Health, fun, fitness, finances, and more for Maine’s fastest growing population
LEARNING HAS NO AGE LIMIT AND HEALING
GREATER BANGOR OFFERS A WIDE RANGE OF LIFELONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
BY HANK GARFIELD
“I DON’T KNOW WHO I AM,” JONI MITCHELL SANG IN 1969, “BUT LIFE IS FOR LEARNING.”
The Woodstock Generation that grew up on those words has aged into a population eager for educational opportunities. Yesterday’s young people want to keep learning new skills, languages, works of art and literature, discovery, and technology, into their eighties and beyond. What’s a still-curious senior to do?
The Bangor area is blessed with a plethora of choices.
The University of Maine is an “Age-Friendly University” or AFU – a member of a worldwide network started by Dublin City University in Ireland; Strathclyde University in Glasgow, UK; and Arizona State University in 2015. It has grown to include educational institutions around the world. The University has signed on to the 10 core AFU principles, the first of which is “To encourage the participation of older adults in all the core activities of the university, including educational and research programs.”
It’s not a novel idea. Full disclosure: I teach in the English Department at UMaine; I have had several older students in my classes, and as I continue to teach as a senior myself, I appreciate them more with every year. The fourth AFU principle is: “To promote intergenerational learning to facilitate the reciprocal sharing of expertise between learners of all ages.”
Back in 2002, a group of retiring UMaine professors got to talking about how they had always wanted the time to take each other’s classes. The result was Penobscot Valley Senior College. Today, PVSC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization run by volunteers, dedicated to providing stimulating, enjoyable, and accessible learning opportunities for Mainers 50 years of age and older.
The emphasis is on stress-free learning, with no grades or tests. Courses are noncredit but in-depth and interesting. Affiliated with the UMaine Center on Aging, PVSC is one of 17 Senior Colleges in the state, each offering individual courses available to students at any of the 17 participating colleges.
Courses for seniors are offered online, via Zoom, or in a hybrid format which may include a class meeting or two but also remote learning and interaction. For more information, contact Penobscot Valley Senior College by calling (207) 659-1359, emailing admin@pvscmaine.org, or visiting pvscmaine.org.
For older adults who may have trouble navigating all the “interfaces,” Bangor Adult Education offers a series of online classes called BoomerTech Adventures. The courses consist of self-paced videos, with instructions laid out in a class booklet that comes in a printable PDF document. Three instructors are available for personalized support via phone, e-mail, and Zoom.
Classes cover a wide range of prosaic subjects: iPhone basics; How to organize photos and e-mails; Editing and forwarding messages, and so on. Learn more at boomertechadventures.com.
Bangor Adult & Community Education also offers in-person classes to adults of all ages who want to learn practical skills. More full disclosure: My partner and I took a carpentry class a few years ago and built a new set of front steps. Many of these classes are in the evening, once a week, convenient for working adults.
“We offer a wide variety of enrichment classes for adults,” said director Greg Leavitt. “Categories include art and music, gardening, dance, fitness and health, language, financial, and technology. Some of our classes are eligible for senior citizen discounts.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL BANGOR
ADULT & COMMUNITY EDUCATION AT (207) 941-6316 OR VISIT
MAINEADULTED.ORG.
THE BANGOR PUBLIC LIBRARY OFFERS FREE, IN-PERSON COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY CLASSES ONCE A MONTH, USUALLY ON THE SECOND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH, IN THE AFTERNOON. THE TOPICS OF THE NEXT CLASS ARE POSTED IN THE LIBRARY’S NEWSLETTER AND WEBSITE. ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS ENCOURAGED . FOR MORE ABOUT THESE OFFERINGS, CALL (207) 992-6055 OR VISIT BANGORPUBLICLIBRARY.ORG .
Open a New Door at Avalon Village in Hampden
DO YOU EVER WONDER how your later years will turn out? Where will you be? What will you be engaged in? Sometimes, opening one door will open many others. At Avalon Village in Hampden, we believe that the simple act of choosing Avalon Village as a home community has opened many doors that our residents weren’t aware of before they moved in. Avalon Management’s philosophy of ensuring that there are ample opportunities for the community to be both physically and socially active is one way that new doors are opened. Activities such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Strong for Life, and bocce are offered on a regular basis. Walking opportunities are available across Avalon's 60 acres as well! We believe that remaining physically active, even with gentle but regular exercise, will help to ensure that folks who choose a cottage at Avalon will remain independent. The physical and emotional benefits of exercise are by now well documented and, if the benefits of exercise could be captured in pill, every American would undoubtedly be taking it. Our community encourages the active choice at every opportunity.
