Having an eye for design usually means knowing how to decorate beautifully, but for people with vision loss, good home design can be the difference between being functioning independently or relying on others for daily needs. Or, it can simply mean a safer, more comfortable life.

Vision loss is a common disability of older adults, but visual changes can start as early as forty. Whether someone in the house is experiencing an age-related eye disease like glaucoma or macular generation or is simply near sighted, there are ways to make a home more vision-friendly.

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Lucky lips are always happy, according to song, and for many, fuller lips are the luckiest ones.
Skin on the lips is unlike skin elsewhere on the body. Without pores, glands or follicles, lips have fewer layers, so skin is thinner, allowing the blood vessels to be visible. That’s what gives lips their natural color. Unlike other parts of the body, lip skin has no oil glands to produce the protective barrier that helps protect skin from the elements. Lips also have a very thin outer layer, which doesn’t provide much barrier to hold in vital moisture.

Body skin produces melanin, which allows tanning as a natural reaction to sun exposure and screens harmful UV rays. Lips, though, produce very little melanin and have little protection against damaging sun rays. And, unlike other skin, lips are always exposed.

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Everyone overeats once in a while. There’s the Thanksgiving feast, where guests gorge themselves, unbutton their waistband, and, however ladylike, sprawl on the couch. And, there’s an occasional dinner party where one too many cocktails might wash down far too many appetizers. But there’s a much more serious condition involving overindulgence called binge eating disorder. Although it has only recently been recognized as a distinct condition, it may be the most common eating disorder, affecting more people than anorexia and bulimia combined. Binge eating makes women obese and the disorder can be life threatening. Most people with binge eating disorder are obese – more than 20 percent above a healthy body weight- but normal-weight people also can be affected.

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By Pat Lawrence

Shari Brown and Billie McClelland didn’t like how they were doing business when they worked for someone else. So, they went into business themselves. Shari says, “We wanted to have a company that treated its employees differently and treated customers differently.” The company they built is Polymer Services of Ohio.

The two former stay-at-home moms might seem like unlikely entrepreneurs. Shari is from Marietta. Her father worked in polymers and she remembers going to work with him on career days. She worked at a construction warehouse before marrying and staying home to raise her daughter. Billie is from Athens County and stayed home to raise her children until 1991. The two met when they took a job with the same company.

They learned the business on the job, Billie worked mostly in the plant, Shari handled the office and talked with customers.

Most unhappy employees just move on. Shari and Billie just wanted to do things right. They contacted the Small Business development Center for help. They needed to prepare a three year business plan. Shari quit her job to begin the research. She says, “It took a year and a half to prepare.” Billie kept working, helping when and where she could. She says, “The business plan had to cover everything – how much money we would need, how much we would spend, how much we would take in, garbage pickup, advertising, insurance – everything!”

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