< Previous%Locally SourcedLocally Sourced The 911th Airlift Wing in Moon Township has a new commander. Col. John F. Robinson took the reins of the 911th during an assumption of command ceremony Nov. 2. Robinson previously served as the commander of the 445th Operations Group at Wright- Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Now, he will lead the 911th into a new era as it converts its mission capabilities from the C-130 Hercules aircraft to the C-17 Globemaster III. During remarks, Robinson spoke of the positive experience he had at Wright-Patterson, saying he is humbled by the opportunity to lead the 911th. “Thank you to the 911th Airlift Wing and Pittsburgh for the warm welcome to the area,” said Robinson. “I look forward to serving with you in the coming years.” Maj. Gen. Randall A. Ogden, 4th Air Force commander, presided over the ceremony in front of an audience of nearly 900 invited guests, including members of the 911th Steel Airmen family and community leaders. “John comes with an incredible background, close to 7,000 hours in the C-17,” said Ogden. “I don’t think you’ll find too many people who know this airplane better.” Ogden boasted about many of Robinson’s accomplishments, both as a pilot and a leader, and said that he will be a great asset to the 911th AW. The conversion from the base’s old C-130 aircraft to new C-17s has progressed quickly, but there is still much work needed to complete its mission expansion from tactical to strategic airlift capabilities. “In order to grow, you’ve got to be uncomfortable,” said Robinson, speaking of the challenges ahead. Mistakes will be made, he said, and failure is an inevitable part of life. He said that no matter what comes, the 911th and its airmen who belong to that team will continue their journey. “Failure is not fatal and success is not final,” Robinson said, referencing a famous quote as he recounted not only the achievements, but also the disappointments of his career. He encouraged others to persevere and not give up the fight, whatever their mission may be. Col. Robinson assumes command of 911th STORY AND PHOTOS SUBMITTED ABOVE: Col. John F. Robinson, 911th Airlift Wing commander, addresses airmen and guests during his assumption of command ceremony at Moon Area Middle School in November. RIGHT: Robinson shakes hands with an airman from the 445th Operations Group from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base following the ceremony. 10 • Allegheny West Magazine • January/February 2020ALLEGHENYPARKS.COM OPEN FOR THE SEASON FAMILY SKATE: 4:30-7:00 PM EVERY FRIDAY Enjoy unlimited skiingand snowboarding all season for one low price! Passesare$75-$225for individuals and only $575 for afamily offour* Pricesincrease onDecember1 SEASON PASSES *Does not include equipmentrentals. Extra members may be addedto familypass for additional fee. Additional costs for non-Allegheny Countyresidents. $10 FOR 2 ADULTS WITH UP TO 4 CHILDREN $13 FOR NON-RESIDENTS Enjoy unlimited skiingand snowboarding all season for one low price! Passesare$75-$225for individuals and only $575 for afamily offour* Pricesincrease onDecember1 SEASON PASSES *Does not include equipmentrentals. Extra members may be addedto familypass for additional fee. Additional costs for non-Allegheny Countyresidents. Buyyours today at alleghenycounty.us/parkpasses BOYCE PARK 2020 FOR COMPLETE SCHEDULE VISIT ALLEGHENYCOUNTY.US/SPECIALEVENTS UPMC Health Plan announced in December that it had designated St. Clair Hospital as a UPMC Health Plan Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Surgery Center of Excellence. This UPMC Health Plan program recognizes surgical facilities and orthopedic surgeons who have demonstrated high quality outcomes, low complication rates and the best patient experience for UPMC Health Plan members in need of joint replacement surgery. Board-certified orthopedic surgeon Brett C. Perricelli, M.D., who performs hip and knee joint replacement surgery exclusively at St. Clair Hospital, was cited for demonstrating rigorous quality measures with excellent outcomes and exceptional patient experiences. Perricelli practices with South Hills Orthopaedic Surgery Associates. Orthopedic surgeons and hospitals who are awarded the Center of Excellence designation have passed a rigorous credentialing process based upon established patient-centric and evidence-based best practices that result in best patient outcomes. In this process, they must demonstrate the finest patient experience throughout the entire care process, from pre- surgical consultation, to postsurgical recovery, to a return to a functional lifestyle, along with a commitment to continuous quality improvement. St. Clair Hospital recognized as UPMC Health Plan Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Surgery Center of Excellence January/February 2020 • www.awmagazine.com • 1112 • Allegheny West Magazine • January/February 2020 Home isn’t just where you live; it’s a place that provides ample opportunities for you to enjoy life to the fullest. As we age, many of us desire a home with the same sense of comfort, but with far less responsibility and upkeep. That is exactly what you’ll find at the brand new Cedar Ridge Senior Apartments: affordable, high quality senior living with outstanding amenities and activities just waiting for you to join in. Cedar Ridge has everything a senior could want and so much more. Seniors will love the controlled access building and central