your health matters

Please join us, Alison Kenneway and Kim Noble, RNs from the Kennebunkport Public Health Department on Wednesday, June 15 @ 9:30 am (or via Zoom if you cannot make it in) to identify ways to improve healthy choices and overall well-being.  For the month of June, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter (from The Swedish Art of Living & Dying Series) by Margareta Magnusson  will be discussed.   Please call the Library to get on the list (967-2778).  Not able to read the book before the discussion, please feel free to join us and learn more about this month’s book pick.  Help set the course for a healthy and safer you!

A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life.

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming. Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.  [Good Reads]

Please join us, Alison Kenneway and Kim Noble, RNs from the Kennebunkport Public Health Department on Wednesday, March 16 @ 9:30 am (or via Zoom if you cannot make it in) to identify ways to improve healthy choices and overall well-being.  For the month of May, A Molecule Away from Madness by Sara Peskin will be discussed.   Please call the Library to get on the list (967-2778).  Not able to read the book before the discussion, please feel free to join us and learn more about this month’s book pick.  Help set the course for a healthy and safer you!

A neurologist looks at how “the very molecules that make our brains work can also co-opt our personalities and destroy our ability to think.”  Peskin has been a firsthand witness to the suffering of Alzheimer’s patients she has been powerless to cure. In this book, she delves into the three known molecular causes of cognitive decline. The first includes DNA mutations, like those present in Huntington’s disease. Nancy Wexler, a Huntington’s sufferer and medical scientist, was one researcher who worked tirelessly to discover the exact nucleotide sequence of the Huntington’s gene. This breakthrough led to an experimental drug that, as of 2018, proved 85% successful in short-circuiting the mechanisms responsible for setting Huntington’s in motion in those predisposed to the disease. Peskin then examines how protein molecules that the body creates to defend against infection can attack brain cells, as in the case of a young woman thought to be having a psychotic break. Doctors instead discovered that protein antibodies her own body created were responsible for her cognitive dysfunction. Outside of the body, a group of small molecules Peskin calls “invaders” (which include “environmental toxins, illicit drugs, and pharmaceuticals that are not normally part of the human body”) can also wreak havoc, of the kind periodically experienced by Abraham Lincoln. Peskin speculates that his periodic bouts of aggression resulted from ingesting “blue mass,” a mercury-based medication. The author further suggests that the key to succeeding against all cognitive disabilities in the future will be to understand the particular kind of molecular abnormality afflicting a given patient rather than assume that brain diseases like dementia function the same way in different people. This readable and well-researched book will undoubtedly satisfy those seeking the nature of neurological dysfunction and the most current research being done in this field, with added appeal for anyone with a loved one suffering from brain disease. [Good Reads]

Please join us, Alison Kenneway and Kim Noble, RNs from the Kennebunkport Public Health Department on Wednesday, March 16 @ 9:30 am (or via Zoom if you cannot make it in) to identify ways to improve healthy choices and overall well-being.  For the month of March, Boom : The Baby Boomers’ Guide to Preserving Your Freedom and Thriving as You Age in Place by Lisa Cini will be discussed.   Please call the Library to get on the list (967-2778).  Not able to read the book before the discussion, please feel free to join us and learn more about this month’s book pick.  Help set the course for a healthy and safer you!

About the Author:  Lisa M. Cini is known as the leading Alzheimer’s and long-term care design expert in the United States and has been widely recognized for her contributions in the field. Lisa continues to design award-winning spaces for seniors as Founder and CEO of Mosaic Design Studio, as well as design for the hospitality industry. Her clients have included the National Hockey League, the United States military, Brio Bravo restaurants, PGA Tour Country Clubs, and various hotels. Cini is the author of The Future is Here: Senior Living Reimagined, and Hive: The Simple Guide to Multigenerational Living, How our Family Makes It Work. Lisa M. Cini has received over 37 awards, including 16 ASID Design awards and a Distinguished Service Medal for Outstanding Meritorious Service by the Governor of Indiana. A sought-after speaker, Lisa has been featured on radio and CNN, CBS, FOX, and NBC. She also appeared on Today in America with Terry Bradshaw and is quoted frequently in The New York Times. Connect with her at LisaMCini.com.

Join Our Discussion and learn about how one man became such an important pioneer for heart health.

Please join us, Alison Kenneway and Kim Noble, RNs from the Kennebunkport Public Health Department on Wednesday, February 16 @ 9:45 am (or via Zoom if you cannot make it in) to identify ways to improve healthy choices and overall well-being.  In celebration of National Heart Month, Your Heart, My Hands by Arun K. Singh, M.D. will be discussed.  A free copy of the book will be supplied to each person registering for this event.  Please call the Library to get on the list (967-2778).  Not able to read the book before the discussion, please feel free to join us and learn more about this month’s book pick.  Help set the course for a healthy and safer you!

About the book:  An encouraging and inspiring true story on how a boy from India overcame a difficult childhood and devastating hand injuries and became one of the most preeminent cardiac surgeons in the U.S.  A pioneer in the evolution of treatments for heart disease, America’s number one cause of death in men and women, Dr. Arun Singh has witnessed life and death from a vantage point nearly unmatched in medical history, while performing over 15,000 open heart surgeries. Revered by colleagues and patients, under the hot lights of the O.R. this award-winning surgeon has spent thousands of hours performing life-saving operations, while witnessing the miraculous, the joyous, and the devastating. He has held the life-giving heart in his hand and has been praised for his tireless devotion to preserving the lives this organ sustains.  Dr. Singh’s decorated career is an odyssey of remarkable determination. To illuminate the power of perseverance, Dr. Singh recounts how the same two hands that have so expertly worked to extend life were once crushed and his future nearly shattered. In YOUR HEART, MY HANDS he recalls the fortitude that saw him through a complicated boyhood in India, struggles with dyslexia, and finding his way as an immigrant, to become one of America’s most highly-regarded and preeminent surgeons.

Join Our Discussion and learn about how one man became such an important pioneer for heart health.

Please join us, Alison Kenneway and Kim Noble, RNs from the Kennebunkport Public Health Department on Wednesday, January 19 @ 9:45 am to identify ways to improve healthy choices and overall well-being.  Copies of the book Life Glows On by Claire Cook are available for checkout at the Library.

Not able to read the book before the discussion, please feel free to join us and learn more about this month’s book pick.  Help set the course for a healthy and safer you!

About the book:  Packed with fun ideas and solid, practical strategies for reconnecting with your creativity and making the rest of your life the best of your life. Ditch all those worries about getting older and embrace what can be the most vibrant and empowering chapter of your life.  Equal parts creativity guide, mood boost, midlife manifesto, self-help salve, and breath of fresh air. 100% witty, wise and generous Claire Cook, who shares everything she’s learned on her own journey that might help you in yours. Filled with great stories and insider tips.

If you’re a forty-to-forever woman who’s interested in making your life glow on, don’t miss this inspiring and motivating book.

Join Our Discussion and let us know what you think!