March 2014 | DC Beacon Edition

The I N

F O C U S

FREE

F O R

P E O P L E

OV E R

More than 200,000 readers throughout Greater Washington

VOL.26, NO.3

Second careers with purpose PHOTO COURTESY OF T.V. RAMAKRISHNA

By Barbara Ruben A former advocate for the District of Columbia’s homeless now helps connect thousands of incarcerated fathers with the children they left behind.

A Maryland veteran of the U.S. Navy organizes a network of volunteers across the country to teach disabled war veterans how to combat stress — through fly-fishing.

And a Virginia couple who emigrated from India decades ago open a school there that serves impoverished girls who otherwise might never have a chance for an education.

These are the area residents who have been recognized recently by Encore.org — a nonprofit organization that “invests” in people 60 and over “who are changing the world.”

The organization gives annual Purpose Prizes that come with awards of $25,000 to $100,000. The money is to support the ongoing efforts of those who have made a significant contribution to society’s greater good after retiring from their professions.

“We call them ‘encore careers’ — jobs that combine personal meaning, continued income and social impact — in the second half of life,” the group’s website says.

The prizes are aimed at showcasing the value of experience, and countering the notion that innovation is solely the province of the young. Encore also publicizes their stories to inspire others to give back in meaningful ways.

Carol Fennelly, who founded Hope House 15 years ago to forge bonds between families and their relatives in prison, and fly fishing aficionado Ed Nicholson were two of seven winners of the 2013 Purpose Prize. They each received $25,000 grants to continue their work.

T.V. and Vijaya Ramakrishna were named Purpose Prize Fellows for their work educating poor girls in India. The 40 fellows don’t get a monetary prize, but participate in educational and networking activities with Encore.org and other winners.

“While Purpose Prize winners are helping to solve a wide range of pressing social problems, they have one thing in common,” said Marc Freedman, CEO and founder of Encore.org and one of Ameri-

5 0 MARCH 2014

I N S I D E …

LEISURE & TRAVEL

Virginia’s small towns and their many year-round festivals; plus, news for cruisers — new ships and attractions, how to get a good deal on a cruise, and mind-stimulating offerings page 47

ARTS & STYLE

T.V. and Vijaya Ramakrishna are pictured outside the school for underprivileged children they founded in their native Bangalore, India. The Ramakrishnas, who live in Potomac Falls, Va., were named Purpose Prize Fellows by Encore.org, which recognizes people over 60 whose second careers are devoted to making the world a better place.

can’s leading social entrepreneurs. “They — and millions of others in encore careers — are turning personal passions and decades of experience into invaluable contributions across sectors, continents and generations, often through entrepreneurship,” Freedman said.

An activist looking for a cause A lifelong social activist who ran homeless shelters in the District of Columbia for 17 years, Fennelly, now 64, felt burned out and ready for a change in 1998. She had been married to Mitch Snyder, living in the huge Community for Creative Nonviolence (CCNV) city shelter they ran together, until his suicide in 1990.

“I had no idea what was next,” Fennelly recalled of that time. “I mean, I was an activist who was arrested in five states.

Who’s going to hire me?

“So I kind of looked around and took what I could for a while. I loved doing political commentary at WAMU. I could run my mouth and no one could see me.

What’s not to love?”

But when the Lorton Correctional Complex, which housed D.C. prisoners in Virginia, closed, she found her calling. Many men from the prison were transferred to a facility in Youngstown, Ohio, more than 300 miles away, making it difficult for their See PURPOSE PRIZE, page 37

Finding a lot to laugh about in Spamalot; plus, three local exhibits reveal the real Monuments Men, and Bob Levey on the Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones page 55 FITNESS & HEALTH 4 k Medicare to limit drug access? k A safer pain pill LAW & MONEY 24 k Money advice from the pros k Tips for filing your tax return SPOTLIGHT ON AGING k Newsletter for D.C. seniors

30

CAREERS & VOLUNTEERS 35 LIFETIMES 35 k News from the Charles E. Smith Life Communities PLUS CROSSWORD, BEACON BITS, CLASSIFIEDS & MORE

2

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Feeling vulnerable Every day, more aspects of our lives be- that, occasionally, disable critical systems.

And nations with long-range missile come intertwined with the Internet, and technology are testing their things we take for granted ability to shoot down orbiting grow more dependent on its satellites, which are essential ground and satellite infranot only for military purposstructure. es but also global communiConsider our telephone, cation. email and text conversations, But even more disturbing our air traffic control, our national defense (the military to me is the recently revealed now guides many of our troops vulnerability of our nation’s and even airplanes remotely), electricity grid. and our businesses. Many eleWhat aspects of presentments of these are now based FROM THE day life would be the same in “the cloud” — and the cloud PUBLISHER without power? Think of the is, like its name, so evanes- By Stuart P. Rosenthal few days we’ve had to go withcent, so vulnerable. out power in recent years — The transmission of our most sensitive spoiled food, unbearably cold (or hot) data — personal financial information and homes and offices, an inability to pump gas, even private calls among heads of state — make cell phone calls, or charge electric are an open book for both those who seek gadgets, elevators and subways out of servto protect us and those who might seek to ice, hospitals and nursing homes functioning in emergency mode using generators. rob us.

Now ramp that up to a situation where A recent survey found that more than 60 percent of Americans have had personal there is no electricity available anywhere in data stolen at some point, many through America for months. theft of digital records.

Am I reading too much science fiction?

Corporate and government data are Actually, I’m referring to a recent news resubject to hacking attempts 24/7, includ- port in the Wall Street Journal.

One of its reporters noted that our naing efforts originating in other countries

Beacon The

I N

F O C U S

F O R

P E O P L E

O V E R

5 0

The Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedicated to inform, serve, and entertain the citizens of the Greater Washington DC area, and is privately owned. Other editions serve Greater Baltimore, Howard County, Md. and Greater Palm Springs, Calif. Readership exceeds 400,000.

Subscriptions are available via first-class mail ($36) or third-class mail ($12), prepaid with order. D.C. and Maryland residents: add 6 percent for sales tax. Send subscription order to the office listed below.

Publication of advertising contained herein does not necessarily constitute endorsement. Signed columns represent the opinions of the writers, and not necessarily the opinion of the publisher.

• Publisher/Editor ....................Stuart P. Rosenthal • Associate Publisher..............Judith K. Rosenthal • Vice President of Operations ....Gordon Hasenei • Director of Sales ................................Alan Spiegel • Managing Editor............................Barbara Ruben • Graphic Designer ..............................Kyle Gregory • Assistant Operations Manager ..........Roger King • Advertising Representatives ........Doug Hallock, ................................................Dan Kelly, Cheryl Watts • Publishing Assistants..................Rebekah Sewell, ..................................................................Kate Petersen

The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915 (301) 949-9766 • Email: info@thebeaconnewspapers.com Website: www.theBeaconNewspapers.com Submissions: The Beacon welcomes reader contributions. Deadline for editorial is the 10th of the month preceding the month of publication. Deadline for ads is the 15th of the month preceding the month of publication. See page 63 for classified advertising details. Please mail or email all submissions.

© Copyright 2014 The Beacon Newspapers, Inc.

tional electricity grid is dependent on a relatively small number of substations (and their transformers) that function as critical links in power transmission.

Last April, a substation serving California’s Silicon Valley was targeted by unknown snipers, armed with assault weapons, who incapacitated 17 transformers in less than half an hour.

Not only are these transformers expensive, they are made to order, and it takes weeks to build and install one. (They weigh 500,000 pounds each.) They are also easily visible and relatively unprotected, typically behind chain link fences.

While power was rerouted to Silicon Valley from elsewhere on the grid, it took nearly a month before the targeted station was operational again.

We still don’t know who did this or why, but it isn’t far-fetched to imagine that last April’s attack might have been a dry run for a coordinated attack on our county’s electric grid as a whole.

The Journal report quoted Rich Lordan, senior technical executive for the Electric Power Research Institute, as saying it “appears to be preparation for an act of war.”

The implication is that a small number of trained commandos could, in a matter of minutes, take our country back to the 1800s — where we’d stay for months.

Why, you might ask, are we in this vul-

nerable position for such a critical part of our infrastructure? Two reasons. First, it would be costly for public utilities to protect their equipment from this potential but, until recently, far-fetched scenario, and they have no economic incentive to do so individually.

Second, no federal agency currently has the authority to require nonprofit or investorowned utilities (other than nuclear power plants) to pay for such added security.

It seems to me this is a situation where the potential harm is enormous and the potential solution is quite obvious and, relatively speaking, affordable. In fact, it’s one of those situations where we can’t afford not to act.

I urge you to call your senators and representative (as well as the heads of your local electric utility and public service commission) and urge them to take immediate steps to protect the most vulnerable links in our electric grid — even if this means a surcharge on our electric bills.

There are too many groups out there who wish America harm, and it’s far too easy to imagine them succeeding beyond their wildest dreams and our wildest fears.

Letters to the editor Readers are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or email to barbara@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

Dear Editor: The article in the February issue, ”A female libido drug remains in limbo,” is very disturbing to me for many reasons. It is written in a patronizing, demeaning manner, and is characterized by a tone of selfrighteous patrimony.

In addition, it illustrates how Big Pharma threatens to corrupt medical research for blatant financial reasons and, at very least, represents a serious conflict of interests.

The most serious flaw in the article, however, has to do with a phallocentric male fantasy that suggests that women are passive receptacles who will need to be awoken from their slumber. It is not a stretch to refer to women, in this context, as the target population.

The article correctly states, “most of women’s sexual issues are psychological, not physical,” [but] goes on to say that ”female sexual dysfunction is so difficult because how little we understand the underlying causes.” This was obviously written by men who are seriously ignorant as to female sexuality and, indeed, are not even

open to looking beyond their own superficial sexual needs.

Dr. Virginia Sadock, a psychiatrist, delicately suggests that it may be inappropriate to limit the problem of sexual desire in women with a pill as treatment. I felt she was being far too kind, if not hopelessly indirect.

Lest I be accused of ending this article on a pessimistic note, I want to say, as loudly as I can, that sexual dysfunction can best be addressed in terms of self-esteem issues within a caring relationship.

Dr. John “Sparky” Breeskin Takoma Park, Md. [Editor’s Note: Shortly after our article appeared, the Washington Post reported that several women’s advocacy organizations, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), Jewish Women International, and the National Council of Women’s Organizations have questioned the FDA on its repeated rejections of the new libido pill discussed in our article, and have urged the FDA to reconsider its position.]

See LETTERS TO EDITOR, page 61

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 3

BROOKE R K GROVE R RETIREMENT N VILLAGE L GE CORDIALLY AL INVITES YOU TO AT TEND D AN A

ANTIQUES & JEWELRY ROAD SHOW Tuesday, april 8, 2014

•

10 a.m.

Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center • 18131 Slade School Road • Sandy Spring, MD 20860 Campus tours available upon request.

Seating is limited, reservations required. For more information or to RSVP, contact Toni Davis at 301-388-7209 or tdavis@bgf.org by April 3.

how much is your favorite heirloom worth?

• Free appraisals, consultations and advice from Peenstra Antiques Appraisals and NovaGold, LLC • Each guest may bring one item • Spectators are welcome

3

4

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Health Fitness &

BACK TO SQUARE ONE Back pain is often overtreated; exercise and OTC drugs may help most ADDICTION FACT AND FICTION Separating prescription pain medication myths from reality ACCIDENT RATE DRIVEN DOWN Older drivers today are less likely to cause crashes than a generation ago COUCH POTATOES REJOICE Try simple exercises that can be done from the couch or during TV breaks

Medicare may limit access to some drugs

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar In a move that some fear could compromise care for Medicare recipients, the Obama administration is proposing to remove special protections that guarantee seniors access to a wide selection of three types of drugs.

The three classes of drugs — widely used antidepressants, antipsychotics and drugs that suppress the immune system to prevent the rejection of a transplanted organ — have enjoyed special “protected” status since the launch of the Medicare prescription benefit in 2006.

That has meant that the private insurance plans that deliver prescription benefits to seniors and those with disabilities must cover “all or substantially all” medications in the class, allowing the broadest possible access. The plans can charge more for costlier drugs, but they can’t just close their lists of approved drugs, or formularies, to protected medications.

In a proposal published in the Federal Register, the administration called for removing protected status from antidepressants, antipsychotics, and immunosuppres-

sant drugs. The proposal said that status it is no longer needed to guarantee access, would save millions of dollars for taxpayers and beneficiaries alike, and could help deal with the problem of improperly prescribed antipsychotics drugs in nursing homes.

Patient advocates alarmed But advocates for patients are strongly criticizing the idea, saying it could potentially limit access to critically needed medications for millions of people.

“We are disturbed by this,” said Andrew Sperling, legislative advocacy director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“This is a key protection. It’s a cornerstone of what has made the benefit work for people with mental illness.”

Sperling said that patients with mental health issues often have to try a variety of drugs before they find the right one for their condition.

He also questioned whether the change would help crack down on the problem of improperly prescribed antipsychotics, saying it amounted to a blunt instrument.

The National Kidney Foundation also

voiced worries. Legislative policy director Tonya Saffer said transplant patients often depend on combinations of medication, so having the broadest possible choice is crucial.

“Covering all immunosuppressant drugs is very important for the patient, and very important to protect the transplanted organ from rejection,” Saffer said.

The proposal could lead to “patients having to go through multiple channels to try and get a drug,” which would put patients at risk, she added.

Cancer and HIV drugs unchanged In the proposal, the administration said the new policy was developed after careful consultation with a broad range of experts. The three other types of drugs that have protected status — for cancer, HIV/AIDS and preventing seizures — would remain protected.

If adopted in the coming months, the new policy could take effect as early as 2015. The administration estimates it could save taxpayers a total of $720 million by 2019.

Beneficiaries may also be able to save.

That’s because the drug plans can drive a

harder bargain for manufacturer discounts when a drug is not protected.

“The circumstances that existed when this policy was originally implemented have changed dramatically in the more than seven years the program has been in operation,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in its proposal.

“We are concerned that requiring essentially open coverage of certain classes and categories of drugs presents both financial disadvantages and patient welfare concerns ... as a result of increased drug prices and overutilization,” the proposal added.

A leading industry analyst said the proposal would represent a significant change for Medicare’s prescription benefit, which is highly popular with beneficiaries.

“It is a weakening of a patient protection,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalare Health, a market analysis firm.

“I’m not sure that Medicare saves money from this kind of a change,” he added. “Other elements of the program may have a cost increase if people are not using medications in the right way.”

— AP

Placebo effect strong with migraine meds

By Lauran Neergaard Talk about mind over matter: A quirky new U.S. study suggests patients’ expectations can make a big difference in how they feel after treatment for a migraine.

Boston researchers recruited 66 migraine patients in an attempt to quantify how much of their pain relief came from a medication and how much was due to what’s called the placebo effect — the healing power of positive belief.

More than 450 headaches later, they reported that it’s important for doctors to carefully choose what they tell patients about a powerful medicine: The message could help enhance its benefits, or blunt them.

“Every word you say counts, not only every gram of the medication,” said Harvard University professor Ted Kaptchuk, who led the new study with a team at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.

Lies for a good cause?

Here’s how it worked. First, the patients who suffer regular migraines agreed to

forgo pain relievers for several hours during one attack, recording their symptoms for comparison with later headaches.

Then for each of their next six migraines, the patients were given a different pill inside an envelope with a different message. Sometimes they were told it was an effective migraine drug named rizatriptan, a positive message. Other times they were told it was a placebo, a dummy pill, suggesting no benefit. Still other times they were told the pill could be either one, a neutral message.

Sometimes the doctor’s message was true — they were told they got rizatriptan and they really did. Sometimes it was false because researchers had secretly switched the pills.

Mixing up the possibilities allowed researchers to tease out how the same person’s pain relief differed from migraine to migraine as his or her expectations changed.

Of course the real migraine drug worked far better than the dummy pill. But remarkably, people who knew they were

taking a placebo still reported less pain than when they’d left their migraine untreated, the researchers found.

Especially surprising is how expectations can also reduce the effectiveness of a drug.

Patients’ reports of pain relief more than doubled when they were told the migraine drug was real than when they were told, falsely, that it was a fake, the team reported.

In fact, people reported nearly as much pain relief when they took a placebo that they thought was the real drug as they did when they took the migraine drug while believing it was a fake.

Placebo benefit is real “The more we gave a positive message to the patient, the bigger the placebo effect was,” Kaptchuk said.

He said that effect probably isn’t purely psychological, saying the ritual of taking a medication may trigger some subconscious memory that could leave people feeling better even if they knew they’d taken a fake drug.

Scientists have long known that some people report noticeable improvements in pain and certain other symptoms when they’re given a placebo — which can be a sugar pill or sham surgery or some other benign intervention. Some studies even have documented that a placebo actually can spark a biological effect.

But scientists don’t know why the placebo effect works or how to harness its potential benefit.

The new research is an interesting attempt to answer some of those questions, at least for one kind of pain, said Dr. Mark Stacy, vice dean for clinical research at Duke University Medical Center, who wasn’t involved with the work. And learning how much of an impact it makes could help design better studies of new drugs, to ensure the phenomenon doesn’t skew the results, he added.

For now, it shows “the power of positive thinking may be helpful in taking care of your migraine,” he said.

— AP

★

❏ Arden Courts Virginia (See ad on page 21) ❏ Ashby Ponds (See ad on page 12) ❏ Chesterbrook Residences (See ad on page 12) ❏ Culpepper Garden (See ad on page 22) ❏ The Fairmont (See ad on page 8) ❏ Greenspring (See ad on page 12) ❏ Potomac Place (See ad on page 13) ❏ Quantum Affordable Apts. (See ad on page 38) ❏ Riverwoods at Lake Ridge (See ad on page 35) ❏ Sommerset (See ad on page 21) ❏ Vinson Hall (See ad on page 14) ❏ The Virginian (See ad on page 17)

F R E E

Health Study Volunteers

Name________________________________________________________________ Address_______________________________________________________________ City______________________________________State______Zip________________ Phone (day)__________________________(evening)_________________________ E-mail_________________________________________________________________ WB3/14

Please return this form to: The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227

I N F O R M A T I O N

❏ Breast Cancer Treatments (See article on page 18) ❏ Diabetes Studies (See ad on page 19) ❏ Healthy Adults 65+ (See ad on page 19) ❏ IDEAL Study 80+ (See ad on page 18) ❏ Retinal Vein Occlusion Study (See ad on page 18)

✃

I N F O R M A T I O N F R E E ★ I N F O R M A T I O N F R E E ★ I N F O R M A T I O N F R E E

Virginia

I N F O R M A T I O N

Have you always wanted to take up golfing, but felt unsure of where to start? Join Culpepper Garden Senior Center for an instructional video for novice and seasoned golfers on Saturday, March 15 at 10 a.m. See how to grip a club, stand and swing, and the basics of putting, chipping, pitching and more. The center is located at 4435 N. Pershing Dr., Arlington, Va. Register by Mar. 14 at (703) 228-4403.

F R E E

GOLFING FOR DUMMIES

❏ Arden Courts Maryland (See ad on page 21) ❏ Asbury Methodist Village (See ad on page 51) ❏ Brightview Fallsgrove (See ad on page 37) ❏ Brooke Grove (See ads on pages 3 and 10) ❏ Charter House (See ad on page 16) ❏ Churchill Senior Living (See ad on page 37) ❏ Covenant Village (See ad on page 38) ❏ Emerson House (See ad on page 38) ❏ Homecrest House (See ad on page 20) ❏ Homewood at Willow Ponds (See ad on page 51) ❏ Oaks at Olde Towne (See ad on page 53) ❏ Park View Bladensburg (See ad on page 56) ❏ Park View Columbia (See ad on page 56) ❏ Park View Emerson (See ad on page 56) ❏ Park View Laurel (See ad on page 56) ❏ Mrs. Philipines Home (See ad on page 38) ❏ Riderwood (See ad on page 12) ❏ Solana (See ad on page 14) ❏ Springhouse (See ad on page 22) ❏ Spingvale Terrace (See ad on page 17) ❏ Victory Court (See ad on page 35) ❏ Village at Rockville (See ad on page 9) ❏ Willows at Victoria Falls (See ad on page 28)

★

Mar. 15

★

The Charles E. Smith Life Communities presents “Remember This,” a free lecture series on topics in memory care. The next program, “Antipsychotics and Dementia: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” is on Tuesday, March 11, and includes a light supper at 5:30 p.m. The lecture is at 6.

All programs take place at Landow House theater, 1799 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, Md. For more information or to RSVP, call (301) 816-5052.

I N F O R M A T I O N

MEMORY CARE LECTURE

F R E E

Mar. 11

Maryland

I N F O R M A T I O N

BEACON BITS

❏ Friendship Terrace (See ad on page 28) ❏ The Georgetown (See ad on page 60) ❏ Residences at Thomas Circle (See ad on page 13) ❏ Robert Walker House (See ad on page 38)

F R E E

See MEDICARE APPEALS, page 7

District of Columbia

★

There are five levels of claims appeals for traditional Medicare. Most people have to go through several levels to get a denial overturned.

At the first level, you’re given 120 days after receiving the Medicare summary notice to request a “redetermination” by a Medicare contractor — that is, the person who reviews the claim.

For free materials on housing communities and health studies, just complete and clip this coupon and mail it to the Beacon.

Housing Communities

★

FREE INFORMATION ★ FREE INFORMATION ★ FREE INFORMATION ★

Traditional Medicare

MAIL OR FAX FOR FREE INFORMATION

I N F O R M A T I O N

advocate, lawyer or doctor to file an appeal on their behalf (available at Medicare.gov).

You may also have to get a medical information release form to get details from the hospital or providers about your parents’ care.

★ FREE INFORMATION ★ FREE INFORMATION ★ FREE INFORMATION ★ F R E E

Follow the rules to appeal a Medicare claim

By Kimberly Lankford Appealing a Medicare claim can be time-consuming and slow. Before going that route, talk with the doctor, hospital and Medicare to see if you can spot the problem and get the claim resubmitted.

If you can’t fix the problem that way, look on the back of the Medicare summary notice for the detailed appeal rules, and see the decision notice at each level of appeal for details about the information you need to submit.

If you want to help another, such as your parent, file an appeal, you may need some extra paperwork to obtain permission to do so. You can call Medicare at 1-800-633-4227 and ask questions without your parents’ specific permission, but your parents generally need to fill out an Appointment of Representative form for a family member,

5

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

6

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Back pain often overdiagnosed, overtreated

By Daniel DeNoon What doctors call “routine” back pain can really, really hurt. Surprisingly, the best treatment is usually quite conserva-

tive —over-the-counter pain relievers, ice and heat, and gentle exercise. Yet for decades, many doctors have been ordering more and more unnecessary tests, nar-

cotics and referrals for surgery.

“Most routine back pain will improve on its own with conservative therapy in three months, often shorter than that,” said Dr. Bruce E. Landon, professor of health are policy at Harvard Medical School.

“Even more importantly, when we do more aggressive things — such as injections, imaging, and surgery — the longterm outcomes don’t change at all. These things have very little impact on what is going on, and they have the potential to make things worse.”

The trend of overdiagnosis and overtreatment is getting worse, according to a new study by Landon and his colleagues. They analyzed nationally representative data from 1999 through 2010 on nearly 24,000 outpatient visits for acute, new onset or chronic flare-up back pain to see if these people were treated according to established, evidence-based guidelines.

Endorsed by both U.S. and international experts, these guidelines: • Call for treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS, such as ibuprofen and naproxen) or acetaminophen (Tylenol and generic).

• Call for referral to physical therapy when appropriate.

• Advise against early referral for imaging (such as MRI and CT scans) except in rare cases where “red flags” suggest something other than routine back pain.

• Advise against prescribing narcotics.

• Advise against early referral to other physicians for injections or surgery.

Guidelines often ignored The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, revealed that doctors were increasingly ignoring these guidelines. During the study period:

• Use of NSAIDS and acetaminophen went down, from 36.9 percent of visits in 1999-2000 to 24.5 percent of visits in 20092010.

• Prescriptions for narcotic pain relievers went up, from 19.3 percent of visits in 1999-2000 to 29.1 percent of visits in 20092010.

• Referrals to physical therapy remained low at 20 percent of visits.

• Referral to other physicians went up, from 6.8 percent of visits in 1999-2000 to 14 percent of visits in 2009-2010.

• Referrals for CT or MRI scans increased from 7.2 percent of visits in 19992000 to 11.3 percent of visits in 2009-2010.

“It is hard to not do anything aggressive, especially when you are having a lot of pain,” Landon said. “So people ask for these more advanced things and, unfortunately, doctors are often willing to prescribe them because that’s the path of least resistance.”

This path of least resistance for primary care providers is a treasure trove for surgeons, specialists and pain clinics. In the United States, healthcare for back pain adds up to about $86 billion each year.

When people with routine back pain are referred for MRI imaging, they’re eight times more likely to have surgery.

When people with back pain ask for offguideline treatments, it takes time to understand their expectations and to explain how conservative treatment is better suited to their situation. Doctors may not feel they have that kind of time, noted Dr. John Mafi, chief medical resident at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass., and first author of the study.

“It is hard to reason with people when See BACK PAIN, page 7

Services for Seniors Activities of Daily Living • • • • •

Bathing Dressing Lifting Transferring Personal Care & Hygiene

Support Services • • • • • •

Companionship Meal Preparation Medication Reminder Physical Therapy Light Housekeeping Transportation to Appointments

What Makes ElderCaring Different?

2 hour minimum for services – most companies require 4 hours as a minimum All caregivers are professionally trained nursing assistants The owner of ElderCaring personally meets with you to discuss your needs All caregivers are fluent in English Personal choice in selection of every caregiver Licensed, Bonded, Insured 24 H - our Service – 7 Days a Week Would you like to receive a brochure in the mail, or set up an appointment?

MD • Call 301-949-0060 www.eldercaring2.com

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Back pain From page 6 they’re in a lot of pain,” he said. “I’m in favor of the honesty route. I tell people with first-time back pain that narcotics don’t necessarily help and, frankly, they are a risk. Instead of reaching for the narcotics, I suggest that if they start with the acetaminophen or ibuprofen and get rest and use ice, the vast majority of the time this will get better on its own.”

Landon noted that it takes five or 10 minutes to explain things as Mafi suggests, but it takes only 10 seconds to order

Medicare appeals From page 5 Circle the item you’re disputing on the summary notice, then send any supporting information, such as an explanation of the problem and a letter from the doctor explaining why the charge should be covered. The claims reviewer assigned to your case will usually decide within 60 days of receiving your request.

If the redetermination is denied, you can request reconsideration from a different claims reviewer and submit additional evidence. Reconsideration is usually decided within 60 days.

Still no luck? Disputes involving amounts less than $140 go no further. For charges of $140 or more, you can request a hearing

a test or write a prescription.

“The way our healthcare system is set up right now makes it hard to do the right thing,” Landon said. “Orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons and pain medicine doctors get paid for doing things, not for counseling.”

What to do for back pain If you have a first-time bout with low back pain, or are in the midst of another goround with it, here’s what Dr. Jeffrey N. Katz, professor of medicine and orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School, recommends in “Low Back Pain,” a Special Health

with an administrative law judge.

If you have to go to the next level, you can submit the claim for the appeals council to review. For amounts of at least $1,400, the final level of appeal is judicial review in U.S. district court.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

Report from Harvard Medical School: Cold and heat. At the beginning of the flare-up, start with ice or cold packs. After 48 hours, switch to gentle heat.

Rest. If you’re in severe pain when sitting or standing, bed rest can be helpful.

But limit it to a few hours at a time, for no more than a couple of days.

Exercise. An exercise program can help the healing process during an acute flare-up, prevent repeat episodes of back pain, and improve function if you have chronic low back pain. Work with your doctor or physical therapist to develop a suitable exercise plan.

Medication. Over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetaminophen or an NSAID like aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen, are usually all that’s needed to relieve acute low back pain. They work best when taken on a regular schedule, rather than after the pain flares up.

If these strategies don’t work, talk with your doctor about more advanced options for treating low back pain.

Daniel DeNoon is executive editor of the Harvard Heart Letter. © 2014 President and fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

See How Do I File an Appeal? (http:// medicare.gov/claims-and-appeals/file-anappeal/appeals.html) in the “Claims and Appeals” section of Medicare.gov for more

information about each type of appeal. ©2014, Kiplinger. All Rights Reserved.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Medicare Advantage and Part D You have 60 days to initiate an appeal involving a Medicare Advantage or Part D prescription-drug plan. In both cases, you start by appealing to the plan, rather than to Medicare. Follow the plan’s instructions on its explanation of benefits.

Part D has fast-track appeals of 72 hours if your parent hasn’t received the prescription and his or her health would be jeopardized by waiting. Otherwise, the plan must notify you of its decision within seven days.

Be a V.I.P. If you have both Medicare & Medicaid, join the plan that treats you like a V.I.P.

1-877-684-3271 (TTY: 1-866-428-7583) 7 days a week, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Oct. 1-Feb. 14); Mon.- Fri., 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Feb. 15-Sept. 30)

AmeriHealth VIP Care is a HMO-SNP plan with a Medicare contract and a contract with the District of Columbia Medicaid program. Enrollment in AmeriHealth VIP Care depends on Medicare contract renewal. This plan is available to anyone who has both Medical Assistance from the State and Medicare.

Y0093_PRA_963_Accepted_10232013

7

8

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Health Shorts

Please tell our advertisers, “I saw you in the Beacon!”

Heavy drinking ages men

The Fairmont...

Best Kept Secret In Manassas

So many benefits and amenities We don't have space to list them all!

• 24/7 live-in Managers • No buy-in fees or long-term leases • ree chef-prepared meals daily • Full calendar of events & activities • Weekly housekeeping • Pets welcome

9852 Fairmont Avenue Manassas, Virginia 20109

Call to schedule your tour today!

703-257-7111 www.the-fairmont.com

you?

“If my mom wants to stay at home, I’ll do all I can to honor that. I just want what she wants.”

When we ask people caring for a loved one at the end of life what matters most, this is what we hear.

