9, 2013 The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net Page 5A Life Enrichment Center provides health services, and more beth.kmherald@gmail. com Walk into The Neisler Life Enrichment Center at 222 Kings Mountain Blvd. in Kings Mountain at any time during the week and you will see busy people in- volved in a variety of activi- ties. Look to your left and you will see a classroom full of adults learning to read and write. There are often guest speakers in the main room with an attentive audience. On Wednesdays, a hair- dresser is available. There are participants working on their therapy, getting vitals checked by an RN, assisting in the kitchen, or just taking it easy working a puzzle with friends or watching TV. Be- hind the scenes, there are whirlpool tubs available for participants. Life Enrichment began in 1980 at Shelby Presbyterian Church, in one room, with two participants two days a week. The center grew to a full sized facility on Life En- richment Blvd. in Shelby. Because of the numerous participants coming from the Kings Mountain vicinity, it was soon evident that Life Enrichment needed to ex- pand to Kings Mountain. Starting with just six par- ticipants, the Kings Moun- tain Life Enrichment now provides care for 55 — 60 adults a day. This coming March the center will cele- brate its ninth year in opera- tion. Life Enrichment Center provides adult day care and health services to any adult over the age of 18 regardless of their diagnosis. Having two full-time RNs on staff is just one of the many things that set the center apart from other adult daycare facilities. Because of the excellent services pro- vided, Life Enrichment Cen- ter has been recognized as a “National Model Adult Day Center” by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As a model facility, people have come from as far as Juneau, AK, to learn how to operate adult day centers. Natalie Greene’s donated ponytail will help a child fighting cancer. The Kings Mountain woman surprised her hus- band, Carl, Thursday morning and had 10 inches of her hair cut which she donated to Locks for Love. Jennifer Payne, hair stylist at Shear Delight & Spa, cut her blonde hair to shoulder- length and gave her a new hairdo which delighted both Natalie and her husband. “My hair just kept getting ‘longer and longer,” said Na- talie, who decided to donate her hair in memory of her mother, the late Sylvia Lysek, a former cancer patient. The Greenes have two grown children. Ten inches of hair meas- ured tip to tip is the minimum length needed for a hair piece. Locks for Love creates cus- tom hairpieces for each child who receives hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need. : When Locks of Love first began, it was connected with a for-profit wig retailer. In December 1997, the organi- zation obtained its 501(c)(3) certification from the IRS. With the installation of a vol- unteer board of directors, the charity began operating as an entity unto itself under its by- laws and separated from the for-profit retailer. This initia- Mark Ross shared his story - about his dream trip to Washington, DC. Participants at Life En- richment Center are proud to share their stories. Mable Spargo was a suc- cessful caterer covering three counties for 30 years. Then she discovered that she had to have a leg amputated due to diabetes. For a while after the surgery, Mable felt that she would never be able to do anything again. Then she was introduced to Life Enrichment Center and she started a whole new life. Mable now shares her cook- ing expertise with the cen- ter’s chef and assists with many duties. As she sits and cleans collard greens, she shares her story and a glow comes across her face that will really warm your heart. The collards and other pro- duce were donated to the center by Tom’s Family Mart. After hearing about a young lady who was granted her wish before she passed away, participants were asked, “If you could do any- thing in the world, what would be your wish?” An- swers were varied. One girl’s greatest wish was to be able to walk. A participant, who is legally blind, answered that they were perfectly happy with their life, and wouldn’t change a thing. Mark Ross had an inter- esting response. He wished that he could go to Washing- ton, DC, and to the White House. What happened next really was a dream come true. Debbie Vaughan, Com- munity Outreach Coordina- tor, was in line at a funeral and began chatting with a lady in front of her. They ex- changed stories about their careers, and as fate would have it, the lady works for the Department of Defense and has to travel much of the time. She said she has way more frequent flyer points than she could ever use, and she would feel blessed to be able to share these with Mark to help fulfill his wish. Because of the generosity of a stranger and Kings Mountain’s David Brinkley, Mark’s dream trip became a reality. Being a quadriplegic, Mark needed two people to assist him. So thanks to the frequent flyer points, Debbie and another caregiver from the center accompanied Mark on his first trip on a plane to Washington. The points also paid for hotel rooms overlooking the Na- tional Monument. David Brinkley’s contribution paid for the rental of a handicap accessible van and all meals. While in Washington, Mark visited the Smithson- ian Institute and the Air Mu- seum. Finally, his dream came true with a private tour of the West Wing of the White House. President Obama was in Peru at the time of the visit, so Mark didn’t get to meet him, but the tour guide was very help- ful and presented Mark with an autographed football from the White House. Because Mark’s chair was sometimes hard to ma- neuver in smaller spots, it chipped a little paint off the wall of the Joe Biden Hall. It’s now a standing joke that “Mark left his mark” at the White