55 Plus by 55 Plus: For Active Adults in Central New York

Cazenovia Gold Medalist: Snow is The Stuff We Need

55 PLUS

Issue 36 December 2011 / January 2012

For Active Adults in Central New York

Robert Kiltz The many other talents of the doctor who founded CNY Fertility — and his take on turning 55 ■ Pediatrician Frederick Roberts. Finally retired. At 92 ■ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life” — Is Seneca Falls the real Bedford Falls?

Tom Slater: The Mission of Food Bank of Central New York

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55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

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December 2011 / January 2012

Health Watch 6-7 Gardening 8 Financial Health 9 My Turn 16 Golden Years 37 Druger’s Zoo 44 Aging 46 Consumer’s Corner 48

10 ACTIVE LIVING

• For gold medal winner in Cazenovia, snow is just the stuff we need

14 PROFILE

• Richard Ford, a musician shaping new generations

17 HOBBIES

• Meet some 46ers—those who have gone to all or most of the Adirondacks 46 high peaks

23 COVER

• Dr. Robert Kiltz, a man with many talents

30 RETIREMENT

CONTENTS

34 EXERCISE

• This is the high season for mall walkers in CNY. Meet some of them

39 COMPUTING

• Seniors getting used to online shopping • Identity theft: Boomers are often the target

42 VISITS

• Is Seneca Falls the real Bedford Falls? Locals have no question about it

50 LAST PAGE

• Tom Slater, executive director of Food Bank of Central New York

• Pediatrician Frederick Roberts. Finally retired, at 92 December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

HEALTH WATCH

55PLUS

Dried Plums Help Prevent Fractures and Osteoporosis

Wagner Dotto

Associate Editor Lou Sorendo

Writers

Suzanne M. Ellis, Sandra Scott, Aaron Gifford Mary Beth Roach, Ken Little Nancy Haus, Deborah Sergeant

Columnists

hen it comes to improving bone health in

postmenopausal women — and people of all ages, actually — a Florida State University researcher has found a simple, proactive solution to help prevent fractures and osteoporosis: eating dried plums. “ O v e r m y c a re e r, I have tested numerous fruits, including ﬁgs, dates, strawberries and raisins, and none of them come anywhere close to having the effect on bone density that dried plums, or prunes, have,” said Bahram H. Arjmandi, Florida State’s chairman of the department of nutrition. “All fruits and vegetables have a positive effect on nutrition, but in terms of bone health, this particular food is exceptional.” A r j m a n d i a n d a g ro u p o f researchers from Florida State and Oklahoma State University tested two groups of postmenopausal women. Over a 12-month period, the first group, consisting of 55 women, was instructed to consume 100 grams of dried plums (about 10 prunes) each day, while the second — a comparative control group of 45 women — was told to consume 100 grams of dried apples. All of the study’s participants also received daily doses of calcium (500 milligrams) and vitamin D (400 international units). The group that consumed dried plums had signiﬁcantly higher bone mineral density in the ulna (one of two long bones in the forearm) and

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Eva Briggs, M.D., Bruce Frassinelli Marilyn Pinsky, Harold Miller Jim Sollecito, David J. Zumpano Marvin Druger

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spine, in comparison with the group that ate dried apples. This, according to Arjmandi, was due in part to the ability of dried plums to suppress the rate of bone resorption, or the breakdown of bone, which tends to exceed the rate of new bone growth as people age. The group’s research, “Comparative Effects of Dried Plum and Dried Apple on Bone in Post Menopausal Women,” was published in the British Journal of Nutrition. In the United States, about 8 million women have osteoporosis because of the sudden cessation of ovarian hormone production at the onset of menopause. What’s more, about 2 million men also have osteoporosis. “ I n th e f ir st fi ve to se ve n postmenopausal years, women are at risk of losing bone at a rate of 3 to 5 percent per year,” Arjmandi said. “However, osteoporosis is not exclusive to women and, indeed, around the age of 65, men start losing bone with the same rapidity as women.”

55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

55 PLUS –A Magazine for Active Adults in Upstate New York is published six times a year by Local News, Inc., which also publishes In Good Health–CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper.

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HEALTH WATCH Physicians Believe Their Own Patients are Receiving Too Much Care

survey of U.S. primary care physicians shows that many believe that their own patients are receiving too much medical care and many feel that malpractice reform, realignment of financial incentives and having more time with patients could reduce pressures on physicians to do more than they feel is needed, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “Per capita U.S. health care spending exceeds, by a factor of two, that of the average industrialized nation and is growing at an unsustainable rate,” the authors write as background information in the article. “A number of health care epidemiologists and economists, however, have suggested that a substantial amount of U.S. health care is actually unnecessary.” Nearly half (42 percent) of all survey respondents (627 physicians across the country) believe that patients in their own practice receive too much medical care, while only 6 percent believe that their patients receive too little care. Just over half (52 percent) believe the amount of care received is just right. Additionally, 28 percent of respondents said they personally were practicing more aggressively than they would like, and 29 percent felt that other primary care physicians in their community were practicing too aggressively. Forty-seven percent of respondents reported that mid-level primary care clinicians (nurse practitioners, physician assistants) practice too aggressively, and 61 percent felt that medical subspecialists practice too aggressively. Almost all physicians

in the survey (95 percent) believe that primary care physicians vary in their testing and treatment of patients, and most (76 percent) were interested in learning how their own practice compared to those of other physicians. Study participants identified three factors they believe cause physicians to practice too aggressively: malpractice concerns (76 percent), clinical performance measures (52 percent) and inadequate time to spend with patients (40 percent). Eightythree percent of physicians felt they could easily be sued for failing to

order a test that was indicated, while 21 percent felt that they could be sued for ordering a test that was not indicated. The authors conclude that their results show that, “physicians are open to practicing more conservatively.” They also note that, “physicians believe they are paid to do more and exposed to legal punishment if they do less. Reimbursement systems should encourage longer primary care physician visits and telephone, email and nursing follow-up, rather than diagnostic intensity.”

Older Cancer Survivor Population to Increase Substantially

ver the next decade, the population of cancer survivors over 65 years of age will increase by approximately 42 percent. “We can expect a dramatic increase in the number of older adults who are diagnosed with or carry a history of cancer,” said Julia Rowland, director of the ofﬁce of cancer survivorship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). “Cancer is largely a disease of aging, so we’re seeing yet another effect of the baby boom generation and we need to prepare for this increase.” Rowland’s report is part of the special focus on cancer survivorship, published in the October issue of “Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention,” a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

She and her team found that in 1971, the year the National Cancer Act was signed, the survivor population was approximately 3 million, which increased to nearly 12 million in 2008, the last year data are available. In 2008, 60 percent of the cancer survivors were at least 65 years old. The NCI projects this number will increase to 63 percent by 2020. The most common diagnosis among cancer survivors includes female breast cancer (22 percent), prostate cancer (20 percent) and c o l o re c t a l c a n c e r ( 9 p e rc e n t ) . Researchers attribute this high survival to improved detection and screening. Lung cancer, which is by far the most diagnosed cancer in men and women, is much lower in the survivor population at just 3 percent.

December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

Gardening

By Jim Sollecito

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his has been a tough time of year for me, not so much because of the cold temperatures. Although the snow is still new and pretty, the days are short, and I really miss seeing that sunshine. So when the sun does pop out, I appreciate it even more than I might have back in July. I d ro v e m y m o m t o Amsterdam recently for the funeral of her cousin Nellie, who graced this earth for some 94 years. I so that math may not hold true. remember a few things about Nellie. But I can say with certainty that She was a high school classmate of continuous improvement beats Kirk Douglas. (Back in the day, my delayed perfection. A very intuitive client living in dad earned spending money by selling rags to Kirk’s father, as recalled Skaneateles told me last fall that she in Kirk’s book “The Ragman’s Son: wanted to edit her garden. She liked the basic layout, but she needed to get An Autobiography”). Nell was a triplet. Her sisters rid of things she no longer enjoyed. developed Alzheimer ’s disease, Kind of like cleaning an outdoor but Nellie was as sharp as a tack closet. If we don’t do some routine her entire life. She outlived them editing in our own lives, we tend by two decades, and never could to get bogged down in the muddle. explain why she was so lucky, merely We get frustrated, forget about it, move on to something else and never accepting it. Nellie spoke sunshine 12 months accomplish our goal. I encourage you to take this of the year. It was always enjoyable being around her, we don’t have opportunity to review some of elements in your life, including enough of those people in our lives. She also did something unheard your landscape plantings, of course, of today. She never took an aspirin to assess what you might want to in her life. She used to say that she improve. You might not decide the didn’t get headaches — she caused corrective action right now, but simply them. She used her brain for dreams, identify some changes you’d like to accomplish. and they were contagious. This just might be the year that When viewing landscapes now, I see them in a different light. I can you make your dream come true. Now spot areas that I really love, and other that’s a resolution worth having. places that can use a little help. I take a few photos and ﬁle them away. When Jim Sollecito is the planting season rolls around, those first lifetime senior photos will help me know where to certified landscape begin. And since I can’t do much now professional in NYS. anyway, my time is best spent turning He operates Sollecito dreams into plans. Landscaping Nursery I recall a professor explaining that in Syracuse. Contact we should spend two hours designing him at 468-1142 or at for every hour of implementation. jim@sollecito.com. Technology has sped things up,

55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

Independent

Ind@Home Ad_2.5x6.75 5/6/09 9:43 AM Page 1

By David J. Zumpano

Medicaid and The State Gone Wild

n April 1 the New York state legislature along with Gov. Cuomo passed the governor’s 2011/2012 budget. Unbeknownst to many, the budget contained a provision to change the rights the state has, specifically the department of social services, which administers Medicaid in New York. The budget bill provides that the Medicaid department may now pursue recovery of all monies paid on behalf of individuals for their cost of care during their lifetime. No one would object to such a recovery except, on Sept. 13, the regulations were released to identify exactly what Medicaid will pursue. Under the new regulations, the government will be able to pursue assets that are not owned by the Medicaid beneficiary or their estate. This includes a joint account held with someone else, a beneficiary designated account like an annuity, life insurance policy, and even IRAs. Perhaps the most egregious reach by New York state is they are even going to pursue reimbursement from homes that were transferred to children with a life use retained. Essentially this means that if you conveyed your home to someone and reserved a life estate, after you die, Medicaid will go after your children or whomever you transferred it to and force them to sell it to be reimbursed for any payment Medicaid made on your behalf. This should sound extreme to most readers. But as an attorney, it’s even more concerning. For hundreds of years our country has been founded on a principle of common law and contract law. Common law and contract law provide when an individual enters a contract, the terms of the contract are enforceable. A life insurance policy identifies the beneficiary when you pass. That happens by contract law.

This new law permits the state to undo the hundreds of years of contract law that has been in place and take the life insurance away from your beneficiary. Further, if you retained a life estate in your home, under the common law, your interest in that home after your death is zero. The new regulations, however, treat your ownership as the value at the moment prior to your death, even though you’ve died. The new law permits the state to sue the children or the individuals who own the home, to be reimbursed based on a value that does not even legally exist. We all must acknowledge that the government has a financial crisis and is struggling with its need to pay all the benefits it offers its citizens. Medicaid is just one of those benefits. But I find it troubling that once someone qualifies for that benefit under the government’s own rules that later, the government can come back and change hundreds of years of precedents to be reimbursed for something they say you have qualified for. If you have not been in to see an estate planning attorney recently, I encourage you to come and get a review to determine how these new regulations impact you specifically. I also encourage you to contact your state senators and assemblypersons to share with them your displeasure in this rogue new law and accompanying regulations. Medicaid has gone wild. Who is protecting you? David J. Zumpano is an attorney and a certified public accountant (CPA). He operates Estate Planning Law Center. He can be reached at 793-3622.

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December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

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active living

‘Hey, Bring on the Snow!’