But we also hear about how the responsibility can be overwhelming for the whole family.

And what an incredible relief it is when people realize how much support is available.

Emotionally. Spiritually.

They wonder why they didn’t reach out to us sooner.

stable family

LEARN HOW WE CAN HELP WITH WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOU.

| WhatMattersToMe.org 866-234-7742 WhatMattersToMe.org Providing care and support to all in Washington, DC, 866-234-7742

Prince George’s County and Montgomery County Providing care and support to all in Washington, DC, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County

©2013 The Washington Home & Community Hospices

WHAT MATTERS MOST TO

Middle-aged men risk a faster mental decline as they age if they’ve been drinking heavily for years, new research suggests.

The study of about 5,000 British civil servants found that, over a decade, the added decline was the equivalent of about two extra years of aging (for a combined measure of mental abilities like reasoning) and about six years for memory. The heavy drinkers’ abilities were compared to those of men who drank moderately or abstained.

It’s no surprise that heavy alcohol consumption can affect the brain, but the study focuses on an age range that has received much less attention from alcohol researchers than the elderly and college students.

Researchers found no such effect in women, but the study included too few female heavy drinkers to test the effect of drinking the same amount as in men, said Severine Sabia, a study author from University College London.

She said it was not possible to identify a specific minimum level of consumption at

which the risk begins in men.

Her study used data from over 20 years.

Using questionnaires, researchers calculated the men’s average daily intake of alcohol for the decade up to when they were an average of 56 years old. Then, they tracked decline in mental abilities over the following decade from tests administered every five years.

Accelerated decline was seen for the heaviest-drinking group, which included 469 men with a wide range of alcohol intake. The minimum amount was the equivalent of about 13 ounces of wine a day or about 30 ounces of beer. The maximum was about three times that.

— AP

New drug for Type 2 diabetes The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new diabetes drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca that uses a novel approach to reduce blood sugar.

Farxiga is a once-a-day tablet designed to help diabetes patients eliminate excess sugar via their urine. That differs from older drugs that decrease the amount of sugar absorbed from food and stored in the liver.

See HEALTH SHORTS, page 9

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Health shorts From page 8 The drug is the second product approved in the U.S. from the new class of medicines known as SGLT2 drugs. Last March, the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, which also works by eliminating excess sugar through patients’ urine.

The agency cleared Farxiga tablets for patients with type 2 diabetes. The approval marks a comeback for the drug, which was rejected last year after studies raised concerns about links to bladder cancer and liver toxicity.

Ten cases of bladder cancer were found in patients taking the drug in clinical trials, so Farxiga’s label warns against using it in patients with the disease.

A panel of FDA advisers said that the uptick in cancers was likely a statistical fluke, and not related to the drug. But the FDA is requiring Bristol and AstraZeneca to track rates of bladder cancer in patients enrolled in a long-term follow up study.

The companies will also monitor rates of heart disease, a frequent safety issue with newer diabetes medications.

The most common side effects associated with Farxiga included fungal and urinary tract infections. The drug can be used as a stand-alone drug or in combination with other common diabetes treatments, such as insulin and metformin.

— AP

Four bogus weight-loss aids Makers of a weight loss additive called Sensa will return more than $26 million to consumers to settle federal charges that the company used deceptive advertising, claiming that consumers could lose weight by simply sprinkling the powder on their food.

Sensa Products LLC promoted the powder through major retailers like Costco and GNC and with infomercials on the Home Shopping Network and other television networks. The company sold a onemonth supply of Sensa for $59 and urged consumers to “sprinkle, eat and lose weight.”

Federal Trade Commission officials said the company used bogus clinical studies and paid endorsements to rack up more than $364 million in sales between 2008 and 2012.

The government’s settlement with California-based Sensa is part of a broader crackdown on four companies peddling weight-loss products — including food additives, skin creams and dietary supplements.

“The chances of being successful just by sprinkling something on your food, rubbing cream on your thighs, or using a supplement are slim to none — the science just isn’t there,” said Jessica Rich, director

of FTC’s consumer protection office.

The FTC will also collect $7.3 million from LeanSpa, a company that promotes acai berry and “colon cleanse” weight loss supplements through fake news websites.

Also swept up in the January action are skin cream maker L’Occitane and HCG

Diet Direct, which sells unproven hormones for weight loss. The companies will together return about $34 million to consumers to settle the federal charges.

Regulators acknowledged that they were See HEALTH SHORTS, page 11

Aging in Place Made Affordable!

• Companionship, Meal Assistance, Medication • • •

Reminders, Personal Hygiene Assistance, Grocery Shopping, and much more A family company: You will always speak directly with our owner Only highly qualified and experienced caregivers Fully licensed, bonded, and insured

New Introductory Special Offer ONly $15.30 per hour New clients only. Call for details For a limited time only.

WB 3/14

9

301-717-2212 www.bestseniorcare.us

Residential Service Agency # R 2041

You may qualify for services at no cost! Call now for details.

10

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

INDEPENDENT LIVING

BROOKE GROVE RETIREMENT VILLAGE CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO ATTEND AN

OPEN HOUSE thursday, April 10, 2014 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Westbrooke Clubhouse 18310 Slade School Road • Sandy Spring, MD 20860 Discover the casual elegance & comfort of The Cottages independent living.

Explore Westbrooke Clubhouse, its restaurant and fitness center.

Enjoy our 220-acre campus of lush pastures and hardwood forest.

Please RSVP to Toni Davis at 301-388-7209 or tdavis@bgf.org by April 7.

because what surrounds you really matters.

Residential Cottages Assisted Living Skilled Nursing Care Memory Care Rehabilitation 18100 Slade School Road, Sandy Spring, MD 20860 • 301-260-2320 or 301-924-2811 • www.bgf.org

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Health shorts From page 9 able to collect only a fraction of what the public paid for the products in recent years.

In the case of Sensa, FTC officials said much of the revenue was quickly spent on advertising, including infomercials.

— AP

Antioxidant supplements may carry risks Antioxidant vitamins are widely assumed to be cancer fighters, even though research in smokers has found high doses may actually raise their risk of tumors.

Now a new study may help explain the paradox. Swedish scientists gave antioxidants to mice that had early-stage lung cancer, and watched the tumors multiply and become aggressive enough that the animals died twice as fast as untreated mice.

The reason: The extra vitamins apparently blocked one of the body’s key cancer-fighting mechanisms, the researchers reported.

The scientists stressed that they can’t make general health recommendations based on studies in mice, but said their work backs up existing cautions about antioxidant use.

“You can walk around with an undiagnosed lung tumor for a long time,” said

See puzzles on page 62.

703-773-7463

Rt. 50 - Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy. 1 mi.

GREENBRIAR TOWN CENTER

Rt. 7100

13005-R Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy. Fairfax, VA 22033

Fairfax Cty. Parkway

GREENBRIAR TOWN CENTER

Open Mon.,Tues.,Wed., Sat. 10-6; Thurs. & Fri. 10-8, Closed Sun. AFTED HANDINCR THE Ambassador Allegro

Customer Appreciation

SALE Sun., March 23

through Sat., April

15

$

5

OFF

Open Additional Hours: Sun., March 23 & Sun., March 30 from 12 to 5

all SAS shoes

study co-author Martin Bergo of the University of Gothenburg. For someone at high risk, such as a former smoker, taking extra antioxidants “could speed up the growth of that tumor.”

Antioxidants are compounds that help protect cells from certain types of damage, and antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables certainly are healthy. The question is the health effect of extra-high doses in pill form.

Studies in people have shown mixed results, but haven’t proven that vitamin supplements prevent cancer. A few have suggested the possibility of harm. One study in the 1990s found beta-carotene increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers. Nor are smokers the only concern: A 2011 study found Vitamin E supplements increased men’s risk of prostate cancer.

As for people who already have cancer, the National Cancer Institute says: “Until more is known about the effects of antioxidant supplements in cancer patients, these

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

supplements should be used with caution.”

But biologically, scientists couldn’t explain why antioxidants might harm. The report in the journal Science Translational Medicine is a first step to do so.

The research doesn’t examine whether antioxidants might help prevent tumors from forming in the first place — only what happens if cancer already has begun.

11

The researchers gave Vitamin E, in a range of supplement doses, or an antioxidant drug named N-acetylcysteine to mice engineered to have lung cancer.

The antioxidants did prevent some cell damage. But doing so also prevented a wellknown tumor-suppressing gene named p53 from getting the signal to do its job.

— AP

Learn About Hearing Aids • Request a copy of The Consumer’s Guide to Hearing Aids • How do different instruments compare?

• How is pricing structured?

• What should you expect from new hearing aids?

• For your complimentary copy, call: 301-339-8583

Auditory Services Inc. Rated a best audiology practice in the Washington Metro area.

9800 Falls Road, Suite 5 • Potomac, MD 20854 “Everyone deserves good hearing aids.”

12

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Pain pills and addiction — fact and fiction

By Holly Thacker When it comes to prescription pain medications, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Whether you’re searching for information about how such drugs can help you relieve pain, or reading the latest tabloid tale of a celebrity addict, separating fact from fiction can be tough.

Dr. Richard Rosenquist, chairman of pain management at the Cleveland Clinic, debunks six common myths about prescription painkillers, such as oxycodone

and hydrocodone.

Myth 1: The more you take, the better they work.

More does not equal better. It’s true that in the short term, after a severe injury, for example, two pills may be more effective than one at relieving pain.

But over time, taking too much backfires. Research suggests pain medications may do something to desensitize the way your brain and spinal cord interpret pain signals, Dr. Rosenquist noted.

We take the chill out of winter.

Retire from the stress of the season at an Erickson Living® community.

At an Erickson Living retirement community, you can kick back, relax and enjoy a winter free from worries. Swim in the pool, dine with friends, even visit the on-site doctor. No need to fret over burst pipes or power outages.

We take the uncertainty out of the season—so you andd your family enjoy peace of mind all year long.

9765433

Call 1-800-797-0883 for your FREE brochure.

“You develop a tolerance to the medication over time,” he said. “Sometimes, if you take chronic pain medications for a long time, your pain may actually get worse.”

Myth 2: If you take them for a valid reason, you can’t get addicted.

It can’t happen to me. I’m a good citizen.

I’m a normal person. I couldn’t possibly get addicted. Thinking this way is dangerous.

Even if you start taking a prescription pain medication for a legitimate reason, you run the risk of addiction. This has nothing to do with moral character and everything to do with the highly addictive nature of these drugs.

Myth 3: Everyone who takes them gets addicted.

On the flipside, just because you take a prescription painkiller does not mean you will become addicted.

It depends largely on your own personal risk of addiction. That’s why Dr. Rosenquist and others in pain management screen for risk factors: a family history of addiction, a personal history of alcohol and drug abuse, or certain psychiatric disorders.

“If I’m considering prescribing opioids, I’m going to do drug screening and make sure you’re not taking recreational drugs,” Dr. Rosenquist said. “If somebody uses recreational drugs, the likelihood they’re going to use pain medications inappropri-

ately is really high.”

Not everyone gets addicted, but everyone who takes painkillers for an extended time period will experience symptoms of withdrawal when they stop. It’s a natural reaction.

Myth 4: There are no long-term consequences.

Addiction is not the only risk that comes with prescription pain medications. When taken for extended periods of time, they also can harm your body’s endocrine system and throw your hormones out of whack, affecting everything from your libido to your risk of osteoporosis.

“There are a lot of bad things that can happen, but people don’t always hear you when you describe them,” Dr. Rosenquist said.

Myth 5: You should avoid painkillers altogether.

Obviously, there’s plenty of scary information about painkillers. However, there are certainly legitimate uses.

In addition to treating the pain from acute injuries, a small fraction of chronic pain patients see improvements in both pain levels and function from taking pain medications, especially when other pain management techniques fail for them. For most people, though, prescription pain meds should be a short-term treatment at most.

See PAIN PILLS, page 14

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

13

Naproxin carries lower risks than its rivals

By Matthew Perrone Federal health officials say the pain reliever in Aleve may be safer on the heart than other popular anti-inflammatory drugs taken by millions of Americans.

A Food and Drug Administration review said naproxen — the key ingredient in Aleve and dozens of other generic pain pills — may have a lower risk of heart attack and stroke than rival medications like ibuprofen, sold as Advil and Motrin. FDA staffers recommend relabeling naproxen to emphasize its safety.

The safety review was prompted by a huge analysis published last year that looked at 350,000 patients taking various pain relievers. The findings suggest naproxen does not carry the same heart risks as other medications in the class known as nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. The agency released its memo ahead of a public meeting last month where outside experts discussed both the new data and whether naproxen should be relabeled.

The agency is not required to follow the group’s advice, though it often does.

If ultimately implemented, the labeling changes could reshape the multibilliondollar market for drugs used to treat headaches, muscle pain and arthritis.

The change could make Aleve and other naproxen drugs the first choice for patients with a higher risk for heart problems, according to Ira Loss, a pharmaceutical analyst with Washington Analysis.

But he added that all NSAIDs will continue to carry warnings about internal bleeding and ulceration — a serious side effect that is blamed for more than 200,000 hospital visits every year.

tors are advised to take the drugs for the shortest time period possible.

But FDA staffers now say that labeling should be changed “to reflect the more favorable cardiovascular risk profile of naproxen.”

Bayer spokesman Chris Loder said in a statement that naproxen’s safety and efficacy is “based on clinical trials, observational studies, and clinical and real world use for more than 38 years.” The Germanbased conglomerate was one of a halfdozen pharmaceutical manufacturers presenting at the February FDA meeting.

FDA staffers say patients in the trial are being “exposed to an undue risk.”

Launched in 2006 by Pfizer, which makes both Celebrex and Advil, the PRECISION study is expected to be completed by late 2015. The company said in a state-

ment that “current evidence does not support” changes to the labeling of its drugs.

Celebrex was New York-based Pfizer’s fourth-best-selling drug last year, with sales of $2.92 billion.

— AP

Voted #1 in Prince William County

Ongoing study may stop The FDA also disclosed that it is considering halting a long-term study comparing the safety of naproxen, ibuprofen and Celebrex, the prescription painkiller from Pfizer.

Given that recent data show a lower rate of heart attack and stroke for naproxen,

Resolving decade of concerns The FDA meeting is the latest chapter in an ongoing safety review of NSAIDs that stretches back to 2004, when Merck & Co Inc. pulled its blockbuster pain reliever Vioxx off the market due to links to heart attack and stroke.

Vioxx was part of a subset of newer NSAIDs designed to be easier on the stomach. But in the wake of the Vioxx recall, the FDA beefed up warnings about heart safety risks on all drugs in the class, including Motrin, Advil, Aleve and Celebrex.

Pfizer’s Celebrex is the only drug from the same class as Vioxx that remains on the market.

Current labeling warns that taking NSAIDs long-term can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Patients and doc-

——————————

WHERE

—————————

PEACE OF MIND —————

COMES FULL CIRCLE

—————

S nior living Senior livi g at The Residences at Thomas Circle has everything y g you a are looking for –– now or in the h ffuture: t everyday d comfort f and d luxury, a diverse and vibrant neighborhood, awesome amenities, and all with no entrance fee. Plus the priceless peace of mind of having all levels of care on site, including the newly renovated City Club Memory Care. Never has peace of mind been this satisfying. And you’ll only find it in the Circle.

Call us at 202-626-5761 or visit www.ThomasCircle.com.

Please tell our advertisers, “I saw you in the Beacon!”

Where senior living comes full circle.

1 3 3 0 M A S S A C H U S E T T S AV E N W | W A S H I N G T O N , D C 2 0 0 0 5 | T H O M A S C I R C L E . C O M NP/Beacon

14

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Accident rates decline for older drivers

By Joan Lowy Safety researchers expressed concern a decade ago that traffic accidents would in-

crease as the nation’s aging population swelled the number of older drivers on the road. Now, they say they’ve been proved wrong.

Today’s drivers aged 70 and older are less likely to be involved in crashes than previous generations, and are less likely to be killed or seriously injured if they do crash, according to a study released last month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

That’s because vehicles are getting safer, and seniors are generally getting healthier, the institute said.

The marked shift began taking hold in the mid-1990s and indicates that the growing ranks of aging drivers, as baby boomers head into their retirement years, aren’t

making U.S. roads deadlier.

Pain pills

jury? Have you been losing weight if you’re suffering from weight-related back pain?

“If you’re not doing the other things you need to do, I’m not going to keep prescribing those drugs,” Dr. Rosenquist said. “On their own, they’re not therapeutic.”

For more health tips and information, visit HealthHub from Cleveland Clinic at www.health.clevelandclinic.org.

Source: Cleveland Clinic WhatDoctorsKnow is a magazine devoted to up-to-the minute information on health issues from physicians, major hospitals and clinics, universities and health care agencies across the U.S. Online at www.whatdoctorsknow.com. © 2014 Whatdoctorsknow.com. Distributed

by Tribune Content.

From page 12

• House Call Service • Licensed in Maryland & D.C. Dr. Allen J. Moien Call to set up your appointment today

301-441-8632 If no answer, please leave a message.

EXPERIENCE THE

Myth 6: Pain medication can fix your pain.

This may be the biggest myth of all. Pain medications simply mask your symptoms; they don’t treat the root cause of your pain.

That’s why Dr. Rosenquist focuses on how you function rather than just how you feel.

Are you moving better? Are you able to get back to work? These are important questions about function.

So is the question of whether you’ve been making efforts to get better. For example, have you been following doctor’s orders and doing physical therapy to recover from an in-

Fatality rates drop generally Traffic fatalities overall in the U.S. have declined to levels not seen since the late 1940s, and accident rates have come down for other drivers as well.

But since 1997, older drivers have enjoyed bigger declines than middle-age drivers (those 35 to 54) as measured by fatal crash rates per driver, and per vehicle miles driven.

See OLDER DRIVERS, page 15

!"#!$%&'()*+,-).),-),%*/010,2

Solana Difference

The Solana® Olney, a Brookdale® managed community, offers senior living solutions from the nation’s leader in senior accommodations and related services. Stop by and discover all the places life can go at The Solana Olney.

We provide: • Optimum Life® • Assisted Living • Alzheimer’s & Dementia Care

• Convenient Location • Restaurant-Style Dining • And much more!

Call 1-855-514-1217 today to schedule your personal visit.

Assisted Living Alz zheimer’s & Dementia Care 2611 Olney y Sandy y Spring p g Rd. | Olney, y, MD 20832 | brookdale.com !!"#$%"&! '%("!)*%"' +",-"./"0"#10234015"67"816652093"(3:.61"!.;.:<"):=>?"+0/@;.993?"#+?"A( >"B"C3<>"A>(>"&0D3:D"0:2"#E"-7F=3>"GHIIJKC%(JGKJGGL"(M

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

!"#$"%&'((% )*+!)*,*"+%-$,,."!+/ !""#$%&'()*(+,-*(.,$/0&(1#, %(2!,$'(3& /'&04&(5#!0',%/#0%

!"#$%&'$()*+,+),$(-+./0$123/4,0$56$!!#7#

012342% 5456%.4%36%777895:4;:<3118;=>%%%% ?@ABCADBEAEE

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Older drivers From page 14 From 1997 to 2012, fatal crash rates per licensed driver fell 42 percent for older drivers and 30 percent for middle-age ones, the study found. Looking at vehicle miles traveled, fatal crash rates fell 39 percent for older drivers and 26 percent for middle-age ones from 1995 to 2008.

The greatest rate of decline was among drivers age 80 and over, nearly twice that of middle-age drivers and drivers ages 70 to 74.

“This should help ease fears that aging baby boomers are a safety threat,” said Anne McCartt, the institute’s senior vice president for research and co-author of the study.

“No matter how we looked at the fatal crash data for this age group — by licensed drivers or miles driven — the fatal crash involvement rates for drivers 70 and older declined, and did so at a faster pace than the rates for drivers ages 35 to 54,” she said in a report on the study’s results.

Elders driving more, too At the same time, older drivers are putting more miles on the odometer than they used to, although they’re still driving fewer miles a year than middle-aged drivers.

This is especially true for drivers 75 and older, who lifted their average annual mileage by more than 50 percent from 1995 to 2008.

“The fact that older drivers increased their average mileage… may indicate that they are remaining physically and mentally comfortable with driving tasks,” the institute said.

When older drivers reduce the number of trips they take, it’s often because they sense their driving skills are eroding. They compensate by driving less at night, during rush hour, in bad weather, or over long distances.

By 2050, the number of people in the U.S. age 70 and older is expected to reach 64 million, or about 16 percent of the population. In 2012, there were 29 million people in the U.S. age 70 and over, or 9 percent of the population.

“The main point is that these 70- to 80-

year-olds are really different than their predecessors,” said Alan Pisarski, author of the authoritative “Commuting in America” series of reports on driving trends.

“They learned to drive in a very different era. They are far more comfortable driving in freeway situations. This matters

15

immensely for the future, because we are seeing dramatic increases in older workers staying in the labor force and continuing to work and commute well past 65.”

For more information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, see www.iihs.org.

— AP

General and Cosmetic Dentistry • Senior Citizen Discount 15% • We use ‘Low Radiation Digital X-Rays’ • Dentures, Partials, Implants • Computer Milled Crowns, Bridges & Veneers

Judy Jo Oh, D.D.S. (UCLA School of Dentistry, 1992) 4607 Connecticut Ave., NW #109, Washington, D.C. 20008 (Within 4 Blocks North of Van Ness/UDC Red Line Metro Station)

202-244-2212 • 301-300-7579 www.judyohdds.com

BEACON BITS

Mar. 28

The Sun

HOW WELL IS MY BRAIN FUNCTIONING? Dr. Emily Castor of Arlington Rehabilitation will discuss neuropsychological testing and its ability to check your thinking ability.

Sometimes, even the simplest tasks can seem monumental.

Learn how your doctor can determine if there is damage to the brain. This free lecture will take place at Virginia Hospital Center, 601 S. Carlin Springs Rd., Arlington Va. From 11 a.m. to noon. For more information or to register, visit http://bit.ly/Neuropsychologicaltesting or call (703) 558-6859.

Mar. 11+

GRIEF COUNSELING Montgomery Hospice presents “Grief, Forgiveness and Regret,” a two-session workshop for those grieving after the death of a loved

one. These free sessions will take place on Tuesdays, March 11 and March 18 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Montgomery Hospice is located at 1355 Piccard Dr., Rockville, Md. Registration is required. For more information, call (301) 921-4400.

5K Earth

Wh ch is w Whic why h , wh when en yyou ou ccho hoos osee Ma Mano norC rCar aree as yyou ourr po posth spit ho ital al reccov o eryy fa f ciilityy, we’ll he h lp you ou gget et tthe he ccar aree yo youu need ne ed ttoo ov over erco come me yyou our ur ob obst stac acles annd geet yo you ba back ck too your life. Our team of caregivers pr p ovvid ides es eeve very ryth thin ingg from complex ski killlledd nursing care to exppertt ph phys y ical al, occu oc cupational i and n sspe peec echh th ther e ap apie iess to hhel elp paatiients rrea e chh thei th eirr go goal al ooff returningg home mee saf m afely elly an andd sooner. After alll, tthhe bbest way home is through our doors. For more al information or to take a virtual tour of our facilities please visit www.manorcare.com or call: ManorCare - Bethesda

ManorCare - Silver Spring

301.530.9000

301.890.5552

ManorCare - Chevy Chase

ManorCare - Wheaton

301.657.8686

301.942.2500

ManorCare - Largo

ManorCare - Adelphi

301.350.5555

301.434.0500

ManorCare - Potomac

ManorCare - Hyattsville

301.299.2273

301.559.0300

Experience Makes a Difference.

16

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Stay fit with these simple couch exercises Can’t muster the motivation to get up off the couch and exercise? Try “couchersizing” — staying on or near your couch and exercising during commercial breaks.

“A growing body of literature connects the amount of time you spend sitting to illness and even death. Minimizing long periods of inactivity, like exercising during commercial breaks, can help reduce the risk of injury and may even help you live longer,” said Kailin Collins, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts

General Hospital, Boston, Mass.

You can work many different muscle groups while seated upright on a couch.

Want to get your heart rate up, work your oblique muscles in your sides, and whittle your waist? Try twisting your torso from side to side for the length of a commercial break.

You can even exercise while lying on the couch: with your legs in front of you, squeeze the quadriceps for a count of 10, then relax and repeat several times. Or try leg lifts while on your back to build abs, or

side lifts to strengthen hip muscles.

Get your doctor’s OK first, then consider trying some of these exercises during the typical 3-to-4-minute TV commercial break:

1. Sit to stand Why it helps: This exercise works the quadriceps in the front of the thigh and gluteal muscles in the buttocks, which helps protect your ability to get up from a chair, out of a car, or off a bathroom seat.

“In addition, it’s possible to use repeated repetitions of this exercise to get your heart rate up,” said Collins.

How to do it: Go from sitting to standing to sitting again, 10 times in a row. Rest for a minute, then repeat.

2. Calf stretch Why it helps: “Keeping your calves optimally flexible can keep your walking stride longer, reduce your risk of tripping over your toes, and reduce your risk for common foot injuries such as plantar fasciitis,” said Collins.

How to do it: Sit on the edge of a couch with your feet flat on the floor. With one leg, keeping your heel on the floor, lift and point the toes toward the ceiling, so that you feel a stretch in your calf muscle. Hold for 30 seconds, then do the same with the other leg, three times per leg.

3. Stand on one leg Why it helps: “Balance gets better if you practice it, which can decrease the risk of falling,” said Collins.

How to do it: Holding on to the back of a chair for stability, lift one heel toward your buttocks. Hold for 30 to 45 seconds, three times per leg. To improve your balance on unsteady surfaces, try this with shoes off on a balled-up beach towel.

• Featuring 1 & 2 bedrooms and studio apartment homes • Utilities included in rent (except phone & cable) • 24/7 Front Desk Personnel • Controlled-Access Entry • Wellness Programs

• Social Activities • Spectacular Solarium & Roof Terrace • On-site Restaurant • Library & Computers with Internet Access • Game Room & Billiards Table

Call today to schedule a personal tour:

301-495-1600 A Homes for America Community 1316 Fenwick Lane • Silver Spring, MD 20910

www.firstcentrum.com Professionally managed by Centrum Management

4. Shoulder blade squeeze Why it helps: “This can help prevent that rounded, shoulders-forward posture that can develop from many years of sitting, especially at a computer,” said Collins.

How to do it: Pinch your shoulder blades together, but not up (don’t shrug).

Hold for 10 seconds, then repeat 10 times.

5. Hand squeeze Why it helps: “Keeping your grip strong makes it possible to turn a door knob, open a jar, and grasp a gallon of milk,” said Collins.

How to do it: While seated upright, hold a ball (the size of a basketball) over your lap with both hands, then squeeze the ball as if you’re trying to deflate it. Hold for a few seconds, then release. Repeat 10 times, rest, then do another set of 10 repetitions. You can also improve your grip strength by squeezing a small rubber ball in one hand.

Better yet, walk across the room during commercials, swinging your arms.

6. Bicep curls Weak biceps make it difficult to lift groceries or push yourself out of a chair. Curls can keep your muscles strong and supple.

With a physical therapist’s supervision, sit on an exercise ball or chair holding a one- or two-pound weight at your side, palm inward. Slowly bend one elbow, lifting the weight toward your chest. Keep your elbow close to your side and rotate your palm so it faces your shoulder. Pause.

Slowly lower your arm, rotating it back again. Aim for eight to 12 repetitions. Repeat with your other arm.

— Harvard Health Letter © 2014 President and fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

17

Fresh food isn’t always best nutritionally “Fresh is best” has long been the mantra when it comes to choosing the healthiest foods. But recent studies are challenging that age-old mindset with some very revealing findings.

It turns out that processing actually can boost the nutritional benefits of some foods.

Tomatoes Canned tomatoes were one of the first food products to highlight this phenomenon, with a study dating back to 2002 in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry. The study showed that thermal (heat) processing, involved in canning tomatoes, elevated total antioxidant activity and lycopene content, enhancing the overall nutritional value, even though vitamin C was lost.

Lycopene — a carotenoid antioxidant thought to reduce the risk of certain cancers and to protect against heart disease — is also found in other red-hued foods, like red bell peppers and watermelon. The heat, through cooking, helps break down the walls of the plant cells, releasing the nutrient.

Corn and spinach Further studies have shown that other antioxidants also respond to heat, both in cooking and thermal processing. Lutein — found in corn, spinach and kale, and known to protect the eyes from age-related macular degeneration — is one of them.

A 2003 study that compared the carotenoid content — mainly lutein and

zeaxanthin — of fresh, canned and frozen corn found increased levels in canned and frozen versions, both of which were processed with heat.

Canned peaches Last year, canned peaches were shown to have significantly higher levels of vitamin C, antioxidants and folate compared to fresh peaches. The canning process did decrease vitamins A and E and total carotenoids, but levels were deemed comparable to fresh peaches throughout a three-month shelf life.

Peanuts

Belvoir Media Group, LLC. 800-829-5384. www.EnvironmentalNutrition.com. ©2014 Belvoir Media Group. Distributed

by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

FOUND MONEY Boone & Sons has been Washington’s Trusted Buyer of Gold, Diamond & Estate Jewelry for over 65 years.

CALL TODAY FOR AN APPOINTMENT! Washington, DC U 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW U 202-785-4653

Apparently, it’s not just fruits and vegetables that benefit. Boiling peanuts, which are legumes, ramped up the antioxidants to four times those of raw and roasted peanuts or peanut butter. Even roasted peanuts showed heat-related benefits via an antioxidant increase in their skins.

Based on this new finding, researchers no longer throw out the skins after roasting these tasty legumes, but are testing them mixed into peanut butter to enhance its nutritional value.

The findings are important, but not because they disprove the concept that fresh is always best. Rather, they expand the choice of nutritious food options, especially when fresh is not available.

Of course, fresh, seasonal offerings are always a good way to go, but they’re not always available or as convenient as a canned or frozen counterpart. And now

Enjoy the Beacon?