House. So, as you can see, dreams can come true. Debbie just beams as she informs visitors about Life Enrichment Center. She said that the program is still en- riching lives after 32 years, and it seems like just yester- day that the Kings Mountain Center was built, and now they will soon be celebrating their ninth year. She stressed that the center is there as much for the caregivers as for the participants. “It helps to ease the caregivers’ lives and gives them some breath- ing time so that when they are reunited with the partici- pants, the caregivers feel more relaxed and ready to care for them.” Anyone can visit the cen- ter at any time. The center offers a half-day trial visit from 10 a.m. — 2 p.m. for any At right: Debbie Vaughan, Community Outreach Coor- dinator, pointing out the dif- ferent vegetables in the raised hed. The bed was donated by Elizabeth Baptist . Church in Shelby on the United Way “Make a Differ- ence Day.” Below: Sandra Smith (left) - and Mable Spargo are busy cleaning collard greens for the New Year. Photos by Beth Brock prospective participants. Vaughan said “This helps the workers at the center learn about the participant and de- cide what type of care is needed to make them as comfortable as possible.” After the visit, an assessment is done to see what the par- ticipant would need from the center. The caregivers are in- formed about the results of the assessment and cost. Anyone interested in taking a prospective participant for a trial visit is asked to call several days in advance. The center is open five days a week, 12 % hours a “day, from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Participants can go as many days a week as desired. The center accepts private pay, CAP-MRDD, CAP-DA, and the Veteran’s Administration will pay for eligible veterans to attend. A total of 22 veter- ans attend the Kings Moun- tain center. Community Outreach Coordinator Debbie Vaughan visits churches and other organizations to better inform the public on demen- tia and Alzheimer’s. The center offers support meet- ings the first Tuesday of every month from 5:30 p.m. — 7 p.m. A sitter will be pro- vided for the patient, so that the caregiver can attend the meetings. Patients do not clips her curls for Locks of Love Natalie Greene (in salon chair) with Jennifer Payne .. fore her hair cut tive was spearheaded by Madonna Coffman, a retired cardiac nurse who had a great deal of volunteer experience working for not-for-profits in the surrounding Palm Beach area. When Mrs. Coffman was in her 20s she developed alopecia after receiving a hep- atitis vaccination. With med- ications, she recovered. 15 years later, her 4-year-old daughter developed alopecia and lost all of her hair. Photos by Lib Stewart .he- Madonna said it was difficult to deal with her hair loss, but her daughter’s loss was ten times harder. It was at this time that she quit all other charity work and took on Locks of Love as a full time volunteer cheered on by her daughter’s recovery as her in- spiration. For some time the con- tents of Mrs. Coffman’s garage contained bins of mail and hair donations. After fi- nally securing donated office Natalie Greene and hair stylist Jennifer Payne with the do- nated ponytail space from a local hospital "and locating a manufacturer of the highest quality pros- thetics, Locks of Love was off and running. Since the begin- ning, the charity has received a great deal of support by both the media and its volun- teers throughout the country. Locks of Love has been fea- tured or mentioned on televi- sion shows such as The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, Oprah, 20/20, The View, Jay Leno, Maury Povich, Good Morning America, CBS Good Morning, CNN Espanol and Inside Edition. Also in na- tional publications including USA Today, The NY Times, People, Seventeen, Glamour, CosmoGirl, Self, Redbook, Woman's Day, ElleGirl, Child Magazine, and Ladies Home Journal. The number of Viairpieces provided has increased signif- icantly since its inception. Locks of Love has recipients in all 50 states and Canada and is working toward its goal to help every financially dis- advantaged child suffering from long-term hair loss. APA League By have to be enrolled in the program for their caregivers to attend the meetings. Doc- tors and attorneys as well as guest speakers come to the meetings to answer ques- tions from caregivers. The Shelby center offers the same support meetings on the third Tuesday of each month, : - Vaughan encourages you to drop in at any time at the center. She welcomes volun- teers who may serve from several hours to five days a week. For more information call Debbie at 704-739-4858 or e-mail her at Debbie@lifeenrichmentcen- ter.org. More names added to veterans tree More veterans’ names have been added to the American Legion Auxiliary Veterans’ tree. They are: Robert L. Schneider, Otto J. Schneider, Lawrence E. Clunie, Chester Turley, Donald Schultz, James Schultz, Ernest Schultz Jr., Albert Lotich and Philip Lotich. Two bloodmobiles to visit KM Two Red Cross bloodmo- bile visits are scheduled in January in Kings Mountain. Boy Scouts will sponsor the Jan. 19 visit of the re- gional blood bank. Donors will be processed from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Royal Praise Ministry Church at 2055 Shelby Road. H. Lawrence Patrick Sen- ior Center, 909 E. King St. will sponsor the Jan. 25 visit of the bloodmobile. Donors will be processed from 10 am.-2 p.m. KM Historical Museum hours Kings Mountain Histori- cal Museum is OPEN Tues- day - Saturday, 10am — 4pm, and Sunday, 1pm -4pm. The cost of admission is free, however donations are ap- preciated. 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The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Jan. 9, 2013, edition 1
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