COVID-19…STILL!!!

Welcome to the 4th and FINAL quarter of 2020! What a wild year it’s been. Let’s see if we can recount some of what’s happened this year.

COVID-19. Riots. Tiger King. Murder Hornets. UFOs. Wildfires. Earthquakes. Locust Swarms. Volcanos. Tropical Storms in Arkansas

But through it all…

Fall is upon us!

We’re not quite back to “normal” yet, but MAYBE we’re getting there. Schools are back in session. Sports are back…kinda. The leaves are falling. Pumpkin spice everything is here. Deer hunters are excited! Stores are filling up with Halloween and Christmas. And maybe, just MAYBE the heat is going away for another year.

Now…

What’s YOUR favorite thing about fall?

Newport/Mtn View/Oxford’s Dir of Branch Operations, Chris Jackson, says, “Sleeping with the windows open.”

Our new Admissions & Utilization Specialist, Katie Cheek, says, “Eating lots of candy corn pumpkins and wearing cozy sweaters.”

Mtn View’s Program Supervisor, Nicole Hallman, says, “Cooler nights, Friday night football, changing leaves, and marshmallows over a fire.”

Farmer’s Almanac Winter Prediction

For winter 2020-2021, In New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, Mother Nature will mix intervals of tranquil weather with occasional shots of cold and wintry precipitation but overall may seem to be a bit “temperamental.”

Only time will tell if it’s accurate!!!

Razorback football is BACK!!!

Who’s cheering on them Hogs this year?

What’s your prediction for the Hogs’ 2020 season?

Conway/Clinton’s Dir of Branch Operations, Turner James, says, “I say we go 2-8 on the season and since this season is abnormal, we will also be considered for a bowl game!!!! Woo Pig”

Our COO. Dr. Brad Holloway, says, “4-6 this season.”

MY 2 CENTS by Chris Owen

The word gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Gratitude, which rhymes with “attitude,” comes from the Latin word gratus, which means “thankful, pleasing.” When you feel gratitude, you’re pleased by what someone did for you, and pleased by the results. Unlike indebtedness, you’re not anxious about having to pay it back.

According to research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

Now let’s focus on that last part- building strong relationships! Isn’t that what we strive to do here at Birch Tree Communities? If the last 31 years have taught us anything, it’s that our members succeed when WE take the time to build and nurture good relationships with them. We talk about that in crisis training. We talk about that in new hire orientation. Hopefully, it’s a topic that comes up fairly regular at the branch(s).

A great deal of research has shown that gratitude helps us to initiate, maintain, and strengthen our relationships. Gratitude may make our romantic relationships closer and more satisfying, encourage us to feel more invested in friendships, and even cause us to be more helpful to co-workers and/or those we serve!!

Let’s face it…some days are really hard! 2020 has been TOUGH! But surely it hasn’t ALL been bad! We must learn to shift our thinking to see the glass as half full…or even FULL instead of half empty! (Forgive the cliché!)

A wise man once told me that he’s learned to replace the word “struggle” with the word “opportunity.” Any time he faces a struggle, he makes an effort to see what sort of opportunity for change or good is presented in that moment. In other words, he chooses to have gratitude for that “problem” because it gives him an opportunity for growth.

Give it a shot! I dare you!!!!

Recipe Corner

Here’s something DELICIOUS and unquestionably Southern to add to your Holiday menu this year.

Dulane’s Buttermilk Pie

INGREDIENTS

½ cup buttermilk

1 ¾ c sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons flour

1 stick of butter - soft

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

Nutmeg to dust on top

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400.  Mix everything together (I use a mixer) and pour in an unbaked 9” pie shell.  Sprinkle the top lightly with nutmeg.  Bake 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes.  Cool to allow filling to set. 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As you peruse the aisles of your favorite department store, you start to notice a trend: pink scarves, pink socks, pink shirts, and pink coffee mugs. Then pink blenders, pink vacuums, and is that a pink microwave?!? Ahh yes, the pink explosion is everywhere, and that can only mean one thing: October is upon us, and everyone is preparing for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

After all, about 1 in 8 U.S. women, and 1 in 1000 U.S. men will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime and being proactive in this fight is crucial. Monthly breast self-exams, an annual doctor’s exam, and a mammogram are the keys to prevention/early detection. These three things are your best bet for catching breast cancer in its earliest stages. Trust your judgment when it comes to your body. Don’t ever feel like you are overreacting if you “think” you feel something in your breast. If it doesn’t feel right, have it checked out. The worst (or best) thing that can happen is that you get checked and it turns out to be nothing.