Tell your friends. !"#$%&'#(#")*&#"&+,!&-!.%+&$/&#+&011 Be a part of the heartbeat of progress and make the move to Springvale Terrace. Our multi-million dollar renovation on project j t is underway, enhancing lives in the Heart of Silver S Spring ng. An affordable alternative to traditional assisted isted liv livingg, ou ur unique Enhanced Independencee program proovides es sen seniors wiith th p personall care services in an active, friendlyy com mmunity. nity. Butt iff assisted d living is what you or your loved on ne reequi uires es we have h the quality tyy care you are loookin ngg for. fo

!""#$%#&'(!)#!*'$&#+,,-(+!&-#,'.-/+0#'11'2&$0+&+-%# !0(#&'#%34-($"-#)'$2#1-2%'0!"#&'$25##

Personal Care • Asssisted Living

301-587-0190

you can rest easy when you choose these preserved alternatives.

Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition, a monthly publication of

(TRS 711)

!"#$%&'()*+,+$$)-+!-./010234305#$%&'()*+067!0105%*(+$05#$%&'809:

Chevy Chase, MDÊU 5550 The Hills Plaza U 301-657-2144 McLean, VA UÊ1320 Old Chain Bridge Rd. U 703-734-3997

18

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Health Studies Page

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

THE PLACE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON AREA CLINICAL TRIALS

Study tests new breast cancer treatments

By Marilynn Marchione A novel way to speed the testing of cancer drugs and quickly separate winners from duds has yielded its first big result: an experimental medicine that shows promise against a hard-to-treat form of breast cancer.

The method involves studying drugs in small groups of people and using advanced statistical techniques to analyze the results as they come in, instead of waiting for all the data to arrive.

Whether the drug, veliparib, ever makes it to market remains to be seen. But

it has shown enough potential to advance to final-phase testing aimed at Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

Bringing a new cancer drug to market usually takes more than a decade, requires tests in thousands of patients, and can cost a billion dollars or more. Companies can’t afford many studies like that, and patients can’t wait years for potentially life-saving new medicines, said Don Berry, a biostatistician at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

He helped design the novel analytical method discussed in December at the San

Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, an international conference.

Researchers testing a drug usually don’t see results until they’re all in, to prevent biasing the study. But several years ago, an unusual partnership decided to try a new way.

It involves the National Cancer Institute, the FDA, drug companies, dozens of cancer research centers and charitable foundations.

The study, called I-SPY 2, puts small groups of women on experimental drugs or combinations, then gives them surgery to see what effect the medicines had. The best result is a complete response, where no signs of cancer remain.

Ongoing analysis Our Mission: To secure the well-being of Montgomery County Seniors through the shared strength of diverse organizations and individuals.

Professionals working with seniors are invited to our Monthly GROWS meetings on the first Thursday of the month at 8:15 a.m. usually at Holiday Park Senior Center, 3950 Ferrara Dr., Wheaton, Md.

Annual Silent Auction • June 5, 2014 Brooke Grove Retirement Village Register early by calling the GROWS office at 301-765-3325.

A limited number of donations are also being accepted to advertise your organization.

Each patient’s results are analyzed as they come in, and advanced statistical methods are used to calculate probabilities that the drug would help in various situations, depending on which women had a complete response.

“This allows us to learn and adapt from each patient as the study goes on,” and results on early participants guide treatment that later ones get, said Dr. Hope Rugo of the University of California, San Francisco.

When enough evidence indicates a high probability of success, the drug “graduates” to final-phase testing.

“Not only does this design give us a faster thumbs up to take a drug to a definitive trial, it also has built within it a wealth of information about the characteristics of the tumors that will be analyzed,” said Dr. Claudine Isaacs, an oncologist at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer

Center, during the conference. “Increasingly, what we see is that drugs have benefits within certain subsets [of patients].”

Also at the breast cancer conference, Rugo gave results on veliparib, the first of seven drugs being tested. It is made by AbbVie Inc., a N. Chicago, Ill., company recently spun off from Abbott Laboratories. It is in a new class of experimental medicines called PARP inhibitors, which target an enzyme that cancer cells rely on to grow.

Seeking “triple negative” patients The I-SPY 2 testing suggests that adding the chemotherapy drug carboplatin and veliparib to usual chemo before surgery improved outcomes for women with “triple negative” breast cancer — tumors that are not fueled by estrogen, progesterone or the gene that the medicine Herceptin targets.

Up to 20 percent of breast cancers are this type, and they are more common in young women, blacks and Hispanics, as well as women with certain breast cancer gene mutations.

Researchers were able to determine the drug’s potential after tests in only 71 women and just six months of treatment.

They calculated that tests of only 300 women with triple negative tumors are needed to give a definitive answer, and that the drug has at least a 90 percent probability of success in such patients. If more types of cancer are included, the probability of success drops to 55 percent.

See BREAST CANCER, page 19

BEACON BITS

Mar. 14

FALL PREVENTION Sibley Senior Association presents a free lecture and discussion on

how to prevent falls on Friday, Mar. 14 from noon to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 1 at the Sibley Renaissance Building, 5255 Loughboro Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. Registration is required. For more information, call (202) 364-7602.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

19

Too few cancer patients enroll in studies

By Marilynn Marchione One of every 10 clinical trials for adults with cancer ends prematurely because researchers can’t get enough people to test new treatments, scientists report.

The surprisingly high rate reveals not just the scope and cost of wasted opportunities that deprive patients of potential advances, but also the extent of barriers such as money, logistics and even the mistaken fear that people won’t get the best care if they join one of these experiments.

“Clinical trials are the cornerstone of progress in cancer care,” the way that new treatments prove their worth, said Dr. Matthew Galsky of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

When an experimental drug or other treatment fails to make it to the market, people often think it didn’t work or had too many side effects. But the inability to complete studies can doom a drug, too, Galsky said.

Reasons for halting trials

Breast cancer

FDA officials have said that, in certain cases, complete responses can be considered a basis for conditional approval of a drug, as long as follow-up tests are done after the product is on the market to prove that it indeed is improving survival.

Another company participating in the ISPY 2 study, Puma Biotechnology Inc., said its experimental drug neratinib had also graduated and would enter a definitive study. Results of the early testing will be presented at a cancer conference next year.

For more information about I-SPY 2 trial, or to see if you qualify as a volunteer, call Holly Gallimore at Inova at (703) 7762688 or contact Tomeeka R. Jones at Georgetown at (202) 444-0406 or Tomeeka.R.Jones@gunet.georgetown.edu.

— AP, with additional reporting by Barbara Ruben

From page 18 The results show that “we can get early reads on something that is worth pursuing” and bail quickly on treatments that don’t help, said Dr. Carlos Arteaga of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Volunteers sought Locally, two institutions are participating in the I-SPY 2 study and seeking volunteers: the Inova Breast Care Institute in Northern Virginia and Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Veliparib has now graduated and is eligible for testing in a definitive study. It’s not known how long that would take, but it surely would be shorter than the several years that traditional testing requires.

Galsky helped lead an analysis of 7,776 experiments registered on Clinicaltrials.gov, a government website for tracking medical experiments, from September 2005 to November 2011. All were mid- or late-stage studies testing treatments for various types of cancer in adults.

About 20 percent of the studies were not completed for reasons that had nothing to do with the treatment’s safety or effectiveness. Poor accrual — the inability to enroll enough patients in enough time to finish the study — led to nearly 40 percent of premature endings.

Also, company-sponsored studies were less likely to be completed than those sponsored by the government or others, probably due to cost reasons.

Late-stage cancer trials can cost companies “tens to even hundreds of millions of dollars,” and that money is wasted if no clear

Free one-to-one support for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis The Crohn’s and Colitis Advocate Program* is here for you if you have Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis.

Sign up and get: • Personalized support from a specially trained Patient Advocate • Educational resources and information • Useful tools to have more productive conversations with your doctor Thousands of people have taken advantage of the Crohn’s and Colitis Advocate Program. Now you can, too.

Simply visit CDandUC.com to learn more and sign up. *Advocates can provide you with education and resources and offer support, but cannot provide medical advice or replace your conversations with your health care provider.

Crohn’s & Colitis C r o h n s A n d C o l i t i s I n f o . c o m

©2013 AbbVie Inc.

North Chicago, IL 60064

64Z-1214410

June 2013

Printed in U.S.A.

answer on the drug’s value is gained, said Dr. Charles J. Ryan, a cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Ryan and Galsky said they hoped their study would spur additional research on why more patients don’t participate in clinical studies. In most cases, the treatment being tested is provided for free, but there can be other costs such as lab tests. Some states require insurers to cover these additional costs, but others do not, so money may be one hurdle for patients.

No placebo worries Some doctors do not strongly encourage patients to participate in studies, and sometimes patients fear they’ll get a dummy treatment (placebo) instead of real medicine.

However, in cancer clinical trials, ethical standards require that all patients get the current best care, plus a chance at an experimental treatment.

“Patients still have concerns about getting a placebo, but they’re always going to get, at a minimum, the standard of care,” said Shelley Fuld Nasso, head of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, a patient advocacy and education organization.

Doctors need to encourage more patients to participate, and clinical trial designers need to make sure they are testing key questions and treatments to honor the contributions of study participants, Nasso said.

— AP

20

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

How to get back in the exercise groove Q: I got too busy to exercise for a few weeks. Have I lost all that I worked for, or can I pick up where I left off?

A: How quickly you lose fitness depends on long you have stopped, and how fit you are to start.

The more fit you are and the longer you’ve been exercising, let’s say at least several months, the more slowly you lose aerobic condition and strength. You may lose some ground after two or three weeks of not exercising, but you probably are still ahead of where you started.

People new to exercise, however, can

end up back where they started in endurance and strength after a month or less.

If you are ready to return to your former physical activity and it’s been more than a couple weeks, start back with an easier workout than where you left off. Tune in to how your body feels, and adjust to a pace and intensity that let you exercise using good form.

Some experts say a good guideline for aerobic exercise is to work hard enough that you wouldn’t want to sing, but can still talk.

Again, depending on your fitness level and the length of time you stopped exercising, expect it to take weeks or even a few months

Going Home Cremation Service Beverly L. Heckrotte, P.A. Personalized

Professional

Dignified

Affordable

• Specializing in direct cremation • Return of the urn and memorial merchandise to your home • Serving Maryland, Washington, D.C., and N. Virginia

(301) 854-9038

or 1 (866) 728-4663 (toll free) call for your FREE information package

to get back to your previous fitness level. carbohydrate from whole grains, but also Next time you find yourself tight on time, carbohydrate from refined grains, from studies show that if you exerwhich valuable nutrients and cise for a shorter period or phytochemicals have been reless often, without cutting it moved. out completely, you can hold Because these starchy foods your ground. can also provide vitamins, minIf you’re getting bored with erals, fiber and healthful phytowhat you’re doing, or if a chemicals, you’ll probably be change in season ends the aceating plenty of these “other tivities you’ve been doing, carbohydrates” if you are eatstart something new. Particiing the plant-focused eating patpation in different kinds of tern recommended for heart physical activity can add more NUTRITION health and lower cancer risk.

WISE benefits than sticking with There is no uniform goal for

By Karen Collins, one form of exercise alone, how much “other carbohyMS, RD, CDM and it keeps activity fun. drate” we should get. It depends on individual calorie Q: Sometimes I see food labels list “other carbohydrate.” What needs, which varies with activity level, age are they, and is it something I’m sup- and size.

The American Institute for Cancer Reposed to get more of or limit?

A: “Other carbohydrate” is listed on search offers a Nutrition Hotline, 1-800some food label’s Nutrition Facts panel un- 843-8114, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday derneath “total carbohydrate” and refers through Friday. This free service allows you mainly to complex carbohydrates, com- to ask questions about diet, nutrition and monly called starches. (If a food contains cancer. A registered dietitian will return sweeteners called sugar alcohols — xyli- your call, usually within three business days.

Courtesy of the American Institute for tol, mannitol, sorbitol — they also are inCancer Research. Questions for this column cluded in this group.)

Starches are the main type of carbohy- may be sent to “Nutrition Wise,” 1759 R St., drate in bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes and N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009. Collins canstarchy vegetables like corn. They include not respond to questions personally.

BEACON BITS

Mar. 29

GROW YOUR OWN FOOD

Master Gardeners presents a free “Grow It, Eat It” event on Saturday, March 29 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshops will include garden planning and intensive techniques, soils and composting. There will also be a plant sale and seed swap, a class on growing small fruit, and demonstrations of winter vegetable cooking and garden tool maintenance. The conference will be held at the Agricultural History Farm Park, 18410 Muncaster Rd., Derwood, Md. For additional information, email MCMGConference@gmail.com.

Visit us at www.GoingHomeCremation.com

Caring for your aging parent or loved one?

It’s not all up to you.

Call us.

240-777-3000 ADS@ MontgomeryCountyMD.gov

Aging & Disability Services Mon and Fri: Tue, Wed, & Thur:

8:30am – 5:00pm 8:30am – 7:30pm

A free service of your County Government

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

21

Something different: Moroccan bison stew What is bison like? Seeing it at gourmet butchers and natural food stores, I wondered. But finding ground bison at Costco got me to finally try it.

Also called American buffalo, bison are big beasts that mostly roam free, grazing on grass and hay. This active life makes their meat firmer than beef.

I used the bison in chili that was feisty and lean, and made burgers so hearty that a three-ounce patty served on a grilled whole-grain bun was quite satisfying.

Most bison is grass fed then “finished” on grain. It is similar to 90 percent lean ground beef in calories, fat and saturated fat. Bison that is exclusively grass-fed is much less common and has even less fat, more like 92 percent lean ground beef.

Raising bison costs more, so the meat is more expensive than beef. But it is perfect in dishes like this Moroccan meatball tagine — a chunky stew combining bitesize meatballs with sweet potato, fennel and other root vegetables, plus aromatic spices and dried figs.

Moroccans cook tagines in a wide, shallow pot with a tall, cone-shaped top that is also called a tagine. A heavy Dutch oven works fine.

Super easy to make, all you do is put everything into a pot, with no fat added, and simmer gently. Reheats well for leftovers.

Root vegetable tagine with meatballs & figs 1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 8 wedges 1 large onion, diced 1 medium white turnip (2½-inches), peeled, cut into 8 wedges 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled (or equivalent garlic powder) 1½ tsp. ground cumin 1½ tsp. ground sweet paprika ½ tsp. ground ginger ½ tsp. salt, divided Freshly ground black pepper 1 large (6-inch) sweet potato or orangefleshed yam, peeled and cut into 1-inch slices 2 2½-inch cinnamon sticks 8 dried white Turkish figs, quartered 1 cup fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth, vegetable broth or water 3/4 lb. ground bison or lean beef 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped 2 Tbsp. toasted sliced almonds In medium Dutch oven or other heavy pot, place carrots, fennel, onion, turnip and garlic. Add cumin, paprika, ginger, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 4 to 5 grinds pepper and mix to coat vegetables.

Halve sweet potato slices crosswise, making half-moons and add to pot, along with

cinnamon sticks and figs. Pour in broth.

In mixing bowl, place bison, cilantro and parsley and season with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 3 to 4 grinds pepper. Use

fork to combine.

Divide meat into 12 portions and shape See BISON STEW, page 22

60% of people with

Alzheimer’s wander.

Everyday situations can be dangerous!

Don’t be caught in a situation where you realize that your loved one has wandered off, and you don’t have any idea where they are. Arden Courts can help keep your loved one safe and provide you with the peace-of-mind you deserve.

Call today to receive your free Wandering Kit to help safeguard the ones you love.

MARYLAND Kensington Potomac VIRGINIA Annandale Fair Oaks

Silver Spring

• Secured community that meets specific needs of dementia residents • Round-the-clock checks to ensure your loved one’s safety • Outdoor landscaped walking paths that promote exercise in a safe environment • Visual cues throughout the community help keep residents oriented • Daily scheduled activities maximize self-esteem and sense of purpose • Medical staff specifically trained to address wandering issues

22

Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

New drugs, OTC items approved in 2013 macists call a “me too” drug, because it works like other SNRI “serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor” drugs. Older ones include Effexor, Pristiq, Cymbalta and Savella. They improve levels of two key brain neurotransmitters involved in major depression, as well as fibromyalgia, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. www.Fetzima.com FluNada (nasal/throat spray) homeopathic, OTC: Spray to stop cold and flu-like symptoms with this new natural remedy

Dear Readers: Here are some interesting pharmaceutical items approved for sale in the United States last year: Vizamyl (flutemetamol) injection, Rx: Can this compound detect Alzheimer’s disease at an earlier stage? Think of it as a contrast dye used for PET imaging, because it attaches to beta amyloid plaques in the brain, which dementia patients often have.

Fetzima (levomilnacipran) extended release capsules, Rx: This is what phar-

!

C G

!"#""#$ %$&#'

Serving Arlington Seniors Since 1973

Call to schedule a personal tour.

703-528-0162 4435 N. Pershing Drive Arlington, VA 22203 www.culpeppergarden.org VA Relay # 800-828-1120

Affordable Senior Apartments & Assisted Living

that contains a homeopathic blend of mint, from patients in recovery. www.rise-us.com wintergreen, eucalyptus and elderberry.

Zephrex-D (pseudoephedrine) tablets, Spray it in your mouth, and OTC: It’s to unstuff your nose nasal passages, right where and relieve a sinus headache. It’s the bugs try to enter your the world’s first meth-resistant body. The kill rate of FluNada pseudoephedrine tablet, dewas tested by two independsigned to keep bad people from ent labs and found to be 99.9%. turning cold medicine into speed! www.FluNada.com Decongestants are often Clinolipid (soybean and messed with, but it’s impossiolive oil) injection, Rx: ble with Zephrex-D, because Would you ever think to inject the makers invested in new yourself with olive or soybean technology that locks the drug DEAR oil? This is a drug used to sup- PHARMACIST in place. www.zephrex-d.com port nutrition in adults. It’s By Suzy Cohen Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) given intravenously, and protablets, Rx: For chronic hepativides calories and essential tis C virus without the need for fatty acids. You can’t get it if you are aller- interferon. This drug blocks a specific protein needed by the virus for its replication gic to eggs, soybean or olive oil.

Zubsolv (buprenorphine and nalox- (growth). www.sovaldi.com NovoPen Echo: The only insulin deone) sublingual tablets, Rx: This helps people who are dependent on pain-killer vice which can dispense tiny doses like a drugs such as opiates (hydrocodone, oxy- half unit, making it appealing for children. codone, morphine, etc). The drug is in- It also has memory capabilities. tended as part of a bigger program to treat This information is opinion only. It is not drug addiction such as counseling and intended to treat, cure or diagnose your condition. Consult with your doctor before using psychosocial support.

The makers of Zubsolv have simultaneous- any new drug or supplement.

Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacist. ly launched an around-the-clock support program which is online. It’s designed with input Contact her at www.dearpharmacist.com.

!!"#$%&'(#)*("+$,(-).&%&/(0(%'1)2%,3) 4"!5(--$!%&6).&%&/(0(%')!5)7('$"(0(%') !008%$'$(-)*$%,()9:;9

Bison stew From page 21 into loose meatballs. Arrange meatballs on top of vegetables in pot.

Cover pot and set over medium-high heat. Bring liquid to boil. Reduce heat, and simmer gently until vegetables are tender but not falling apart and meatballs are no longer pink in center, about 40 minutes.

To serve, divide meatballs and vegetables among four plates, and garnish with almonds. Divide liquid among servings.

Goes well with whole-wheat couscous or brown rice.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 248 calories, 5 g. total fat (<1 g. saturated fat), 31 g. carbohydrate, 23 g. protein, 7 g. dietary fiber, 561 mg. sodium.

— American Institute for Cancer Research

Dentistry to Enhance Your Smile Stephen J. Friedman, DDS, PA www.go-smiles.net We offer all general dental services to help you look, feel and function your best.

Some of our many services include: Same-day porcelain crowns and veneers Denture repair Implant design and restoration Metal-free fillings In-office and takehome whitening

• • • • •

RECEIVE $100 OFF ANY FULL FEE SERVICE* After your initial exam, x-ray and cleaning.

ONE COUPON PER HOUSEHOLD *excludes insurance discounted services

Call (301) 681-8200 today Se Habla Español On Parle Français

to schedule your appointment Free parking. Located in Kemp Mill Shopping Center.

23

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

When your daughter-in-law raises a sissy Dear Solutions: to her, put away the pointer.

My daughter-in-law is making me a Stop telling her what to do or how to little crazy. My grandson is raise her child. Try to under5 years old, and I can see stand that the father she that she’s making him into never had represents the apa little sissy just because proval she never had. That’s she’s afraid of every activiwhat she needs from you, not ty he might try. criticism. When you praise When I point this or anyher for things she does well, thing else out to her, inand for just being a decent, stead of listening, she imloving person, it might dry mediately starts to cry. her tears.

When she married my As for your grandson, you SOLUTIONS son she told me she was so may try going with him to

By Helen Oxenberg, glad to have me as a father some of those activities that MSW, ACSW because she never had one make her fearful. Without crit(her father died when she icizing her, you can be a reaswas little). So in that case, shouldn’t suring and protective presence as he tries she be happy to get advice from me in- new things. Remember my motto for parstead of shutting me up by crying? ents of adult children — “don’t advise withI get intimidated. How can I get her out their consent.” to listen to me when I point things out Dear Solutions: to her? I don’t know what you call it A friend recently took me to what when a woman uses tears all the time she termed a “classic English restauto get her way, but I call it being a cry rant,” where they serve the best (her baby. judgment) fish and chips.

— Jim So I ordered it, and when it arrived Dear Jim: it was being served wrapped in newsI call it water power, and it is powerful paper. I couldn’t see myself eating it since it intimidates you. If you want her to that way and asked for a plate and sillisten to you when you “point things out” verware.

They then brought a plastic plate and utensils. When I asked for a regular plate and silverware, my friend actually apologized to the waiter about my “ignorance.”

I’m angry or at least very annoyed at my friend. I know it’s supposed to be an authentic English restaurant, but I didn’t think I needed a passport to eat there. Am I wrong for being angry at her actions, and which one of us should apologize?

— Laura Dear Laura: Well to begin with, I agree that today’s news would spoil my appetite also. However, your friend should not have embar-

rassed you by apologizing to the waiter. It was quite clear that you weren’t familiar with this English custom, and it should just have been explained to you.

I think the apology should come from her, and the admission that you were ignorant of this custom and should have asked her for more description of the English customs should come from you.

Oh well. Just shake hands and fish in more familiar places in the future. © Helen Oxenberg, 2014. Questions to be considered for this column may be sent to: The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915. You may also email the author at helox72@comcast.net. To inquire about reprint rights, call (609) 655-3684.

Take better hearing for a test drive. 75 DAY

TRIAL*

Arlington’s #1 Hearing Center Comprehensive Hearing Testing 2500 Wilson Blvd., Suite Hearing Screenings Arlington, VA 22201 Hearing Aid dispensing and fitting with a large selection of brands and styles www.sonus.com/arlington Hearing Aid services and repairs -Take Metro to Assistive Listening Devices Courthouse In Ear Monitors, Musician Plugs Station on the and Earmolds Orange Line Home visits available Screenings held at corporations, group settings Medicare and most insurance Sandra Romano, Au.D., CCC-A plans accepted Doctor of Audiology

105

(703) 525-1898

®

*

Hearing aids must be returned within 75-day period to qualify for refund.

©2013 Sonus-USA, Inc.

6671ROPA

24

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Money Law &

GOING, GOING, GONE A wide array of tax breaks expired in 2013, including ones that affect charitable giving, housing and sales tax IMPORTANT TAX CHANGES Higher-income tax filers will feel the biggest pinch from new rules; but good news for those with home offices LESSONS FROM THE BEAR AND BULL As the stock market both bottomed out and boomed over the last five years, well diversified portfolios did best

Money-saving strategies from the pros We asked a variety of experts to share tips for staving off a tax audit, buying auto coverage, investing a windfall, reading the stock market, saving money on tech products, and checking credit reports.

Tax audits Frank Degen, immediate past president of the National Association of Enrolled Agents [tax professionals licensed to practice before the IRS]: What’s the most common reason your clients are audited, and how can taxpayers avoid that fate?

Only about 1 percent of taxpayers are audited. What triggers an audit is generally something on the tax return that’s out of the ordinary. For example, if you have a side business and file a Schedule C, the IRS will flag large losses, particularly if they offset other income.

On Schedule A, large charitable contributions could be a red flag, because now you have to have a receipt for every item. I don’t ask to see every receipt for charitable contributions, but I will specifically ask a client if he or she has receipts for all contributions.

Unreimbursed business expenses are another item you see people get flagged on. If your preparer isn’t asking serious questions about these items, you need a new preparer.

Car insurance Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America: Name the biggest mistake people make when shopping for car insurance.

People do not shop.

When I was Texas insurance commissioner 20 years ago, I invited 25 people to our office with their auto insurance poli-

cies, and I gave each of them our buyer’s guide and a phone. I asked them to make some calls and report back in one hour.

The average savings was $125.

I suggest you get your state insurance department’s auto insurance buyer’s guide, find the example closest to your situation, and look at the premiums. Select the six lowest-priced insurers in your area.

Then go to the website of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (www.naic.org/cis) and get the complaint ratio for the insurers. Drop the two with the highest ratios and get quotes from the remaining four.

How to handle a windfall Sheryl Garrett, founder, the Garrett Planning Network: If I won $500,000 in the lottery tomorrow, what should I do with the money?

First, make sure money has been set aside to pay income taxes, which may be up to $200,000, depending on your situation. Then pay off all your consumer debt.

With the remainder, invest in your ability to earn money — for example, tuition and possibly time off to get an education.

Once you have adequate cash reserves, invest the balance for retirement in lowcost, tax-efficient index funds and exchange-traded funds, and leave it alone. Investments in yourself and your retirement last a lifetime.

Stock market risk Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist for Charles Schwab: How do you know when the stock market has topped out?

If there were any one thing, we’d all be

very wealthy. There’s no bell that rings.

But there are warning signs of a pullback, things we’ve seen in the past that suggest an elevated risk.

One is that interest rates, after adjusting for inflation, are rising. This is the only sign that you could argue is in place right now, and the reason why it’s happening now is that inflation has been falling — you could even argue that inflation-adjusted rates are going up for a good reason, not a bad reason.

Also, you tend to see a significant pickup in initial public offerings and a real surge in mergers and acquisitions. You often see an inverted yield curve, which is when shortterm rates are higher than longer-term yields. And you typically see excessive enthusiasm among individual investors.

Tech deals Louis Ramirez, senior features writer at Dealnews.com.

Where can you find the best deals on tech products?

You’d be amazed at how much money you can save by doing a Google search.

When you’re out shopping, get out your smart phone and compare prices. Find out whether the store you’re visiting will match prices from other stores.

And never buy accessories — a cable for your TV, a case for your phone, a memory card for your camera — in a brick-and-mortar store. Accessories are always cheaper online, at sites such as Amazon.com, Monoprice.com and Rakuten.com.

If you’re not a tech fiend, buy last year’s model to save money. A product will often fall in price when a new version comes out, and the differences are usually so subtle that you won’t miss them.

If you’re an early adopter, you can sell

your used gadgets to Amazon.com or Gazelle.com to get some extra cash to buy a new product.

If you’re going to pay full price for something, look for bundles to sweeten the deal. You may be able to get a video game or a gift card included when you buy a new Xbox One or PS4 gaming console.

Don’t buy a new device directly from Apple — you’ll pay full retail price. A lot of other retailers have deals on Apple products. Walmart sold the 16GB iPad Air at a $20 discount the minute it came out. But consider buying refurbished items from Apple. They come with a one-year warranty.

Credit reports Gerri Detweiler, director of consumer education for Credit.com How often do you check your credit reports?

I get my credit reports from each of the three big agencies once a year free through AnnualCreditReport.com. I usually check all of my reports at the same time.

The first time you check your credit reports, I highly recommend pulling all three because the agencies don’t share information with one another, and you’ll want to spot any problems right away.

After that, it’s fine to wait a year until your reports become free again and then check a different report every four months or so. I recently found a mistake on my TransUnion report, which I’m disputing.

Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. And for more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com. ©2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Ways to spend less and enjoy it more

By Anya Kamenetz A new Gallup poll showed that Americans’ daily spending has rebounded to an average of $96 — the highest since the financial crisis in September 2008. That’s not counting normal household bills or big purchases.

By coincidence, I’ve been thinking about how to get the maximum enjoyment out of the dollars I spend. One of my 2014 resolutions is to practice conscious consumption. This means taking the time to buy only the things that will make my life better, and to make better choices: quality items produced ethically, sustainably, with attention to the lives of workers and the health of the planet.

There are plenty of expensive luxury items marketed as “eco-conscious” or “fair trade,” but conscious consumption doesn’t have to mean spending a lot. If you want to join me, here are some ways to save money while getting more pleasure out of what you spend and feeling better about the things you buy.

Buy less. I’m following the mantra, “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” The easiest way to feel better about what you buy is to slow down. Take the time to research purchases and compare prices.

Use an online tool such as Pinterest, or a physical scrapbook to save ideas for occasions like an anniversary, holiday decorations or school outfits for the grandkids.

A bonus: Research shows that anticipating purchases is part of the pleasure, so if you put it off longer, you’ll get more out of it.

Buy local. When I can, I’m going to try to stick to merchants in my neighborhood. This keeps money and jobs in my city. It forges relationships with shopkeepers that may lead to discounts or better return policies.

And by limiting my choices in this way, it saves time and releases me from what Swarthmore psychologist Barry Schwartz calls the “paradox of choice” — the endless searching for that perfect item.

Share or trade. This applies especially to things that wear out fast, like clothes

and toys for kids. We use a subscription service called Spark Box that sends us a new set of developmentally appropriate toys every eight weeks, and we send back the ones that came before.

Our daughter gets the excitement of new toys, and we get extra space in our apartment. Trading toys with friends can have the same effect. (These ideas work for grandparents, too!)

Buy with cash. I resolve to use cash for my weekly coffee habit, and to use the “envelope method” to allocate money for discretionary purchases like lunch and makeup.

