Abbie Road

      Mum was born in County Kildare, Ireland, and she married my Dad, a U.S. soldier in England during WWII.  Shortly after their marriage Dad was sent to a Veteran’s Hospital in Coral Gables, Florida.
      At that time, all the transport back to America was used for returning troops, so civilian travel was severely restricted.  My pregnant mother was left behind, and it was more than a year after my twin, Paul, and I were delivered that Mum was able to book us passage to “cross the pond” on the Queen Elizabeth. 
      She traveled alone with two active babies and how she accomplished this is a lesson in the strength of motherhood.  When asked how, her matter of fact reply was “It just had to be done.”  Remember, at that time there were no disposable diapers, formula, or jars of baby food available.  We were assigned to the bowels of the ocean liner, and Mum said the cabin was so small she had to get on the single bunk with one of us in each arm in order to close the door with her foot. 
      It took a harrowing two weeks as the weather was gale force and slowed the passage.  Once we arrived in New York, Mum took us by train all the way to Miami, Florida.  Her next task, with a twin on each hip, was to find a place for us to live until Dad was discharged from the hospital. 
      This Irish tale, however, isn’t unusual, from the countless stories I’ve heard over the years about other families in the 1940’s and early 50’s.  In time, Dad learned plumbing and Mum looked after a family that grew to six boys and two girls. Many other families learned to build their own homes, can their own foods, and budget precisely.  But growing up in the struggles of a large family in a culturally diverse home, with Mum’s perseverance as an ideal to be emulated, taught me that some things “just have to be done”  ~ and often we’re the better for it.

One of the sessions at the National Council on Aging Conference earlier this month was an overview of vaccines that are available to prevent many diseases affecting older individuals, including influenza, pneumococcal disease, pertussis (whooping cough), and herpes zoster (shingles).  These vaccines prevent not only the diseases themselves but also their complications (eg. pneumonia in influenza, postherpetic neuralgia in shingles), which can carry even greater frequency of disease and illness.

Common barriers to adult vaccination include lack of knowledge and false beliefs.  According to Dr. Susan Burke, Director, Internal Medicine Clinical Care, Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, Tdap and the zoster vaccine, offer significant benefits to adult health.

Tdap protects against tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis.  Children are vaccinated against these diseases, but the protection against pertussis declines after 5 to 10 years.  Until recently, the adult vaccination schedule provided protection only against tetanus and diptheria.  Consequently, approximately 170,000 adults develop pertussis (whooping cough)  each year.  Those affected can suffer considerable morbidity including weeks of paroxysmal coughing, rib fractures, disturbed sleep, and weight loss.  Tdap is now recommended as a one-time replacement dose for Td in adults aged 19 to 64 years, and may be administered earlier than the suggested 10-year interval in certain individulas.

 The zoster vaccine protects against herpes zoster (shingles), which is a result of reactivation of latent infection with varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the virus responsible for chickenpox.  Virtually all of today’s older adults were infected with VZV as children, and thus are at risk for herpes zoster.  Cell-mediated immunity to zoster declines with age, so older adults are at a greater risk than younger ones.  Herpes zoster is characterized by a painful rash; if the rash occurs in the eye, there can be considerable, even sight-threatening, complications.  In addition, some patients develop postherpetic neuralgia, a neuropathic pain that persists after rash healing.  This painful complication, which is difficult to treat and erodes quality of life, is also more common among older adults.  The zoster vaccine is now available and recommended for immunocompetent adults aged 60 years and older to help prevent herpes zoster.

Are you Experienced?  If so the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan wants to hear from you.  With the first of 77 million Abbies (aging baby boomers) turning 60, the United States is facing a massive demographic shift.  Research indicates that nearly 45 million boomers want to be involved in work–paid or volunteer–that helps others.  Is Southeast Michigan poised to benefit from the tremendous energy, vitatlity and creativity of the largest generation ever to enter retirement age?

 The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan wants to learn more about how these experienced adults are–or want ot be–involved in their communities.  They also hope to learn about the challenges and opportunites related to engaging older adults in community change.

