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Local Lens – Skiing, Heart Month, and Kindness!

February 15, 2023 | Linda Offerdahl

Who goes to Minnesota to celebrate Valentine’s Day? Richard and I do! We had our first date there 43 years ago, so it holds a special place in our hearts. In 1988, newly married, we hopped off the corporate merry go-round to start and raise a family in this wonderful mountain community, Incline Village. Many people wonder why we would have two homes in snowy climates, but we follow our hearts… Richard wants sunshine and I love snow. Tahoe offers us both. 

I thought everyone moved to Tahoe for the winter sports, not the 320 average days of blue skies and sun. I still cross-country ski…. thank you Dave Straley and Nevada Nordic for grooming those wonderful trails in the Mt. Rose Wilderness … and for making “senior accessible” steps to get over that huge berm on Highway 431 to access the trails.

The best aerobic thing I do for my heart is cross country ski. I swear once those endorphins kick in, I could ski forever.  OK, that IS a figure of speech; I last no more than an hour and a half. My time gliding and striding is particularly enjoyable with long time Tahoe friends, Mary Peterson and Cathie Spector, who joined me on Monday. Sadly, Mary and (Dr.) Dan Peterson are moving to Horace, North Dakota, just outside of Fargo and won’t be on the trails with us any longer. I understand!  After all, I go back to Minnesota as often as I can; there is something about that Midwest heartland, even with its windchill.

If you notice a heart theme to this blog, you are correct. February is National Heart Month! 

Tahoe Forest Health District is focused on helping our community understand the threat of heart disease and the importance of maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. Free community workshops are scheduled in Truckee. In addition to great cardiologists, we now have Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehab, a comprehensive lifestyle program for patients recovering from heart attacks and surgery.  

Did you know that the North Lake Tahoe Protection District was designated as the first Heart Safe Community in Nevada by Nevada Project Heartbeat? The NLTFPD is a certified American Heart Association Training Center. In addition to having all the bells and whistles, equipment and services, they provide CPR classes. Every year they train 7th graders at Incline Middle School in CPR. Last year, they added the phone app PulsePoint Respond, a real-time view into local dispatch, increasing awareness of emergent events and alerting CPR-trained citizens to cardiac arrest victims nearby. Everyone is encouraged to download the app. Read the article on heart safety, submitted by the NLTFPD, below in this issue of SnapShot for more details.

Have you heard of “hands-only” CPR? Apparently, it is an alternative to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This technique sounds like something even I can master! Local residents Joe and Edie Farrell tell a compelling life-threatening story with a happy ending. After being saved by CPR, Joe has made it his mission in life to teach the hands only method to as many people as he can.  He is on board of the Pulsepoint Foundation.

GET SET TO EXERCISE MORE IN MARCH!

IVGID Recreation Center is bringing back their popular fitness challenge for the month of March. It may even encourage me to try a spin class!

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

I recently heard the following at a Rotary meeting (Rotary is a service club dedicated to community service): “… the best cure for your own sadness is to help someone else.” I truly believe that being kind to others is uplifting and good for the soul. Please share human kindness stories with me and I will share them with our community in this blog – it takes a Village, and I know ours has heart! You can send your human kindness stories to linda@ivcba.org.

We have two Rotary Clubs in IV/CB. Get involved:

Rotary Club of Tahoe Incline (aka Thursday morning) 

Rotary Club of Incline Village (aka Monday lunch)

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