Offered by: Dr. Michele Tuepker, MD – Premier Pediatrics
In early January, a case of measles was diagnosed in northeast Denver and the individual was hospitalized.
Early signs of measles include fever ≥ 101 F, cough, runny nose, and red, irritated eyes. The measles rash happens 2-4 days after the initial signs, and usually begins on the face. The rash then spreads down and out towards the hands and the feet. The rash is red and has both flat areas and raised, bumpy areas.
Measles is extremely contagious and is spread by respiratory droplets, i.e. a cough or sneeze. The droplets can be present in an area for several hours after the person with measles visited. Once exposed, it takes 7-21 days for symptoms to develop. Children younger than 5 years old and adults older than 20 years old are more likely to suffer from significant complications from a measles infection, which include ear infections that can lead to permanent hearing loss, diarrhea, pneumonia, and rarely encephalitis (brain swelling) that can lead to death.
Vaccination is the safest, best, and most effective way to prevent developing measles. The MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is routinely given at 12-15 months and 4-6 years of age, with 93% and 97% effectiveness after one and two doses respectively. Additionally, someone who is exposed to measles and has not been appropriately immunized may see a decrease in symptoms if they are vaccinated with the MMR vaccine within 72 hours of exposure.
“In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours.”
Mark Twain
We all know what a challenge gardening can be in our climate, especially with our everchanging weather. When those warm sunny days show up and spring fever has you itching to get outside there are plenty of things you can do to prepare your garden.
The first thing to do is clear all the leaves, debris and broken branches that may be left from winter. Next be sure to clean all your tools with soap and water, use a little mineral spirit on wooden handles. Many trees or shrubs can use a good pruning this time of year, especially those that bloom on new wood. Late winter/early spring is the perfect time to prune back old wood because you can see the branch structure well and you can shape the plant before the buds break dormancy.
Now it’s time to prepare the garden beds. In winter, soil tends to become compacted, so the first thing you will want to do is loosen it back up by tilling or turning. Then ad your compost and amendments. You can use a soil test kit to check your pH and nutrient levels. If your perennials have become over crowded and are starting to deteriorate, they can really benefit from being divided in early spring. If you are not sure how to do this stop by the garden center and we will show you.
Pinnacle Gardens has a great selection of trees, shrubs and perennials selected specifically for our climate and spring is an ideal time to plant. Consider the design of your yard, group plants with similar light, water and soil requirements together.
Here are some tips from Planttalk Colorado™
When designing a landscape, keep in mind activities that might take place in that space. Compare how outdoor space is currently used with how it would ideally be used.
Next, consider the sun and how it moves around a landscape. Are there places in the landscape that should be shaded in the summer, but open to sunlight in the winter? Choose a design and plants according to these factors.
Compare landscaping ideas with the budget set for the project. A general rule of thumb for estimating the amount of money one should invest in a landscape is approximately 10 percent of the value of the home.
Offered by: T. Lloyd Worth, Worth Wealth Management
There is a good possibility that you or your spouse will eventually require some form of long-term care (LTC). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, at least 70% of people aged 65 or older will require some form of long-term care services and support during their lives.¹
Cost of Care
Below is a summary of current costs according to the Genworth 2017 Cost of Care Survey.
Median costs in the United States:¹
$235/day for a semi-private room in a nursing home
$267/day for a private room in a nursing home
$3,750/month for care in an assisted living facility (for a one-bedroom unit)
$135/day for a home health aide
$131/day for homemaker/companion services
With health care costs rising every year, these expenses can be expected to grow substantially over time. Furthermore, neither Medicare nor Medicare supplemental coverage, also known as Medigap insurance, typically cover long-term care. Medicaid will cover a large share of such services but only if you meet stringent financial and functional criteria. What’s more, most employer-sponsored or private health insurance plans follow the same general rules as Medicare. Therefore, most people who need long-term care must pay for some or all of it on their own.
