Happening at the Crossroads
March 9, 2007
Thanks to a generous grant from the Kopsecker Fund of the Door County Community Foundation, Crossroads is able to sponsor a Seminar Series focusing Health Issues for the Maturing Door County Adults.
We are happy to announce that the first presentation, scheduled for 10:00 AM on Wednesday, March 21, will be offered by Katie Graf, a social worker for Door County Memorial Hospital Ministry Health Care. Katie has vast experience working with maturing adults. Her presentation is entitled " How to Prepare for Your Future and Advance Directives."
Advanced directives are extremely valuable to health care providers and to family members in the event an individual is no longer able to express his or her wishes or to make decisions regarding medical treatment. The presentation will be held in the lecture hall of the Collins Learning Center. It is free for adults 55 and older and for members of Friends of Crossroads and Crossroads Giving Club. For those under the age of 55, there is a suggested donation of $5.00. Health snacks will be offered during the break.
We rather hope Katie gives some advice on how to deal with the paperwork once it is completed. Most people find themselves shuffling the the same papers over and over. What a waste of time and effort! It would be nice to handle each document once and only once. It would be lovely find a way to file important papers efficiently. Why can we humans be as efficient as a fox?
A red fox must be efficient to survive the winter. Food is scarce. This time of year, a fox investigates any object which might possibly be food. If the object is deemed inedible, the fox urinates on it. When he comes across the same object on a later hunting trip, he will not need to waste his time. The mark will tell him immediately that as a food source, the item is worthless.
In fact, every fox in the area will instantly know to ignore the item and proceed to search out something worthwhile. It’s an efficient system. A fox investigates an item once and only once. Foxes locate food, sense danger, and communicate with scent. When they mark their territories, they are informing other fox in the area of their gender, their current breeding condition, and their strength. And foxes make sure other foxes get the message by leaving their marks precisely at fox nose-level on rocks, stumps or other slightly elevated objects.
Foxes are skilled hunters, but an estimated quarter of their diet is made up of fruits, seeds, and carrion. When their survival depends on food gathering, they can’t afford to waste time. So they check and mark the rejects.
When dealing with health care issues, mountains of paper seem to erupt. Maybe we can take a lesson from the fox. Certainly, Katie Graf can help seniors work their way through the system and deal with the paper that comes with it.
Because Saturday, March 17 is St. Patrick's Day, slide presentation "On Being Green" will be presented in the lecture hall at 2:00. An optional hike to see green in nature will follow.
The Door Peninsula Astronomical Society invites the public to a Viewing Night at the Leif Everson Observatory at 7:00 PM on March 17. If the luck of the Irish is with us, the skies will be spectacular. But, in the even of poor viewing conditions, a program will be presented in the Stonecipher Astronomy Center, which can be reached from the Utah Street Entrance to Crossroads (turn left at the first stop sign.)
Trails are open to the public, but if there is snow, hikers are asked to use designated hiking trails.
Crossroads is a donor-supported learning preserve dedicated to life long learning in science, history and the environment. The main entrance is located across from Whitetails Unlimited on Michigan (TT) in Sturgeon Bay.
