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Japan Airlines lets travelers leave their (packed) clothes at home

Japan Airlines is offering to check a big item off your packing list – clothing.

The airline is helping pilot a new service called Any Wear, Anywhere, which lets passengers rent all the clothes they need for their trip, so they don’t have to lug any around. The clothes get delivered straight to their hotel or vacation rental, then are picked up for laundering when travelers leave. 

And it’s not just people who can travel lighter. Planes can also cut their carbon emissions by carrying less passenger baggage. A key goal of the service is improving sustainability.

Here’s what travelers should know.

Who can use this service?

Any Wear, Anywhere is only available to travelers flying to Japan on Japan Airlines through Aug. 2024.

How does it work?

Travelers can reserve their clothing up to two weeks before their trips on Any Wear, Anywhere’s website. It will be delivered straight to their hotel.

At the end of their stay, they can simply put the clothing back in the garment bag it came in and leave it at the hotel’s reception desk.

Travelers who stay at vacation rentals may need to set up arrangements with property owners.

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How much does it cost?

Rentals start at $28 for a selection of 3 tops and 2 bottoms. Sets vary by pieces of clothing and season. 

Shipping is included in the rental fee, and cancellations are free when done at least 7 days in advance.

Is everything cleaned? 

The company says all items are washed and ironed before delivery.

How does it help the environment?

Japan Airlines allows economy passengers to check up to two pieces of checked luggage, weighing up to 50 pounds each. 

According to Any Wear,

How to dye clothes at home – naturally

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Street shot of woman in tie-dye outfit

Plant-based dyeing is big on social media, and an eco-friendly alternative to industrial methods, but what does this ancient craft actually involve? Bel Jacobs talks to experienced practitioners about their passion.

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Natural dye specialist Babs Behan laughs when asked about her favourite natural dye plant. “Like people, they all have such a beautiful variety of different characteristics,” she says. “But, if I had to choose one, indigo stands out. It’s not like any other dye. It’s not water soluble – so you have to go through this charming, alchemical, almost mystical process, to make it bond with the fibre. Then you take the fabric out of the water and you’ll see it turn from green to blue as it oxidises. There’s something so special about that because it’s the colour of our planet. It’s the colour of the sky and the sea – and we can’t capture it from anywhere except from this one indigo pigment.” 

More like this:

–          Why drawing is the best digital detox

–          Eight ways to make your clothes last longer

–          The rise of the ‘no-wash’ movement

Behan, a pioneer in UK-based large-scale natural dye productions, is one of a cohort of committed natural dye specialists seeing a resurgence in their craft: the dyeing of fabrics with colours derived from plants. Online courses and communities have blossomed, with more and more practitioners wanting to share their skills. Bella Gonshorovitz’s book Grow, Cook, Dye, Wear was a surprise hit in 2022, combining instructions on natural dye with plant-based recipes, vegetable growing and zero-waste clothing design. After her first successful publication Botanical Inks in 2018, Behan has just released a second, Botanical Dyes. 

Babs Behan is a natural-dye enthusiast – she describes the process as "alchemical" (Credit:Kim Lightbody/ Botanical Dyes/ Quadrille)

Babs Behan is a natural-dye enthusiast – she describes the process as “alchemical”

SEARHC to close Sitka’s home health department


a woman holds a photograph of a man
Cindy Litman holds a photo of her late husband Tony. Litman says home healthcare was incredibly important to their family as they navigated Tony’s advancing Parkinson’s Disease. (Katherine Rose/KCAW)

The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is closing its home health department in Sitka at the end of September. While the organization maintains that the closure is largely an administrative move, and that outpatient services — and in-home care — should be unaffected, some Sitkans are concerned that both the expense and quality of end-of-life care will change dramatically.

Sitkan Cindy Litman’s home smells like warm flour and butter. She’s just pulled a few trays of cookies out of the oven. Her three cats lounge in a living room filled with books and art and photographs. This is the home she and her late husband Tony shared in his final years.

Tony was diagnosed with Atypical Parkinson’s Disease in 2014. At the time, they were living in a two-story home in Sitka.

“He got to the point where he couldn’t navigate the stairs in our house, and our bedrooms and full bath were upstairs,” Litman says. “It was a pretty small lot, and we weren’t really able to make the changes we would need to make the house accessible.”