For gold medal winner in Cazenovia, snow is just the stuff we need By Mary Beth Roach

his recent posting on Chary Grifﬁn’s Facebook page says it all — “Bring on the Snow.” The snowshoe champion, triathlete and Cazenovia resident, who turns 63 in December 2011, loves that white stuff — calls it a blessing. “It’s a wonderful gift and we could all use it,” she said, “and it’s free.” So how does a native of Long Island, an area not necessarily known for a lot of snow, end up as a snowshoe racer on the national and international scenes, a multiple gold medal winner, and a driving force in bringing the 10th PowerSox National Snowshoeing Championships to Highland Forest in Fabius in 2010? 10

From a town on the south shore of Long Island, Griffin grew up sailing, swimming and surfing. She’d have to travel for hours to find snow, she said, adding that she didn’t grow up with an athletic background. Her interests in snowshoeing, running and triathlons, she said, developed over time. Her husband, James, had been transferred to the Central New York area for his job; so the couple moved to Cazenovia. While raising their two sons, Michael and Jay, now in their 40s, the family started skiing. The boys became involved in sports and wanted mom to help them practice soccer, for example, she said. “I couldn’t even run up the

55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

driveway when I ﬁrst started,” she said. She decided she needed to do some exercise that was easy to do from home and did not require a lot of equipment. So she began running in the spring, setting a goal to take part in Cazenovia’s Fourth of July 5K Race that year. She took a prize in her age category in that contest. Her career as a triathlete started in the ‘80s, she said, when she borrowed her teenaged son’s bike and used some small triathlons to train for the New York City Marathon. She continued doing one or two triathlons (sprint and Olympic distance) until Continued on page 12

��

�� December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

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active living

Continued from page 10

Burlington, Vt., and qualiﬁed again to represent the U.S. in New Zealand next year. She credits her coach, Kristen Roe, and her training group at Bike Loft East for all their support. Her winter training as a triathlete and her interest in skiing — both downhill and cross-country — led to her interest in snowshoeing. In order to stay safe on icy surfaces during her

long runs in the winter, she put sheet metal screws on her sneakers. She then saw an ad when Redfeather, a shoe company, introduced its running snowshoes at least 15 years ago. She asked for a pair for Christmas that year, used them all that winter, and then “started looking to see where I could go with it,” she said. In short, she’s gone far.

Snowshoeing: Tips from a Gold Medalist By Mary Beth Roach

four years ago. “I thought it would be fun to take my mother back to her old college campus at Keuka and do a triathlon there,” she said. “It turned out to be a qualiﬁer for Nationals in Olympic distance. I qualified and went to Portland, Ore., for Nationals and qualified there to go to Worlds in Australia.” But a bike accident the day before the race during a training ride sidelined her, yet she cheered from the sidelines. The following year, she went to Worlds again in Budapest, Hungary, and finished 12th in her age group. This year, she said, she was qualiﬁed to go to Bejing, China, to represent the U.S. again in Worlds. But she had a bike collision with a deer in June and had to have surgery to reconstruct her elbow and shoulder, which broke in several places, and she had to bow out. She rehabbed religiously and trained hard and was able to race in September in 12

55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

nyone who can walk can do snowshoeing, according to local snowshoe enthusiast Chary Griffin of Cazenovia. Griffin, a goldmedalist in several showshoe races and a competitor in national and international contests, offers some insights to this sport. Snowshoeing is growing in popularity, she said, but compared to Rochester, Albany and Saratoga, for example, Syracuse is lagging in the number of participants — ironic, she noted, since this area is more likely to get greater amounts of snowfall than the other upstate cities. What some people may consider a negative, Griffin has turned into a positive. She advises people who are just starting out to begin gradually. For those who are hikers, but new to snowshoeing, should not immediately measure their distance against hiking skills, since moving through snow is more difficult. The depth of snow is also a factor. That snowshoeing can be done just about anywhere and does not require a lot of expensive gear makes it a great family wintertime activity. While some may still have visions of snowshoes looking like tennis rackets attached to the bottom of one’s feet, the design and materials have changed a lot. Many are light aluminum, although Griffin is starting to see some models being made of molded plastic. Heavier skiers will prefer wider shoes to give them more surface area, which, in turn, will make it easier to float on the snow. Bindings can vary, but often, Griffin said, it’s a matter of preference. She suggests that you demo different bindings to see which ones are the most comfortable. How they fit in a store may be different than in the snow. Some local stores will allow you to try them out, and at some races, representatives from snowshoe manufacturers will be on hand with various styles to try. And one doesn’t need expensive boots for those bindings. Some racers, Ms. Griffin said, will wear sneakers, but with heavy socks, of course. Trailspace.com offers some useful tips on selecting the best snowshoe. Before heading out, consider bringing some energy bars and water. “You’ll work up a real sweat,” Griffin pointed out. And while it may be possible to go snowshoeing right outside one’s back door, Griffin has found Highland Forest in Fabius; Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville; Stoney Pond State Forest near SUNY Morrisville; the Gorge Trail in Cazenovia, and trails at Green Lakes State Park to be some of her favorites. For more trail details, head over to trails.com, type “snowshoeing in Central New York” in the search box and be prepared to enjoy a Central New York winter.

Social Security Since then, she has competed in numerous local and regional contests; has taken part in United States Snowshoe Association’s (USSSA) National Championship except for one in the last 12 years; and has garnered gold medals at Bolton Valley in Vermont in 2006, in Maple Grove, Wis., in 2007, and again Wisconsin in 2011. She also won last year at the New York State Championship in Eagle Bay, N.Y., in the Adirondacks. She has traveled to Europe to La Ciaspolada in Italy, the largest snowshoe race in the world, and she was instrumental in bringing the National Championships to the Syracuse area in 2010, beating out an area in Vermont as the host. The National Showshoeing Championships move across the country to a different quadrant every year — the East, the Midwest, the West and the Far West. The contests vary from region to region, as each area appears to take advantage of its particular terrain.

National Event in Fabius When it was time to bring the championships to the East, some local leaders in the tourism industry and fans of snowshoeing asked Griffin to become involved. The event was a year in the planning stages, and the efforts paid off, with approximately 350 people coming in for the weekend of individual and relay races. Griffin loved the course that they designed, utilizing the varied terrain of Highland Forest, including some of the off-trail parts of the area. The National Championships were created by Mark Elmore, who founded and leads the USSSA. She credits Elmore, who hails from New York state, for helping to popularize the sport and for organizing trips to Italy and Japan to race. His dream, she said, is to see snowshoeing become an Olympic sport. It should come as no surprise that Grifﬁn could sell the USSSA on bringing the National Championships to Central New York. She is a real cheerleader for the area, and as a sales associate for Hunt Real Estate ERA, she believes that her knowledge of the parks and trails helps families in

finding homes in locales where they can recreate easily and enjoy all that the area has to offer in all seasons. And she knows about trails in all seasons, too. She will train by running six miles every other day with longer runs on the weekends. On the “off” days, she does weight training and other exercises, finding lunges to be extremely beneficial. Highland ranks among her favorite local spots to snowshoe, along with Cazenovia Lake and trails at Green Lakes State Park. One misconception about snowshoeing is that it’s very difficult to do. “It’s as simple as putting on the snowshoes,” she said. That one can do it in almost any snow condition and that there is not a lot of gear required and what is needed is not terribly expensive, all help to make the sport familyfriendly. She does advise those just beginning to pace themselves at an aerobic level that they are comfortable with. Those that are used to hiking shouldn’t start out expecting to measure their snowshoeing distances against what they might be able to hike, she explained, since moving through snow makes one move slower and exert more effort. And the sport is not limited to the young. The Nationals often will include 80-year-olds, she said. Snowshoeing can be a safe activity for seniors, whether they compete or not. The crampons on the bottom of the shoes make it very safe on ice, allowing people to walk uphill, and sometimes people will use ski poles to help stabilize them, Griffin explained. “You’d be hard-pressed to fall down on these,” she said. As Griffin begins another season on the snow, she promises to hit as many competitions as she can, but she’ll be on the trails training long before that, she said, smiling. “It’s a great fitness opportunity that we have here,” she said.

Q&A

Q: Can I get an estimate of my retirement benefit at several different possible ages? A: Yes. We suggest you use our Retirement Estimator at www. socialsecurity.gov/estimator to test different retirement scenarios. This online tool will give you retirement benefit estimates based on current law and real time access to your earnings record. The Retirement Estimator also lets you create additional “what if” retirement scenarios. It’s even available in Spanish at www.segurosocial.gov/ calculador. You can test even more alternatives at www.socialsecurity. gov/planners/calculators.htm. Q: I am receiving Social Security disability benefits. Will my benefits be affected if I work and earn money? A: It can, depending on how much you make. We have special rules called “work incentives” that help you keep your cash benefits and Medicare while you test your ability to work. For example, there is a trial work period during which you can receive full benefits regardless of how much you earn, as long as you report your work activity and continue to have a disabling impairment. For more information about work incentives, we recommend that you read the leaflet, Working While Disabled-How We Can Help, at www.socialsecurity. gov/pubs/10095.html. Q: Is it true that a person can own a home and still be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits? A: Yes, a person who owns a home and lives in that home can be eligible for SSI benefits. SSI is for people who are disabled, aged, or blind and who have limited income and resources. However, there are some items we do not count as resources, such as the home you live in. For more information, read our booklet, Supplemental Security Income, at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/11000. html.

December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

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profile In Harmony with Learning

For Richard Ford, a piano is more than just a piece of furniture in his ofﬁce to gather dust. It is still his favorite instrument. His repertoire is very eclectic, covering the full gamut of music.

Richard Ford shaping up a new generation of musicians By Richard Palmer

fter more than 60 years, Richard W. Ford is still grateful to the teachers at West Winﬁeld High School who encouraged him to pursue a career in music and music education. Today, Ford, 74, of Syracuse, spends many hours a day encouraging young people to develop their musical talents. He does this in a variety of ways through Signature Syracuse, a model urban musical education program he created in 2000. It’s not in his makeup to merely retire and take life easy. He has a longdeveloped work ethic that sometimes keeps him busy as much as 18 hours a day. Although his parents, Stilson and Madalyne Ford, weren’t musicians, they encouraged both he and his two sisters, Marilyn and Suzanne, to 14

develop their musical talents. Even at the age of 14, prior to graduating from high school in 1954, Ford, an accomplished young pianist, had created a ﬁve-piece dance band called “The Journeymen” that played for events in high schools throughout the area. While attending Ithaca College, he created and was on the road weekends with a six-piece Dixieland band as well as the 13-piece Dick Ford Orchestra that provided music at college proms and other events throughout New York state and Pennsylvania. This helped to hone his musical skills. Eventually he also became a professional band booker. One of the highlights of this pursuit was booking a concert by the Stan Kenton Orchestra in Syracuse in the 1970s.

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After college, Ford pursued a career in secondary school education and served as superintendent of several school districts. Through the years, he developed a broad background in elementary, secondary and university teaching as well as business consulting. He has taught business and management courses at Cazenovia, Columbia and Le Moyne colleges and Syracuse University. At one time, he was business consultant for the New York Farm Dealers Association. Over a period of 25 years, he provided leadership and management support to school administrators and professional staffs, consulting ﬁrms and even Carrier Corp., where he was director of corporate development.

55+ Filling a void Ford always felt there was a need in Central New York to make quality music instruction accessible to low-income urban youth. This led to creation of Signature Syracuse in 2000. Since then, music education opportunities have been afforded to more than 150 youth. Signature has created a model urban music program through free private lessons, loan of instruments, community performance opportunities and college guidance. “Our long-term objective is to increase the number of minority youth who maintain their participation in music throughout high school and college,” Ford said. “The program enables students to pursue degrees in music and become employed in music education, performance or the music industry.” Generally, Ford said, in urban s c h o o l m u s i c p ro g r a m s , m o s t students are behind their suburban counterparts. Between 70 and 90

percent of the urban students who take music lessons in elementary school drop music before entering high school. As a result, many musically talented youngsters do not qualify for college level music programs because they lack formal training.

Reaching out to students Signature prepares urban students for college by providing programs in sight-reading, technical competence and practice techniques. Being nonproﬁt, Signature Syracuse is dependent upon charitable donations at various sponsorship levels. Financial support over the years has come from the Rosamond Gifford Foundation, Richard Mather Foundation, John Ben Snow Foundation, Syracuse Rotary, DeWitt and Eastwood Rotary Clubs and the CNY Community Foundation. Ford also created Signature Music Camp in 1993. Since then, this summer program has provided educational and performing experiences for

profile

hundreds of young musicians, many of whom have pursued musical careers. Ford admits this is a very complex annual undertaking, “but it’s well worth it.” Among the staff members is Ford’s daughter, Emily, who is on the camp staff. She is a graduate of SUNY Fredonia. For many years, it was held at Ithaca College. Prior to that, it was held at Houghton College. Starting this year, it will be held in July at SUNY Geneseo. The camper/staff ratio is 4 to 1. Staff members reside with the campers. The one-week youth camp is for grades 6–8 and the two-week teen camp is for grades 9–11. Also worked in are recreational activities. Further information is available at www.signaturemusic.org or call 315-478-7840. “We do not foster competition, awards or prizes. Everyone is on an equal footing,” Ford said.

