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| Four Seasons Hemet Herald | January 2015 | 10 January's Tip: Start the New Year right! Review your emergency information, including: Health Directive; Medical History and prescription(s) listing; Emergency Contact Information (including local and remote friends and family members!); smoke and CO2 detector batteries; fire extinguisher charges and locations; flashlights and batteries; and emergency water and food rations. Note! Please update your Roaming Patrol number to (951) 202-4603 it set-up for speed-dial. Also, please consider becoming a Street Captain for your block, or area! Please check the Four Seasons' calendar for meeting days and times (generally the last Monday of the month at 6:30 pm in the Ballroom). This won't involve a large commitment of time, but will provide valuable service to your neighbors. As a new development, we will be setting up a Amateur Radio (HAM) site for emergency communications, thanks to a Board approval for expenditures. This will give us the ability to communicate with assistance organizations in the even of a catastrophic event, and could be a focal point for developing a HAM club for all of our "HAMster" residents! We of the Emergency Preparedness Committee and all of our Street Captains, would like to wish you a happy, healthy and safe New Year! Emergency Preparedness Committee Health Matters Question: Recently I have seen on the news the "Ice Bucket Challenge" to support ALS. What is ALS disease? Answer: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. "A" means no or negative. "Myo" refers to muscle, and "Trophic" means nourishment – "No muscle nourishment." When a muscle has no nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral" identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Importantly, there are significant devices and therapies that can manage the symptoms of ALS that help people maintain as much independence as possible and prolong survival. It is important to remember that ALS is a quite variable disease; no two people will have the same journey or experiences. There are medically documented cases of people in whom ALS 'burns out,' stops progressing or progresses at a very slow rate. No matter what your individual course or situation may be, the ALS Association and your medical team are here to help. For more information go to www.ALSAssociation.com For any questions or a needs assessment visit please contact Jennifer Trebler at (951) 663-1060. Inland Empire Hospice soon to be…

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