Cost of Insurance
Like life insurance, long-term care insurance policy premiums largely depend on your age and health. If you take out a policy when you are young, you can expect to pay comparatively low premiums during the life of the plan, while starting a new policy when you are older will entail significantly higher monthly premiums.
Coverage
Long-term care policies are complex and vary widely. But in general, long-term care insurance typically covers the following:
Nursing home care
Adult day care
Visiting nurses
Assisted living
In-home assistance with daily activities
LTC includes a range of nursing, social, and rehabilitative services for people who need ongoing assistance due to a chronic illness or disability. LTC insurance can be used by anyone at any age who suffers an accident or debilitating illness, but it most frequently is used by older adults who need assistance with essential physical needs, such as bathing, dressing, or eating.
Other Considerations
Deciding whether to purchase long-term care insurance will depend on your personal situation. You may want to consider your family health history, your level of assets to potentially pay for long-term care, and your feelings about relying on family members for support. Feel free to reach out to our team if you’d like to discuss your options.
Tips and tricks for showcasing your home in the best possible light.
Offered by: Jan Hepp-Struck, Hepp Realty
Welcome to Spring, the season when activity traditionally picks up in real estate. If you are thinking about selling your home, you are definitely not alone. The difference this year, however, is a growing inventory of available properties over this time last year, coupled with changes in tax laws that may make home ownership less attractive and/or more difficult to achieve for some first-time buyers. Depending upon the price bracket of your home, this could ultimately equate to fewer potential buyers, so ensuring your home shows in the best possible light is more important than ever. Here’s how to get a start on the process to make sure your home is ready for market and doesn’t stand out for the wrong reasons:
Disassociate Yourself: Forget, for a few moments, that this is your home and try to see it through the eyes of the potential buyer who doesn’t know you or your story. For this process, it’s important to step back, be as objective as possible, and view the house not as your home, but as a product that must be packaged in the best way possible so it can be sold. Take a good long look at each room – what do you see? Step outside yourself and try to image how a stranger, looking for a home, would feel upon seeing that room for the first time? You only get to make a first impression one time, and it’s critical to get it right.
Declutter and Depersonalize the Space: Homes are currently averaging about eight weeks on the market, so if you haven’t used stuff within the past few weeks, you should be able to live without it for a few weeks. It may seem voyeuristic, but it’s a readily accepted fact that buyers have a hard time not being distracted by personal effects. So go ahead and pack up the books, knick-knacks, photos, memorabilia, and family heirlooms, especially if they are valuable. It may seem counter-intuitive, but, doing this frees up the space from distractions and gives potential buyers subconscious permission to imagine their own photos and personal items filling the walls and shelves. If it helps, think of this exercise as getting a head start on the packing process.
For proven expertise in establishing your home value and/or searching for a new or existing home, please call Jan at (303) 520-4340.
Offered by: City of Brighton Communications Office
The Brighton Recreation Center is keeping up with the Joneses! It’s now taking its fitness classes to a new level; offering both virtual fitness classes and jumping into a new water fitness craze!
BOGAFit is an innovative fitness program that uses a fitness board on the water to build strength, deepen flexibility, and improve balance and coordination. This exercise enhances the benefits of traditional fitness movement while eliminating the harsh impacts of these exercises, creating high-intensity workouts on the water with a low impact on your body. It also helps work your core muscles to increase balance.
“We have found a couple of other places that offer classes once a week or during the summer only,” Fitness Supervisor Kristin Meaux said. “I think there is one other location that specializes in this class, but we are one of the first to offer this class in a recreation facility.”
Meaux went on to say that paddleboard yoga’s popularity in states near water is on the rise and bringing this type of exercise to not only landlocked Colorado but Brighton specifically was a joint effort between her department and the city’s aquatics department.
“We wanted to make sure our fitness department was one of the first rec centers in the state to offer indoor paddleboard fitness classes year-round,” Meaux said.
