Coming Flu Season and You
Well it is that time of year again in our little microcosm of a community that we call home and once again we are faced with the Flu Season.
Oh yes that dreaded Flu Season where the sick and contagious roam the hallways,the lobby area,the Parks and Recreation Office,the Site Managers Office,the Crafts Room,Computer room and other places all the while being sick,coughing and unknowingly spreading their case of the Flu they happen to have contracted from another person and spreading to other residents and site employees.
It has not changed in over four years of my living at Paquin Tower but that is why this message here and hopefully to bring more contentious awareness to this issue! I for one am sick of contracting somebody else's Flu Bug year after year!
One thing is for sure is that this will not change unless residents as a whole begin to think first before leaving their apartments.
Here are some suggestions I would like to propose to help eliminate this problem our entire building goes through every year:
1: If you are sick do not go spreading it all over the entire building. Think of other's health conditions first.
2: If you are sick try to have your in home Health Care Aide do “all of your running around” for you so you do not spread your Flu Bug to others.
3: If you are sick call a close friend in the building and tell them so they will know and many times they will offer to help you do shopping,laundry,get your mail or whatever.
4: If you are sick DO NOT GO TO THE LOBBY! This is how your Flu Bug gets spread to everybody else in the building.
5: If you are sick get to your doctor ASAP! Do not sit around getting worse in your sickness.
6: If you are sick tape a note to your door saying you are sick so others will know on your floor so they can take measures to avoid getting sick as well.
7: If you are sick tell your family if they are local so they also know and can possibly help you in getting by with your daily life needs.
8: If you are sick join in the “Daily Check System” so that the volunteer who is helping to check on others knows you are ok.
9: If you are sick do not come down to Coffee and Chat spreading your sickness!! Stay away please!!
10: If you are sick follow all of the above suggestions to ensure your sickness in contained to you and you alone. We have residents that are in the “At Risk” categories and as such their present health problems do not need you complicating them by far.
Remember this is not just your home but the home of over 200 other individual people with health concerns just like you and as such would you want them to spread their sickness to you? Think about it before you go spreading your sickness. The life you save could be your neighbors.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Are your neighbors back stabbing you in the public eye?
This is a serious question that all of us residents must ask of ourselves and of our friends and neighbors we consider as family here in Paquin Tower.
When I moved here to Paquin Tower over four years ago now I was fore warned of all of the back stabbing that goes on with in our home here and as such have been a victim of it myself to extents I chose to isolate for quite some time due to it.
It seems now though unlike before where this back stabbing was mostly internally based on the down low that some residents have found the new age way of communicating called the internet and even now over their phones as well into our local news papers where they think that residents such as myself will not find their malicious back stabbing and they can get away with it with out any repercussions by other residents.
Surprise to that resident that I do surf the internet daily of all local blogs,forum boards,news papers and all local news outlets through out each day looking for these snippety little bits of misinformation and as such will stand up and call them on their issues they seem to have with other residents they cannot keep on the internal down low but feel they must chastise and belittle other residents in the public eye which is not fair at all to the entire population of Paquin Tower nor our inner beliefs and mission that we are a family first and fore most and if you mess with one family member you best be prepared to mess with the entire family.
It seems now as of late we have one or two of our residents calling in to the Columbia Tribune via the Trib Talk phone number claiming that we as residents of Paquin Tower are some how privileged or some how pampered beyond what other citizens in our community might be.
This to me is a huge spike of misinformation as if we were some how privileged or pampered as they incur by their calling in to the Trib Talk Hot Line then why do the majority of us do all of our own cooking,laundry,cleaning our houses,going to the grocery stores on our own,feeding ourselves,walking our own service animals,bathing ourselves and so much more in our normal daily lives.
The word pampered implies that every tiny need we may have as residents is totally taken care of for us which is as we know far from the truth.
He definition of pampered can be found here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pampered
I for one do not feel in any way of the definition of that word as being pampered by far in any way since coming to live here in Paquin Tower nor do I expect to be either as that was not why this building was founded back in 1973.
An old adage my Grandparents always told me and I try to remember at times but is hard to do is “If you cannot say something nice about your friends,family or others than at least try not to speak badly of them" and this I know is hard for all of us to take a hold of but I feel we as a community here at Paquin Tower need to try and encourage each other to do so.
This building in the past has had a bad reputation but we as the present residents do not have to live up to that past reputation as we can change all of that and bring up our standards we expect in this building that we live in and that starts with you as an individual resident talking to your own neighbors and always encouraging them to always put their best foot forward (no pun intended to those of obvious disability that impairs them from walking) and helping others to do the same in making our home a happy place to live.
When I moved here to Paquin Tower over four years ago now I was fore warned of all of the back stabbing that goes on with in our home here and as such have been a victim of it myself to extents I chose to isolate for quite some time due to it.
