Healthy Aging: September 2015

a PubliCation from monmouth medical center, southern campus

HEALTHY aGING september 2015

stay safe in tHe sun HealtH CoaCHes to the rescue do volunteers live longer? ‘broadway’ boogie

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How To

eat healthy

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WElcomE lEttEr Welcome to the newest issue of our Healthy Aging newsletter.

It’s no secret that health care is changing, and every day, so are lives across the region.

We’re changing, too, to ensure we remain focused on providing high-quality patient care and meeting the needs of the region’s older adults.

One of the most visible displays of our commitment to patient care is our three-phase renovation project. In this issue, you’ll read more about the unveiling of our newly renovated, private rooms. Expected to be ready for occupancy soon, this transition means Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus (MMCSC) will be the only hospital in the region to offer all private rooms for overnight stays.

You’ll also read about the people who make a difference in the hospital and outside of our walls every day—from two remarkable physicians and a dedicated member of the MMCSC Foundation Board, all of whom were recognized as this year’s outstanding humanitarians, to our busy health coaches helping keep seniors healthy so they can stay out of the hospital, to a long-time volunteer who is reaping the benefts of giving back.

We’ve also highlighted a “grandfamily” much like some of yours to shine a light on a special support group for the many grandparents who step in as caregivers for their grandchildren. As always, you’ll fnd information important to your health and well-being, such as the dangers of mixing medications and the sun and top tips for seniors to maintain a healthy diet.

I hope you fnd this issue of Healthy Aging interesting and informative. I look forward to hearing more of your feedback and hope you continue sharing thoughts on the programs that mean the most to you.

Best wishes for a healthy and safe fall season!

Sincerely, Jessica l. Israel, m.D.

Section Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Care Monmouth Medical Center

This artist’s rendering shows what the new private rooms at Monmouth Medical Center’s Southern Campus will look like.

prIvatE rooms on thE rIsE InItIatIve Is part of a larger commItment to patIent care.

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ven the most social individuals prefer privacy in the hospital. And soon all of the rooms at Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus, will be private, making it the only hospital in the region to offer all private rooms for overnight stays.

The new 54 Medical/Surgical and 10 Critical Care Unit rooms are expected to be ready for occupancy soon. Amenities will include fat-screen TVs, an updated nurse call system and special features for geriatric patients, including brighter lighting, safer beds and more security.

“Private rooms reduce the risk of transmission of infections,” says Kelly Zabriskie, director of infection control and risk management at the medical center. Indeed, studies have suggested that being in private rooms benefts patients in several ways.

“Private patient rooms are proven to aid patients in the healing process by giving them private space to recover,” adds Michael Mimoso, MHSA, FACHE, president and CEO. When patients feel they lack privacy or when they’re exposed to noise and crowding, it can increase their stress level. In particular, excess noise can lead to increased anxiety and pain perception.

Patients report higher satisfaction rates when cared for in a private room. “There was a noticeable spike in our patient experience ratings when we ran a pilot program that put patients in private rooms,” says Judy Colorado, R.N., chief operating offcer and chief nursing offcer. “And the staff loves private rooms—they only have to care for one patient at a time.”

The private rooms are the second step in a three-phase renovation project at the medical center. A main lobby facelift was completed earlier this year, and the fnal phase of the plan—renovating the grounds, parking, lobby area and entrance to Outpatient Services on Route 9—is under way. The hospital also has updated its equipment, adding round-theclock telemetry monitoring for all of its inpatient beds.

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Support for ‘GRAndFAMILIeS’ Weekly group meetings help a lakeWood couple navigate the challenges of parenting their grandkids.

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ike more and more grandparents these days, Herb and Julian Bellamy, a retired Lakewood couple, have taken over care for their grandchildren— 14-year-old twin granddaughters and a 5-year-old grandson.

The family has been helped in numerous ways by Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus’ Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group.

Recently, in fact, that group went above and beyond its usual call of duty.