If water exercise is not for you, don’t worry. The Brighton Recreation Center also has a different program that’s helping you achieve your fitness goal for 2019. Virtual fitness classes offer members a chance to get the experience of a group fitness class any time a regular instructor-led group fitness class is not scheduled. These virtual group fitness classes were designed to give residents a chance to work out when it is most convenient for them, instead of trying to rearrange their schedule to make it to a class at the Brighton Recreation Center.
Users can select from a wide range of classes from Sha’bam, to Flow and even a high intensity, interval training (HIIT) class called GRIT. The class times vary from 30-60 minutes to meet everyone’s needs. This virtual fitness program option is available in both the fitness studio and cycling studio of the Brighton Recreation Center.
Both of these new features are included with daily admission. There is no pre-registration required for the class, but space is limited. Due to the small class sizes for BOGAFit, users can pick up a ticket from the front desk as early as 30 minutes prior to the start time of each class to confirm their spot. All virtual fitness classes are limited to the capacity of our fitness and cycle studios.
For more information about these two unique fitness programs visit www.brightonrecreation.com or call 303-655-2200
As some of you know, in February of 2018 I co-founded a non-profit in memory of my dad, called Ripbeams. We collect handmade beanies and give them to kids with leukemia. You can check us out more at www.facebook.com/ripbeams. Since we began, we have collected 2,617 beanies and given them to kids in twenty-nine states plus Washington, D.C. We became a registered non-profit in the Summer of 2018. We have been grateful to partner with Brighton DECA, Hoff Elementary, Northeast Elementary, Overland Trail Middle School, several local businesses, fellow non-profits and schools to help provide beanie making instruction
Ripbeams is thrilled to partner with Big Choice Brewing again for our second fundraiser to be held on my dad’s 67th Heavenly Birthday – March 22nd – from 5 to 8 pm. We will have awesome craft beer and food, silent auction items, and will be accepting donations of skeins of yarn and beanies. Big Choice Brewing has also generously offered to donate 10% to Ripbeams from our event
Don’t forget the Rippy Agency still has tickets you can buy for a chance to win an autographed Serena Williams Purple Purse Backpack, valued at over $700.00. You can purchase your ticket for $20 with 100% of the proceeds going to Almost Home, a local non-profit that assists with promoting self-sufficiency and assistance to those experiencing housing instability. Almost Home also has a family emergency homeless shelter with the ability to house six families.
Offered by: Michael A. Dolan – Dolan & Associates, P.C.
“I don’t have an estate, isn’t that something rich people have?”
When the subject of estate planning comes up, some people draw the conclusion that they do not have an estate and therefore don’t need to plan. So, what is an estate?
The term “estate” simply means that you own something in your individual name at the time of your death. If you own just one thing (an asset), then you have an estate. The process for dealing with that estate may differ based on the value of the things you own at the time of your death. However, someone other than you will need the authority to deal with the things you own after you die, or if you become disabled before you die.
The process of estate planning is to plan what to do with what you own at the time of your death, or if you become disabled before your death. It will also give appointed individuals the authority to deal with what you own upon your death, and may even create that authority upon your disability without court involvement.
The Bottom Line: If you own something you have an estate, and you should have an estate plan in place before you become disabled or die. And since you don’t know when you are going to die or become disabled, maybe you should think about getting that accomplished sooner rather than later.
If you would like to learn more about an effective estate planning process that is producing great results for families, visit us online at: www.EstatePlansThatWork.com to sign up for a complimentary educational workshop.
When you are having remodeling or renovation work done in your home, whether it is something as simple as replacing cabinets or complex as moving load-bearing walls or adding a story onto a residential home or commercial building, you should always consult with your insurance professional beforehand with the specific project details. By doing so in advance, he or she may review your current property policies to be sure you and your home will be properly covered during the renovation. This is an important point because although a property owner may have a homeowner’s insurance policy or other dwelling policy already in place, renovations may be limited or specifically excluded under those policies! You may need a builders risk policy to be fully ensured in the event of an accident
The story of a home being renovated, and an accidental fire breaking out and destroying the entire renovation, sadly, has happened. Even simple plumbing errors have been linked to ruining entire basement or home renovation projects
It is also important to note, builders risk policies can insure just the renovations, excluding existing structures. When home or property owners purchase builders risk insurance for renovations, they can purchase coverage to complement what they already have protected under permanent homeowners and property policies.
