April 2016 Mature Lifestyles

MATURE

Lifestyles April 2016

a special publication by

2 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Do we look back wearing rose-tinted glasses?

By MICHAEL NESSET Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

I should have foreseen that my golden retirement years would echo with the sound of tables being pounded. Many of my retired contemporaries see our beloved country headed toward some catastrophic final precipice. The signs are everywhere: sexual license, gay marriage, legal abortion, widespread divorce, the decline of the family dinner, PG-13 sex and mayhem, HBO, and on and on. As one of the most public of the table-pounders put it, our country is sinking into a swamp of depravity.

I point out that our Depression-graduate, World-War-IIveteran parents said the same about our generation and the decade of the ‘50s. We couldn’t arise from a chair, I say, without demonstrating some kind of bratty entitlement. The “jungle rhythms” we danced to were thinly disguised invitations to sexual indulgence and drug use (my mother was suspicious of “See You Later, Alligator,” a song whose title is a kind of universal farewell among today’s preschoolers).

The commies were taking over or were planning to destroy

us with nuclear weapons, while the blacks were rioting in the streets, demanding equality without working for it the way we did, and so on and on. And yet, I ask, this is the era of stability and virtue that you wish the country to return to?

But the present age is really depraved, reply the table-pounders, and they go on pounding. The more vocal and articulate of the pounders of my acquaintance are Christian clergy members, familiar with the prophetic and apocalyptic writings of the Bible, accustomed to taking a dim view of the secular world and its prospects.

One of the benefits of my 30 years of teaching classes in secular literature has been an acquired sense of the constancy of human nature. Odysseus the Bronze Age hero is still — 2,500 years later — Everyman trying to get home. Huckleberry Finn is every kid setting out into a hostile world in search of himself. During a class discussion of a battle scene in “The Iliad,” one of my students, a Gulf War veteran, hurriedly left the room, Homer’s ancient narrative having awakened some dark memories.

Continued on Page 3

Are you turning 65 soon?

CONFUSED ABOUT MEDICARE? L e t o u r I N S U R U S l i c ensed agents help y ou f i n d a h e a l t h p l a n t h a t b e s t s u i t s y o u r n e e d s .

RECEIVE A CONSULTATION AT NO COST, PLEASE CALL US AT:

618-732-2126

Monday - Friday: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Or

Come visit our office: 317 Salem Place, Suite 110 Fairview Heights, IL 62208

MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS

MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT PLANS

PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLANS

By calling the number above you will be directed to a licensed insurance agent. Medicare has neither reviewed nor endorsed this information.

INSURUS represents various Medicare Advantage Plans (MA), Medicare Supplements, and Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) with Medicare contracts.

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 3

Glasses Continued from Page 2 The literary character that the table-pounders mostly remind me of is Mrs. Costello, Frederick Winterborne’s aunt in Henry James’ short novel, “Daisy Miller.” Winterborne, the novel’s central character, is a wealthy American expatriate living in Geneva in the early 1880s. While visiting his aunt at a resort hotel on Lake Geneva, he is fascinated by an American teenage girl, the eponymous Daisy, who is very pretty and very unconventional. Not that she’s in any way sexually enticing: she’s dressed from throat to ankles in many layers of clothing designed to conceal the contours of her body — this in an age when even chair and table legs were draped, lest they excite the young.

Yet Daisy’s behavior is unconventional. She talks freely to Winterborne, even before they have been formally introduced. She has many gentlemen friends back in America, who entertain her at unchaperoned dinners. She proposes to accompany Winterborne on a midnight boat ride on Lake Geneva, unchaperoned (the very idea!). She actually does accompany him on a daytime tour of the Castle of Chillon, again unchaperoned (Winterborne, that naughty boy, bribes the guide to keep his distance).

Mrs. Costello, an elderly American widow living in Europe, thoroughly disapproves of Daisy. She is shocked by her friendly relationships with men, the unchaperoned

Walk-in Therapy showers

Walk-In Shower Walk-In Shower

freedom with which she moves about the world. She advises Winterborne to stay away from her, and raises the possibility that Daisy is not, as Winterborne had thought, a delightfully innocent girl discovering the world, but a libertine. She is the voice of tradition in the novel, expressing the values of a mid-19th-century society in which the conduct of respectable young women was regulated to an extent we would consider oppressive.

To make Daisy’s situation understandable to my GenX and millennial American-lit students, most of them still teenagers, many of them in sexual relationships, I had to pull off a major job of cultural reconstruction. Remove all those petticoats, add a few tattoos and piercings, put her into a public world immeasurably freer for women (indeed, for all of us), and you’ve got a teenage millennial in search of an adult identity that she herself chooses, that is not chosen for her by Mrs. Costello’s 21st-century counterparts.

Now let’s fast-forward from Mrs. Costello’s ideal 1850s to the 1950s, the world that my table-pounding contemporaries and I grew up in, a world that seems to be the pounders’ normative era of civic and domestic virtue.

What would Mrs. Costello think of short shirts and tight sweaters, rock ‘n’ roll, unchaperoned dating, making out in the back seats of those “bedrooms on wheels,” as my grandmother called the automobiles that we young folks were always gadding about in? What would Mrs. C. make of the divorces that were becoming increasingly common in the ‘50s and that would, by the early 1980s, end more than half of the country’s marriages?

Continued on Page 4

Complete Bathroom Remodel

Acrylic System Walk-in Walk-in Therapy Bathtubs Acrylic LinerLiner System Therapy Bathtubs

Hydrotherapy Tubs

Visit our Showroom at 6001 Godfrey Road in Godfrey Walk-In Shower Acrylic Liner System erapy Bathtubs ub SWalk-in hower ConverSionS • T•ub ToTSohower CThonverSionS •TCustom Tub & Showers “built to suit”

ENCORE ENCORE BATH & REMODELING, INC. ENCORE

• Custom Tub & Showers “built to suit” • alk alk hConversion ydroTherapy TubS • •w -in-ihnydroTherapy TubS •wTub-to-Shower Conversion to Shower Conversions • •Tub-to-Shower T•Custom ub T•o Tub S hower C onverSionS Tub & Showers “built to suit” r oll -i n S hower • •rWalk-In oll -i n S hower •alk Walk-In Tubs • Roll-in Showers • •w -iTubs n hydroTherapy TubS Tub-to-Shower Conversion • b aTh & Shower lSystems iner SySTemS • •bTub aTh & S hower l iner S ySTemS • Tub & Shower Liner & Shower Liner Systems r•da oll nb SaTh hower •aTh Bath &pPortal Shower aWalk-Th da SafeTy produCTS Wall Systems Walk-In Tubs • ••a•Walk-Th b-i SafeTy roduCTS • ru Bathtub “Since 1991” ru Bathtub Portal “Since 1991” aTh Sihower lSystems iner SySTemS •erTified CerTified inSTallaTionS •&Shower ADA Bath Safety Products • •C•b nSTallaTionS Tub &Safety Liner • ADA Safety Products • ADA Products 0% Financing For Up To 12 Months for Qualified Buyers!

