Out and About – Week of February 15th

If you’re not busy Wednesday, February 17, between the hours of 11:30AM and 5:15 PM, you should stop by the JOCO Center, 805 Wood Street, in Three Rivers. The JOCO Center is sponsoring a blood drive, along with the American Red Cross. Stop in, give some of your blood, have some juice and a cookie, and feel great about what you’ve just done. The need for blood in St. Joe County is constant, and the gratification is instant. You never know when you might need a pint or two, so now is the time to donate.

Growing older and retiring from the work force is a good thing. There’s nothing we can do about aging, but with proper preparation and planning, our “Golden Years” can be very gratifying. The one thing about getting older is that our bodies have a tendency to wear out. I’ve lost count of how many of my friends have had a knee or hip replacement. Fifty years ago, these procedures were rare, yet now they happen every day, and are performed by doctors who are very experienced in their field of expertise. Last September my gall bladder was removed. I was considered an outpatient, so I didn’t stay in the hospital overnight. My mother, on the other hand, had her gall bladder removed back in the 1950s. She was hospitalized for about a week and we almost lost her. Thank God for all of the advancements in the medical field.

About a year ago, I wrote about a medical procedure I had, where I was advised to have it handled at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. I recently received a note from a reader, in which she praised the medical staff here at Three Rivers Health. She asked if I would please share this good news with other readers of this column. She had a joint replacement done by Dr. Schaefer here at the new Joint Replacement Center, located on the campus of Three Rivers Health. She couldn’t praise Dr. Schaefer and his staff enough for the care she received. I’m hoping that I never need to have such a procedure done, because I’d rather not experience the discomfort that goes along with having bad joints, but should I ever need it, it’s refreshing to know that it can be handled right here in Wildcat country.

It’s been a while since I’ve shared items on the lighter side, so I’ll close this week’s column with a few things that might make you laugh, or at least chuckle a bit. No eye-rolls, please. Thank you, Jeff Foxworthy, for the comments on living in Michigan.

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice, and sitting there all day hoping that food will swim by, you might live in Michigan.
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Michigan.
If you have had a lengthy phone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Michigan.
See you Out and About!

Submitted by Norm Stutesman

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