Friends,
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Physical Therapy Students
It was refreshing to have such a passionate and friendly group of young human beings visit us last Friday. The physical therapy students from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee volunteered with us and helped us in many ways. Thank you, students!
Many thanks also go out to our friends with MS and volunteers who helped make this a great experience for them while they were here. It made very proud and thankful the way so many people made them feel welcome here. Thank you!
Classes in new space
Since the seated balance class and other classes continue to grow, we rearranged the front room and are having them there so people have more room to spread out a bit. It’s so encouraging and motivating to see so many people engaging in these opportunities. I’m thankful the students were able to see this program.
Christina’s Capstone project update
I have been hearing lots of good things about Christina’s capstone project she’s doing at the gym. Christina is creating programs to do arts, crafts, play games and just get together and have fun. I’m really thankful for all who are engaging in this, volunteering, etc.
Christina’s hope is that we continue this long after her capstone project is completed. I hope this happens as well. If you are willing to help keep this program going long term, please let Christina and/or Kate know. The more people we get to help, the less any one person needs to do.
Golf Outing – Friday, June 26th
Here’s a link to more information:
ePH Cares | Involvement In Our Community | ePlatinumHealth
Our annual golf outing put on by our friends at ePlatinum Health is coming up very quickly. This event fills up for golfers very quickly. I know the past couple years, some people were disappointed they didn’t get to golf in it because it was already full. This year, we only have 30 spots left so if you want to golf in it, I would encourage you to get signed up promptly.
We will need to gather some nice raffle and silent auction items for the is event to give our golfing friends a great experience and to raise more money for our mission. If you are willing and able to donate something for the golf outing raffle or silent auction, please let us know. We are hoping for event tickets, experience opportunities, items for baskets, memorabilia, etc.
We are still looking for some sponsors who would get some great visibility and help our mission. If you know someone that would be willing to be a sponsor, please let us know that as well. Here’s a link for sponsorship. https://eplatinumhealth.com/ms-golf-outing/ We are THANKFUL for our sponsors.
Let’s get together!
We’ll be getting together from 7:00am – noon on Monday through Friday mornings at the gym. Plus, Monday and Wednesday evenings from 4:30pm – 6:30pm and Tuesday afternoons for the aquatics program. I hope you’ll join us!
Where:
Wisconsin Metal Parts – Westmound Building
MS-Just Keep Moving, Inc.
W228N791 Westmound Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186
Email Dr Kate Kern at kborn1234@gmail.com with any questions.
Exercise class schedule (to start 3/16/25). Feedback welcome to make this as best as it can be!
Nutrition Program
This week, Janine and friends at the Nutrition program talked about Local Seasonal Food. It’s great to see how deep they are going into the science of why so many things are so important to us.
If you are not engaging in our nutrition program, I would highly encourage you to at least read the handouts that Janine prepares for us each week and apply the information into your lifestyle.
Here’s a link to the full handout:
Nutrition: MS 2026.04.06 Seasonal & Local Food-Spring.pdf – Google Drive
Janine puts a lot into these presentations. It’s wonderful for her to share these presentations with those who can’t be here. It’s even more impactful for people who can be here in person to get the information first hand and be able to get questions answered and learn from others living with MS.
I would highly encourage you to engage in our nutrition program Monday mornings @ 9:00am so you can benefit at a high level. All are encouraged to come; people with MS, loved ones, care takers, volunteers, etc.
Thank you, Janine!
Let’s Develop a Cookbook
Prayer Group We’ll be having our prayer group Wednesday from 11:00am – noon.
I just love the way we share, pray and laugh together while we witness prayers being answered weekly. It’s truly amazing!
Thanks goes to God and to everyone that joins us. Let’s get together to share, listen, talk, give thanks, and pray however God leads us.
MS-Just Keep Caring – Our Caregivers support group will be the first and third Friday of each month from 10:00 – 10:30am. The next one will be this Friday, April 3rd, 2026. If you’re a caregiver of someone you love with MS, please join us and share your experience of caring for your loved one. This has been very helpful for many. Thanks to all who participate!
Member Spotlight – Sarah Edelene
Let’s thank Sarah for serving us here with our MS-Just Keep Moving mission as well for serving our country. I’m still absolutely amazed how God brings so many good people into our lives. We are so blessed by Sarah being with us while she can be. We wish her all the best as she goes into serving our country. Thanks, Sarah!
Ed and Adam’s Podcast
Adam and Ed had Randy join them on the podcast this week. I didn’t get a chance to listen to it yet but I’m looking forward to it.
Here’s the link:
Chatting with Randy by Positive Vibes Living with MS
Thanks Adam, Ed and Ava for doing these podcasts together!
Educational Sessions
Friday, April 10th 11:00 – 12:00pm: Sarah Stauder, MD in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Aurora Health Care will talk to us about the wheelchair clinic that she runs out of the Aurora and Froedtert health care systems. At the wheelchair clinic, patients are seen by a provider, a physical therapist, and the wheelchair vendor. They determine what type of wheelchair would be best for the patient and order it through the vendor, going through the patient’s insurance. Patients can receive a wheelchair or mobility device through insurance once every 5 years, sometimes sooner if disease progresses. Then the wheelchair vendor (usually National Seating & Mobility or Numotion) coordinates the delivery of the wheelchair and any further repairs/needs.