elevator, as well as an onsite fitness center, beauty salon and community rooms. Residents can gather in the fireplace lounge with a hot cup of coffee or enjoy their spacious apartment - each with its own private patio or balcony. Priding themselves on professional management and 24 hour emergency maintenance service, apartments include updated amenities such as stainless steel appliances, in-unit washers and dryers, as well as walk-in showers. With heat, water, electric and cable television included, and rents starting from only $1,185, what more could you possibly ask for? Contact the leasing office to reserve your new home today. Cedar Ridge Senior Apartments is located at 200 Cedar Ridge Drive off Steubenville Pike in Robinson Township. Call (412) 304-2556 or go to www.clovergroupinc.com for more information. Welcome home to Robinson Township’s newest senior apartment community! CONTENT SUBMITTED January/February 2020 • www.awmagazine.com • 13y > Learning Curves Learning Curves • Update your budget – Creating and utilizing a budget can help establish spending patterns, reveal inefficiencies, track progress toward goals, uncover excess cash flow and uncover opportunities for savings. Usually, budgets should not exceed more than a year and should be calculated on a monthly basis. When putting together your budget, make sure to keep it simple. If there is too much detail, you may risk making it too difficult to implement and monitor. • Reduce outstanding debt – After you have created your budget for the year, you may notice that there is excess cash flow that can either be saved and/or put toward outstanding debt. If you have multiple liabilities, it usually makes sense to pay down high interest rate debt first. • Increase your savings – As mentioned above, excess cash flow can also afford you the opportunity to increase your savings. If you have a retirement plan that has a company match, try to save the maximum amount necessary (if possible) to fully leverage your employer’s contributions. • Fund an emergency reserve – We typically recommend that you keep at least three to six months of expenses in liquid assets to handle unforeseen circumstances, such as a medical emergency, disability or job loss. Not only can this account protect your ability to pay your bills, it can also help you avoid selling investable assets from your portfolio. • Adjust your tax withholding – If you overpay your taxes, you are essentially giving the government an interest-free loan. If you underpay your taxes, you may owe a potential penalty. For these reasons, it is wise to estimate your taxes due ahead of time so that you can withhold the proper amount and potentially keep more of your paycheck each year. • Review your current insurance coverage – Many different kinds of life changes can necessitate adjustments to insurance coverage. This includes, but is not limited to: health, life, disability, liability and long-term care. That is why the beginning of each year is a good time to ensure that your current policies are adequate to meet your needs. • Revisit your estate plan (and beneficiary designations) – It is wise to review your estate documents every few years to ensure they are as up-to-date as possible, both from a legislative and tax perspective, and also from a family perspective. If you do not already have documents, we recommend that you speak with an attorney about executing wills, durable powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives. In addition, you should review your beneficiary designations on insurance policies and retirement plans to make certain they align with your estate planning objectives. • Check your credit score – Establishing good credit is important for debt management purposes, since it is integral to obtaining loans and securing favorable interest rates. For these reasons, it is imperative to constantly monitor your score and alert the proper bureau if there is any incorrect or fraudulent information in your report. You can obtain your free annual credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228. New Year’s financial resolutions: Get your finances in shape for 2020 • Save your tax refund – Should you receive money back from the IRS during tax season, consider using it to fund an IRA, build your emergency reserve and/or pay down a portion of outstanding debt. • Get your financial life organized – Being disorganized can cost you money and time. Consider consolidating investment accounts in one place to (1) help ensure your portfolio is properly diversified (2) increase your potential for lower fees and expenses and (3) easily track your portfolio balances and performance. Unsure if you are on track for a 2020 retirement? Looking for help to get organized? Amy and Brad can be contacted for a no-obligation review. Call them at (412) 633-1741 or email Amy.Riley@hefren.com. See below for their seminar dates at the Moon Township Public Library and learn more at www.hefren.com/seminars. SUBMITTED BY BRAD COLVIN AND AMY RILEY, FINANCIAL ADVISORS, HEFREN-TILLOTSON Brad Colvin Amy Riley The New Year is a perfect opportunity for a financial check-up. Doing so will allow you to review what you have accomplished and what you can improve on going forward. Below is a list of considerations to get your finances started off on the right foot in the New Year: 14 • Allegheny West Magazine • January/February 2020y > Learning Curves Learning Curves Michele P. Conti is an estate