Vol 39 • No. 10
Bow wow!
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Kansas’Award-winning Award-winningTop Top55+ 55+News NewsSource Source
'Theo' is a hero
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 Joe Stumpe A tiny dog named Theodore is turning out to be worth his weight in gold. Mary Enstrom acquired the 2.3-pound Teacup Yorkie as a sidekick for her ministry serving nursing home residents. Theodore ended up saving her life. It happened late on the night of July 5, when the normally well-mannered pooch started yapping and racing around Enstrom’s home in east Wichita. “I said ‘Theodore, you’re not supposed to do that,’ ” she recalled. Following Theodore into the next room, Enstrom looked out to see a red glow and hear something going “snap, crackle, pop.” One step outside revealed that her roof was on fire. She dashed back in just long enough to grab her purse, phone and Theodore. A fire engine arrived within
minutes but it was too late to save Enstrom’s home. And yet, even as she watched a good bit of her material possessions go up in flames, she couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that neighbors she knew only by sight were suddenly doing everything they could to help her. A young man house-sitting for his parents brought her a chair, a bottle of water and bag of chips. “He Photo by Joe Stumpe said ‘Mrs. Enstrom, Mary Enstrom and Theodore,a senior therapy you need your carbohydog, who nosed out a house fire drates,’ ” she said with a laugh. The next day, the medications were Another neighbor, a physician’s waiting for her. assistant, asked her what medications The next day is also when many she takes and what pharmacy she uses. See Hero, page 3
'Fireball' Jackson inspires book By Debbi Elmore Gerald McCoy was a boy when he saw Isaiah “Fireball” Jackson pitch in Wichita’s National Baseball Congress tournament. Jackson’s explosive fastball wasn’t the only remarkable thing about him. There was also the team he played for, made up of fellow prison inmates. “My dad and I watched him lead the prison team to another tournament victory that night,” McCoy says. “I suppose everyone there was thinking the same thing: how could someone with so much potential fall the way he fell?” Decades later, McCoy has written a book answering that question and much more about Jackson’s troubled, fascinating life. Released Aug. 6, See Fireball, page 23
Questions about services?
CourtesyPhoto
Gerald McCoy says telling story felt like a “life mission.”
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
September 2018
Centers for seniors see funds frozen By Joe Stumpe Sedgwick County commissioners have again decided to keep funding for area senior centers at 2010 levels, frustrating users and supporters. The centers serve thousands of residents with meals, recreation, educational activities and health services. County funds are an important source of support for the centers. In 1982, voters overwhelmingly approved using a small portion of property taxes to help pay for their operation, but left it up to commissioners to decide how much money the centers would get each year. “It almost seems to me like there’s an animosity against senior centers,” said Jim Burgess of Derby, a member of the Sedgwick County Advisory Council on Aging. “Not against seniors, but against the centers. I don’t understand it.” Sixteen senior centers and smaller clubs in the county will receive a total of $620,000 from the county next year. Commissioners Jim Howell and Michael O’Donnell voted to raise funding for four senior centers -- Haysville, Oaklawn, Mulvane and Clearwater -- by a total of $78,000. Commissioners David Dennis, Richard Ranzau and Dave Unruh overruled them. “It’s not that we don’t fund them,” Ranzau said. “Senior centers are important. They do a good job, but we have to look at overall funding and the whole picture.” Howell, though, says the county is not living up to a performance-based agreement it made with senior centers and clubs in 2005. That agreement said the centers were to receive funding dollars based on such criteria as See Centers, page 21
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655