April 15 - 21, 2007, is National Volunteer Week. The theme for this year’s National Volunteer Week is “Inspire by Example”.

In his proclamation of National Volunteer Week, President Bush states “During National Volunteer Week we celebrate the spirit of service in America and honor those who demonstrate the great character of our country through acts of kindness, generosity, and compassion”.

Visit the USA Freedom Corps website where you can learn more about National Volunteer Week, download the 2007 Volunteer Toolkit, or search for a volunteer opportunity in your area.

Read the President’s proclamation

We have waited through a long winter but finally spring has arrived and is starting to win over with warmer temperatures and longer days. Soon summer will fill the sky with bright sun and sunglasses will be daily eyewear.

But for those with diabetes, sunglasses may not be enough protection against the damaging effects of the sun’s rays.

The Joslin Diabetes Center Beetham Eye Institute offers these tips:

* Diabetic eye disease can be painless until it reaches very advanced stages, and the earlier you can catch it, the more likely you can preserve your sight.

* You can have perfect vision and still have diabetic eye disease.

* An annual dilated eye exam can identify eye complications early on.

* If your doctor finds early signs of diabetic eye disease, a number of treatments may be recommended, including laser eye surgery, contact lenses, glasses and medications.

* Keeping your A1C (an average of your blood glucose levels over a couple of months) on target, controlling blood pressure and quitting smoking also can help preserve vision and prevent vision loss.

270 Medicare recipients in Tennessee will soon have someone to help remind them when to take their medications. As part of a Medicare program to reduce hospitalizations, a new device called the Med-eMonitor will alert patients when it is time to take a pill.

These “smart pillboxes” will also monitor whether a patient has missed a dose or taken the wrong medication and send an alert over a standard phone line to a secure Internet site which will prompt a follow-up call from a health professional.

The Med-eMonitor is programmed with each patient’s individual schedule and alerts the patient with a sound - usually a song - when it is time to take medication.

Web-linked pillbox reminds patients to take meds

Today’s seniors are more active than ever, there’s no doubt about that. But Elsie McLean accomplished something that many half her age aspire to, and never achieve.

Elsie is 102 and an avid golfer, having played the game since her 20s. But April 5, 2007 had to be her best golf performance ever. Elsie thought her ball was lost after she teed off on the fourth hole. But her partners found it in the cup, making Elsie the oldest golfer ever to hit a hole-in-one on a regulation golf course.

Elsie will appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 24.