618-466-1100 0% Financing For Up To 12 Months p forroduCTS Qualified Buyers!

618-466-1100 • •a da b aTh S afeTy • Certified Installations • Tub, Shower &Godfrey Tile Resurfacing Walk-Th ruat Bathtub Portal Godfrey, “Since 1991” • Tub, Shower &Godfrey Tile Resurfacing Godfrey, IL ILVisitVisit Showroom 6001 Road in Godfrey OurOur Showroom at 6001 Road in Godfrey

BATH & REMODELING, INC.

BATH & REMODELING, INC. 618-466-1100

• CerTified inSTallaTionS

• ADA Safety Products

Financing ForforUp to 12 Months 0%0% Financing For Up To 12 Months Qualified Buyers!

for Qualified Buyers!

4 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Glasses Continued from Page 3 Divorce was scandalous in the 19th century, when divorce novels like “Anna Karenina” and “A Modern Instance” were the racy “50 Shades of Grey” of their day.

Of course, the good old lady would be deeply shocked.

Swamp of depravity indeed!

So Mrs. Costello and my table-pounding contemporaries measure the depravity of the present against virtuous past eras that are morally irreconcilable. What do these remembered pasts have in common? The youth and health and vitality of the rememberers, of course; the likelihood of long future lives; the authority of parents and church and school in teaching the values and rules of the day — values and rules that were bound to change in a changing world.

One of the most reassuring characteristics of the remembered past is our knowledge of that past’s future — of what will happen. We know now that Communists did not destroy our democracy, that the bomb did not destroy civilization, that racial integration in our schools did not “undermine the nation’s moral fiber.”

Yet we couldn’t know these reassuring outcomes at the time, and so we worried about the trends of the moment and about a future we could only dimly foresee.

The 1950s were not “simpler and happier” times. The

decade opened with the Korean War, which in just three brutal years killed 36,000 Americans (along with more than a million Koreans).

Then we had the Red Scare and Sen. Joe McCarthy, the decade’s own Donald Trump, and the civil rights movement and subsequent white riots and police brutality and resurgence of the KKK. The U.S. tested a multimegaton H-bomb, and so the Soviet Union developed its own H-bomb, and schoolchildren from Minneapolis to Minsk cowered under their desks. In the pre-seatbelt year of 1955, the rate of traffic accident fatalities was two and a half times what it is today, while in the ‘50s the rate of child mortality was twice what it was in 2014. And all of this international tension and social unrest were a prelude to the wars and riots and assassinations of the astonishing 1960s.

Yet the 1950s were also a great time to grow up. We early boomers took for granted a level of prosperity unknown to our parents (hence the “entitled brats” moniker). We enjoyed a degree of unsupervised freedom that would shock today’s helicopter parents. We mostly grew up in stable, two-parent homes (biological parents of the opposite sex, of course) and came home from our freerange play to formal family dinners from which we could not be excused until we’d finished our vegetables.

The 1950s were the best of times, they were the worst of times, much like Mrs. Costello’s 1850s, much like today.

The table-pounders remember the best of their formative decades and see only the worst of the present.

Continued on Page 12

Immediate Move-Ins

• Licensed Assisted Living • Studio, 1 & 2 Bedroom Apts. • Pet Friendly • Respite Care • All Inclusive Monthly Fee

Call 618-692-2273 for Tour & Lunch!

1111 University Dr., Edwardsville, IL 62025 stillwaterseniorliving.com

We invite you to visit. See how we can help care for a loved one experiencing problems due to aging, mental challenges, dementia or Alzheimer’s. Our Adult Day Center makes life better for everyone.

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 5

Don’t Delay Hear Better

TODAY $

488

SIZE, STYLE OFF ANY OR TECHNOLOGY

HEARING AID

12 MONTHS SAME AS CASH Payments $ 00 per month with approved credit as low as

49

Not valid with any other offer. Expires 4/30/16

We have hearing aids that...

• are invisible when worn • can compensate for nerve damage • connect directly to your smart phone and work with it to automatically change to your preferred settings in any environment • talk to each other constantly to determine where sounds come from • provide better hearing in background noise • can help even those that have been told a hearing aid won’t help

• Absolute best testing Our Doors Open Daily at THREE Locations!

We service these brands: • Absolute best selection Starkey, Audibel, Resound, Phonak, Unitron, • Absolute best quality Miracle Ear, NuEar, Siemens, Audina, Sonic Innovations, Oticon, Hansaton.

• Absolute best service Call today for a custom hearing solution that’s perfect for you!

Godfrey • 618-467-8889 Jerseyville • 618-639-3277 Carlinville • 217-854-4327

6 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Making strides with an upright walker

By BRADLEY J. FIKES The San Diego Union-Tribune

SAN DIEGO — From the iconoclastic VW Beetle to the swanky Mercedes-Benz, the vehicle of choice for baby boomers has followed the arc of their lives. As members of that generation edge into elderhood, they’re increasingly adopting another mobility device: a medical walker.

Boomers are twice as likely to use walkers and other ambulatory devices than the previous generation — 6.9 percent versus 3.3 percent — according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The global market for these devices is projected to nearly double in size from 2013 to 2020, to $8 billion annually.

And medical equipment manufacturers are trying to offer an array of options, from walkers to crutches, canes, wheelchairs, scooters, “rollators” and more.

There’s room for one more entrant, said the new San Diego company ProtoStar. Its product, the LifeWalker Upright, is marketed as not only providing mobility and protection from falls, but also something precious to peo-

Leonard F. Berg Attorney Planning for Nursing Homes and Persons with Disabilities.

Individual attention for your legal needs.

625 S. Bellwood Drive East Alton, IL

618-258-4800

www.lbergelderlaw.com

ple as they age: dignity.

The LifeWalker makes it easier for users to look straight ahead at other people, not down at the pavement, said David Purcell, the founder and chief executive of ProtoStar. The adjustable, wheeled walker fits around the user on three sides, enabling it and the person to travel together. Its special characteristics, including shock absorbers, caliper brakes and arm rests, are designed to offer comfort and impart confidence in walking.

Inventors like Purcell said they’re filling an unmet need for products designed with the user in mind, based on scientific principles governing human locomotion. These individuals include Anurag Purwar, a research associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Stony Brook University in New York.

Purwar designed a device that raises a person out of a chair and functions as a walker. He was inspired by a man who had difficulty walking because of post-polio syndrome. A search of existing devices found none suited to personal use, he said.

