April - June 2019

Making the Most of Her Second Half Tondra Frisby, 56, has been in recovery for over 20 years. When she was recently diagnosed as “pre-diabetic,” she approached the news with the same determination and choice to be healthy. She looked for ways to improve her health without medication. “I can’t stand the thought of taking medication to solve a problem. For years I self-medicated with drugs and alcohol to fix my problems. I’m always looking for an alternative to taking drugs,” she said. Managing diabetes can be a complicated process. Tondra volunteers as a board member for Serving Our Seniors. She is now attending the Diabetes Empowerment Education Program to gain a more in depth understanding of the disease and strategies to stay healthy. DEEP class participants often say that they were confused about diabetes in the past but after taking this class, they finally feel they understand it. The class is taught by Healthcare Advocate Trainer Tina Elmlinger. She presents the information in a manner that is simple and easy-to-understand, and her sense of humor keeps the class entertaining. Tondra is taking a proactive approach and began with changes to her diet. She stopped drinking soda, fruit juices and sweet tea. “I have one cup of coffee in the morning, the rest of the day I drink water. I can’t believe it, but I love water!” she said. She learned to avoid processed snack food and she practices portion control with meals. She joined a gym and exercises regularly. Tondra reports, “Sometimes I don’t want to go to the gym. One thing I learned from being in recovery--when you don’t want to go to a meeting, that’s when you know that you need to go to a meeting. That’s how it is with going to the gym. So I go.” Tondra works for the Sandusky Recreation Department, coordinating its youth development programs. Her supervisor Jason Werling encouraged her to enter 5K races. “I’m not running, but I am walking in the Rundusky Series of monthly races starting in April.” “I want the second half of my life to mean something. I’m working on that dash between my birth date and my death date. Long after I’m gone I want my life to have caused more people to live a healthy lifestyle. We all deserve to live our BEST life! That’s going to be my legacy.” Like us on www.servingourseniors.org 9