Wichita Community Matters August 2019

Wichita Presbyterian Manor

AUGUST 2019

Get to know Dr. McCue

Westerly resident offers advice for good health and a healthy marriage

Tamara McCue, D.O.

Wichita Presbyterian Manor is pleased to welcome Tamara McCue, D.O., as the new medical director for our long-term health care, short-term rehabilitation (PATH®), assisted living and memory care.

Westerly resident Ann Hunter.

Wherever Westerly resident Ann Hunter goes, there’s a good chance someone will either recognize her face or voice. That’s because Ann taught nutrition classes in person and online for the College of Health Professions at Wichita State University for 45 years and returned as faculty emeritus. She also consulted in her own private practice before retiring in 2015.

“All students with a health-related major had to take nutrition—it’s what -Marriage, continued on page 2

A graduate of Oklahoma College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, Dr. McCue brings nearly 30 years of experience to the role with a specialization in geriatric medicine.

She is affiliated with TeamHealth, a post-acute care practice group comprised of physicians and other mid-level practitioners to fully support our community.

Dr. McCue offers on-site consultations along with her TeamHealth practitioners, which will include expedited response to urgent medical concerns.

Her team’s participation in the community’s quality assurance -McCue, continued on page 2

Wichita Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY

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-McCue, continued from page 1

program focuses on enhancing the tradition of care excellence and assisting the community in the evaluation of clinical competencies, quality metrics and more.

She also will participate in the weekly discussions of community residents identified as being “at risk” to determine interventions to assist residents in positive health

-Marriage, continued from page 1

they call a ‘feeder class.’ The first couple of years I had no office. I kind of taught out of the trunk of my car. And then things grew very rapidly, and I had offices and teaching assistants and help. The evolution was fun. I could always hope that tomorrow would have something positive happening,” said Ann. But teaching nutrition wasn’t Ann’s first choice for a career.

“My mom was a nurse and my dad was a dentist. I started college pre-med and had an epiphany one day as I was walking across campus. I thought, ‘I don’t want to always be in an office or at the hospital.’ I wanted to have a family.

So, at that point, I switched to child development, which didn’t last long. And then I switched to

outcomes, as well as participation in the community’s discharge planning process for short-stay residents.

Thank you to the numerous residents, families and staff who helped us welcome Dr. McCue at a July meet-and-greet event in the Wichita Presbyterian Manor chapel. ◆

dietetics. It was my third major that stuck,” said Ann. Over the years, Ann taught thousands of students, including Courtney Wolfe, executive director of Wichita Presbyterian Manor!

“After doing a presentation here once, Courtney came up afterwards and said she had taken my class. I thought, ‘that explains why I feel like I know you.’ My whole family giggles because I will almost always see someone who recognizes me when I go out,” said Ann. Ann and her husband John have been married for 65 years and have four children, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. “I’m very proud of that,” added Ann. Her advice for having a lasting marriage: “Pick a good one to start with and then be flexible.”

When it comes to good nutrition,

Ann has more advice to share.

“In my private practice and lessons to students, I made it a point to never recommend reduced food intake without suggesting exercise at the same time. You need to do both to be successful in weight management and good health. My suggestion for good nutritional intake is ‘variety in moderation,’” said Ann. And there are plenty of exercise options here in our community.

“Take advantage of the exercise opportunities we have – equipment and classes. The social part of the experience is very good because people are healthier with other people rather than sitting at home feeling sorry for themselves. If they have a little bit of will power, the potential for good food choices is good here,” said Ann. ◆

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WICHITA Presbyterian Manor

316-942-7456 ◆ Fax: 316-941-3806 4700 W. 13th St. Wichita, KS 67212-5575 WichitaPresbyterianManor.org

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | August 2019

Community Matters

is published monthly for residents and friends of Wichita Presbyterian Manor

by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizaton.

To submit or suggest articles: awatson@PMMA.org Amy Watson, life enrichment dir.

Courtney Wolfe, executive director Melody Dodge, marketing director

OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.

Video chats with family and friends can offer mental health boost

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall for Next Avenue Anne Whitley lives 800 miles from her grandchildren’s home in Florida, but she still sees them daily. On her iPhone’s FaceTime app, Whitley catches up with her five-year old granddaughter, Cairo, who might show off a new toy, and her year-old grandson, Garvey, who enjoys practicing his latest words.

each day to bridge those miles between them.

All it takes is just a few minutes

Whitley’s main concern is staying

“I don’t want them to forget me in between visits,” said Whitley, 83, a retired teacher in Clayton, N.C., who sees her grandchildren in person a couple times a year. “That keeps us connected.”

in touch with her grandkids, but there’s another reason older adults may want to consider dialing up their loved ones by video chat platforms like FaceTime and Skype. to connect with A recent study from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland found that the use of video chat with friends and family also may be an effective way for older adults to dramatically reduce their risk for depression.

Fending off depression with a video chat The study, published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, used data from the National Institute on Aging’s Health and Retirement Study, which surveys older Americans every two years. Researchers looked at Americans age 60 and up who used four kinds of communication technologies — video chat, email, social media networks like Facebook and instant messaging.

Then, they examined their symptoms of depression two years later.

“It gives my dad and me a more immersive, more interactive experience.”

Researchers found that older adults who connected with their loved ones through email exchanges, Facebook posts or instant - Video chat, continued on page 4

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4700 W. 13th St. Wichita, KS 67212-5575 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Our Mission: to provide quality senior services guided

by Christian values Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.

- Video chat, continued from page 3

messaging sessions had about the same rate of depression compared to those who did not.

By contrast, those who communicated through video chat cut their probability of depression by nearly half.

“We need to get beyond a discussion of technology being good or bad,” said lead author Alan Teo, an associate professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science’s School of Medicine and a researcher at the VA Portland Health Care System. “The conversation we need to be having, and I hope that this study helps move forward, is what ways should we be using our technology and what particular types of platforms might be the most beneficial for our health and happiness.”

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Not just about preventing the blues Studies show that depression and social isolation can be problems for older adults. While the majority are not depressed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates can rise as high as about 12% for those who are hospitalized and 14% for those who need home health care. And as many as 32% of people older than 55 feel lonely, according to the National Institutes of Health. Both depression and loneliness can have consequences beyond feeling blue and include links to poorer physical health and a shortened lifespan.

“People literally die earlier when they are lonely,” Teo said.

Teo’s research didn’t examine why video chat might be the better technology, but he can make

COMMUNITY MATTERS | August 2019

an educated guess after years of treating patients as a psychiatrist and researching ways to help them. When we’re able to see the emotions and expressions as we talk to our loved one, we have a more intimate exchange, said Teo, who now makes the effort to video chat more often with his father, 82.

“It gives my dad and me a more immersive, more interactive experience,” he said. “We can be tempted to just shoot off a quick text message … but this study is a reminder that we shouldn’t settle for that all the time.”

The findings ring true with Kim G. Johnson, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, who was not involved in the research. She said she regularly hears from patients about their video chats with their grandchildren. ◆