‘Extreme Makeover’ star visited OKC
Paige Hemmis changes lives on a weekly basis. On “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” she and the rest of the show’s cast make a lasting impression on families across the country by rebuilding their homes. Hers is a high-profile life and most people are familiar with the impact the show has on the lives of those it touches.
Wearing her signature pink hard hat on the show, Hemmis seems like a picture of spunky happiness. She tears up often on camera but that’s to be expected, considering the dramatic problems the families she helps on the show face.
But few people realize that Hemmis also helps people change their lives from the inside out.
Tuesday, Hemmis shared her story of battling depression with an Oklahoma City audience at a “Blueprint for Hope” event.
An estimated 33 to 35 million U.S. adults are likely to experience depression at some point during their lifetime. According to a 2007 study by Mental Health of America, more than 17 percent of people living in Oklahoma experience at least one major depressive episode a year.
Like many people, when Hemmis realized she had a problem, she didn’t have a name for it. It started around the time she started the show but she wouldn’t have a diagnosis until well into the show’s second season.
“I wasn’t going out, I was kind of withdrawing. The things I normally like to do, I wasn’t doing,” She was tired all the time and couldn’t sleep. She just didn’t feel like herself.
It seemed the only thing she really wanted to do was to eat, she said.
“When you’re not sleeping, there’s a whole lot of extra time to eat,” she said. She would stay up late munching on snacks in bed. Then, she would wake up early, sleepless, and eat some more food. All the excessive eating caused Hemmis to gain 25 pounds in short order.
She also found herself on the road 10 months out of the year, traveling for the show.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night and not know where I am, what city I’m in, what hotel I’m in,” she said. “I was feeling more and more overwhelmed.”
She went to her doctor thinking that her problems stemmed from traveling so much and her lack of sleep.
“I felt very guilty for admitting that anything was wrong with me. Because the families that we help as part of the show, they’ve gone through these horrible stories and here I am, I’ve got a good job, a good family, a good life,” Hemmis said.
When the doctor told her she was battling depression, she was shocked.
“At first I was like, ‘What? No! I’m happy, see my smile?’” he recalled. “But part of me was really relieved because I was not alone and there are other people going through this and I had a name for what I was going through.”
Though she didn’t have suicidal thoughts, Hemmis realized that if her condition went untreated, it would likely lead to them.
So, working with her doctor, she devised a “blueprint” for how they would treat her depression. It included talk therapy, antidepressants, eating better and exercising.
“It’s like a blueprint for a house,” Hemmis said. “Drywall, wood plumbing …That’s kind of how it is with our lives. We each have our own blueprint.”
Hemmis teamed up with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and Dr. Jesse H. Wright to form “Blueprint for Hope,” a campaign to inspire people to speak with a health care professional about their depression symptoms and raise awareness of the importance of working with a health care professional to build a personalized “blueprint,” or plan, for managing their illness.
Today, Hemmis is happy and healthy and hopes that by sharing her story, she’ll inspire others to focus on their own “Blueprint for Hope.” For more information about the campaign, go online to www.blueprintforhope.com.
Disney contest seeks artistic kids
Disney Parks and NASA “Launch” Buzz Lightyear Mission Patch Design Challenge
After serving 15 galactic months on board the International Space Station (ISS), Disney Parks and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently announced they are celebrating Buzz Lightyear’s historic space journey with a Mission Patch Design Challenge for children 6-12 years of age in theUnited States and District of Columbia at www.DisneyParks.com/Buzz. The 12-inch action figure returned to Earth in September aboard NASA space shuttle Discovery mission STS-128.
For nearly 40 years, NASA astronauts have designed patches to symbolize their individual space missions and flight accomplishments. Carrying on this tradition, Disney Parks and NASA have launched a search for the most creative mission patch design to honor Buzz Lightyear as America’s first and longest serving space ranger.
