Page 4 November 24, 2016 TORRANCE TRIBUNE TerriAnn from front page the Constitution, and in 1795 for the general benefit and welfare of the nation. In 1941, Congress declared Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Reading about the history of our land and the noble people who bravely set up our nation, I began reflecting upon their Thanksgiving celebrations and what it must have meant to them. After time in the stacks of my library, but before I closed the last tome, a small, brown-edged paper fell out from between the pages which read, “This book inspected by Ethel Twitty, American Book-Stratford Press, Inc.” I wondered if Ethel had read the same words as I had and thought the same thoughts. What are people thankful for this Thanksgiving and what are the traditions they hold dear? I decided to find out. That afternoon, I chatted with two working young men who took time from their jobs to speak with me. Warren Kato, age 28, told me, “Thanksgiving means family and eating lots of food. Getting together and seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time and not think about anything and visit.” Twenty-year-old Matthew Grajeda added, “What does Thanksgiving mean to me? Give thanks to the Lord for the things he has done for me and that he is watching over me in the future, and the things he has for my life. I would say that my family tradition – we have a big family, so we just do our own thing. I help my mom with food. I have three brothers and two sisters, and my cat. So we all help out…and if it’s on my birthday, then we have other family that comes over.” Matthew was born on November 26 and when Thanksgiving falls on his birthday, other family members join in on the double holiday. Later that night, I caught up with the Torrelles singing group as they practiced for their upcoming gig at the Torrance Memorial Hospital’s Festival of the Trees. Leader of the group Linda Cessna told me, “You have to ask me this when this is the first year it is just going to be Ronnie and me, my brother and sister-in-law and one of the kids for Thanksgiving?” Linda went on to tell me that she and her husband Ronnie will miss their daughter Callie this year because she just moved to Texas and isn’t making the trip home for Thanksgiving. That also means Callie won’t get any fried turkey this year, which is a specialty of the Cessna clan. Then Dawn Switzer said, “Thanksgiving to me means being grateful for all the things I have in my life – all the people – all that God has given me… and our special tradition is – since it is just my husband and I now – is we just go out to dinner. It is too darn hard to cook for two people! The Bull Pen has the best Thanksgiving dinner with turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, salad and a slice of pie. You can’t beat that – except for maybe football!” “But you have no leftovers,” interjected Linda. At that point, Dawn calmly told her that she could always buy another plate. Carolyn Chun said, “The leftovers are my favorite. Getting together with family [is what I like]. This year we are going to Vegas, Red Rock… so we are going to have Thanksgiving over there. So [our son] Christian, age 10, will have a great time at Kids Quest, playing.” Former Torrance Councilwoman Hope Witkowski told me, “I am thankful for my wonderful family and peace on earth and I am also thankful to all the people who are so wonderful in the medical field that have found cures to help people survive cancer. Since I am the matriarch of my family, everybody comes over and it is a crazy fiesta of people and food.” Then I asked Leslie Cortez what Thanksgiving means to her and what her favorite part is, and she replied to me in one-word answers, “Family. Turkey.” Jeffrey Kidd piped up and said, “Family. And we do the Turkey Trot every year. I have done it with my son and daughter for six or seven years.” I asked Jeffrey who cooks his turkey if he is out “trotting” and he said there is plenty of time for popping the turkey into the oven when he gets back from the event. I suppose that means Jeffrey runs a pretty fast race. If you ran in the Torrance Annual 37th Turkey Trot Fun Run this year, then you are very much, I would think, entitled to another piece of pumpkin pie. Speaking of pumpkin pies, I wonder if Torrance resident Martha Bauman had pumpkin pie for breakfast as she does every Thanksgiving morning. The next day, I spoke with Torrance resident Scott Villalva, who told me that Thanksgiving means a time he and his family see relatives they normally don’t see through the year as regularly as they might. He added, “I also put up our Christmas lights with the kids the day after Thanksgiving.” With Thanksgiving celebrated all over our country in homes, shelters, restaurants, churches and everywhere people gather, let us not forget our military celebrating away from home. Gathering together and helping those in need, especially on this day, reminds us that unified in Thanksgiving our nation is strong. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! • The Torrelles. Community Briefs from page 2 Home from front page officers were assaulted in the line of duty last year. Citizen complaints reached their lowest level since 1988. Jobs are plentiful right now. The U.S. economy keeps growing, creating jobs for anyone who wants one. The nation’s unemployment rate in October was 4.9 percent, approaching what economists refer to as “full employment” for Americans who are in the workforce and willing to work. The best job prospects are in health care, professional and business services, and financial services, according to the U.S. Labor Department. The tight labor market means that personal wages could start rising soon, economists say. Tide turning on diabetes. This issue is a personal one for my family and probably for many of yours. November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and it brings a cautious, yet encouraging message that Americans are fighting back against this disease. The number of new cases has begun falling after decades of increases. The rate of serious diabetes-related complications, including stroke, heart attacks and amputations, has dropped. More than 29 million U.S. adults have diabetes and one-fourth don’t even know it. Diabetes accounts for 20 percent of the country’s health care spending and is the leading cause of kidney failure, leg amputations and adult-onset blindness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. A decision made by Congress in 2010 could be contributing to the recent gains. Congress authorized the CDC to roll out its diabetes prevention program nationwide. A powerful endorsement followed this year when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services started paying for Medicare recipients who take part in the program. Health officials are cautiously optimistic about the early gains and new research into possible triggers for diabetes. The treatment options a decade ago were limited and that is changing, reports Dr. Drew Bremer, a top diabetes researcher at the National Institutes of Health. “As a field, we are evolving and going beyond looking just at glucose numbers and focusing on the entire patient,” he said. Dr. Bremer noted that there are eight classes of drugs available to diabetes patients, and research is ongoing to guide physicians in choosing the most effective new and old medications for controlling high blood-glucose levels. Patients and their families shouldn’t expect new therapies to appear overnight. Researchers have even found a link between coffee consumption and warding off diabetes, though it’s not because of the caffeine, they say. More work needs to be done, but that preliminary finding should lift your mood the next time you visit Starbucks. • “What are people thankful for this Thanksgiving and what are the traditions they hold dear? I decided to find out.” Visit us online: www.heraldpublications.com U.S. News & World Report: 5-Star Rating for Providence Transitional Care Center Providence Little Company of Mary Transitional Care Center, a skilled nursing facility in Torrance, earned five stars for the third straight year in this week’s U.S. News & World Report feature listing the nation’s top nursing homes. The magazine’s prestigious rankings resulted from U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid surveys rating the 115-bed transitional care center among the best care homes in the nation based on health inspections, nurse staffing, quality measures and safety. Elva Sipin, administrator since 2012, credited the Torrance center’s more than 300 employees and physicians as well as the connection to nearby Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance--a 436-bed acute care hospital. “The hospital leadership has been very supportive. That kind of relationship make a big difference,” she said. “And my team – they work hard and they do it with such pride and joy. Our focus is always on quality, centered in Providence core values and our mission of compassionate service.” Employees and physicians, Sipin said, engage their patients--most of whom are elderly. The staff includes nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, respiratory therapists, dietitians and administrative support. The center is different from most skilled nursing facilities because patients typically are not long-term. The average length-of-stay is about two weeks, allowing patients to rehabilitate from acutecare hospital stays before heading home. U.S. News ranked the 15,506 nursing homes and rehabilitation centers nationwide and 2,005 earned the five-star rating. • Curator Susanna Meiers at 310-660-3010. Admission to the El Camino College Art Gallery and gallery events is free. On-campus parking is $3. •
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