Golden Years 2022

Golden Years April 2022

The Sentinel

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2—Lewistown, PA

The Sentinel

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

ARE YOU TAKING CARE OF YOUR LOVED ONE? Mifflin-Juniata Area Agency on Aging offers a program to HELP SUPPORT THE CAREGIVER! You may qualify for the following reimbursements under our NEW eligibility guidelines:

• • • • •

Cost of aide services Caregiving supplies Home modifications Walkers and lift chairs And more!

Funding is also available to any grandparent, age 55 and older, who is raising a grandchild under the age of 18. Assistance for grandparents includes compensation for basic needs like school supplies, clothing, and more! We are also providing all income-eligible seniors with a monthly food box. For questions or to make a referral for any of our programs, please visit our office or call 717-242-0315.

The Family Caregiver Support Program is here to help support the care provided by family members, not replace it.

The Area Agency on Aging is an Affiliate of Mifflin-Juniata Regional Services 717-242-0315 ● 249 W. 3rd Street, Lewistown ● mymjrsc.com ● Follow us on Facebook!

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

­Lewistown, PA—3

GOLDEN YEARS

A better LIFE through elder care program

By GREG WILLIAMS

Sentinel correspondent

YEAGERTOWN — Jim Hile likes to create bright and cheery pictures from his adult coloring book. It’s become a favorite pastime for him during his weekly visits to LIFE (Living Independently for Elders) Geisinger Lewistown in Yeagertown.

“I never colored before with gel pencils,” says the 79-year-old Hile. “They got me started up there and I just kept at it.”

The same could be said for his physical therapy.

Without his treatments at LIFE Geisinger, the picture — and certainly prognosis — would be much different for Hile, a veteran who is wheelchair bound.

“I hate to say it, but I’d probably be under the ground or in a nursing home,” Hile explains of the difference the treatments have made in his quality of life.

The Mount Pleasant Mills man certainly would

not have his independence.

Since 2006, he has lived with his daughter, Kathy Messimer.

Even that would have been difficult without LIFE Geisinger’s assistance.

“I had so much back pain that I could not get out of bed,” Hile recalls.

“They said they were going to work this (pain) out of me, and they did.”

Hile attends therapy at LIFE Geisinger on Mondays and Thursdays. He started on Nov. 1, 2019, and has seen a remarkable transformation over the years.

LIFE Geisinger is a program for adults 55 and older designed to give seniors the support they need to live at home. LIFE participants, like Hile, can keep living independently while using Geisinger’s comprehensive daily liv-

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Geisinger’s team coordinates care based on individual needs, offering caregivers relief and support.

“For Jim and others, it’s a matter of the family that they live with are working, while the loved ones are sitting at home alone,” says Brooke Penepacker, manager at LIFE Geisinger Lewistown. “Here, he gets the socializing and all the care he needs. At home, he has a personal care assistant to help him with the cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.

“Everyone who comes here is nursing home level care,” she adds. “There are not enough nursing homes in this area to house everybody, so programs like LIFE help people age at home with care wrapped around them.”

Submitted photo By getting to know their Jim Hile says his life is better today because of his participation in Geisinger’s LIFE See LIFE / Page 4 program for those age 55 and older.

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GOLDEN YEARS

LIFE

it’s a lot better.”

Living with his daughter also enabled him to Continued from Page 3 see other relatives, like his grandson, more frequentLIFE senior members, ly.

Hile also got to spend Geisinger can create a care plan that fits specific time with his sister, Dorneeds — and changes with othy Swartz, who was also a participant at LIFE those needs over time.

“Before, Jim didn’t Geisinger. The two hadn’t seen each leave the other in nearhouse ever,” 222 ly two years Penepacker says. “He “I couldn’t hardly handle because of didn’t have myself or nothing. I had the current to have help getting in health situathe services there to and out of bed. I can do tion.

They were help support that all myself now; it’s a in therapy him.” lot better.” together and As a would have full-service Jim Hile fun-loving health sysGeisinger LIFE participant competitions tem, LIFE in the hallGeisinger 222 ways to see offers spewho could cialized senior health and medi- walk further, says Brooke cal care, as well as a full Penepacker, the manager range of daily activities to at LIFE Geisinger Lewenhance our participants’ istown.

