Almost anyone, at any age, can do some type of physical activity. You can still exercise even if you have a health condition like heart disease, arthritis, chronic pain, high blood pressure, or diabetes. In fact, physical activity may help. For most older adults, physical activities like brisk walking, riding a bike, swimming, weightlifting, and gardening are safe, especially if you build up slowly. You may want to talk with your doctor about how your health condition might affect your ability to be active.

Researchers are assessing the benefit of exercise to delay mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in older adults and to improve brain function in older adults who may be at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Older adults with MCI may be able to safely do more vigorous forms of exercise, similar to older adults without MCI, provided there are no other underlying health concerns.

Being active and getting exercise may help people with Alzheimer’s or another dementia feel better and can help them maintain a healthy weight and have regular toilet and sleep habits. If you are a caregiver, you can exercise together to make it more fun.

Tips for helping a person with dementia stay active

Take a walk together each day. Exercise is good for caregivers, too!

Use exercise videos or check your local TV guide to see if there is a program to help older adults exercise.

Dance to music.

Do simple tasks around the home, such as sweeping and dusting.

Use a stationary bike.

Use soft rubber exercise balls or balloons for stretching or throwing back and forth.

Use stretching bands.

Lift weights or household items such as soup cans.

Flexibility exercises such as upper- and lower-body stretching and tai chi can help keep joints moving, relieve stiffness, and give you more freedom of movement for everyday activities.

Strengthening exercises, such as overhead arm raises, will help you maintain or add to your muscle strength to support and protect your joints.

Endurance exercises make the heart and arteries healthier and may lessen swelling in some joints. Try activities that don’t require a lot of weight on your joints, such as swimming and biking.

If you have arthritis, you may need to avoid some types of activity when joints are swollen or inflamed. If you have pain in a specific joint area, for example, you may need to focus on another area for a day or two.

If you have COPD, talk with your healthcare provider or a pulmonary therapist to learn what he or she recommends. You may be able to learn some exercises to help your arms and legs get stronger and/or breathing exercises that strengthen the muscles needed for breathing.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a program that helps you learn to exercise and manage your disease with physical activity and counseling. It can help you stay active and carry out your day-to-day tasks.

For people with diabetes, exercise and physical activity can help manage the disease and help you stay healthy longer. Walking and other forms of daily exercise can help improve glucose levels in older people with diabetes. Set a goal to be more active most days of the week, and create a plan for being physically active that fits into your life and that you can follow. Your healthcare team can help.

Hi: I’m Arthur, a playful Cattle Dog X in need of a new home. I was originally from Mexico and brought to a different rescue when I was a puppy. I was adopted out then after a couple of years I was taken to the shelter as a ‘stray’. Thankfully my microchip went back to the rescue and they got me back unfortunately malnourished and dehydrated. I’m all better now, but sadly that rescue is dissolving . I’m grateful CARL has accepted me into their program and will help me find my forever home.

I love squeaky toys, what dog doesn’t and I’m good with other dogs when first introduced in controlled situations – best is one on one rather than a large group. I tend to whine/grumble when around a lot of dogs.

If you’re interested in meeting me, please fill out an online application. CARL

Home

CARL Adoption Center-call 644-7387 for more information.

Lucky Dr. Jones is a gunshot survivor who arrived as a stray with broken bones in his face and a bullet in his shoulder. This 3-year-old is on the road to make a full recovery and is already showing us his playful side! He can’t wait to continue healing in a home with a family.

If you’d like to meet Dr. Jones, schedule an appointment at https://www.vcas.us/adopt or come down to the shelter during normal Adoption Hours of 1:00pm – 6:00pm Tuesday – Sunday.  If you have questions, please contact us at (805) 388-4341 or [email protected].

What an abundant smorgasbord of colorful blooms and resident fauna were discovered by visitors to the Ventura Botanical Gardens this spring. More than 90 photographers captured the ever-increasing variety of plants in the Mediterranean climate botanical collections found in the Gardens.

A panel of judges evaluated over 200 submissions and selected winning entries in five categories: Best Overall, Critters, Botanical Macro, Botanical Close-up and Garden Scenes. Winning entries were also chosen by “open voting” on the Ventura Botanical Gardens’ Facebook page.

The judges this year were Greg Montana, photographer and owner of Dexter’s Camera; Monica Furmanski, Assistant Professor of Photography at Ventura College; and Stephanie Hogue, Owner of Latitudes Gallery. Greg continues Dexter’s 70 years of excellent support to the photography community and still processes film. Monica exhibits work locally and nationally and operates the 643 Project Space, an artist run gallery on Ventura Avenue, with her husband Matthew. Stephanie’s work is well known locally for capturing the beauty of the ocean and natural elements of our area. Visitors find her work at Latitudes Gallery on Main Street in downtown Ventura.

The contest is open to photos from throughout the year but spring is a favorite season. This year the rains triggered an abundance of new growth, color, birdsong, and scenes captured by our entrants. Denise Dewire, a winner in both the Judges’ and Peoples’ Choice contests, said: “I love VBG and am a charter member. It’s amazing how the Gardens have evolved and how it has come back since the Thomas fire.” Tara Pinley, a winning newcomer to Ventura, is rediscovering her interest in photography. She said: “I’m amazed by the natural beauty in the area — especially the Botanical Gardens where I enjoy gorgeous views of the ocean and gardens all at the same time. It really makes Ventura a wonderful place to live and share with nature.”  