They decided to move to Olympia, Washington, to be near family and easier access to the specialized care Tony needed. And while they had better access to neurologists and cardiologists, Litman says the experience taught her how fragmented healthcare in America is.

“What was striking to me was that there was no coordination of care between those different doctors, so he would see one person and they would have no idea what the other health providers were doing,” Litman says. “And even though the health care was, I’m sure, considered good, it

Suzanne Somers, 76, calls 911 during health scare but later finds out she is fine… after an ambulance and the fire department arrived to her home

Suzanne Somers, 76, calls 911 during health scare but later finds out she is fine… after an ambulance and the fire department arrived to her home

Suzanne Somers had a brief health scare over the weekend.

The 76-year-old blonde bombshell – who earlier this year revealed she turned down a hosting gig on The View – called the ambulance to her Palm Springs residence over blood pressure concerns. 

According to Page Six, healthcare professionals arrived only to tell her that everything was fine.

She told the publication that she and Alan Hamel, her husband of 46 years, routinely take each other’s blood pressure daily.

‘Alan got a reading on me he didn’t like, but he took it again 8 or 10 more times to be sure. For the first time ever, we 911,’ she dished.

Worrisome: Suzanne Somers had a brief health scare over the weekend as she called the ambulance to her Palm Springs residence over blood pressure concerns

Worrisome: Suzanne Somers had a brief health scare over the weekend as she called the ambulance to her Palm Springs residence over blood pressure concerns

Partners: She told the publication that she and Alan Hamel, her husband of 46 years, routinely take each other¿s blood pressure daily

Partners: She told the publication that she and Alan Hamel, her husband of 46 years, routinely take each other’s blood pressure daily

‘Within a few minutes two teams arrived, one from the fire department and one with the ambulance,’ she explained. ‘They hooked me up with their gear… and said I’m fine.’

‘So what was it? Our blood pressure monitor was faulty,’ she revealed.

Somers expressed gratitude for the healthcare professionals who assisted her.

‘A big kiss and big hugs to our incredible fire department,’ she noted, playfully adding, ‘Plus, they were all movie star handsome.’

Two years ago, Suzanne joked while appearing on Heather Dubrow’s World podcast that she and her hubby have a vibrant sex life.

Government of Canada Invests over $5 Million to Support Home and Community Care, Mental Health and Addictions Services in Prince Edward Island

SOURIS, PE, July 20, 2023 /CNW/ – The Government of Canada is committed to working with provinces and territories to modernize Canada’s public health care system and adapt to the changing needs of Canadians.

To strengthen Canada’s universal public health care system, Budget 2023 highlighted the Government of Canada’s plan to provide close to $200 billion over 10 years, which includes over $1 billion to Prince Edward Island for timely access to a family health team provider, a sustainable workforce, better access to quality mental health services, and ensuring patients have access to their own electronic health information. Helping Canadians age with dignity, closer to home, with access to home care or care in a safe long-term care facility is another shared priority where collaborative work is already underway.

Today, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, announced the signature of an agreement with Prince Edward Island to continue to improve access to home and community care, as well as mental health and addiction services. Through this agreement, Prince Edward Island received over $5 million for 2022-23 from the $11 billion, 10-year investment outlined in Budget 2017.

Building on the action plan of the previous agreement, the CanadaPrince Edward Island agreement outlines the following actions:

  • Strengthen home and community care by supporting the delivery of specialized community services programs, including:

  • Improve access to mental health and addictions services by:

The Government of Canada will continue to work closely with provinces and territories to support them in accessing the remaining four years of funding available for home and community care, and mental health

Analysis: Why Walmart’s new bet on fashion brands, home decor threatens specialty chains

June 15 (Reuters) – Price-conscious shoppers flock to Walmart Supercenters to pick up $1 potato chips and $3 gallons of milk, but the world’s biggest retailer will now try to sell them $298 cozy swivel chairs and $50 Wrangler jeans, too.

Using low-cost and low-margin groceries as a draw, Walmart is adding more than a dozen new lines of pricier, more profitable merchandise including six through partnerships with celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Sofia Vergara.

The company wants to change its image from merely a steep discounter to a destination where customers can also purchase fashionable home goods and clothing.

T-shirts from Reebok, accessories from Justice and men’s dress shirts from Chaps are among the national brands Walmart is highlighting in its renovated “Stores of the Future.” Most of the goods are priced between $15 and $50, Denise Incandela, vice president of apparel and private brands, disclosed at a June 6 conference with investors.

Walmart historically has marketed mostly its own brand of clothing: basic George t-shirts, shorts and pants, typically priced at $15 or less. But Incandela, a former Saks and Ralph Lauren executive, said Walmart’s research showed that 80% of its customers were purchasing higher-priced clothes elsewhere.

She told Walmart investors its strategy is to “democratize fashion” or convert the company’s core, price-conscious shoppers into style-conscious shoppers.

“It is a huge transformation on the apparel side,” she said.

Americans shop for clothing, footwear, chairs and lights from millions of mom-and-pop stores, regional chains and online platforms every day, analyst say, giving no one retailer outsized dominance in the highly fragmented markets for home decor and apparel.

But smaller retailers have a hard time competing with Walmart because of

Cambridge council decision not to back health care privatization referendum hits home for councillor

Coun. Scott Hamilton with his father Walter. Hamilton fears privatizing health care will bring the same issues he faced in getting his father into a long-term-care home.
  • Coun. Scott Hamilton with his father Walter. Hamilton fears privatizing health care will bring the same issues he faced in getting his father into a long-term-care home.
  • Coun. Scott Hamilton said getting his father into a LTC home shows how privatization can hurt a system. He sees the same happening with health care.

The emotions were still raw.

That’s why Cambridge Coun. Scott Hamilton’s head was still swirling during his walk home from the special council meeting on May 16. A motion by Coun. Donna Reid in support of a provincewide, citizen-run referendum on Bill 60, Your Health Act, to be held on May 26 and 27 by the Ontario Health Coalition, had just been defeated by a 4-4 tie vote.

The motion to the bill pointed to the provincial government’s “plan to ‘substantially’ expand for-profit clinics and hospitals to take the surgeries and diagnostics out of our local public hospitals.”

Under Bill 60 — which received its third reading in the legislature — MRI and CT scans, cataract surgeries and non-invasive gynecological surgeries can be conducted in not-for-profit and for-profit clinics. Knee and hip replacements are coming in the future, to be paid by OHIP.

Mayor Jan Liggett and councillors Corey Kimpson, Adam Cooper and Nicholas Ermeta voted against the motion, while councillors Ross Earnshaw, Sheri Roberts, Reid and Hamilton voted in favour. Coun. Mike Devine was absent.

The result hit home for Hamilton, who told the Times the day before the meeting he and his brother had to move their father Walter into a long-term-care (LTC) facility 19 months after starting the process.

The wait, in his estimation, was due to LTC privatization. He expects those issues to be mirrored with for-profit health care.

The process was arduous, Hamilton said, as Walter was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia (LBD). The affliction is similar to Alzheimer’s disease, but LBD takes hold quicker. Living in a retirement facility, his father’s condition deteriorated to the point where

Government of Canada Invests close to $164 Million to Support Home and Community Care, Mental Health and Addictions Services in British Columbia

VANCOUVER, BC, April 12, 2023 /CNW/ – The Government of Canada is committed to working with provinces and territories to modernize Canada’s public health care system and adapt to the changing needs of Canadians.

To strengthen Canada’s universal public health care system, Budget 2023 highlighted the Government of Canada’s plan to provide close to $200 billion over 10 years, which includes over $28 billion to British Columbia for timely access to a family health team provider, a sustainable workforce, better access to quality mental health services, and ensuring patients have access to their own electronic health information. Helping Canadians age with dignity, closer to home, with access to home care or care in a safe long-term care facility is another shared priority where collaborative work is already underway.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, accompanied by the Honourable Adrian Dix, Minister of Health for British Columbia, announced the signature of an agreement with British Columbia to continue to improve access to home and community care, and mental health and addictions services. Through this agreement, British Columbia is receiving close to $164 million in 2022-23 from the $11 billion, 10-year investment outlined in Budget 2017.

The Canada-British Columbia agreement builds on progress achieved through the first five years of this federal investment, and will:

  • Strengthen home and community care by supporting the delivery of specialized community services programs, including:

  • Improve access to mental health and addictions services by:

The Government of Canada will continue to work closely with provinces and territories to support them in accessing the remaining four years of funding available for home and community care, and mental health and addictions, and to improve health care services across the country.

Quotes

“Better health care for Canadians means supporting our healthcare workers and ensuring patients

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