planning and elder law attorney. Conti attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Oxford University and Duquesne University School of Law. She received her LL.M. in taxation from Villanova University. She can be reached at (724) 784- 0239 or michele@contilawpgh.com. BY MICHELE P. CONTI Do you have a power of attorney in place? What happens if you don’t and the day arrives when you are unable to make a decision for yourself? Typically, your medical and financial durable powers of attorney specify who is authorized to act in your stead and to make decisions for you. If you do not have a current power of attorney, or if your documents cannot be located, then your loved ones may have to seek guardianship from the local Orphans’ Court. Appointment of a guardian for an adult age 18 or older requires a court hearing in which the court must determine whether you can receive and evaluate information effectively. The court will also determine whether your ability to communicate decisions is impaired to such a significant extent that you are either partially or totally unable to manage your financial affairs or meet essential requirements for physical health and safety. Guardianship should not be taken lightly. To be deemed incapacitated equates to being unable to manage your own affairs. What if your loved ones do not agree as to who should be appointed? Oftentimes, a party will contest the guardianship appointment and that leads to additional time and cost. A common misconception is that if someone is cognitively or physically disabled that their next of kin (parent, spouse or child) will automatically become their guardian. Guardianship is not automatic and, without a power of attorney in place, the only way a person can make financial or medical decisions for you is through a formal guardianship proceeding. Rose, a widower with one child, did not have a power of attorney appointing her son as her agent. When the time came and her son needed to act for her, she was suffering from dementia and was unable to sign a power of attorney because she did not have the legal capacity to do so. Both her doctor and financial advisor were unable to provide her son with any information since she had questionable legal capacity and was unable to provide informed consent. Even though there weren’t any additional interested Guardianship vs. POA: Which is better? parties contesting her son acting as her guardian, the court appointed her an attorney. This was done in order to ensure that she, and her interests, were being protected. Rather than be proactive and sign a power of attorney before becoming incapacitated, Rose was forced to face the time and costs associated with guardianship. The process took roughly four months and cost over $5,000, all because she did not have a power of attorney in place. No one knows what the future holds for any of us. Do your family and loved ones a favor. Don’t force them to rely on guardianship when it is so simple and cost-effective to appoint someone to act for you if the day arrives when you are incapacitated. January/February 2020 • www.awmagazine.com • 15This information provided courtesy of George Hess DPT, COMT. He is the owner of and a physical therapist at Hess Physical Therapy. He is also the author of the book “Back To Normal.” He can be reached at his Kennedy location at 566 Pine Hollow Rd., Mckees Rocks, 15136, at (412) 771-1055, at his Crafton location at 37 Foster Ave., 15205, at (412) 458-3445, or by email: George@hesspt.com. y > Learning Curves Learning Curves BY GEORGE HESS, PT, DPT, COMT HESS PHYSICAL THERAPY Peripheral neuropathy refers to a problem with the peripheral nerves. These nerves send messages from the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord to the rest of the body. The peripheral nerves tell the body when, for example, the feet are cold. It can lead to tingling, prickling, numbness and muscle weakness in various parts of the body. Peripheral neuropathy can affect a range of different nerves, so it can impact a variety of locations in different ways. It can affect a single nerve or multiple nerves at the same time. It is also associated with a number of different underlying medical conditions. Sometimes there is no identifiable cause. Peripheral neuropathy affects approximately 20 million people in the U.S. What is peripheral neuropathy? Damaged myelin sheath of an unhealthy nerve. Healthy nerve cell Unhealthy nerve cell Quick facts about peripheral neuropathy Here are some facts about peripheral neuropathy: • Neuropathy is a common complication of a number of different medical conditions. • It can involve the motor nerves, the sensory nerves and the autonomic nerves. • Sometimes, it affects a single nerve or multiple nerves. • Physical trauma, infection, metabolic problems, repetitive injury, exposure to toxins and some drugs are all possible causes. • People with diabetes have a high risk of neuropathy. Learn more at our free seminar on Jan. 28 at 12 p.m. See next page for details: 16 • Allegheny West Magazine • January/February 2020Perspectives Perspectives 5 It was an early June day in 1971 when I was going to end it all. Dad died in 1960 when I was but a boy of 11, and 11 years later, here I sat at his grave, giving up. In May 1971, I finished up my second tour of duty in Vietnam with the Green Berets, 5th Special Forces Group. I was 22 then, going on 60. This is not a story of Vietnam so much but how my dad rescued me