“One day I’d beat her quality of life.

“In my opinion, you and the next day she’d beat can’t find better people,” me,” Hile recalls. One batHile says. “The doctors, tle stands out in his mind. the nurses, the staff — “We tried to see who could everybody is just super do the most,” he adds. “I got 2,000. She came out nice.”

It has been a long road and said she beat that. She to recovery for Hile. He didn’t tell me right away, started his therapy at Lo- but she used my score (as cust Grove Retirement a starting point), and that’s Village in Mifflin. Years how she beat me. They later, Hile can maneuver (LIFE Geisinger staff) got himself up and down his a big kick out of that.”

His sister was the one wheelchair ramp and perform other household du- who suggested he start ties, such as laundry, cook, therapy at the Yeagertown wash dishes and cleaning. center.

“I used to go up to her “I sweep the floors place an awful lot,” Hile sometimes,” he jokes.

“My daughter works said. “She called me and (long) hours some days, so said I should try to get I try to help her out as long in there. When I started, we had our days together as I can,” Hile adds.

He shudders when he but then this confoundthinks about life before ed virus came around and shut it down (therapy) for LIFE Geisinger.

“I couldn’t hardly han- a while. When we came dle myself or nothing,” he back again, we had opposays. “I had to have help site days. I still called her, getting in and out of bed. I or she called me once or can do that all myself now; twice per week.”

Hile cherishes that time with his sister, who recently passed away. He is also thankful for his improved health, which includes getting his vaccines and booster for COVID-19.

“He got them all at LIFE, and he hasn’t had COVID,” Penepacker says.

The two also shared a friendly competition to see who could pedal the most using an odometer-type device.

“We set it on the table and exercised our arms with it,” Hile explains. “I also weight lift with my hands to keep my arms and shoulders in shape.”

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

­Lewistown, PA—5

GOLDEN YEARS

The Care Network marks National Volunteers Week Submitted to The Sentinel

skillset. Volunteers aid in the planning of popular events such as Senior Games and Centers In Motion activities.

They drive individuals to outof-county medical appointments on behalf of Call-ARide Service.

Volunteers assist at senior centers with daily activities, as well as making special demonstrations of their hobbies, craft, and talents. They complete clerical tasks at the main office, make phone calls to check on isolated senior citizens, prepare income taxes and property/rent rebates on behalf of eligible consumers, and so much more.

The Home Delivered Meal program could not exist without their support; this service alone makes up 3,850 of the organization’s overall volun-

National Volunteers Week occurs annually in the third week of April, and if there’s an organization that has a lot to celebrate on this occasion, it’s Mifflin-Juniata Regional Services Corporation—The Care Network. In the 20202021 fiscal year, volunteers across all programs contributed a grand total of 5,270 hours of service. They drove 85,172 miles to deliver food, provide transportation, visit long-term care facilities and more.

Ask anyone at The Care Network and you will hear a resounding answer — volunteers are the backbone of the organization. There is a cause or committee for just about anyone’s area of interests or

teer hours, a huge operation that consists of sorting, packing and distributing nutritious meals twice a week to homebound seniors.

One of The Care Network’s valued volunteers is Angie Brannon, a former employee who returns to share her time and insights as a counselor with the Pennsylvania Medicare Education and Decision Insight (PA MEDI) program and through Pennsylvania’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. When serving in the PA MEDI capacity, Brannon is passionate about saving people effort, time, and money as they navigate the confusing world of health insurance. Whether it be pitching in through the program’s busy Open Enrollment Period or advising those who

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are enrolling in Medicare for the first time, Brannon says it is “such a fulfilling feeling of giving back and helping.”

Sandy Lauer is another volunteer who wears multiple hats on behalf of the nonprofit organization. When retiring from a career in banking, Lauver took a pause to reflect on how she wanted to invest her time with purpose.

In January of 2019, she decided to join The Care Network as a volunteer tax preparer, and that opportunity eventually expanded into the arenas of Home Delivered Meals and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.