You are invited to take the Community Experience Survey to tell how you feel the experience and expertise of older adults can be tapped to address the issues we face as a community.

The survey is aimed at people over 50.  However, they are interested in hearing how individuals of all ages feel about these issues.

Let us hear from you.  Go to www.cfsem.org and click on the link to take the Community Experience Survey.

Or contact the Foundation at 1-888-WE ENDOW (933-6369) or rross@cfsem.org

Alerts are being sent out by a number of advocacy groups including our regional Area Agency on Aging 1B.  We are receiving increasing reports about overly aggressive marketing tactics being used by Medicare Advantage plans (HMO’s and PPO’s).  It is anticipated that this will continue until the upcoming enrollment deadline to join a Medicare Advantage plan (3/31/07).   Some salespeople are engaging in heavy tactics that clearly violate federal rules, and the AAA1B is interested in monitoring the extent to which this practice occurs and in seeing that any violators are reported to the proper authority.  Of course the majority of salespeople follow ethical practices but if you become aware of any activites in our area that are not in accordance with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) standards please contact Jennifer Houghton, AAA1B Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP) Coordinator, at (248) 262-1290 or jhoughton@aaa1b.com and give her the name of the MA plan and salesperson and the name and contact information for the beneficiary solicited.  If this information is not obtainable, please report as much as possible about the violation.

The exciting news is that positive changes in brain function are occuring BECAUSE of aging and not, as previously thought, in spite of aging.  

Up until the very end of the 20th Century  it was believed that brain cells were the only body cells that did not replace themselves and that it was inevitible that the aging brain was in a state of constant decline.

A new view of aging was presented by Dr. Gene D. Cohen, Director, Center on Aging, Health & Humanities, Georgetown Washington University this morning at the National Council on Aging/American Society on Aging Joint Conference.  Studies in brain plasticity and aging prove that we continue to regenerate new brain cells to the very end.

 Genes are likened to light bulbs; they have a tremendous capacity to throw off light and energy, but they are latent until they are turned on.  Through mental stimulation we can challenge our minds and influence our destiny at any time, even beyond age 80.

What many believe to be mental decline due to aging is actually the result of false beliefs/expectations, the lack of mental stimulation and severe depression, malnutrition, medications or other health problems. 

It’s never too late.  There’s a whole new outlook for us “Late Blooming Boomers”.

Please contact your congressional representatives or contact me if you wish to support our campaign to urge Congress to increase the Older Americans Act appropriations by 10% in Fiscal Year 2008 and I will personnally see that your message gets to Congress.

I’m at the National Council on Aging/American Society on Aging Annual Joint Conference on Aging in Chicago at this writing.  As Michigan’s Delegate to the National Institute of Senior Centers I am one of over 4,000 attendees from across the nation and across all dimensions in the field of aging. 

The Older Americans Act (OAA) is the backbone of services to America’s aging population.  First enacted in 1965 the OAA helps seniors stay independent and healthy through a wide range of services and programs, including:  Meals on Wheels, Senior Center services, congregate meals, caregiver support, transportation,  protection against elder abuse, support for family caregivers, home and community services, health promotion, disease prevention, community service employment for low income for older workers and grant programs for Native Americans. 

Your support now will not only allow us to continue to help the elderly of today but will reinforce the foundation for the next generation of elders.  We are all aging and if you’re not an older American now, barring premature death, you will be one day. 

Your message to Congress is an investment in your own future.

Climb aboard the prescription information bus on Monday, March 5th from 9 to 11 am at the Monroe Center/Mable Kehres Apartments and get information on one of the more than 475 programs available which offer free, or nearly free, prescription drugs.  The “Help Is Here Express” will be parked at 15275 S. Dixie Hwy., in Monroe and is sponsored by American pharmaceutical research companies.  The touring bus is equipped with computer terminals and mobile phones so people can find out if they may be eligible for help in paying for their perscriptions.  There will be assistants on board to make sure the application process is quick and easy.  Other information may be obtained by calling 1-888-4PPA-NOW or visiting www.pparx.org to find out help and information.  Participants should bring along their prescription information.