The Village News
5425 Western Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20015
www.nwnv.org
March 2011
202.237.1895
Volume 3, Issue 3
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CALENDAR
Celebrating & Honoring NNV Volunteers
March 7, 2:00-3:00 pm
Gentle Senior Yoga Class Lisner Home. Every
Monday!
March 9, 2:00 pm
Java & NNV-Marvelous Market
March 10, 11:00 am-Noon
Kick-off of NNV Spanish Club
March 16, 2:00 pm
NNV Book Group Mtg.–home
of NNV Member Bernice
Degler.
March 16, 2:00 pm
Java & NNV-Avalon Café
March 19, 1:00-3:00 pm
“Nutrition & Exercise” Seminar
(See p. 3 for more info.)
March 23, 2:00 pm
Java & NNV-Marvelous Market
March 24, 11:00 am-Noon
NNV Spanish Club
March 26, 10:30 am
NNV Volunteer Training &
Orientation – home of NNV
Board Member Jo Ann
Tanner
March 30, 2:00 pm
Java & NNV-Avalon Café
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Last month, NNV honored the members of its wonderful
volunteer corps and celebrated Valentine’s Day at the home of
NNV Vice President Bob Holman. Volunteers received
certificates for their volunteerism in providing services to our
members and assistance to NNV.
Councilmember Mary Cheh’s attendance was a wonderful
added component to the event. She brought a resolution from
the DC City Council commending NNV volunteers for all of
their great work. NNV thanks the DC City Council for
recognizing NNV volunteers and Councilmember Cheh for
joining us and for her ongoing support!
Many thanks to the NNV Volunteer Committee for
coordinating this special event, including Co-chair and Board
Member Jo Ann Tanner, Co-chair and Board Member
Patricia Kasdan and NNV Board Member Michael Sams.
Also, many thanks to Bob Holman for hosting this event, and
to NNV Volunteers Barbara Oliver and Joan Norcutt for
helping with set-up and clean-up. NNV expresses our deepest
gratitude to NNV Volunteers for all that you do!
See page 5 for more photos from this event!
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Meet New Member: Dr. Michael Seremetis
“We are grateful for the warmth, amiability of
the members and enthusiasm of the board
members and the executive director.” – Dr.
Michael and Anastacia Seremetis.
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On November 13, 2010 NNV held its Boundary Expansion
into AU Park/Tenleytown event at IONA Senior Services.
Dr. Michael Seremetis became a member then and there.
Michael and his wife, Anastacia, are from Thessaloniki, a major port of Greek Macedonia in
Northern Greece. Michael graduated from the School of Medicine at the Aristotelian University of
Thessaloniki.
Michael came to America in 1951 for his advanced medical training and completed in Washington
and New York the required curriculum. Eventually he became a Board Certified Thoracic and
Cardiovascular Surgeon. Michael served in the United States Army for almost eight years, mostly
as Chief of Surgery at the American Hospital in Paris.
Michael and Anastacia married in 1956 on Staten Island. They moved to Washington, DC in 1969
with four children, two boys, two girls and a need for good public schools. So, they chose a home
across from the Murch School. All four of their children graduated from Alice Deal and Wilson
High Schools and proceeded to the colleges of their choice.
Michael practiced in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. He became a staff member of
Georgetown University Medical School, trained graduate students at DC General Hospital Trauma
Center, and did thoracic surgery at the Washington Hospital Center and Holy Cross Hospital. He
retired in 2000 and is now Professor Emeritus at the Medical School of Georgetown University.
“For the first time in our lives, we ask for assistance,” say Michael and Anastacia. “We are
delighted with the volunteers who have helped us. They are kind, intelligent, witty and tender.
Their support is deeply felt by both of us.”
Volunteering at the White House
NNV Volunteer Anike Buche asked that we inform the readership about volunteering at the
White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. She has found this extremely rewarding and
thought others might be interested.