Let us know if we may help you answer some of the common questions so you can confidently ensure your vision is properly protected throughout the course of construction.
Offered by: Dr. Larry Chrisman – Back In Balance Chiropractic
Back in Balance Chiropractic Massage and Acupuncture is proud to bring non-surgical spinal decompression to Brighton! If you have been suffering from a herniated disc, numbness to extremities, sciatica, degenerative disc disease, failed back surgery, drop foot or pain lasting for over a decade, spinal decompression may be atreatment that can finally bring you lasting relief! But what exactly is Spinal Decompression?
Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression is a non-invasive treatment for patients who suffer from neck and back problems. A decompression treatment slowly and gently lengthens or releases pressure in the spine through repetitive movements by a customized medical device, in this case, a specialized table on which the patient rests comfortably and securely during the procedure. The table pulls and releases, creating a pressure change within the invertebral disc, surrounding soft tissue and joints. This pressure change allows the disc bulges or herniations and nutrients to be pulled back into the disc. Rehydration of the disc and surrounding tissues creates a physiological change which assists the body’s natural healing process.
How long will results last? Each patient is unique and results will vary. However, research suggests that continued improvement is seen up to four years following the decompression treatment program.
“My pain was so bad that it often kept me from getting out of bed. My MRI showed a Herniated S1-L5 disc. After four sessions of Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression, the pain was gone! At the end of session 20, I had flexibility I had not experienced for 12 years. Only a short while ago, I thought invasive surgery was my only option. Spinal Decompression has given me my life back”
Have you ever danced on a bike in a dark room? Every ride at Surge is a full body, fat burning workout that incorporates interval training designed to produce real results, real quick. When the lights are low and the beats start bumping you can’t help but turn up the resistance. With each climb, sprint, and jump you become stronger both mentally and physically.
At Surge, we are all about community and providing the best training experience for our riders. We offer shoes, cooling towels, lockers, changing rooms stocked with essentials, fresh fruit, and a comfortable lounge area to hang out in after class. We even provide cocktails on those special days and nights!
It does not matter if you have never been on a bike, our certified spin instructors will help you set your bike up and make sure you are ready to go. Anyone can ride at Surge. You can follow along at your own pace, as well as modify any movement. There’s no feeling insecure. The room is dark. It’s just you and the bike following along to a highly passionate, motivating, and energetic instructor. Feel the beat and enjoy the ride!
My name is Amber Halliday, and I’m so excited to bring Surge to Brighton, Colorado. I was a school teacher in Brighton for many years, but decided I needed to stay home with my twin girls when they were born. They now 9 and I have enjoyed my years with them, but I knew it was time for me to do something for myself and the community that is so dear to my heart. I fell in love with beat base cycling 2 years ago while on vacation in New York City. After that first ride in the big city, I knew I wanted to bring this experience to my own town and share my passion with others. Passion is what takes people beyond “fitness” and into a life-changing experience. I’m humbled to be able to start this adventure in Brighton and take you along for the ride!
“Believe in your dreams, they were given to you for a reason”
Please visit our website: surgespin.com and you can also find us on facebook, instagram and twitter. Follow along for more details and our introductory offers.
Now hiring spin instructors! If you are interested and think you have what it takes, go to surgespin.com and apply today!
Wonderful! Well written! Informative! Susan is Superb!
Michael Angelo DaveyJuly 19, 2015
Susan is Amazing! Thanks for all your had work. We all appreciate it.
Sandra Samson ChessmoreJuly 19, 2015
Advertising process was flawless! The ad looked great, the responses are already coming in and Susan was terrific to work with. Thank you! We'll definitely be working with you guys again!