Richard Ford, left, executive director of the Signature Music Camp, is shown with a group of talented young musicians.

December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

my turn By Bruce Frassinelli

A Serious Daily Walking Regimen The difference this has made in my life has been stunning

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I’ve ﬂown around the world in a plane…” That’s a line from the great, 1937 Bunny Berrigan classic “I Can’t Get Started with

You.” Well, I have walked around the world on foot — ﬁguratively. This past fall, I have clicked past the 25,000-mile mark since I undertook my vigorous walking and weight-loss program of calorie control in 1999. That’s the equivalent of walking around the world at the equator. Doing 10 miles a day, just about every day, I walk the weekly equivalent of a trip between Sandy Creek and the Great Northern Mall, then back again. The difference this has made in my life has been stunning. Not only has it helped take my weight from a totally unacceptable 257 to a now reasonable 172, but it has enhanced all of the important health numbers, including blood pressure (90 over 65), pulse rate (42 at rest), cholesterol (total cholesterol 160 and LDL-C 63), and glucose (73). Not bad for a 72year-old. I have not had a headache in 12 years, and instead of two or three colds annually, I have had just two during that time. My daily walking routine is consistent: I try to start by daybreak. Prior to hitting the road, I do about 10 minutes of knee bends, stretching and other exercises. I do a route that takes me up some fairly steep hills (no pain, no gain). I take a liter of water with me and take water breaks after two, four and six miles. After eight miles, I wind up at my breakfast hangout where I have a bagel and coffee and read the morning paper. After breakfast, I continue for another two miles to home. This sets an indescribable tone 16

for my day. I feel great, pumped up, ready to face the challenges of the world. The entire process, from warmup exercises until I step foot into the garage at the end of the walk takes a little over three hours (including breakfast). Obviously, working a 40hour-a-week job makes such a time commitment difﬁcult to impossible. Being retired gives me the time to do justice to this regimen. Here are my tips for getting involved in a walking regimen: • Warm up before starting to walk; otherwise, you run the risk of hurting yourself. • Start modestly, maybe a mile or two a day (15 to 30 minutes) until you get into shape; then, if motivated, you can increase the distance proportionately. • Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated — you will sweat. • Listen to your body; if you feel pain, don’t ignore it. • Reduce your caloric intake so that all of your hard work is not offset by binge eating. • If available, walk with a buddy; if not, download National Public Radio podcasts and music to your iPod, Droid or other device. • Walk on the left side of the road facing trafﬁc; be sure to share the road and wave a thank you to vehicles which give you wide berth. The payback? MedicineNet.com provides this information about the benefits of walking: • Walking 150 minutes per week and losing just 7 percent of your body weight (12-15 pounds) can reduce your risk of diabetes by 58 percent. • Walking strengthens your heart if you’re male. In one study, mortality rates among retired men who walked

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less than one mile per day were nearly twice that of those who walked more than two miles per day. Walking strengthens your heart if you’re female. In the Nurses’ Health Study (72,488 female nurses), those who walked three hours or more per week reduced their risk of a heart attack or other coronary event by 35 percent compared with women who did not walk. • Walking is good for your brain. Researchers found that those who walked the equivalent of 1.5 hours per week had significantly better cognitive function and less cognitive decline than those who walked less than 40 minutes per week. • Walking is good for your bones. Postmenopausal women who walk approximately one mile each day have higher whole-body bone density than women who walk shorter distances, and walking is also effective in slowing the rate of bone loss from the legs. • Walking for 30 minutes, three to five times per week for 12 weeks reduced symptoms of depression by 47 percent. • Women who performed the equivalent of one hour and 15 minutes to 2 1/2 hours per week of brisk walking had an 18 percent decreased risk of breast cancer compared with inactive women. Many studies have shown that exercise can prevent colon cancer, and even if an individual person develops colon cancer, the benefits of exercise appear to continue both by increasing quality of life and reducing mortality. • Walking just three times a week for 30 minutes can significantly increase cardiorespiratory fitness. • Research shows that walking prevents physical disability in older persons. The list goes on.

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s r e 46

Climbing the High Peaks of the Adirondacks

Climbing one of the Adirondacks high peaks is quite a feat — how about climbing all 46? By Aaron Gifford

he Adirondacks are among N e w Yo r k s t a t e ’ s m o s t spectacular treasures. People of all ages ﬂock there during the four seasons to admire the park’s beauty and enjoy outdoor recreation. Safely climbing one mountain is a remarkable achievement for anyone, let alone a middle-aged or senior adult. But conquering all of the high peaks shows an incredible degree of dedication and determination. Central New York has a strong contingency of those 55 and over who have already achieved “46er” status or are well on track to complete the task in their lifetime. Here are three stories.

Peter Hedglon, 60, Oneida Peter Hedglon always loved scouting. He spent plenty of time outdoors as a child, but he didn’t get a solid taste of the mountains until he was well into his 40s, during a climbing trip in New Mexico. “Other scout leaders wanted to keep doing that kind of activity,” said Hedglon, an attorney. “I said, ‘we

have this tremendous resource close by — only four hours away.” So in 1996, Hedglon and longtime friends Rick Warham and Mike Jacobs set out to climb all 46 Adirondacks high peaks. The trips were scheduled out at least two to three weeks in advance between May and late fall, avoiding winter conditions but still enduring black flies, rain and heat. Other parents in the scouting community joined them on several trips. Some peaks were climbed in a day, but some involved camping overnight. Periodically, Hedglon and his friends would climb two or three mountains over the course of a long weekend. Hedglon loved the exercise and appreciated the Adirondacks’ beauty, but his favorite part about the ongoing adventure was the camaraderie. “When you’re on the trail for eight or nine hours, you have the opportunity to talk about things at length,” he said. “You have the time to go back and forth and experience the nuances.”

The trek, Hedglon continued, is a team effort: One person carries the water, another carries the food, and another carries supplies. There’s a certain sense of accomplishment about reaching the top of the mountain, but the real victory can’t be declared until everyone in the hiking party steps safely off of the trail head and into their vehicle “in one piece.” Hedglon’s favorite peak is Saddleback, because it’s a unique and challenging climb with two humps in the middle of the mountain with plenty of rocks and boulders in between. Hedglon did not climb any Adirondack Mountains in 2002. That year, he made another trip to Filmont, N.M., and scaled an 11,000-foot peak. He returned to Upstate New York’s high peaks the following year with his sights set on becoming a 46er. He had 13 left, and made several solo trips to stay on track. “If you can climb the Adirondacks, you can climb the Rockies,” he said. “Our conditions are just as tough and the terrain is more rugged.” Hedglon’s final climb, Redfield Mountain, was an unusual experience. A bear got into their food even though Hedglon, Warham and Jacobs properly stored it in sealed bags that were suspended off the ground. They picked up the trash left by the satisfied bear, reached the tops and made their way down. The sole on one of Hedglon’s boots came unattached, so he fastened it in place with a strong for the rest of the trek. As the three men logged their names in the book at the trail head, Hedglon noted: “Nobody has been injured, and we haven’t lost any soles.” Hedglon went on to serve as the mayor of Oneida, and with increased responsibilities back home he hasn’t been back to the high peaks since 2004. But as he approaches retirement age he’s slowly realizing more free time and plans to start climbing again when the snow falls and potentially become a “Winter 46er.”

Dick Lightcap, 77, Manlius Lightcap was 69 years old when

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Climbing the high peaks of the Adironacks are from left Matt Jacobs, Rick Warham and Peter Hedglon. “If you can climb the Adirondacks, you can climb the Rockies,” he said. “Our conditions are just as tough and the terrain is more rugged,” Hedglon said.

he became a 46er in 2003. He’s made several return trips to the high peaks since then. The retired school teacher grew up in New York City, where he enjoyed spending time in Central Park and on Long Island beaches. He fell in love with Upstate New York’s outdoor treasures after moving to Syracuse in 1961. “New York state has a lot of geographic diversity,” he said. “There is a heck of a lot of trails that many people aren’t familiar with.” Lightcap had completed a long stretch of the Finger Lakes trail in the early 1990s when he decided to give the Adirondacks a try. The ﬁrst few mountains he climbed alone, usually wearing sneakers and not carrying water or supplies. His respect for nature changed after he got lost on Rocky Peak Ridge in July 1993. It was getting dark, and he had no food, water, ﬂashlight or sleeping bag. “I had nothing,” he said. “The only thing I can compliment myself on is I didn’t lose my composure.” Lightcap kept walking. He spotted a dry creek bed and, recalling tips from a Boy Scout manual decades 18

earlier, followed it to a stream. Then he followed a logging path to the road. By that time it was dark, and Lightcap wasn’t sure how to get to his car. He incorrectly guessed left, but later came across a house and asked the resident for directions. The man drove Lightcap to his car, which was only a few hundred yards from the trail head in the direction Lightcap did not take. “After that I got bitten by the [climbing] bug,” he recalled. Lightcap’s next trek was Whiteface Mountain, where he accompanied a coworker who completed her 46th peak. After that, Lightcap invested in some equipment. He joined the Adirondack Club and visited the mountains as often as he could, climbing up to six mountains during a week-long vacation and making several trips during the winter months. “Curiosity is what kept me going,” he said. “I wanted to see how each mountain looked at the top.” Skylight is among his favorite mountains because of its panoramic view. It’s a much less difﬁcult climb than most of the other high peaks. He enjoyed camping there for a couple

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days. But he also loves the lesser travelled mountains, “because of the remoteness. On a weekday, there are some places you can go and not encounter anyone else.” After becoming a 46er, Lightcap began visiting mountain ranges in other states as well as the Catskills downstate. He also made trips to several New York state parks and is still working on completing the Finger Lakes trail. Still, the retiree returns to the Adirondacks when he can. “I want to see every nook and cranny of the Adirondacks, not just the high peaks. I’d have to live to be 300 years old, but I’m working on it,” he said.

Tom Welch, 64, Jamesville Tom Welch, a pediatrician at the Golisano Children’s Hospital, holds the Adirondacks in the same regard as he does other mountains he climbed in Argentina and Chile. But he refuses to be become a 46er. He draws the line at 44 peaks, and prefers to climb those mountains over again rather than complete all 46. This is out of respect for the ﬁrst known 46ers, brothers George and Bob Marshall and their guide Herb Clark,

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who scaled each mountain more than 100 years ago when the trails weren’t groomed and the park was not a major commercial attraction. “When they did it, it was a substantial accomplishment,” Welch said. “It was a very different era. Today, I think people are just looking at each mountain as something to check off as an accomplishment. They’re not appreciating the history, the beauty, the science.” He also believes that the overcommercialization of climbing the 46 high peaks is a threat to the Adirondacks’ fragile ecosystem. Recent mudslides in that region that followed major ﬂoods are evident of the park’s overuse. Welch challenges the aspiring 46ers to slow down, look around and not be so quick to scale multiple mountains in one weekend. Read about the mountains and communities before your trip, and you’ll enjoy the thrill of seeing the things you learned about ﬁrsthand, he advises. Many 46ers, for example, may not realize that Marshall Square near Syracuse University is named after Bob Marshall, a graduate of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The Herkimer native began climbing mountains in the Adirondacks when he was a 13-year-old Boy Scout. He didn’t keep track his trips as a youngster but did when he got older. Welch shares his experiences and love for the outdoors on his “AdironDoc” website. We l c h t e a c h e s w i l d e r n e s s education courses in Alaska and has climbed mountains throughout the Western hemisphere. Every mountain has its own certain beauty, he said, and what differentiates the Adirondacks from other ranges is its abundance of lakes, ponds and streams. “You won’t see that in the Rockies,” he said. Some of the Adirondack high peaks, including Mount Marcy and Algonquin, have alpine vegetation that is more common closer to the Arctic Circle and very rare at this latitude. “It’s a remnant from when the glaciers retreated 14,000 years ago,” Welch said.