The twins, Meisha and Alisha, were assaulted in school and no longer felt safe there. “They are talented and bright, but they live in challenging circumstances,” says Kathleen Holahan, coordinator of the support group. “These are tough girls who can take care of themselves, but one ended up in the emergency room after she was thrown to the foor in gym class.”

Immediately, the support group began searching for another school for the twins and approached Sisters Academy in Asbury Park. The school is dedicated to providing a quality education to girls from urban environments in grades fve through eight, but it typically doesn’t accept eighth graders.

However, after meeting with Meisha and Alisha, Sisters Academy not only accepted them, it offered a generous scholarship, which was supplemented

by an anonymous Barnabas Health employee to fund their entire tuition.

At Sisters Academy, the twins thrived—so much so that they applied to Red Bank Catholic High School. “These girls were very well prepared,” says Holahan. “They had all of their paperwork done.

They had a lot of questions for the school—very adult questions—and I was just amazed by them. The school was too.” So amazed, in fact, that Red Bank awarded Meisha and Alisha a full scholarship to start there in the fall.

The grandparents support group, which began in 2009, has evolved over time, according to Holahan. “It started as just a support group, but as the kids get older, the issues become larger and the amount we do is larger.” The Bellamy family has participated in the group from its start, and Holahan is thrilled to see

the twins do so well. “These kids are extraordinary, and the way that everything fell into place is extraordinary,” she says. “It’s onward and upward for them now. This is what happens when a village comes together to help.”

Grandparents raisinG Grandchildren support Group At the free weekly meetings sponsored by Monmouth Medical Center’s Southern Campus, participants learn from and share with others facing the challenges of being a “grandfamily.” The group meets at the Center for Healthy Living, 198 Prospect St., Lakewood, every Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact Kathleen Holahan or Janis Marler at 732.730.9112.

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‘health coaches’

FOR A WINNINg TEAM This dynamic duo works Tirelessly To help ocean counTy seniors sTay healThy.

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here’s no such thing as a typical day for Kelly DeLeon and Peggy Lomerson, health coaches at Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus. But they’re always busy with some activity that involves educating seniors, providing advice and immersing themselves in the community.

For the past three-plus years, the pair have been out in the Ocean County community, giving lectures at libraries, providing free screenings at senior centers and offering other services, reaching roughly 4,000 people a year. Sometimes they are accompanied by a physician or a nurse, but many times they go on their own, individually or together, depending on their schedule and the numbers of people at the venue. Either way, says Lomerson, “we work together to get it done.”

Their audiences may consist of hundreds of people, or just two. The people they see are active 55+-year-olds who typically still live at home. Topics for the health coaches’ lectures vary and include things like how to avoid falling, how to spot warning signs of conditions such as diabetes and heart disease and what women should know about the danger to their bones from osteoporosis.

The health coaches’ main service is education, and their goal, as DeLeon says, “is to help keep seniors healthy so they can stay out of the hospital.” To that end, DeLeon and Lomerson provide a wide range of nonclinical services. For example, they help seniors schedule appointments, help arrange their transportation to treatment, help determine what their insurance covers and who is “in network,” and answer questions like “Where can I get an MRI?” It takes special individuals to sift and sort through people’s medical and sometimes personal issues to get them to the right place and people they need. “I never have a boring day,” says Lomerson. She worked previously as a case manager assisting patients recently discharged from psychiatric hospitals. Now she’s

thrilled to be helping seniors.

Peggy Lomerson “I adore seniors,” she says.

“They’re like living history.

They’ve seen things I will never see.”

Prior to becoming a health coach, DeLeon was an elementary school teacher.

She has gone from working with kids to advising seniors.

She has also made several trips to earthquake-ravaged Haiti to volunteer her services working with children there.

Kelly DeLeon As for the role she now plays as a health coach helping the community’s seniors, she says, “I thrive on working with people.”