“You get a new perspective on life when you get to meet with people in the nursing home,” Lauver says of her ombudsman work.

Both she and Brannon their voice matters once they speak highly on the reward- move into a nursing facility. ing service of advocacy, The statewide ombudsman connecting with those who See Volunteer / Page 7 may otherwise not feel as if

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

GOLDEN YEARS

Submitted photo

Angie Brannon is a former employee of The Care Networkwho returns to share her time and insights as a counselor

Volunteer Continued from Page 5

program is dedicated to resolving complaints and problems on behalf of individuals who reside in long-term care settings. The Care Network relies on the efforts of volunteers to cover the widespread span of such facilities across Mifflin and Juniata Counties.

Seeing successes, like roommates getting along, issues being resolved, is one of the highlights of this platform for Lauver. She had been volunteering for a little over

a year when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and like many of the organization’s unsung heroes, she persevered through the various programming changes that followed.

Whether it be nursing facilities closing to the public or Home Delivered Meal drivers adding masks and hand sanitizer to their routines, the health and wellbeing of older adults remained the primary concern for The Care Network’s staff and volunteers.

These struggles made it all the sweeter when volunteers like Lauver were eventually able to resume business as usual.

“COVID has taken a toll on local seniors. It’s good to finally see their faces again,” she said.

Angie Brannon echoes that sentiment.

“I love getting to see the different people, hear their concerns and help them address what’s going on, getting to advocate for them and put a smile on their face,” she said.

April 17 through 23 is National Volunteers Week, and The Care Network expresses gratitude to all the men and women who choose to do the important See Volunteer / Page 8

­Lewistown, PA—7

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8—Lewistown, PA

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

GOLDEN YEARS

Why you should name a trusted contact

By LIZ WESTON NerdWallet For the past few years, financial services companies have been bugging me to name a “trusted contact.”

Banks, brokerages and insurers increasingly want to have someone to call or email in case they notice suspicious activity and can’t reach the account holder.

I ignored these requests.

Trusted contacts are a great idea for older people experiencing cognitive decline, I thought, but that’s not me.

Then a younger friend developed early-onset dementia, and I realized we don’t always get enough warning to put such protections in place.

Clearly, trusted contacts aren’t just good for older people. Anyone’s financial accounts could be vulnerable if they’re displaced by natural disaster, wind up in the hospital, suffer a brain injury or are traveling and hard to reach. Helping your brokerage, bank or insurer

connect with someone who knows what’s going on in your life could protect your money and prevent financial catastrophe.

“I love the idea of the trusted contact, because it can really head off any fraud or exploitation before it snowballs out of control,” says Amanda Singleton, a family caregiving expert for AARP and an estate planning attorney in St. Petersburg, Florida.

TRUSTED CONTACTS CAN’T MAKE CHANGES Naming a trusted contact doesn’t give that person authority over your accounts or the ability to see balances or make changes, explains Gerri Walsh, senior vice president of investor education at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA. FINRA is the nongovernmental organization that regulates the securities industry, including brokerages.

Instead, your trusted contact can help financial

services companies reach you (if you’re reachable) or identify others who might help. If you’re incapacitated, for example, your contact might connect the company to your legal guardian or the person with power of attorney over your accounts.

If you’ve died, your trusted person could provide contact information for the executor of your estate or the successor trustee of your living trust.

You aren’t required to name a trusted contact, but financial services companies —î along with regulators and consumer advocates — recommend it. You can change your trusted contact whenever you want, or name more than one. Ideally, a trusted contact is someone you’re confident will protect your privacy and act responsibly.

“It could be an adult child, a close friend, an attorney or some other trusted person that the financial institution can reach out to for extra help to try to reach you,” says Deborah Royster, as-

Volunteer

live. For more information on getting involved as a volunteer with Mifflin-Juniata ReContinued from Page 7 gional Services, Call-A-Ride sistant director for the ConService, or the Area Agency sumer Financial Protection on Aging, call (717) 242work of supporting local seBureau’s Office for Older 0315 or visit the office at 249 niors.

