Consider a different type of Valentine gift this year

Please support your local Foodbank, they still need your help. Valentine's day is a time of giving to your loved one while helping your neighbours is a very good way of showing love.

The following is from their report 2019

Despite a bleak situation, there is some good news

Foodbank use has stabilized, with the number of visits in 2019 approximately the same as they were in 2018. This year, total food bank visits reported across the food bank network in Canada in March 2019 was 1,084,386. While still a shockingly high number of food bank visits for one month, it is 1 percent lower than it was last year.

This corresponds to strong economic indicators such as low unemployment rates. When unemployment rates are low, the working-age population is generally able to access more employment income, which makes needing a food bank less likely.

Foodbank visits for March 2019 are now approximately the same level as they were in 2010. In the aftermath of the recession, unemployment rates were at their peak throughout 2009 and early 2010.

For many individuals, accessing food banks were the last resort after severance, E.I. and savings had run out. Foodbank visits saw the full effect of this in March of 2011 when there were over 1.2 million visits that month, a 14 percent jump over the prior year. Visits remained high and then saw a gradual decrease from 2015 onward, with numbers stabilizing over the last year. This decline has corresponded to a decline in unemployment rates over the same period,

The percentage of children accessing food banks has been slowly declining, and now represents 34.1 percent of all food bank clients, whereas in 2010 they were 37.2%. An improving economy, combined with federal and provincial tax benefits for families with children, has been helping to slowly increase incomes of these households and maybe having an impact on these results.

During this period, Food Banks Canada, along with others, had advocated for an improved child benefit system at the federal level. The creation of the Canada Child Benefit in 2016 was the outcome of this work and helped to further the progress in refining and improving our system of child benefits in Canada.

Those who are less likely to be able to work due to disability or retirement age – those who receive provincial disability support or pension as their main source of income has increased from 21 percent in 2010 to over 26 percent in 2019. Both groups are struggling with rapidly rising costs of living, along with the increased costs that accompany greater health care needs.

Seniors 65 and over have been the fastest rising age group accessing food banks. Those receiving disability support as their main source of income are contending with incomes that haven’t grown with inflation and often don’t cover basic household expenses.

The increasing cost of housing nationwide and the lack of rent geared to income units have been other factors that have been driving the demand for food banks. Those living in market rent housing have increased as a proportion of visits versus those in social (rent- geared to income) housing. 70 percent of clients live in market rental housing, up from 60 percent in 2010. Those living in social housing have decreased from 25.6% to 14.4%.

The effects of skyrocketing rental markets have been spilling over from outside urban areas and into smaller towns and recent investments in affordable housing units have not yet been able to address the massive demand.

Do you want a discount?

The following is from a number of websites that offer seniors an opportunity to find out what discounts they have. I am listing some available in Canada and a link to a couple of pages where you can find more information. If you are not in Canada, I suggest a Google search Senior discounts (your country or state)

If you are a senior here are some general points about discounts, which I have pointed out before. From bus fare to movie tickets, senior citizens are discount-eligible almost everywhere in Canada. Here are a few sites where you can get more information https://dealhack.ca/blog/canadian-senior-discounts, https://carleton.ca/cura/wp-content/uploads/Canadian-Senior-Discounts.pdf, https://www.theseniorlist.com/senior-discounts/

To get the discount:

Always ask!

Senior discounts are not always openly advertised. It is recommended that you ask about whether or not the store offers a discount every time you make a purchase.

See if you qualify?

Most senior discounts are open for everyone, but please note that some discounts require memberships in some association or other

Carry ID!

Always carry ID so you can prove our age when asked. Every discount in has a required minimum age so if you have id you can prove you qualify for the discount.

Here are some places that offer retail discounts

Home Hardware: 20% discount on select days. Contact your nearest outlet for more information.

Rexall Pharma Plus: 20% discount to CARP members. Exclusions apply.

Value Village: 30% discount every Tuesday at participating Value Village thrift stores. Seniors citizens with valid ID are eligible. Contact your nearest outlet for availability.

RONA: 15% discount if you are 50 years or older when you present a valid ID. For online purchases, use promo code 5015. Available on the first Tuesday of every month.

Lawtons Drugs: 20% discount once a month depending on store location to seniors who are 55 years old and above.

Exclusions apply.

Reno Depot: 15% discount to seniors who are 55 or older every first Tuesday of the month. Valid ID is required.

Giant Tiger: Customers who are 60 or older are eligible for senior discounts. Availability and discount depending on the store.

Goodwill Alberta: 15% discount every Wednesday to seniors who are 60 years old and above.

Goodwill Amity: Seniors who are 65 or older can get a 10% discount every day of the week. Bring valid ID

65 and older

British Columbia Transportation System: The whole public transportation system in British Columbia offers discounted fare rates and a bus pass program to seniors 65+. A valid BC Services Card must be shown to the driver when you pay

Calgary Transit: Seniors age 65+ are eligible to apply for Calgary Transit’s Regular Senior Yearly Pass and Low-Income Seniors Yearly Pass

Go Transit: For passengers age 65 and above, a single-ride fare is half the adult single-ride fare

Toronto Transit Commission: TTC offers discounted fares and passes for seniors 65+.

