Joan Oliver

Recent storms and coverage of the 60th anniversary of the Palm Sunday tornado in Crystal Lake is a good reminder that it's best to be prepared in case disaster strikes.

The observance National Poetry Month offers language and word lovers a chance to reflect on how many ways poetry has touched their lives.

Caregivers for those with Alzheimer's disease do well not to dwell in the past or look too far into the future. However, sometimes events, particularly stressful ones, provide a forceful reminder of just how much has been lost to this insidious disease.

If the idea of "Swedish death cleaning" sounds a bit too morbid, there's another strategy to tackle clutter: "Norwegian life cleaning." Either way, the idea is to take care of the junk in one's life while there's still time.

Although "telephobia" may be something that seems like a new phenomenon for younger generations, it's something that some of us have had to deal with for many years.

The death of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his caregiver wife, Betsy Arakawa Hackman, should serve as a wake-up call to caregivers about the need to have a check-in system in place.

As the television series "Life Below Zero" comes to an end, fans are left to reflect on the many life lessons provided by the cast member of this beloved show set in wild and remote Alaska.

Longtime friendships are like flower gardens, the memories being made like flowers that bloom each season. In a time of loss, those memories are something to treasure and savor.

Tom Petty said that waiting is the hardest part. When one is waiting for results of a biopsy, waiting can be a little like being on a roller-coaster ride.

After a cancer diagnosis, there's nothing routine about routine screenings. And the anxiety that accompanies each test sometimes isn't always much ado about nothing.

Being a caregiver requires exhibiting a lot of patience, even more so when one's charge has dementia. However, the need for patience goes to another level entirely when a caregiver also must deal with the limitations brought on by an injury.

Chicago-area sports fans don't have much to cheer about this winter. Why, some of us can't even watch our favorite teams. However, the debut of the Unrivaled Basketball League offers a bright spot amid the viewing gloom.

Everything old is new again, or so the saying goes. Sadly, that seems to be true about a resurgence of use of nitrous oxide on college campuses. It was a bad idea back in the late 1980s, and it remains a bad idea now.

When we're young, we often view ourselves as invincible. Cancer is for older people. However, new statistics from the American Cancer Society show that we all need to stay on top of our health.

An unexpected trip to the hospital was a stark reminder of why it's important to make important decisions about one's health care or know the wishes of one's care recipient in advance of an emergency.