Hurry!!! Deadline for entries is Nov. 6, children and parents can go online and download materials to design a custom Buzz mission patch. Kids can choose design templates and art work inspired by previous NASA badges as well as NASA and Disney Parks creative elements and other fun add-ons. Along with their patch, children must also submit a brief essay (up to 100 words) discussing the inspiration for their design. The winner, parent and two guests will receive a three day, two night vacation to Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. as well as a VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The Mission Patch Design Challenge commemorates Buzz Lightyear’s achievement and builds on NASA’s educational goals of encouraging students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. As part of the Buzz Lightyear Mission Patch Design Challenge, children will get the opportunity to learn about the requirements of space flight and the science surrounding NASA programs, helping to create a strong understanding about the importance of space exploration.
Disney Parks is celebrating Buzz’s momentous feat with a “Welcome Home” ticker-tape parade down Main Street USA in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. Buzz will be joined by International Space Station Expedition 18 crewmate Michael Fincke as well as former Apollo 11 moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin.
“Now that Buzz Lightyear is back home, we are truly excited for the next phase – designing a real NASA mission patch to recognize his historic accomplishment,” said Disney’s Duncan Wardle, Vice President, Disney Destinations. “Disney Parks and NASA feel it’s only fitting that Buzz’s biggest and true fans are given the opportunity to design a one-of-a-kind mission patch to celebrate his dream-come-true. We have no doubt the submissions will be unique and creative – if anything, a very hard decision to make!”
How to Enter:
Children and parents can visit http://www.DisneyParks.com/Buzz.for official Mission Patch Design Challenge rules, templates, examples of elements required for each design as well as judging criteria. Entrants shall:
- Download and print mission patch templates (with the help of parents)
- Using various elements, design a Mission Patch to commemorate Buzz Lightyear’s time in space aboard the ISS
- Write a brief description of the design (up to 100 words)
- Submit artwork and design description (with the help of parents)
- Entries may be submitted via e-mail or mail to specific address
Entries will be judged based on originality, creative execution, appropriateness of theme and clarity of expression of idea. For additional information on the Disney Parks and NASA Mission Patch Design Challenge or to enter, guests may visit www.DisneyParks.com/Buzz.
Finally, a bra that multitasks!
To you, that cute pink bra with black lace trim might conjure up thoughts of sexy lingerie. To Dr. Elena Bodnar, it represents a possible lifesaver.
Behold the bra-mask — a bra that in an emergency can be turned into a pair of protective face masks.
Bodnar’s invention the Ig Nobel Prize, given by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for achievements that “first make people laugh and then make them think.”
“The brilliance of my idea is that it’s very simple,” said Bodnar, of Chicago, who is the director of the nonprofit Trauma Risk Management Research Institute.
To use the bra mask, the wearer unsnaps the brassiere from under her shirt, which breaks it in two. Because each cup has hooks on its side, the strap is wrapped around the head and hooked to the cup, which goes over the mouth. Bodnar said an experienced user can don the mask in mere seconds.
The bra mask could be used during such disasters as fires, terrorist attacks, dust storms or a swine flu outbreak, Bodnar said. Indeed, she first thought up the idea while treating victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster as a medical university graduate in her native Ukraine.
Bodnar is now pursuing commercialization of her bra mask. She hopes all women will eventually have one.
What about the men?
As Bodnar noted in her Oct.1 acceptance speech at Harvard University, “Isn’t it wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own lives, but also a man of our choice next to us.”
source: McClatchey Tribune Information Services
‘Girls Take Action Summit’ coming up
Growing up, I was an active Girl Scout. I started as a Pixie Scout in kindergarten,(Pixies later became Daisies) moved up to Brownies in elementary school and graduated to the Girl Scout green after that. I loved my days as a Girl Scout. I have such fond memories of Girl Scout camps, selling cookies, weekly meetings when we would do arts and crafts, learn self defense, tour interesting places and meet inspiring people.