Ottawa Transit: Ottawa Transit offers free rides for seniors every Wednesday. Discounted monthly pass and lower cash and PRESTO e-purse fares also available

St. John’s Metrobus: St. John’s Metrobus offers discounted rates on their 10-ride pass and monthly/30-day pass to seniors age 65 and over.

Winnipeg Transit: Winnipeg Transit offers discounted fare rates for seniors age 65 or older. A valid identification card must be shown to the operator when boarding.

Want to feel old?

• Bonanza premiered 60 years ago.
• The Beatles split 50 years ago.
• Laugh-In premiered nearly 52 years ago.
• The Wizard of Oz is 80 years old.
• Elvis is dead 42 years old. He'd be 84 today.
• The Thriller video is 36 years old.
• Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin dead 49 years.
• John Lennon dead 39 years.
• Mickey Mantle retired 51 years ago.
• Back to the Future is 35 years old.
• Saturday Night Fever is 42 years old.
• The Ed Sullivan show ended 47 years ago.
• The Brady Bunch premiered 50 years ago.
• The triplets on My Three Sons are 50.
• Tabitha from Bewitched is 55.
• The Corvette turned 66 this year.
• The Mustang is 55.
• If you were born in the '50s, you've had 12                presidents
• The Karate Kid is now older than Mr. Miyagi. 

• Ralph Macchio, who played Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid, was supposed to be a teen in the 1984 movie. But he was actually 22. Today, Macchio is all grown up—so much, in fact, that he's now older than Mr. Miyagi was at the time. Pat Morita, who played Miyagi, was a mere 52 years old back then, while Macchio is currently 57. 

• Kids graduating high school in 2019 were 
        born in the 2000s.
• Today's kids have always been able to           
         communicate with emojis.
From emails and texts to social media posts, emojis have become a common part of how we communicate since they launched in 1999. According to the official Unicode list, there are now nearly 2,800 different emojis in use today. And though people of all ages use emojis, some of us remember a time when inserting a smiley face into a text message was a colon and a half parenthesis. But kids born in the 21st century have always had emojis. Try explaining to a teenager how 20th-century teens communicated almost solely with words, and they'll look at you like you're nuts.

Many women think the signs of a heart attack are unmistakable

Every year, about 735,000 Americans suffer a heart attack, and, for many, the result is dire. According to the CDC, one in four people dies of heart disease in the United States, making it the leading cause of death for both men and women. And yet, in 2005 a survey found that only 27% of respondents were aware of all major symptoms of a heart attack, which is terrible because detecting early warning signs is crucial for survival.

Most people consider chest pain to be the only sign that a heart attack is on the horizon, but any upper body pain or discomfort in the arms, back, neck, jaw, or upper stomach can be a major symptom, as well.

As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

Many women think the signs of a heart attack are unmistakable — the image of the elephant comes to mind — but in fact, they can be subtler and sometimes confusing.

You could feel so short of breath, “as though you ran a marathon, but you haven't made a move or some women experiencing a heart attack describe upper back pressure that feels like squeezing or a rope being tied around them. Dizziness, light-headedness or actually, fainting are other symptoms to look for

Twitter user @geewheezie, who is a nurse, learned this the hard way and decided to share her story as a warning to other women in a thread that now has over 26,000 retweets.

"I want to warn women our heart attacks feel different. Last Sunday, I had a heart attack. I had a 95% block in my left anterior descending artery. I'm alive because I called 911. I never had chest pain. It wasn't what you read in pamphlets. I had it off and on for weeks. The pain ran across my upper back, shoulder blades and equally down both arms. It felt like burning and aching. I actually thought it was a muscle strain. It wasn't until I broke into drenching sweat and started vomiting that I called 911. I'm a nurse. I'm an older woman. I had been spending the week helping my neighbour clean out her barn, I thought I strained some muscles. I took Motrin and put a warm pack on my shoulders, I almost died because I didn't call it chest pain. The day before my heart attack I drove six hours to help my mother who lives in another state. I thought I should go to a [doctor] but I had to help my mom who is 90 and I'd just tough it out because it wasn't really bad. I was lucky, I had no idea what hospital to go to, the female medics who picked me up took me to a hospital that does cardiac caths, I had 4 stents placed an hour after I got to the ER. That was Sunday. I was discharged Thursday and at my daughters' house and back to tweeting."

While nausea, vomiting, and soreness in your arms are listed as major warning signs of heart attacks in general, @geewheezie

is right to want to "warn women our heart attacks feel different."

If you have any of these signs, call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital right away.

·       Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.

·       Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.

·       Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.

·       Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or light-headedness.

Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening. It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) heart attack because they didn't know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up, which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!