The Office of Presidential Correspondence recruits volunteers to listen to the American people, to
understand their stories and concerns, and to respond on behalf of the President. If you are
comfortable working on computers, are interested in economics, foreign policy, health policy,
education, and the issues that face us today, you may wish to apply to be a Correspondence
Volunteer. A security clearance is required and a commitment of four hours or more per week is
desirable. If interested, please email [email protected]
with your full name and short resume. They will contact you.
The Village News
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Nutrition & Exercise Seminar with Demonstrations
Please join Northwest Neighbors Village and the Chevy Chase Citizens Association for an
informative and interactive seminar focused on exercise and nutrition on Saturday, March 19th,
from 1-3 pm at the Chevy Chase Community Center, 5601 Connecticut Avenue, NW.
Come learn about the importance of exercise and stretching, mindful eating and what it means to
eat well. There also will be exercise and yoga demonstrations. The event is free and open to
the public. Please contact NNV Executive Director Carole Bernard for more information at
202.237.1895 or [email protected].
Seminar participants include:
Brian Richey is the owner/operator of Fit 4 Life DC. He has been certified as a Medical Exercise
Program Director through the American Academy of Health, Fitness and Rehab Professionals
(AAHFRP); Medical Exercise Specialist through AAHFRP; and Post Rehabilitation Conditioning
Specialist. He also provides Senior Fitness/Medical Exercise, focused on building strength and
increasing flexibility, coordination, endurance and especially balance-components of fitness that
are essential to continued independence and enjoyment of life.
Sandi Rothwell provides weekly yoga classes for the NNV community. Sandi began formal yoga
training in 1999, received her 200 hour certification from Willow Street Yoga Center in 2005 after
a year of Teacher training, and received her 500 hour certification from Golden Heart Yoga in
Annapolis in 2009. She also has studied with Rod Stryker and John Friend. Sandi has attended
four in depth therapeutic yoga courses and an eight-day intensive study of yoga for seniors at Duke
University’s Center for Integrative Medicine. Her love of offering gentle and therapeutic
approaches to yoga has led her to assist and teach a class for students with special conditions as
well as volunteering at a women’s shelter. She believes in a non-competitive approach to the
journey of yoga with each person reaching desired goals at his or her own pace and sees herself as
the safety net as each person reaches for the next step.
Rose Clifford, RD, LD, MBA, is a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant with a private
practice that focuses on elder care. Rose currently consults at the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt
Home and at Iona Senior Services in NW Washington, DC. She also makes house calls to provide
nutritional assessment and consultation services to homebound individuals. Rose attended the
University of Maryland and George Washington University. Rose is passionate about good food
and the importance of nourishing our self as well as our bodies. She will speak on the nutritional
challenges and opportunities we face as older adults.
Yoga & Alternate Breathing Techniques
!
At NNV's yoga classes Sandi Rothwell has participants learn
about Nadi Shodhana, which is alternate nostril breathing.
This type of breathing is believed to increase energy, sharpen
thinking, improve brain function, reduce stress, enhance
relaxation, improve sleep quality, clear energy channels,
improve overall well-being, make for more effective breathing
and clearer lungs and create general feelings of revitalization
and inner harmony. Continued on page 4.!
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Issue 1, Vol. 3
Yoga & Alternate Breathing Techniques: Continued from page 3
Here’s how you do it:
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Take the index and middle fingers of right hand to center of palm
Place the right thumb to the upper right side of the nose
Place the ring and little finger of the right hand to the left side of the nose.
Without squeezing the nose at all, inhale through both nostrils
Close the right nostril with the fingers and exhale through the left.
Inhale through the left
At the top of the breath, switch the fingers to open the right nostril and close the left
Exhale out the right
Únete a nosotros - Spanish Club Kick-off Meeting
“Únete a nosotros” means “join us” in Spanish. Come and
enjoy learning about the rich Hispanic/Latino cultures at the NNV
Spanish Club’s kick-off meeting on Thursday, March 10th at
Tenley-Friendship Library, 4450 Wisconsin Ave., NW,2nd
Floor, at 11:00 am. We also will have another class on March 24th
at 11:00 am at the same location. This meeting will include a
discussion and short slide presentation of Barichara, Colombia in
South America.