To view all the winning photos go to https://venturabotanicalgardens.com/in-bloom/

Winners in the Judges’ Choice by category were:

• Best Overall: Denise Dewire (1^st and 2^nd), Jacqueline Counter (3^rd)
• Critters: Matthew Bear (1^st), Tara Pinley (2^nd), Michelle DiGuilio (3^rd)
• Botanical Macro: Chuck Aghoian (1^st), Alex Davis (2^nd), Chuck Aghoian (3^rd)
• Botanical Closeup: Lina Li (1^st), April Holmes (2^nd), Leslie Leavens (3^rd)
• Garden Scenes: Elisabeth Revenis (1^st), Gannon Hutchison (2^nd), Benjamin Mati (3^rd)

Winners in the Peoples’ Choice were: Denise Dewire (1^st, 3^rd and 4^th), Scott Geist (2^nd) and Elizabeth Revenis (5^th)

Ventura Botanical Gardens congratulates all the winners and hopes this visual smorgasbord will fuel an appetite for more visitors to experience the Gardens.

Ventura Land Trust celebrates 20 years of conservation in 2023, starting with a free community birthday party on Friday, May 19th at Topa Topa Brewing Company (4880 Colt Street, Ventura, 93003) from 6-9 pm.

“From the beginning, this has been a community endeavor,” says Ventura Land Trust (VLT) Executive Director Melissa Baffa. “We were started 20 years ago by a concerned group of citizens who wanted to protect the hillsides north of the city from development. They wanted the natural beauty of those hills to be preserved for generations to come, and that mission still holds true today.”

Founded in 2003 as Ventura Hillsides Conservancy, Ventura Land Trust (VLT) protected its first parcels of land along the Ventura Rive—donated by local families—in 2012. VLT stepped into the spotlight in 2020 with the opening of the 2,123-acre Harmon Canyon Preserve. Open daily for free, Harmon Canyon Preserve has been embraced by the community as a recreation destination and as a place to experience nature’s beauty and diversity close to home.

The threatened hillside land that inspired the organization’s founding, Mariano Rancho, was purchased by VLT in 2019 and is expected to open to the public as a nature preserve in 2025.

The community spirit and support that has sustained VLT for two decades continues to drive its conservation work. Each year, hundreds of volunteers work alongside staff on land restoration projects and community outreach, and hundreds of thousands of individuals visit VLT preserves.

“Not all land trusts open their conserved lands to the public,” says Baffa. “For VLT, welcoming visitors to these open spaces is an both an invitation to experience how special they are and a call to action. When we connect people to nature, they understand why it’s worth protecting.”

VLT offers guided hikes and field-based educational excursions in English and Spanish. Nature exploration program Ventura Wild fosters a sense of belonging and awareness of the natural world for children as young as two years old.

“Looking ahead from here, we are digging into the science of nurturing biodiverse habitats that are resilient in the face of climate change. We’re building a land trust that reflects the full diversity of our region and welcomes everyone into open spaces,” says Baffa.

“Twenty years may seem like a long time, but for nature, it’s barely a blink. VLT is really just getting started on the promise we’ve made to protect these open spaces forever. It’s a big promise, but we are sharing this vision and work with so many other people, businesses, and organizations. It makes our community and our planet stronger.”

Learn more about Ventura Land Trust at www.venturalandtrust.org.

KPPQ features a dedicated and talented crew of local DJs producing unique and information programming. Every month CAPS Media and KPPQ features a DJ who helps define the style and sound of Ventura community radio on KPPQ- LP at 104.1FM and on myTuner. Doc Ventura is performer, guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and best of all a KPPQ DJ. A Chicago blues man, transplanted to beautiful Ventura, shares his love of the blues from the 1920’s through the present day on Doc’s Delta Blues Lounge. Doc Ventura says “I believe if you LIKE the blues you will LOVE them after tuning in”. The hour-long show features familiar stars like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf but the majority of the program is dedicated to lesser known blues artists such as Homesick James, J.B. Hutto, T-Model Ford that are often overlooked in radio. The diversity of blues styles and forms found in Doc’s Delta Blues Lounge entertains, informs, and builds appreciation of this indigenous art form. Doc has four solo albums. You can catch Doc and his Delta by the Beach Band or with The Milo Sledge Trio throughout Ventura and up and down the central and south coast. Tune in to 104.1fm on Thursdays at 7pm and Sundays at 3pm to enter Doc’s Delta Blues Lounge. All KPPQ locally produced programs, as well as national and international shows, can be enjoyed 24/7 at 104.1 FM and streamed worldwide on myTuner Radio and on capsmedia.org. Many of the shows are available on-demand on the KPPQ podcast network found at capsmedia.org/radio. Stay tuned for the next DJ profile in your Ventura Breeze.

Recently CAPS Media crews produced a promotional video for Ventura County Fire publicizing the Department’s Junior Fire Academy. As outlined by Fire Fighter Spencer White, the three week-long summer sessions are free for boys and girls aged 13-15 who are Ventura County residents and want to learn what it takes to be a part of the fire service. The academy creates a fun learning environment for students to experience the physical and mental rigors of the Fire Department’s daily emergency operations. Training includes First Aid and Hands Only CPR, Structure and Wildland Fire Suppression, Rappel Operations, Confined Space awareness, Hand Tool usage and more. The camp also includes tours of fire stations, demonstrations by 911 dispatch, Air units, ambulance EMTs, rescue dog demonstrations and much more. For details go to VCFD.org/junior-fire-academy.

CAPS Media manages two television channels and one radio station in Ventura providing public programming on television, radio and online streaming twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week on all distribution outlets.

CAPS’ channel 6 presents programming created by and for the public including community information programs, faith-based services and more. CAPS manages and presents government meetings at City Hall including city council, design review, general plan advisory committee and planning commission on channel 15 which also features education and information programs including those by El Camino High School students.

To learn more about CAPS, visit capsmedia.org. A video on the home page, CAPS Media City Council Presentation 2023, presents an overview of the organization.