Hi everyone, I can't believe it is already November.  October was an extremely busy, but also rewarding month here at The Heuga Center.  In the first week of October, we held a CAN DO program here in Vail.  We were supposed to receive a lot of snow over the weekend of the program, but it didn't really materialize so there weren't travel delays and the program participants were able to enjoy autumn weather in the Colorado Rockies (more on the Colorado Rockies baseball team later).  Following that program we hosted a program in Salt Lake City for primary care providers. That same evening, I traveled to Sioux Falls, SD to give a presentation for the annual meeting of the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  The following weekend (October 20th) I was able to take part in a program sponsored by Teva Neuroscience for their advocates.  I was able to give a presentation for two different groups on "Motivation for Exercise".  It was held in Hollywood, FL, so it was nice to spend some time walking on the beach by the Atlantic Ocean.  From Florida, I joined some of my colleagues in New York where, on October 23rd, we held our 22nd Annual Autumn Benefit honoring the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition.  It was a wonderful event and The Heuga Center is extremely proud to recognize the Coaltion, a group of independent MS organizations working together to improve the lives of people living with multiple sclerosis.  After that, I was off to Dallas to participate in a very interesting conference on Relapse Management in Multiple Sclerosis.  This program was conducted by the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers and brought together many thought leaders from across the United States and Canada, to discuss the history of acute relapses, recognition and management.  This past weekend (which is now into November) I had the honor and pleasure to participate in the annual meeting of the MS Society of Canada's BC Division, hosted by the Kamloops & Area Chapter. It was a good meeting with very good presentations about MS management and Awareness through Movement.  I was able to provide a "Wellness Overview" based on The Heuga Center's philosophy.  The best part of the meeting for me was seeing three of our past program participants, who attended the meeting.  It was wonderful to 'catch up' with them and find out some of the wonderful things they are doing.  One of the participants, who was a support partner at our Vancouver program, informed me that after returning from the program, they had some difficulty finding an activity which was enjoyable.  They decided to form a Dragon Boat racing team and have had a wonderful time connecting with other people as well as finding it a great form of exercise.  Another one of the participants told me that he has been faithful with his exercise program and 'definitely feels it when he doesn't exercise'.

Finally, we received some much anticipated news last week.  We learned our new rating on Charity Navigator. We received our new rating of 4 stars!  We are very excited as this reflects a goal that we set as an organization.

I will do my best to keep in better touch during November!