Buy to last. Most of the “fast fashion” brands at the mall or discount stores make clothes in poor countries under dubious circumstances. Not only are they bad for your conscience, they’ll stretch, pill or lose stitches very quickly.

I’ll try to remember that one pair of $95 jeans that lasts 10 years is worth more than five pairs of $20 jeans that sag, fade and wear out over the same period.

Buy used. For durable goods like furniture and housewares, buying used at antique shows, flea markets and thrift stores is not just a way to save money but a good indicator of quality. But shop these outlets with specific goals in mind; otherwise they can become habit-forming, and you’ll be carting home white elephants.

Used kids’ clothes make sense for a different reason. I can’t always stomach buying pricey designer duds that will be outgrown in a year, but secondhand is much easier to handle. eBay and Etsy are both good resources for vintage kid’s wear..

Choose experiences over things. Research is clear: a nice dinner out with friends will improve your life more than a new blender. If you privilege experiences over stuff, you’ll end up getting more happiness out of the money you spend.

Anya Kamenetz welcomes your questions at diyubook@gmail.com. © 2014 Anya Kamenetz. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

BEACON BITS

Mar. 12

APPLY FOR VETERANS AID

Brooke Grove presents a free seminar for veterans or their surviving spouses on Wednesday, March 12 from 7 to 8:15 p.m. There will also be a complimentary light supper at 6:30 p.m. Learn how to apply for assistance with the cost of home care, assisted living and nursing home care from the often overlooked Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension program. Benefits range from $1,113 to $2,053 per month, tax-free. For more information or to register, call (301) 388-7209 or email tdvis@bgf.org by Saturday, March 10.

March

FREE TAX HELP IN FAIRFAX

Fairfax County is sponsoring free tax assistance workshops at several locations during March. Real estate tax relief is available for older adults and people with disabilities who meet certain qualifications; you also may be eligible for car tax relief and tax relief for renters. County staff from the Department of Tax Administration (DTA) will be at area locations to assist with filling out the application form and to answer questions. For a full list of locations and times, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/2014/tax-relief-workshops-2014.htm.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

25

26

Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Wide array of tax breaks expired in 2013

By Carole Feldman If you didn’t take advantage of a wide array of tax credits and deductions last year, it looks like you’ll be out of luck in 2014.

The Congressional Research Service says there are dozens of temporary breaks that Congress passed at the end of 2012

that have expired as of December 31, 2013.

So they still apply to your 2013 tax returns, but not for the current year.

Here are some of those expired tax credits and deductions that affect individuals:

State and local sales tax Taxpayers had temporarily been given

the choice of deducting state and local sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes. This had been particularly beneficial for taxpayers who lived in states like Florida, Nevada and Texas without an income tax, and for those who made a purchase significant in value.

“Folks aren’t going to see it anymore,” said Craig Richards, managing partner and director of tax services at Fiduciary Trust.

— and pay taxes on it.

“This is something that we’ve seen a lot of our clients utilize over the years,” Richards said.

For many taxpayers, he said, the math worked out better than withdrawing the money, donating it, and then taking a deduction for a charitable contribution. “You can’t get better than not have to recognize income even if you don’t get the deduction,” he said.

Charitable giving

Housing and energy efficiency

Taxpayers older than 70 1/2 no longer have the option of contributing to charities directly from their individual retirement accounts. This direct contribution allowed seniors to avoid having to declare the amount withdrawn from the IRA as income

In an attempt to help people who lost their homes during the housing crisis or who owed more on the home than its value, Congress had passed legislation See TAX BREAKS, page 28

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

VOLUNTEER GROCERY SHOPPERS

Escort a Montgomery County senior citizen to the grocery store and assist with reading product labels, reaching grocery items, handling carts and carrying bags. Or shop for a homebound senior and put groceries away upon returning. This Senior Connection program fosters a one-on-one relationship that benefits both volunteers and their neighbors. Commit to serving two to three hours a week or every other week. To volunteer or for additional information, visit www.seniorconnectionmc.org/volunteers/become-a-volunteer or call (301) 962-0820, ext. 14.

Ongoing

DRIVERS NEEDED

Fairfax County needs volunteers to drive older adults to medical appointments and wellness programs. For more information, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/olderadults and link to “Volunteer Solutions” or call (703) 324-5406, TTY 711.

Ongoing

ART AND BRIDGE INSTRUCTORS

The Kingstowne Senior Center in Alexandria, Va. needs instructors for classes in art and bridge, as well as an experienced boater to discuss boating. For more information, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/olderadults and link to “Volunteer Solutions,” or call (703) 324-5406, TTY 711.

FREE WORKSHOP: LEARN TO PROTECT YOUR ASSETS FROM THE EXPENSES OF PROBATE & LONG-TERM CARE

Come learn about the 4 Levels of Lifetime Protection Planning and how you can Did you know? protect your assets from probate PLUS lawsuits PLUS nursing home expenses. may qualify for assistance in paying your home phone bill. Discounts for basic # Living#Trust Plus # – the only type of ######### # trust# that # You asset protection Learn about the telephone service are available to eligible District of Columbia low-income residents. and "allows " "you " to be " trustee " " retain " an" interest " " in the trust "while " also " " protecting " " " Verizon " " " Washington, D.C. Lifeline Plans: your assets from being counted by state Medicaid agencies. " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " TM

"

"

"

"

"

" " "

"

"

"

"

Dates, Times and Location " " " " "

"

"

"

"

at no charge.

Economy II Service*: $3.00 per month for unlimited local calling. Value-added services " " "" " " are not included (e.g., Call Waiting, Caller ID). No connection charges apply. Also, cus" " " " " tomers will not be charged for the federal subscriber line charge. Economy II customers who " " " are 65 years of age or older can have this service at a further reduced rate of $1.00 per month.

Saturday, April 5th, & Saturday, May 17th, 2014 # # # # # " " " "10 am " " –" 12 " pm " " " ""

"

" " " "

" of Evan Farr " " " " The" Law Firm " " " 10640 Main" Street • Suite 200 • Fairfax, VA 22030 "

#

#

• Full terms and rates for these services, including terms of eligibility, are as set forth in federal and in Verizon’s tariffs on file with the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia.

Rates as stated here are effective as of September 1, 2011. But, the rates and other terms are subject to change in the future.

Call Now To Reserve Your Seat: # # # # 703-691-1888

Verizon Washington, D.C.’s Lifeline service, known as “Economy II,” offers reduced

" rates on " Verizon’s " monthly telephone bill and one-time discounts on the cost of " " " service. Additionally, toll blocking is available to Economy II customers installing phone

"

##

# Register # Online # ###at: Or www.VirginiaElderLaw.com

Link-Up America

# call# 540-479-1435 # Fredericksburg Office#Now Open TM Your Speaker is" Evan " " H."Farr, " Certified " " Elder " Law Attorney, " " creator" of the" Living " "Trust " Plus Asset "Protection Trust and one of the foremost legal authorities in the Country in the fields of " # # "" " " " " " " Medicaid Asset Protection and Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts.

#

# Virginia # # has no# procedure # # for approving ########### certifying # organizations. # #

#

#

#############

"

#

Link-Up America is for District residents who are eligible for social service assistance. New customers or customers who move to a new address may qualify for a 50 percent reduction in service connection charges. #

Contact DDOE at 311 to apply

To learn # # more about the Lifeline program, visit www.lifelinesupport.org.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

27

Changes that may affect your tax returns

By Carole Feldman Higher-income Americans are likely to feel the biggest hits from tax law changes when they file their federal returns next month. Taxpayers also will have a harder time taking medical deductions.

But other changes for the 2013 tax year may benefit you. The Alternative Minimum Tax has been patched — permanently — to prevent more middle-income people from being drawn in, and there’s a simpler way to compute the home office deduction.

Also, tax rate tables and the standard deduction have been adjusted for inflation, as has the maximum contribution to retirement accounts, including 401(k) plans and Individual Retirement Accounts.

Higher-income taxpayers The tax legislation passed at the start of 2013 permanently extended the Bush-era tax cuts for most people, but also added a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent for those at higher incomes — $400,000 for single filers, $450,000 for married couples filing jointly, and $425,000 for heads of household.

On top of that, higher-income taxpayers could see their itemized deductions and personal exemptions phased out and pay higher capital gains taxes — 20 percent for some taxpayers. And there are new taxes on high earners to help pay for healthcare reform.

There are different income thresholds for each of these new taxes.

An additional 0.9 percent Medicare tax, for example, kicks in on earnings over $250,000 for married couples filing jointly and $200,000 for singles and heads of household. Same for a 3.8 percent tax on investment income.

But the phase-out of personal exemp-

tions and deductions doesn’t begin until $300,000 for married couples filing jointly and $250,000 for singles.

Taxpayers who didn’t plan could find themselves with big tax bills come April 15 — and perhaps penalties for under-withholding.

Confused? “The complexities of the tax code are only affecting those of us trying to read it,” National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said in an interview. Tax software makes a lot of those complexities invisible to most people.

As a result, taxpayers also might not realize they’re being helped by a wide array of deductions and credits. “They have no idea of the benefits they are getting through the tax code,” she said.

One simplification: Many investors will find it easier to report stock sales if the 1099-B forms they receive contain key details of the sale and the correct basis for computing gains and losses.

Who’s filing The IRS processed more than 147 million tax returns in 2013, down slightly from the previous year. More than 109 million taxpayers received refunds that averaged $2,744, also slightly less than in 2012.

The upward trend of electronic filing continued, with more than 83 percent of returns being filed online. The biggest jump, 4.6 percent, was among people who used software programs to do their own taxes.

The IRS is continuing to offer its Free File option, which is available to taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $58,000 or less. These taxpayers can use brand-name software to file their taxes at no cost. Some states also participate.

The agency also has an option for tax-

Life Income You Can Count On! Sample Charitable Gift Annuity

Age: 75

Cash gift to Children’s National Fixed Annual Payments at 5.8%* Tax-free portion of Payments Income Tax Deduction

$25,000 $1,450 $1,099 $11,483

*Rate as of February 2014 and based on age. Annuities start at $10,000. www.childrensnational.org/giftplanning

Call today!

Rita S. Corwin 301-565-8524

payers of all incomes — Free File Fillable Forms — which does basic calculations but does not offer the guidance that a software package would.

For the 2013 tax year, the personal exemption is $3,900. The standard deduction is $12,200 for married taxpayers filing jointly, $6,100 for singles, and $8,950 for heads of household.

Many credits and deductions were extended for 2013, including several for education. Among them: the American Oppor-

tunity Credit of up to $2,500 per student for tuition and fees, and deductions for student loan interest and tuition-related expenses. Many of these are phased out at higher income levels.

Schoolteachers will still be able to deduct up to $250 in out-of-pocket expenses for books or other supplies on their 2013 returns, but not thereafter.

See TAX RETURNS, page 28

28

Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Tax breaks From page 26 that allowed homeowners to exclude up to $2 million in mortgage forgiveness from taxable income. That tax break was not extended beyond 2013.

Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate, says there’s an important exception — taxpayer insolvency. If the taxpayer is insolvent — defined on the taxpayer advocate’s website as “when a taxpayer’s total debt exceeds his or her total assets” — the mortgage writeoff would not be considered taxable income, she said

In another change affecting housing, Congress let the deduction for the cost of premiums for home mortgage insurance expire.

For the past several years, taxpayers have been able to get a tax credit for making their homes more energy efficient.

The credit was a lifetime maximum of $500 for such things as insulation, more efficient heating, cooling and hot water systems, doors and windows.

But list that among the tax breaks that weren’t renewed for the 2014 tax year.

Tax credits for certain electric cars continue into 2014.

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Commuting costs Many workers take advantage of employer programs that allow them to pay for certain commuting costs pretax — the cost is deducted straight from income before any taxes are withheld.

For the 2013 tax year, the amounts for parking and public transportation were equal — $245 per month. But beginning this year, the public transportation pretax benefit drops to $130 per month.

Education Students or their parents will no longer be able to take a maximum $4,000 deduc-

Tax returns From page 27

Medical and home office deductions Taxpayers may continue to deduct their medical expenses, but it will be more difficult for many to qualify. The threshold for deducting medical expenses now stands at 10 percent of adjusted gross income, up from 7.5 percent.

There’s an exception, though, for those older than 65. For them, the old rate is grandfathered in until 2017.

Among the other changes for 2013, some taxpayers who work at home will now have a simplified option for taking a home office deduction.

“You can claim this deduction for the business use of a part of your home only if you use that part of your home regularly and exclusively,” the IRS says. So, if you sit at your kitchen table and check work email, it doesn’t qualify.

The IRS said that for tax year 2011, the

tion for tuition and required fees to attend an institution of higher education. In some cases, related expenses had included activity fees, books, supplies and equipment — but not room and board, transportation or sports, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Although the tuition and fees deduction expired, there will still be other educationrelated tax breaks available for students and their parents during the 2014 tax year, including a deduction for interest paid on student loans and the American Opportunity and lifetime learning credits.

— AP

most recent year for which numbers are available, more than 3.3 million people claimed nearly $10 billion in home office deductions using Schedule C. Most taxpayers claiming the deduction are self-employed, according to the IRS. Until this year, you had to figure actual expenses for a home office, according to Barbara Weltman, a contributing editor to J.K. Lasser’s Your Income Tax 2014. “Starting with 2013 returns, if you’re eligible for the deduction, you can take a standard deduction of $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet,” she said. The maximum deduction using this method is $1,500.

The IRS says people who take the simplified option will have to fill out one line on Schedule C, as opposed to a 43-line form.

Weltman likened the simplified home office deduction to the IRS deduction for business use of your car. “You can do your actual costs or the IRS mileage rates.” The standard mileage rate for business use of a car in 2013 is 56.5 cents a mile.

— AP

Tell them you saw it in the Beacon!

Faces of Friendship !"#$%&'"(#))*$(")&"+$&,"-'".#//&," 0#1*2#$)13"45#0#"0#6//'"60#"1&-#"7#0'" $*8#9"0#-60+6:/#";#&;/#"5#0#3< !"#$%&''(!")*+# !"#$%&#'(!$%')#!*++,

Friendship Terrace offers affordable senior apartments located only two blocks from the Tenleytown Metro stop.

Schedule your visit today.

202-244-7400 (TRS 711)

4201 Butterworth Place, NW • Washington, DC www.friendshipterrace.com

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N â&#x20AC;&#x201D; M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

29

30

Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

What we learned from the bear/bull market

By Carolyn Bigda Looking back five years since the stock market bottomed out, you could glean a lesson or two from the stock market’s plunge and subsequent recovery.

Diversification works

By March 2009, few investments had come through the bear market unscathed.

Still, the fall was not uniform. In 2008, Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index lost 37 percent, but financial stocks sank 55 percent.

Meanwhile, shares of companies that make essential consumer goods, such as toilet paper and cereal, dropped a more tolerable 15 percent. Merger Fund, a member of the Kiplinger 25, lost just 2 percent

by investing in stocks of already announced takeover targets.

And some investments actually made money: Vanguard Total Bond Market returned 5 percent, and SPDR Gold Shares, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the price of bullion, earned 5 percent.

Diversification can’t prevent losses, but it can help slow the bleeding. And over longer periods, it has added to returns.

Fund sponsor T. Rowe Price found that a simple mix of 60 percent large-company U.S. stocks and 40 percent high-grade U.S. bonds gained an annualized 4.6 percent from April 2000 through November 2013.

And a portfolio with a broader mix of investments — including emerging-markets

stocks and high-yield bonds — earned 5.5 percent annualized.

Your timeline matters Stocks are a portfolio’s engine, but not the place for short-term financial needs.

Although stocks have reached new highs recently, that’s cold comfort if you had to pull money out of the market during the crash to cover living expenses, pay the mortgage, or help a grandchild with tuition.

In those cases, the bear market was a painful reminder of the potential downside of stocks. It also showed that as you think about your portfolio, your investment timeline has to be front and center.

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at brokerage Janney Montgomery Scott, suggests putting assets you’ll need within five years in low-risk fare, such as money-market funds and short-term bonds.

That way, if stocks tumble, you won’t have

to sell at the worst possible time.

But if you have a long-term horizon, stocks are still the place to be.

An investor who had $100,000 in an S&P 500 index fund at the market peak in 2007 would have lost more than half of his portfolio by March 2009. If he panicked, moved the portfolio to cash and stayed there for the next five years, the balance would still have been $50,100 as of the end of November 2013.

But if he stayed with stocks, the portfolio would have not only recouped its losses, but grown to $136,000 by the end of 2013.

Carolyn Bigda is a contributing editor to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. And for more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com. ©2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

BEACON BITS

Mar. 15

INVESTMENT CLUB MEETING

The Washington Metro Investment Club (WMIC) is having an open house meeting at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 15 at the McCourt Building, 1 County Complex Ct., Woodbridge, Va. This small group of novice investors meets once a month to discuss investments in the stock market and current trends in investing. For more information, call Ken Wright at (703) 801-1465.

Knowledge is Power Whether Buying or Selling, let Sue guide you in her 55+ community! Let her ENERGY, 25 years of experience, floor plans, contractors, staging, color brochures, websites & statistics ELECTRIFY your Real Estate Experience!

Top 1% of Agents Nationwide • Seniors and Relocation Specialist Community Resident • Former Montgomery County Teacher Riderwood Specialist • Website: www.sueheyman.com

Sue Heyman ★ 301-580-5556 Office: 301-681-0550 x115 • Email: sueheyman@aol.com

BiggEST Co-oP aParTmEnT, SmaLLEST PriCE!- 1st Floor Elizabeth Cooperative – Value priced & move-in ready! 2BR, 1.5 FB, totally renovated, new carpets, hardwoods, separate dining room, patio w/ delightful view, most repairs & utilities included in monthly fee, 1308 sf, $85,000

nEW LiSTing! greens "gg" hi rise/garage – Spectacular SE exposure from enclosed balcony, 2BR, 2FB condo, table space kit w pass-through, updated appliances/HVAC, reserved garage space + storage rm, 1120 sf, $169,000 nEWLY PriCEd - Cambridge Patio home – It’s a 10! designer colors, new carpets, paint, kitchen, bath, & lighting updates. 3BR, 2FB, slate patio, private setting, condo fee inclu all utilities except telephone, internet, & cable TV upgrades, 1225 sf, $179,995

nEW rEnTaL LiSTing - overlook "g" hi rise – Stylish 2 BR, 2 FB condo, faces the golf course & trees, upscale decor w designer kitchen & ceramic tiles! 1325 sf, $1700 per/mo

SoLd in a FLaSh! – Chesapeake Plaza Patio home – 3BR, 2 FB, den addition, updated kitchen, fireplace, built-ins, atrium patio, 2 car garage, 1400sf $375,000

Coming mid-marCh

Creekside mid-rise, 3 BR, 2FB, greens "g" hi rise, 2 BR, 2FB Ellicott mid rise, 3 BR, 2 FB,

greens & Turnberry Courts Rentals

Call for a free market analysis - Call for a free community booklet Call to learn about nEW ConSTrUCTion in this 55+ community!

meet her by appointment at either the Leisure World Plaza Weichert office or the 2nd office inside the community.

office: 301-681-0550 x 115 Visit www.sueheyman.com and

Get a JOLT out of her VIRTUAL TOURS!

31

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA OFFICE ON AGING

Spotlight On Aging VOLUME XXV, ISSUE 3

A newsletter for D.C. Seniors

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE

March 2014

Lunar New Year

By John M. Thompson, Ph.D., FAAMA In this issue of “Spotlight on Aging,” I would like to discuss hoarding. According to the Mayo Clinic, “hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them.”

Hoarding is referred to as compulsive hoarding syndrome and may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Individuals who hoard do not perceive that they have a problem with collecting unnecessary items; therefore, loved ones intervening experience challenges in trying to clean their homes.

Let me clarify, a hoarder differs from a collector. A collector is a person who accumulates items, such as model trains and stamps, and deliberately searches for specific collector items of value and proudly displays them.

A hoarder’s home is cluttered with random items, such as newspapers, magazines, junk mail, greeting cards and other items stacked on the countertops, sinks, stoves, desks, floors, tables, chairs and other furniture. A hoarder’s rationale for keeping all of these items is because it is of value and may be useful in the future.

A hoarder also has difficulty with organizing items and may move items from one stack to another, but refuses to discard any items.

Such individuals have excessive attachment to possessions and are uncomfortable when others touch or borrow their belongings.

In a study conducted by researchers Steketee, Frost and Kim (2001), clutter significantly prevented many seniors from functioning effectively at home. For example, hoarders were unable to sleep in their beds because their beds were covered with random items; therefore, they slept in a chair or couch.

In some cases, some seniors had so much clutter in their homes that they were climbing over these items just to get to another room. This is very dangerous, as seniors could fall and break a hip or arm while climbing over these items.

Beyond clutter posing a fall hazard, it is also a fire hazard. Many collected items such as newspapers, magazines and junk mail could quickly fuel a fire, and can make it very difficult for the seniors to safely exit the home and for firefighters to enter the home to extinguish the fire. Lastly, those who hoard are reluctant to allow people into their homes, which could lead to increased social isolation.

If you know of someone who is a hoarder, I encourage you to talk with a doctor as soon as possible. This is an opportunity for a medical professional to intervene and assist the senior with coping with compulsive hoarding syndrome. I also encourage you to contact the D.C. Office on Aging to learn about available resources for assisting seniors with organizing their homes into a safe and productive environment.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray celebrated with seniors at the Wah Luck Lunar New Year event.

The Lunar New Year Celebration at the API Senior Services Center included dance and activities, such as this tai chi presentation.

Election Workers Needed for the April 1 Primary The Board of Elections needs your help! Become an active participant in the electoral process. Sign up to become a poll worker.

You will receive training and a small stipend, up to $160, for training, setting

up the polling place, and working the entire day on Election Day, April 1, 2014.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Call the Board of Elections’ Poll Worker Hotline at 202-442-4369 for more information.

32

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

D.C. OFFICE

ON

Primary Election April 1 Requesting an Absentee Ballot You do not need a reason to vote by mail, but the Board of Elections must receive your written request no later than 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25. To request an absentee ballot, complete the form online at www.dcboee.org and then print, sign and mail it to the Board or send a letter to: Board of Elections, 441 4th St. NW, Suite 250 North, Washington, DC 20001.

If you send your own letter, you must include the following information: • Your name, and date of birth • Your residence address and any change of address • The address where your ballot

is to be mailed (if different from your residence address) • Your date of birth • Your signature You can request a mail absentee ballot for one election, for all elections held in an entire calendar year, or for all future elections (as a permanent absentee voter).

Your voted ballot must be postmarked by Election Day, April 1 and received at the Board’s office

by April 11. If you prefer, you may return your absentee ballot by hand to the Board’s office or to any polling place by 8 p.m. on Election Day. For more information, please contact the Board of Elections at 202-727-2525.

AGING NEWSLETTER

Voting at an Early Voting Center You can cast your early ballot at any of the 13 early voting centers throughout the District using the Board of Election’s touch-screen voting equipment. The touch screen offers a voter-verifiable paper audit trail of all votes cast.

Each voter will be checked in at the early voting center using electronic pollbooks that are connected together over a secure network so that a voter cannot check in and cast a ballot at more than one location. Please note: It is a crime to attempt to vote twice in any election within the District.

If you want to monitor how the system is working, call the Board’s office and ask to serve as an election observer.

Ward 1 Columbia Heights Community Center 1480 Girard St. NW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Ward 2

Learn About Personal Care Attendants The District of Columbia Commission on Persons with Disabilities invites the community to attend the Personal Care Attendants Community Forum.

Do you or someone you love use a Personal Care Attendant (PCA)?

Come out and hear about the new Personal Care Attendant initiatives, the rights of the consumer, and how the District government is here to help.

Saturday, March 8, 2014 • 1 to 3 p.m.

Old Council Chambers 441 4th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001 (Red line - Judiciary Square Metro station)

For more information or to request reasonable accommodations, please contact Christina Mitchell at 202-481-3877 or christina.mitchell@dc.gov.

One Judiciary Square 441 4th St. NW Monday, March 17 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Paper ballots and touch-screen equipment available at this location

Ward 3 Chevy Chase Community Center 5601 Connecticut Ave. NW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Stoddert Recreation Center 4001 Calvert St. NW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Ward 6 Kennedy Recreation Center 1401 7th St. NW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

King Greenleaf Recreation Center 201 N St. SW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Sherwood Recreation Center 640 10th St. NE Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Ward 7

DCOA Ranks High in Grade DC The Grade DC ratings are in for January. DCOA scored a letter grade of “A” overall for the rating period of the advanced customer-service platform. Grade DC was designed to provide the best possible feedback on, and analysis of, service delivery and customer care by District government agencies.

Grade DC allows residents to provide feedback on their encounters with participating agencies by text messages from cell phones, tweets on twitter, Facebook posts, or through the Grade DC.gov website directly.

To provide feedback on customer service or services rendered by DCOA or any other Grade DC agency, visit www.grade.dc.gov.

Emery Recreation Center 5801 Georgia Ave. NW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Dorothy Height/ Benning Library 3935 Benning Rd. NE Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Takoma Community Center 300 Van Buren St. NW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Hillcrest Recreation Center 3100 Denver St. SE Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Ward 5

Ward 8

Turkey Thicket Recreation Center 1100 Michigan Ave. NE Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Bald Eagle Recreation Center 100 Joliet St. SW Saturday, March 22 through Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Ward 4

33

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

D.C. OFFICE

ON

AGING NEWSLETTER

In the Community

DCOA presented a health and community wellness fair at the Hayes Senior Wellness Center. PEPCO was one of many exhibitors providing information and health screenings to participants and visitors.

DCOA Executive Director John M. Thompson, Ph.D., FAAMA, speaks with seniors during the opening of the North Capitol at Plymouth Residences nutrition site. Midday meals will now be available Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

MARCH IS NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH While taste drives most food choices, eating nutrient-rich foods that provide the most nutrition per calorie is one of the best ways to “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right,” according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. As part of the 2014 National Nutrition Month theme, the academy encourages ever yone to choose the most nutritionally-packed foods you can from each of the five MyPlate food groups every day.

Nutrient-rich foods and beverages provide vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and other essential nutrients that offer health benefits with relatively few calories. The academy offers the following practical tips to adding nutrient-rich foods and beverages to your daily diet: • Make oatmeal creamier by using fat-free milk instead of water. Mix in some raisins, dried cranberries, cherries or blueberries, too.

• Make sandwiches on whole-grain bread, such as whole wheat or whole rye. Add slices of avocado, tomato or cucumber to lean roast beef, ham, turkey or chicken.

• When eating out, look for nutrient-rich choices, such as entrée salads with grilled seafood and low-calorie dressing, baked potatoes topped with salsa, grilled vegetables and reduced-fat cheese, and yogurt parfaits made with strawberries and blueberries.

• Drink nutrient-rich, low-sugar beverages, such as low-fat or fat-free milk or 100-percent fruit juice.

• Top foods with chopped nuts or reducedfat sharp cheddar to get crunch, flavor and nutrients from the first bite.

• Spend a few minutes to cut and bag vegetables so they are in easy reach of every family member.

Some ready-to-eat favorites include red, green or yellow peppers, broccoli or cauliflower flowerets, carrots, celery sticks, cucumbers, snap peas and radishes.

• Serve meals that pack multiple nutrient-rich foods into one dish, such as hearty, broth-based soups that are full of colorful vegetables, beans and lean meat. Make chili with a dollop of low-fat yogurt. Serve these with whole-grain breads or rolls.

• For dessert, enjoy a tropical treat by blending mango, plain low-fat milk, ice and a splash of pineapple juice, or stir chocolate syrup into a cup of coffee-flavored yogurt, freeze and enjoy.

The Office on Aging funds more than 50 group meal sites and provides homebound meal delivery for the frail elderly in the District of Columbia. To find out how you can enjoy a nutritious mid-day meal and/or a culturally sensitive meal near you, contact the D.C. Office on Aging Information and Assistance Unit at 202-724-5626.

Volunteer for Age-Friendly DC Block-by-Block Walk What do you see when you walk around your neighborhood?

What about other parts of the city where you may shop, visit friends, or go to medical appointments?

The Age-Friendly DC Block-by-Block Walk, taking place March 20 to April 15, will use volunteers to document what you and others see so that decisions can be made about needed improvements using real-time information.

The walk will also document what is good (great!) about neighborhoods across the District of Columbia.

Examples of what Age-Friendly DC Walk organizers are looking for: • Unsafe sidewalks • Accessibility of retail outlets and social services • Personal and pedestrian safety Want to do more than volunteer? Join the effort as a team leader. Team leaders get special training — though anyone is welcome to participate in the training sessions.

The next training is on Tuesday, March 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. (training is at 8 p.m.) at the Brightwood Community Association meeting (St. Johns United Baptist Church, 6343 13th St. NW) Register to volunteer and/or to participate in the training by visiting www.agefriendly.dc.gov.

34

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

D.C. OFFICE

ON

AGING NEWSLETTER

Community Calendar 4th and 18th • noon

17th • 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Caregivers can get valuable information and resources to assist them with their caregiving responsibilities during the D.C. Caregivers Online Chat at Noon. Log on at noon (or check back at your convenience and hit replay to see what you missed). Visit www.dcoa.dc.gov and click on Online Chat to join the discussion. You may also contact Linda Irizarry at 202-535-1442 or linda.irizarry@dc.gov.

6th, 13th, 20th and 26th • 10:30 a.m.

Learn all about diabetes in a class at the Ft. Lincoln III Senior Nutrition Site, 3298 Ft. Lincoln Dr. NE, each Thursday in March. To register, call Vivian Grayton at 202-529-8701.

8th • 1 to 3 p.m.

The District of Columbia Commission on Persons with Disabilities invites the community to attend a community forum on personal care attendants. It will be held at the old Council chambers, 441 4th St. NW. For more information, call Alice A. Thompson at 202535-1321.

10th to April 28 • 10:45 a.m. or noon Choose either session of the weekly “Strength, Balance and Posture” class at Iona Senior Services.