It seems now though unlike before where this back stabbing was mostly internally based on the down low that some residents have found the new age way of communicating called the internet and even now over their phones as well into our local news papers where they think that residents such as myself will not find their malicious back stabbing and they can get away with it with out any repercussions by other residents.
Surprise to that resident that I do surf the internet daily of all local blogs,forum boards,news papers and all local news outlets through out each day looking for these snippety little bits of misinformation and as such will stand up and call them on their issues they seem to have with other residents they cannot keep on the internal down low but feel they must chastise and belittle other residents in the public eye which is not fair at all to the entire population of Paquin Tower nor our inner beliefs and mission that we are a family first and fore most and if you mess with one family member you best be prepared to mess with the entire family.
It seems now as of late we have one or two of our residents calling in to the Columbia Tribune via the Trib Talk phone number claiming that we as residents of Paquin Tower are some how privileged or some how pampered beyond what other citizens in our community might be.
This to me is a huge spike of misinformation as if we were some how privileged or pampered as they incur by their calling in to the Trib Talk Hot Line then why do the majority of us do all of our own cooking,laundry,cleaning our houses,going to the grocery stores on our own,feeding ourselves,walking our own service animals,bathing ourselves and so much more in our normal daily lives.
The word pampered implies that every tiny need we may have as residents is totally taken care of for us which is as we know far from the truth.
He definition of pampered can be found here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pampered
I for one do not feel in any way of the definition of that word as being pampered by far in any way since coming to live here in Paquin Tower nor do I expect to be either as that was not why this building was founded back in 1973.
An old adage my Grandparents always told me and I try to remember at times but is hard to do is “If you cannot say something nice about your friends,family or others than at least try not to speak badly of them" and this I know is hard for all of us to take a hold of but I feel we as a community here at Paquin Tower need to try and encourage each other to do so.
This building in the past has had a bad reputation but we as the present residents do not have to live up to that past reputation as we can change all of that and bring up our standards we expect in this building that we live in and that starts with you as an individual resident talking to your own neighbors and always encouraging them to always put their best foot forward (no pun intended to those of obvious disability that impairs them from walking) and helping others to do the same in making our home a happy place to live.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friends of Paquin Tower Group
As many of you know the participants of the Adaptive Recreational Program run by the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department since 1973 were in danger of being cut out of the FY2009 Columbia City Budget. The participants along with Columbia Insiders such as Sean Spence and a host of others rallied support and went to the City Council and through hard work were able to get this valuable program saved for one more year although on a "life support" style of budgeting.
Now this same group is forming an even better group to go looking for the continual funding to ensure this valuable program can stay in existence for years to come.
As of this time Sean Spence is out campaigning with other like minded organizations in our city for that support over the long run of time. He is in talks with such groups as Services For Independent Living,Boone County Group Homes,The Disability Commission of the City of Columbia,United Way and a host of others.
The over all goal of this group is to bring more community awareness to the program,what it provides,how it can be a huge benefit to the entire community of Columbia not just now but over the long term.
The group hopes to be doing some "fund raising events" possibly and in turn hoping to bring in more community participation into the program itself.
More to come as news trickles in here on the Blog and this Blog will be one of the official news release sites for all information relating to this project.
Thank you to all who have helped in keeping this program budgeted for FY2009 and we also look for your support in the years to come.
Remember this program belongs to all citizens in the City of Columbia,is open to the entire community and with all of your help and blessings will be able to continue for many many years to come.
Now this same group is forming an even better group to go looking for the continual funding to ensure this valuable program can stay in existence for years to come.
As of this time Sean Spence is out campaigning with other like minded organizations in our city for that support over the long run of time. He is in talks with such groups as Services For Independent Living,Boone County Group Homes,The Disability Commission of the City of Columbia,United Way and a host of others.
The over all goal of this group is to bring more community awareness to the program,what it provides,how it can be a huge benefit to the entire community of Columbia not just now but over the long term.
The group hopes to be doing some "fund raising events" possibly and in turn hoping to bring in more community participation into the program itself.
More to come as news trickles in here on the Blog and this Blog will be one of the official news release sites for all information relating to this project.
Thank you to all who have helped in keeping this program budgeted for FY2009 and we also look for your support in the years to come.
Remember this program belongs to all citizens in the City of Columbia,is open to the entire community and with all of your help and blessings will be able to continue for many many years to come.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Disability Advisory Commission Meeting
Disability Advisory Commission Meeting
October 9 2008 Thursday 3 pm to 4:30 pm
Place: The Arc
How to get there: Ride the Red Bus Out Front Of Paquin At 2:30 pm
How To Come Home: Ride The Red Bus Home
This meeting as all meetings is open to the public to attend and you will have a chance to voice your concerns on the issues presented at the meeting plus bring up issues that you feel might be important to this commission.