Smart Giving Will Carry On for Letty Murray

Letty Murray sits in her home at The Nottingham alongside a photo from her wedding day in 1942.

It just came naturally for us to be charitable. When my late husband, Gil, suggested that we open a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to help increase our charitable impact, I trusted his good judgment. That was in 1960, when donor-advised funds were a relatively new vehicle for giving. Over the past 50 years, we used our modest fund to support causes we cared about deeply. We actively participated in the grantmaking process while taking advantage of being part of a larger investment pool for continued growth. I feel strongly that our familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legacy of generosity should continue on long after I am gone, and have turned to the Community Foundation to carry that torch. I have entrusted the Community Foundation to continue giving in the Murray name in perpetuity, supporting the greatest needs of the community. There is no better way to honor Gil than to leave a lasting mark on the community we love. Our fund has had immeasureable impact for over half a century and will carry on for generations, making the Community Foundation Where the Smart Money Gives.

Where the Smart Money Gives. 431 East Fayette Street, Suite 100 Syracuse, NY 13202 (315) 422-9538 www.cnycf.org December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

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Rob Kiltz, Man of Many Talents

Pottery, writing, painting, spirituality: The other concerns of the doctor who founded the first successful fertilization center in Central New York By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

ob Kiltz seems a study in idiosyncrasy. His specialty, fertility, often employs thoroughly researched, highly scientific methods to help couples conceive. Yet Kiltz, 55, is an enthusiast in sculpting, painting, and spirituality. He combines Eastern modalities with Western science, which seems to be the secret of his centers’ success. The invitro fertilization practice he founded in the late 90s became the foundation for CNY Fertility Center, which has grown to three branches: Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. He also founded CNY Healing Arts Wellness Center and Spas in the same cities. Kiltz grew up in Los Angeles. While in high school, he was unable to get into a Spanish class so on a lark, he took pottery instead. “I fell in love with it,” he said. “I learned to center on the wheel and it helped me center my life.” He bought his ﬁrst pottery wheel at age 16 and still uses it today. Kiltz also started making silver jewelry and enjoyed building things. Working with his hands “gave me a sense of confidence to do other things,” he said.

In college, Kiltz minored in art while majoring in human sciences. He took most of his art classes at Los Angeles Community College, including ceramics, drawing, design and lettering. He continued his formal education in medicine at University of California. After he interned in internal medicine at UCLA, and in obstetrics and gynecology at USC Los Angeles County Women’s Hospital, he completed residency at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver. Kiltz practiced for one year at Kaiser Permanente in California and then went to Harbor UCLA Medical Center for a two-year fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and fellowship trained and board certiﬁed in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Kiltz moved to Skaneateles in 1995 and still lives there. He chose Skaneateles for the region’s beauty and artistic community. He worked in general OB/GYN and eventually opened an OB/GYN and fertility practice in 1997. “I slowly stopped doing obstetrics

because I got so busy with fertility,” he said. In Syracuse, he founded Central New York’s first successful in vitro fertilization center. While in college and to this day, Kiltz continues to create ceramic art. “UC Davis has a fantastic art and ceramics studio for students, which I fully took advantage of,” Kiltz said. “These days I spend most of my artistic energy on creating with clay. I have a wonderful studio at my home on the eastern shore of Skaneateles Lake, where I spend a great deal of time creating ceramic works.” Kiltz enjoys decorating with his artwork and donating pieces to charitable causes. Most recently, Kiltz has started painting, influenced by the eclectic styles of Picasso and Monet’s impressionist style after touring Paris’ Pompidou Museum of Modern Art. “I saw what art is and saw we’re all artists,” he said. “Most of us are just afraid to do the art. In doing, we learn to grow and explore. That’s my biggest influence.” He likes the illustration about the art teacher who told half his class to work on one perfect piece of artwork and the other to make as many pieces of art as quickly as possible without

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focusing on perfection. The best art came from the latter group. “Art continues to keep me centered and I love the creative process,” Kiltz said. “I think I’ve learned it’s a personal expression of my inner soul, nature and feelings. As I let go of it it’s supposed to be something other than sharing of emotional feelings. I’m learning to do my best work.” Kiltz is also expressing his creative bent through the written word. His ﬁrst book, The Fertile Secret (amazon. com), discusses the body/mind connection in relation to fertility. “The emotional experience creates the most stress and reduces success,” Kiltz said. “Often, it impedes people from participation in something that would help their outcome. Fear holds most of us back and we all have some

of it. Tapping into that energy, and feeling the fear, yet doing it anyway is how we succeed. Whenever I feel that twinge in my tummy, I’m going in the right direction. Growth is right and change is natural.” H e s t a y s p o s i t i v e t h ro u g h practicing what he calls his “daily intentions.” These include thanking God for each day and repeating a positive message to himself each morning when he looks in the mirror. Kiltz believes that self afﬁrmation is more helpful that seeking afﬁrmation from outside. He also enjoys listening to inspiring music or speeches while commuting to work, and reading and writing something inspirational as well. Kiltz did not enjoy reading as a

youngster. After he was diagnosed as dyslexic, he gave up on reading; however, once he began practicing reading he improved and realized all he could learn through the printed page. “The most important thing I do today is read,” he said. “Once I started reading, a new joy and energy in my life opened up.” He continues to learn from life’s experiences, both good and bad, and sees them as gifts to help him grow. “I’ve come to share these words in my practice,” he said. “Stress is a major contributor to infertility and most ill health. If we can share and tap into the mind/body connection and spiritual side, it does help people live a happier life.” To some people, spiritual thoughts

Q&A with Dr. Robert Kiltz Q: How has hitting 55 been d i ff e r e n t f r o m w h a t y o u ’ v e expected? A: I never thought that 55 would feel so young. But I recognize that age is just what we think of it. I always ask people how young they are. When people ask how old I am, I say 25. My parents are both turning 88 and they keep moving and being active in life. I recognize that both physical and mental activity is very important to remaining young. Q: Do you ever feel disconnected from your generation or do you mostly feel connected to their interests, habits and lifestyle? A: My generation is everyone that is alive. So I don’t connect just with people who are 55, but with people of all ages. When we connect in a positive way with everyone, it opens up so many more opportunities in life. Q: What concerns you the most about growing older? A: I don’t think anything because I believe we should be living for the 24

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now, today. And not carrying our worries or concerns for the future because it will unfold exactly as it’s meant to be. Q: What do you do to stay in shape? A: I used to work out quite often: biking, running weights. Then I began to meditate and do yoga. I ﬁnd that hearing good thoughts about yourself helps you stay in the best shape ever. I keep moving and staying active. I don’t watch television. I get at least six hours’ sleep at night. Those are the things that I do to stay in shape. Q: What do you do that helps you stay feeling young? A: I read and listen to lots of inspiring stories. And I work to connect positively to people every day. I look into their eyes, listen to their stories. Walter Breuning [the world’s oldest man, a retired railroad worker from Montana] died at 114 [in April 2011]. Some of the things he’s said inspires me. He ate two meals per day. Most people

eat too much. Be comfortable with change because it’s the natural process of change. Be good with it even when it slaps you in the face. Go to work every day. I don’t believe in retirement. Go to work and be productive. Accept death because we’re all going to die. Let it go because none of us knows when it will happen. Most people worry about it. Every day I write. I’ve done it for the last four years. I write a daily intention ﬁve days a week. I think it the other two days. One of the most powerful things I’ve learned is to meditate and learn to accept change. You grow through it as you share the stories, read up on stories, and connect positively with people. One of the things I’ve learned is that how little Western science knows and how valuable faith is. [It has] helped me focus more inside than outside. And helped me grow tremendously and learn and ultimately, feel younger. Enjoy every day like it’s your last.

seem as far removed from the scientiﬁc, medical world as could be; however, to Kiltz, the spiritual elements of life are inseparable from the physical. “I think ultimately, we’re spiritual beings and the body happens to be connected to the brain,” Kiltz said. “The spirit is explored through our thoughts. We’re all ultimately expressing the nature of God in a connecting energy, a oneness. We’re made up of the same energy that connects us all. “Through words of love, kindness, gratitude and appreciation every day, we learn to express that. Spirit I think is one of the most powerful things we practice every day. We spend so much time in worry, looking at bad weather or the stock market and focus on the bad things in life. Life is a gift and we have all these things to be grateful for. When we focus on gratitude, those thoughts send a signal to every cell in the body to bring about joy and happiness. For me, that’s the most powerful spiritual energy in the universe.” Kiltz’s personal exploration of the impact of acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and inspirational reading on the body’s physical health has opened opportunities for him to share his discoveries with others as a motivational speaker. Though not trained as a speaker, his from-the-heart talks appeal to people experiencing pain and setbacks in life. He had been accustomed to giving presentations about the medicine and science related to fertility. “As I began to read more about the spiritual journey in life and success in life, I began to want to share it more,” he said. Stepping into that pain helps us grow and see the light of life. I’m passionate about it.” He has spoken at several retreats he has hosted and at several national fertility conferences. He also shares his thoughts on his daily mind-bodysmile blog and vlog. “I’m doing it for myself,” he said. “That’s what it’s taught me the most: to grow and learn and continue my education in life. My goals are to share joy and happiness every day. And remember that every day is a gift and that true success and wealth is built in relationships and not in our stuff.” Kiltz has a 22-year-old daughter, Pilar, and a girlfriend of three years.

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retirement

Finally Retired.

At 92

Newly retired Dr. Roberts reflects on a storied career

By Lou Sorendo

r. Frederick Roberts yearns for the days of house calls. He also misses the times when a physical meant gathering information regarding a patient’s history as well as a careful physical exam. Now, technology rules the process. Roberts retired from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse recently at the age of 92. He ﬁrst began practicing in the Salt City in 1946 and, as a pediatrician, treated more than 300,000 children. He said the rise of technology in medicine has been “both wonderful and also has had its drawbacks.” “We went from the esoteric to the technological way of making a diagnosis,” he said. The time-honored way of checking a patient out has given way to a more sterile yet efﬁcient approach. Now, it involves running lab tests on blood which will indicate cholesterol, triglycerides and liver function and whether a patient is anemic or not, Roberts noted. The availability of ultrasound and CAT scans also streamlined the diagnosis process, he added. “The diagnosis is made with Linda Land and Jay Land technology rather than through at their home and in Syracuse. medical intuition skill,” he said. “You had to go with the flow and adapt to it.” 30

55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

55+ Now retired, Roberts misses the doctor-patient relationships he formed while practicing. “I don’t miss all the crap of insurance and all the government regulations and all the things that don’t have anything to do with medicine,” he said. “Third parties dictate what we do. The cost of medicine is so oppressive that the patient can’t afford to see the doctor,” he said. Roberts said it is government interference that poses the greatest problem to the healthcare industry “more than anything else.” “That has bothered me a great deal,” he said. “I long for the return of the old country doctor, the old family practitioner kind of person.” Roberts said it is the primary care physician who should be the ﬁrst to take care of patients. Patients with more complicated issues should be referred to medical centers, he said. “I think most the patients can be handled beautifully and wonderfully by well-trained physicians without the press of government on them,” he said. “It really takes the pleasure out of everything,” he said. “You can’t devote the time you want to the individual patient. There is a certain turnover that you have to have in order to keep up with expenses. You lose the most important ingredient of all: the relationship between the doctor and patient. It’s all very impersonal.”