Build muscle and improve movement using weights and bands. The instructor works with beginners and advanced students to help them progress at their own rate. Iona is located at 4125 Albemarle St. NW. For more information, call 202-895-9448.

The Washington Seniors Wellness Center hosts a town hall meeting with Dr. John Thompson, the executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging. The center is located at 3001 Alabama Ave. SE. For more information, call 202-581-9355.

18th • 11 a.m.

The Kibar Nutrition Site, 1519 Islamic Way (4th St.) NW, hosts a seminar titled “Older Adults & Healthy Relations.” To register, call Vivian Grayton at 202-529-8701.

19th • 11:30 a.m.

Learn all about the Metro SmartTrip card, including a bus demonstration at the Washington Seniors Wellness Center. The center is located at 3001 Alabama Ave. SE. For more information, call 202-581-9355.

19th • noon AARP SWWF (Southwest Waterfront) Chapter meets to discuss 2014 goals, resources and services of the Department on Aging, Aging and Disability Resource Center with speaker Dr. Chantelle Teasdell, associate director of the center, and other staff members. The program is presented in conjunction with the 2014 National Women’s History Month theme: Celebrating Women of Character, Courage and Commitment. Current AARP members and new prospective members are welcome. The meeting will be held in River Park Mutual Home’s community room, 1311 Delaware Ave. SW. For further information, contact

Centenarian Search

The District is searching for residents who are age 100 or older to honor during an event planned for this spring. If you know of residents who have celebrated their 100th birthday by March 30, please call Darlene Nowlin at (202) 724-5622 or email: darlene.nowlin@dc.gov.

When registering centenarians, please make sure you know the name, birth date and contact information for each individual.

SPOTLIGHT ON AGING Spotlight On Aging is published by the Information Office of the D.C. Office on Aging for D.C. senior residents. Advertising contained in the Beacon is not endorsed by the D.C. Office on Aging or by the publisher.

500 K St., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002 202-724-5622 • www.dcoa.dc.gov John M. Thompson, Ph.D., FAAMA Executive Director Darlene Nowlin Editor Darrell Jackson, Jr and Lateef Mangum Photographers The D.C. Office on Aging does not discriminate against anyone based on actual

or perceived: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, familial status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, disability, source of income, and place of residence or business.

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination which is prohibited by the Act. In addition, harassment based on any of the above protected categories is prohibited by the Act. Discrimination in violation of the Act will not be tolerated. Violators will be subjected to disciplinary action.

The Office on Aging is in partnership with the District of Columbia Recycling Program.

chapter president Betty Jean Tolbert Jones, bettyjeantolbertjones@yahoo.com or 202-554-0901. Cost: $5 for lunch.

20th The East River Family Strengthening KEEN Seniors Program will celebrate National Nutrition Month with a “Parade of Aprons Luncheon.” Contact Robin Gantt at 202-534-4880, ext. 110, for time and location.

25th • 10 a.m.

Seabury Resources for Aging will host a seminar on diabetes, obesity and heart disease with information provided by WHC Medstar. It will take place at 2900 Newton St. NE. Call Vivian Grayton at 202-5298701 for more information.

Ongoing The Washington Seniors Wellness Center offers a new congregate meal program daily. Registration is required for eligible participants, who must be 60 years of age or older and D.C. residents. To register, visit the Washington Seniors Wellness Center at 3001 Alabama Ave. SE or call 202-581-9355.

Ongoing Seabury’s Ward 5 Aging Services Emergency Food Pantry is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday at 2900 Newton St. NE. Food is free for Ward 5 residents age 60 and older. Food to be distributed on a case-by-case basis. Call Vivian Grayton at 202-529-8701 for more information.

DCOA Job Announcement Deputy Chief of Staff Salary Range: $91,201 - $127,662 Closing Date: March 5, 2014 Brief Description of Duties: This position is located in the District of Columbia Office on Aging (DCOA), Office of the Executive Director. This position functions as Deputy Chief of Staff and principal advisor to the Chief of Staff on a variety of major executive policy issues and/or decisions formulated with input of the Chief of Staff. Incumbent performs a variety of authoritative advisory duties within DCOA, as well as outside DCOA on issues in the area of law, policy, plans of action and proper approaches, as they relate to DCOA’s projects, initiatives, research and analysis. This is an essential position.

The incumbent advises the Chief of Staff on issues and matters related to policy and legislative review, policy development and implementation, and the interpretation and application of pertinent regulations.

In addition, the Deputy Chief of Staff • Builds partnerships within the District Government, federal and community organizations to advance DCOA’s agenda.

• Acts on behalf of the Chief of Staff in his/her absence.

• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Applications for this vacancy announcement must be submitted online at www.dchr.dc.gov for consideration. Please visit www.dchr.dc.gov to locate partner agencies and community based organizations that provide computer and Internet access.

All inquiries related to employment and job applications should be directed to HR Answers at 202-442-9700.

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

Careers Volunteers &

35

Did you (or someone you know) change careers, start a business or go back to school after retirement?

Please share your story. Email info@theBeaconNewspapers.com or call Barbara at (301) 949-9766.

Do older workers take jobs from the young? other job growth. He may bring research grants to his university allowing for other hiring, may take on assistants, and may be able to dine out and shop and fuel the economy more than if he weren’t on the job.

None of that would have happened had he retired.

Economists fight perceptions The theory Wu and other economists are fighting is known as “lump of labor,” and it has maintained traction in the U.S., particularly in a climate of high unemployment.

The theory dates to 1851 and says if a group enters the labor market — or in this case, remains in it beyond their normal retirement date — others will be unable to gain employment or will have their hours cut.

It’s a line of thinking that has been used in the U.S. immigration debate and in Europe to validate early retirement programs, and it relies on a simple premise — that there are a fixed number of jobs available.

In fact, most economists dispute this.

When women entered the workforce, there weren’t fewer jobs for men. The

economy simply expanded. The same is true with older workers, they argue.

“There’s no evidence to support that increased employment by older people is going to hurt younger people in any way,” said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research and the co-author with Wu of Are Aging Baby Boomers Squeezing Young Workers Out of Jobs?

“It’s not going to reduce their wages, it’s not

Alicia Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, says there isn’t any evidence that shows keeping older workers on the job hurts younger ones.

She is the co-author of the book, Are Aging

Baby Boomers Squeezing Young Workers Out of Jobs?

-

AP PHOTO/CENTER FOR RETIREMENT RESEARCH AT BOSTON COLLEGE

By Matt Sednesky It’s an assertion that has been accepted as fact by droves of the unemployed: Older people remaining on the job later in life are stealing jobs from young people.

One problem, many economists say, is that it isn’t supported by a wisp of fact.

“We all cannot believe that we have been fighting this theory for more than 150 years,” said April Yanyuan Wu, a research economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, who co-authored a paper last year on the subject.

The commonly accepted vision of a surge of workers looks like this: A young post-doctoral student dreams of a full-time teaching job at her university, but there are no openings. An 80-something professor who has remained on the job long past what’s considered “normal” retirement is blamed, The problem with that vision is that there are probably full-time teaching positions available elsewhere, or the person blocking the young grad student from the job is only 40 years old, economists say.

Further, the veteran professor’s decision to stay employed and productive may stir

going to reduce their hours, it’s not going to do anything bad to them,” Munnell said.

See OLDER WORKERS, page 36

36

Volunteers & Careers | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Older workers From page 35

Not enough jobs for everyone?

Still, many remain unconvinced.

James Galbraith, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin,

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

has advocated for a temporary lowering of the age to qualify for Social Security and Medicare to allow older workers who don’t want to remain on the job a way to exit and to spur openings for younger workers.

He doesn’t buy the comparison of older workers to women entering the workforce,

EpoÖu!Dpvou!uif!EbztÒ

Mfu!uif!Ebzt!Dpvou" Adult Day Programs offer enriched activities to older adults and caregiver support to families.

Scholarships are available, but space is limited.

Call 301.468.1740.

We help all seniors thrive!

J A serves men and JC d women of all faiths,, ethnicities and walks of life.

and says others’ arguments on older workers expanding the economy don’t make sense when there are so many unemployed people. If there were a surplus of jobs, he said, there would be no problem with people working longer. But there isn’t.

“I can’t imagine how you could refute that. The older worker retires, the employer looks around and hires another worker,” he said. “It’s like refuting elementary arithmetic.”

The perception has persisted, from prominent stories in The New York Times, Newsweek and other media outlets, to a pointed question to Rep. Nancy Pelosi last year by the NBC reporter Luke Russert, who asked whether her refusal to step out of the House leadership (and the similar decisions of other older lawmakers) was denying younger politicians a chance.

A chorus of lawmakers around Pelosi muttered and shouted “discrimination,” until the Democratic leader chimed in herself.

“Let’s for a moment honor it as a legitimate question, although it’s quite offensive,” she said. “But you don’t realize that, I guess.”

The heart of Russert’s question makes sense to many. If Pelosi doesn’t give up her position, a younger person doesn’t have a chance to take it. That viewpoint is repeated in countless workplaces around the country, where a younger person awaits a senior employee’s departure for their chance to ascend.

In the microeconomic view of things, Pelosi remaining in her job at the age of 73 does deny others her district’s seat in Congress or a chance to ascend to the leadership.

Older workers benefit all But economists say the larger macroeconomic view gives a clearer picture.

Having older people active and productive actually benefits all age groups, they say, and spurs the creation of more jobs.

Munnell and Wu analyzed Current Pop-

ulation Survey data to test for any changes in employment among those under 55 when those 55 and older worked in greater numbers.

They found no evidence that younger workers were losing work, and in fact found the opposite — greater employment, reduced unemployment and higher wages.

Munnell said, outside of economists, the findings can be hard for people to understand when they think only of their own workplace.

“They just could not get in their heads this dynamism that is involved,” she said.

“You can’t extrapolate from the experience of a single company to the economy as a whole.”

Melissa Quercia, 35, a controller for a small information technology company in Phoenix, said she sees signs of the generational job battle all around her. Jobs once taken by high schoolers now filled by seniors, college graduates who can’t find work anywhere, the resulting dearth of experience of younger applicants.

She doesn’t see economists’ arguments playing out. Older people staying on the job aren’t spurring new jobs, because companies aren’t investing in creating new positions, she said.

“It’s really hard to retire right now, I understand that,” she said. “But if the younger generation doesn’t have a chance to get their foot in the door, then what?”

Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who edited a book on the subject for the National Bureau of Economic Research, said it’s a frustrating reality of his profession — that those things he knows as facts are disputed by the populace.

“If you polled the average American, they probably would think the opposite,” he said. “There’s a lot of things economists say that people don’t get, and this is just one of them.”

— AP

BEACON BITS

Kfxjti!Dpvodjm!gps!uif!Bhjoh

©

Headquarters/Ann L. Bronfman Center 12320 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, MD 20852 301.255.4200 • 703.425.0999 www.AccessJCA.org

Ongoing

LONG-TERM CARE ADVOCATES Enhance the quality of care and quality of life in Arlington’s long-

term care residences by joining the Arlington Commission on Long-Term Care Residences. Commission members are appointed by the County Board and must live or work in Arlington. For more information or an application, visit http://bit.ly/ArlingtonLongTermCare or contact the Agency on Aging at (703) 228-1700.

A Agency 8127

Agency 52847

Want Information and Services from Montgomery County Government?

Call 311 to Get it Done! or visit mc311.com Call 240-777-0311 outside Montgomery County or near the County Border

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Volunteers & Careers

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Purpose Prize From page 1 wives and families to visit.

She first planned to open a place for them to stay, but teleconferencing was just taking off, and she harnessed that technology to help connect imprisoned fathers with their children.

Fennelly then launched a program that records fathers reading books to their children — a program that is now in 13 prisons and has recorded about 19,000 books.

She also began week-long summer camps at 31 prisons, enabling children to spend time with their fathers free of the usual restrictions that come with visitor hours and family chaperones. The kids do art projects with their fathers, including murals of what they imagine they’d do to-

gether if their fathers weren’t in jail.

“It’s changed everybody, me most of all,” Fennelly said. “I’m really grateful for this work. Every day I wake up and thank God I get to do it and get to know these fathers, these men who are at the bottom of anybody’s ‘I should care?’ list.

“But I love these guys, and I love the way they love their children. They’re really involved in their children’s lives although they’ve made bad choices,” Fennelly said.

California recently decided to implement the Hope House model in its 33 state prisons. Prisons in Texas, Idaho and New Hampshire may follow. In 2013, Fennelly was honored at the White House as a Champion of Change.

“The Purpose Prize is something you get for having a second career. A second career is quite often not what you’re plan-

BEACON BITS

Mar. 14+

TRAIN TO BE AN OMBUDSMAN

ning in your first career,” Fennelly said. “I thought CCNV was something I’d do for the rest of my life. And then it wasn’t. I realized that at CCNV I was really getting ready to do this work, learning the skills to maneuver a prison.”

37

A change in retirement plans Every Wednesday afternoon since 2005, wounded soldiers cast fly fishing lines over the green grass in front of the Walter Reed See PURPOSE PRIZE, page 38

Exceeding Your Expectations

Montgomery County needs volunteers to work as long-term care ad-

We look forward to serving you!

vocates. Advocates make regular visits to nursing homes and assisted living com-

FREE – Social Activities • FREE – Maintenance FREE – Shuttle Services • FREE – Fitness Ctr Hassle Free Parking for residents & visitors!

Front Entrance door controlled by key card 2 Elevators Per Building

munities to promote the highest quality of life for residents. Daytime flexibility and intensive training are required. Pre-register now for the Monday, March 17 to Friday, March 21 training session from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at the Holiday Park Senior

Rents from $898 Don’t Delay Call Today!

A First Centrum Community

Center. The class size is limited, and pre-registration is required. For more informa-

www.churchillseniorliving.com

301-528-4400

tion, call (240) 777-3369 or email hhsltcombudsman@montgomerycountymd.gov.

The Trusted Name in Senior Living Care Free Living for Active Adults 62+

21000 Father Hurley Blvd. • Germantown, MD Qualifying Incomes Required for Eligibility

Montgomery County’s Finest Assisted Living and Dementia Care Community A Beautiful Combination of Great Living, Vibrancy, Convenience and Exceptional Value !! A lifestyle of choice, opportunity and personalized care, focusing on possibilities rather than limitations A full calendar of SPICE programs for all dimensions of wellness – Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Cultural and Emotional Caring and highly-trained associates !! Health care professionals hold office hours on campus reducing the families’ transportation burden.

At the moment, a few apartment homes happen to be available.

Please call Wendy to schedule a personal visit. r.

eD

Gud

28 .M W

. ve yA

kw nP

tto

er

m

o Wo

d.

o tg on

Darn

esto wn R

270

240-314-7194

y.

9200 Darnestown Road Rockville, MD 20850 www.BrightviewFallsgrove.com

38

Volunteers & Careers | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Affordable Senior Communities Discover how great senior living is at one of our affordable apartment communities. Many of our communities feature 24-hour emergency maintenance, full activities programs, spacious floor plans, affordable rents, caring and dedicated staff, and much more. We are conveniently located near shopping, including grocery stores and pharmacies. Let us help you live life to the fullest.

Call or visit our web site to view these communities:

2201 Savannah Street SE Washington, DC 20020

7010 Schoonmaker Court Alexandria, VA 22310

202-678-5699

703-719-7268

Rent based on income

From $791

873 Grace Street Herndon, VA 20170

703-904-9444 From $865

7837 Richmond Highway Alexandria, VA 22306

703-780-9072 From $920

Wingler House Apartments 20900 Runny Meade Terrace Ashburn, VA 20147

703-858-9507 From $893

5999 Emerson Street Bladensburg, MD 20710

301-779-6196 Rent based on income

Mrs. Philippines Home for Seniors, Inc. 18889 Waring Station Road Germantown, MD 20874

6428 Bock Street Oxon Hill, MD 20745

301-540-1162

301-567-9537

From $704 for 1 bedroom

Rent based on income

5101 River Road, Suite 101 • Bethesda, MD 20816

301-941-8040 www.qpmgmt.com Professionally managed by Quantum Real Estate Management LLC T/A Quantum Property Management

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Purpose Prize

cessful careers for decades, he as an engineer, she as a businesswoman. But as they From page 37 approached retirement, neither forgot the National Medical Center. That’s not a sight challenges they faced growing up in India.

T.V. had grown up in deep poverty. Eduvisitors to the veterans’ hospital would have been likely to see before Nicholson, a former cation had been his ticket out. Vijaya hadn’t been poor, but her father’s bias against Navy captain and Vietnam veteran, retired. educating girls kept her out He had just spent a of college. They knew that decade as an executive with poverty and discrimination a defense contractor, and are still the norm for milwas ready to spend his lions of children in India. days fishing and hunting. “I “As a young boy growing was going to wear my castup in a poor family, I wanting arm out, and see how ed the opportunity to share many birds I could find,” he my talents and achieve said. “I had no thoughts of something in my life,” T.V. helping anyone else out.” said. “The generous praise But then he was diagnosed of a teacher sparked in me with prostate cancer. Like Carol Fennelly the awareness that I could many veterans, he was treated at Walter Reed. As he recovered from sur- achieve my dreams and leave poverty begery, hobbling down the hospital halls, he hind. Vijaya and I have never forgotten found himself surrounded by young athletic how this simple act of faith changed the men and women soldiers who had returned course of our lives.

“So when we began planning for our refrom tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with lifealtering disabilities — traumatic brain in- tirement, we wanted to find a way to pay juries, missing limbs, deep psychological back the generosity and encouragement that I had received,” T.V. said. scars.

In 1998, the Ramakrishnas launched en“It gave me a different perspective on my healing process,” Nicholson said. “I core careers as the founders of the Sahaswanted to do something immediately. I ra Deepika [thousand lights] Institute, a K through 10 residential had to think they would school for underprivileged enjoy getting away from the children in Bangalore. hospital and into the outToday, the campus is home doors.” to 60 disadvantaged girls And that’s when he dewho attend school for free cided to take some of them alongside tuition-paying fishing. What began as an middle class students. idea for a diverting day-trip The organization has for soldiers has evolved into also provided free English Project Healing Waters Fly tutoring for 5,000 children Fishing — the organization in Bangalore’s ill-equipped, Nicholson founded to help Ed Nicholoson overcrowded slum schools. disabled soldiers and veterans heal from the physical, mental and “We chose to pay forward the gift of education — the gift that had allowed us to emotional toll of war through fly fishing.

Today, Project Healing Waters works fully experience the world,” he said.

Today, T.V. is 85 and Vijaya is 73. They with veterans at 160 facilities in 48 states.

Other local programs in addition to Walter have been married for 57 years. In retireReed’s are at Fort Meade in Maryland and ment again, the Ramakrishnas have decided to spend much of the year in Bangalore, Fort Belvoir and Quantico in Virginia.

Nicholson, now 71, often hears from returning to Potomac Falls, Va., for exfamily members who say their loved ones tended holidays with their children and returned from war withdrawn, angry and grandchildren, who help run a foundation difficult to be around. But after fly-fishing to fund the school.

“The greatest joy that we get is when we with Project Healing Waters, they’ve beare with the children at Sahasra Deepika. To come happier, more open and engaged.

“It’s through relationship building and see them grow, to help and inspire them, is friendships that people heal. It’s not just a true delight and a real privilege,” T.V. said.

“We hope that this will inspire more sticking a fly rod in someone’s hand and saying that’s going to make you better,” people to develop projects to help needy said Nicholson, who lives in Port Tobacco, children around the world. There is so much potential in these children.”

Md., in Charles County.

For more information on the Purpose “In the beginning, I just thought that I’d take some guys fishing. That was it. And Prize, see www.encore.org or call (415) look what happened. It was something I 430-0141.

Learn more about Hope House at never could have imagined before I rewww.hopehousedc.org or call (202) 506tired,” he said.

2253.

Project Healing Waters information is Going home to give back available at www.projecthealingwaters.org T.V. Ramakrishna immigrated to the United States from India in 1965. His wife, Vijaya, or by calling (301) 830-6450.

For more on Sahasra Deepika, see and their young son followed the next year.

The Ramakrishnas had enjoyed suc- http://sdie.org/cms or email info@sdie.org.

wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n — M a r c h 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

A Special Supplement to The Beacon newspaper

39

Ring House resident Dr. Katarina Szabo, pictured with her husband in 1952 and below in her apartment, survived the war years hiding in Slovakia. She became a physician, and her two daughters are also physicians. Katarina along with other survivors will be honored at the annual Holocaust Brunch on April 27.

March 2014/No. 32

Paying tribute to Holocaust survivors on our campus by Emily Tipermas

Masha Cohen Baras survived the Holocaust vowing to teach children about their Jewish heritage. She helped launch the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in 1966.

Charles E. Smith Life Communities is home to the largest number of Holocaust survivors living in the Washington region, about 40 residents. For a fourth year, we will pay tribute to this group at a Holocaust Brunch on Sunday, April 27, at Ring House, generously hosted by the Progress Club.

Among the residents attending will be Masha Cohen Baras, a former Hebrew teacher at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, and retired pathologist Katarina Szabo, M.D. Their tales differ – one experienced confinement in a ghetto and the Stutthof concentration camp; the other, the ordeal of hiding in the mountains of Slovakia – but for both, there is a common thread: luck, wits and tenacity.

“Yes, I am a survivor of the Holocaust and the only survivor of my family in Europe,” says Masha Baras. Raised in Kovno, Lithuania, she painfully recalls her family’s struggles in the crowded Kovno ghetto and her desperate attempt to find food for them. Caught outside the ghetto walls and imprisoned, she vowed that if she survived, she would “become a Hebrew teacher and teach Jewish children

about their heritage.” Five years after the war, while in the care of a Youth Aliyah orphanage in Rome, a U.S. soldier offered to help her search for relatives in America. By chance, an uncle in Washington saw her name in a newspaper, responded and set in motion steps to bring her to the States. As Masha established a new life here, she taught the first students Dr. Katarina Szabo at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. “My biggest joy,” she continues, “is that I see students of mine who have become Hebrew teachers themselves. Most of them are very involved in the Jewish community.”

Katarina Szabo is from a small village in Slovakia, Modry Kamen.

As the situation for Jews worsened, her parents made intense efforts to save the family. Ultimately, her father, a physician, secured hiding quarters with former patients, shepherds living in the mountains. “We survived, nobody else,” says Katarina. In 1945, she and her brother entered medical school, became physicians, married, and started families; following the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, they moved with their children and parents to this country.

The brunch at 10:30 a.m. on April 27 will be an opportunity for survivors to come together as a community, celebrate their lives, and speak with guests of all ages. “Everyone who attends will have the chance to courageously share their experiences,” says Joel Appelbaum, vice president of the Progress Club and co-chair of their Foundation.

This year, there is limited seating available for survivors living in the local community. For further information, call Diane Hersh at 301.816.5006. n

Hebrew Home of Greater Washington • Smith-KoGod & Wasserman Residences Cohen-Rosen House • Hirsh Health Center • Landow House • Revitz House • Ring House

“Remember This” - Free seminars on memory care

Saving with senior discounts

The circle of rehabilitation

Annual Sweetheart Social

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 8

40

M a r c h 2 0 1 4 — wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Go green. Receive our news monthly, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Charles E. Smith Life Communities enews on our website smithlifecommunities.org, or send a message to hhinfo@hebrew-home.org.

People, happenings, unique initiatives – we cover it all. You can also read

LifeTimes and other publications online, on the Newsroom page.

First person

Campus news Worth special mention Mission

Great Place to Work

Exceptional Customer Service Vision

Enhancing clinical leadership at the Home

Values

Outstanding Quality

The year 2013 was one of excellence and exceptional accomplishment throughout our organization.

Within the Hebrew Home, we can point with pride to a 96% “would recommend” rating from families on a satisfaction survey conducted by the State of Maryland, to outstanding results on our annual State inspection, and to an impressive fivestar overall rating from CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. How best can we sustain these high ratings and rankings going forward?

One of our approaches will be to create a new model for nursing leadership, with nine interdisciplinary teams of registered nurses.

Nurse managers will become “Clinical Team Managers,” responsible for driving clinical excellence and coordinating care on each floor.

The other two members of each leadership team are a registered nurse who will focus on documentation, data, and level of care and another registered nurse who will focus on taking quality to the next level, coaching, teaching, and supporting nursing staff. Together as an integrated team, these nurses will be able to drive both the nuts and bolts of clinical performance and the very human side of person-centered care.

Our current nurse managers, nurse educators and quality assurance nurses have chosen the roles they wish to fill on these new teams. By the time you read this column, the new model for nursing leadership will be up and running, evolving to meet the challenges of technology, regulatory requirements, and consumer expectations.

Warren R. Slavin, President/CEO

Page 2 | March 2014

>> Blanche Teitelbaum rapidly taps popping lights on a “Color Crazy” wall designed to enhance flexibility and reflexes. She is one of 24 Ring House and Revitz House residents who participated in a ten-week pilot program at Fitness for Health, a Rockville gym.

We’re evaluating the promising benefits of this fitness program for seniors.

The graphic above illustrates how the elements of continuous improvement are interrelated.

<< Cohen-Rosen House celebrated its first anniversary in January. The residence has won architectural awards for excellence in design for memory care and has been at 100% occupancy since its opening.

New medical director named Charles E. Smith Life Communities is pleased to announce the appointment of Elisa Gil-Pires, M.D. as vice president, Medical Affairs/Medical Director. Dr. Gil-Pires heads a staff of full-time, on-site physicians, podiatrist and nurse practitioners who care for residents on our campus and patients at the Hirsh Health Center. The on-staff medical expertise is one of the aspects that makes our campus unique.

Dr. Gil-Pires has a special interest in geriatrics and palliative care and holds Board Certifications in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Internal Medicine. She recently was named a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

She comes to our eldercare community from her positions as section chief, Geriatrics and Palliative Care, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut and as medical director, Mercy Community Health in West Hartford. Her prior experience also includes Hebrew Health Care in West Hartford and private practice.

As part of an initiative to expand outpatient services on campus, one of her first projects has been to introduce a “house calls” program that will bring physician services from Hirsh Health Center directly to residents’ apartments in Revitz House. n

wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n — M a r c h 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

REGISTER NOW

Two free lectures...I want to Remember This!

Name_______________________________________________________

I plan to attend:

Title_ _______________________________________________________

q

March 11

q

April 8

Affiliation _ __________________________________________________ Phone

Mail to: Jill Berkman 6121 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD 20852

Email_ ______________________________________________________

Register online at www.cohen-rosen.org

Sharing our expertise May 2nd symposium to examine

palliative care

When I visited Mom on that beautiful Sunday, her room was empty, her favorite sweater nowhere to be seen. The hole in my heart got bigger with every thought. When a nurse guided me outside with a comforting arm, there was my mother, in her sweater, and there was the most breathtaking image of my mother’s face, soaking in the beautiful sun, loving the feeling of warmth on her skin.

That Sunday brings me peace and a smile every time I recall it.

There had been six hospitalizations in six months for progressing heart failure, my mother’s unhappiness at being unable to relax and enjoy her days, her despair over what might happen next, and my anguish over what the right health care decisions were. For us, a conversation with her doctor about palliative care put us on the right path.

To help more patients, families and caregivers have meaningful conversations about palliative care, Charles E. Smith Life Communities will convene a symposium on Friday, May 2. Palliative Care: Yesterday’s Promises, Today’s Challenges and Solutions at the Bolger Center, 9600 Newbridge Drive, Potomac, Maryland, is co-sponsored

by Sibley Memorial Hospital and presented in partnership with Suburban Hospital, both members of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and with support from Optum.

The half-day symposium is particularly timely as the demographics of the “tsunami of aging” make choices surrounding care near the end of life a critical issue. The difference between palliative care and hospice care is not well understood, and there is much to learn about the clinical, financial and psychosocial consequences of a patient’s choices.

Keynote presenter Dr. Joan Teno will set the foundation for the day’s discussion. She is professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice and professor of Medicine at Brown University School of Public Health, Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research.

Registration is open at hebrew-home.org/symposium, with early bird rates in effect until April 19. CMEs and CEUs are available in medicine, nursing, social work, assisted living and nursing home administration. See brochure or website for details or call 301.770.8329. n

41

Remember This The free “Remember This” lecture series provides professional and family caregivers, social workers, admissions staff, and case managers with answers to especially challenging aspects of memory care. Sessions offer continuing education credits and take place in the Landow House Theater, 1799 East Jefferson Street in Rockville. A complimentary light supper precedes the lectures at 5:30 p.m.; the programs begin at 6:00 p.m.

This spring’s sessions feature Dr. Elizabeth Galik on Tuesday, March 11, speaking on Antipsychotics and Dementia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and Dr. Majid Fotuhi on Tuesday, April 8, speaking on How to Boost Your Memory and Brain Performance – At Any Age. The series is sponsored by the Hurwitz Lecture Fund. For information and to reserve a space, call 301.816.5052. n

Director of Memory Care Programs Patty Hagen, center front, gave a presentation on brain-health activities to Montgomery County ombudsmen who represent residents in long-term care settings. They were seeking programming ideas for individuals with dementia that could be shared with activity professionals throughout the county.

Program Manager Eileen Bennett is standing behind Patty. Patty and Eileen were recently named chair and vice-chair for the Maryland Culture Change Coalition.

LifeTimes | Page 3

42

M a r c h 2 0 1 4 — wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

If you’ve purchased a new set of wheels, consider donating

your used vehicle to the Hebrew Home.

Proceeds directly benefit our elderly residents.

Call 301.770.8329 for details.

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” ~ Hans Christian Andersen A gift of flowers can lift the spirits of your favorite Hebrew Home resident!

Order a colorful arrangement by calling 301.770.8333.

Generation to Generation

Dr. Williamowsky knows his history – of the Home’s Dental Clinic Seniors Seeking Savings

Initiatives

Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.” Knowing the importance of economizing, many thrifty seniors would agree that Ben’s advice – and senior discounts -- can indeed help.

To this end, for a fifth straight year, while we cannot recommend or endorse the following businesses, we can spread the word about opportunities for savings, from retail to home services, from restaurants to entertainment.