When my daughter was old enough, I enrolled her in Girl Scouts. I was even a group co-leader for a year. I think Girl Scouts is a wonderful organization and that all girls should at least have a chance to try scouting out for themselves.
This year’s “Girls Take Action Summit” is from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Douglas High School Auditorium.
Here’s an e-mail I received in response to my column from October 26 about the unrealistic body image Barbie presents to young girls. The e-mail is from Deborah Gooding, director of marketing and communications for Girls Scouts- Western Oklahoma, Inc.
“I just wanted to let you know how important your column on “image of women” is to girls today. At Girl Scouts, we are working through a program called “Uniquely Me!” to address the very issues you raised in your article. I encourage you to learn more about what we are doing locally to address this issue through Girl Scouts.You can view some of our materials here: http://www.gswestok.org/uniquelyme/ also encourage you to scroll down to the bottom of the page and watch the video called “Onslaught” – it is graphic but the point is very clear.
We are hosting a special event in OKC on Nov. 23 where Uniquely Me will be among the featured topics (along with Forever Green projects, robotics and more). It will be at Douglas High School. You can view the details here: http://www.swiftpage3.com/CampResource/2V0KIOM6DX7GM72Y/3/text.pdf”
Barbie has cankles? Give me a break.
Ok, I know this is awful but it's not that far from the truth. I found this photo at www.wayodd.com.
I just read that French shoe designer Christian Louboutin has had enough of Barbie’s cankles (ankles that blend into calves). Apparently, the designer has taken it upon himself to give Barbie an ankle lift and skinnier legs for the shoes he’s designing for her. “He found her ankles were too fat,” his spokesperson told Women’s Wear Daily.
Excuse me? If Barbie were a real woman, her body would be nonfunctioning, it’s so out of realistic proportion. According to iVillage.com, her feet would be a size 3, her bra size would be a 39FF and her measurements 39-21-33. She would stand 8 feet 9 inches tall. Her neck would be twice the length of a normal woman’s and would be so skinny, she’d have to choose between an esophagus and a trachea. The likelihood of a real woman having Barbie’s bod is less than one in 100,000.
I know, she’s just a doll. But for most little girls, Barbie is the first woman’s body they really get to analyze, besides their mothers’. Little girls (and little boys) are fascinated with Barbie because they can take off her clothes, check her out from all angles and get an anatomy lesson even though she’s missing certain vital parts. Barbie is a little girl’s first ideal — what she hopes to look like when she grows up.
Lately, plus-size models and actresses have gotten lots of attention, but “plus” starts at size 12 to 14! That means more than half of American women are plus-size; the average American woman is 162.9 pounds and size 14.
When plus-size model Lizzie Miller appeared nude in Glamour, smiling broadly with the slight fold of extra skin around her belly showing, the fashion world made a big to-do. I applaud her and the magazine, but her body still is smaller and more toned than the average American woman’s. Plus-size models don’t look fat. They look healthy.
Normally, I am not plus-size, but now that I am 31 weeks pregnant, I am. I know, it will come off after childbirth but that’s not the point. It irks me that I feel fat. I shouldn’t be embarrassed about being bigger than the sickly-looking women fashion wants me to idealize. If Barbie has cankles, mine must be elephantine.
For our daughters’ sake, parents must redefine what we consider beautiful. Talk to them about their body image and tell them they’re beautiful at any size.
These bloodsuckers aren’t just for Halloween!
Who is your favorite vampire? Do you swoon over Edward Cullen and Bill Compton, or are classic bloodsuckers like Count Dracula and Lestat de Lioncourt more your style? As fun as it is to obsess over and be scared by these fictional vampires, the real things are much more fascinating. Here is some blood-curdling information from National Wildlife Federation on living, breathing vampires that might just be stalking you.