Volunteers make our Americans . community a better place to W. Third St., Lewistown.

A TRUSTED CONTACT COULD THWART FRAUD

The push to name trusted contacts started out of concern for older Americans being scammed out of their life savings. More than 369,000 cases of financial fraud of older adults are reported to authorities each year, causing an estimated $4.84 billion in losses, according to a January report by Comparitech, a cybersecurity research company.

But this kind of fraud is notoriously underreported, See Contact / Page 11

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­Lewistown, PA—9

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

GOLDEN YEARS

Senior bowling group values exercise, camaraderie

By JILLIAN ATELSEK Frederick News-Post FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — It was easy to see Jackie McMahon was laughing, but not so easy to hear over the cacophony of crashing pins and rolling balls.

One by one, her friends

went up for their shot. They picked up the small duckpin bowling ball and swung it down the lane. More often than not, they were celebrated with cheers, claps or a ringing bell —î courtesy of McMahon and the half-dozen companions that surrounded her.

“Everybody here is hap-

py,” she said, smiling. “We just get along. Nobody’s uptight.”

McMahon and a rotating cast of about 20 other Frederick-area seniors gather each Thursday at the Walkersville Bowling Center for an afternoon of duckpin.

Regular attendees say it’s a source of exercise and joy

they look forward to every week.

The crew doesn’t meet on Thanksgiving, said George Miller, 80. But on all the other Thursdays of the year — with the occasional exception of Christmas or New Year’s — they descend on Walkersville. It’s a familiar setting for many of the regulars, and often a comforting one. After Miller lost his wife on Christmas Day this past year, he said, he headed to bowling the next Thursday. It helped to keep busy.

“Life goes on,” he said.

“You’ve gotta keep on going.”

Miller, who has bowled with the group for 15 years, said the group has kept him occupied and entertained

over the years.

The bowling alley’s assistant manager, Tracy Smith, has greeted the bowlers each week for the seven years she’s worked there.

She knows most of them by name, she said, smiling from behind the food counter.

They were back in the lanes the very week that the alley reopened from its pandemic shutdown, she added.

“They’re good people,” Smith said. “They like their bell.”

Many of the members of the group, which is organized through the Frederick County Senior Recreation Council, have been doing much the same for two decades or more. Some are teased as “newbies” for hav-

ing only been there a couple of years.

But even the newbies are cheered on with a ring of the bell, the piercing sound echoing across the small space.

Duckpin bowling is accessible to nearly everyone, said Gerald Blessing, the group’s lead coordinator.

The balls are much smaller and lighter than traditional bowling balls, and the pins are, too. Players get three throws instead of two.

Walkersville’s alley is the only facility in the county offering duckpin bowling nowadays, Blessing said.

Blessing recalls a regular attendee who recently died See Bowling / Page 11

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GOLDEN YEARS

Bowling

Continued from Page 10

at the age of 96. He bowled until about a year before his passing, Blessing said.

“Everybody, practically, can do it,” he said.

Members come and go, Blessing said. But he’s always surprised that the turnout isn’t higher, given the ease and fun of duckpin. The Senior Recreation Council, which offers activities to Frederick residents over 50, is most known for its exercise classes, Blessing said, some of which can attract more than 100 people.

The group’s attendance has now almost entirely recovered from a severe dip during the pandemic, he added.

Bowling club members stop playing when injuries

or illnesses strike, and new seniors find their way to the group all the time. But even as the core group shifts, the camaraderie remains.

Someone keeps score each week, marking down the points on a plastic sheet and displaying them on an old-fashioned overhead projector. But really, the players said, it’s not about the competition.

They tossed friendly jabs back and forth across the lanes at a recent August meeting. They chatted about television —î who’s going to take over as the host for “Jeopardy”? —î and their kids and grandkids. A container of cupcakes sat melty on the table, brought in to celebrate Nancy Shores’ recent 80th birthday.

“Everybody just blends together and has a great time,” Shores said.

