Sisters salutes...

• World’s Children thanks everyone who attended A Musical Event to Help Ukrainian Children and others who donated to provide supplies for Ukrainian children who fled for their lives and now live in displaced persons camps. A total of $3,571 was donated and will be wired to our Ukraine country liaison to purchase critical items for those children.

A huge thank-you goes to Carol Ast’s SPRD Zumba Class, who put on the event. Thanks to Monica Tomosy, who had the idea to help Ukraine children and organized a group to pull it off. We thank Randy King and Dick Falxa for providing musical entertainment and Rosemary Vasquez for help putting on the event. Carol Ast and her crew personally paid for the ice cream and marionberry pie ingredients and spent many hours preparing the dessert.

Donated money will pay for baby food, hygiene kits, and toys for the younger children, and school supplies, educational games, and warm clothing for the older children. World’s Children will continue to accept donations for Ukraine kids as long as the war continues and the displaced mothers and their children cannot return to their hometowns. For more information visit: http://www.worldschildren.org/projects/ukraine-children.

• Lena Vogelgesang wrote:

We had a plan. Although, I was hesitant to believe that it would actually work. This would be my fifth knee surgery, and all the ones prior had come with long arduous recoveries. However, as I had recently been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (a connective tissues disorder), my team of supporters had a plan to combat the recovery to insure a rapid return to normal. 

This team of my own personal superheroes are Dr. Ann Griffin, with Bigfoot Wellness and Symptom Evolution, Ashlee Francis with Sweat PNW, and Diane Flowers with Daybreak Wellness. 

Can you believe that we have this treasure trove of healers right here in Sisters, Oregon? We are so lucky to have such knowledgeable and caring souls in our midst. My experience with these amazing women has me wanting to share my story of recovery in case anyone reading this is in need of such hope. 

In the summer of 2022, I had torn my left meniscus on a rafting trip when I was helping remove the boat from the water. I knew the instant it happened. It was all too familiar a feeling. I put in a good effort to live with the pain, and dreaded a long, tedious recovery post-surgery. However, losing hope that I could continue on in such a way, I went to see Dr. Griffin. She could help with stabilizing my leg, but with such a tear, surgery would be the only way back to full use.

Dr. Griffin helped put together the plan for the quickest post-op recovery I would ever experience. First she referred me to work with Ashlee Francis at Sweat PNW. Ashlee’s genius to strengthen muscles that provide stability to my leg and knee was mind- blowing! I often joked that Ashlee helped me build up and isolate muscle groups that I had never used before. She is that precise in her care and attention.

Second, Dr. Griffin sent me over to meet Diane Flowers at Daybreak Wellness. There, Diane’s brilliance in healing made me acquainted with red light therapy, cryotherapy, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, and her recovery lounge. The purpose was to bring about as much healing as possible to my whole body prior to surgery. All these treatments worked wonders. 

I then met with Dr. Griffin regularly as she tweaked my leg and knee to “hold me together with duct tape and glue” before I underwent the repair. This was my “pre-hab” plan as she liked to call it. 

And it worked! It actually worked!

Immediately following my surgery on October 2, I was able to begin my post-op exercises and practically lived at Daybreak Wellness those following weeks. I was astonished at how quickly my body responded, with minimal swelling and mobility. I caught myself actually running during one of my son’s soccer games where I was referee. And this, only twelve days after surgery! Around this time, I was cleared to resume my strength-training class with Ashlee at Sweat PNW, and I was able to jump back into a regular routine there. 

Dr. Ann Griffin, Ashlee Francis, and Diane Flowers. These women and their modalities of healing are exceptional and in my opinion, top of the line. Their wealth of knowledge is remarkable and I am often left amazed at how they are able to disseminate a problem and bring insight and healing and hope for a stronger future.