Continued on Page 7

Our Family Helping You Hear for Over 40 Years

SAVE $1000 ON A PAIR OF HEARING AIDS Includes All Styles & Levels of Technology PLUS Free Hearing Test and Risk-Free Trial Period

Tr y Our New Hearing A ids That Let Y ou Connect Wirelessly to SmartPho nes!

• Latest hearing aids in all styles • Risk-Free Trials • Hearing Tests & Evaluations • Quick repairs on all brands • Financing available • Insurance accepted

(618) 259-0700

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 7

Walker Continued from Page 6 “We did some research and realized there is a bigger market,” Purwar said. “They are people who have multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy … the causes may be different, but they all need help getting up.”

That was seven years ago. His device, called Mobility Assist, has been licensed to Biodex Medical Systems and is close to production, Purwar said.

Likewise, the LifeWalker Upright is in pre-production stage as its final form takes shape.

ProtoStar faces an uphill struggle because of the competition in an established market, said mobility researcher James Lenker, an associate professor in the department of rehabilitation science at the University at Buffalo. The LifeWalker Upright’s price point of nearly $1,800 is also a deterrent, Lenker said.

“In the U.S., people with disabilities are among the lowest incomes, as a group, of any demographic,” he said. “So this is clearly a product targeting wealthy people. It’s not going to be something that the average 80-year-old with degenerative joint disease or arthritis or recovering from a stroke will typically be able to afford.”

Even consumers who can afford that price might find it more attractive to buy a powered scooter, Lenker said. That would provide superior mobility to get

around the community and perform everyday tasks like shopping.

Or for a few hundred dollars, people could buy an adjustable walker to be used in addition to a powered scooter.

Lenker said because he hasn’t seen the LifeWalker Upright’s design details, his comments only go so far. The test will come in the marketplace, where customers will judge whether the device’s features make it worth the cost.

Like the case with Purwar’s Mobility Assist, inspiration for the LifeWalker came from personal need.

In Purcell’s circumstance, it was his wife, Jean Purcell.

She’s in her 70s and dealing with rheumatoid arthritis, a movement disorder called cerebellar ataxia, a spine condition called rotoscoliosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. Jean Purcell said she repeatedly fell while using her old walker. She also found herself looking downward, in a slouched posture that she disliked.

That’s when her husband, a retired electronics inventor who founded the San Diego printer maker Encad, stepped into the picture. Drawing on his engineering expertise, David Purcell researched how walkers function and finally chose to design one.

His invention gained support from some of the most respected biomedical professionals and investors in San Diego. ProtoStar’s board members include Peter Farrell, the founder of ResMed; Dr. Drew Senyei, managing director of Enterprise Partners; and Dr. Steven Garfin, chair of UC San Diego’s orthopedic surgery department.

Continued on Page 8

Residents first...

Employees always...

• 24-hour Medical Care & Support Services • Rehabilitation Services - Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapies • Short & Long Term Skilled Care • Respite & Hospice Care • Clean, Caring & Friendly Environment

We accept Essence Health Care Insurance.

1095 University Drive • Edwardsville www.universitynursingandrehab.com

CALL TODAY! 618.656.1081

8 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Walker

doing drawings and analysis of Jean’s gait and her problems, and doing ergonomic studies, human factors, research, photos of her in the optimum positions, measurements. And I started to develop a design.”

At the end of the process, Purcell said, he was convinced that his invention could help others, not just his wife.

“That was so important to me,” he said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone back to work. I don’t have to work. I was retired, I had a great and fulfilling career with Encad.”

To get the design into a computer-usable format, he held an online contest.

“Some guys from Serbia came up with the best concept,” he said. “So I began working with them, and eventually got a former Encad employee who had worked for me to do a mock-up.”

Garfin, the UC San Diego orthopedic surgeon, said an upright posture helps takes weight off the heart and lungs.

But scientific testing will need to be done before claims can be made about that aspect of the LifeWalker Upright.

“We don’t have any proof of this, except my wife will tell you she feels a lot better,” David Purcell said. Testing is also being done to see if use of the device can relieve pain and reduce the weight load on joints.

ProtoStar has run on private investment so far, David Purcell said. The company is seeking to raise about $3 million in venture capital in the next month or so, he added.

Purwar, the Stony Brook professor, said different disciplines need to talk to each other about patients’ needs if they’re to make further progress with mobility devices.

Continued on Page 12

Continued from Page 7 ProtoStar plans to introduce LifeWalker Upright at the Feb. 18-20 meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association in Anaheim. The device will be sold directly to consumers via the company’s website and phone number.

The $1,795 price is not reimbursable by medical insurance, although ProtoStar plans studies to assess the device’s medical benefits. If the research confirms certain benefits, then ProtoStar can then legally make various marketing claims.

Jean Purcell said she feels a benefit. She had trouble maintaining balance with previous walkers, which are often juryrigged with tennis balls for easier sliding.

“They’re very hard to work with, and they’re not secure at all,” she said. She then went to wheeled walkers with seats, but they also had drawbacks.

“You have to lean over like you would with a grocery cart,” she said. “Pretty soon, your back begins to curve and it affects your breathing and your heart, because you’re not standing up straight and you’re looking at the ground.”

The slouched posture is known to cause problems, David Purcell said.

“It’s unsafe and there are thousands of people who fall from their walkers every year and end up in the E.R.,” he said. “I was in the manufacturing business, and I thought I could design something better than that. So I spent a year

PRIVACY. DIGNITY. INTEGRITY.

We strive to provide comfortable living in a warm, secure & caring environment.

• Long Term Care • Short-Term Rehabilitation Stays • Physical Therapy • Occupational Therapy • Speech Therapy • Respite Care

of Edwardsville

• Hospice Care Our Residents First philosophy affects everything we do.

(618) 692-1330 401 St. Mary Drive Edwardsville, IL

www.edwardsvillenursingandrehab.com

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 9

Understanding Understanding

Parkinson’s Disease Parkinson’s Disease and Current Treatments and Current Treatments

Living Well With PD Living Well With PD

Teva CNS cordially invites Teva CNS cordially invites Parkinson’s Disease Patients and their Caregivers Parkinson’s Disease Patients and their Caregivers educational program to to anan educational program Presented by: Presented by: John Doe, MD Young, FNP Special guest speaker: Charlene John Doe, MD Special guest speaker: Charlene Young, FNP Southern Illinois University School of Medicine - Movement Disorders Center Medical Director, DBS Program, Movement Disorders Center Southern Illinois University of Medicine - Movement Disorders Center Medical Director, DBSSchool Program, Movement Disorders Center Springfield IL Springfield IL Medical Center John University John DoeDoe University Medical Center Anytown, USA Anytown, USA DateDate Wednesday, June 13, 2013 at 7:00 PM Wednesday, June 13, 2013 at 7:00 PM April 2016 12:00 - 2:00pm April 12,12, 2016 12:00 - 2:00pm At At

Bella Milano's Edwardsville Bella Milano's Edwardsville John Doe’s Restaurant John Doe’s Restaurant 10631063 South StateState RouteRoute 157 157 South 1234 North Zero Street 1234 North Zero Street Edwardsville IL 62025 Edwardsville IL 62025

Anytown, USA USA 12345 Anytown, 12345 (123)(123) 123-4567 123-4567

Your host for for thisthis program will be CNS representative Your host program willTeva be Teva CNS representative Mindy Busby.

