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Fairhaven and Acushnet Councils on Aging Receive New Vans

July 30, 2012 By

Anne Silvia, Rep. Straus, Paula Shiner, Charlie Murphy

     Last week the Fairhaven and Acushnet Councils on Aging celebrated the arrival of their brand new vans. They were able to purchase the new vans through an $86,000 grant Coastline received from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Mobility Assistance Program. The Councils on Aging also had to contribute a 20% match to receive the funding, which Fairhaven acquired through the town and Acushnet raised from generous local donors.

     The vans are a very important resource to both towns because many seniors are no longer able to drive and public transportation is either too sparse or too expensive. The vans are used to take seniors to medical appointments, run errands, or take longer trips on a weekly basis to locations such as Providence Place Mall.

     Representative William Straus attended the Fairhaven ribbon cutting and Representative Robert Koczera attended the Acushnet ribbon cutting to show their support for each town’s senior population.

     If you or a loved one is 60 years of age or older (55 years of age or older in Acushnet) and needs transportation assistance, please call your local Council on Aging to get more information about their individual transportation schedules. Each Council on Aging’s phone number is listed below:

  • Acushnet              508-998-0280
  • Dartmouth           508-999-4717
  • Fairhaven             508-979-4029
  • Marion                   508-748-3570 
  • Mattapoisett        508-758-4110
  • New Bedford        508-991-6250
  • Rochester             508-763-8723
Filed Under: Coastline News, Councils on Aging Tagged With: , , ,

Stay Safe from Triple-E and West Nile Virus

July 20, 2012 By

    

     Every year, between late May and the first hard frost, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health collects mosquito samples from different areas throughout the state to test for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and the West Nile virus. This year, Mass DPH has found a large number of EEE positive mosquitoes in a few of their samplings, and they are now planning to do aerial spraying across several towns near the Southcoast, including Bridgewater, Carver, Easton, Halifax, Lakeville, Middleborough, Norton, Plympton, Raynham, Taunton, and West Bridgewater. They also recently decided to include Rochester, Freetown, and Acushnet.

     Spraying does not completely eliminate the risk of EEE and West Nile Virus spreading, but it does reduce the risk. So, we all still must be proactive and take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Below is a list of steps you can take to reduce your exposure and avoid being bitten.

  • Apply insect repellent while outdoors. Effective repellents include those with DEET, picaridin (KBR 3023), oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR3535. Always follow the instructions on the bottle, and make sure to read the safety label before applying on children. DEET products should not be used on infants under 2 months of age and oil of eucalyptus should not be used on children three years of age or younger. 
  • Avoid the peak hours of mosquito activity. Mosquitoes are most frequent between dusk and dawn, so take precaution or avoid activity in the evening and early morning.
  • Rethink your clothing. Wearing long sleeve shirts, long pants, and socks while outside helps reduce the risk of a mosquito bite.
  • Drain standing water. Look around your home for pools of standing water, including your gutters and drains, bird baths, water dishes for pets, wading pools, or unused flowerpots. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water, so ensuring water doesn’t gather, or that water is routinely refreshed will help keep mosquitoes away.
  • Install or repair your screens. Ensuring you have no open windows without screens and ensuring you have no holes or gaps in your screens will also greatly reduce the chances of mosquitoes getting into your home.

     The Massachusetts Department of Public Health will continue to conduct mosquito sampling in coming days. You can go to their website here for more information and for the latest information regarding spraying locations.

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July is National Ice Cream Month – Tips to lighten up your sundae

July 16, 2012 By

     July is National Ice Cream Month, and really, what is summer without a few bowls of ice cream? Happily, you can make simple changes to lighten up your sundae without sacrificing the flavor.

     Like many products, there are now hundreds of varieties of ice cream to suit everyone’s needs and individual tastes. From good old-fashioned full cream to fat free frozen yogurt, to everything in between, including vegan, sugar-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, and Greek yogurt ice cream, you surely have your favorite.

     If you aren’t diabetic or lactose intolerant, we recommend going with a brand that uses the least amount of ingredients; oftentimes you can satisfy your craving with a smaller serving of the “real stuff.” The next best thing would be a low-fat ice cream with fewer calories in case you still want the big serving!

     The toppings are the next easiest place to lighten your caloric intake, and can actually be an opportunity to get some antioxidants into your body.

     Walnuts or almonds: walnuts are a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids and almonds are a great source of calcium.

     Rasberries, blueberries, or strawberries: Any berry is great for you and contains a boat load of antioxidants – cancer fighting molecules. Berries also contain the least amount of sugar per serving, which is favorable for diabetics.

     Fat-free cool whip doesn’t necessarily have a nutritional benefit, but is lower calorie and still tastes delicious. Shredded coconut is also a great alternative that is high in potassium – but don’t load on too much because it’s also high in calories.

     For a more detailed list of brands of healthier ice cream you can purchase, check out this list from health.com (they also provide a list of healthy homemade ice cream recipes).

     And for a list of diabetic friendly ice creams, livestrong.com has published this article.

     We hope you enjoy the summer and at least one yummy frozen treat!

     Don’t forget to tune into a new Cooking with Coastline show, which airs monthly on Dartmouth’s Cable Access channel. Check out their website here for dates and times. And don’t forget, you can always subscribe to our website from our homepage to receive email notifications when we add the latest Cooking with Coastline episode.

 

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