Enjoy this taste of discounts; a fuller selection is compiled, posted and ready for download from our website, www.hebrew-home.org.

Seniors contemplating a move may be surprised at how affordable it can be to live in _ the independent-living options available at _ Charles E. Smith Life Communities.

At Revitz House, the monthly cost is based _ on the apartment you choose plus the evening _ meal. Utilities, a host of supportive programs including transportation to shopping, and a _ personal emergency call system are included.

Small pets are welcome.

Ring House offers gracious senior living in the heart of Rockville. Apartments are available in a variety of floor plans, and subsidies are available _ for many apartments for qualified residents.

We invite you to call 301.816.5052 for information about immediate availability, eligibility for subsidies, or to arrange a tour for any of our _ senior living options.

The Hirsh Health Center, our outpatient _ medical practice devoted exclusively to senior medical care, accepts Medicare assignment and most major insurance plans. Call 301.816.5004 to schedule your appointment.

Discounts - by the Day

Discounts - Any Time

• D ress Barn — Monday - Wednesday, depending on location, seniors 55+ get 10% off total purchase. dressbarn.com

• Cici’s Pizza — At the Rockville Pike and Quince Orchard Road locations, seniors 60+ take 10% off. cicispizza.com

• Stein Mart — First Monday of each month.

Seniors 55+ can take 20% off “red dot” clearance items. steinmart.com

• Regal Cinemas — Seniors 60+ receive up to 30% off (varies by location) regular adult admission. regmovies.com

• Michael’s — Tuesday, seniors receive 10% discount with an AARP card. michaels.com

• Arocon Roofing and Construction — Seniors 60+ receive 10% discount on all services in MD/DC. Call 410.861.6767.

• Ross Stores — Tuesday, seniors 55+ get a 10% discount on all purchases. rossstores.com • TJ Maxx — Tuesday, seniors get a 10% discount on purchases. tjmaxx.tjx.com • Kohl’s — Wednesday, seniors 60+ get 15% discount on all items. kohls.com • Harris Teeter — Thursday, all locations, seniors get 5% off. harristeeter.com • Walgreens — “Senior Day” for Balance Rewards members 55+ and all AARP members occurs once a month, day varies by location. Discount is 20% off Walgreen brands and 15% off most everything else. walgreens.com

Page 4 | March 2014

• United Window Cleaning, Inc. — Windows and handyman services in MD, VA, DC for 14 years. Seniors 50+ get 20% discount. Call Orlando at 301.213.1011.

• Brad’s Deals — Lists “100+ Stores Offering Discounts for Senior Citizens,” on his blog. bradsdeals.com n

Perspective “Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?” — C icero

Fitness centers and wellness programs are among the amenities on our campus.

wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n — M a r c h 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

43

Senior living: Choose to be as active, engaged…

or relaxed as you want to be at Ring House. Mah Jongg for fun is a great way to get acquainted. Call 301.816.5052 to learn about immediate openings and to schedule your personal tour, or to sign up for the next Mah Jongg event on March 26.

Anne Gordon, pictured here, has transformed her Ring House apartment into an art studio.

Rehabilitation

The circle of rehabilitation Patients leaving the hospital and needing help to regain strength and ability choose the Hebrew Home’s rehabilitation center more than 800 times a year. “We provide hope, healing, dignity and value for each patient,” says Ann Matesi, who heads rehabilitation services at Charles E. Smith Life Communities. “The circle of rehabilitation focuses on the lifestyle of each individual and makes the client’s goals our priority.”

“Our program begins with a thorough assessment battery and understanding each person’s hopes and goals. We create a partnership between therapist and client that begins with basic self care and moves toward a successful integration into the person’s home environment.

Our program enables clients to take more control and to regain an active, healthy, and independent lifestyle.”

Join us for a quick tour of the Elsie and Marvin Dekelboum Therapy Center, and see why this is the rehabilitation center of choice. n Photos by Richard Greenhouse Photography

Focusing on individual goals, skilled therapists and state-of-the-art equipment help patients succeed.

The Biodex gait training system assures patients’ safety and comfort as they work to regain balance and the ability to walk.

Unlike simpler lift devices, this specialized equipment incorporates a dynamic suspension system and helps therapists monitor their patients.

Therapy is not all work and no play. Working to improve balance and stamina can be fun!

The Biodex balance system addresses many patients’ needs to improve balance, increase agility, and develop muscle tone. It adds an objective balance assessment component to treatment, and it helps clinicians assess dynamic balance and neuromuscular control on static and unstable surfaces.

Injury, surgery or illness can make returning home safely and with confidence a challenge. The Lifestyles Apartment, with home-like bedroom, bath, kitchen, dining and laundry areas, provides a realistic setting for mastering skills such as making the bed, cooking, and moving about safely in the bathroom.

LifeTimes | Page 5

44

M a r c h 2 0 1 4 — wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Get involved!

Volunteers of all ages can fill so many essential roles at Charles E. Smith Life Communities.

• Accompany residents to the Come help us welcome new g• residents g Megillah reading on Purim or serve as a patient service representative.

Offer a helping hand at a g• Passover Seder and at services in April.

in March.

For details email volunteers@hebrew-home.org.

Check more opportunities at www.hebrew-home.org; click on Volunteers.

People in the news Pat Carter receives top honor The Association of Jewish Aging Services (AJAS), presents annual awards to distinguished leaders in the field of aging.

We’re proud to announce that this year, Pat Carter, senior vice president, Operations/ Chief Operating Officer at Charles E. Smith Life Communities, was selected to receive the AJAS 2014 Professional Award.

“Her accomplishments are impressive,” notes President/CEO Warren R. Slavin. “The thread she weaves through all her work is passion for excellence and compassion and caring for our residents, families and staff.” Since 1979, Pat Carter has played a prominent role in strategic planning and in spearheading major initiatives including: transforming our therapy program into a leading rehabilitation center, creating the Hirsh Health Center, establishing Home Care Solutions as a joint venture with Augustine Home Health Care, and helping to bring both Landow House and Cohen-Rosen House into reality.

“I am humbled and honored by this award,” she commented. But, she adds, “this is really a team award,” praising the contributions made by her operational team and the lay support she has received. “Their mission and commitment parallel my own values.” n

Four generations of Martha Paisner’s family celebrate her 97th birthday at the Hebrew Home.

Students from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School share books with seniors at Ring House in conjunction with a social studies unit entitled, “Citizens of Second Grade.”

County Executive Isiah Leggett, Susan Wranick and over 200 professionals who provide seniors with a wide variety of services, care and support programs attended the annual GROWS (Grass Roots Organization for the Wellbeing of Seniors) event at Ring House.

While the Hebrew Home partners with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington on community issues, we are not a beneficiary agency and do not receive any of its funding.

113 – That’s the number of mattresses donated by the Hebrew Home to a clinic in Ghana. We were proud to work with Help Africa, Inc., in a project that extends the life of furnishings we are no longer using and brings these critical supplies to others in need.

Page 6 | March 2014

Pearl Rubenstein is one of 29 Landow House and Cohen-Rosen House residents who created artwork now on display in “The Joy of Color,” a striking watercolor exhibition at the Landow House Gallery. The project was made possible by the Ellen Gelman Special Exhibition Fund.

LifeTimes is published quarterly by the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, Inc. The Hebrew Home is a registered charity in Maryland and Virginia. A copy of the Home’s financial statement is available from the Maryland Secretary of State or the Virginia State Office of Consumer Affairs. We are an equal opportunity employer and we provide access to community programs without regard to race, age, national origin, familial status, religion, sex or disability. Our services and programs are open to all in the community.

Marc F. Solomon, Chair Warren R. Slavin, President/CEO Abbey S. Fagin, V P, Development and Public Affairs Marilyn Feldman, Editor © 2014 by Hebrew Home of Greater Washington 6121 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD 20852 301.881.0300 www.smithlifecommunities.org

Support the Hebrew Home through your gift to United Way

3 check 8111 or for CFC n 3 check 49705. n

wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n — M a r c h 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

Commercial annuities are not the only option.

Three benefits of charitable gift annuities:

• Retirement income for life • Pay-out rates of 5.1% - 9% • Immediate tax deduction

To learn more, call 301.770.8342 or mail this _ form to Elana Lippa, Director of Gift Planning, _ 6121 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD 20852.

45

I want to learn more about charitable gift annuities!

Name/s_ ______________________________________________ Address_______________________________________________ City/State/Zip___________________________________________ Phone_ _______________________________________________ Birthdate E-mail ________________________________________________ LT 03/14

Special “Menschen”

Event makers

60th

Jeff Moss impacts residents’ lives

Anniversary

Starlight

Sandy and Stanley Bobb, recipients of the 2013 Guardian Leadership Award, meet entertainer Lisa Fischer.

Jeff Moss says, “I enjoy helping residents, getting to know them, hearing about their lives, and, in many cases, watching them grow Jewishly.”

with Jewish activity (a member of B’nai Israel, he’s past regional president and 2013 Ma’asim Tovim award recipient of the Seaboard Region of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs), Mr. Moss’s involvement with our residents continues to provide great personal satisfaction. His unique commitment to the Hebrew Home is truly something to treasure. n

Photography

h Photos by Michael Kress

“It’s well documented that people whose spiritual needs are met in a health-care setting tend to get better faster and have a more positive attitude,” asserts Rabbi James Michaels, director of Pastoral Care at Charles E. Smith Life Communities. Accordingly, Rabbi Michaels ensures that spiritual needs of all residents, regardless of religious background, are respected.

When Jeff Moss, son of a Manhattan cantor, learned that the Hebrew Home was looking for someone to lead High Holiday services, he signed on. Now 28 years later, Mr. Moss, 63 and a senior computer programmer for GEICO, still serves as cantor at the Home— not only for High Holidays but also for Shabbat, Jewish festivals, and Passover Seders.

For someone whose life pulses

The Guardian Campaign Committee, led by chairs David Samuels and Alan Freeman, raised more than $924,000 in 2013 to help continue to provide outstanding medical and nursing care and life-enriching programs to our residents. For 60 years, the annual Starlight event in December has been a thank you to these donors.

Dear Smith-Kogod 4 East: On behalf of Hsing Chang’s family, we would like to thank you for the loving care and attention you gave to my mom, Hsing Chang, during her 7-year stay with you.

Over this time, we met many nurses, physicians, and staff who cared for her, and we always felt assured that her care was in good hands. The Hebrew Home embodies high integrity and elderly care standards, and we hope this fully conveys our deepest appreciation for your work. We will always remember you in our hearts.

Chung and Sandy Lee

Forever grateful, _ Chung & Sandy Lee, Family of Hsing Chang

Online now at www.hebrew-home.org:

• Registration for Palliative Care Symposium • Remember This free lectures • Senior discounts LifeTimes | Page 7

46

M a r c h 2 0 1 4 — wa s h i n g t o n B e a c o n

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

k Sweetheart of an event k

Calendar of events

11

MARCH

26

Mah Jongg for Fun Ring House, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

R.S.V.P., 301.816.5052

“Remember This” free lecture Antipsychotics and Dementia: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Landow House, 5:30 p.m. light supper, 6 p.m. lecture

APRIL

8

14

Passover “Remember This” free lecture First Seder How to Boost Your Memory and Brain Performance - at Any Age Landow House, 5:30 p.m. light supper, 6 p.m. lecture Holocaust Survivors Brunch Sponsored by Progress Club at Ring House, 10:30 a.m. Call 301.816.5006

This February marked the third Sweetheart Social at The Fillmore Silver Spring, with 100 residents from our campus enjoying the live jazz/swing band “Night and Day” at this trendy entertainment venue.

Board member Alan Freeman, pictured below with 100-year-old Lillian Kairys, helped forge the connection with The Fillmore, creating one of the many special events that enrich residents’ lives. Alan’s son Teddy, 13, is continuing his family’s commitment by asking family and friends to make donations to the Hebrew Home in honor of his bar mitzvah.

As of press time, his generous gesture has helped raise over $1,500.

This year, families and a group of military medical students from Walter Reed added to the fun.

Former dance instructor Betty Steinmetz of Ring House directs a chorus line to the music of New York, New York.

27

May

2

Educational Symposium: Palliative Care Co-sponsored with Sibley Memorial Hospital, and in partnership with Suburban Hospital, members of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Bolger Center, 7:30 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Register at hebrew-home.org

JUNE

6

Builders of the Future Luncheon A thank you for planned giving donors, at Ring House.

Call 301.770.8342.

16

Wellness Fair Focusing on brain health, with programs and vendors, Monday, June 16 at Ring House, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Call 301.816.5048.

kk

Other Events Hebrew Home Family Council Open to family members and friends of Hebrew Home residents, Wasserman Residence, 1 p.m., on Sunday, March 23, April 27, May 18.

For more information email hhcouncil@comcast.net

1st Sunday of the month – Jewish War Veterans Ring House, 10 a.m., Veterans and interested persons welcome.

2nd Monday of the month Family Caregiver Support Group Presented jointly by Ring House and JSSA Senior Services.

Free, open to the community.

Ring House, noon – 1:30 p.m. Call 301.816.2635 For more information about community events, resident programs and news for families, visit www. hebrew-home.org and www.smithlifecommunities.org.

k

Medical student Second Lieutenant Zach Clark dances with Ring House resident Rose Glasner, 91.

k

How to Reach Us

While the Hebrew Home partners with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington on community issues, we are not a beneficiary agency and do not receive any _ of its funding.

Page 8 | March 2014

n H ebrew Home 301.770.8476 Rehab and Long Term www.hebrew-home.org

n C ohen-Rosen House 301.816.5050 www.cohen-rosen.org

n H irsh Health Center 301.816.5004

n Landow House 301.816.5050 www.landowhouse.org

evitz House n R 301.770.8450 www.revitzhouse.org

ing House n R 301.816.5012 www.ringhouse.org

facebook.com/ceslc

twitter.com/hhgw

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

Travel

47

Leisure &

Cruise news for 2014. See stories on pages 49, 51 and 52.

Virginia is a place of year-round festivals

Highland County Maple Festival “Fifty gallons of sap make one gallon of syrup,” Jay Eagle told me last year, as he stoked the wood fire under a metal bin steaming with clear maple syrup at the Highland County Maple Festival in Virginia’s hill country. This is an area locals call “heaven in the mountains,” or “Virginia’s Little Switzerland.”

Held on the second and third weekends of March in a group of Allegheny Mountain towns bordering West Virginia, it’s a weekend of “mapling” and more.

Craft tents and yard sales line Main Street in Monterey, Va. (pop. 147). Maple syrup reigns in church basements, school

PHOTO BY GLENDA C. BOOTH

cafeterias and clubhouses of the Ruritan service organization, as volunteers push platters of maple buckwheat pancakes, pork sausage and gravy, or chicken maple BBQ with plain or BBQ pork rinds on the side.

Other maple products you’ll encounter include donuts, ice cream, apples, mustard, sugar, butter, bread, pecans, lollipops, cream, fudge, tea and candles.

There’s also country music. Cloggers dance to a high-octane bluegrass band — a prelude to the crowning of the Maple Queen. The high school bulges with arts and crafts.

Highland County, situated 3,000 feet above sea level, is an Impressionist landscape of velvety, rounded hills and grassy folds. Black Angus cows and sheep dot the hillsides.

“There’s nothing more outstanding and soothing to the soul than spring in the Allegheny Highlands,” boasted the local newspaper, The Recorder.

Here, streams have names like the Cowpasture, Calfpasture and Bullpasture. The car repair shop is called Possum Trot Repair. According to David Blanchard, who runs a furniture shop, it’s the kind of place where “you can take a pet sheep to your shop.”

In McDowell, the Sugar Tree Country Store is crammed with local goods. Next door, in the museum built in 1851, a film about the 1862 Battle of McDowell reminds visitors that this is where Stonewall Jackson shifted the tide of the Civil War. This year’s festival will take place on March 8, 9, 15 and 16.

For details, visit www.highlandcounty.org/maplefestival.html.

Smoked fish and beans The one-day “shad planking” that takes place every

Men baste shad, a fish related to the herring, before they smoke it on oak planks at the annual shad planking festival in Wakefield, Va.

PHOTO BY GLENDA C. BOOTH

By Glenda C. Booth Virginia is for lovers — of peanuts, oysters, shad, maple syrup, blues, bluegrass and more.

These and other products are lauded at small-town festivals taking place throughout the state year-round. At upcoming Virginia festivals, you can hear fiddle tunes squeal into the hills and hollers, make peanut butter sculptures, meet the second best oyster shucker in the world, and taste more maple products than you knew existed.

Together, the events bring out the soul of the Old Dominion through music, food, crafts, parades and even coronations.

The week-long Galax Old Fiddlers Convention every August is the biggest fiddler’s event in the U.S., attracting hundreds of musicians from as far away as Japan.

year in Wakefield, about an hour south of Richmond, is both a gastronomic and an olfactory affair.

In the piney woods at the Wakefield Sportsmen’s Club, cigar smoke mixes with the enticing aromas of smoked shad (a fish related to the herring), baked beans, secret sauces and sources of other mysterious scents.

The shad planking, always on the third Wednesday in April, started in the 1930s as a gathering of men who celebrated the start of the fishing season, ate smoked shad, and chewed over politics.

For years, it was an invitation-only confab of largely conservative white males. It has evolved today to be a rich mix of folks: men and women, young and old, politicians and the apolitical, and curiosity-seekers who mingle in the woods, eat smoked shad, sip whatever’s at hand and gab.

Around 2 p.m., the serving committee shoves out 350 shad that have been splayed and gently smoked on oak planks next to wood embers since 6 a.m. The fish are suffused with a secret sauce created by a local dentist, the late Dr. E.C. Nettles, whose recipe is locked up in a cigar box somewhere known only to a few Ruritanners.

The beans committee stirs a 50-gallon, sluggish concoction of beans, bacon, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and green peppers that has simmered for six hours, more or less, in an apple butter cooker. Committee members affectionately tend to the beans from lawn

chairs arranged in a semi-circle around the cooker.

This year’s Shad Planking will take place April 16, from 1 to 6:30 p.m. More information is available at www.shadplanking.com/planking_info.html.

Tinner Hill Blues Festival Closest to home for Beacon readers is the Tinner Hill Blues Festival, coming up in June. What started 20 years ago as a street festival has now grown to a fullfledged, three-day music party where the Blues permeate the Northern Virginia town of Falls Church.

Much of the town’s 2.2 square miles is devoted to blues of every flavor — boogiewoogie piano, old-time blues, acoustic blues, gospel blues, moanin’ blues and happy blues.

Big Bill Morganfield, the son of blues great Muddy Waters and an award-wining blues guitarist, performed there last year.

Groups like Blue Pop and the Plucker, Jackwagon and Sheryl Warner and the Southside Homewreckers may show up this year.

The festival includes a blues brunch, art shows, films, lectures, and the “instrument petting zoo,” where youngsters can try out a variety of instruments.

This year’s festival will take place June 13 to 15. For more info, visit http://tinnerhill.org/blues-festival.

See FESTIVALS, page 48

48

Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Festivals From page 47

Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention If you think you’ll like the Tinner Hills festival, brace yourself for near-total saturation in bluegrass and country music — ringing and plinking from fairground camps, erupting on Main Street, and zinging off the stage — at the annual Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, 320 miles southwest of Washington. The week-long annual fete sponsored by Moose Lodge 733 always takes place the second weekend of August.

The biggest, oldest fiddlers’ convention in the country, the festival attracts fans from as far away as Oregon, Newfoundland, Egypt and Japan.

Musicians of all stripes take off work from their jobs as farmers, store managers, clerks, welders, mechanics, bank managers, librarians, government employees, postal workers, nurses, lawyers and doctors to play and sing in established bands or in groups formed impromptu.

On stage, several hundred musicians compete for cash prizes in old-time fiddle, bluegrass fiddle, dobro, mandolin, dulcimer, bluegrass banjo, clawhammer banjo, autoharp, guitar, folk singing and flatfoot dancing. Fans watch from lawn chairs around the stage or the grandstand.

The band of veteran “Kill-basa Bill” (aka William Guthrie), who presides over his camp dubbed “Billville,” rouses people out of their seats with original songs like, “I Met My Baby in the Portajohn Line” and “I Just Don’t Look Good Necked Any More.”

The festival has two climaxes, Friday and Saturday nights, when non-stop competitions take over, and bands with names like “Slim Pickins” and the “Whooping Holler String Band” rip off tunes at breakneck speed.

Each band plays for three minutes (a strictly-enforced limit), the crowd whoops, and the band exits. Next band. Wham, bam, play hard for three minutes, exit. It’s constant, hard-driving music from 6 p.m. until usually past midnight.

For many, the fun of Galax is roaming around the labyrinth of cars, trucks, RVs, buses, EZ pop-up tents, tarps and other makeshift “homes,” and crooning to the

harmonies and melodies of pickup bands.

Vendors hawk handmade instruments, guitar strings, CDs, crafts and t-shirts.

Food snob alert: Choices are largely high-cal, downhome dishes like countryfried steak sandwiches, greasy Polish sausages, BBQ, funnel cakes, and blooming (deep fried) onions.

The festival has been held every year since 1935, except once during World War II. The 79th will be held from Aug. 4 to 10.

More information at www.oldfiddlersconvention.com.

Suffolk Peanut Festival I could smell peanut butter a quarter mile away as I strolled up to the Suffolk Peanut Festival.

And there he was — a pungent, pudgy, eight-foot Mr. P-nutty, smiling brightly, exuding a rich peanutty aroma, and glistening in the warm sun at the annual Suffolk Peanut Festival.

He was the winning creation of the peanut butter sculpture contest, a competition in which entrants sculpt with a special peanut butter blend.

Southeastern Virginia has saluted the goober, an all-purpose legume, every fall at a four-day extravaganza since 1941. It takes place in Suffolk, 200 miles from Washington, and attracts about 125,000 peanut lovers and non.

Festival-goers kick off events with the Ruritan Club’s all-you-can-eat shrimp fest, plus BBQ and live bands. The peanut queen and her court are chosen.

Other highlights: carnival rides, a demolition derby, a motorcycle rally, arts and crafts, a horseshoe competition, and a cornhole (bean bag toss) tournament.

The 37th Suffolk Peanut Festival, themed “We Are Nutty about America,” will be held Oct. 9 to 12. Visit www.suffolkfest.org/T0.aspx?PID=2 for more info.

Urbanna Oyster Festival It’s “a little historic town with an oyster problem,” announced a pink t-shirt in Urbanna, a Rappahannock River seaport town on the Northern Neck, 130 miles See FESTIVALS, page 49

$25 to New York City/DC

To New York City

Just $25 each way on the leading family owned travelers gateway between NYC and DC. Caring, safe, dependable, courteous, non-stop, conveniently scheduled, daily service on comfortable, lavatory equipped buses.

About 4 hours between Penn Station in New York City and Wifi and Electrical Outlets Washington DC. Bus stops in Arlington/Rosslyn VA or Bethesda MD. Steps from red, blue or Exceptional Customer Service • Friendly Staff orange Metro. 5 minutes to DC national sites and free capitol museums. Transportation Pick-up and drop-offs: Lorton, Arlington, supporter for National Cherry Blossom Festival performersVA and•visitors.

Reasonable VA parking near both DC Bethesda, stops. Visit our website exciting –news, discounts and information. By MD •forNYC Penn Station reservation only at www.vamoosebus.com or toll free 877 393 2828.

Reserve online FREQUENT-TRAVELER www.VamooseBus.com REWARDS or call 301.718.0036 www.vamoosebus.com (877) 393-2828 Operated by: DC Trails Inc., Lorton VA, MC #402959

Follow us on

TB03/14 1672498

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

49

New ships and attractions for 2014 cruises

By Beth J. Harpaz A couple of eye-popping new ships, the ever-growing popularity of river cruising, and efforts to restore consumer confidence are among the headlines in cruise news as 2014 unfolds.

But don’t expect ships to keep getting bigger. Instead, look for theme park-style attractions and new offerings in dining and entertainment. Here are some details.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents 95 percent of cruise capacity worldwide with 63 member cruise lines, forecasts 21.7 million guests will cruise this year, up from 21.3 million in 2013.

The Caribbean remains the world’s most popular cruise destination, included on 37 percent of global cruise itineraries, followed by a 19 percent share for the Mediterranean.

Better, not bigger

Festivals

food and craft booths line the streets. An 80unit parade with area marching bands and oyster floats entertains the crowd.

The culminating event is “the official oyster shucking contest of Virginia” on Saturday afternoon. It takes place behind the firehouse, where amateurs and professionals compete to pry open recalcitrant bivalves and artfully display the morsel inside. In six minutes flat, amateurs race to shuck 12; pros, 24.

Urbanna has produced the second best shucker in the world — Deborah Pratt, who snagged that honor in the world shucking championship in Galway, Ireland. Her sister, Clementine Boyd Macon, is tough competition. In Urbanna’s 2013 contest, Clementine beat Deborah. Check them out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WfMXAiKfhg.

The 57th Urbanna Oyster Festival will take place on Nov. 7 and 8. For more info, visit www.urbannaoysterfestival.com.

Glenda C. Booth is a freelance writer in Alexandria, Va.

From page 48 from Washington, D.C. The area has been known for its oysters for hundreds of years. Writing about the area in 1701, Francis Louis Michel said, “The abundance of oysters is incredible.

There are whole banks of them so that the ships must avoid them. They surpass those in England by far in size; indeed they are four times as large.”

Today’s harvests are not as impressive, but you wouldn’t know it at the Urbanna Oyster Festival. Revelers swoon over savory oysters breaded, deep fried, steamed, boiled, stewed, Rockefellered and frittered.

There are oyster lamps, crowns, jewelry, boat tours and reef-building lessons.

Started in 1958, this annual November event was declared Virginia’s official oyster festival in 1988 by the state legislature. It attracts around 80,000 visitors. About 125

More than two dozen cruise ships will launch in 2014 and 2015, but the race to make every vessel bigger than the last is subsiding from several years ago, when Royal Caribbean’s Allure and Oasis set records with capacities of more than 6,000 passengers apiece.

“I think the size of the ships — Allure and Oasis — is as big as it gets,” said CLIA president Christine Duffy in an interview.

Instead, Duffy says, the new emphasis is “on more bells and whistles.”

Two of 2014’s new ships are sure to turn heads. The colorful exterior of Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship Norwegian Getaway, which debuted this winter, features a mermaid cavorting amid turquoise and yellow swirls. It was designed by Miami-based

Cuban-American artist David Le Batard, also known as “LEBO.” Getaway will homeport in Miami, and is a sister ship to Norwegian Breakaway — a New York-themed ship that debuted in 2013. Getaway carries 3,969 passengers, has 18 decks, and two unique offerings: the Illusionarium — part restaurant, part magic show — and the “Grammy Experience at Sea,” with performances by Grammy winners and nominees, plus exhibits of Grammy-related artifacts.

The most-anticipated new ship of 2014 is Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas, with dazzling first-at-sea attractions — simulated skydiving, bumper cars, and an observation capsule called the North Star.

The capsule, modeled on the London Eye, offers a bird’s-eye view 300 feet above the water. The ship debuts in November.

Meanwhile, the Mediterranean-based MSC Cruises company is hoping to win over See CRUISES, page 50

ENJOY

friendly luxury coach transportation MULTIPLE DAILY DEPARTURES FROM BETHESDA & ARLINGTON ARRIVING AT NYC'S PENN STATION

Sign up for our Rewards Program to earn free travel.

FARES STARTING AT $27 EACH WAY. WIFI AND ELECTRICAL OUTLETS ON BOARD.

tripperbus.com Call to Reserve: 1-877-826-3874 (VA-MD-TRIP) Follow us on

Operated by Gunther Charters, Inc. USDOT #110308 MC #128577

50

Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Cruises From page 49 Americans with its first U.S.-based ship, MSC Divina, which recently started sailing year-round from Miami to the Caribbean.

Restoring confidence The cruise industry has had a rough

few years, beginning with the January 2012 shipwreck of the Costa Concordia, which killed 32 people. In September 2013, the Concordia was finally pulled upright in a complicated engineering feat, but the vessel is still in the waters off the coast of Italy, and its captain remains on trial.

The bad news continued last year when Carnival had several mishaps, with passen-

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

gers stranded at sea, ships towed back to port, and cancelled trips. The negative publicity depressed prices and revenue for the company.

The incidents even changed the way travelers book cruises. The percentage of cruises booked online had been increasing fast until last year, according to a study released in December by PhoCusWright. After the Carnival mishaps, “both cruise lines and agents spent more time on the phone winning over tentative travelers and upselling all they could,” according to PhoCusWright.

Online cruise bookings jumped 28 percent in 2011 and 26 percent in 2012, but increased just 6 percent in 2013.

To restore consumer confidence, the cruise industry has taken a number of steps, including publishing statistics for crimes that take place on ships, and issuing a passenger bill of rights guaranteeing sanitary conditions, medical care, and refunds in the event of a major power failure.

Carnival is undertaking a $300 million

No Other Gutter Protection System On The Market Today Can Compete With LeafGuard LeafGuard Is The Only One Piece Gutter Protection System On The Market Today That:

Has the most comprehensive warranty in the Industry Earned the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval

program to add emergency generators to ships, upgrade fire safety, and improve engine rooms. The changes will create redundancies so that if one power source fails, others will be available.

Carnival has also added consumer-friendly offerings like Seuss at Sea, a branded children’s program, and Carnival Live, a recently announced series of onboard concerts that begin this spring featuring big names like Jennifer Hudson, LeAnn Rimes, Daughtry, Jewel and Lady Antebellum.

Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of CruiseCritic.com, said river cruises are “just exploding with new ship launches by Viking, Uniworld, Avalon, AmaWaterways and others.”

Viking Cruises christened 10 new river ships last year and launches a dozen more this year. American Cruise Lines has commissioned four new riverboats. And the newly refurbished American Empress makes its maiden voyage in April on the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia and Snake rivers.

River cruises are offered around the world, from the Danube to the Mississippi to the Yangtze, but Spencer Brown says this year’s “hot places to watch” include Myanmar and France’s Bordeaux region.