Contact

services companies such as banks, credit unions and insurers don’t have similar Continued from Page 8 rules. Even so, some are offering the opportunity to often because victims are name trusted contacts on acembarrassed, worried that counts, Royster says. others will think them incaBEWARE pable, or protective of the FRAUDULENT perpetrators, who may be EMAIL REQUESTS loved ones, caregivers or neighbors. Comparitech esOne thing you shouldn’t timates the real toll may be do is respond to emails that 8.68 million cases and more seem to be from your fithan $113.7 billion in losses nancial institution asking each year. you to name a trusted conTo help reduce that toll, tact. Those may be scams to two new FINRA rules were steal your passwords or creapproved in 2017 . The ate other havoc, FINRA’s first allows brokerages to Walsh says. put temporary holds on Instead of replying to withdrawals when finan- those emails, consider callcial exploitation is sus- ing your financial institution pected, and the second re- or looking on its website for quires brokerages to “make a form that lets you name a reasonable efforts” to get trusted contact. customers to name trusted If your financial institucontacts. tions offer the option, it’s So far, other financial a relatively quick and easy

way to add a layer of protection on your accounts, says Abby Schneiderman , co-founder and co-CEO of the end-of-life planning site Everplans and co-author of “In Case You Get Hit by a

Bus: How to Organize Your Life Now for When You’re Not Around Later.”

“People should take two minutes out of their day and name a trusted contact,” Schneiderman says.

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GOLDEN YEARS

Pen pals spread joy to seniors in assisted living

By ASHLEY DILL Herald-Journal SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) —î Robert Fox and his new friend, Stephanie, both share a love of music, amusement parks and animals.

The two have become pen pals and written letters to each other during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fox, an 87-year-old Army veteran and a resident of TerraBella assisted living in Spartanburg, and Stephanie, 15, have shared stories with each other.

Stephanie recently asked Fox about his first love. In her letter she asked, “please share a story about your

first love.”

“I told her about my wife,” Fox said. “She was 15, and I was 17 and already in the Army by then.

I told her about what life in the military with a wife and three young boys was like.

We lived in Hawaii and Italy, but I was stationed other places like Japan and Korea, places she couldn’t go.

Having to leave my family was hard because I worried about them, but it was what I had to do then.”

Fox said it was important for the residents of TerraBella to receive letters from pen pals during the pandemic because the assisted-living facility wasn’t allowed to have visitors. Many assisted-living residents felt

isolated and alone when their families and friends weren’t allowed to visit.

Fox said he remembers serving as a mail clerk in the Army during the Korean War and seeing the disappointment in the soldier’s faces when they didn’t receive letters from home.

Fox wrote a friend in his hometown of Inman and asked if he could encourage people to become pen pals to soldiers in Korea.

His friend, Jim Everhart, later sent him an excerpt from the Inman Times, with a small advertisement he ran in the newspaper asking locals to become pen pals with soldiers.

Home Instead Senior Care helped to organize

the current letter-writing campaign. The Spartanburg company provides personal care, companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, and other services to seniors.

And for Audrey Martin, director of Community Relations for Home Instead, this included doing its part to help decrease that loneliness that so many local seniors have felt during the pandemic.

“So far in Canada and US over 7,000 pen pal letters have been delivered to seniors,” Martin said. “Different franchises can opt in to distribute the letters to the community. That’s where Home Instead came in. We delivered over 100 letters

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to seniors in the Spartan- the letter-writing experience as well. burg community.”

TerraBella resident HOW TO BECOME A Peggy Henthorn, 87, rePENPAL WITH ceived her first letter about A SENIOR a month ago from a young Becoming a pen pal is girl named Allie from Arsimple. Members of the kansas. Allie included a community can submit let- photo of herself in the letter ters, photos or video mes- asked how Henthorn was sages at readytocare.com/ handling the pandemic. penpals to create a meanHenthorn hopes to write ingful connection with a back to Allie soon, but senior. They can also nom- she’s still recovering from inate a senior to receive a the aftereffects of having letter —î or even request COVID-19 a few months a letter themselves —î by ago. contacting info@readytoShe says the months of care.com. not having any visitors was Home Instead will handle difficult for the residents, everything else, from vet- but the staff did what they ting to delivery. Parents and could to make things better guardians are also encourSee Pen pals / Page 13 aged to involve children in

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

GOLDEN YEARS

AP photo

Robert Cox, a resident at TerraBella senior living in Spartanburg, S.C. looks at a letter he had received through Home Instead pen pal letter-writing program. Home Instead Senior Care helped to organize the current letter-writing campaign. The Spartanburg company provides personal care, companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, and other services to seniors.