Wednesday, April 15th: Let’s Be Safe: tub/shower and bed transfers. Stephanie Wahlen, occupational therapist with experience in home health and safety with ADLs, will provide a safe transfer workshop.
Friday, April 17th 6-8pm. Nyani Berg has invited a Traditional Medicine Doctor to speak with us about Traditional Medicine. A zoom option will be available for those that cannot make it in person. A flyer and zoom registration link will be available in the coming weeks.
Friday, April 24th 11:00 – 12:00pm: Christina, doctoral OT student at Concordia University, and the participants of her leisure activity group will showcase what they’ve been up to the last 7 weeks. We’ll get to see what painting, making, creating and laughing together can do for us living with MS.
Friday, May 22nd 11:00am – 12:00pm: Dr. Obeidat, MD, PhD, at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, will share with us what being creative can do for brain physiology. Great follow up to Christina’s talk!
Future topics could include: emotional health, nutrition, yoga, tai chi, wellness topics, safe use of gym equipment for your body, best exercise for you and more. What topics would you like to see? Please let Dr Kate, Joan, Traci, Ricky or Dan know.
Day of Endurance Training
Event is Saturday, August 29,2026 – Training is now
What: Do what you can
- Consistent Daily Exercise
- One long day per week – increase each week – no more than 10% per week
- Buddy up and exercise together
- Enjoy the journey 😊
Arts for MS Program – Let’s engage!
Here’s a message from Dr Ng about the upcoming Arts for MS Program:
Hi everyone,
I sincerely apologize for the confusion around the dates for our next Arts for MS sessions. I know some of you showed up yesterday and if it is any consolation… I did as well! Regardless, our next two sessions will be April 13, and 27, at 4818, S.76th St. #6, Greenfield. Our response has been good for these last two sessions and we hope to see some of you there. Again, I apologize to anyone who made the trek to Nadiana Art Gallery last night.
Take care,
Alex
Alexander Ng, PhD, FACSM
Professor Emeritus
Program in Exercise Science
Department of Physical Therapy
Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
And here’s a message from Jessica Fastabend on this program:
Good afternoon everyone!
We have had a wonderful time singing and dancing our way through the winter/early spring. The next 2 classes in our series will be held at:
Nadiana Art Gallery 4818 S 76th St ste 6, Greenfield, WI 53220 on April 13 and 27.
Classes will still take place beginning at 6:30 but will now end at 8 to allow more time for art making.
ACTION ITEM: As part of the classes please respond to Nadia (copied) or I with a word that has inspired you during your MS journey, please submit your word by April 8.
These classes are always free for all participants and we encourage you to bring along friends and family members to enjoy the class. Due to the nature of the classes please let us know you are coming using THIS LINK* this way we can ensure there will be enough supplies for everyone.
*If you already RSVP’d for the art classes you do not need to do so a second time, you’re all set.*
Please feel free to share the info flyer far and wide and I look forward to making art with you in April.
Sincerely,
Jessica Fastabend
Community Education Director
414.277.8480 x6005
325 W Walnut St. Milwaukee WI 53212
If anyone wants to carpool for these events from the gym, please let me know. Let’s do our best to make it easy for as many people as possible to take advantage of these wonderful opportunities for us, our family members, and friends.
Shoe Donations
We already filled four boxes and quite a few bags. 😊 Thanks to everyone who is donating their shoes!
Do you have any shoes you can donate? Becky Thomas is collecting old or new shoes supporting Soles for Jesus. These shoes will be distributed to people in need of shoes in Africa. She dropped off a box for us to drop them in. Please bring in shoes if you have any extras.
Coughs, colds, flus, etc. – Let’s not share
There are a lot of bugs going around. If you are experiencing any symptoms, please stay home and recover from them instead of sharing with the rest of us at the gym. We look forward to you getting over it and having you back quickly.
Special Educational Event for us – Save the date and register
Nyani is here on Fridays, offering Thai Massage. She is a licensed massage therapist, practicing only traditional thai therapies. Every year Nyani invites her teacher to Waukesha, to share the teachings she so passionately believes in. This year, she has requested Somananda Yogi to the gym to check the work she does and see what she can do to better benefit those she works on while being here. Nyani has also invited Somananda Yogi to do a private talk, just for the members (and family and friends).
Traditional Medicine: In this talk, being held for members of MS Just Keep Moving, Inc, we will take an introductory look at the body, health, disease and longevity from the perspective of South and South East Asian medical traditions. The incorporation of traditional medicine and lifestyle habits is a longstanding option to bring benefit to our daily lives. This event will be led by a traditional medical doctor and practitioner of Buddhist sciences with time for questions at the end. There is a zoom option for those who cannot attend in person. If you are attending via zoom, you will be provided a link in your email after registration.