New age of threats Richards said Americans are facing a multitude of health threats today as opposed to when he ﬁrst started practicing. “Much of it has to do with our diet and inactivity,” he said. “We are prey to a lot of habits that probably shorten our lives or at least alter it.” “Think of the number of people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from smoking, or AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. These are things that we didn’t face before,” he said. “We had a lot of venereal diseases in the past, but the ones we have now are crucial, terrible and are ruining whole

retirement

populations.” “When I ﬁrst started practicing in 1946, nobody had ever heard of AIDS. There was no such disease in our books. We had common communicable diseases and various kinds of immunizations wiped them out. We had a lot of other diseases but antibiotics wiped them out,” he noted. “But now we are facing illnesses which are more devastating. We’re seeing more patients with early Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphomas. It’s an entirely different world we face,” he said. Roberts said the problems of obesity and being overweight existed years ago as well. “But there were other things that helped us,” he said. Summer vacations saw children at parks playing stickball, golf or tennis. “It all depended on where you lived and what kind of sports there were,” he said. “Now it’s sitting in front of the television, having fast foods, having total apathy, and just having no motivation to be physically active.” Roberts added that there is “no hard work now.” “We don’t see people working on farms. Most of them are sitting on their duffs doing nothing or working in some sedentary job. As a result, calories come easy. You have to go

to fast food restaurants and in two minutes, you’ve downed more calories than you needed if you worked in a ﬁeld or steel mill,” he said. While Roberts said obesity is perceived as an epidemic, it is “not as it seems to be.” “There has always been fat kids, but those fat kids were a minority. Now, those fat kids are a majority because there is not much activity. How many children do you think go out and play? Most of their recreation is passive. There are very few who go out and sweat,” he said. Roberts reflected on the many changes that have altered his profession since he broke into medicine. “We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve had advances eliminating many of the communicable diseases that used to be the curse of everybody,” he said. No longer does society have to deal with epidemics like measles and polio, or see children die of meningitis. “Antibiotics have really changed the whole thing,” he said. Other changes involve the ability to keep premature babies alive “who never would have made it before,” Roberts said. Roberts said autism spectrum disorder was not even known during the early stages of his career. “There’s a different scope of

December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

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retirement

things,” he said. “Of course, now we have the unfortunate problem of addiction,” he said. “Again, when I was in practice, we didn’t have problems with some of the drug addictions. Psychiatry was just a beginning science.” Roberts said today, “Half of our patients are diagnosed with being bipolar or having some other psychopathy. We see more difﬁculties with stress based on the kind of life we lead today.”

The legacy he left After caring for more than 300,000 children, what kind of legacy does Roberts feels he has left? “I don’t know. That’s for other people to decide, not me,” Roberts said. “I found that I enjoyed it and contributed a little. I was lucky enough to be involved in some changes that took place,” he said. Roberts noted that he experienced starting a cystic ﬁbrosis clinic, and also did many exchange transfusions for Rh disease, which is no longer a problem. “I had the opportunity to deal with so many new things that came along in medicine,” he said. “I was at the beginning of a crusade of wonderful things that were happening.” Roberts said the greatest gratiﬁcation he gets is knowing that as a native Syracusan, he succeeded right in his hometown. He attended local schools, went away for additional training, went into the service, and then returned back to Syracuse in 1946. He became associated with local medical centers as a volunteer physician and gradually became part of teaching programs. “I had contact with a lot of other young doctors on the way up and enjoyed interacting with them,” he said.

Second career Roberts wants to explore the world of writing children’s literature in his retirement. He has written a few books that delve into his career and interest in 32

medicine. “I’d like to write some children’s stories and like to keep pace with what’s going. I just don’t want to sit by the fire,” he said. He helped raise funds for the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital by donating proceeds from the sale of his second book, “Children Courageous and Their Families.” In college, Roberts majored in both English and science. “I found that it was my way of being able to communicate with my patients. I had an interest in literature, language and communications. I was able to make my point a little better than if I had been all just dull physics and chemistry. I had to have a little more of a social science background,” he said. “We want to try to influence patients toward better health and better futures,” he said. Roberts graduated from Nottingham High School in Syracuse, and earned his medical degree from the Syracuse University School of Medicine, which today is part of SUNY Upstate Medical University, in 1942. He completed a local general rotating internship for one year then went to Grasslands Hospital in Westchester County, which is now Westchester Medical Center, for a pediatric residency. He did another pediatric residency at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago and practiced there for five months. He then went into the Navy toward the end of World War II where he spent 16 months as a medical officer. He returned to Syracuse in 1946 and established a pediatric practice. He said he “partially” retired in the mid-1990s and started an outpatient clinic program at Crouse Hospital for disadvantaged children, for which he was executive director for about 10 years. He then would return to private practice for another six months and “allegedly” retired again in 2005. This time he would hook up as a voluntary emeritus professor teaching

55 PLUS - December 2011 / January 2012

at SUNY Upstate for another five years. Roberts, who resides at Presidential Plaza, had been a voluntary faculty member at Upstate since 1954. “I again retired and now I am looking for work,” he said.

The perfect calling It was a natural evolution into pediatrics for Roberts. “I had a young baby of my own and I didn’t know much about it,” he said. “I found it fascinating and I thought I had a flair for it. I got along well with children and parents. It was the sort of thing that turned me on.” Roberts said the key to his professional longevity was due to the practice of pediatrics itself and the excitement and interest it generated for him. “I had no specific hobbies that I liked and my wife and I were very happy to have this on our minds. Our children and grandchildren were all grown up, and this was a lot of fun for us,” he said. Roberts and his wife Ann will celebrate 70 years of marriage in March. What is the secret to a successful marriage? “Just find the right woman. If you haven’t already, that is what you should do,” Roberts said. Roberts, a sports fan, was a former tennis player and enjoyed walking, running and swimming back in the day. “I don’t do that much anymore,” he said. “I married a dietitian. I did well in that respect,” he said. The couple has five children, five grandchildren, and four greatgrandchildren. One of his grandchildren is a physician who “unfortunately is not going into pediatrics,” Roberts said. Instead, the choice was internal medicine and cardiology. Roberts’ father Frank was also a physician and significantly impacted his son’s decision to pursue a career in medicine. “By example, he was the model by which I wanted to set my professional standards,” he said.

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exercise

Mary Lou Van Denburg, of Pennellville, pauses brieﬂy during her daily walk at Great Northern Mall in Clay. She’s been mall walking ﬁve days a week for 20 years.

Mall Walking High Season Many people hit the mall on a daily basis — as the weather gets cold, mall walking may be one of the best options for exercise and socialization By Suzanne M. Ellis

he sun is barely visible on the horizon this October morning, and already a dozen or more mall walkers have arrived at Great Northern Mall in Clay. There are 25 or so “regulars,” most of them seniors or those approaching the age of senior citizenship, who have done it for years. “There’s quite a large group that comes here nearly every day, and then they hang out together in the food court,” said Sandy Graham, the marketing manager at Great Northern Mall. “It’s hard to give you an average daily number, but I’d guess that we get 35 or so a day. And when the 34

weather starts to get cold and snowy and icy, we could have as many as 75. We deﬁnitely see an increase in the number of walkers during the winter months.” Carousel Mall in Syracuse also has about two dozen regular mall walkers, according to Josh Amidon, assistant marketing director. And just like at Great Northern, those numbers will increase sharply as winter settles in. The mall walkers are “a kind of mini-community that we have here at Carousel,” Amidon said. “The vast majority are older folks, and they are our regular core crowd that comes

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year-round.” And why not? Mall walking has become an extremely popular activity, especially for those 55 and older, because it’s great exercise — and a shopping mall is the perfect place to get that exercise. Mall walkers don’t have to worry about their safety because security personnel are in shopping malls around the clock. And they don’t have to worry about the perils of uneven pavement, cracks in the sidewalks, potholes or — here in Central New York — the sudden formation of black ice on wintry days. The air and the temperature are always ideal because

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exercise

malls are climate controlled. And, perhaps, best of all, bathrooms are readily available anytime someone needs one. Don Tyler, of Hannibal, has made the pilgrimage to Great Northern Mall ﬁve days a week for the past 18 years. Tyler, who said his age is “75 plus,” usually walks four miles. “We have our own little ‘club,’ there’s probably 10 or 15 of us that are here pretty much all the time,” Tyler said. Linwood Dennison, 77, of Central Square is another of the regulars at Great Northern. “Barring doctors’ appointments

Mary Lou Van Denburg, of Pennellville, left, and Beverly Bowles, of Liverpool, often play Mexican Train Dominoes in the Great Northern Mall Food Court after their daily walks. Fellow mall walkers, Bowles said, have become “family” to her. Great Northern opens its doors to mall walkers at 7 a.m., three hours before the mall opens for business. Carousel Center, in Syracuse, opens its doors for walkers at 6 a.m.

Jim Sprague, of Clay, walks two miles a day, ﬁve days a week, at Great Northern Mall in Clay. 36

or something like that, I’m here six days a week, but I do take Sundays off,” Dennison said. He walks three miles and has been going to the mall for 10 to 12 years. “It’s a perfect place to walk because if you fall, there’s always someone around to pick you up,” he said. “And we get free [sodas] from Taco Bell.” The results of a study on the benefits of an eight-week mall-walking program were published in March of 2010 in the Cambridge Journals. A total of 52 participants with an average age of 64 chose their own pace of walking, the amount of time spent walking and the frequency of their walking. Results “indicated a significant improvement in physical activity behavior and most fitness indices.” Additionally, the report noted

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“positive health improvements associated with mall walking” and the recommendation that “such [activities] should be considered as part of health-promotion programs, especially for the aging population.” Dick Pollock, of Cicero, walks two miles a day, four days a week, at Great Northern Mall and has been mall walking for 16 years. “A lot of us stay for coffee in the food court and to solve all the problems of the world,” said Pollock, 76. “And then we go home.” Beverly Bowles, of Liverpool, started mall walking when doctors told her she was diabetic. “I knew then that I needed to start getting some regular exercise,” Bowles said. “And now,” she said, looking around at fellow walkers, “nine years later, they have become my family.”

golden years By Harold Miller E-mail: HMillerMOD@aol.com.

Just Another Pothole on the Roadway of Life

ost of us were raised and provided with a roadmap, supplied by our parents. It included working hard in school to get a good education so that you can get a good job and make enough money to get married and raise a family. After a successful life you will be rewarded by the golden years, fueled by a pension and the other fruits of your labor — loving children, and grandchildren — and perhaps great grandchildren if you’re lucky. Chances are, no one prepared you for the potholes — the traumata of life — when the ground falls out from under and, at least temporarily, your life goes askew. The traumata are completely unpredictable and, for most, unavoidable. The degree with which you can cope with life’s potholes will determine the ongoing quality of your life. The traumata of my life began 50 years ago last Nov. 5 while deer hunting with a friend at Panther Lake in the foothills of the Adirondacks. It was a warm morning and, while waiting in the trees, I foolishly opened my khaki jacket, which revealed a white shirttail underneath. A friend mistook it for the tail of a deer and let go with a shotgun blast that sent a slug completely through my belly. What followed was nothing short of a miracle of rescue and medical science, which can only prove that there must be a superior being. My life was saved by Dr. Leon Berman — a product of M.A.S.H. training in the Korean War — who just happened to be at Upstate Medical Center that fateful Sunday morning when my body arrived (the medical report indicated “moribund” — dead on arrival). The Korean War had advanced

medical science to the point that if a soldier’s wound did not take out any vital organs the chances for survival were better than 90 percent. Janet and I had three children with a fourth on the way. I awoke three days later looking at the magniﬁcent sight of my wife’s pregnant belly overhead. Our son, Stephen Gray, was born one month later. We named him after Dr. Leon Gray Berman, our hero. The road ahead was long and arduous with more surgery, but like Humpty Dumpty we put our life back together. The near-death experience gave me an entirely different perspective of the roadway of life, which in turn produced a latent drive that has served me well. The second major pothole occurred in 1996 when a routine physical examination revealed a well developed tumor in my colon (previously riddled by the shotgun shell). This time around my survival was aided by my secretary’s friend Lisa Wylie, administrative assistant at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo (See my column “Honor Flights” in the issue September/ October 2011), who obtained my admittance on an emergency basis. Medical science has made great strides in the past half century but its beneﬁts are not available at just any hospital. Roswell Park is one of the leading cancer centers in America. You can sense its powers the minute you walk in the door. Friendly, helpful people greet you everywhere, and the rafters ring with caring and quality service. My cure was complete due to the dedicated team that shepherded survival before and after surgery. The third major traumata of my life is being played out as I

write this article, having had a hip joint replaced at Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Fla. Oct. 26. Today, joint replacements are thought to be a routine affair by many, but my experience indicates otherwise. Just the thought of sawing off your bones and replacing with steel rods and Teﬂon ball joints — and usually ending up with something stronger and more ﬂexible than Mother Nature provided — is nothing short of awesome. I am indeed the bionic man. In addition to the metal and plastic in my new hip, I have titanium mesh reinforcing the abdomen where the deer slug passed through. It is questionable whether anyone can live an uneventful life today. We have made a deal with the devil and exchanged longevity for everlasting tranquility. Just remember that it matters not how many years you live but what you do with the afforded time granted. Is it trite to say that we must live every day to the fullest and make the most of the hand of cards that has been dealt to us?

