RICHMOND – The Senate joined the House Tuesday in unanimously approving a bill that requires Virginia jails and prisons to provide inmates with free feminine hygiene products such as pads and tampons.

If Gov. Ralph Northam signs it, House Bill 83 would take effect in July.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Kaye Kory, D-Fairfax, also received unanimous approval in the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee.

Other legislation this session to remove the sales tax on feminine hygiene products, along with bills for exemptions during the state’s three day tax-free period in August and year-round failed to advance past House committees.

“It’s appalling that this was ever even an issue,” said Katrina Reid, a supporter of HB 83.

Currently, the Virginia Department of Corrections and some local and regional jails offer pads to inmates for free; however, tampons must be purchased. The cost to prisons will be included in the department’s budget and was estimated at $33,769. The cost has yet to be determined for jails.

The State Board of Corrections will be responsible for creating the feminine hygiene policy in the correctional facilities. While some states, such as Colorado, offer unlimited menstrual supplies, others, such as Arizona, have a maximum number of free pads and tampons allowed per month. The board has not yet specified a preference.

Brought to us by VDOT:

FREDERICKSBURG –  The Virginia Department of Transportation will close the Interstate 95 southbound on-ramp from Courthouse Road in Stafford County next week to allow crews to finish work on the temporary ramp.

Beginning the evening of Monday, March 5, crews will close the existing on-ramp from Courthouse Road to I-95 southbound to begin milling and paving the temporary ramp.

The existing on-ramp will close overnight Monday, March 5 through Thursday, March 8 from 7:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. the following morning. Traffic will then be shifted onto the new, temporary ramp starting early Friday, March 9. The on-ramp is the only ramp affected with this work. Traffic can still exit to Courthouse Road from I-95 southbound on these evenings.

The on-ramp will remain open during the day. There will be no impacts to traffic during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

Local traffic should use the most convenient alternate route to access I-95 southbound, including Route 1 to Exit 143/Garrisonville or Exit 136/Centreport Parkway. Detour signs will be placed along the interstate to guide drivers not familiar with the area.

The new ramp is parallel to the existing on-ramp. The temporary on-ramp is steeper than the existing one. Crews have extended the acceleration lane on I-95 southbound by approximately 600 feet to give drivers a longer distance to merge at interstate speeds.

Shifting traffic slightly onto the temporary ramp will provide space for crews to build bridge abutments as part of the new diverging diamond interchange. When construction is finished in 2020, traffic will enter and exit the interstate from new ramps branching off the relocated Courthouse Road.

Message boards and extra signage will be posted this week to warn motorists about the upcoming ramp closures and traffic shift.

Project Background

When the $185.3 million widening and interchange project is complete, Courthouse Road will intersect with Route 1 at Hospital Center Boulevard.

In summer 2020, Exit 140 will open with new bridges and ramps in a diverging diamond interchange (DDI). In a diverging diamond interchange, vehicles are briefly shifted to the opposite side of the road, controlled by traffic signals. The DDI improves safety by reducing the number of spots where vehicles could collide, and can handle more left-turn movements per hour, twice the capacity of a conventional interchange.

Additional project details are available online at www.virginiadot.org/exit140.

511Virginia

Motorists can find real-time information on lane closures, work zones, traffic and other incidents on 511Virginia.

Download the free mobile 511Virginia app for Apple and Android devices to stay connected, or visit www.511Virginia.org. Motorists also can reach 511Virginia by calling 511 from any phone in Virginia.

Here’s what the VDOT press release has to say:

WOODBRIDGE – Route 1 traffic will be shifting onto new pavement Friday, March 2 and then Monday, March 5, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The northbound lanes between Mount Pleasant Drive and Dawson Beach Road will shift Friday beginning at 10 a.m.; the southbound lanes between Occoquan Road and Marys Way will shift Monday beginning at 10 a.m. Both shifts are weather permitting.

Drivers should expect delays and are asked to use caution when driving through the work zones.

The work is part of the Route 1 widening project, which is scheduled for completion in fall 2019.

Follow VDOT Northern Virginia on Twitter: @vadotnova

Stafford Hospital is excited to announce it is celebrating its ninth birthday on Tuesday, February 27.

Since its grand opening, Stafford Hospital has been committed to providing quality healthcare and services to our patients. In nine years, we have delivered over 6,000 babies and cared for over 290,000 people in our Emergency Department as well as 50,000 inpatients.

We are proud to provide great benefits to our patients by offering the latest technology, including new Philips Ingenuity CT scanners, being one of ten Virginia hospitals designated as a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology (COEMIG) by the Surgical Review Corporation, and helping to establish Stafford County as a PulsePoint connected community. 

We are honored to be entrusted with the care of the community that has helped us become who we are today. We look forward to many more years of supporting health and wellness.