A light lunch will be provided.

John Doe Mindy Busby. AJohn light Doe lunch will be provided.

To RSVP please call call To RSVP please (123) 123-4567 orby 877-229-4532 ext.

1234 618-567-6318 on April (123) 123-4567 ornoon 877-229-4532 ext. 1234 618-567-6318 by noon on April 8th - 8th Seating is limited (Please leave only your first name and number of people attending) (Please leave only your first name and number of people attending) ©2014 Teva Neuroscience, Inc. NDD-40111 ©2014 Teva Neuroscience, Inc. NDD-40111

10 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 11

Roller rink helps seniors stay healthy, feel better LOMBARD, Ill. (AP) — Between 10 a.m. and noon every Friday, there’s a decidedly different vibe to the Lombard Roller Rink.

Sure, balloons and other decorations, aimed at kids, dot the rink. But the music -- rock ‘n’ roll and Motown oldies -- is played on an old-time organ.

The skaters complete the picture; they’re mostly in their 60s, 70s and 80s. No one younger than 18 is allowed.

Ralph Taylor, 75, of Naperville notices the difference, in a big way.

“Kids come here, they skate once around, sit down and pull their iPhone out and start texting their friends,” he said.

“Well, what the Dickens did they come here for? The other problem is if you go into any roller rink now, for the kids’ sessions, it’s all rap music. It blows my ears out.”

For decades, many of the skaters have been meeting weekly at the rink, 201 W. 22nd St., paying $6 for their sessions.

“It’s a release,” said Judy May, a longtime instructor at the rink. “When you come here, it’s like going to another planet.

“You have to forget the world and all your problems and concentrate on your balance. And then it becomes fun, and it’s a relief for your brain.”

Here are the stories of three skaters.

Donna Sculley, 59, Palatine -- ‘You don’t have to grow up’ Sculley skates to strengthen her mental health.

“It’s really important,” she says. “You have to get older, but you don’t have to grow up. You should mature, but you should always have fun. I’ve always worked the fun into my day first, and then I go to work.”

Sculley has been skating since she was 3 years old. She stands out on the rink, moving about with the grace of a figure skater, arm-in-arm with her skate partner, Milan Obradovich of Downers Grove.

It’s a good workout,” Obradovich says. “I originally came here to get exercise and it transitioned into artistic skating.

It’s hard to do and it takes a lot of practice. Lots and lots of practice.”

In fact, the two practice about 10 hours a week, traveling to rinks in Palatine, Aurora and even Wisconsin in addition to their Friday sessions in Lombard.

“We have about 35 dances memorized that we know how to do together,” Sculley said proudly.

A worn binder filled with dance steps is set near the edge of the rink. Sculley flips through it, her finger tracing the light line the woman follows, then the dark line the man follows. There are names attached to each dance, like Denver Shuffle and Glide Waltz, Karen Lee Tango and Viva Cha Cha. “That one is fun!” she said, pointing to one of her favorites.

“It looks like an amoeba.”

People like Sculley and Obradovich often don’t know their potential at first, May said. But now, the duo is among the most admired by other skaters.

“They think, ‘Oh, I’m too old for this.’ They think that age is a restriction, and I’m older than anybody around here, and age is not a restriction,” she said. “But you have to be patient.

You can’t be in a rush because you have to build muscle. I tell them, I take you gradually and build your muscles. Muscles build your confidence.”

Ralph Taylor, 75, Naperville -- Skate ‘until you die’ At age 25, Taylor was looking for a bride. He found her at the roller rink.

Although injuries have recently taken his wife, Laura, off the rink, the two still skate together. But a lot has changed since they met 50 years ago.

“Dance skating is on a downward trend,” he said. “Roller rinks are disappearing like crazy.”

Taylor has several theories. Part of it, he said, is kids have endless options for extracurricular activities.

A new trend for young skaters, he added, is “jam skating,” which is similar to break dancing but on four wheels. Taylor has tried to convince a few kids it’s not the best skating form, but he’s had little success.

“I say, ‘When you’re 65 years old, are you going to be wanting to spin around on your head in the middle of that skating floor?’ If you’re a dance skater you can keep this up from the time you’re 8 or 9 years old until you die.”

Taylor estimates at least 30 Chicago-area roller rinks have closed since the end of World War II. That includes the Elm Rink in Elmhurst, where he met Laura and which was demolished around 1989. That year, the two took a break from skating.

Twenty years later, Taylor jumped back in. Thinking he could do tricks like before, he quickly injured himself, falling over backward and breaking his wrist. That didn’t stop him.

Since then, he’s fallen in love with competitive dance skating. He has placed at the Great Lakes Regional competition and qualified for the U.S. Nationals.

Two years ago, he fell again and hurt his hip. There are metal plates and screws in his body and he feels sore at times. But he just can’t quit.

Taylor attends lessons on Saturdays and visits Lombard on Fridays. And every Monday he and his wife spend about seven hours at the Aurora Skate Center, where they sponsor open skates with live organ music from 5 to 7 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month.

“I don’t want to vegetate,” he says. “I’m just going to keep going as long as I can.”

Virginia Wisdom, 66, Naperville -- ‘The closest thing to flying’ “Before I retired, I didn’t have any time (to skate), and when I was a kid I didn’t have any money,” said Wisdom, who joined the Lombard group two years ago. “Now I have both.”

A friend persuaded Wisdom to join by speaking fondly of the skaters’ camaraderie.

“She was absolutely right,” Wisdom said. “The exercise is great and the friendship is really nice, too. It’s a really nice group of people.”

Part of the joy in skating, she says, is learning something new.

Continued on Page 14

12 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Glasses Continued from Page 4 I much prefer the present day’s freedom of expression and of conduct to the conformity of the ‘50s, though I am sometimes shocked by it. I much prefer the progress toward equality achieved by women and minorities to the repressions of the ‘50s, though I’m occasionally skeptical of the means and the rhetoric of the seekers after equality.

During my years of teaching college composition, I would read in my students’ essays of a degree of social disorder quite beyond my experience: broken homes (as we called them in the ‘50s); conflict with stepdads and stepmoms and parental girlfriends and boyfriends; the uncertainties of multiple households; the tensions of blended families; occasional abuse and neglect and stretches in juvie and rehab; a succession of sexual relationships, “out of wedlock” children.