from thoughts of suicide. Stay with me, as this story has a happy ending. I was fresh home from the war – my war, as I had experienced man’s inhumanity to man up close and personal. I joined the military in 1968, gung-ho to save the world from communism. I was an innocent, a person whose life was pretty simple up to those Vietnam days. Post-Vietnam, I returned to my small-town life in upstate New York a changed person. I was hardened by the things that I saw and things that I did and things that kept me awake at night. I wanted to be a kid again and have the experiences of the jungle sucked from my brain. I felt like my insides were trying to run away from my body. Anxiety, and what is now better known at PTSD, gave me panic attacks. I had disturbing thoughts, feelings and nightmares. Before Vietnam, I was all over the God thing. I believed in all the stories of the Bible and all the wonders of Jesus that the nuns and priests told us as Catholic school kids. For me, I attended Catholic school my entire life, so I was on board with God and heaven and hell and purgatory, venial sins and mortal sins, and what life was supposed to be about. Except life away from the good ol’ U.S. of A. did not fit the mold. So, the day came when I was going to stop running from the ghosts that haunted me every day. I decided to go to St. Bonaventure Cemetery in Olean, New York, and tell Dad I was done with it all. Life, as I could see it at that time, was too much. I just wanted the pain to stop. I found his grave and sat with my guitar. And I talked to him. I poured out my pain and sorrow and fears and dread. I prayed that if there was a God, that it was time to prove it because I did not want to live anymore. Miraculously, a peace came over me. It was almost like a movie flashing through my brain. All the good memories, the pre-war memories, flooded my body and took away my thoughts of suicide. Dad was there and he saved me. Dad and God. Maybe Dad was God and God was Dad. All I know is that having a place to go where I knew my dad was gave me physical, mental and emotional strength to look for the good in life. I have always been grateful that Mom laid him to rest at a cemetery as it offered a place for me to go to, and to contemplate life. I truly believe that everyone should have that same feeling of being able to visit those people that were important to them in life. I don’t get back to New York much lately, but it gives me peace just to know that Dad is there when I need him. Even today, many miles away from his grave, I can transport my being to his gravesite and hear him and God whisper of the glories of life and the afterlife. And what is that worth in silver and gold? The day my dad saved my life BY DANIEL MORAN What’s new at Robinson’s Run Cemetery Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of American Cemetery & Cremation, published by Kates- Boylston Publications, and is being shared with permission. Visit www.americancemetery.com to subscribe. It is being reprinted here at the request of Alan Amoroso, board president, Robinson’s Run Cemetery. VFD members honored This past summer, volunteer members of the McDonald VFD placed markers and flags for its deceased volunteer firefighters both at Robinson’s Run Cemetery and at other cemeteries across the area. The effort entailed researching the resting places of every deceased volunteer fire fighter who had served with the department since its inception in 1893. Volunteers then set out to the cemeteries where each was interred and placed both a marker and flag at their grave sites. The effort was headed by fire fighter Bob Wasek, Sr. New security cameras installed Last year, Robinson’s Run Cemetery, installed a new security system on its grounds. The system consists of five cameras that monitor both of the cemetery’s entrances, its grounds and the cemetery’s recently constructed columbarium, 24 hours per day. The cameras provide an added layer of security and are intended to give family members of those interred there additional peace of mind. New trees planted Over the past few years, Robinson’s Run Cemetery has lost a number of trees due to strong storms and disease. Recently, the cemetery received a donation of 15 trees to help replace the ones that it had lost. Three trees were donated by family members of loved ones interred at the cemetery. The other dozen were donated and planted through an effort by Jason Gao of Boy Scout Troop 1392 for his Eagle Scout project. Flags for veterans Robinson’s Run Cemetery has no shortage of patriots interred on its grounds. The cemetery, which has some graves dating back to the 1700s, has veterans from just about every major conflict in American history, including the Revolutionary War. Each spring, right around Memorial Day, members of Girl Scout Troop 52540 and Boy Scout Troop 1392 span out across the cemetery to place flags each veteran’s grave site. In all, the troops place between 300 and 400 flags at the cemetery. They are again preparing to place flags this coming Memorial Day. Robinson’s Run Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery located in South Fayette Township just outside of Oakdale and McDonald. For more information, visit www.RobinsonRunsCemetery.org and see the page at right. Jason Gao planted a dozen trees at the cemetery for his Eagle Scout project. Members of the McDonald VFD placed these markers this past summer. 18 • Allegheny West Magazine • January/February 2020Next >