DeLeon says she enjoys bumping into people in the supermarket who have attended her programs and stop to thank her for her advice. Such encounters are more evidence of what is already clear: The health coaches have made an impact on the community, touching individuals and improving their lives. “We even have ‘groupies’—some of the same people who follow us from place to place,” DeLeon reports with a smile.

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A volunteer’s 50 years

This busy, TalenTed worker has long devoTed herself To helping oThers—and she’s benefiTed Too.

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t began with gratitude. When Annemarie Gilman’s 2½-year-old son suffered an eye injury that could have permanently damaged his eyesight, she took him for treatment to Kimball Medical Center (now Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus), and under the care of its clinicians he fully recovered.

“I was very, very grateful to the hospital, and I started volunteering then in the maternity ward,” she recalls. That was in 1967.

It’s not quite accurate to say Gilman is nearing the half-century mark as a volunteer, because her work eventually led to a full-time job at the medical center, and the skills she thereby acquired helped to prepare her for her next position—as executive director of a Swiss social service agency. (She is Swiss-born.) She took a break from the medical center while she had that demanding job, but upon her retirement seven years ago Gilman came right back and resumed her volunteer efforts.

Now Gilman comes in about two days a week and handles duties ranging from filling water pitchers to updating databases in Excel to performing general office duties to wheeling patients or their guests to their destinations. Like many who donate their time and effort, she fills in as needed, doing pretty much anything, anywhere in the medical center. In her spare time at home, she’s also one of several volunteers who knit lap robes for patients.

Besides being a volunteer, a staffer and the mother of a patient, Gilman has been a patient at the medical cen-

ter herself. “Years ago I had a bone-marrow puncture,” she recalls. “It was very painful. But the nurse put her hand on my shoulder during the procedure, and that meant a lot to me. It was very comforting.”

Volunteering helps patients and busy clinicians, of course, but it’s also widely reported to be good for the volunteers, and Gilman gives it a hearty endorsement.

“It keeps me on my toes,” she says. “I have to use my brain, and it’s physical exercise too. Volunteering makes me feel appreciated. And the staff is warm, friendly and upbeat.”

People like Gilman are appreciated, says Donna Salin, the medical center’s director of Volunteer Resources, who oversees its roughly 400 volunteers. And they benefit as well. She remembers one volunteer recently confiding that “‘I tell people, ‘You’re going to live a lot longer if you volunteer.’” And while there’s no guarantee of that, Salin adds: “It does tend to be true—you get older faster if you’re idle at home.”

For some older adults, it’s a way to beat the blues.

“Volunteering brings the focus outward, not inward,” says Salin. “It’s a cure for boredom.” She adds that for people who would benefit from having more human contact, volunteering can be an elixir. “There’s a big social aspect to it. People who are engaged are healthier and have a better mental outlook.”

To find out about joining Annemarie Gilman as a volunteer and becoming part of the Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus, family, please call Donna Salin at 732.886.4650.

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Your keys to eATING RIGHT Lighten up on saLt, sugar and red meat; go heavy on fiber, water, fruits and veggies, and Lean protein sources.

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rick question: “Now that you’re a senior, eating healthy is just as important as it was when you were young. True or false?”

Answer: False.

It’s actually much more important!

Don’t be tricked into believing you can live on donuts, pizzas, chips, colas and beer as you may have at 18. Older adults have different nutritional needs and, in terms of the potential effects of diet on health, they’re playing for higher stakes.

For one thing, you’ve likely become less physically active as you’ve aged, so you need to take in few-

er calories to maintain the same weight. Choosing mostly nutrient-dense foods can give you the good stuff you need while limiting calories.

Also, age-related changes may mean you now have greater diffculty absorbing certain vitamins and minerals—such as Vitamin B12, which promotes healthy nerves and red blood cells, and folate, which helps ward off anemia. (B12 sources include meat, fsh, poultry, eggs and milk; folate is plentiful in fruits and vegetables and fortifed breakfast cereals.)