Yet whenever I was tempted to see symptoms of impending social disintegration, I would be reassured by the stu-

Walker Continued from Page 4 “We have physical therapy, we have mechanical engi-

dents themselves. For all their piercings and tattoos, all the flux and disorder of their domestic lives, all their casual sexual relationships, most of these young men and women seemed as focused, as grounded, as determined to improve their lives and their communities as were we children of the ‘50s. The millennials give me hope (though my GenX daughter dismisses them as “entitled brats.”)

Even when writing in his early lucid style, Henry James is almost more trouble than he’s worth, and so, with apologies to Mrs. Costello, I advise my table-pounding friends to read not “Daisy Miller” but Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth.” This Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, first produced in 1942, in the shadow of the Great Depression and during the darkest hours of World War II, explores the constancy of natural and human-made disasters in history and the constancy of humanity’s survival “by the skin of our teeth,” and of our slow-but-sure progress toward a more humane world.

And I urge the Mrs. Costellos of my generation to discern and encourage, without judgment, that which is good in a world that is, as it’s always been, both good and bad, in the hope that humankind will endure, and maybe even prevail. neers and machine designers,” Purwar said.

“If you want to help people, these fields have to come together. Instead of living in silos, if physical therapists interacted more with machine designers, they’ll find that machine designers can solve problems.”

The LifeWalker will be available at lifewalker.us and by calling 877-488-0822.

TRIPLE CROWN OF CANCER CARE ✓ ✓ ✓

Advanced Technology Compassionate Care Close To Home

Susan Laduzinsky, MD • Jason Lee, MD, PhD Radiation Oncologists

4000 North Illinoiss Lane, Swansea, IL 62226 618.236.1000 www.thecancercenter.com

RADIATION THERAPY • PET/CT IMAGING NUTRITIONAL COUNSELING • WELLNESS CENTER

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 13

UCLA freshmen learn about growing old

By ANNA GORMAN Kaiser Health News

\ \ \

\ \ \

April Pearce is in the middle of her freshman year at UCLA, settling into life away from home for the first time. But instead of thinking about dorm food or exams, the 19-year-old is focused on something a little more abstract: old age.

That’s because of a unique course Pearce is taking called Frontiers in Human Aging, designed to teach first-year college students what it means to get old — physically, emotionally and financially.

Pearce said that before, she barely noticed elderly people when she passed them on the street. Since being in the aging class, seeing them fills her mind with questions: Do they live alone? Will they develop dementia? Do they interact with anyone apart from relatives?

“It’s weird, I know,” she said. “But before, I didn’t have any knowledge really about aging. I didn’t even interact with any older people except for my grandmother. Now I’m learning so much.”

In addition to teaching students about aging, the professors have another goal in mind: inspiring them to pursue careers

working with the elderly.

With more than 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, there is a growing need, said Rita Effros, a professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine who teaches both undergraduates and medical students.

People over 65 represented about 14 percent of the U.S. population in 2013, and that figure is expected to increase to nearly 22 percent by 2040. During that same time period, the number of people over 85 is expected to triple.

And jobs working with the elderly won’t just be in medicine but also in social work, psychiatry, technology and law, Effros said.

“We try to make it clear that aging is going to be big business,” she said. “Whatever their interests are, they should think about serving the elderly.” The strategy seems to be working on many of the students, including Pearce. She started UCLA in the fall wanting to be a veterinarian and now is thinking about becoming a geriatrician.

The class, which has about 120 students, is taught jointly

by Effros, an immunologist, Paul Hsu, an epidemiologist, and Lené Levy-Storms, a social welfare professor.

Continued on Page 14

“Caring. Consistent. Dependable.”

+55 esoht gnitpeccA • s esnopser ycnegreme .rh-42 • y+l5k5eeewsoghntipgneeitkpeesuccoA h t•hgiL • egsreeitm ospersnyacrnt & iveitc.rahd-e4l2ud•ehcS • gnipeek+e5s5uoeshothhtgginLit•peccA • y&s seesintiovpitscear dyeclnuedgerhem cSe•.rh-42 •

NEW

ylkeew gnipeekesuoh thgiL • tropsnart & seitivitca deludehcS •

• Accepting those 55+ • 24-hr. emergency response system • Light housekeeping weekly • Scheduled activities & transportation • Three meals daily • TV services with 60 channels • Internet service/Wi-Fi • Flat linens once per week vit

Spacious , m 2 bedroo 2 bath suites!

Villa Rose

Senior Living Community Limited number of spacious apartments available

618-377-3239

Our website is loaded with photos and information.

401 S. Moreland Rd. • Bethalto www.villaroseslc.com

WELLNESS CENTER

MEMBERSHIPS Ages 16-54: Individual $150 Married Couple $275

*Each additional child ages 16-21 years old: $25*

Ages 55+ :

Individual $100

*Each additional child ages 16-21 years old: $25*

CALL TODAY (618) 465-3298

14 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

UCLA Continued from Page 13 UCLA started offering the course in 2001, but the professors said it is becoming increasingly important.

Throughout the year, students hear lectures about anxiety, genetics and dementia. They discuss ageism and read about Social Security. They stage debates on assisted suicide and watch films about growing old.Click to view slideshow.

The course lasts from September to June, and students can go on to take other classes about aging, including ones that focus on diversity or public policy.

Effros said she wants the students to understand people don’t suddenly become old. Rather, the aging process starts when they are conceived. “A lot of life habits and choices they make as college students can affect them decades later,” she said.

During one guest lecture, UCLA medical school professor David Reuben explained how geriatricians evaluate patients and told students about some of the most common problems older people face — dementia, falls, sensory impairment.

He also described how the students’ own lives will change as they age. Instead of traveling the world, older people eventually become unable to travel out of their own bedrooms.

One student raised his hand and said being a geriatrician sounded gratifying, but also seemed heartbreaking. “You watch so many people decline … how do you handle that?”

Reuben responded that he does get sad and he does cry.

“Nobody lives forever and nobody should live forever,” he said. “Death is part of the human experience.”

Michael Margolis, 17, said being in the class has made him think for the first time about his own mortality. “It’s not something we typically think about as teenagers,” he said.

One requirement of the class is that students spend a total of 20 hours volunteering with seniors.

Just after the New Year, the students gathered in a large room on campus to meet representatives from several agencies that serve the elderly. Andres Gonzalez, a director at St. Barnabas Senior Center in Hollywood, told the students they could teach technology classes to active seniors or help deliver meals to homebound ones.

“Even that short interaction becomes very meaningful to the seniors,” Gonzalez said. “You might be the only

Skaters Continued from Page 11 Wisdom takes one or two lessons a week and has since learned how to do rockaways (shifting skates from one side to the other) and rollovers (crossing one foot over the other).

Now she is practicing skating backward on one foot.

“Skating at a high speed around a rink is the most wonderful thing, the closest to flying that I can imagine,” she said and smiled.

person they see that day. And they get even more excited seeing younger people.”