From lectures and conversational Spanish classes, to "wine and
cheese" parties and cultural discussion groups about books, dance and
more, this club will provide a wonderful new social activity for NNV’s
community. NNV Volunteer Santiago Testa, who is fluent in
! Spanish, will lead the class. Contact the NNV office at 202.237.1895.
A Critique of “Cutting for Stone” by NNV Member Bernice Degler
In the NNV Book Club’s discussion of “Cutting for Stone,” by Abraham Verghese, we asked the
question: What does the title mean? It was decided that the answer comes in part from the
Hippocratic oath quoted at the opening of Part Three: “I will not cut for stone, even in patients and
for whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners,
specialists in this art…”
This gives you the idea, and rightly so, that this novel is largely about the lives of people involved in
the practice of medicine under trying and often tragic circumstances. The action moves from
Madras, India to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. From there, it goes to Asmara, Eritrea and then onto the
Bronx, NY. Finally, there is a return to Addis Ababa. This twisting and turning will keep you glued
to this book. Attention to detail is his forte.
Verghese says that this is a book of fiction with some historical characters and events. He is a professor and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University
School of Medicine. The Sunday Times of London wrote: “Richly entertaining…Cutting for Stone
honors the extraordinary work of surgeons and physicians, but it also allows us to see them as
ordinary men and women.” Our March selection is “The Conqueror,” by Georgette Heyer. Join us!
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The Village News
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Volunteer Recognition Photo Gallery
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Thank you very much NNV volunteers for your
generous time and dedication to NNV and its
members. We could not do it without you!
Photos provided by Carole Bernard and Allan Tanner.
Issue 1, Vol. 3
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NNV Service Requests: What are members’ needs?
Please remember to give as much notice as possible when calling to request services!
Not sure what services you can request from NNV? Here is a sample of members’ requests for
February and the number of requests for each service:
Weekly phone call: 4
Transportation to medical appointment: 10
Computer/Technology help: 1
Transportation to Grocery Store: 3
Doing weekly grocery shopping: 3
Transportation to NNV events: 13
Friendly Visits: 2
Transportation to hair salon, Tenley
Library, visit a member: 7
Shovel driveway: 2
Computer Help: 1 (Cleaning-out emails)
Handyman: 2 (installing garage light. Sweeping leaves in van)
Referrals - 3 (in-home healthcare providers, plumber, carpenter)
Community Events & Notices
March 13th: Daylight Savings Time: Begins at 2:00 am. Turn your clocks and watches ahead
to 3:00 am.
March 17, 10:30 am: Senior Cinema Thursday, featuring “The Adjustment Bureau” starring
Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Location is the Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Ave., NW. Tickets
discounted for seniors at $5.00. Call the Box Office at 202.966.3464.
Mondays from 10 - 11 am, beginning March 7 and ending April 4, 2011.
IONA Senior Services will host a new class on memory fitness that will give you valuable
information, resources and techniques to keep your memory sharp. Lisa Rindner, MSW leads the
class in learning about normal and abnormal memory changes, health habits to support good
memory, managing stress, brain games and other brain fitness strategies. Note: This class is NOT
intended for people who have a medical diagnosis of memory impairment such as mild cognitive
impairment or dementia. Call (202) 895-9448 for more information.
First Thursday of each month beginning March 3, 2011, 10-11:30 am: IONA Senior
Services Memory Loss Support Groups. Iona has developed two new groups that meet
simultaneously and provide support, information, and resources specific for people diagnosed with
early stage memory loss and the people who care about them. Individuals with memory loss and
their care partners will meet together for half an hour of coffee and conversation, then the group
will split into separate support groups. Pre-registration is required. Fee: $15 per person per
session. Limited scholarships available. Call 202-895-9448 for more info.
!