EVER WONDER how your later years will turn out? will you be? What will you be engaged in?
es, opening one door will op en many others. At illage in Hampden, we belie ve that the simple act of Avalon Village as a home community has opened ors that our residents weren’t aware of before they . Avalon Management’s philosophy of ensuring that ample opportunities for the community to he both y and socially active is one way that new doors are Activitie s such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Strong for Life , and e offered on a re gular basis . Walkin g opportunities able acr oss Avalon's 60 acre s as well! We believe aining physically active, even with gentle but xercise, will help to ensure that folks who choose a
The highly cited Harvard Study of Adult Development, in analyzing individuals over an eighty-year span, found that the happiest individuals were those who had
good relationships in their lives. Good relationships not only protect our bodies but also our brains. At Avalon Village we recognize that you could purchase the most exquisite home but, if the relationships within the community aren’t nurtured, the life experience will not be all that it can or should be. Accordingly, regular social events are scheduled to accommodate a wide variety of interests — monthly wine and cheese socials, ladies’ lunches, first Friday of the month dinners, pub nights, visiting speakers, as well as various other themed luncheons and dinners throughout the year.
walking paths offer many opportunities to experience the magic of the site. Many of our residents take advantage of the raised vegetable beds that are made available for any interested resident and a drive through our community will reveal the extraordinary gardening skills that many of our residents possess as Avalon Village permits individual modification of vegetative cottage plantings. Avalon Village’s pond has been designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a certi-
Participation in one of Avalon Village Owners Asso standing committee s or on the Board of Directors o chance to build and nourish qu ality relationships. A Village , our neighbors really matter!
Participation in one of Avalon Village Owners Association’s standing committees or on the Board of Directors offers the chance to build and nourish quality relationships. At Avalon Village, our neighbors really matter!
The third critical element in our community philosophy is a deep connection with nature. Avalon Village is blessed with one of the most exquisite natural settings of any retirement community in the northeast. Its central building sits on a high bluff above the Penobscot River and its sixty acres contain a spectacular stand of white pine over a hundred years old. Almost all our residents express a love for the natural world and our
Anyone wishing to open a new door and find out more about Avalon’s cottages or its apartments can call 862-5100 during the week to arrange a tour.
The third d critical element in our community philos deep connection with nature. Avalon Village is ble s one of the most exqu isite natural settings of any re community in the northeast. Its central building high bluff above the Penobscot River and its six contain a spe ctacular stand of white pine over a years old. Almost all our residents express a lov natural world and our walking paths offe opportunities to experience the magic of the site. our
Kathie Conary: The Woman Who Walked Herself Well
WBY EMILY MORRISON
hen I moved back to Maine in 2004, I never expected to find a real-life guardian angel living two houses down. Kathie Conary looked, sounded, and acted like the spitting image of my late grandmother. She took me under her wing and pulled me through one of the hardest periods of my life: being a young mother with postpartum depression.
Little did I know, Kathie also suffered from depression and, much like myself, found daily exercise to be part of the cure.
Born in a one-room camp on the Surry Road in 1937, Kathie has been on the move ever since. She credits her mother, “a saint,” for raising her and her siblings.
“Mom washed dishes at the Sun Diner and cleaned offices at night,” Kathie said. “Neighbors would pound on the door and say, ‘So-and-so is in labor; they need your help.’ Mom would go and help deliver babies, thinking nothing of it.”
Though her mother had her teaching certification, she was let go when the parents of her students learned the color of her partner’s skin. “They didn’t want anyone like her teaching their children,” Kathie said.
Kathie met her husband on a blind date when she was 15. They married by the time she turned 16 and had 5 children. Sometimes they couldn’t afford food.
“There was one Thanksgiving, all we had was a loaf of homemade bread that his mother sent down. I had a box of frosting I mixed up, and the kids had that on their bread.”
Kathie recalls hard times in “the deep, dark hollow” (the land where they lived). The only heat was the woodstove. No water. The roof leaked. As the kids got older and her husband
was injured on the job, she waited tables and became a bus driver to make ends meet. When someone told her she couldn’t do it, Kathie’s response was, “Watch me.”
Eventually, she began working in the mill. “I shoveled snow, did janitor work, cut cores.”
Kathie found that walking helped her cope with the stress of work, raising children, and the bipolar disorder that ran in the family. She started walking a mile to the corner and back; the mile turned into 11. She walked morning, noon, and night.
“If it rained, the kids would say, ‘We hope the sun comes out so Mumma can get outdoors.’ Exercise is peace of mind. You come back and feel so much better,” Kathie said.
After her husband died, the depression she had been too busy to feel reared its ugly head.
“I’d be vacuuming at midnight and walking the camp roads at daybreak. I couldn’t stay still.”
Kathie continues to take medicine for anxiety and depression. Living with an aortic aneurysm, her philosophy is, “Life’s too short. Live for today.”
Kathie has outlived her mother, husband, two brothers, and son. The thing that bothers her most is eating her meals alone, without anyone on the other side of the table.
Still, her daughter calls every night, and her other children live close by.
“I enjoy taking care of people,” Kathie said. “Do unto others as they would do unto you. My mom used to say that.”
As I reflect on the “deep, dark hollow” of my own life, I marvel at the miracle of having a woman like Kathie Conary watching over me. She isn’t just the woman walking alongside the road picking up trash to make the neighborhood nicer.
She’s the woman who taught me to keep moving through darkness toward the light, toward life.