April Pearce was assigned to WISE & Healthy Aging, which runs an adult day service center for seniors with dementia. Catherine Jonas, who previously directed of the center, said the students bring a lot of energy to the center, and they often lead bingo games and exercises.

They also have lengthy conversations with the seniors.

“What the older adults need is that dialogue,” Jonas said. And for students interested in learning about dementia, interacting with people affected by it “is so much better than what they get from a book,” she added.

One morning early last month, the center was decorated for Valentine’s Day, with red and white streamers and cut-out hearts hanging from the ceiling.

One of the student volunteers, Julia Gierasimow, led the group as they rolled their shoulders, stretched their legs and tried to touch their toes. Gierasimow, who is also considering a career in geriatrics, said all the seniors she’s met so far have interesting life stories.

“I don’t know if they remember me from week to week … but they are very friendly,” she said. “As bad as their dementia may be, they still give you a hug.”

After the physical exercises, Pearce sat in a chair in the middle of the room, picked up a microphone and commenced with the mind exercises she’s led each visit.

Today’s activity: a quiz game about football.

“Which team won the first Super Bowl ever?” she asked, smiling.

Several of the seniors shrugged. One man, 76-year-old Tracy Williams, yelled out the right answer: “Green Bay Packers!”

Williams, retired from the Air Force, said he enjoys when the college students come to visit — even though he never would have done the same at their age. “When I was young, I didn’t want to even be near an old person,” he recalled.

Pearce said that in just a few weeks of volunteering, she is becoming more patient and is learning how to talk to people with dementia. “If they say it’s Tuesday, you’re supposed to go with it,” she explained.

Pearce said the class has given her a new perspective on her own life, too. She is trying to eat less fast food and exercise more. And she tries not to worry so much about things like not doing well on an exam. “I am going to have health problems later if I let the stress get to me,” she said.

Pearce is also seeing her grandmother in a new light, Some of the Lombard regulars come from as far as Chicago and Indiana.

“We keep track of each other,” Sculley said, adding that there is concern if someone doesn’t show up.

Some knit during skate breaks and other gather for lunch afterward. There’s always lots of good conversation.

“We’re all getting older, but they still enjoy skating. That’s what it’s all about,” May said. “It’s good for your body, it’s good for your brain. It’s good for your weight problems, for your emotions.

“What can you say is bad besides falling?” she says. “And we do fall. And we get up -- or somebody picks us up.”

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 15

16 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

May is better hearing month.

Special SPECIALOffer OFFER $ 500 OFF A pair of Siemens Premium Signia hearing OFF instruments

500

$

A pair of Siemens Signia hearing instruments

Plus FREE Hearing Consultation Expires 6/30/16 Expires 6/30/16

1st 27 Callers Receive

FREE eCharger

$

450 VALUE

with purchase of a pair of Premium hearing instruments.

Expires 6/30/16

Motion®

Pure® primax ®

Pure primax

Services

Services Include: Include: • Comprehensive

hearing testing • Comprehensive hearing testing • Digital hearing aids in allhearing sizes &aids styles • Digital in all• Tinnitus sizes andevaluation styles & treatment • Tinnitus evaluation • Expert in helping and treatment difficult cases to

• Expert in helping difficult hear better cases to hear better • Risk-Free trials

• Risk-Free trials • Insurance accepted • Insurance accepted • Financing plans • Financing plans available available • Professional,

• Professional, dependable dependable care careyou youcan cantrust trust

® Motion SX primax SX primax

Siemens

eCharger™ Siemens eCharger™

Pure®

® Pure in ear in ear

Try out Try outnew new Signia Signiaprimax primax™™hearing hearinginstruments. instruments.

A world’s first: first:clinically clinicallyproven provenbetter betterthan than A world’s * normal hearing hearing and effort.* normal withreduced reduced listening listening effort.

1950 Edwardsville Club Plaza Edwardsville, IL 62025

• At a busy restaurant 1-866-696-5958 station• Outdoors in wind 9 Junction Drive West Suite #1 Helping • Listening to your favorite• At music Glen Carbon, IL 62034 • At the train station the concert America Hear 1-866-696-5958 • Outdoors in wind • Listening to your • In churches & Well Again At Alton Memorial Hospital favorite music• At the concert auditoriums 2 Memorial Drive Suite #103 • In churches & auditoriums Alton, IL 62002 618-433-7961 Dr. T. K. Parthasarathy, Ph.D., CCC-A, 1950 Edwadsville Club Plaza We Add Ears Visit Our Website Dr. T. K. Parthasarathy, Ph.D., Edwardsville, IL 62025 former Professor of Audiology at SIUe: 1-866-696-5958 BetterHearingClinic.com CCC-A, former Professor I have dedicated to providing my of to Your Life for Patient Testimonials and Audiology at SIUe: I have dedicated • At a busy restaurant • At the train

About our Comprehensive Services

expertise for the last 30 years to help

CALL TODAY!

At Alton Memorial Hospital

Memorial Drive Suite 103 patients with hearing to improve my expertise forloss the last 30 years 2Alton, IL 62002 quality of life.patients with hearing 618-433-7961 to helping is loss to improve the quality of life.9 JunctionSpace Drive West Suite #1

BetterHearingClinic.com BetterHearingClinic.com

Limited!

Glen Carbon, IL 62034 1-866-696-5958

Helping America Hear Well Again. * Study conducted at the University of Northern Colorado, 2015, examined the effectiveness of the new features of primax by

collecting and analyzing ongoing EEG data while subjects performed speech testing. For both primax features SpeechMaster

We Add Ears To Your Life!

*Study conducted at the University of Northern Colorado, 2015, examined the effectiveness of the new features of primax by collecting and EchoShield, the objective brain behavior measures revealed a significant reduction in listening effort when the feature was and analyzingactivated. ongoingCopyright EEG data © while performed speech testing.

For both featuresLicensee SpeechMaster and AG. EchoShield, the 2016subjects Signa GmbH. All rights reserved.

Sivantos, Inc.primax is a Trademark of Siemens 3/16 D-7381A objective brain behavior measures revealed a significant reduction in listening effort when the feature was activated. Copyright© 2016 Cigna GmbH. All rights reserved. Sivantos, Inc. is a Trademark Licensee of Siemens AG. 3/16 D-7381A

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 17

Learn to manage menopause BPT) - Did you ever wonder whether cavewomen went through menopause?

The answer is no. Why not? Because their life expectancies were too short.

But for those of us who live long enough (typically beyond the age of 50), menopause is a fact of life.

The good news is we know more about menopause and its symptoms and have more and better options for managing it than ever before. Part of the reason we know more is that, finally, menopause has come out of the closet.

Thanks to such organizations as The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), not only is there more information available, but women are actually encouraged to talk about their symptoms and share their menopause experiences with their clinicians as well as with their colleagues and friends.