Link to register for zoom attendance: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/kDXdKS2iT2-fbeForqr9Sw
About Somananda Yogi:
Somananda Yogi has dedicated his life to the study and practice of buddhadhamma and traditional medicine. He has spent most of his life studying throughout Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, Burma, India, and Nepal, where he focused on Thai and Lanna Medicine, as well as Ayurveda and Yoga. Though he has completed medical training in formal curriculum, much of his medical education and yoga studies consisted of apprenticeships with experienced teachers and practitioners. Somananda Yogi now travels the world treating patients, helping those in need, instructing, lecturing, writing and serving his teachers.
Dockhounds Game to benefit our MS-Just Keep Moving Mission – Save the date and get tickets
Friday Morning Bike Rides
We had a great season of bike riding from spring until fall. We are done for the season.
Let’s think spring so we can get back out there again! Until Spring…Let’s Bounce 😊 Check out our rebounding opportunities.
Research Needs us!
Marquette University, UW Milwaukee, University of Illinois, and Carroll University have research opportunities they would like us to engage in. We have flyers and more information about these opportunities at the gym. Please engage in these opportunities if you qualify. You could make improvements yourself and you could be helping so many other people with MS as they face their challenges. We really need to get this MS thing figured out and you can help by engaging in these research opportunities.
Here’s a research opportunity that Marquette University is doing for all of living with MS. I would highly encourage you to engage in this if you qualify.
Our Facebook page is private. That means you’ll need to join if you want access to all our fun and progress. We’re now at 672 members. That’s awesome! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2639832389489709
Our Facebook page is active and fun. Lots of people are doing more and sharing their journey on Facebook. Feel free to join, post and share your experiences and comments.
There were some awesome pictures, videos and comments shared again this past week. Thank you to all who are sharing!
Metals for MS
Thank you to all who brought in aluminum cans, gutters, copper, brass, etc. Please keep bringing them in…you are helping us. Our total is $1,926.63 for the first nine months. That’s really good!
Parking
If you are able-bodied and willing to park across the street in the Acuity Foam lot so people with mobility challenges can park in our lot, please do so. We want to make it easy for people with mobility challenges to park and get into our building safely. Thank you for doing that!
Gym Open and Close Procedure
If you’re the first to come or the last to leave the gym, please use this procedure for opening and shutting down.
Open and closedown procedures.docx
Thai Massage with Ricky and Nyani
Ricky will be here on Wednesdays doing Thai Massage.
Nyani will be here on Fridays doing Thai Massage
Our goal is to serve as many people who come to the gym consistently as we can with these Thai Massage services. Going forward we will be doing a rotational schedule to accommodate as many people as we can who need and want a massage.
There are some guidelines written up at the gym. Please respect the guidelines so we can serve as many people as we can. Please sign up according to the guidelines.
Here’s a link to the guidelines: Thai Massage at MS-Just Keep Moving
Reiki on Fridays
Reiki is available at the gym, for FREE on Fridays with Linda C, 9:30am until noon. Sessions typically last 20-30 minutes. Sign up for a session on the white board.
Reiki (ray-kee) relaxes the body so that healing can occur! The “magic” of Reiki has helped some of our members with pain, insomnia, constipation, and so much more! Try it the next time you are at the gym!
Inspirational Humor with Adam Wollert
We’ll be having our inspirational humor zoom call with Adam again next Tuesday. Adam is a gift to all of us. Thanks to all who joined us today!
Please join us if you can.
Tuesdays @ 1:30PM
Here’s the link to join us…I hope you do!
Join Zoom Meeting with this link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9431389152?pwd=bWlYbFNaazVnM1M1cWxWMitlODdXUT09
Meeting ID: 943 138 9152
Passcode: 3qP2hu
Phone: 1-312-626-6799
Let’s reach out
I encourage you to share a smile and encouragement with someone. Perhaps you could call someone that you have not talked with for a while just to say hi and see how they are doing. We all could use a little extra love and encouragement.
MS is tough. Let’s have faith, remain calm, be flexible, help each other and learn as much as we can about the challenges of each day as we make good choices and take action.
Let’s keep moving, smiling, and loving 😊 It helps in many ways!
In God We Trust…we are in good hands.
Dan
Our Website: http://msjustkeepmoving.org/
P.S. I didn’t get much with the camera this week but I did have a few fun opportunities. This Sandhill crane was enjoying some quiet time in our backyard.
And then some thinking time.
We also had a deer visit us
And another deer visited us Easter Sunday. I hope you and your family had a nice Easter.
Cal and I got out for a walk at the Vernon Marsh south of Waukesha. This goose came in for a landing.
This plump Robin was enjoying spring and singing about it
So was this Red-winged Blackbird
We came across a tree where a beaver has been busy. I wish we would have seen the beaver.
These geese were just chillin
This Tree Swallow was entertaining
I saw a leaf that was submerged under water. I didn’t know if this would turn out or not. I tried to capture the beauty of it just being there.
For those who cannot get out and enjoy nature due your challenges with MS…my heart is with you. You are with me every time I am out there. I enjoy being out there and I also enjoy sharing with you. I know how hard it is not to be able to get out and enjoy nature. Let’s enjoy nature and God’s beauty together this way.
