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October 2021
A collection of thoughts and stories to educate, entertain and inspire. HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROMTHE PACKARDS! INSIDE OUR FAMILY’S TRICK-OR-TREAT STRATEGY P ACKARD P RESS K E The
I f you have a big family, then you know you need to have a strategy on Halloween night. Since our kids were little, ours has been “divide and conquer.” Every Oct. 31, the whole Packard clan gets costumed up and meets in the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. First, we divide up into parents and kids. Everyone has their priorities. The younger kids (whom we call the “littles”) just want to have some old-fashioned Halloween fun but need supervision as they go house-to-house. They’re all about the experience. I usually volunteer to walk around with them because it’s cute how excited they get when they shout, “Trick or treat!” All they want is to hear how cool their costumes are and to avoid getting too scared by the decorations.
At work, we take our business seriously, but we are also serious about celebrating! Since Halloween happens to be my brother Sam’s birthday, we try to bring some of that Halloween levity here to Packard Law Firm, too. Every year, we celebrate with a full week of costume contests for our staff, and on the big day itself, all of the partners dress up in matching outfits. I absolutely love sitting down to help think up the theme for our costumes. We’ve appeared as characters from “Harry Potter,” “Lord of the Rings,” and “Star Wars,” and the staff all like to join in! (You can read more about this on Page 3.) Since I’m the biggest and hairiest of the partners, I’ve been Hagrid, old Luke Skywalker, Gimli the dwarf, and others over the years. As I write this, I get giddy about this year’s theme! I toyed with the idea of dressing everyone up as various Tom Hanks characters. (Wouldn’t it be funny to see Mr. Rogers chatting with Forrest Gump?) But, I’ll keep the fact that we are dressing up as Batman villians a secret until Halloween. So, whomever I end up outfitted as, I’ll stay in costume all through the day, trick-or- treating and hanging out at our family potluck. Do you enjoy Halloween as much as I do? I hope that whether you put on a funny or scary costume this year (or you just dress up as yourself). you take the chance to enjoy this holiday with your family and friends. In my experience, nothing is more of a treat than that.
It always cracks me up to see the difference between the littles and the
trick-or-treat for a bit before heading back to the home front for the big potluck my wife puts on every year. Thinking about it now, I can almost taste the fall soup ladled straight out of a pumpkin and the “spooky” homemade root beer complete with chilly dry ice clouds billowing over the table. I love any excuse to get together with my whole family, so Halloween is one of my favorite nights of the year. There’s something special about seeing all my kids and their cousins laughing and jump- scaring each other while we adults try to eat healthy ... before inevitably consuming too much of the kids’ candy.
“tweenagers” when it comes to their trick-or- treating strategies. The older kids are less interested in compliments than the sheer pounds of candy they can acquire! Where my 3-year-old will take off his hat and use it to collect candy bars, the 9- and 11-year-olds will pull the pillowcases right off their beds and run from house to house filling them up! Then, there are the teenagers (like my oldest daughters). They like to get dressed up just like everyone else, but for them, Halloween is a great social event. It’s a good excuse to hang out or roam the neighborhood with their friends and cousins. They usually only
Michael Packard Personal Injury Attorney
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Meet Poet and MS Survivor Kimberly Redgate! Packard Wins Social Security Payments for an Inspiring Client
What Are Compression Socks? And How CanThey Help You With Aches and Pains?
When Kimberly Redgate was 16 years old, one of her biggest passions was capoeira — a Brazilian martial arts style that combines defense, dance, and acrobatics. It’s beautiful to watch, and Kimberly loved performing it. But during one trampoline practice at a local gymnasium, things went terribly wrong. “Everything that I did I’ve done hundreds of times before, and it was fine,” she remembers 13 years later, “but not that night.” Kimberly got stuck in the middle of a bridge rotation. She was upside down, balanced on her hands and feet with her back arched. She wanted to kick her legs over but her body wouldn’t cooperate. She couldn’t move. Then, her arms gave way and she crashed down on her neck. “It was a very bad fall. I could have died. I could have been paralyzed. I’m very, very blessed and very grateful,” she says. Kimberly survived, but during her time at the hospital due to the injury, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). The condition made her life much more difficult. She graduated high school and attended college, but symptoms like tremors, vision problems, fatigue, and difficulty focusing made it impossible for her to continue to work part time. She turned to the Social Security Disability (SSD) system for financial help. “I had been trying for years to get on Social Security Disability but every time, I
didn’t make it,” she says. Then, she found our team at Packard.
At the very best, poor blood circulation in the body can lead to various annoying aches and pains. At worst, it can cause serious health conditions, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), where a blood clot forms in the deep veins and makes its way to a main artery, potentially causing a fatal pulmonary embolism.
We were inspired by Kimberly’s persistence and positive attitude, and we fought hard to secure SSD payments for her. Finally, we succeeded! “I appreciated Packard’s preparation for every step in the process and their patience with my questions throughout. Additionally, everyone was so kind and supportive. I am so, so grateful that I have a steady income from Social Security that I can depend on,” Kimberly says. “Yes, I have a disability, but I just want to be all I can be.” Today, Kimberly dreams of becoming a professional writer. Her poems have already been published, and we’ve included one here. Hopefully, you enjoy it as much as we do! Keep Onwards Breathing full and steady Remember gratefully, Formerly life much harder, Incapable of self sufficiency, Regardless of degree. Then, by recommendation, Connect with who could help. Achieved success! Am steady, much more ready, For life to come—NOW! Thank you, Packard!