A public service announcement from the Prince William police:

Chief Barry Barnard of the Prince William County Police Department will host a “Conversation with the Chief” on Thursday, March 8, 2018 at Potomac View Elementary School located at 14601 Lamar Road in Woodbridge beginning at 7:00PM. We would like to extend an invitation to those who live in the community and the surrounding area to come out, meet the Chief, and engage in conversation. Chief Barnard will personally answer questions and discuss any topics of concern from residents. This is a wonderful opportunity for the community to get to know their Police Department and ask questions directly to the Chief and other police staff. Members from the Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit and recruiters will also be on hand to answer questions and provide useful information regarding safety tips, neighborhood watches, and recruitment. The Chief plans to hold additional community engagement conversations at other locations across Prince William County this year. We look forward to seeing you and having a productive discussion.

If you are a caregiver, this might sound familiar. You want to do meaningful activities with the senior in your life, but things get in the way. You get tired, or you don’t know if the senior in your care will like your suggestions. But seniors, like anyone else, sometimes need ideas or encouragement to take part in activities. The key is to get to know your senior and then simplify the process. You can opt for short activities that are meaningful but also support your senior’s cognitive and physical health. Here are some options for 15-minute activities designed to enhance quality of life.

Conversation – This might sound overly simplistic, but a directed conversation goes a long way towards increasing quality of life. Start by choosing a topic that you think would interest the senior in your care. Consider how you relate to that topic and start a conversation by relaying your experiences. Then ask open-ended questions (as opposed to questions that can be answered with yes or no). For example, if your senior enjoys history of their generation, talk about a show you saw on a particular event. Encourage your senior to explain more about it and get them to describe what it was like to experience that time period. Be curious and ask for details and clarification. It might be slow going, especially if the senior in your care is quiet, but take your time, listen closely and exhibit genuine interest. If it goes off track, no worries. In fifteen minutes, you have strengthened your senior’s communication, verbal and memory skills, as well as provided an opportunity for them to feel valued and respected.

Sketching – You don’t have to be an artist to sketch with the senior in your life. Grab two pencils and two pieces of paper. Play a game. Look at the same object and sketch it. Then have fun comparing the sketches. Or use a photo as inspiration. Not artistically inclined? Do some doodling. It’s a great way to enhance small motor skills and muscles without getting too sore. If arthritis is an issue, there may be ways to adapt this activity. Opt for large, simple objects to draw, bigger pieces of paper and easy-to-hold tools.

Reciting – Song lyrics, poems, stories…these are all great things to recite. As we get older, word recall is especially difficult. For some people, it becomes so difficult and such an embarrassment, they stop talking. Reciting brings words back into everyday vocabulary and serves as an easy mechanism to help seniors remember phrases and ideas that can later be worked into conversation. Don’t worry if your senior can’t remember all the words. Start with something easy. Help them fill in the blanks when needed.

Singing – Not only does song sooth the soul, it’s a great way to exercise the vocal cords, bring back memories of a different time, practice word recall and create a bond. Even if you don’t know all the words, hum along. Or ask the senior in your life to teach you the song. Out of tune? No worries. This is not a concert. It’s fifteen minutes of fun.

These are just some of the activities you can do with the senior in your life to turn your time together into memorable, meaningful experiences. Not everything will appeal to everyone, and not everyone will be able to do everything. The key is to learn about the senior in your life – their likes and dislikes – and introduce things to do that you might not normally. See what works, and enjoy the process together.

In Part II, we’ll talk about four more activities you can enjoy with the senior in your life. Stay tuned.

This post is sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care serving Prince William and Fauquier counties.

RICHMOND – A Senate committee Thursday unanimously approved a bill to prohibit “lunch shaming” – the practice of singling out students who owe the school cafeteria money or cannot pay for their lunch.

The Senate Education and Health Committee voted 15-0 in favor of House Bill 50, which would bar schools from giving students a hand stamp or wristband when their lunch account is empty, or ask students to do chores or throw away their meal if they cannot pay. The bill specifies that any concerns regarding students’ lunch debt must be taken up directly with their parents or guardians.

The bill, which unanimously passed the House last week and now goes to the full Senate, would address the concerns of parents like Adelle Settle, a mother in Prince William County. She started fundraising to help students settle lunch debts after hearing about the lunch shaming phenomenon on the radio. Last year, she helped raise over $20,000 for students with meal debt in Prince William.

“A child has no control over their family finances, and a child should have no involvement in the discussion between a school and the parent to collect for meal debt,” Settle said. “Our kids deserve to be treated equally and with compassion at school.”

The price of a school lunch in Virginia public elementary schools averages $1.88, but it can be as high as $3.05 in Loudoun County and $3 in Fairfax County and Falls Church, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education.

As in all states, schools in Virginia participate in a federal program that provides free or reduced-price lunches to children from low-income families. Eligibility depends on income and household size. A four-person household must have an annual income of $44,955 or less to qualify for free lunches.

Students who receive free lunches are not at risk of being shamed by school staff because their meals are provided by government funding; the students cannot incur debts. Of the 1.29 million students in Virginia’s public schools, almost 572,000 – or 44 percent – qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.

But lunch shaming can affect the remaining students who pay for their lunch out of pocket and occasionally may not have the money.