Validation: The Real Joan P.

Joan Powers

It wasn’t much of a secret around Auburn and environs that Joan Powers was, “The Chronicler of the Finger Lakes,” the subject of my last column in 55 PLUS. She is well

December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

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known by the media, civic leaders, and her many, many friends. Powers has learned the secret that escapes many 55 Pluser’s readers, and that secret is to stay tuned to the world around you. Too many retirees and seniors stay frozen in their time and space, which does not extend far beyond their easy chair. The world is still an exciting place and the mind is a terrible thing to go to waste. That said, I am trying to bring Powers to the ﬁnal dimension, which incorporates the computer, email, and the Internet. Do you know that there is a built-in feature as standard equipment, on most laptops called ‘Skype’ — this is a little camera in the frame that stares at you as you email. It can be set up to connect you to any of your friends and family anywhere in the world so that you can see them as well as talk to them (actually I’m trying to tempt Powers via these pages because it takes too long for her letters to get to me in Florida). Again, a tip of the hat to a gracious lady who refuses to let age rob her of the joy of living.

What is a Prearrangement and Why You Should Set Up One By Anthony J. Farone

hen you think of funeral arrangements, the term “prearrangements” probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind. A lot of people have already wisely made their prearrangement with their funeral director. Most people however, are still in the dark as to why they should set one up, or even how to go about doing so. The one certain reality in life that we all must face is our own mortality. That being said, our own mortality is just about the last thing we want to talk or think about as we are busy living our lives. As time goes by and a non-stop fast-paced world is what we are now living in, it’s important to plan for your ﬁnal arrangements. Prearrangements are not only done by the sick, but by people in every age group. Many people are beginning to incorporate funeral planning into their retirement and financial planning. So, what is a prearrangement? A 38

prearrangement is a way of making our wishes known to those we leave behind. A prearrangement states the type of service desired, the merchandise that he or she would like, and what one would like done with his or her remains. A prearrangement can either be funded or unfunded. A funded prearrangement will take the financial burden off survivors. Funding your pre-need in full will also guard against inflation. By having your merchandise selected and your funeral funded, this will prevent emotional overspending by your family. Finally, what are the benefits o f m a k i n g a p re a r r a n g e m e n t ? Prearranging takes a huge emotional and financial burden off your family. Families tell me time and time again what a relief it is knowing that mom or dad had already made those tough choices for them. Not knowing where your loved one would’ve wanted their service, or which casket they would

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prefer is emotionally taxing at a time when you’re already emotionally drained. As you can see, the benefits of planning your funeral in advance are numerous. There is no cost to simply get more information from your funeral director, and I encourage everyone to do so. Taking the time to pre-plan in today’s hustle and bustle world is difﬁcult, but it truly is a loving gift to your family. As a funeral director, one of the hardest things I have to see is someone come through my doors completely and totally unprepared and uninformed on the day they’ve lost a loved one. I think everyone can agree that no one would want to be that person coming through our doors. Anthony J. Farone is the owner and operator of Farone Funeral Home. For more information, visit www.faroneandson. com

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computing

Seniors More Comfortable With Online Shopping 56 percent of Internet users aged 64-72 and 47 percent of Internet users aged 73 and older identify themselves as online shoppers By Kenneth Little

eniors are embracing the Internet and many of the online shopping services it offers. Wendy Davenport shops on sites like Amazon and orders from well-known businesses like L.L. Bean. “The last few years we started doing things online we wouldn’t have

years ago. I was very circumspect and I didn’t want to use a credit card online,” said Davenport, a literature and ﬁlm class instructor at Syracuse OASIS who also volunteers there. “Our grown children showed us, which is often the case. I started to [shop] online and it was kind of fun, so I did it more often,” said

Davenport, who is in her 60s. That attitude is good news for marketers as the holiday season approaches. Computers are better news for those who dread the mall and its crowds of shoppers. A recent eMarketer Digital Intelligence article cites data from the Cable & Telecommunications

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Association for Marketing that shows a majority of seniors who use the Internet do so, in part, for online shopping. The data shows that online shopping among elder Internet users age 65 and older was second in popularity only to email use. Tracie Alexander, who is program and volunteer manager for Syracuse OASIS, said computer classes offered at the center, which caters to a 50-andover clientele, had to be revamped. “The classes we offered weren’t sophisticated enough,” Alexander said. “We sent a computer survey to some of our members and we d i s c o v e re d p e o p l e w a n t m o re advanced classes.” These days, working effectively with computers can require a knowledge of iPods, iPads and digital cameras, Alexander said. Computer classes offered at Syracuse OASIS include instruction in Microsoft Publisher, exploring the Internet, exploring Google, computer flash drives, how to create a free Web page and buying and selling on online sites like Amazon, eBay and Craigslist. “We’re having a lot of people signing up for these classes,” Alexander said. “We’ve offered these classes consistently for the last three years now.” Alexander has a theory why some older folks are becoming more comfortable with computers. “What I think is happening here is we are having more baby boomers come to Oasis. Most of these baby boomers have just retired from the workforce and they were used to using computers at work,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem like there’s many people of that age group that need that instruction. It’s more technologically based now.” For more information about computer instruction courses offered by Syracuse OASIS, call 464-6555 or go to www.oasisnet.org/syracuse According to a 2009 Pew Internet & American Life Project study, older generations use the 40

Internet less for socializing and entertainment and more as a tool for information searches, emailing, and buying products than their younger generation counterparts. As computers become more ingrained in American popular culture, uneasiness about using them for tasks such as shopping and keeping in touch with family members has lessened. “I’ve heard a lot of our members are getting into Facebook. They really want to communicate with the younger generation and they figure that’s the best way to do it, is go on these social networking sites,” Alexander said. Using computers to shop is also becoming more popular, but some people remain wary of providing personal information like credit card numbers. “There are a lot of people who are still reluctant,” Davenport said. “The first time I had to use a computer was because I was forced to at my job. I was afraid to use it because I thought I would break the computer.” Times have changed. “I think the comfort level is what we teach here and with what our grown children teach us, it becomes more practical,” she said. According to the 2009 Pew study, Generation X (Internet users aged 33-44) continues to lead in online shopping. But 56 percent of Internet users aged 64-72 and 47 percent of Internet users agd 73 and older also identified themselves as online shoppers. “I think it’s safe to say we still have a small number of members who do not have computers,” Davenport said. “The majority of our people are computer-savvy and they are becoming more comfortable with it as time goes on.” The stigma many once associated with computer use and tasks like online shopping is rapidly fading. Davenport added. “For the most part, I think so,” she said. “For my generation, it’s something many of us do enjoy.”

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Identity Theft: Boomers Are Often the Target Of all consumer complaints of identity theft in New York, 28 percent is by people aged 50 and older By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

entral New York isn’t known as a crime-ridden region of the state. Chances are you likely won’t be the victim of a purse snatcher or pickpocket. But if you happened to leave a store without your purse or mislay your wallet in a restaurant, you could lose more than the cash and credit cards in your wallet. You could lose your identity. Of all consumer complaints of identity theft in New York, 28 percent is by people aged 50 and older, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The agency further reports that the E m p i re S t a t e i s eighth in the nation for identity theft w i t h m o re t h a n 18,000 complaints in 2009, the most recent year ’s Penders statistics available. Identity thieves may not be strangers. “In 35 percent of cases, the person knew who had stolen their

55+ information,” said Peggy Penders, representing the Better Business Bureau Upstate New York Region, which operates from Amherst, near Buffalo. Identity thieves use information about you to pose as you to use your credit, open their own lines of credit in their own names, and obtain medical treatment, among other kinds of fraud. All of these activities can destroy your credit rating. Even if you have no plans to apply for credit yourself right now, a damaged credit rating can wreak havoc on your finances. You may decide in the future to co-sign on a loan to help a grandchild. Someday, you may want to buy a smaller house as you downsize from your current home. If someone who steals your identity taps into your bank account, he or she could siphon it dry. It’s not as hard as you’d think for thieves to do any of the above, considering what many people carry in their wallets. Baby boomers June and Chuck Webber of Martville had carried their Social Security cards with them in their wallets for so long that the cards wore out, prompting them to seek replacements. “When we ﬁrst got them, we had to show them for everything we did,” June recalled. “It was more like an identity card. You had to carry it with you all the time. Now they tell us to not carry them with us but store them in a safe place where we know where they are but where we can get to them if we need them. “I had heard I shouldn’t carry it with me but I hadn’t paid much attention because I didn’t realize all the risk that went with it,” she added. The Webbers’ Social Security cards were never mislaid; however, others are not so fortunate. Penders warns seniors and anyone else to carefully guard their Social Security numbers. “This number itself is the key that single handedly unlocks numerous doors for identity thieves,” she said. “This is the number you want to

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protect more than anything else and never use it as an ID number or password.” For example, some insurance companies use the Social Security number as an identiﬁcation number. Ask to change it to something else. Don’t carry your credit or debit card PIN numbers with you, nor your bank account numbers. Other identifying information includes your date of birth, credit card numbers, health insurance account number and home address. It’s wise to avoid using any of these numbers carelessly. Many websites, for instance, request your date of birth only for ensuring you’re more than 18 or to store it for marketing purposes. Most of the time, your actual date of birth is not needed. Supply the right year, but a false date. Many credit card companies send pre-approved offers for cards: a perfect way for identity thieves to ruin your life. Ask them in writing to quit sending these to you. You can also reduce the amount of junk mail you receive by carefully reading anything requiring you to sign up with your name and address. Most of these offers have an optout box you can uncheck to avoid solicitations from marketers. Request your credit card company to stop sending you printed checks tied to your credit account. Since many pieces of legitimate paperwork contain vital pieces of personal information, it’s important to shred the paper once you no longer need it instead of tossing it in the trash or recycle bin. A home shredder does the trick, but if you have huge amounts of paperwork, using a secure shredding service may be a lot easier. Most ofﬁce supply stores offer shredding for a modest fee. Purge your wallet of unnecessary cards. Photocopy the front and back of each card you do carry and store the copies in a safe place in case your wallet is lost or stolen. If this happens, you can notify the card issuers immediately to help prevent unauthorized use of your accounts. Follow up your phone

The Webbers: “I had heard I shouldn’t carry it with me but I hadn’t paid much attention because I didn’t realize all the risk that went with it,” the wife said. calls with letters and document all of your communication with the card issuers. Your liability is capped at the ﬁrst $50 spent by a thief per credit card according to federal law if you report a lost or stolen card. If you have several cards in your wallet, it’s easy to see how this could quickly add up. For debit cards that draw from your accounts, you must report the loss within two business days to avoid more than a $50 loss. With either type of card, if you report the missing card before it’s used, you will have no liability. Medical identity cards are nearly as valuable as financially-oriented cards. Thieves can use your identity to use up your medical beneﬁts for procedures and care. To prevent this type of fraud, carefully review statements from your insurer and consider not carrying your medical card with you unless you plan to see your doctor. In case of emergency, hospitals must treat you even if you are uninsured. In addition to the information you have stored in your home and carry Continued on page 49

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Is Seneca Falls the Real Bedford Falls? Locals say yes, classic holiday movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ used town as a model By Sandra Scott

as Seneca Falls the historical model for the village of Bedford Falls made famous in the classic holiday movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life?” The people of Seneca Falls think it was. It is known that the director, Frank Capra, who had an aunt in nearby Auburn, visited Seneca Falls and a local barber recalled that around the time the ﬁlm was in production he cut the hair of a man who introduced himself as Frank Capra. 42

The small mill town setting of Bedford Falls is similar to Seneca Falls and many of the names used in the movie are names familiar to the village and local area. When discussing the film, locals point to the bridge remarking on the similarity of their bridge to the one in the film. The Seneca Falls bridge not only looks like the one in the film but it has a compelling story of its own. A plaque on the bridge, which many feel Capra read during his visit, relates that on April 12, 1917, Antonio Varacalli lost his life when he jumped

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into the icy Seneca River to save a lady who was trying to commit suicide. Even if Seneca Falls was not the inspiration for the movie’s setting, the town folks are running with the idea. The village’s yearly It’s a Wonderful Life Festival will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the film. Karolyn Grimes, who played ZuZu, George Bailey’s daughter, has been featured at the celebration for several years and this year she will be joined by Carol Coombs-Mueller who played Janie, her older sister.