Vampire Bats
Meet Desmodus rotundus and his cousins Diphylla ecaudata and Diaemus youngi, known respectively as the common, hairy-legged and white-winged vampire bats. Found only in the Americas, their collective range goes from Mexico down through Argentina. These bats feed exclusively on the blood of other animals. The common vampire bat typically goes for mammals, including domestic cows and horses, while the other two species prefer to feed upon birds—although the occasional human does make it on the menu. Thankfully, the bite of one of these bats won’t turn you into a vampire although the wounds can become infected.
Mosquitoes
For mosquitoes, it’s the ladies who are the bloodsuckers. Both sexes feed on flower nectar as their main source of nutrients. Only when she’s ready to reproduce does the female mosquito seek out a blood meal. She needs the added protein boost in order to lay her eggs and create a whole new generation of lady vampires.
Lampreys
These eel-like creatures are something right out of science fiction horror. Their disc-shaped mouths are filled with circles of razor-sharp teeth, which they use to bore into the flesh of their victims. They can remain attached for days or even weeks, all the while sucking in blood and body fluids. One species, the sea lamprey, has been introduced into the Great Lakes where it has become a problematic invasive exotic species. This lamprey can grow to almost 2 feet in length and the native lake fish it feeds upon often don’t survive the draining.
Bed Bugs
The goodnight rhyme “nite nite, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” takes on macabre twist when you learn that in the last few years, these little vampires are on the rise. Nearly eradicated in the North America for 50 years, bed bugs are back with a blood-sucking vengeance, showing up everywhere from high-end hotels to college dorms to rural bedrooms. After their victims fall asleep, bed bugs emerge from their hiding places in cracks and crevices and insert their sucking mouthparts in a series of bites along the blood vessels, drinking as they go and leaving as series of red, itchy welts.
Oxpeckers and Vampire Finches
There are several bird species that form symbiotic relationships with larger animals. The larger animals tolerate the birds’ presence on their bodies, leaving the birds free to feast upon ticks and other parasites that are lodged in the skin feeding upon the animals’ blood. It’s a win-win situation. But oxpeckers are birds that take it one step further. Not only do they feed upon invertebrate parasites, they are happy to consume bits of flesh and blood of their host animals while they’re at it. Vampire finches inhabit the Galapagos Islands and supplement their diet of seeds, insects and nectar with the blood of other birds, usually the blue-footed booby. They peck a hole in the flesh of the booby to get the larger bird’s blood and strangely, the boobies hardly seem to notice.
Leeches
Few animals evoke the “icky-creepies” in people as much as worms do with their slimy squirminess and their faceless, legless bodies. When such a creature also feeds upon human blood, it only adds to the horror factor. Such is the case with leeches. These parasitic worms attach themselves to their host and bloat themselves on blood. While most leeches are external parasites, some species will swim into nasal cavities and stay there, feeding and growing. Capable of holding undigested blood in their stomachs, parasitic leeches can go months between feedings.
Candiru Catfish
There are several species of diminutive candiru catfish that inhabit South American rivers. Some seek out larger fish and use their spiny mouths to attach themselves to the gills of their victims, where they makes an incision with their teeth and drink their fill of fish blood. Some species actually burrow inside the bodies of their prey, leaving a wound that looks like a bullet hole. Once inside they suck blood from the internal organs. This is the fish that gained international fame recently when one swam up a man’s penis, where it fed for several days before having to be surgically removed. Few things are more horrifying than even the thought of that!
Even scary wildlife isn’t safe from habitat destruction, global warming, pollution and other human-caused problems. Read more about real life wildlife vampires and NWF at www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife.
Miracle of modern technology
Most of you know that I continue to become more pregnant every day! I am due in 8 weeks and can’t wait to see my baby! I did get a great preview of her pretty little face recently when I visited a genetic specialist. Since I am over 35, my insurance covers this type of check up to make sure the baby looks good and doesn’t seem to have any genetic problems due to my aging eggs!