More cruise lines are banning smoking on balconies in addition to cabins. After all, if you’re a nonsmoker, you don’t want smoke from the neighboring verandah blowing back into your room. Disney, Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Crystal are among the lines that no longer permit balcony smoking; Cunard will join them later this year.

But most ships still offer some designated smoking areas onboard, which may include decks, casinos and select clubs.

Food, glorious food

Installation* PLUS RECEIVE A $100 GAS CARD WITH PURCHASE OF A LEAFGUARD SYSTEM

Will not void your Roof Warranty

*Not valid with any other offer, or previous job.

Present offer at time of estimate. Exp. 4/30/14

LeafGuard is so confident that this is the best gutter protection system on the market that we guarantee that it will never clog, chip, peel, crack, or fail.

LeafGuard, the last gutter protection system you will ever buy.

Our Patented System is Guaranteed to stay CLOG-Free and is backed by a LIFETIME WARRANTY, why buy anything else?

LIFETIME WARRANTY / FULLY TRANSFERABLE

240-455-4333 r www.LeafGuardGutters.com

Cruise lines keep expanding culinary offerings, with more celebrity chef-designed menus and variety, from ethnic food to vegan and gluten-free dishes. Specialty restaurants also continue to be added, some charging extra and some covered by the basic cruise price.

Norwegian’s Getaway and Breakaway feature menus from Geoffrey Zakarian and bakeries by “Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro. Crystal Cruises’ Serenity has an onboard herb garden where chefs can harvest fresh ingredients. Carnival is introducing a new contemporary upscale restaurant, the American Table, on two ships.

Oceania Cruises offers more than 20 classes in its Bon Appetit Culinary Center onboard the Marina and Riviera ships, from regional cuisines to pasta-making.

Jim Berra, head of marketing for CLIA, said the industry is working on improving technology by upgrading networks and expanding bandwidth.

New apps under development will allow guests to keep track of events onboard and stay in touch with each other via text, just like they do on land, without “sitting there dreading that roaming charge.” The improvements won’t be felt for awhile, though: “We’re in our early innings, but there’s a lot more to come,” Berra said.

— AP

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

51

Booking a cruise? How to get a good deal

By Susannah Snider Cruise prices are headed up, but you can expect to score value for your dollar if you book early. Cruises are throwing in freebies, such as gratuities, drink cards and hotel stays, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, of CruiseCritic.com. Some luxury ships add free Internet access.

Plan ahead. Want to book a cruise this spring? Start your search now. Cruise lines sell 75 percent of their available cabins for the year by the end of March, said

Stewart Chiron, of CruiseGuy.com.

Do your homework (vacation studying is fun!), and you’ll get first dibs on cabins, extra amenities, and more cruise for your cash. On the flip side, last-minute fares are often the cheapest deals, but you’ll be stuck with the leftovers.

Know your seasons. Most vacation destinations have peak and off seasons. The same rule applies to cruises. If you travel during shoulder season, you’ll get big discounts.

Sail the Caribbean between September

BEACON BITS

Mar. 25

GETTYSBURG SIGHTS

Visit the American Civil War Wax Museum and the farm and home of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Gettysburg on Tuesday, March 25 on this trip with Arlington County 55+ Travel. The trip leaves from the Thomas Jefferson Community Center, 3501 2nd St. S, Arlington, Va., at 7:20 a.m. and returns at 6 p.m. The cost is $42 for Arlington residents and $47 for non-residents. Sign up online at https://registration.arlingtonva.us or by phone at (703) 228-4748.

and early January (excluding holidays), European rivers from October to December, and Hawaii between September and mid-December. The possibility of lessthan-ideal weather is balanced by smaller crowds and cheaper fares. Or go when school is in session to pay less and avoid other peoples’ kids.

Don’t dismiss luxury. You may be tempted to write off luxury lines, such as Crystal, Silversea and Regent Seven Seas, as too pricey. But with alcohol, gratuities and dining in specialty restaurants often included in the purchase price, they can rival the bargain brands.

Regent makes a case for its luxury ships with its value comparison table at www. rssc.com/experience/value-comparison. Or

head to independenttraveler.com/travelbudget-calculator to input anticipated expenses.

Repositioning deals For the best deal, hop aboard when a ship relocates. These so-called repositioning cruises might ferry you from Boston to Florida, or from New York across the pond to England.

You’ll spend more time on board and pay a reduced fare, but you’ll have to make your own arrangements to get home.

A 13-night repositioning cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, leaving from Boston in October and arriving in Florida, started at $949 per person. Royal See CRUISE DEALS, page 53

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL TO UGANDA

Mar. 25

Join world travelers Sandy and Gail Cohen for a virtual exploration of Uganda, the republic in Eastern Africa, from the comfort of an armchair. This free discussion and virtual tour will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 25 at the Walker Reed Senior Center, 2909 S. 16th St., Arlington, Va. For more information or to register, call (703) 228-0955.

Cottage Open House Event Two Campuses - Many Choices t Selected Crumland Farms Retirement Living Cottage homes open for your visit

! " • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

•

•

t Willow Ponds Active Adult Cottage floor plans on display and reservations now accepted • •

• •

•" • # •% !! !• • #! • • # ! $ • • •

•

•

•

•

• # • •

• •

• !&•

Thursday, May 30th 10:00 AM - Noon or 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Light Refreshments

R.S.V.P. TODAY (301) 644-5610 email:mktg-wp@hmwd.org

# !$

"

"

•

#

www.homewood.com | 7407 Willow Road, Frederick, MD 21702 | 301-644-5610 email: mktg-wp @ hmwd.org

52

Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Taking cruises that stimulate the mind Want to hear a history professor bring ancient Greece to life or learn how to make a mean shrimp scampi? Look for cruises with great enrichment programs.

The Crystal Cruises Creative Learning Institute lets you use your time to sharpen your mind or your skill set. Passengers can take a series of seminars ranging from

personal wellness sessions led by Cleveland Clinic doctors to painting and sculpture classes.

Or, through the Crystal Visions program, you can listen to lectures from wellknown authors, politicians, scientists and others. (Hugh Downs and James Carville have been on past lineups.)

The Conversations program, from the Seabourn cruise line, hosts experts who

All Pet Crematory, Inc. (410) 552-0703 or 1 (888) 552-0703 (toll free)

• caring & professional staff • memorial urns and merchandise available

“Pet Lovers Serving Pet Lovers” | WWW.APCrematory.com

See CRUISE CLASSES, page 53

PHOTO COURTESY OF CRYSTAL CRUISES

• open directly to the public for private cremations only

make presentations and mingle with passengers. Some are knowledgeable about a particular cruise’s destinations and focus their talks accordingly. On a 19-day Baltic Sea cruise in May, for example, an anthropologist will be on board.

Crystal and Seabourn are luxury cruise lines, and you’ll pay a premium for the ex-

Many cruise lines offer wine-tasting, cooking, history and other stimulating courses and lectures aboard. The Crystal Cruises Creative Learning Institute, aboard a ship shown above outside Santorini, Greece features lectures from well-known authors, politicians and others.

For nearly a century, the Washington Jewish Week has been a currency of Jewish culture Take advantage of this special offer – only for our older adults

52 issues for $36 (less than 70 cents an issue; includes digital magazine and washingtonjewishweek.com)

Visit washingtonjewishweek.com/seniors or call 301-230-2222 It’s never too late to build the strong Jewish connection you want

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Cruise classes From page 52 perience. Prices start at $10,000 per person for the Baltic Sea cruise. Booking a 12day segment of a 2016 Crystal cruise of the Pacific that includes Creative Learning Institute classes recently started at $4,395 per passenger.

But you don’t have to be on a high-end ship with an intensive enrichment program to feed your brain — or your stomach. Holland America features cooking

Cruise deals From page 51 Caribbean ships offer a wealth of activities.

You’ll find mini golf, rock climbing, and exercise classes on the line’s Brilliance of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.

Consider an agent, insurance Call an agent. You want an insider advocate to plan and book for you. A good agent can land you freebies and the best cabin, as well as offer expertise in whatever kind of cruise you’re taking. At www.cruisecompete.com, cruise agents vie to find you the best deal. Or search on www.travelsense.org/agents.

Travel insurance coverage can protect you if lost luggage, a sprained ankle, or a canceled flight derails your plans. Book through a third party, such as Travel Guard (www.travelguard.com).

One place where it makes sense to bite the bullet on insurance: the Caribbean during hurricane season (June 1 through Nov. 30). A storm probably won’t endanger your vessel (ships can sail around them), but it could leave you stranded in a hotel or at an airport.

The cost of insurance typically varies based on the cruiser’s age, destination and

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

SENIOR CENTER MINI-TRIPS RETURN

Montgomery County is partnering with the Jewish Council for the Aging (JCA) to provide recreational transportation for seniors in a new initiative that will restore the popular mini-trips hosted by senior centers.

JCA ElderBus fleet drivers have 40 years of experience transporting seniors and can provide extra assistance, such as getting on and off the bus. The buses provide curb-to-curb service Monday through Friday to county residents living within a defined radius of the five senior centers. The new program offers transportation to neighborhoods that have not previously been accessible to Ride On buses. County residents 55 and over are eligible. For more information, call (240) 777-4980.

classes through its Culinary Arts Center, such as demonstrations of how to make jerk chicken on a Caribbean cruise. And prices for Holland America cruises aren’t as lofty as those for the luxury lines. Many are available for less than $1,000.

Princess Cruises’ ScholarShip@Sea program includes lectures, wine tastings, and art-history presentations (extra charges may apply for certain activities).

— By Lisa Gerstner and Susannah Snider ©2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

insurer. On Travel Guard, we found a $100 policy to cover a $1,500 cruise fare.

Susannah Snider is a staff writer at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. And for more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com. © 2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel

Express yourself.

Send a letter to the editor.

53

54

Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

BELTSVILLE (301) 572-550 11729 Beltsville Drive BETHESDA (301) 656-2522 6917 Arlington Road BETHESDA (301) 986-9144 7809 Wisconsin Avenue BOWIE (301) 262-8400 6920 Laurel-Bowie Road CLINTON (301) 868-4055 8859 Branch Avenue COLLEGE PARK (301) 277-6114 7300 Washington-Baltimore Boulevard DISTRICT HEIGHTS (301) 736-3994 5870 Silver Hill Road, Silver Hill Plaza GAITHERSBURG (301) 948-3250 546 North Frederick Avenue GAITHERSBURG (301) 948-6886 19100 Montgomery Village Avenue GREENBELT (301) 441-8811 7607 Greenbelt Road KENSINGTON (301) 962-8092 3715 University Boulevard West

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

LANGLEY PARK (301) 434-3121 7939 New Hampshire Avenue LAUREL (301) 776-5404 15100 Baltimore Avenue NORTH POTOMAC (301) 251-0024 9920 Key West Avenue OLNEY (301) 774-6155 3110 Olney Sandy Spring Road ROCKVILLE (301) 299-3717 7955 Tuckerman Lane SILVER SPRING (301) 598-6617 2271 Bel Pre Road SILVER SPRING (301) 588-6261 1290 East-West Highway SILVER SPRING (301) 942-2300 12359 Georgia Avenue WHEATON (301) 871-7511 13729 Connecticut Avenue

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

Style

55

Arts &

Artifacts from the real-life Monuments Men are in local museums, complementing the movie. See story on page 58.

Finding a lot to laugh about in Spamalot

NOW PLAYING

King Arthur legend retold

Standout performers

samer dress, seaweed clinging to her hair, with a posse of skimpily clad cheerleaders, aptly named the Laker Girls.

Cuellar is the show’s standout performer, hamming it up one minute, and unleashing her powerful voice the next in songs like “Come With Me.” Cuellar, who won a Helen Hayes award for her work in Toby’s production of Legally Blonde, draws the attention of the audience in every scene she’s in. In fact, after a number of scenes go by without her, she even gets to lament her absence in a song, “What Happened to

The Lady of the Lake, played by Priscilla Cuellar, enters the show in a sea green gos-

See SPAMALOT, page 56

Spamalot is based very loosely on the King Arthur legend, complete with a nascent Knights of the Round Table (which the King rounds up throughout the show), a search for the Holy Grail, and romance with the lovely Guinevere, referred to for most of the show as the Lady of the Lake.

Arthur is aided by his pretend horse Patsy, played by an actor who mimics the clip-clop of a horse’s hooves by knocking two coconut shells together.

The show’s numerous catchy musical numbers start off with “Fisch Schlapping Song,” which entails much slapping in the face with fish by residents of a Finnish village. Wait, the show is supposed to be about England not FINland. Let the puns begin!

Another fun song is “I Am Not Dead Yet,” with perhaps the world’s first zombies. The show takes place in the year 932, after all. In what appears to be a cart piled with bodies ravaged by the plague, the undead suddenly bounce up and start singing.

PREMIERING MARCH 28 Bring the kids...the grandkids... a delight for all ages!

Tony-award winning musical and regional premiere!

You’d be foolish to miss it!

Based on the Oscar®-winning film!

TOBY’S DINNER THEATRE OF COLUMBIA • CALL 410-730-8311 Based on availability. Due to the nature of theatre bookings, all shows, dates and times are subject to change.

D in

TobysDinnerTheatre.com

ner & S h o w

RESERVE YOUR SEATS TODAY!

PHOTO BY KRISTINE CHRISTIANSEN

By Barbara Ruben Rubber chickens, Vegas, disco and gay marriage in Camelot? Richard Burton would not be amused. But the current musical Spamalot at Toby’s Dinner Theatre is two letters and five decades removed from the venerated 1960 Broadway production And audiences are not just amused, they guffaw and snort with laughter at every double entendre, every pun, no matter how puny, and every fart joke.

This is, after all, Camelot by way of Monty Python, the British (low) comedy group. As the program notes, the musical is “lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” The show title is plucked from a line in the movie: “We eat ham, and jam and Spam a lot.”

The Holy Grail film premiered in 1975.

Three decades later, the Broadway production of Spamalot won three Tony Awards, including the award for Best Musical.

Spamalot’s book and lyrics are by Monty Python writer and actor Eric Idle, with music

by Idle and John du Prez, who has composed scores for numerous movies, including A Fish Called Wanda.

The Lady of the Lake, played by Priscilla Cuellar, raises the Holy Grail, found after a long, comic quest, in Spamalot, now playing at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia. In the background, the Knights of the Round Table (led by Lawrence B. Munsey playing King Arthur) pay tribute.

56

Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Spamalot From page 55 My Part?”

It is The Lady of the Lake who presents a swaggering King Arthur with Excalibur, the sword given to the man meant to rule England.

Lawrence B. Munsey plays King Arthur

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

with a slap-happy buffoonery. He attempts to invade a castle with a large wooden rabbit in the style of a Trojan horse, only to discover he failed to secret any of his knights inside.

He even manages to turn the show’s perky song about death, “Look on the Bright Side of Life,” into a laugh when he’s unable to whistle the chorus with the rest of his men.

And what story of Camelot is complete

C o m fo r t F o o d o r J u s t D e lic io u s ?

Introducing our ‘Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich’ Readers’ Pick “Best Breakfast”

www.ophrestaurants.com ROCKVILLE • 301-468-0886 BETHESDA • 301-986-0285 • FALLS CHURCH • 703-698-6292

without a Sir Lancelot or Sir Galahad?

These parts are ably played by David Jennings and Nick Lehan. Like many other actors in the show, each portrays several different parts.

If you like your comedy broad, there is a lot of humor here. The audience member sitting next to me laughed pretty much non-stop through the whole show. “It’s stupid humor,” he said. “But it’s so funny.”

There’s also the requisite political incorrectness here and there. For example, there’s a scene in which a band of scoundrel knights demands that King Arthur put on a Broadway musical. He replies that he can’t because you need Jews for a successful Broadway show. The song “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” includes a number of Fiddler on the Roof parodies, and Arthur sets off in search of Jews.

In addition to the animated actors relishing every easy laugh, another laudable part of the production is the costumes.

The show includes change after change of

NewBegins Here

Your

Lifestyle

APARTMENT HOMES FOR THOSE 62 AND BETTER!

Ask about our Smoke Free Communities

DESIGNED AND MANAGED FOR TODAY’S SENIORS AT THESE LOCATIONS:

clothes, from drab peasant gear, to skintight purple disco-style bell bottoms, to a half dozen brides in teeny lace dresses.

Costume coordinator Munsey (yes, King Arthur) has done a stellar job.

(By the way, at Toby’s the actors also serve as waiters before the show and during intermission. Their tips make up a large part of their pay.)

The music from a small orchestra, comprised of keyboards, violin, drums trumpet and guitar, provides a rich accompaniment to the songs.

Unfortunately, the microphones worn by the actors sometimes muffled the punch lines of the jokes, occasionally diluting what surely would have been a funnier scene if you heard every word.

Spamalot ends with a reprise of the stirring anthem, “Find Your Grail.” And if your grail is to have an evening filled with slapstick humor, then you’ve found what you’re looking for in Spamalot, where you’ll almost certainly laugh a lot.

Spamalot continues through March 23 at Toby’s Dinner Theatre, 5900 Symphony Woods Rd., Columbia.

Ticket prices, which include an all-youcan-eat buffet, are $53 Sunday through Thursday evenings and Wednesday matinees. The price on Friday evenings is $54.50, Saturday evenings cost $56, and Sunday matinees are $51.

In addition to the regular buffet entrees of steamship round, roast turkey breast and baked Virginia pit ham, there is also a Spamalot special called Sir Loin of Loaf (meatloaf with mushroom gravy).

For tickets or more information, see www.tobysdinnertheatre.com or call (301) 596-6161 or 1-800-888-6297.

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

SUMMER SINGING CAMPS

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

EASTERN SHORE

Registration is now open for Encore

• Furnace Branch 410-761-4150

• Easton 410-770-3070

Choral’s two summer singing insti-

• Severna Park 410-544-3411

HARFORD COUNTY

tutes for adults 55 and older. The

BALTIMORE CITY

• Bel Air 410-893-0064

first camp will be held at Washington

• Ashland Terrace 410-276-6440

• Box Hill 410-515-6115

College in Chestertown, Md. and will

• Coldspring 410-542-4400

HOWARD COUNTY

run from Sunday, June 15 to Thursday,

BALTIMORE COUNTY

*Newly Renovated! • Colonial Landing 410-796-4399

June 19. There will also be a second

• Catonsville 410-719-9464

• Columbia 410-381-1118

program at the Chautauqua

• Dundalk 410-288-5483

• Ellicott City 410-203-9501

Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y. The

* Fullerton 410-663-0665

*Newly Renovated! • Ellicott City II 410-203-2096

registration deadline for the

• Miramar Landing 410-391-8375

• Emerson 301-483-3322

Washington College program is May

• Randallstown 410-655-5673

• Snowden River 410-290-0384

15, and for the Chautauqua program

* Rosedale 410-866-1886

*Newly Renovated! PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

• Taylor 410-663-0363

* Bladensburg 301-699-9785 • 55 or BETTER!

• Towson 410-828-7185

• Laurel 301-490-1526

• Woodlawn 410-281-1120

• Laurel II 301-490-9730

www.ParkViewSeniorLiving.com Call the community nearest you to inquire about eligibility requirements and to arrange a personal tour or email parkviewliving@sheltergrp.com.

Professionally managed by The Shelter Group. www.thesheltergroup.com

on July 30. The Chestertown program costs $695 and the Chautauqua program costs $1,065. These prices include all classes, materials, meals and housing. Commuters are welcome for a lower fee. For more information, call (301) 261-5747 or email info@encorecreativity.org.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

57

Rachmaninoff, Respighi, & more Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Daniil Trifonov, piano conductor Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano DEBUSSY: Nocturnes Nos. 1 & 2 RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini FALLA: El amor brujo (“Love, the Magician”) RESPIGHI: Pini di Roma (“Pines of Rome”)

THU., MAR. 13 AT 7 FRI., MAR. 14 AT 8 SAT., MAR. 15 AT 8 Part of the Green Series

Celebrating R. Strauss at 150: Don Juan & scenes from Elektra & Salome Christoph Eschenbach, conductor Iréne Theorin, soprano Don Juan Elektra—Recognition Scene Salome—“Dance of the Seven Veils” Salome—Final Scene

John Relyea, bass-baritone

THU., MAR. 20 AT 7 FRI. MAR. 21 AT 8 SAT., MAR. 22 AT 8 Part of the Blue Series

MARCH/APRIL CONCERTS

Conlon conducts Brahms, Shaham plays Korngold James Conlon, conductor Gil Shaham, violin ZEMLINSKY: Die Seejungfrau (“The Mermaid”) KORNGOLD: Violin Concerto BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme of Haydn

THU., APR. 10 AT 7 FRI., APR. 11 AT 8 SAT., APR. 12 AT 8 AfterWords: Thu., Apr. 4 performance followed by a discussion, free with purchase of concert ticket.

Part of the Blue Series

Mozart & Prokofiev Cornelius Meister, conductor Nikolai Lugansky, piano MENDELSSOHN: Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt, Overture (“Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”) PROKOFIEV: Piano Concerto No. 3 MOZART: Symphony No. 40

IRÉNE THEORIN

DANIIL TRIFONOV

NIKOLAI LUGANSKY

THU., APR. 17 AT 7 FRI., APR. 18 AT 8 SAT., APR. 19 AT 8

Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony

(202) 467-4600 nationalsymphony.org Tickets also available at the Box Office Groups (202) 416-8400

Osmo Vänskä, conductor Martin Fröst, clarinet SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 3 AHO: Clarinet Concerto MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 “Italian”

THU., APR. 24 AT 7 SAT., APR. 26 AT 8 Part of the Green Series ®

David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of the NSO. The NSO Music Director Chair is generously endowed by Roger and Vicki Sant.

The Blue Series is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation.

The Green Series is sponsored by

Beyond the Score —Why Italy?

Osmo Vänskä, conductor Take your musical appreciation to the next level with this half concert, half multimedia educational experience.

MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 “Italian”

FRI., APR. 25 AT 8 Part of the Green Series

Beyond the Score® is produced by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Gerard McBurney, Creative Director; Martha Gilmer, Executive Producer.

The Kennedy Center welcomes patrons with disabilities.

58

Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Real Monuments Men records on display

By Brett Zongker When art historians saw Paris fall to the Nazis in World War II, they immediately realized Europe’s vast monuments, art, cathedrals and architecture were at risk, and began mobilizing to protect such treasures.

In Washington, the then newly-opened National Gallery of Art became the U.S.

museum world’s epicenter for lobbying President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Allied forces in 1941 to prevent the destruction of Europe’s monuments. Their efforts would create a corps of U.S. and British soldiers who worked to protect cultural sites and recover looted art after the war.

Now for the first time, photographs,

On screen and off

BEACON BITS

Apr. 3

maps, correspondence and records — including lists of art amassed by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders — from the corps of soldiers known as “monuments men” are now on display at the National Gallery of Art, an archives gallery at the Smithsonian’s Donald W. Reynolds Center, and the National Archives.

SHAKESPEARE’S MYSTERIOUS LIFE

University of York Professor Brian Cummings will discuss the challenges of documenting the life of William Shakespeare on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. This lecture will open the Folger Institute’s research conference “Shakespeare and the Problem of Biography.” This free event will take place at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE, Washington, D.C. For more information or to reserve a seat, visit http://bit.ly/ShakespeareLecture or call (202) 544-4600.

George Clooney, Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett are also telling the story in the recently-released movie, The Monuments Men, drawing new attention to the history.

It’s a story straight out of the nation’s archives and art repositories from the records that real monuments men and women left behind.

One of them was George Leslie Stout, an art conservator at the Fogg Museum in Boston, who drafted a plan for a special

Seventh Annual Governor’s Leadership in Aging Awards — Nomination Form For Excellence and Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Aging and Quality of Life for Seniors Categories Trailblazer: An individual, community group, business or organization that has demonstrated leadership in advocacy or developed an innovative program, research or training for seniors.

Visual or Performing Arts: An individual 60 or older, or a group (members must be 55 or older) who has demonstrated excellence in the visual or performing arts.

Health and Vitality: An individual 60 or older, who demonstrates a commitment to healthy living, and who serves as a role model to others.

Nomination Information Select a category. Submit a nomination form (below) and a 500-word-or-less description or recommendation (why the nominee meets the criteria). Visual Arts nominations must be accompanied by photos, slides or a CD of artwork.

Performing Arts nominations must be accompanied by a DVD or web link to a video sharing site (e.g., YouTube).

Nominations that do not require supporting materials may be faxed to Wesley Wood at (410) 333-7943.

Download additional nomination forms at www.aging.maryland.gov. For more information, call (410) 767-2075 or 1-800-243-3425.

Nomination Form Person or Group Nominated: Name:___________________________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Daytime Phone:__________________________ Evening Phone:__________________________ Fax:__________________________ E-mail:____________________________________________ Category of nomination: ____________________________________________________________ Nominator Information: ❒ Self Nomination (check box if you are nominating yourself) Name:___________________________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Daytime Phone:__________________________ Evening Phone:__________________________ Fax:__________________________ E-mail:____________________________________________ E-mail form with your recommendation (500 words or less) and supporting materials to: wesley.wood@maryland.gov

Or mail to: Mr. Wesley Wood Maryland Department of Aging Governor’s Leadership in Aging Awards 301 W. Preston St., #1007 Baltimore, MD 21201

NOMINATIONS MUST BE POSTMARKED OR E-MAILED BY MARCH 28, 2014

military team to protect Europe’s art from Allied bombings.

He even enlisted in the Navy with hopes of seeing his plan through. Leaders at the National Gallery of Art pressed the case with justices of the Supreme Court and the president, and their efforts led to the creation of the U.S. Army’s Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section.

Shortly before D-Day, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower issued an order for every field commander to guard irreplaceable sites as Allied troops invaded the European mainland to defeat Germany.

“Inevitably, in the path of our advance will be found historical monuments and cultural centers which symbolize to the world all that we are fighting to preserve,’’ Eisenhower said in 1944. “It is the responsibility of every commander to protect and respect these symbols whenever possible.’’

Surrounded by the destruction of war, the monuments unit mapped important sites to save and later turned to recovering and returning stolen artwork — a change from the spoils-of-war practices of the past.

In the movie, Damon plays a character based on James Rorimer, then 39 and a curator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. His contributions included helping discover works of art looted from German museums that were stored in Germany’s Heilbronn mines, and helping to establish the Munich Collecting Point where works were received, processed and then restituted after the war. Rorimer died in 1966.

“If you got to know him, you realized that he’s got to be appreciated. Saving culture was ingrained upon him and he was successful,” said Harry Ettlinger, who as a 19-year-old U.S. soldier volunteered his See MONUMENTS MEN, page 59

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

Monuments Men From page 58 services to Rorimer after learning the Monuments Men needed someone who spoke German.

Ettlinger, one of only a handful of Monuments Men who are still alive, had fled Nazi Germany with his family the day after his bar mitzvah in 1938, and returned to Europe in 1945 with the U.S. Army. He inspired a character played by Dimitri Leonidas in the film.

Ettlinger said he quickly realized that Rorimer was a man who got things done, a “wheeler and dealer,” as Ettlinger put it.

Ettlinger recalled a time when Gen. George S. Patton’s men had their sights on moving into the building the Monuments Men planned to use for their Munich Collecting Point — a building that happened to be the former Nazi headquarters. According to Ettlinger, Rorimer quickly put a stop to that.

Belgium.

Among the documents on display are the records of art historian Rose Valland — who spied on the Nazis at the Paris museum where she worked and kept notes on plundered art — as well as the personal inventory of art looted for Nazi leader Hermann Goering’s personal collection.

One recently discovered “Hitler Album’’ of looted art also is displayed at the National Archives, while additional documents and archival photos are on display at the National Gallery of Art. A permanent “Monuments Men Experience’’ is being developed at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. It’s scheduled to open in 2016.

Examining the real records helps bring the story of the “monuments men’’ to life, said Maygene Daniels, chief of the National Gallery’s archives.

“What we’re trying to recreate is what it was like to be a young officer trained in art history or archaeology who finds yourself in

the military and has this amazing responsibility of protecting great art,’’ she said. “It was an extraordinary moment in history.’’

For more information, see the Monu-

59

ments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art at www.monumentsmenfoundation.org.

— AP

PAUL F. RIEKHOF ATTORNEY AT LAW

Estate Planning & Administration JOSEPH, GREENWALD & LAAKE, P.A. 111 Rockville Pike Suite 975 Rockville, MD 20850

135 W. Dares Beach Rd Suite 209A Prince Frederick, MD 20678

6404 Ivy Lane Suite 400 Greenbelt, MD 20770

Listed in Washington SmartCEO’s “Legal Elite” Complete estate plans to avoid probate, save taxes, and assure distribution according to your wishes. t 3FDFJWF FREE information on Estate Planning. t 4DIFEVMF B FREE 30-minute consultation to discuss your personal plan in our offices or your home.

240-399-7899

In the Smithsonian

Apr. 7

REGISTER FOR VIRGINIA BEAUTY PAGEANT

The Ms. Virginia Senior America Pageant organization is searching for women who are interested in becoming contestants. Contestant orientations are being held on Wednesdays, April 16 in Arlington, Va. and April 23 in Staunton, Va. The orientation registration deadline is April 7. For more information or to register, visit www.msvirginiasenior.com or call (703) 549-7012.

May 5

ACTIVE AGING EXPO

The City of Gaithersburg’s Annual Active Aging Expo will take place on Monday, May 5 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Activity Center of Bohrer Park, 506 S. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg, Md. This free event will include speakers, health screenings, demonstrations and pampering. For more information, call (301) 258-6380.

GROU SAVEPS !

PHOTO CORY WEAVER

for Entertainment on a Grand Scale!

The Kennedy Center welcomes patrons with disabilities.

The Magic Flute

American Ballet Theatre The Magic Flute A love-struck prince sets out on a fantastic adventure to rescue the Queen of the Night’s daughter in Mozart’s final opera. American director Harry Silverstein, whose The Marriage of Figaro wowed WNO audiences in 2010, directs a dynamic young cast, many in their WNO debuts. Conducted by WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin, this “zesty and imaginative new production” (San Francisco Chronicle) is certain to captivate audiences of all ages. Visit kennedy-center.org for casting.