Writer Emily Morrison joins her neighbor
Kathie Conary for a walk
Discover the Joy of Community
with AARP Maine in Greater Bangor
COURTESY OF AARP MAINE
GREATER BANGOR IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO LIVE. Its historic streets, vibrant arts scene, and close-knit neighborhoods create a backdrop that feels both welcoming and full of possibility. But what truly makes this region special is the spirit of connection—and that spirit shines brightly through AARP Maine’s programs and volunteers.
AARP Maine is all about bringing people together, having fun, and making a positive impact for those 50-plus and their families. And in Greater Bangor, that sense of community comes alive in the most delightful ways.
Each month, neighbors gather for our community coffees—warm, friendly meetups where conversation flows easily and newcomers feel instantly at home. These relaxed gatherings are a perfect way to connect, learn what AARP Maine is up to, and meet people who share your passion for strengthening the community.
We also love hosting free local events that bring folks together for a little entertainment and a lot of camaraderie. You’ll find us screening movies, sharing resources, and partnering with local organizations to make Greater Bangor an even more vibrant place to live. Whether you’re catching a film with us or chatting with volunteers at a local fair, the energy is always upbeat, social, and welcoming.
Of course, having fun is only part of the picture. AARP Maine volunteers also contribute to meaningful advocacy efforts that support older Mainers. From championing affordable housing and family caregivers to promoting safe, livable communities, our team helps advance initiatives that matter. And the best part? You don’t need any special expertise—just enthusiasm, curiosity, and a willingness to learn.
As one of our wonderful volunteers, Linda from Orono, says, “If you want to have fun, have an impact and make friends, volunteer with AARP Maine!” Her words capture the heart of what it means to be part of this community: friendship, purpose, and joy, all wrapped into one fulfilling experience. Questions? Just send us an email at me@aarp.org to get started.
AARP Maine has a lot to offer. Monthly meetups, engaging activities, new friendships, and opportunities to make a real difference—it’s all here. All that’s missing is you. Whether you’re simply curious about attending a program, eager to meet new people, or thinking volunteering might be a great fit, we hope you’ll join us and discover how rewarding it can be.
Come say hello. We can’t wait to meet you in Greater Bangor!
Understanding Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: There Is Hope Beyond Medication
COURTESY OF DR. RENEE MORAN, PT, DPT, CLINICAL DIRECTOR, FYZICAL THERAPY & BALANCE CENTERS EASTERN MAINE
If you’re over 60 and living with diabetes, you may know symptoms like burning feet, numb toes, tingling, or the sensation of walking on cotton. These are often caused by Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN), one of the most common complications of diabetes.
According to research summarized by NeuFit involving 150 participants across 13 physical therapy clinics in the U.S., approximately 60–70% of people with diabetes develop some degree of neuropathy. In other words, more than half of individuals living with diabetes will experience nerve-related symptoms.
What Is Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy?
DPN occurs when high blood sugar over time damages the small nerves, most often in the feet and lower legs. These nerves control touch, temperature, vibration detection, balance, and muscle activation for walking and stability.
When nerves malfunction, symptoms may include pain, burning, numbness, weakness, loss of balance, and increased fall risk.
Many patients tell me, “My doctor says I have neuropathy, and there’s not much that can be done.” Traditionally, medications have been the primary treatment. While they
may reduce pain, they do not repair nerves or restore function and often come with side effects.
But there is another option.
A Different Approach: Electrical Stimulation Therapy
Recent research overseen by Neufit compared two types of non-invasive electrical stimulation devices for treating DPN:
• TENS (alternating current) — commonly used for shortterm pain relief
• Neubie (direct current) — a newer high-frequency direct current device
In the study, 150 participants (average age 74) received therapy twice weekly for six weeks using exercises combined with either TENS or the Neubie.
What Did the Study Show?
Participants treated with the Neubie experienced significant improvements in neuropathy severity, foot sensation, vibration awareness, pain levels, muscle activation, and nerve conduction speed. Those treated with traditional TENS did not show significant improvement in these areas.
In simple terms, the Neubie didn’t just reduce pain — it improved nerve and muscle function.
Why Is That Important?
Neuropathy is more than pain. The real concerns include loss of sensation, poor muscle activation, slower nerve communication, and increased fall risk.
Improving nerve signaling and muscle activation can enhance balance, walking ability, confidence, and overall quality of life — exactly what this research suggests is possible.
How the Neubie Works
Your nervous system communicates through electrical signals. The Neubie uses a current that closely mimics these natural signals. Unlike older devices, it allows patients to actively move during treatment, retraining nerves and muscles together — a key factor for lasting improvement.
At FYZICAL, treatment combines Neubie therapy with guided exercises to stimulate nerves, activate muscles, improve circulation, and reinforce healthier movement patterns. It’s not passive therapy — it’s system retraining.
If You’re Living with Neuropathy, Know This:
• Numbness is not “just aging.”
• Pain is not something you must accept.
• Falls are not inevitable.
• There are options beyond medication.
If you’ve been told nothing more can be done, consider a second look. Advances in research and technology are changing how we approach neuropathy and offering new hope.
At FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, we’re proud to provide evidence-informed treatments like the Neubie to help people stay active, independent, and safe — because growing older should not mean giving up your independence.
