Qigong for Healing and Living Fully – Stillness

You are your best healer! Come learn how each and everyone of us is born with the innate gift to heal ourselves. In this half-day intensive, you will experience simple and profound ways to awaken your body’s innate healing ability while deepening your capacity to relax and enjoy your life more completely.

Qigong is an ancient form of meditative movement that is over 5,000 years old. In China, qigong is one of the secrets to living a long and healthy life. The simple movements and breathing practices help relax the physical body, calm the mind and raise the spirit. It is an excellent form of preventative healthcare, and also used in treating major illnesses and minor ailments.


Between a Rock and a Hard Place

As part of the Wellness in Windham Spring 2015 calendar, BMH urologist Craig Rinder, MD, will present a program on Monday, April 13 at 6:00 PM in the Brew Barry Conference Center. His topic of discussion will be kidney stones.

“Kidney stones are notorious for being painful. The feeling has been described as being worse than childbirth labor pains,” says Dr. Rinder. “More than a million kidney stones are diagnosed in the United States each year. About 1 in 10 Americans will suffer from a kidney stone at some point.”


Hanne Steinmeyer

I recently learned that Hanne Steinmeyer had passed on.

I met Hanne through the Estey Organ Museum. Her husband Georg was an active member, and she would often assist at events, helping with food, drink, decorations or crowd control. I would often run into her at some point during an event to sit, talk, and sip some wine. Hanne was funny and smart, and retained her German accent.

Lise and I once went with Hanne and Georg to Mass MOCA. On the drive we got to learn a bit about her early years.


Hilltop Montessori Students to Build and Raffle Tiny House with Proceeds to Benefit Morningside Shelter and Scholarships

BRATTLEBORO – Hilltop Montessori School of Brattleboro is launching a “Tiny House Raffle” to benefit the school’s financial aid program and Morningside Shelter. Jamaica Cottage Shop has donated a tiny house kit that Hilltop students and families will assemble this spring. The 7’ x 12’ house is built on a trailer for easy mobility and will be raffled off at 3pm on the Brattleboro Common after the Strolling of the Heifers parade on June 6th.


Windham County Health Needs Survey

The Windham County Community Health Needs Assessment  Steering Committee is seeking to hear directly from community members, and is conducting an assessment through a survey that is open throughout the month of March.

The survey gives an opportunity to hear from a larger portion of the community (from as many who wish to participate).

The .


Registration Open! 3rd Annual Tulip Trot 5k Run/Walk, May 2, 2015

Come out rain, mud and/or shine and support Green Street School enrichment programs while you walk or run down neighborhood streets and the scenic Retreat trails behind Brattleboro’s famous ski jump. This family-friendly local 5k is in its third year and gaining great momentum, please join us!

The Saturday, May 2 race starts and finishes at Green Street School, 164 Green Street, Brattleboro. There is also a 1/2 mile Sprout Run for younger children before the 5K.


New Dates for Medicare Boot Camp

At this free class, Senior Solutions staff will provide unbiased information about the Medicare system. Medicare has strict enrollment periods, and this session will help  participants make timely decisions about drug plans and supplemental plans as well as many other issues.

This class is appropriate for those who are currently enrolled in Medicare, as well as anyone who will be signing up in the near future. Family members who help elders may also find this class useful. Space is limited, so please call ahead to register. There is no fee, but donations are appreciated.

To register or get more information, call the Senior HelpLine at 1-800-642-5119.


Bereavement Support Group for Adults

A new Six-Week Bereavement Support Group for adults begins on Thursday April 9th and will meet each Thursday from 4:30-6:00 pm, ending May 14th.

The group is free of charge and open to anyone in the community grieving the death loss of a loved one, no matter when or where the loss occurred. Bereavement Support Groups offer a safe, mutually supportive environment for sharing experiences through discussion, readings, simple activities, and suggestions for moving through grief.

This group is sponsored by Brattleboro Area Hospice and will meet at the hospice office at 191 Canal St. in Brattleboro. No prior connection with hospice is required in order to participate. Connie Baxter, Bereavement Care Coordinator will be the facilitator. The group size is limited to 8 people.


Tour de Heifer Promises “Vermont’s Most Challenging Dirt Road Rides”

Registration is now open for the fifth annual Tour de Heifer, which, organizers say, includes Vermont’s most challenging dirt road cycling rides.