Whatever the case, one tool you might not know much about could be the solution to your aches and pains: compression socks.
Compression socks are a type of sock that tightly compresses your leg as you wear them, reducing the diameter of major veins and increasing blood flow to the heart rather than downward to your feet or laterally into superficial veins. Among several other benefits, compression socks are meant to support veins, prevent blood from pooling in them, decrease swelling, and reduce orthostatic hypertension. Compression socks can come in a variety of types, lengths, and compression levels. The three basic types of compression socks are: • Graduated compression stockings compress more strongly toward the ankle than at the top of the sock. These are designed for people who plan to be up and moving about. • Anti-embolism stockings are designed specifically for nonmobile people to help them fight against DVT. • Nonmedical support stockings are available without a prescription. They help alleviate aches and pains caused by poor circulation in the legs. Each type of compression sock may vary in the level of pressure they apply to your legs. Mild pressure, which is anything less than 15 mmHg, will help you combat aches and pains just fine; 15–20 mmHg can help people with minor swelling or who have concerns about DVT. Anything 20–40 mmHg is considered medical grade and is only necessary if you have severe swelling or you’re recovering from surgery. Typically, the only negative side effect that might result from wearing compression socks is some irritation and redness, but if you wear them correctly, they should fit flush against your skin and feel snug but not painful. If you think that compression socks could help you, try on a pair of nonprescription socks or check with a health care professional to see what option would be best for you.
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On Page 1 of this newsletter, Michael shared a little bit about our Halloween traditions here at the Packard Law Firm — but they’re even more fun-filled and extensive than he explained! Not only do we celebrate with a full week of costume contests leading up to Halloween, but we also give each day of the week a theme. Some past themes have been Decade Day, Tiger King Tuesday, Rivals Day, Movie Day, etc. In recent years, Pun Day was a favorite. A few of the most memorable pun-tastic costumes were “The Formal Apology,” (where Lauren dressed up in a classy outfit with an “I’m sorry!” sash), Amber was Insta-gram (she dressed up and “Instantly” looked an old lady), and Becky wore a “Life” name tag and gave out lemons. By far the most exciting day of the week is Halloween itself because our firm’s partners all dress up in a team costume. They’ve done movie characters from “Lord of the Rings,” “Harry Potter,” and “Star Wars.” But last year, they showed up as “famous folks in bow ties,” including Colonel Sanders, James Bond, The Mad Hatter, the Cat in the Hat, and Willy Wonka. To see more of our Halloween fun, follow our firm on Facebook (Facebook.com/ ThePackardLawFirm) and on Instagram (Instagram.com/PackardLawFirm). We’ll post snapshots of this year’s costumes throughout Halloween week! On Halloween, Our Team Says ‘Go Big or Go Home’ PACKARD LAWGETS S P O O O O O K Y !
TAKE A BREAK
Party Pumpkin Shadows Spooky
Haunted Moon Mystery Orange
Black Costume Ghost Halloween
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Happy Halloween From the Packards! All About Compression Socks Packard Wins Social Security Payments for a Client With MS Our Firm’s Epic Halloween Costume Week The Unique Benefits of Reading Fiction The Packard Family Is Here to Help Your Family Personal Injury Social Security Disability Car Accidents Special Needs Planning
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HOW READING FICTION CAN BENEFIT YOU Self-Help Books Can’t Do It All
More Comfort With Uncertainty Even though many stories (particularly those portrayed in popular movies) have nice happy endings, most people would agree that life sometimes leaves things a little more open-ended. While this fact might stress out some people, researchers have discovered that fiction readers don’t need “cognitive closure” as much as nonfiction readers. Greater Happiness Even if none of the benefits of fiction interest you, everyone wants to find ways to make themselves happy — and for many, that is reading fiction. According to one survey, 76% of participants said that reading makes them feel good and improves their lives. So, what are you waiting for? Dust off that novel you’ve been meaning to read and crack it open!
brain that fire up when reading fictional stories also fire up when we’re seeking to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. That’s because when the characters in the book we’re reading are thinking or feeling a certain way, we tend to think or feel that way with them. Less Stress and Better Sleep When we read fiction specifically, we tend to disengage from the world — and that’s a good thing! Our brains can’t always be functioning at their peak capacity. We need breaks, or else we’ll stress ourselves out and negatively affect other areas of our lives. Stress tends to keep us from sound sleep, but reading fiction before bed engages the imagination, taking us away from the stresses of everyday life before we drift off.
Many CEOs and other successful individuals continually espouse the benefits of regular reading. Many times, leaders read self-help books to improve their leadership skills and become more successful. This is all well and good, but even the most successful people in the world could be missing out on the unique benefits that come specifically from reading fiction. But what are those benefits exactly? Greater Empathy When a psychologist analyzed 86 functioning MRI (fMRI) studies, he found that the same parts of the
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