Simply Google “menopause” and you’ll find volumes of information on the subject. One of the more frequently visited sites is menopause. org, which contains scientifically based information designed to help women make smarter health care decisions, not only about menopause, but also about other common midlife women’s health issues.

“Women have more choices today than ever when it comes to managing their menopause symptoms,” says Dr. Wulf Utian, executive director for NAMS. “However, more options can sometimes lead to more confusion.

And that’s why we encourage women to have open dialogues with their clinicians from whom they can obtain facts, not myths. That’s also why NAMS recently updated “The Menopause Guidebook.” Now in its eighth edition, the Guidebook provides a comprehensive look at menopause by providing answers to commonly asked questions, as well as tips for best management practices.”

Because the Guidebook was created by medical practitioners who specialize in the study and management of menopause, it provides practical and proven recommendations that reflect the latest medical advances and scientific studies. In it, women will learn about: * The benefits and risks associated with hormone therapy

BPT photo

Learn to manage menopause to get the most out of life. * Information on nonhormone and hormone options used to manage symptoms such as hot flashes * Treatment options for the genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), the thinning of the vaginal walls that can, among other problems, lead to painful sexual intercourse and decreased desire * The latest FDA-approved options for managing menopause symptoms * Risks associated with the use of bioidentical and compounded hormones, which are not regulated or approved by the FDA * Prevention techniques and strategies for managing a wide array of common health problems during a woman’s midlife, including osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes * The latest nonpharmacologic solutions and products for hot flashes, as well as lifestyle changes that have proven effective in lessening hot flash-

es and night sweats “Women have traditionally viewed menopause as a dreaded phase of their lives and believed they had little control over it,” says Dr. Utian. “However, through resources such as the menopause.org website and the Guidebook, we are looking to educate and empower women so that they can better control their symptoms and actually thrive during this life stage. The more women know about what is happening to their bodies and understand their options, the better choices they can make about treatment and lifestyle.”

Although menopause symptoms occur year-round, there is an increased focus on menopause and its management during the month of September, which has been designated as Menopause Awareness Month.

To order a copy of “The Menopause Guidebook,” visit www.menopause. org/gb8.

18 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Care service pushes families to dine with seniors DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — For Katheryn “Kay” Lyman, the only unusual thing about turning 100 will be sharing the day with her children, she said.

Lyman will celebrate her 100th birthday Dec. 10, and aside from reaching that milestone, the day will be special because it’s one of the two times a year she typically sees her children. Lyman has a son and three daughters.

“I don’t think I ever thought about being 100. It’s a big number,” she said. “I’ll probably think it’s just another day, but my children are coming - they all live 1,000 miles away.”

People’s busy schedules are making it tougher for them to schedule family meals, including those with relatives who might be senior citizens living by themselves. In response, Helen Slagle and her husband, Wayne, owners of DeKalb’s Home Instead Senior Care office, are encouraging families in DeKalb, Ogle and Lee counties to take the Sunday Dinner Pledge - a promise to share a meal once a week with a senior family member.

As people age, their appetites naturally begin to subside. When combined with living alone and other possible physical ailments, it can lead to weight loss and an unhealthy diet for seniors, Slagle said.

Home Instead Inc., a Nebraska-based national senior care franchise with a local office in DeKalb, conducted its own survey of 1,000 households throughout Canada and the U.S. to help gauge how often senior citizens eat with their families.

A senior citizen with a decreasing appetite is reason for concern, especially if family and friends live far away, Helen Slagle said. Even with a weak appetite, seniors are more likely to eat a meal if they are joined by the company of a loved one, she said.

However, they found 75 percent of people only sit down for a family meal with senior relatives at special occasions, events or holidays, according to a news release.

“We go into the client’s house and they’re not really wanting to eat, especially on their own, and they like to have someone to eat with or someone to cook them

emory Care Commun M r e i m ity Pre

3432 Village Lane Granite City, IL 62040

618-931-3999

fountainviewmemorycare.com

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 19

Mon.-Fri. 9:30 AM-5:30 PM, Sat. 9:00 AM-4:00 PM, Sun. Closed

4225 S St. Rt. 159 Suite 1 Glen Carbon, IL 62034

Mon.-Fri. 9:30 AM-5:30 PM, Sat. 9:00 AM-4:00 PM, Sun. Closed

:30 PM, 0 PM,

4225 S St. Rt. Glen Carbon,

S St. Rt. 159 Suite 1 n Carbon, IL 62034

*

April 2 - April 16 , 2016 nd

th

15

$

OFF

Sizes & Widths From 4 Slim To 15 Double Wide This coupon good for SAS brand shoes ONLY. Offer Good April 2nd - April 16th, 2016

20 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

THE SAKSA FAMILY

SAKSA FUNERAL HOME EDWARDSVILLE, IL 656-7577

GRANITE CITY, IL 876-4321

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 21

Stay in your home longer by staying safer (BPT) - While many can only dream of the day they’ll retire, for baby boomers, that dream is quickly becoming a reality. By the year 2030, approximately 20 percent of Americans are expected to be age 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But retirement doesn’t necessarily mean relocating to a senior community. More and more, adults choose to “age in place,” remaining in their current home, even after retirement. Here are a few ways to add extra convenience today - and ensure a safe home in the future.

Change up common areas When thinking about the long-term, start with the layout. In a perfect world, it’s ideal to have all the key living spaces - bathroom, kitchen and bedroom on the first floor. If your home wasn’t built with a first-floor bedroom or bath, and stairs have to be a part of your plan, install no-slip strips on the edge of each stair to help limit trips and falls.

Next, make sure there’s plenty of room to move. Aim for doorways that are at least 32 inches wide, though 36 inches is ideal. Tight corners and doorways are a challenge for those with walkers or canes. For stress-free opening and closing, change out door handles from traditional knobs to lever handles for an easier grip.

Then, focus on the flooring. Installing carpeting can provide warmth and cushioning for you to enjoy now, and offers an added element of safety when it might be harder for you to maneuver around in the future. Choose a low pile carpet to minimize tripping - too much shag is a safety hazard. Area rugs are a major no-no, as unsecured rugs and loose carpet are one of the main causes for slips and falls. If you can’t bear the thought of losing your area rug, use carpet tape to secure it firmly to the floor.

Boost the bath If you can only update one place in your home, make it the bathroom.

The bathroom typically offers the most opportunities for injury. In fact, roughly 234,000 injuries occur annually in the bathroom alone, as stated

BPT photo

Simple enhancements can make your tub safer. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An easy way to incorporate safety is to install grab bars.

Today’s grab bars are stylish, fitting in seamlessly with your space, rather than seeming obtrusive and sterile.