May 3–18 Opera House David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of WNO. General Dynamics is the proud sponsor of WNO’s 2013-2014 Season.

Apr. 15–20 Opera House

The Magic Flute is a production of the Clarice Smith Opera Series.

American Ballet Theatre’s engagement is made possible through generous endowment support of The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund.

Side Show

New York City Ballet Boasting “an impressive new generation of dancers” (The New York Times), the renowned New York City Ballet performs Balanchine’s dazzling full-length Jewels (April 1 & 4–6). The company also dances a mixed repertory program (April 2 & 3)—Wheeldon’s Soirée Musicale, Peck’s Year of the Rabbit, t, and Ratmansky’s Namouna, A Grand Divertissement—with —with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

The Kennedy Center Ballet Season is presented with the support of Elizabeth and Michael Kojaian.

New York City Ballet’s engagement is presented with the support of the State Plaza Hotel.

PALOMA HERRERA IN DON QUIXOTE

The Kennedy Center Ballet Season is presented with the support of Elizabeth and Michael Kojaian.

The Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program is made possible through the generous support of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

Apr. 1–6 Opera House

The celebrated ABT offers a feast of choreographic fireworks with its spirited staging of Don Quixote (Apr. 17–20)—praised for its “glorious passages of choreography” (The New York Times)—plus a mixed repertory program (Apr. 15 & 16): Les Sylphides (Fokine/Chopin, arr. Britten), Aftereffectt (Gomes/ Tchaikovsky), and The Dream (Ashton/Mendelssohn) with the Kennedy Center Opera House orchestra.

Exciting casting available at kennedy-center.org!

PHOTO: ©GENE SCHIAVONE

BEACON BITS

Bring Your Group to the Kennedy Center

PHOTO: ©PAUL KOLNIK

Personal papers from Stout, Rorimer and other monuments men were later acquired by the Archives of American Art and the National Gallery.

Filmmakers consulted the archives in making the movie, including some of the records now displayed, said Kate Haw, director of the Smithsonian’s archive. “The movie will make a great story, and then people can come learn the history by coming to us,’’ she said.

Rarely seen images now on view at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum show a garden sculpture at the Palace of Versailles draped in camouflage netting for protection, the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, where the Nazis amassed stolen art, and the rescue of Michelangelo’s 1504 sculpture “Madonna and Child,’’ which had been stolen from a church in Bruges,

Step right up to this thrilling revival of the acclaimed 1997 Broadway musical. Chronicling their rise from freak circus attractions to famous vaudeville entertainers, Side Show w follows the Hilton sisters’ heartwarming search for fortune and love. Featuring Tony®-nominated music

by Henry Krieger and book and lyrics by Bill Russell and directed by Oscar® winner Bill Condon, it is “a fitting showcase for one of the 1990’s greatly underappreciated scores…unquestionably it dazzles” (Variety). y y).

June 14–July 13 Eisenhower Theater STERLING HYLTIN AND GONZALO GARCIA IN RUBIES FROM JEWELS

Musical Theater at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Adrienne Arsht Musical Theater Fund.

The Kennedy Center Theater Season is sponsored by Altria.

Additional support is provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

Tickets on sale now!

Groups (202) 416-8400 kennedy-center.org Visit our Web site at kennedy-center.org/groupsales

Tickets also available at the Box Office.

(202) 467-4600

60

Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Who’s best? Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Four lads from Liverpool they were — Rigby”) or silly (“Yellow Submarine”) or John, Paul, George and Ringo. They were dreamy (“Let It Be”). revered. They were knighted.

They were the kings, right?

They made more money than Wrong. most sovereign nations. They To this boomer, the Rolling are still whispered about in Stones set the standard beawe. cause they set the tempo.

They were the Beatles.

Hard-driving. Relentless. In If you stopped 100 baby your face. boomers on the street and A bit like the 1960s themasked them to name the definselves. ing icons of the 1960s, “The The Stones were never Boys” would win in a walk. moody, silly or dreamy. They HOW I SEE IT They sold more records By Bob Levey could take a song and deliver (remember them?) than Sinait, like a punch. tra. They popularized the mushroom-cap Much of the reason was their lead singer, haircut. They could go moody (“Eleanor the incomparable Mick Jagger. At 70-plus,

he is still the baddest apple in the barrel.

He can croon like a snake — and he moves like one, too. If Paul McCartney is Mr. Gentle, Mick Jagger is Mr. Dark and Stormy. If John Lennon was a singer/songwriter, Mick Jagger is a performer.

OK, enough italics. I can tell that you’ve got your dander up.

What, accuse the Beatles of being second best? Has Bob lost his mind?

No, fellow aging wonders. I humbly submit that Bob has found it.

Proof? Go back and listen to any eight songs of both groups.

I just did this a few days ago, on a dare. I caused that dare by proclaiming that “Satisfaction” (by the Rolling Stones) is the greatest rock and roll song of the 1960s.

This, of course, is one of those arguments that no one can win. It’s like trying to identify the greatest home run ever hit or the greatest movie ever made. Greatness is in the eye of the beholder.

But that didn’t stop either me or my friend Jim from jawing about this question

for more than an hour.

The dialogue went something like this: Jim: “The market spoke. The Beatles had more Number One hits. End of discussion.”

Bob: “Beginning of discussion. Rock and roll is about raising one’s temperature. We’re not talking about market share here, my man. We’re talking about dance-ability. Did anyone ever dance to ‘Love, Love Me, Do?’” Jim: “I hate to break it to you, my man, but you and I are men. Do you think the Beatles became fabulously popular because of men? No way. Women went cuckoo over them.”

Bob: “Fair enough. But women also went gaga over the Stones for a different reason.

They were the bad boys. The Beatles were the good boys. Women in the 1960s loved to say how much they prized the sensitivity of the Beatles. But when Mick got going on ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together,’ that was about more than sensitivity, if you catch my drift.”

See BOB LEVEY, page 61

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

SINGERS WANTED

Do you love to sing and make new friends? Celebration Singers, a women’s show choir performing at various community sites in Northern Virginia, is looking for members. Practice is held during the day on Wednesdays in Burke, Va. For more information, contact Gayle Parsons at (703) 644-4485 or gparsons3@cox.net.

Mar. 21

BACH’S BIRTHDAY

Georgetown University presents a free concert honoring Bach on his 329th birthday on Friday, March 21 at 1:15 p.m. in McNeir Hall in the New North Building, at 37th and O Sts. NW, Washington, D.C. Richard Stone will play the lute, and Mark Janello will play harpsichord. For more information, visit http://performingarts.georgetown.edu/fridaymusicseries.

Independent ◆ Respite Inquire about respite care for short-term stays… post-surgery • health & relaxation • caregiver relief WB 3/14

The Georgetown offers superb senior living in the heart of Washington, DC, with spacious apartments, an active, vibrant lifestyle, with the security of premium assistance and quality health care

• Fine Dining • Social and Cultural Activities • Chauffeured Transportation • and much more…

No Community Fees

Make our home, your home!

2512 Q Street NW, Washington, DC 20007

(202) 338-6111

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

FROM PAGE 62

61

ONE BIG HAPPY By Rick Detorie

ANSWERS TO SCRABBLE

ANSWERS TO CROSSWORD R A T A

A C H E

B U M P

A P O E M

S F F D

T A R O

I R E S

D E M O E N D I P P S Y M O A T T H I E E R

E L B A R E U P A N F R O T I L P P A E L O F B R O R E O S T W O B M A I O T H E R N E A M A C E D E R K N O E T C S R O S S

T I D A G I M U N C E I T E C T T H E R I D E A T L R C I T H E C S A D T I B W S B E H L A Y E T

E L L E

S E E M

S A U N A

S C A R

I S N T

A T E E

Classifieds cont. from page 63.

Wanted CASH FOR JEWELRY: Buying jewelry, diamonds, gold, platinum, silver, watches, coins, flatware, etc. We make house calls. Ask for Tom. Call anytime 301-654-8678 or 301-6540838.

WANTED: ANTIQUE ELECTRONICS, engineer’s estates, Hi-Fi Stereo, huge old loudspeakers, ham radios, records, professional quality musical instruments, antique computers, scientific curiosities. 202-527-9501, vcvdc@msn.com.

Bob Levey From page 60 Jim: “I catch your drift. But bear in mind that the Beatles wrote most of their own material, and all of their best stuff. Lennon and McCartney were geniuses. A lot of the Stones’ material was written by someone else.”

Bob: “Ah, but who captured the disaffection and dismay of young people better?

When Mick sang ‘You Can’t Catch Me,’ that was defiant and assertive in all the right ways. When the Beatles sang ‘I Want To

Letters to editor From page 2 Dear Editor: Fifty years ago this July 2, President Lyndon Johnson and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement crowded around a desk to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Do you remember where you were that day? Did you or members of your family fight for or bear witness to the change the Civil Rights Movement brought about in

Hold Your Hand,’ that was nothing but sugary glop.”

Jim: “And which group produced more imitators?”

Bob: “I’d say it was about even. For every Monkee, there was a Who. For every Beach Boy, there was a Door.”

Jim: “And which group gets covered more?”

There he had me. And for a reason that isn’t pleasant.

Just a few days ago, I sauntered into my local grocery store in search of yogurt and bread. I turned left at the navel oranges. I

was a man on a mission.

But suddenly, (with a bow to the Beatles), I wasn’t half the man I used to be.

“Yesterday” was playing through the store’s piped-in music system.

I stopped next to the gouda cheese and listened to a few bars. A full orchestra was playing the song. The arrangement was slow and squishy. It had no finger-poppingness, no sass, no drive. It was musical yogurt.

The Beatles had become a soggy sales tool.

As soon as I got home, I cued up Mick’s version of “Satisfaction.”

If you’ve never heard it, or you haven’t replayed it in 30 years, do yourself a favor.

This is an anthem of rebellion. A carol of scorn. A ballad of bad-appleness.

They’ll never play “Satisfaction” in any grocery, for sure.

You say the Beatles caught the flavor of their era? I say the Stones defined the flavor of that era.

Here come those italics again.

“I can’t get no….. I can’t get no….. I can’t get no…..”

Bob Levey is a national award-winning columnist.

our nation? What role has the legislation played in your life or the lives of your children and grandchildren?

I am asking Northern Virginians to join me in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act by submitting your stories to the Northern Virginia Civil Rights Archive: Personal Histories of Struggle and Achievement.

Please visit my website connolly.house.gov or call my office at (703) 670-4989 to tell your story. In the words of one archive participant,

“we all have music in us.” Together, we will create a collection of local testimonials that affords everyone the opportunity to sing their song.

Gerald E. Connolly Member of Congress 11th District of Virginia

BEACON BITS

Mar. 10

VIRTUAL GEORGIA O’KEEFE

Join Aurora Hills Senior Center for a virtual armchair tour of the work and life of artist Georgia O’Keeffe on Monday, March 10 at 1 p.m. O’Keeffe’s Santa Fe home inspired many of her most famous paintings.

The center is located at 735 S. 18th St., Arlington, Va. For more information or to register, call (703) 228-5722.

62

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Puzzle Page

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Crossword Puzzle Daily crosswords can be found on our website: www.TheBeaconNewspapers.com Click on Puzzles Plus All in the Family

by Stephen Sherr 1

2

3

4

5

7

8

17

28

24

29 34

37

38

42

25

39

61

Scrabble answers on p. 61.

32 36

40

41

44 47

45

48

49

50 53

31

13

26

35

43 46

12

22

30

33

11

19 21

23

10

16

18

20

52

9

15

14

27

6

51

54

55

56

62

57

58

59

60

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

Across 1. Attack the ‘fridge 5. Bonaparte-time island home 9. Ocean movements 14. About 75% of the area of a football field 15. Enlist again 16. Mentally quick 17. Spy show that transitioned from black and white to color 20. Fabulous fabulist 21. Cover the shower wall 22. News blurb 23. Monitor of the SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) 25. Pick a politician 27. Mini-series produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks 33. Walter Cronkite’s WWII-era employer 34. Speed Wagons 35. Patents’ first steps 37. Unkempt hair 38. Reservation count, on the ark 39. Vampire, when traveling 41. New Wave director Jean-___ Godard 42. Veteran of the cola wars 44. Artist Chagall 45. ___ pig’s eye 46. TV Guide’s second-worst show of all time 50. Johnny Carson’s original end time 51. Pitiful 52. “Immediately, nurse!”

55. Got a perfect score 57. Second longest bone in the human body 61. Its original sponsor was Kent cigarettes 64. Happy Meal component, generally 65. Draw with acid 66. Lovers’ destination 67. Dreamers’ opposites 68. Red-cheeked 69. Major conclusion

Down 1. Pro ___ 2. Heart or tooth symptom 3. Resentments 4. Showed off the new models 5. West end 6. ___ in the lurch 7. Squirrels, in the fall 8. Program that put 12 men on the moon 9. One up from upsilon 10. Set afire 11. It has a list of syns.

12. Palindromic fashion magazine 13. Give the impression 18. Divvy up 19. ___ cute (romantic comedy hallmark) 24. Not too many 26. Talks idly 27. Speed reducer 28. It is uglier than a tree 29. Like many November mornings 30. Sound of a sobber or specter 31. Museum piece 32. Hot house 36. Plastic surgeon’s target 39. Gin joint 40. Song and dance 43. Cover in gravy 44. Keepsake 47. Rip off 48. Data bandit 49. Non-toxic 52. Bay-area first responders 53. Poi source 54. It’s like kissing your sister 56. M*A*S*H’s Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre 58. Tuckered out 59. Ain’t better 60. Suit to ___ 62. End of “times” 63. Toddler’s refrain

Answers on page 61.

Answer: Given a "chance," they are opposite but the same -- SLIM AND FAT Jumbles: EJECT FINAL DEFAME SNUGLY

WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N — M A R C H 2 0 1 4

CLASSIFIEDS The Beacon prints classified advertising under the following headings: Business & Employment Opportunities; Caregivers; Computer Services; Entertainment; For Sale; For Sale/Rent: Real Estate; Free; Health; Home/ Handyman Services; Miscellaneous; Personals; Personal Services; Vacation Opportunities; and Wanted. For submission guidelines and deadlines, see the box at the right.

CAVEAT EMPTOR! The Beacon does not knowingly accept obscene, offensive, harmful, or fraudulent advertising. However, we do not investigate any advertisers or their products and cannot accept responsibility for the integrity of either. Respondents to classified advertising should always use caution and their best judgment.

EMPLOYMENT & REAL ESTATE ADS: We will not knowingly or intentionally accept advertising in violation of federal, state, and local laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, familial status or handicap in connection with employment or the sale or rental of real estate.

Say you saw it in the Beacon

Computer Services COMPUTER LESSONS – Personal Computer training at your home. Email, Internet, general computer use. Windows 8, Smartphone/tablet, digital camera. Learn at your own pace with gentle & patient tutor. We also troubleshoot problems & setup new computers. Teaching Seniors since 1996. Senior Discount. Call David, 301-762-2570, COMPUTERTUTOR.

Entertainment THE SHALOM SIGNATURE CLUB: If you like Bagels and Lox, Matzah Balls and Kugel, then you need to try our activities. We’re a dynamic social club geared to folks 50 and up. Many of our activities have a Jewish theme; most are free of charge and take place in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of Chevy Chase. Currently, our regular monthly schedule features two afternoon activities (at 1 p.m. and includes lunch) and two evening activities (usually 7 p.m.), plus a monthly Friday-eve Shabbat Dinner. For further info, visit www.ShalomSC.org or call 240-200-4515.

Financial Services AFFORDABLE ACCTG/TAX SOLUTIONS @ BAI-TECH. Automation, Bookeeping, Payroll Tax Planning, Preparation & Representation.

CPA on Demand 24/7. 26+ years experience.

Email inforequest@bai-tech.com or call 301-6082248.

For Sale/Rent: Real Estate Business and Employment Opportunities WALK DOGS FOR EXERCISE, fun, unconditional love and pay – DC/MD/VA regional leader in pet care excellence since 2002 seeks mature, loving, reliable mid-day walkers with strong interpersonal skills. Available minimum 4 consecutive hours/day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Need car, cell phone, Internet access. Consent to background check and work minimum 6 months in all weather.

Send resume ASAP to Waggy Walkys, LLC at hr@waggywalkys.com or call 703-745-9131.

PERSONAL ASSISTANT for caring, intelligent 57-year-old disabled woman in Takoma Park. Multi-tasking house and project management, administration, housekeeping, light bedside care. Part-time: prefer Saturday afternoons and 2 weekday afternoon/early evenings. $1820/hour. Requires: prior experience, laptop, cell, car. For job details: asquad56@gmail.com.

Caregivers A DEPENDABLE, LOVING, CARING NURSING ASSISTANT (CNA) wants to care for your loved one, day or night. Excellent references, own car, 240-476-0005.

ELDERLY CARE – Female provider, Englishspeaking with car. I’m experienced in caring for people with Parkinson’s, MS, Alzheimer’s and other health problems. I cook, clean and take to appointments. Excellent references. 301-2757283.

“A” Home Health Care – Experienced nurses, CNA, GNA are available 24/7. Cooking, companionship, personal care, housekeeping, driving.

Full/Part-time or live-in. Flat rate for live-in care. 15 years experience. 240-533-6599.

CNA/MED TECH ELDERLY CARE for livein/live-out, taking care of the elderly. 15+ years experience. Own transportation. Excellent references upon request. Pet friendly. 202-710-3127.

LOOKING FOR A LOVING, CARING, COMPASSIONATE, dependable and reliable caregiver with years of experience and references for your loved ones? Have experience with MS, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other health problems. Please call @ 301-908-9134.

I WILL CARE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES NIGHT/DAY. Own transportation. Good references. Lots of experience. 301-502-2258.

Computer Services PROBLEM WITH YOUR PC/MAC OR NETWORK? Computer Systems Engineer will come to you with help. Call: D. Guisset at 301-6424526.

LEISURE WORLD® - $238,500. 3BR 2FB 1HB “M” in Greens. Table space kitchen, separate dining room. Large enclosed balcony. New paint and carpet. 1530 sq ft. Stan Moffson. Weichert, Realtors, 301-928-3463.

LEISURE WORLD® - $259,000. 2 BR 2 FB “FF” in Overlook with garage + golf cart space.

Table space kitchen open to enclosed balcony with custom shades. Close to elevator. 1320 sq ft. Stan Moffson. Weichert, Realtors, 301-9283463.

LEISURE WORLD® - $145,000. 3 BR 2 FB “Ellicott” model with table space kitchen, separate dining room, separate laundry room, new paint and carpet, enclosed balcony. 1400 sq. ft.

Stan Moffson. Weichert, Realtors, 301-928-3463.

LEISURE WORLD® - $265,000. 3BR 2FB “Cabot” Patio home, with full 2-car garage, updated kitchen and new master bath. New paint and carpet. 1193 sq ft. Stan Moffson. Weichert, Realtors, 301-928-3463.

LEISURE WORLD® - $239,000. 3BR 2-1/2B “M” in the “GREENS.” Great space with enclosed balcony, new paint and carpet and separate storage room in basement. 1530 sq ft. Stan Moffson. Weichert, Realtors, 301-928-3463.

LEISURE WORLD® - $89,000. 2 BR 1-1/2 BA “Elizabeth” model Co-op. Spacious living and dining rooms, enclosed balcony, washer and dryer in unit. 1308 sq ft. Stan Moffson. Weichert, Realtors, 301-928-3463.

LEISURE WORLD® - $115,000. 1BR 1FB “A” model in “Fairways.” Wood floors, table space kitchen, separate dining room, enclosed balcony with golf course view. 850 sq ft. Stan Moffson.

Weichert, Realtors, 301-928-3463.

LOOKING TO TAKE THE LEAP? I’ll take you on a tour of the community, show you floor plans, discuss campus amenities, & offer how to best coordinate your move. I will preview units & contact you with a match. I also offer exceptional service selling your home. I’m a Seniors Specialist, Buyer Broker, Top 1% of Agents Nationwide, and a Leisure World resident! You can see my current listings on page 30. Contact me: 301-580-5556, SueHeyman@aol.com, www.SueHeyman.com, Weichert Realtors.

SILVER SPRING - $265,000. Own this 2-bedroom, 2-bath home in beautiful Creekside and forget about the exterior maintenance. Snow removal anyone? A few of the features are a table space kitchen, separate dining room, efficient gas heat and large enclosed balcony. Enjoy tennis, swimming, golfing, book club, group travel events, art and photography studios, (just to name a few of the many groups) in this gated 55+ community. Call Joan Brown to arrange to see this unit today. 301-681-0550, ext. 138 or 240-277-3132.

63

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES Deadlines and Payments: Ad text and payment is due by the 20th of each month.

Note: Only ads received and prepaid by the deadline will be included in the next month’s issue. Please type or print your ad carefully. Include a number where you can be reached in the event of a question. Payment is due with ad. We do not accept ads by phone or fax, nor do we accept credit cards.

Private Party Text Ads: For individuals seeking to buy or sell particular items, or place a personal ad. Each ad is $15 for 25 words, 25 cents for each additional word.

Business Text Ads: For parties engaged in an ongoing business enterprise. Each ad is $35 for 25 words, 50 cents for each additional word.

Note: Each real estate listing counts as one business text ad.

Send your classified ad with check or money order, payable to the Beacon, to:

The Beacon, D.C. Classified Dept.

P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227 For information about display advertising, or to request a media kit, call (301) 949-9766.

For Sale/Rent: Real Estate

Wanted

WE’LL BUY YOUR HOME Without the Hassles. Local Company in business since 2003.

BBB Accredited. Call 877-948-3232 today for details. No Obligation or Fees.

VINYL RECORDS WANTED from 1950 through 1985. Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, Reggae and Disco. 33 1/3 LPs, 45s or 78s, Larger collections of at least 100 items wanted. Please call John, 301-596-6201.

I BUY HOUSES ANY CONDITION – Fairfax County, VA. Save time, money and worry. Not an agent, no commissions. Female owned. 703-9695847, ibuyfairfaxhouses@gmail.com.

For Sale 2 SALVADOR DALI woodblock prints from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Signed and framed.

Asking $900 for the pair. Can email pictures if desired. Call Steve, 410-913-1653.

Home/Handyman Services EXPERT ROOF REPAIRS and new installations. 40 years experience. 5 year warranties.

Rated A on Angie’s List. See our photo gallery at RamboandRamboConstruction.com. MHIC# 8342. Call, 301-220-4222.

Miscellaneous THE GOLDEN NETWORK offers Jewish seniors and retirees a variety of engaging programs, including lectures, classes, one-on-one learning in person and by phone, concerts, sing-alongs and more! For more information and details about upcoming events, call 301-338-4810, email info@goldennetwork.org, or see goldennetwork.org.

Personal Services READY TO DE-CLUTTER? I can help. Sort, donate, discard. Reasonable rates. Call Jan, 301933-7570.

VAN MAN – For your driving needs. Shopping, appointments, pick-up and deliver – airport van.

Call Mike, 301-565-4051.

WILL TYPE YOUR MEMOIRS, manuscripts, etc. For info and rates, call 703-671-1854.

CHERYL’S ORGANIZING CONCEPTS LLC – Professional Organizing Services. Help with all aspects of home organizing. Experienced – References – Member NAPO. All work confidential. Licensed – Bonded. $25 discount on initial appointment. www.CherylsOrganizing.com. 301-916-9022.

Wanted

OLD AND NEW WE BUY Sterling Silver Flatware, Tea Sets, Single Pieces, Fountain Pens, Lighters, Tools, Cameras, Glassware, Art Work.

Toys From Trains to Hotwheels to Star Wars.

Call Greg, 717-658-7954.

HIGHEST CASH PAID FOR ANTIQUES, JEWELRY, ESTATES. I have been advertising in the Senior Beacon for 20 years. Montgomery County resident – will travel to D.C., MD, VA. Buying following items: Furniture, art, jewelry, gold, sterling silver, old coins, vintage pocket and wrist watches, old tools, books, camera, military items – guns, rifles, knives, pocket knives, swords etc. Also buying: old toys, dolls, trains, comic books, photographs, autographs, musical instruments, guitars, violins, etc. Also old sports memorabilia and equipment – baseball, golf, football, fishing etc. Please call Tom at 240-4763441.

BUYING MILITARY MEMORABILIA WW2, WW1, Civil War uniforms, weapons, photos and items associated with US, German, Japanese or items of other Military History. DAVE, 240-4640958.

WE PAY CASH for antique furniture, quality used furniture, early American art, pottery, silver, glassware, paintings, etc. Single items to entire estates. Call Reggie or Phyllis at DC 202726-4427, MD 301-332-4697.

FINE ANTIQUES, PAINTINGS AND QUALITY VINTAGE FURNISHINGS wanted by a serious, capable buyer. I am very well educated [law degree], knowledgeable [over 40 years in the antique business] and have the finances and wherewithal to handle virtually any situation. If you have a special item, collection or important estate, I would like to hear from you. I pay great prices for great things in all categories from Oriental rugs to Tiffany objects, from rare clocks to firearms, from silver and gold to classic cars. If it is wonderful, I am interested. No phony promises or messy consignments. References gladly furnished. Please call Jake Lenihan, 301-2798834. Thank you.

STAMP COLLECTIONS, AUTOGRAPHS purchased/appraised – U.S., worldwide, covers, paper memorabilia. Stamps are my specialty – highest price paid! Appraisals. Phone Alex, 301309-6637. Stampex1@gmail.com.

CASH FOR RECORDS & CDs. BEST PRICE GUARANTEED. Free appraisals. All types of music, 33, 45, 78 & CDs. Call Steve 301646-5403. Will make house calls.

CASH FOR ESTATE BUYOUTS, estate clean-outs, jewelry to furniture, one item or whole state. Free Estimate, Will Travel. 301520-0755.

WANTED – USED CAR: Prefer domestic automobile. Private party. No dealer calls please.

Call 301-787-7554.

MILITARY ITEMS WANTED: Collector seeks to purchase military uniforms; flight jackets, patches, insignia, medals, etc. from the Civil War through Vietnam. Especially seeking U.S. Army Air Corps, USMC, Airborne, and German/Japanese/Italian items from WWII. ALSO BUYING old Boy Scout, Airline Items, Toys, Lighters. Call Dan, 202-841-3062.

WE BUY OLD AND NEW JEWELRY, Coins, Silver and Gold, Paper Money Too. Watches, Clocks and Parts, Military Badges and Patches Old and New. Call Greg, 717-658-7954.

STERLING SILVER – I WILL PAY TOP DOLLAR for your silver marked “sterling,” “925,” “800.” Please, no silver plate. Want flatware, bowls, plates, candlesticks, etc. Call Richard, 301-646-0101.

Classifieds cont. on p. 61

64

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

M A R C H 2 0 1 4 — WA S H I N G T O N B E A C O N

Think Again.

Think Holy Cross Hospital for some of the brightest minds in Neuroscience Care.

Sophisticated Surgery Repairs Raquel Salientes’ Spine Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Raquel Salientes decided to take a stand against back pain when it started interfering with her lifestyle.

Raquel went to see her doctor. “He told me I needed to have surgery soon,” she says.

Dr. Schneider performed a minimally invasive laminectomy to enlarge Raquel’s spinal canal, giving the nerves more space. Then he did a minimally invasive fusion to stabilize her spine. During the approximately two-hour, computer-assisted surgery, Dr. Schneider continuously monitored Raquel’s spinal cord function to prevent any spinal cord injury during the procedure itself.

Experience Matters

Rapid Recovery

She met with Philip Schneider, MD, orthopedic spine surgeon and medical director, Holy Cross Hospital Spine Center.

After the surgery, Raquel felt much better. “I could get up without feeling any pain whatsoever,” she says. Raquel spent two days recovering at the Philip Schneider, MD hospital, where specially Medical Director, Spine Center trained nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists cared for her. “My nurses were wonderful. I mean, tender loving care—they had it,” Raquel says.

“When I started walking hunched over to relieve the pain, I knew something needed to be done,” Raquel says. “The pain had progressively gotten worse since 2006.”

“My goal is to get a patient better without surgery,” he says. “And most patients do get better without surgery by using pain management, physical therapy and/or medication.”

However, Raquel had tried many types of pain management and had not gotten any better. Dr. Schneider agreed that surgery was Raquel’s best option for pain relief.

With more than a decade of minimally invasive spine surgery experience, Dr. Schneider made a very positive impression on Raquel. “I had a lot of confidence in Dr. Schneider, and I decided that I wanted him to do the operation,” she says.

View a video about Raquel’s treatment and learn more about spine care at HolyCrossHealth.org/spine An Accurate Diagnosis “Raquel was very clear with what her troubles were,” Dr. Schneider says. “We used X-rays and MRI (magnetic resonance image) scans to provide additional information. Then we had a good, clear diagnosis, and the solution wasn’t difficult.”

Raquel had spinal stenosis—a narrowing of the spinal canal, and she also had spondylolysis, where two vertebrae in her spine were slipped out of place—making the pinching of the nerves even worse.

Today, Raquel has big travel plans. “I have nine children, 23 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren,” she says. “I love to travel and am looking forward to seeing all of them.”

To learn more about neuroscience care at Holy Cross Hospital call 301-754-8266 or visit HolyCrossHealth.org

FREE PHYSICIAN LECTURES All lectures are held at Holy Cross Hospital, 1500 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

To register or for more information, call 301-754-8800 or visit HolyCrossHealth.org.

Wednesday, March 26, 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, 6 p.m.

Neuro Interventional Kyphoplasty for Management of Treatments for Stroke Acute Spinal Compression Fractures James Jaffe, MD, Interventional Neuroradiology

Anil Narang, DO, Neuroradiology

Wednesday, May 28, 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, 6 p.m.

Stroke Prevention What is Epilepsy?

How Does It Affect You? Shahid Rafiq, MD, Neurology Gregory Mathews, MD, Epileptology