Treva Lind

Tips for keeping you and Fido healthy while running.

Spokane author Sarah Mackenzie offers tips on how families can set aside a few minutes each week for continuing to read aloud as a family – well past children’s early years – for benefits such as improved relationships, conversations, and gains from hearing out loud a book’s grammar and rich language.

What’s PiYo? The high-intensity fitness class fuses part yoga, Pilates, body conditioning and some cardio to increase flexibility, strengthen muscles, tighten the body’s core, and burn fat.

To help children bounce back when bad things happen, experts point mainly to the role of a caring adult in the youth’s life, among other strategies. More than 360 volunteers in Spokane County’s PrimeTime Mentoring program have stepped into such a role about an hour once a week.

Digitized records and newer sleuthing tips can bring you closer to ancestors.

Called Juul by brand name – or “juuling” on the street – the vaping device has lit up attention both for its popularity and public health warnings that the discreet, slim rectangular design and sweet vapors make them appealing to youth.

Red Cross chapters bring emergency preparedness activities to schools and libraries to help elementary-age kids learn basic information about natural disasters. The program was first created by the agency’s Southeast Louisiana Chapter and began in New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Inland Northwest Health Services Community Wellness recently launched its Blood Pressure Self-Management Program, offering classes to the public. People meet once a week for a four-week session.

Lights for the Steam Plant stacks and other city venues will beam in orange during March to highlight the national Developmental Disability Awareness Month in Spokane, an initiative supported locally by The Arc of Spokane.

Under a five-year pilot, the state of Washington recently created a two-pronged approach for the Family Caregiver Support Program. Both provide free services for unpaid caregivers in a residence supporting a family member or friend who is at least 55 years old. They’re also aimed at helping seniors stay independent longer and out of more expensive Medicaid long-term care in a facility.

Dr. Tim Chestnut has seen both sides of health care for amputees, as a patient following a 2002 accident and subsequent 2006 amputation, and as a physician who now does medical evaluations for amputees and writes reports meeting insurance requirements so that people can receive advanced prosthetics for work or recreation. He also teaches first- and second-year students for University of Washington School of Medicine on the Gonzaga University campus.

The Spokane Cohousing group has spent about a year planning a 34-unit development in the Perry District that would have a mix of private living units and common spaces. About 17 people so far are involved in an LLC purchasing property for the neighborhood, to be designed for a range of ages among residents, from kids to people in their 80s. Members regularly meet to decide on designs for construction planned to begin next year, and for a move-in date by April 2020.

Consider ways to repurpose heirlooms, like sewing a pillow from an old lace tablecloth or getting jewelry made from vintage silverware. It’s another way to remember someone or to keep sentimental items that otherwise get packed away and hidden in a closet, drawer, or in storage.

Katy Bruya, a Washington Trust Bank senior vice president, will be a keynote speaker at the Spokane Go Red for Women Luncheon Feb. 21. She is a heart failure patient and local mom, too.

Winter doesn’t stop a number of Spokane runners from regularly hitting their stride outdoors, with a few steps of precaution.

The ongoing spotlight on sexual harassment and sexual assault has many parents wondering: Are there age-appropriate ways to talk to children about what they might hear or experience? What are ways to discuss appropriate behaviors and abuse prevention?

Jazzercise, around nearly 50 years, lives on in the age of Zumba and CrossFit, through several regional centers. The exercise program remains popular mainly to women with its cardio-and-strength exercise, simple choreography and popular tunes.

While music is known for its mood-lifting qualities, rising evidence shows profound responses when favorite tunes are played for dementia patients.

Libraries are exploring new avenues of outreach.

Fresh Start Produce owner Dave Kinyon died Jan. 19, leaving an uncertain future for the produce stand and U-pick operations, at 21619 E. Wellesley Ave. He was 69.

Teens and young adults who binge-watch TV shows – such as through Netflix, Hulu, On Demand or digital recorders – typically get poorer sleep and experience fatigue, said a recent study.