Maintaining a healthy diet and weight can help stave off a host of conditions common in seniors, including heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and constipation. And though the most nutritious foods may not rival cream-flled cupcakes in the immediate “wow” they give your taste buds, over the long haul they’ll make you feel better too,

Make it taste great!

Does healthy eating in your older years mean putting up with bland, boring meals? No way, insists Diane Henderiks. This well-known chef and dietician is one of America’s top healthy cooking experts. On TV she has appeared on Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, The CBS Early Show and Good Day New York, and she’s been featured in The New York Times and Shape magazine. Now the Monmouth University grad is partnering with the Better Health program at Monmouth Medical Center,

boosting your energy level and improving your quality of life.

You probably know what to avoid—too much sugar or salt, too many fried foods and high-fat items (though fatty fsh are healthy) and too much red meat. So what should you eat?

The National Institute on Aging says these foods should be the foundation of a healthy diet for older people: • Raw vegetables, fruits, dairy products in moderation and lean sources of protein.

• Foods low in added sugars and solid fats.

• Foods low in sodium (particularly important for seniors with hypertension).

• High-fber foods and whole grains, such as brown rice, whole-grain cereals and whole-wheat bread.

Also, drink plenty of water, consider a daily multivitamin tablet (but don’t use it as an excuse for unbalanced meals!) and get plenty of calcium. (Good calcium sources include milk, green beans, broccoli and fsh canned with bones.)

Southern Campus, in a series of initiatives.

Henderiks is making the rounds in Ocean County, attending social events, giving talks at senior communities, and otherwise spreading the healthy-eating gospel. For example, she’ll demonstrate better ways to cook up nutritious meals that your conscience and your taste buds can agree on.

“Any dish can be revamped to be good for you,” says Henderiks on her website. “It just takes a little education and fnesse.

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FOUNDATIONFOCUS

Trio honored at ‘BROADwAy’ BASH At this AnnuAl gAlA, humAnitAriAns were recognized for leAdership And philAnthropy.

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he Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus Foundation recently had its annual Humanitarian Gala at Eagle Oaks Country Club in Farmingdale. The foundation honored three individuals for their philanthropy and leadership within the hospital community. And while the work of the medical center is certainly serious, the gala itself was…a ball! The Broadway-themed event included live performers and even a paparazzo.

Honorees Munir Ahmed, M.D., Thomas Calabro and James T. Zipagan, M.D., were fêted for helping the medical center adapt to the changing health care landscape while continuing to offer outstanding service to the surrounding community.

Dr. Ahmed is a board-certifed orthopedic surgeon who has been chief of orthopedics for both his private practice, Jersey Shore Orthopedics in Toms River, and Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus.

He is credited with serving approximately 100,000 patients in Ocean County, among his other accomplishments. Calabro has been on the foundation’s board since 2005. Owner of Twin City Jewelers, he played a critical role in the development of the Geriatric Emergency Medicine Unit. As emergency medicine physician and past chair of the Emergency Department at the Southern Campus, Dr. Zipagan was responsible for orchestrating the development of the Fast Track Department, which manages minor emergency cases.

“Gala” moments, from top, left to right: Michael Mimoso, president and CEO of Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus (MMCSC); Thomas Calabro; James Zipagan, M.D.; Munir Ahmed, M.D.; James Maida, chairman of the Foundation Board; Denice Gaffney, vice president of the MMCSC Foundation. Irene McNamara, manager of community education and wellness, is greeted by the “paparazzi” as ft the Broadway theme. Entertainment included Mama Mia! MMCSC Foundation’s Michelle Ressalei enjoyed “Broadway” food: a soft pretzel and a famous NYC hot dog. A parade of Lion King characters got guests off their feet.