For more info visit: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-awareness-month or other organizations like The Susan G Komen Foundation, Keep A Breast, or the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

October is also Emotional Wellness Month

While taking stock of our stress levels, it’s an excellent time to make some needed changes. Emotional Wellness Month provides an opportunity for us do just that.

Stress comes into all our lives in varying amounts. Depending on our demands, emotional health can take a toll. However, noting the causes of our stress helps identify the biggest offenders so we can stop them.

· Review your financial plan. Make sure your plan aligns with your savings and income with our goals. You may need to readjust for the future or change current spending habits. Even planning for a dream vacation can improve emotional wellness when done responsibly. 

· Calculate screen time. In this digital world, the amount of time we spend online impacts our emotional health. We are bombarded by data, news, and alerts constantly. Consider reducing the amount of time spent in front of the screen. One way to reduce online and screen time is to unplug one day week. Use the time to read a book, schedule a massage and go for a walk. Rate your emotional wellness before and after your unplugged time.  

· Remember the relationships in your life.  This is a big one. Friends, family and even co-workers play a huge role in our emotional health. They improve our social and spiritual wellbeing by keeping us connected. Human beings thrive on social interactions. Without them, we feel isolated. Large or small, a well-balanced, healthy, social community provides a satisfying spiritual, emotional, recreational and educational benefits. As a result, our friends and family provide a strong support system we rely upon when a crisis strikes. 

· How’s your physical health? Keep up with routine health checks. Also, add healthy eating habits and increase physical activity to reduce overall anxiety.

By identifying stressors and improving our emotional health, we are more likely to surf through the highs and lows in life more successfully.

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month

We’re probably all aware of the ever-growing number of folks with Serious Mental Illness that ALSO struggle with Diabetes. Let us take seriously the tasks of learning ABOUT diabetes and educating our peers and our members about how to maybe PREVENT or at least successfully MANAGE the disease.

National Diabetes Month focuses attention on the growing cost of diabetes on our health. From the physical, emotional and social effects to financial and damaging health, diabetes impacts more than 30 million people in the US. Also known as American Diabetes Month, the month focus on making healthy changes and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

· Get a physical. Regular checkups let us know where we stand and what changes we need to make. Ask questions, too!

· When we make small changes, we are more likely to stick when them. So, add one or two small changes at a time, instead of huge sweeping changes.

· Keep track of your goals. We are more likely to be honest if we write down our daily intake than if we just guess.

· Get a buddy. It’s more fun when we make changes together than if we go it alone.

· Learn more from the American Diabetes Association.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Help prevent type 2 diabetes. Learn about healthy diet, exercise and how to control diabetes. Get involved. Use #NationalDiabetesMonth to post on social media.

December is…Holiday Month!!!!

May of us see December and just immediately think Christmas, but the last month of the year is filled with days to celebrate and commemorate. Here’s short list of days to celebrate/commemorate in the month of Dec:

Dec 1- Rosa Parks Day

Dec 7- National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Dec 10- 1st day of Chanukah

Dec 18- National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

Dec 21- Winter Solstice

Dec 23- Festivus

Dec 25- Christmas Day

Dec 26- Boxing Day

Dec 26- 1st day of Kwanzaa

Dec 31- New Year’s Eve

MEC Raffle

Tickets are STILL for sale. The drawing will be held at the Expressions Art Show on 4/27/21.

1st prize is a new laptop

2nd prize is a beautiful gift basket

3rd prize is a $25 Wal-Mart gift card

Tickets prices:

$1=1 ticket

$5=7 tickets

$10=15 tickets

Find your site’s MEC representatives and purchase some tickets TODAY. The MEC is working to raise money so that we can once again host a Field Events Day for our members and staff. If you’ve been with Birch long enough to remember the old skool Field Events Day, you also remember how much fun it is!!!!

Support Birch Tree Communities when you shop!

With the holidays approaching, there’s bound to be a LOT of you shopping online; especially this year!

How many of you do your Holiday shopping on Amazon?!

I thought so!