Reports of meal-debt shaming vary across the country but include practices such as stamping “I need lunch money” on students’ hands, asking students to wipe down tables or throwing away the lunch that can’t be paid for.

In Virginia, procedures handling school lunch debt vary by school district. Some school districts allow students a certain amount of debt before refusing to provide them with a standard meal. Other districts treat all students the same, regardless of whether they owe money.

“Students unable to pay for their meal at the time of meal service are allowed to charge a breakfast and lunch,” said Shawn Smith, director of government, policy and media relations for Chesterfield County Public Schools. “This may result in a debt to the student’s meal account with the expectation that the parent or guardian is responsible for full payment.”

Virginia’s strides to abolish lunch shaming aren’t the first. Last year, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced a bill that would make it illegal to shame a student who doesn’t have lunch money.

*This story has been corrected. The original post misspelled the first name and misstated the title of Shawn Smith, the director of government, policy and media relations for Chesterfield County Public Schools. The article also incorrectly said Chesterfield County refuses to serve students who have a school-lunch debt or serves them an alternative meal.

If you’ve spent time around seniors, you might have noticed some patterns in their basic needs. Many times, though, caregivers are inexperienced or they don’t know what to look for. And of course, caregivers tend to be younger than the seniors in their lives.

The challenge is that for most younger people, aging feels foreign, which make sense. They haven’t aged yet, so how can they know what it’s like to be a senior? If you are a caregiver especially, though, you need to understand seniors. And while every person is different, here are ten things most seniors wish their caregivers knew.

1.    I need to be with people, even if I don’t talk. Human beings are naturally social. But that doesn’t mean they always want to be verbal. Throw in feeling tired or introverted, and you come up with a quiet person. But silence doesn’t necessarily mean the senior in your life doesn’t want company. So long as nothing is wrong, being less vocal often means they just don’t feel like talking.

2.    I need you to know what I like. As we age, the things we used to enjoy may not be what we enjoy now. Food tastes different. Sensations feel different. Activities that used to be easy are now more difficult and might feel like work instead of play. While it’s okay to remind the senior in your life of things they used to enjoy, don’t push it. Pay attention to what they like right now and give them the opportunity to experience it.

3.    I need help keeping my balance. As we age, we tend to lose our balance more easily. There are many reasons for this. Muscle mass changes, weight changes, equilibrium changes…these all affect balance in seniors. Keep an eye on the senior in your life. Help them get to their walker if they use one. Lend an extra hand to help them feel more secure.

4.    I need you to go to the doctor’s office with me. If you’ve ever been confused by medical lingo, you can imagine what it might be like for a senior. Technology, terminology and procedures have changed, and it’s hard to keep up with those changes. Sometimes it can be difficult just getting through the office door, especially with medical or adaptive equipment and/or mobility challenges. You can help by accompanying the senior in your life to the doctor’s office. Be prepared to take notes, explain what is being said and lend a steadying hand.

5.    I need you to remind me to do certain things. This goes for seniors with and without dementia or Alzheimer’s. Seniors might need any number of reminders. From taking medicine to turning off the stove, the details in life can get overwhelming. If you see the senior in your life forgetting something, offer a gentle, kind reminder – never a reprimand.

6.    I need you to be patient. Seniors have lived longer lives. Their brains are filled with more details and experiences. Their bodies and their minds might move more slowly than we’re accustomed to, especially if we knew them earlier on in life. Expect that things will take more time. If you are on a schedule, leave enough time to account for their needs.

7.    I need you to treat me like an adult. The idea that you become a parent to your parent is somewhat of a myth. While it might feel that way sometimes, seniors are not children. They are older adults. They want respect, and they want to be as independent as possible. Being spoken to like they are children encourages dependence and is belittling, even if the speaker doesn’t mean it.  

8.    I need you to understand my fears. Between physical and psychological changes, as well as rapid changes in society and environments, the world can be a pretty scary place for many seniors. Fear of falling, fear of becoming a victim, fear of losing independence, fear of loneliness – all of these are common fears seniors experience. Help them understand the world around them and remind them of the support they have so they can feel more comfortable.

9.    I need you to understand why I get agitated. Whether it’s an uncomfortable sensation, fatigue, frustration with limitations or just pure aggravation, seniors can sometimes lose patience and lash out. Dementia and Alzheimer’s, along with personality traits, can add to that mix. Learn the warning signs. And if you need help understanding how to work with agitation, reach out to a professional.

10.    I need you to accept who I am. Caregivers have a tendency to want to fix things. But seniors don’t need to be fixed. They aren’t broken. They have lived a lifetime to become the person they are right now. They are who they are, and who they are is something special. Treat them that way.

Interestingly enough, most of these needs are shared by people of all ages. But for some reason, we look at seniors differently, as if being older means something separate from being a “normal” human. Remove that thought entirely. You’ll discover your relationship with the senior in your life will improve, and everyone’s lives will be enriched because of it.

This post is sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care serving Prince William and Fauquier counties.