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siMple sundried toMAto, cheddAr COMMUNITY CALENDAR & herB FrittAtA By diAne henderiks Here are some upcoming events that will be of interest to seniors. The location is the Center for Healthy Living, Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus, unless otherwise noted.

INGREDIENTS Serves 4 • 1 tsp. olive oil • ¼ cup red onion (sliced thinly) • 3 whole eggs plus 3 egg whites • ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese • ½ cup sliced sundried tomatoes

• 1 Tb. of your favorite fresh herbs (I like basil, parsley and thyme in this one.)

• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

septeMBer • 8, 22 SelF-deFense For older Adults

• ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

1. Gather ingredients.

2. Place oven grate about 8 inches from broiler and preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Heat olive oil in medium cast iron pan over medium heat. Add onion and saute 2–3 minutes until soft.

4. In large bowl, whisk whole eggs and whites well. Add cottage cheese, sundried tomatoes, herbs and black pepper. Whisk well.

Tuesdays 10–11 a.m.

5. Stir in ¼ cup cheddar cheese and pour egg mixture into pan with onions, reduce heat to low and cook about 10 minutes until the eggs are just set.

6. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes.

7. Top with reserved ¼ cup cheddar cheese.

8. Remove from oven and place in center of the table and serve right from the cast iron pan.

9. Enjoy!

Recipe brought to you by Better health, a free membership program created just for seniors from Monmouth Medical Center, Southern Campus. To learn more, visit barnabashealth.org/betterhealth and click ‘Join Today.’

• 8, 22 BereAveMent support group

Tuesdays 2:15–3:30 p.m. & 3:30–4:45 p.m.

• 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 cAregivers support group

Tuesdays 12–2 p.m., Wednesdays 12:15–2:15 p.m.

• 9, 16, 23, 30

MedicAtions + sun

grAndpArents rAising grAndchildren support group

They can be a hazardous combinaTion. sTay safe!

Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

We all know too much sun exposure can harm the skin. But did you realize that medications you’re taking could interact with sunlight or heat to make you burn more easily?

“Take a moment to read the printed information you get with your medication,” advises Kim Walsh, director of pharmacy at Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center. While taking certain medications, you may need to limit sun exposure even more than you normally would.

Some common prescription and over-thecounter medications can trigger an increase in sensitivity to sunlight, known as photosensitivity, explains Henry Leach, a pharmacist at the Behavioral Health Center. Interactions with medications can cause edema (fuid buildup in tissue), heart problems and other issues.

Extra caution may be needed if you’re taking: Antibiotics. “They can give you a wicked burn—and raise your core body temperature so you feel like a steam engine inside,” says Walsh.

Mood stabilizers. These can help trigger reactions such as hives, sunburn and rashes.

Blood-pressure medications. Beta blockers, vasodilators and diuretics often require extra

care in the sun, our experts say.

So how should you protect yourself? With careful use of sunblock, for one thing—and make sure it’s rated with an “SPF” (sun protection factor) of 30 or higher. “Put it on at least 45 minutes to an hour before you go outside,” says Walsh.

“And reapply it at least every two hours—more often if you go swimming.”

Wear a hat with a brim to protect your scalp and forehead. And don’t lose track of time.

Besides a sunburn, warns Leach, “you could get an electrolyte imbalance from sweating out too much fuid.”

“When you’ve been outside for a while, come in, cool down and drink some water,” suggests Walsh. “Not sports drinks. Not iced tea. Water! If you need a favor, put an orange or a lemon in it.”

Finally, because heat itself can sometimes be an extra hazard, seek out air conditioning if you’re uncomfortably warm indoors.

The bottom line: Be safe, not sorry. When you receive a prescription from your doctor and when you fll it with your pharmacist, ask about any increased risks with sun exposure. Take notes on what you learn and heed their warnings!

• 11, 18, 25 chAir yogA

Fridays, 2–3 p.m. ($5 per class) • 21 FAll prevention lunch And leArn

12 p.m. at the Center for Healthy Aging

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