Vol 39 • No. 11
Brain freeze
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’Award-winning Award-winningTop Top55+ 55+News NewsSource Source Kansas’
Senior blips funny and frustrating
ACTIVE AGING PUBLISHING, INC 125 S West St., Suite 105 Wichita, Ks 67213
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Wichita, KS 67276 Permit 1711
By Elvira Crocker We’ve all experienced them at one time or another. Those lapses in memory that can often be either embarrassing or hilarious. Though they can happen at any age, they do seem to happen more as we age and thus have come to be known as “senior moments.” Simply put, research indicates that the clutter in our memory banks can cause these retrieval problems. Unscientifically, it’s a “brain fart.” Experience indicates they can also happen to the young. Senior moments can happen to an individual or to groups of people. Not long ago, I entered a room for an exercise class where two women were trying to identify a woman who had been absent for several months.
“What’s that woman’s name?” they pleaded in frustration. I turned away to put my purse down and, thankfully, when I turned around the name came to me. Problem solved. The three of us were relieved. On another occasion three friends were trying to think of the name of a woman they had all known for years. Their conversation took place midday and it was about 5 p.m. that day when the woman who initiated the conversation came up with the name which
Minor league baseball back By Bob Rives William H. Hemp is no longer a household name. Even the colorful nickname, Ducky, he got while playing baseball here, is lost in time. But in 1887, the 18-year-old from St. Louis was a star and the first player to bat for a Wichita professional baseball team. Later that same year he was the first ex-Wichita player to reach the Major Leagues. Now 131 years later, Wichita seems on the cusp of a new baseball era. Mayor Jeff Longwell has announced that the New Orleans Baby Cakes Triple-A club will move here in 2020 See Baseball, page 13
Questions about services?
Illustration By Richard Crowson
she dutifully called the others to share so no sleep would be lost that night. I reached out to friends about this topic and found no shortage of examples. For example, whether you are in your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s or more, you’ve likely experienced one classic senior moment. It’s the one where you walk into a room and you ask yourself “What did I come in here for?” John Galvan, 66, a former furniture restoration shop owner with a special-
See Brain Freeze, page 2
Ex-Chicago star Frank Isbell led Wichita teams for 20 years.
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
October 2018
Fire deaths hit elderly
By Joe Stumpe Two recent deaths highlight the risk posed to seniors by house fires, a danger that increases during cooler months. In September, a 65-year-old Andover man died after being trapped in a house fire. The man was found by firefighters in a bedroom, while another occupant of the house escaped safely. In July, Bettie Clark-Johnson, 83, a church pianist and pastor’s widow, died in a fire in her north Wichita home. Fire officials said an unusual amount of storage in the home made it difficult to locate her body, raising the possibility that Johnson – who was described as active and mobile by friends – was prevented from escaping by clutter. Adults 65 and older are 2.5 times more likely to die in a fire than the population as a whole, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, an arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Fire deaths from December through February run more than twice as high as those between June and August, reports the National Fire Protection Association. Capt. Jose Ocadiz of the Wichita Fire Department said older residents who smoke may be more likely to fall asleep with a lit cigarette, or fail to extinguish it while awake. They may also be more likely to use space heaters, which can ignite clothes, furniture and other items. “We always suggest a 3-foot radius (of clear space) per space heater, but also making sure they are the newer models that have ‘tip protection.’ If they get tipped over by a pet or something, they automatically shut off.” A space heater should also have automatic overheat protection, which causes it turn off when it reaches a certain temperature. Leaving food untended while See Fire, page 5
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655