This commission has a lot of disabled citizens from our city on the board and a lot of advocates for the disabled as well. This commission concentrates on the issues that face all citizens with disabilities in the City of Columbia and the surrounding area.
October 9 2008 Thursday 3 pm to 4:30 pm
Place: The Arc
How to get there: Ride the Red Bus Out Front Of Paquin At 2:30 pm
How To Come Home: Ride The Red Bus Home
This meeting as all meetings is open to the public to attend and you will have a chance to voice your concerns on the issues presented at the meeting plus bring up issues that you feel might be important to this commission.
This commission has a lot of disabled citizens from our city on the board and a lot of advocates for the disabled as well. This commission concentrates on the issues that face all citizens with disabilities in the City of Columbia and the surrounding area.
Paquin Tower Receives New Energy Efficient Windows
As many of you might have read in the Columbia Missourian and as many of you know from the many questions and notices given to the residents of Paquin Tower we are going to be receiving new windows before this Winter season.
Well it seems that the installation process is a go for start and on September 29 2008 the process will begin on the 15th and 14th floors of this facility.
The new windows are of this type here:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/graphic/2008/06/26/g-062708-paquin-windows/popup/
and are supposed to be alot more energy efficient and more "green friendly".
This article here in the Columbia Missourian tells alot about these new windows:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/06/26/windows-paquin-tower-be-replaced/
Although this will be a hassle for some residents as their apartments are quite small in some cases,they have all of their belongings at times near the windows and alot of them are handicapped and will need alot of assistance to move their things they are looking forward to this window change out.
Well it seems that the installation process is a go for start and on September 29 2008 the process will begin on the 15th and 14th floors of this facility.
The new windows are of this type here:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/graphic/2008/06/26/g-062708-paquin-windows/popup/
and are supposed to be alot more energy efficient and more "green friendly".
This article here in the Columbia Missourian tells alot about these new windows:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/06/26/windows-paquin-tower-be-replaced/
Although this will be a hassle for some residents as their apartments are quite small in some cases,they have all of their belongings at times near the windows and alot of them are handicapped and will need alot of assistance to move their things they are looking forward to this window change out.
City Priorities
Are the priorities of the City of Columbia reflecting the over all needs of the citizens of Columbia?
This question has been bothering me greatly since our most recent jump in crime across Columbia as a whole.
We see our City Government wanting to build bike trails,parks,tennis courts and other various venues of recreation but all the while our city crime rates continue to rise year after year. Is this the will of the people to want all of these above facilities built or is it the will of our City Council? That is a serious question that every concerned citizen of Columbia must ask themselves.
Just what are and should be the priorities to be voted on by the citizens of Columbia so that our City Council works to enact such measures as necessary to begin to guide our city in the proper directions it actually needs to be going towards.
Are these priorities to be parks,bike trails,tennis courts and other venues of recreation or should this city be seriously looking at voting to hire more police department personnel to begin to take that bite out of crime that is needed?
This question has been bothering me greatly since our most recent jump in crime across Columbia as a whole.
We see our City Government wanting to build bike trails,parks,tennis courts and other various venues of recreation but all the while our city crime rates continue to rise year after year. Is this the will of the people to want all of these above facilities built or is it the will of our City Council? That is a serious question that every concerned citizen of Columbia must ask themselves.
Just what are and should be the priorities to be voted on by the citizens of Columbia so that our City Council works to enact such measures as necessary to begin to guide our city in the proper directions it actually needs to be going towards.
Are these priorities to be parks,bike trails,tennis courts and other venues of recreation or should this city be seriously looking at voting to hire more police department personnel to begin to take that bite out of crime that is needed?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Cleaning out Paquin Park
LETTER: Time to take action on illegal activities in Paquin Park
Monday, September 22, 2008 | 10:09 a.m. CDT
BY Charles Dudley Jr
There has been an ongoing problem in one of our small city parks for years, and it seems that nobody absolutely cares about it. It is the chronic drinking and drugging of the homeless and non-homeless individuals who hang out in Paquin Park, behind the Paquin Tower at the corner of Paquin and Waugh streets. The park is owned and operated by the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department.
The park is located directly behind the Lee Elementary School over on Locust Street which makes this issue even more imperative to be looked at by our City Council for an ordinance to either be issued or to be reworked so this issue is not allowed to go on.
Many have asked the Columbia Parks and Recreation to ask the City Council to enact a "No Drinking/Zero Tolerance Ordinance" for this park to no avail, even though there have been numerous reports were made to the Columbia Police Department, Parks and Recreation ranger and other concerned agencies.