55+ Part of the celebration is the ringing of the bells which according to wingless Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class, who was trying to earn his wings, “Every time you hear a bell ring, it means that some angel just got their wings.” A recently remodeled hotel on Fall Street has been rebranded The Clarence, where the movie’s theme permeates many aspects of the hotel. Visitors can pick up a “It’s a Wonderful Life” walking tour that points to places thought to have been the inspiration for people and events in the movie. It is fitting that the new It’s a Wonderful Life Museum, dedicated to the 1949 movie, is housed in the village’s first movie theater. The small museum has a variety of memorabilia from the movie, much of which was donated by little ZuZu, Karolyn Grimes. The central theme of the movie stressed the importance of each individual emphasizing that no matter how apparently insignificant the individual may feel everyone has the power to make a difference, and the important things in life are not fame or money, but with how we live our life. Capra is reported as saying, “No man is poor who has one friend. Three friends and you are filthy rich…” The It’s a Wonderful Life Museum shares the building with IDEA, an acronym for Integration of Dignity and Economic Advancement, dedicated to overcoming the stigma of leprosy. While it may seem, at first, an unlikely combination they both promote the value of the individual. IDEA’s mission is to “promote the human rights and dignity of all human beings around the world, with a focus on individuals affected by leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, to ensure that they live rewarding lives, as fully participating members of their community.” Before the classic film, Seneca Falls played an important role in the women’s rights movement, which also focused on the importance of each individual of society. The Women’s Rights National

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The Seneca Falls bridge not only looks like the one in the film but it has a compelling story of its own. Historical Park has preserved several locations associated with the 1848 First Women’s Rights Convention, which took place in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel with more than three hundred in attendance. Adjacent to the chapel is the NP’s Visitor Center with the “First Wave,” statues of those who were among the first to promote women’s rights. The main representations are Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who spearheaded the call for the convention and wrote the first draft of the “Declaration of Sentiments,” and Frederick Douglass who was a former slave, abolitionist lecturer, and publisher of the North Star, an antislavery newspaper. The visitor’s center has an excellent video that explores the concept of equality. Located just down the street from the National Park Visitor Center is the National Women’s Hall of Fame that honors great American women from all walks of life who have contributed significantly to the fabric of American life and society. The village of Seneca Falls has several other attractions. It owes its existence to the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. Today it is a recreational area with docking facilities for boaters. Those without a boat can enjoy a trip along the canal

on Mid-Lakes Navigation Company’s Emita II locking through to the Erie Canal. The importance of the waterway can be found at the Museum of Waterways and Industry that explores the impact of the waterways and industry on the area. There are handson exhibits to help children experience an earlier time without today’s machines. The Seneca Falls Historical Society Museum, housed in a 23-room 1880 Queen Anne mansion is a step into the Victorian era when the mills and factories where the main source of employment for the residents. The house has much of the original ﬁxtures and furnishings along with extensive lawns, a Seth Thomas clock poised atop a small clock tower, and an outbuilding called the Beehive. Visitors can follow the Frank J. Ludovico Sculpture Trail along the canal. Just a short distance from the village is the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge with bald eagles and ospreys, and the Finger Lakes Wine Trails making Seneca Falls the perfect location from which to visit the more than 70 wineries located in the Finger Lakes Region. Seneca Falls is a village with plenty to offer visitors year round.

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druger’s zoo By Marvin Druger

The Golden Years. Should We Call Them the Rusty Years? “I often remind myself of the ultimate statistic, i.e., ‘Ten out of 10 people eventually die.’”

etirement marks the beginning of the golden years. I’ll bet the term was invented by a 30-yearold person, since many people in their golden years would not agree that these years are golden. Some oldsters would refer to this stage of life as the rusty years, or the decaying years. Certainly, the golden years represent a major change in lifestyle, but they are complex, thoughtprovoking, philosophical years. We begin to think more about our mortality. We would like to regain our youthful vitality and agility, but, sadly, this doesn’t happen. Our downward physical strength has to be balanced by a newly-developed mental strength. On the other hand, this stage of life is a time of opportunity to be free to do things that we always wanted to do but never could because of the obligations of our employment. I have met many retirees. Many are happy and satisﬁed; others are not. I was having dinner with a high school teacher who used to teach my biology course in the project advance program. This program enables high school teachers to teach a ﬁrst-year college course to high school students in the high school for college credit. The teacher had a large basement, fully equipped with furniture-making capabilities. As a hobby, he made professionalquality furniture. I imagined that he was perfectly happy being retired, but he seemed glum. I said,” You can build lots of nice furniture in your retirement, but you don’t look happy.” He replied, 44

Life is a progressive series of experiences, and selecting retirement activities that are new, exciting and fun seems to be the best way to make the most of the golden years. “I’m used to going to work.” A professor retired recently from Syracuse University, he spends much of his time riding bicycles with a bicycle group. He loves it. Another professor retired spends his time making paintings and visiting his family. Another friend retired and he spends his time canoeing and climbing mountains. Many retirees do volunteer work. My wife, Pat, retired from Syracuse University where she was an administrator in the writing program. She does tax returns for AARP, serves on the Friends of Jowonio Preschool board of directors, serves as a docent at the Erie Canal Museum, is active in the Women’s Club, a book-reading group, a quilt guild, and she sews, and knits hats for underprivileged children. She also takes care of the household, handles all the ﬁnances, cooks all the meals, and maintains me. She seems happy in retirement. My observation is that people who do well in retirement have

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something they want to do that their job prevents them from doing. Such people thrive on retirement. People who retire because they feel they’ve reached retirement age, or because they don’t like their job, etc, fade away rapidly in the golden years. My first reaction to retirement was a prolonged mental numbness. There was no lack of things to do, but life was different. I produced two new books, gave poetry readings and other presentations, wrote articles for “55 PLUS” magazine, taught a small class of 13 students, continued my radio program (“Science on the Radio”) on WAER-FM 88 and served on the board of directors of Baltimore Woods Nature Center. I maintained an office in the Life Sciences Complex at SU, and periodically went there. Almost every day, I exercised at Fitness Forum. I worked out on Nautilus equipment every other day, did aerobic exercises on the alternate days, and took a special exercise class for “active older adults.” Daily exercise proved to be a blessing, and it helped me maintain sanity in retirement. I started attending a yoga class once a week. I like active, competitive sports, and yoga didn’t sound like something I’d enjoy. I quickly changed my mind. For me, yoga proved to be soothing to the mind and it helped my balance and flexibility. I never realized how tight, and inflexible my body and mind were, until I started doing yoga. Pat didn’t like doing yoga, so this gave me the opportunity to annoy her at home by doing poses such

as “Warrior I” and “Warrior II.” The golden years are the time to dispose of the “treasures” that we accumulated during our lifetime. This task can be difficult, especially if you are a “saver.” I thought that, someday, I would need the minutes from the board meeting of 1985. Fortunately, Syracuse University established an archive for me in Bird Library. So, when I throw something away, I am not really throwing it away. I can always retrieve it from the archive. Nevertheless, the problem of what to do with precious, sentimental “stuff” is a major one facing any retiree during the golden years. Many retirees have to worry about finances. In my case, I never worried about it. Pat handled all the finances, so I could retire with peace of mind about finances. I simply received the same monthly allowance from Pat that I received before retirement. It’s enough money to buy lunches and to get Pat an occasional gift. What more is needed? I suddenly realized that having your spouse handling all the finances may not be a good idea. Both parties should record passwords, financial information, etc., and have this information available. Consequently, I told Pat my Internet password and the hidden location of the Maxwell House coffee can that has savings from my allowance. In turn, she recorded an abundance of financial and other information. I now know (in theory), how to get a message off the phone, the location of the water and gas meters, and the fact that, somewhere, we have a will. I still haven’t figured out how to pay a bill. Health is another important issue in the golden years. Life is a one-way process, and eventually we will get some condition that we don’t want. A good way to deal with this is to expect negative health happenings, but try to be as positive as possible. It could always be something worse.

“My childhood friends have a reunion. We talk about who has which disease or infirmity and memories of childhood. One member of our group announced, ‘Let’s stop talking about the past. From now on, we should only talk about the future. Which nursing home do you want to go to, and do you want to be buried or burned?’”

I often remind myself of the ultimate statistic, i.e., “Ten out of 10 people eventually die.” The golden years involve changes in our social contacts. As the golden years progress, we start to realize that many of our friends are retired, terminally ill or dead. Periodically, my childhood friends have a reunion. We talk about who has which disease or inﬁrmity and memories of childhood. One member of our group announced, “Let’s stop talking about the past. From now on, we should only talk about the future. Which nursing home do you want to go to, and do you want to be buried or burned?” This is not as funny a joke now as it used to be. Many people save their money so that they can travel in their golden years. Many years ago, Pat and I met an elderly couple in an inn in Japan. They had saved money to travel in retirement. Yet, they were checking out of the hotel because they couldn’t sleep on the futon in their room. Now that we are older, we realize that the problem wasn’t that they couldn’t sleep on the futon; it was that they couldn’t get up from the futon. At that moment, we decided that we would take every opportunity to travel, and not wait until we were too old to really enjoy the experience. If you want to travel, do it now! The golden years are different for everyone. The adjustment to a new way of life is easy for some, and difﬁcult for others. It’s different to get up in the morning and not to know what day it is…or care. On the other hand, most retirees enjoy the freedom of making their own schedule. It’s relaxing to know that we don’t have to do anything we don’t want to do. We can absorb ourselves in meaningful activities and hobbies without pressure and anxiety. Life is a progressive series of experiences, and selecting retirement activities that are new, exciting and fun seems to be the best way to make the most of the golden years. December 2011 / January 2012 - 55 PLUS

aging By Marilyn L. Pinsky

Philip H

e would have been amazed! He cried only once, when his father died, but I think he might have this time, to have seen 1,000 people at his funeral — people he loved and respected and worked with and was friends with for years. They came from Albany, from New York, from Chicago, and from our own community to which he gave so much. They came to say goodbye to their friend. You don’t want to think that a lifetime may be deﬁned by your illness, by the last years of your life. But Philip died as he lived — with dignity, kindness, honesty, and a mind that worked brilliantly up to the moment he took his last breath. And brilliant and caring he was. Of the many awards he received, perhaps the most important to him was the award for excellence for “outstanding work for children and the law.” As the judge for whom the award was named wrote, “I know of no lawyer for whose ability I have higher respect than Phil. In the area of juvenile justice and child welfare, it can truly be said that he was the principal author of the most progressive and innovative legislation in the country.” A lifelong Syracusan, his work in the community ranged from being president of two major Jewish organizations, to being president of the Loretto board of directors, from serving on the Syracuse Symphony board to being on United Way’s local and state boards. From helping create an agency for victims of child abuse to helping state, local and national organizations operate most effectively. Philip spent the best and most enjoyable part of his working life in Albany. As I read letters from both Democrats and Republicans that he worked with for over 40 years, they speak of his amazing intellectual capacity, the impact his work had on people he would never know, his modesty, his niceness, his willingness to give of himself, and I realized that our family had 46