Starting TODAY, instead of just going to amazon.com, go to smile.amazon.com/ch/71-0680117.

It’s all the same process. Everything is the same, BUT when you do this, 0.5% of your purchases will come right back to Birch Tree Communities, Inc.

So far, there are a few of us doing it (that I know of) and we’ve already received $50 from Amazon.

Imagine what could happen if 400 of us do it!!

ALSO

There’s a great little boutique/shop in Little Rock called Feelinthropic and they will be donating 10% of their profits from the 4th quarter of this year to Birch Tree Communities, Inc. We encourage you to go check out their shop at 5717 Kavanaugh Blvd in Little Rock or visit them online at feelinthropic.com.

PRETTY COOL, HUH?!

The 2020 NAMI Walk has gone Virtual

Join us for the National Day of Hope

On October 10, NAMIWalks participants, mental health advocates and NAMI partners will make strides to support NAMI's mission and celebrate Mental Health for All during this demanding year of challenges and changes.

What is A National Day of Hope?  For Fall NAMIWalks, that day is set for October 10, on World Mental Health Day. Anyone from virtually anywhere can participate. 

How can I get involved? It's simple: go to https://www.namiwalks.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.team&teamID=39808 and sign up to join Team Birch Tree. We have set a goal to raise $500 for NAMI Arkansas this year so that they can continue to do the incredible work they do to advocate for those living with Serious Mental Illness.

What will I do on A National Day of Hope? You can walk a 5K in your neighborhood -- or in your imagination. You can skip rope, bake a cake, sing a song or make people laugh with a stand-up act. Depending on the local programming, you can watch livestreams or join in a mental health conversation with other like-minded crusaders. Whatever your occupation of the day, you'll be adding to the nation's storehouse of hope. At a time when we all need it. 

This is your chance to raise money and awareness of local NAMI services and supports in the community of your choice. Be a part of something big, bold and important. Will you join us? 

We are #BirchTreeStrong!

What’s going on at Birch??

The Conway branch did something REALLY COOL! Program Tech, Mrs. Judie, retired and she and the members at Conway made this incredible piece to display at the Conway Program Center. We will all certainly miss the creativity and the kindness that Mrs. Judie brought to Birch!

Mountain View did a fun writing exercise. Program Supervisor, Nicole Hallman, says, “We wrote 2020 in our own words. We included the good, the bad, and the ugly- what we have learned through the year and what we hope the rest of the year looks like. Members did not read each other’s or discuss until everyone was done. What I thought they might write about is NOT what I got. It was neat seeing 2020 in their words.”

Benton Town has been active! Program Supervisor, Seth Erwin, says, “BT has been doing grill-outs and park outings. We have some really nature minded folks and they LOVE these outings.” Seth also built several games for Benton Town including a horseshoe pit and a giant Jenga game. Seth says, “We write different coping skills and therapeutic topics on each Jenga block and members outline responses after each turn. We play this almost daily per member request.”

AHC will be hosting their Annual Chili & Willie on Thursday, November 13, 2020. Unfortunately, due to COVID, it will not be a Birch-wide event. However, Todd and Gayer from AHC are challenging ALL branches to do their own Chili & Willie this year so that we can keep the tradition going.

Newport is planning a Halloween party AND they have taken AHC’s challenge and are planning their 1st Chili & Willie for Nov 17!!!

Russellville held a MASSIVE yard sale a few weeks ago and raised a whopping $2155 for their members!!!!

They are also doing lots of arts & crafts projects, and they’re doing 1-mile walking groups throughout the week of Oct 7-11 (which just happens to fall during Mental Health Awareness Week). They’re also taking Chili & Willie up a notch or two. Program Supervisor, Kristina Bramlett, says, “We are going to change it up this year and do Chili Wednesdays throughout the month of October. Every Wednesday we’re going to try a new chili (white chili, vegan chili, African chili, etc.)

Clarksville has been busy! Program Supervisor, Nigel Hook, says, “We’ve had weekly Life Enrichment outings; mainly at city and state parks. We’ve done a lot of swimming at the lake, picnics, van rides in the mountains, visited the Buffalo River, campfires, and wienie roasts. Art groups and creative writing groups have been popular. The focus has been on enriching members’ lives and trying to alleviate boredom. As we move forward, we have the Holidays on our mind and are determined to make them as normal and traditional as possible.”