3D ultrasounds are amazing… they show so much detail, it’s almost like looking at an actual portrait of my baby. In this photo, you can see the umbelical cord… you can see that she has my husband’s nose and my cheekbones. She has such cute chubby cheeks.
If you’re pregnant, I highly recommend getting a 3D ultrasound! There are retail shops where they do “non-medical” 3D ultrasounds. A friend of mine did that and she said it cost about $150 for a 30 minute session.
H1N1 clinics to be held at two Oklahoma City schools
The Oklahoma City-County Health Department along with the Oklahoma City Public Schools and other partners will distribute H1N1 Influenza vaccine at two locations on Saturday, October 24th from 10 am to 3 pm. The locations are, U.S. Grant High School, 5016 S. Pennsylvania and Southeast High 5401 S. Shields Blvd. in Oklahoma City.
Following Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, these clinics will be open to ONLY pregnant women, school-age children, pre-K through grade 12 and children 6 month to 18 years with underling health conditions. There will be no seasonal influenza vaccine given out at this clinic. Additional clinics will be scheduled across the Oklahoma City Public Schools and other locations based on vaccine’s availability.
Adequate parking and Spanish translators will be available at both locations. At the U.S. Grant location please enter through the west door; the vaccine will be administered in the cafeteria. At the Southeast High School clinic location please enter through the south door, the vaccine will be administered in the cafeteria as well.
Anyone bringing a child to the clinic who is not the parent must have a signed permission slip from the parent authorizing the shot. The slip must read:
I (Full Name Parent) give permission for (Full Name of Person) to obtain the H1N1 vaccination for: (All children must be listed with full names and date of birth). This slip must be signed and dated with the date they bring the child to the clinic.
The immunizations are free of charge from the health department; however the health department will accept donations to help cover the cost of administering the vaccine.
For information on both seasonal and H1N1 influenza please call 419-4123 or go the OCCHD website at: http://www.cchdoc.com
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
For pregnant women, deciding whether to get a flu shot and the H1N1 shot is tough. I am pregnant and a bit hesitant. It seems you can’t watch a newscast or read an article about H1N1 without reference to the elevated risk to pregnant women.
Getting a pregnant woman to take a shot is a tough sell.
I’ve had doubts about getting the vaccines— I’m healthy and have never had a flu shot in the past. I did get the flu two years ago but that was the only time.
I’ve heard the statistics — since April at least 100 pregnant women have been hospitalized with H1N1 and 28 have died. According to the American Pregnancy Association, there are about 6 million pregnancies each year in the United States, resulting in more than 4 million live births. Those numbers make the number of H1N1 hospitalizations seems minute.
But, the more research I have done, the more I tend to agree that the shots are a good idea.
One worry I have about the vaccines concerns thimerosal, a controversial preservative that some activists link (without proof) to the high rates of autism. With new statistics stating that one in 100 kids could develop autism, I can’t help but be wary. But, you can request a seasonal or H1N1 flu shot without thimerosal.
Research indicates that not only can the flu vaccines protect you, they can protect your baby. According to Babycenter.com, anti-flu antibodies that you develop after getting the shot are passed to your baby, providing her with immunity that may be protective until she’s 5 or 6 months old.
“This is important because young babies who catch the flu are at particular risk for serious illness, but they can’t be vaccinated themselves until they’re 6 months old,” the site states. And by getting vaccinated, you lessen the chances of spreading the flu to others, doing your part in stopping the worldwide spread.
Talk to your doctor if you are sick and have a fever or have ever had a rare condition called Guillain-Barré before getting vaccinated.
RIP Bicycle Bob
“Bi
cycle Bob” was found dead near the Edmond Farmer’s Market Sunday. Anyone who has lived in Edmond for any amount of time knows this man. His real name was Dwite Morgan and he was homeless. It’s a shame. Apparently, another homeless man was arrested on a murder complaint. We’ll miss you, Bicycle Bob. RIP.