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this precious thing that was ours to care for, but that really belonged to more people than we knew. He was a legislative expert, particularly in health care law where he was involved in writing legislation

that affected us all. And Philip, two months to the day you left us, the governor signed the last bill that you wrote and had passed in the legislature. He loved the law. For Philip it was a living, breathing thing that needed constant attention to keep us a civil and caring society. Though a lifelong Republican, seeing what was going on in Washington and what it was doing to our country, really upset him. And Philip was rarely wrong. His two regrets in life? Never being able to get around the political process that would have allowed him to become a judge (and what a magnificent one he would have been). But serving as a referee for the commission on judicial conduct the last few years helped satisfy the need his intellect had for wrestling with issues and making good judicial decisions. The other? Never being a good golfer. Those are not bad trade offs for what was a truly wonderful life. He loved being a grandfather and was so worried when he got sick that the kids would be too young to remember him. At his funeral, our son asked the grandchildren to stand, turn and look at everyone. Then he asked anyone their grandfather had ever helped to stand. When practically everyone stood, he said, “Dad, I don’t think your grandchildren will forget you.” He had a wonderful sense of humor, though like many jokes between partners, not all are for public consumption. Here’s one that is. Many of the years he was in Albany, I would come home from working all day to rush in and make dinner, deal alone with fighting kids and argue with them about doing their homework. I was miserable. While I

knew Philip worked hard, at least at night he went out with the rest of the majority leader’s staff and had dinner. We would talk every night around 10 and I would get aggravated listening to the music and the laughter in the background when I was stuck at home. He would say, “what do you want me to do, work all day and then go sit alone in my room all night?” No, I didn’t want that, exactly, so we decided he wouldn’t call until he got back to his room but as I got up at 4:30 every morning and therefore had to go to sleep at a reasonable time, I couldn’t sit up waiting for him to call until then. One night he called and I complained again. To make me feel better, he said, “I’m not out at a bar having fun; the music you’re hearing is because the band insisted on following me back to my room.” Or the time we lost each other for 10 minutes at the Chicago airport. The new rule would be that we would return to wherever we last saw each other. When we got to San Francisco and I walked over a rickety sewer grate, I said, “Philip, what would you do if this broke and I fell in the sewer?” He said, “I’d wait right here on the sidewalk because it was the last place I saw you.” I loved him; I adored him. Like most things in life, you never know what you have until you’re in danger of losing it. And that’s the problem with life — how do you live normally doing all the things that need doing and not go crazy trying to overappreciate every moment thinking it could all disappear? Life isn’t like that. Life is not always wonderful. Relationships are not always wonderful. It’s scary to think how much luck is involved in getting to 50 years of being together and still really enjoying

each other. I tell my children that what they saw of the last 25 years of our life seemed perfect to them, but they should remember back to when they were all living at home and it wasn’t always that great. Philip loved our children and was a rock to all through good times and bad and they were there for him. Not that he was a “play baseball in the yard” kind of dad, and deﬁnitely not a “teach me how to play golf, dad,” but he turned out to be what we all needed — an ethical torch to be passed on. That they’ve turned out to be the kind of adults he liked being with was a just reward. He was beautiful, he was goodnatured through a crappy time, he never said “why me” but prepared himself to accept what was next. He always kept control of the situation and our wonderful doctors were honest and gave him their best guess of “what’s next” and he made his own decisions based on that. His amazing mind was as sharp and clear to the very last second as it ever was, to the point of when 911 asked if he was having trouble breathing, his last words were “tell them shortness of breath.” “In many ways,” he said, after the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, when we thought we had only four months and then had two wonderful years, “this has been the best time of our lives because we are together all the time and we’re seeing a lot of our children and grandchildren.” Philip would edit these columns for me, usually getting unhappy with my sloppy punctuation. So, dear reader, if my punctuation goes downhill, we know whom to blame for not being here.

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consumers corner By Eva Briggs

Fountain of Youth: Could Telomeres Hold the Clue?

hen I took biology classes in college, telomeres — the tips on the end of chromosomes — received little attention, because they didn’t contain the genes responsible for telling the cell what to make and how to make it. As the ﬁeld of genetics has progressed, we know much more about these end segments, and their function. Telomeres have been likened to the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces, keeping the ends of chromosomes from unraveling. Chromosomes are made of paired strands DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. Four varieties of these deoxyribonucleic acids arranged in long sequences form our genetic code: Adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) pairs with guanine (G). Telomeres are composed of repeating sequences of TTAGGG, paired with AATCCC on the other DNA strand. Multiple repeats of this sequence of forms our telomeres. If telomeres don’t code for genes, what do they do? They protect the ends of DNA from shortening each time the cell divides. Most cells in our body repeatedly divide to produce new cells to grow new tissues and to replace worn out cells. When cells divide, the two strands of DNA unwind. Special enzymes called DNA polymerases move along each DNA strand, producing a mirror image, so that the original pair of DNA strands becomes two pairs. The DNA polymerase takes up room at the end of the DNA strand and makes a copy that’s a little shorter than the original. So the telomere at the end of the 48

strand winds up a little shorter. Because the telomere was originally thousands of base pairs long, there is extra to spare. If there were no telomeres, each time a cell divided, the end part of the chromosome containing important genes would be lopped off. That would cause trouble, because those genes would no longer work correctly. Telomeres also signal the end of a strand of DNA, rather than broken DNA. Broken DNA also spells trouble, and the cell has mechanisms to repair or eliminate broken DNA. Without telomeres, those repair enzymes couldn’t differentiate the actual end of a chromosome from broken chromosomes. When we’re born, our telomeres contain 8,000 base pairs. By the time we reach old age, they’ve shrunk to 1,500 base pairs. But different people’s telomeres shrink at different rates. It turns out that shorter telomeres are associated with a higher risk of disease and death. For example, one study examined the telomere length of people over 60 and found that those with short telomeres were three times as likely to die of heart disease and eight times as likely to die of infectious disease. We don’t know whether the short telomeres caused the increased risk or whether they are merely associated with aging, like grey hair and wrinkles. Shortened telomeres are also found in many types of cancer cells. Why do telomeres shorten faster in some people than others? One factor turns out to be psychological stress. Studies found that telomeres are shorter in people with multiple childhood stressful events, and are shorter in mothers

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caring for a chronically ill child. It’s possible to measure telomere length from a simple blood test. And such a test is going to be commercially available soon. But will it be useful? We physicians don’t know yet what to do with the data. Is there a way to lengthen telomeres, or slow the rate of decline? And if there is, will it translate into improved health and longevity? Telomere length appears to be responsible for only about 4 percent of the risk for dying in people over age 60. Even combined with gender (women live longer than men) and chronological age, just over one-third of the risk for dying is accounted for. At a cellular level, there are several other factors that increase aging. Oxidative stress is one. Substances called oxidants, which react highly with oxygen, damage DNA. Inﬂammation, infection, and the use of alcohol and tobacco all produce oxidants. Glycation, or the binding of sugar to DNA, proteins, and fat, contributes to aging by rendering these substances unable to perform their job. It may be one explanation of why animals on calorie-restricted diets tend to live longer. We don’t yet have the fountain of youth. Could telomeres hold the clue? Time will tell us whether telomere length measurement will become a clinically useful test, and whether medicine will be able to manipulate telomeres to allow people to live longer. Eva Briggs, a board-certiﬁed physician, works on the staff at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, in its two urgent care centers: one in Ithaca, and the other in Cortland.

Identity Theft: Boomers Are Often the Target Continued from page 41 on your person, be careful about the information you give out verbally and electronically because it may be exploited to compromise your identity. Don’t trust that a letter, phone call, text or email is from your bank or other business you know. Phishing schemes involve criminals posing as legitimate entities to trick you into giving out your information. In general, if it’s really a legitimate organization with which you have done business in the past, they should already know all about your vital identifying information. Penders advises consumers to directly contact the organization directly using a phone number they have looked up themselves instead of clicking on a link in an email or

using a phone number a strange caller gives them. Reduce the number of solicitation calls you receive by contacting the Do Not Call Registry at 888-382-1222. To whittle down the amount of spam email in your inbox, use a “junk” account for general purposes. Register for one free at a site such as www.yahoo.com or www.gmail.com and dump its inbox periodically. Use a different account for legitimate personal and business correspondence. Sending personal checks through your mailbox may also leave you prey to thieves. “Don’t use mailbox as a post ofﬁce,” Pender said. “It’s an opportunity for a crook to lift your information right out of your mailbox.” Every check you mail has your name, address, bank routing number, bank name, checking account number and possibly your phone number printed on it. The enclosed bill stub may also have important account information. All of this is very valuable to an identity thief who simply needs to observe you popping something

in the box to pull up to a rural box and snatch its contents or approach a door under the guise of a salesman and pocket outgoing mail before the door is even opened. Pay bills by using a US Postal drop box or handing them to a postal worker at the counter. Online bill paying can also be a safer option than using your mailbox. When paying bills or purchasing online, look for the symbols from VeriSign, Better Business Bureau Online, or Trust-E, “but you can’t always trust those symbols,” Penders said. “It’s important you remain in control. You can still manage the flow of information.” The riskiest way to do business online is clicking on outside links from ads or emails instead of directly typing in that company’s website address. “We ﬁnd this to be a very serious crime that’s often overlooked because it’s a quiet crime,” Penders said. “Victims don’t realize that their identities have been stolen. Often it takes months for people to realize it.”

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By Mary Beth Roach

Tom Slater, 60 Food Bank of Central New York executive director talks about the growing need of his agency’s services Q. How has the “face of hunger” in Central New York changed over the years? A. I think in the 1980s, when the community was studying hunger, the concern was about the number of homeless that had started to grow in the city of Syracuse and how we ensured that the homeless are fed and housed. Now, we’re facing the working poor people, that are working one, maybe two jobs, but their income is not high enough to pay the rent, to pay utilities, and have money left over for food. At the end of the month, we’re getting people that are doing the best they can, they’re playing by all the rules, but they need to feed their children and we can help them. Q. In light of the changes over the past 20 to 30 years, how has the mission of the Food Bank adapted to these changes? A. I think we have been ahead of the curve in not only moving to healthier foods. But we think that it’s critical that people get the government benefits to which they’re entitled. That’s the first step toward selfsufﬁciency. So if we can refer people out of the food pantries into the food stamp program, the WIC program, the HEAP program. That gets them the beneﬁts that they can feed their own families. Q. With the economy the way it is, is the need greater? Are we making any headway? A. I see challenges ahead. There’s a frozen vegetable plant [Birds Eye] that’s closing in Fulton. That hurts us two ways in terms of donation and, ultimately, the laid-off workers — some of them may be coming into the food pantries. At the same time, 50

the federal government is grasping at how to save money and they’re looking at cutting domestic programs. So I think it’s unrealistic for the federal government to think that the charity sector can pick up this because we only provide a small percentage of the meals. Q. When you took it over the agency 16-17 years ago, did you see yourself with such a long-term career there? A. Absolutely not. My inclination was going into technology. I had a master ’s degree in information resources management so I could go pretty far, but the social work never left me. Q. You’ve brought the Food Bank a long way, and made some significant changes over the years. What are some of those changes? A. I think we’ve faced very difficult challenges — we lost a lot of donated food, but at the same time we were better able to articulate our message to state officials, government officials, and therefore government was better able to ensure citizens were fed adequately, healthier. Q . Yo u a r e a v e r y s t r o n g advocate of promoting healthy foods? A. Food banks are a relatively new industry. Most food banks cropped up in the mid-‘80s. The philosophy was always, “Any food was better than no food.” And I don’t fundamentally disagree with that, but I’ve got a couple of registered dietitians on staff who raised my consciousness. We realize that we had a higher responsibility to get healthier foods. We were the first bank to stand up and

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say, ‘We’re going to put our limited resources into getting healthier.’ Q. There are a lot of partnerships that the Food Bank has — it’s a lot more than just individual donations. A. Absolutely. Last year, we distributed 11,550,177 pounds of food. That’s 9.6 million meals. Federal commodities from the United States Department of Agriculture, so we get support from the federal government. Our major funder is the New York State Department of Health — the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program. They are focused on the nutritional health of families in need. Our strong partnerships are with for-proﬁt companies.

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! CATCH Healthy Habits: Better Health for Children and Adults

Work with children in grades K-2 to lead fun, active games, share healthy snacks and learn about good food choices. Sessions meet once a week for 90 minutes, training is provided.

Obesity rates for children have tripled in the last 30 years, and double for adults, putting the health of our community at risk.

Sessions are at Elmwood and Van Duyn Elementary School, and are held during the Syracuse City School Districts Say Yes To Education After School Program.

Through the Syracuse OASIS CATCH Healthy Habits Program, you can be part of the solution. Catch brings children and adults 40+ together to learn good eating and physical activity habits for a lifetime. We have volunteer opportunities for adults age 40+ to help combat obesity in our community.

If you are interested in being part of the solution to obesity in our community, please contact OASIS Outreach Coordinator, Sally Terek M.Ed. at (315) 464-1746 or Email: tereks@upstate.edu

OASISâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;is sponsored by Upstate University Hospital