The residents of Paquin Tower who have their grandchildren who come to visit them have called the Columbia Police, the ranger of Parks and Recreation and other city entities time and time again to no avail over this issue. They do not feel safe taking their grandchildren out to the small park to enjoy an afternoon for the fear of being panhandled for money, cigarettes, sodas, food, alcohol or even drugs.
This is a serious issue as with the Lee Elementary being with in spitting distance of the Paquin Park where a lot of illegal activity does go on by those homeless and non-homeless who hang out there and leave their litter of alcohol containers and often times drug paraphernalia as well. To a lot of people this is quite alarming that the City Council would allow this type of activities to go on so close to a school filled with preschool-age children.
Is this the type of issue parents in Columbia want to be allowed to go on near their children day after day? One would hope not, that is for sure.
If you have children who attend the Lee Elementary and are concerned about this issue, or if you have children in any school here in Columbia you should be concerned about this issue as well since it is the children that can or could be influenced, or worse, harassed by these kinds of issues that not only happen in this small city park but also in others around our city.
Please take a stance against these kinds of things and contact your local wardsman, mayor, city manager, police chief, public schools superintendent and all other concerned individuals who you think might be able to step up into this fight to get this issue resolved and take action to further safeguard the children and to shield them from these types of issues in our city.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/22/letter-time-take-action-illegal-activities-paquin-park/
Monday, September 22, 2008 | 10:09 a.m. CDT
BY Charles Dudley Jr
There has been an ongoing problem in one of our small city parks for years, and it seems that nobody absolutely cares about it. It is the chronic drinking and drugging of the homeless and non-homeless individuals who hang out in Paquin Park, behind the Paquin Tower at the corner of Paquin and Waugh streets. The park is owned and operated by the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department.
The park is located directly behind the Lee Elementary School over on Locust Street which makes this issue even more imperative to be looked at by our City Council for an ordinance to either be issued or to be reworked so this issue is not allowed to go on.
Many have asked the Columbia Parks and Recreation to ask the City Council to enact a "No Drinking/Zero Tolerance Ordinance" for this park to no avail, even though there have been numerous reports were made to the Columbia Police Department, Parks and Recreation ranger and other concerned agencies.
The residents of Paquin Tower who have their grandchildren who come to visit them have called the Columbia Police, the ranger of Parks and Recreation and other city entities time and time again to no avail over this issue. They do not feel safe taking their grandchildren out to the small park to enjoy an afternoon for the fear of being panhandled for money, cigarettes, sodas, food, alcohol or even drugs.
This is a serious issue as with the Lee Elementary being with in spitting distance of the Paquin Park where a lot of illegal activity does go on by those homeless and non-homeless who hang out there and leave their litter of alcohol containers and often times drug paraphernalia as well. To a lot of people this is quite alarming that the City Council would allow this type of activities to go on so close to a school filled with preschool-age children.
Is this the type of issue parents in Columbia want to be allowed to go on near their children day after day? One would hope not, that is for sure.
If you have children who attend the Lee Elementary and are concerned about this issue, or if you have children in any school here in Columbia you should be concerned about this issue as well since it is the children that can or could be influenced, or worse, harassed by these kinds of issues that not only happen in this small city park but also in others around our city.
Please take a stance against these kinds of things and contact your local wardsman, mayor, city manager, police chief, public schools superintendent and all other concerned individuals who you think might be able to step up into this fight to get this issue resolved and take action to further safeguard the children and to shield them from these types of issues in our city.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/22/letter-time-take-action-illegal-activities-paquin-park/
Monday, September 22, 2008
Welcome Aboard
Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy this Blog as it develops over time. I started this project as a place for those of Paquin Tower to be able to post on and to share their concerns with the other citizens of the City of Columbia Missouri.
I hope alot of the issues that are important to the residents of Paquin Tower are expressed over time on this Blog so the community will get to know these concerns over time.
Paquin Tower was built in 1973 through a Federal Grant Project in conjunction with the Housing and Urban Development( H.U.D.) project and has been the prime independent living environment for the disabled population of the City of Columbia and is owned and operated by the Columbia Housing Authority a Federal Agency.
Located with in Paquin Tower is the Adaptive Recreational Program operated by the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Columbia.
I hope you enjoy the Blog and look forward to all of the postings going on here either good or bad.
I hope alot of the issues that are important to the residents of Paquin Tower are expressed over time on this Blog so the community will get to know these concerns over time.
Paquin Tower was built in 1973 through a Federal Grant Project in conjunction with the Housing and Urban Development( H.U.D.) project and has been the prime independent living environment for the disabled population of the City of Columbia and is owned and operated by the Columbia Housing Authority a Federal Agency.
Located with in Paquin Tower is the Adaptive Recreational Program operated by the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Columbia.
I hope you enjoy the Blog and look forward to all of the postings going on here either good or bad.
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