Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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SENIOR CORNER Decoding the Problems of Seniors and Hoarding by MARTHA OWEN AND SUSAN GUY Some families have a tradition of Spring Cleaning. But we want to focus also interfere with family relationships and leave adult children wondering if the on Holiday cleaning since there might be visitors over the holiday who could only inheritance awaiting them is a big mess. assist with the task of cleaning the house. We at Home Instead Senior Care In order to identify potential trouble, the Home Instead Senior Care network is advise family caregivers to help older adults declutter during cleaning to avoid alerting family caregivers to watch for the signs in a senior's home that indicate household hazards. clutter creep could become a problem including: You enter your dad's home and can't believe the stacks • Piles of mail and unpaid bills. of stuff that have accumulated on every flat surface: piles • Difficulty walking safely through a home. of newspapers and mail everywhere, the medicine cabinet • Frustration trying to organize. overflowing with 10 years worth of hair spray (despite his • Difficulty managing activities of daily living. being bald), heaps of dirty laundry on the bed so there is no • Expired food in the refrigerator. place for him to sleep. You wonder how it got this bad. • Jammed closets and drawers. "A lifetime accumulation of possessions combined with a • Compulsive shopping. daily influx of junk mail, bills and newspapers can quickly • Difficulty deciding whether to discard items. overwhelm seniors who may already be struggling physically, • A health episode such as a stroke or dementia. mentally or emotionally," said Home Instead Senior Care Co• Loneliness. Founder Paul Hogan. "Family caregivers can become just as overwhelmed as For seniors, the risks of living in clutter are many. Experts say that seniors are prone to cluttering for a variety seniors," said Home Instead Senior Care's Hogan. "Holidays of reasons, including fear of loss, anxiety, depression, not and vacations are great times for family caregivers to help knowing how to get rid of possessions or even memories seniors de-clutter for their own health and well-being. We associated with specific items that hold no intrinsic value. suggest a three-step plan where the family caregiver brings three bins — one for the "It's sort of the elephant in the room," added Dr. Catherine Roster, a University stuff the senior wants to keep, one for donations and the other for trash. Sometimes of New Mexico clutter researcher. "People don't want to acknowledge there is a seniors just need a little help. One Home Instead CAREGiver helped her client problem, which creates an underlying anxiety, stress, guilt or embarrassment that go through a basement full of newspapers and clipped the important articles that can have a negative effect on their mental health and productivity. There are a lot he wanted to save, enabling him to throw away the bulk of the of issues including economics. When there is general disorganization, people lose clutter. That was a relief to both the senior and his children." important documents and can't find bills and then miss payments. So some serious For help in this area, look for the next series of Senior issues start affecting them. All the research shows that people are slow to recognize Corner articles. Call 910-484-7200 or visit www.homeinstead. the problem." com/647 also for more MARTHA OWEN & SUSAN GUY, Owners And for seniors, the risks of living in clutter are many, from slipping on loose information on this topic. of Home Instead Senior Care, Editor@ papers to the threat of fire to the health effects of mold and mildew. Clutter can upandcomingweekly.com. Pre-Engineering Degree Comes to FTCC by BEYMER BEVIL JR. Fayetteville Technical Community College now has a Pre-Engineering Program! things or making things better or right? Do you enjoy learning what makes things This program enables a student to complete the first two years of an engineering work? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then your next step is to degree at FTCC and then transfer up to 65 credit hours to a N.C. engineering determine if you'd like to take the engineering technology path or the engineering school, such as North Carolina State University, UNC-Charlotte, East Carolina path. With much overlap between the two paths, the distinction can be fuzzy, but the University and NC A&T. Students interested in engineering schools outside of North main difference is the amount of mathematics, theory, and laboratory involved. Carolina should contact the university to discuss transfer of The engineering technology programs are mostly algebra- and possible credits. trigonometry-based courses with some basic calculus. A typical With the addition of this program, FTCC represents a one-stop class will consist of equal parts of theory and laboratory, with approach to fulfilling a student's technology needs. For students the goal being to provide the foundation for a career involving interested in theory, FTCC offers the Pre-Engineering Program. maintenance, repair, design and development of entities, such as For students interested in practical approach, FTCC offers the electronic products and mechanical structures. Engineering Technology Programs (Electronics Engineering The engineering programs are calculus based. Mathematics Technology, Civil Engineering Technology and Surveying is the language of engineering. A typical class will consist mostly Technology). FTCC's credits from the Engineering Technology of theory with some laboratory exercises. Some classes may Program transfer to four-year colleges and universities that offer be entirely theory based, but this doesn't mean that the subject the degree of Bachelor of Engineering Technology. matter of these courses can't be applied. It just means that there's So, what is Pre-Engineering? A Pre-Engineering Program much theory to learn and not enough time to apply much of it. represents the first two years of a four-year Engineering Program. (That part comes later, on the job!) The foundation for a career The program consists of mathematics, physics, chemistry, is provided by doing research and development, in addition A Pre-Engineering Program represents the English, economics, programming and humanities courses that to the tasks performed by technologists. In practice, very few first two years of a four-year Engineering are required in a four-year Engineering Program. The program engineers work in research, but the theoretical foundation Program. also includes a few courses involving introductory engineering learned allows engineers to solve complex problems not usually topics. A Pre-Engineering Program is taught at a community solved by technologists. college, such as FTCC. Students completing the Pre-Engineering Program obtain an So, are you ready to become an Engineering Technologist or an Engineer? Your Associate of Applied Science degree and can then transfer to an Engineering Program first step can begin at FTCC. Just visit our website at www.faytechcc. at a four-year university, such as NCSU. Some students may elect to study all four edu and follow the instructions for "getting started." You can also years at a university setting, but choosing a Pre-Engineering Program at a community contact Beymer Bevill at 910-678-8216 ( bevillb@faytechcc.edu ) college helps students through advantages of lower tuition costs, smaller class sizes, or Daryle Nobles at 910-678-8338 BEYMER BEVIL, JR., Contributing free parking and friendly, caring instructors who work hard to help students succeed. (noblesd@faytechcc.edu ) for Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. Ask yourself these questions: Do you enjoy creating things? Do you enjoy "fixing" more information. 14 UCW DECEMBER 19-25, 2012 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM