Get Healthy

It doesn’t get easier as you age

Changing physicians can be wrenching for older patients. My mother never got over it when her longtime doctor retired. The “new” doctor took care of Mom for more than 15 years, but she would still tell him what she thought he wanted to hear. Ironically, the frailer Mom grew, the less forthright she became.

Now, my 70-something aunt, who has diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, is going through a similar change. Her longtime physician is shifting to an endocrinology-only practice and has asked patients to find another primary care doctor.

As is widely recommended, she brought to her first appointment a list of all the medications she’s taking. But she also brought a sheet of paper on which she briefly described her youth, marriage, motherhood and other seminal life events, things essential to her personhood that she wanted her new physician to know.
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Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ky. gestures during a news conference on health care reform legislation, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Eight months in office, Barack Obama has now pushed closer than any other president in generations to creating a basic health care safety net for working Americans. Yet the fate of legislation delivering on his goal is far from certain: Republicans are nearly unified in opposition, Democrats hardly united in support.

Indeed, few if any of the major arguments about the scope and costs of the historic undertaking are settled as congressional leaders prepare to take legislation to the floor in the next two weeks.

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee came together early Friday—after 2 a.m.—to finish the heavy lifting on a bill designed to appeal to moderates. Obama hailed it as a milestone and noted, for history, that overhauling health care has eluded presidents from Harry S. Truman to Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton.
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Aging takes a lot out of people.

There are the physical demands—the aches and pains, the illnesses, the cost—of passing 70-plus birthdays. Now comes Tamara McClintock Greenberg to point out that our rapidly aging population has a host of mental health problems. Greenberg is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of the recent book Psychodynamic Perspectives of Aging and Illness (Springer, 2009). Among other conclusions, she disputes Freud, who said psychoanalytic treatment is useless for people 50-plus. “Some of my best patients are older patients,” she said. “They are more serious.”

Q. Today, people are living longer than ever imagined. To be 100 is not even unusual. Why should this gift of age depress people?
A. For many people, there is a shock of living this long. There are limitations—mobility, for instance—and quality-of-life problems. So much of our culture is around using our bodies to work and move around; when you lose that, you also lose a major coping mechanism. Plus, you may have to be more dependent on people. Or living in a nursing home, for example. Loss of independence is very depressing.
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Margaret Pilot, 82, of Hammond, participates in a Zumba class led by Kim Bleck during the Senior Expo at Omni 41's Blade 'N Skate arena. (Photograph by Natalie Battaglia.)

Lively entertainment, health screenings and information about physical and financial health combined at the NWI Senior Expo on Thursday at Omni 41’s Blade ‘N Skate arena.

More than 200 people attended the expo, sponsored by Omni 41, St. Margaret Mercy Health Services and The Times. The event was designed for those ages 55 plus who want to live a more vibrant lifestyle, said Lisa Resney, program specialist.

Among the sources of information for attendees were displays by 45 vendors.

Some booths sponsored by Omni 41 and St. Margaret Mercy, which owns the fitness center, offered health screenings for blood pressure, balance, body fat analysis, nutrition and vision. Others offered information on a wide range of topic from financial advice to home health care.

At 1 p.m., two full-body puppets, Those Funny Little People, wandered through the crowds. These “senior citizens” also stopped to check out the booths and danced with attendees.

Seminars on nutrition, senior living arrangements and setting up wills and trusts drew audiences. Carrie Ranta, facilitator of Omni’s Be Lean Weight Loss program, told those at the nutrition seminar that making healthy food choices in an economic downturn is especially important. Read the rest of this entry »

With the advance of technologies and treatments in our local healthcare system, more and more people are living longer, healthier lives. But still there is a long way to go. In this special section, we hope to inform older adults about their health risks and healthcare options, but also educate on fitness, nutrition and mental health. Get Healthy strives to promote proactivity over reactivity, wellness over recovery, so that the seniors of Northwest Indiana might practice a stronger, more vibrant lifestyle.

Check out all of the articles here: Four-Tier Fitness, Retirement in a Struggling Economy, The Big Three, Mental Muscle, Take Your Vitamins, and Assisted Living Communities.

Brentwood Assisted Living Community, 1420 Saint Mary’s Cir, Hobart. 219.945.1968. brentwoodassistedliving.net. This community overlooks beautifully landscaped gardens. Residents enjoy independent senior living with a qualified staff to tackle routine services and unexpected needs. Guests enjoy private apartments, transportation, emergency call system, maintenance, meals, utilities and cable TV, housekeeping and laundry, scheduled daily activities, a 24-hour nursing staff, and health status monitoring.

Hartsfield Village, 10002 Columbia Ave, Munster. 219.934.0580. hartsfieldvillage.com. Facilities include independent living apartments, assisted living units and Alzheimer’s units, as well as nursing care facilities. Amenities include gorgeously landscaped grounds; social, recreational and cultural activities; daily access to assistance with daily activities; prepared meals; a hair salon, library and gift shop; and security. Services include laundry, housekeeping, transportation and nursing.
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It’s hard not to panic when you look at the numbers, says Brial Wissman, managing director of Harris Private Bank of Indiana, but that’s exactly what you should not do.

For seniors, the ups and downs of the economy have a direct impact on life, making a decision such as when and how to retire a stressful one. “We’re facing some unprecedented economic times,” Wissman says. “Not since the 1930s have we seen such turmoil, and this is particularly acute with seniors, because if an individual is retired or close to retirement, when we see a drop in assets, that’s disconcerting.”

But he advises two things to ease the difficulty: “We are advising more than ever to have a trusted advisor to go to in these times, and to have an accurate road map of your absolute have-to-haves that take into account your risk tolerance and the date by which you need to reach those goals.”

Wissman continues, “In the financial services industry we tell people not to look at their investments every day, but it’s hard not to do just that. But lately we’ve seen a stabilizing of the market that has recovered 20 percent since the beginning of the year, so it points out the benefit of a longer-term approach.”

Eating right and taking the proper vitamin supplements during the senior years is critical to maintaining body function.

Micki Correy, director of nursing for Brentwood Assisted Living in Hobart, says there are some vitamins that most older adults should have in their diets. “Seniors should take a multivitamin, but also make sure they take calcium, since bone health is very important at all stages of life. Seniors should also have folic acid in their diet so their minds stay healthy, and vitamin B. When it comes to eating, it is important to eat protein, which is essential for muscle mass and maintenance of the body. Read the rest of this entry »

Fitness from the neck up

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, “the number of people aged 65 and older with Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to reach 7.7 million in 2030, more than a 50 percent increase from the 5.1 million aged 65 and older who are currently affected.”

With statistics like these, it’s no wonder there’s mounting attention on how to strengthen our brains in an effort to ward off all types of dementia. The advice runs the gamut of crossword puzzles, hobbies, board games, taking classes and lessons, joining clubs and more. Companies further capitalize on our fears by marketing video games and computer programs designed to beef up our gray matter.

The benefits of computerized brain exercises are backed by the American Geriatrics Society, which recently published results of a study involving 487 healthy adults over the age of 65. Half of the group was trained on a brain fitness software program for 40 hours over eight weeks, and the other half listened to educational lectures on the computer and took quizzes for the same amount of time. The study concluded that the computer software users increased their processing speed by 131 percent and gained memory and attention equal to 10 years.
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Older adults can expect to face a variety of health problems, but according to local healthcare experts, there are three conditions that affect the largest number of people: osteoporosis, arthritis and peripheral artery disease. But a number of new treatments are available for these conditions, bringing hope to those who suffer from them.

Osteoporosis

Ten million Americans are estimated to have osteoporosis, a brittle bone disease that often progresses silently until a fracture occurs. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, it is a major public health threat for 55 percent of those aged 50 and older.
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