Install them near the toilet, (make sure you have a comfort-height commode for easy sitting and standing) as well as in the shower. Some models, like the corner shelf with grab bar from Moen, pull double duty adding an element of additional storage you can take advantage of immediately, providing room to store your shampoo, and will help keep you safe while entering and exiting the bath. Check out retailers like Lowes for a wide array of options that are fashionable as well as functional.

In the shower, a handheld showerhead, like the Magnetix Engage showerhead from Moen, is an ideal option for those who may want to be seated while they bathe. Engage with Magnetix is also handy for cleaning the shower, by eliminating bending and squatting which can be hard on your joints as you age. Finally, at the vanity, choose a faucet with lever handles they’re easiest to grip and turn - and install sconces near the mirror for additional lighting.

In general, the most important advice for any room in your home is to think efficiently. Locate items that work together near each other to make tasks easier today, tomorrow and in the years to come.

22 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

Tips on making things easier for your loved ones (BPT) - There are few traditions as optimistic in spirit as resolution setting.

Every Jan. 1, millions of Americans make resolutions. In 2015, the second most popular resolution - behind dieting - was to become better organized, according to the Statistic Brain Research Institute ranking of top 10 New Year’s resolutions.

Although sometimes intimidating to take on, organizational initiatives can produce enormously satisfying results. One such gratifying organizational endeavor involves getting your thoughts together, documenting your information and expressing how you want to live out the rest of your life.

This undertaking is uniquely rewarding because it will give you peace of mind while also helping to make difficult times easier for your loved ones.

Stepping into another’s financial life: A daunting task Eventually, your loved ones may need to help with your personal care (in case you become ill and need assistance) or handle your financial matters when you are no longer able to do so. The emotional impact they will suffer as a result of their loss will be compounded by the stress of dealing with the legal, financial and logistical aftermath.

While it’s never easy to step into another person’s financial life, the task becomes infinitely more difficult when loved ones have to guess how things should be handled, or cannot find important information, such as bank and credit card accounts, health care proxies, wills and contact names and numbers.

There are countless stories of families who did not talk about their end-of-life wishes and financial matters until it was too late. In fact, 90 percent of people say it’s important to talk to loved ones about these issues, but only 27 percent have done so, according to the Conversation Project National Survey conducted in 2013.

Organization: An elixir in difficult times

BPT photo

Organize your affairs for those who might have to take them over.

By proactively planning, you can relieve your loved ones of the burden of having to piece together your financial life and guess as to how you want things handled. The process is not onerous - it simply involves gathering, consolidating and making the following information available: * Insurance and beneficiary information * Key contacts, advisors, and executors * Financial information and accounts * Online accounts, memberships, and social networking identification * Location of important documents * Final arrangements and wishes If this list seems overwhelming, don’t

despair, help is available. The free, “What My Loved Ones Need to Know” planning guide booklet will help you organize your information and communicate what matters most to you - both now and in the future. This online resource is dynamic, so it can be updated as life evolves. You can also visit the Prepare your accounts. Share your wishes page on MassMutual.com for helpful articles on how you can share your plans or help loved ones with their planning.

By resolving to take the time now to organize your financial world and document your care preferences and end-of-life wishes, you can provide an elixir to your loved ones that will make difficult times easier down the road.

TheIntelligencer.com - April 2016 - Mature Lifestyles - 23

Service Continued from Page 18 Aside from an occasional craving for rhubarb pie, Lyman’s appetite isn’t what it used to be, she said. Two years ago, she experienced her first fainting spell, which would return unannounced and without reason in the following years.

Her doctor recommended she drink more water.

“Here I was thinking I’m the world’s best water-drinker,” Lyman said.

Getting families together to share a meal is one way to ensure that seniors are getting the nutrients they need, Slagle said.

“It’s a mission, I guess, to just enhance the lives of the seniors and encourage them to eat and perhaps encourage the families to get back with these seniors and maybe have a pledge to eat one meal a month at least, let’s say on a Sunday,” she said.

People’s busy schedules often don’t allow time for family meals anymore, Slagle said. Even for seniors who have food delivered from services such Meals on Wheels, eating can feel too lonely of a task to manage, she added.

“We’re finding that clients don’t want to eat that food because they’re still eating on their own, and all they want is someone to sit with them and talk to them and then maybe they’ll eat,” Slagle said. “Everyone is very busy now. Most

people work.”

Home Instead also found that half of families living near senior family members believe they do not share enough meals with those relatives, and as a result they miss out on an important family connection.

Lyman’s children have not abandoned her, and they are no longer children.

Her family is spread across the country, including her oldest son, who is now 80.

Lyman, however, has chosen to stay in DeKalb in the house where she raised her family, next to Sycamore, the city where she was born.

Each time she becomes ill, Lyman’s three children and a handful of nephews and grandchildren are there to take care of her.

In the meantime, however, Lyman wants someone to shop with, watch Cubs games with, and make sure she’s regaining the weight she lost after an illness.

“Most people are trying to lose weight, but I’m trying to gain it,” she laughed.

For the moments in between family visits, Home Instead trains and assigns caregivers to spend time with local seniors.

However, there is something to be said for family dinners, and they don’t need to be scheduled only on Sundays, Slagle said.

“Then they have a family meal and a get-together,” she said. “That way the families are going to get to appreciate the seniors in their life, and the seniors are going to get to appreciate them, and they’re going to eat more, as well.”

Do you have your plans in place to age well? ve your Do you ha ents m legal docu in order? ncerned Are you co about your come? in retirement roaching p p a u o y e Ar ering nd wondFOR 65AaCAREGIVER ARE YOU AN OLDER ADULT, icareA?DISABILITY? OR AN ut MedWITH aboINDIVIDUAL AgeSmart is here to help you find the right resources to meet your current and future needs.

Call AgeSmart Community Resources and we is a nonprofit organization that has been will put our 40 years AgeSmart of experience to since 1974. providing Service toto the work community For more please call AgeSmart at answer your questions and helpinformation you AGE WELL. 618-222-2561 or 1-800-326-3221

1-800-326-3221

When you need home care you need • • • • •

96% client satisfaction approval On time guarantee 24 hour and live-in care available Certified dementia care specialist Experienced and trusted home care aides

Call the Professionals in Family Caregiving!

Monroe County: 618.655.1444 St. Clair & Monroe Counties: 618.257.3444 Email: Jody@barbervoss.com www.BarberVoss.com

24 - Mature Lifestyles - April 2016 - TheIntelligencer.com

LET US TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF MOVING!

If we would have known it was this easy to move, we would have done it a long time ago!

Eden Village has partnered with Tranquil Transitions to help you through the moving process including sorting, packing, moving and unpacking.

For Independent Living Call Tina at 618-205-4637

For Assisted Living Call Autumn at 618-205-4602

Moving Allowance up to $2,000. Offer Expires 5/31/16.

200 South Station Rd., Glen Carbon, IL 62034

Retirement Community EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

618-205-4637

www.edenvillage.org