Pen Pals

Continued from Page 12

for them, such as planning weekly events and activities for the residents to enjoy.

“I enjoyed getting this letter from Allie and hope to write back to her soon,” Henthorn said.

Brooke Hargett, director of Health and Wellness at TerraBella, says the residents are elated when they receive a letter from someone and are especially intrigued when the letters come from different parts of the country.

“It has definitely boosted morale,” Hargett said.

“One of our favorite letters

was from a single mother of a toddler. How they were home along and isolated during the pandemic.

Two completely different generations and circumstances, but our resident really identified with her.

With the isolation, not being able to go anywhere.

Just feeling alone in so many ways.”

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

GOLDEN YEARS

High blood pressure before midlife may mean greater dementia risk American Heart Association linked high blood pressure ple in matching age groups to dementia, the new study’s who did not have high blood People who develop high researchers said, but little pressure. blood pressure before mid- is known about whether the For every age group, they dle age have smaller brains age at which it develops has found those diagnosed with and a higher risk for demen- an impact on a person’s de- high blood pressure had less tia than those whose blood mentia risk. brain volume overall, as pressure falls within the Researchers analyzed well as in certain regions of normal range, new research brain health data —ì in- the brain. Those diagnosed shows. cluding brain volume size with high blood pressure beThe study, published in and dementia status —ì fore 35 showed the largest the American Heart Associ- using the UK Biobank, a reduction in brain volume ation journal Hypertension, large database of anony- compared to those with norfound people diagnosed mous health information for mal blood pressure, even if with high blood pressure be- half a million people living their blood pressure later retween the ages of 35 and 44 in the United Kingdom. In turned to normal. were 61% more likely to de- one analysis, they looked at In a separate analysis, the velop some type of dementia brain volume measurements team looked at the relationwithin the next decade than for 11,399 people with high ship between when people those whose blood pressure blood pressure diagnosed were diagnosed with high was normal. The results sug- before age 35; between 35 blood pressure and whether gest maintaining good blood and 44; or between 45 and they developed any form of pressure control early in life 54. They compared data dementia up to 14 years latcan help reduce the risk for for people in these groups er. They compared data for dementia later in life. to the same number of peo- 124,053 people with high An active screening program to catch and intensively treat high blood pressure earlier could help, senior study author Dr. Mingguang He said in a news release.

He is a professor of ophthalmic epidemiology at the Events for the community University of Melbourne in calendar & daily entertainment page Australia.

Nearly half of U.S. adults may be emailed to: have high blood pressure, also known as hypertenEVENTS@LEWISTOWNSENTINEL.COM sion. Previous research has

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blood pressure to the same number of people without.

The earlier a person developed high blood pressure, the higher the risk for developing vascular dementia, a common form of dementia caused by poor blood flow to the brain. The risk was 69% higher for those diagnosed with high blood pressure between ages 35 and 44 and 45% higher for those diagnosed between ages 45 and 54.

But when researchers looked at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia linked to proteins that disrupt brain function, the age at which a person was diagnosed with high blood pressure had no impact.

“Our study’s results pro-

vide evidence to suggest an early age at onset of hypertension is associated with the occurrence of dementia and, more importantly, this association is supported by structural changes in brain volume,” lead author Xianwen Shang said in the release. Shang is a research fellow at the Guangdong

Provincial People’s Hospital in Guangzhou, China.

The team is planning future research in those who developed high blood pressure during young adulthood or middle age to determine the role of other medical conditions associated with dementia risk, such as diabetes and stroke.

DAN CRAIG, RPh

JEFFREY BONJO, RPh

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