The Tour is organized as a fund-raiser for Strolling of the Heifers, and takes place on Sunday of Strolling of the Heifers Weekend, June 7.

The Tour’s 60-mile and 30-mile challenge routes follow dirt roads with mimimal pavement.  Both entail significant elevation change — nearly 7,000 feet for the 60-miler, and over 3,000 feet for the 30-miler.


March For Meals

Brattleboro Senior Meals Celebrates March for Meals

Brattleboro Senior Meals joins with the Meals on Wheels Association of America to celebrate March for Meals.  The month of March mobilizes hundreds of local Meals on Wheels programs across the country to reach out to their communities and build support that will sustain them all year long.


Susan Keese

I just read that VPR’s southern Vermont correspondent, Susan Keese, passed away.

I’ve known Susan for many years, after first meeting her to talk about things going on at the Estey Organ Museum. Being a radio producer, her medium was sound, and stories that had interesting sounds or music being played were often of interest to her and her listeners.

She got very interested in the 2005 EsteyFest, a gathering of reed organ enthusiasts, many of whom brought instruments with them.

Over the years, whenever I had a potential story that included good sounds, I’d make sure she knew about it.


Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast Invitation – RSVP by Mar 17

What Do Advance Care Directives have to do with Being a  Local Citizen?  

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast Invitation

The next Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast is planned for Friday, March 20, 2015 at the Gibson Aiken Center, downstairs, hosted by Senior Meals. Doors open at 7:30am.

What Do Advance Care Directives have to do with Being a  Local Citizen?


Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast Notes from Feb 20 – Center for Wound Healing @BMH

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast                                                      

February 20,  2015  •  Gibson-Aiken Center                                                                                                                                                                 


On Elephants and Circuses

Ringling Bros is going to end the era of elephants performing in their circuses in the near future.

I have mixed feelings about this, given where we are in history. Elephant population has dropped significantly, so much that they could become extinct within decades. Hundreds are killed each day for ivory, meat, and trophy.

I like elephants and would hope we don’t eliminate them from the planet. I don’t want to see them abused, either.

I worry that freeing them from circuses and zoos won’t be enough to protect them. That is, I worry we are trading some good feelings about ending abuse at a circus, when wealthy hunters may just kill them all anyway.


Guiding Good Choices Courses in Windham County

Guiding Good Choices Course for Parents and Caregivers Throughout Windham County in March

Windham County- Guiding Good Choices is a free, interactive, five-session course for parents and caregivers of 4th to 9th grade children. The series provides the tools and strategies to meet the challenges of guiding your child through adolescence. The course covers setting clear guidelines with both positive and negative consequences, controlling and expressing anger constructively, promoting family bonds, and preparing kids with “refusal” skills for the time down the road when trouble may tempt them.


Teams Sought for Bowl for Kids’ Sake Benefit April 4

Brattleboro, VT–Families, friends and teams from work are invited to celebrate the 34th Annual Bowl for Kids’ Sake to benefit Youth Services’ Big Brothers Big Sisters program on Saturday, April 4. The fundraising event will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with teams signing up for a one-hour time slot at Brattleboro Bowl on Putney Road.


Dr. Craig Rinder Joins BMH Physician Group

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced that Craig Rinder, MD, will join , effective March 2, 2015.

When the transition is complete, Dr. Rinder’s current practice, known as Craig Rinder, MD, LLC, will be called BMH Urology. Its offices will still be located at 375 Canal Street in Brattleboro, Vermont. The new phone number for making appointments will be 802-251-8720.

Dr. Rinder has been practicing urology in Vermont and New Hampshire for over 17 years. His practice provides medical and surgical care for illnesses involving the male and female urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra), the adrenal glands and the male reproductive tract.


Area Hospitals Launch Community Health Needs Assessment

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, the , and are launching a new community health needs assessment (CHNA) to engage the communities they serve and learn more about the most pressing health care concerns and needs. Based on the data that the hospitals gather, each hospital will develop an implementation strategy to address prioritized health care needs. This CHNA is also an opportunity for hospitals to maintain compliance with federal regulations.

The three health care organizations are working collaboratively to gather information by conducting focus groups, developing and disseminating a short survey to the general public, and collecting and analyzing quantitative data. The Vermont Department of Health is providing population based indicators as part of the process.