Dutchess County Office For the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
- Summer Picnic Volunteers Needed
- Medicare Website Help Available in Poughkeepsie
- Paving Scams Make Their Annual Return
- Get On The Aging News Email List
- File of Life Course in Staatsburg (5/23 – TODAY)
- USO Show at FDR Library (5/27)
- Making Memories into Memoirs
- History and Exercise Combined (6/4)
- MORE AGING NEWS ONLINE
Golden Living . . . News for Senior Citizens
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
SUMMER PICNIC VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT
The Dutchess County Office For the Aging’s annual summer picnics get underway at the start of June, and there are plenty of ways for you to help your senior neighbors enjoy a fine picnic lunch and good company, both at the picnic sites all over Dutchess County and behind the scenes at the Office For the Aging’s facilities in Poughkeepsie. Volunteers can help with everything from answering phones and helping attendees get their food, to setting up and taking down picnic furniture. For more information on volunteering opportunities, contact the Office For the Aging at (845) 486-2555 orofa@dutchessny.gov. Special thanks to this year’s Platinum sponsors: Wingate Healthcare, EverCare, Hudson Cadillac Buick GMC, The Pines at Poughkeepsie, Prime Health Choice, Zounds Hearing, Hamaspik Choice, Helping Other People Everywhere and the Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services – Protective Services for Adults.
MEDICARE WEBSITE HELP AVAILABLE AT ADRIANCE
Volunteers and staff from the Health Insurance Information Counseling and Assistance Program (HIICAP) at the Dutchess County Office For the Aging will be available in the Charwat Meeting Room at Adriance Memorial Library, 93 Market St., Poughkeepsie, on Wednesday, May 25 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. to help you navigate the federal Medicare website and get help finding information about Medicare Prescription Drug Plans and Medicare Advantage Plans. Space is limited and advance registration is required by getting in touch with Debbie Minnerly at (845) 485-3445 x3380 ordminnerly@poklib.org.
PAVING SCAMS BLOOM IN THE SPRING
One of the oldest scams is also one of the most persistent – con artists driving through neighborhoods claiming to have “extra” asphalt in their trucks, knocking on doors offering a cut-rate driveway job, then performing shoddy work, vastly overpriced work, or sometimes no work at all. Many times the elderly are targets for such scams. Here’s an example from the Poughkeepsie Journal from February about two local men who were found to have been involved in paving scams. They were heavily fined by the state, but it took years to prosecute: http://goo.gl/LNHFSP. In the meantime, if your driveway does need work, be sure to investigate multiple contractors before any money changes hands. Reputable contractors will provide a contract with a description of materials, labor, start and completion dates, company name, local address and telephone number. If you feel the contractor is using threats to make a sale, contact your local police.
GET ON THE “AGING NEWS” EMAIL LIST
The Office for the Aging sends out this Aging News email every week to those who request to be on our distribution list. The email is packed with information on upcoming events for older adults and their families and caregivers, news stories of interest to senior citizens including stories on nutrition, health, and links to many helpful and entertaining online resources. If your’re interested in news for and about senior citizens in Dutchess County – or you know somebody who is – just send your name and email address to: bjones@dutchessny.gov. You’ll start receiving the weekly email immediately, every Monday morning except on holidays that fall on a Monday, in which case the email will appear on Tuesday.
Golden Living is prepared by the Dutchess County Office for the Aging, 27 High Street, Poughkeepsie, New York 12601, telephone 486-2555, email:ofa@dutchessny.gov
website: http://www.dutchessny.gov/CountyGov/Departments/Aging/AGIndex.htm
THE FILE OF LIFE – GET YOURS TODAY IN STAATSBURG
A “File of Life” contains potentially lifesaving information for first responders should you experience a medical emergency. Those kind of emergencies can happen at any time, and when they do, paramedics arriving on the scene will have no information about the person in need – unless there is a File of Life available. The File of Life is a magnetized packet that contains an information card for you to fill out with your medical conditions, allergies, any medications you take, emergency contacts and more. The faster the paramedics get this information, the better your odds of getting the best possible care when time is of the essence.
If you need help setting up your File of Life, stop by the Staatsburg Library, 70 Old Post Rd., at 4:00 p.m. today, Monday, May 23, when EMT Dee Sagendorph from the Staatsburg Fire Department will lead participants through creating a File of Life and provide some general tips about safety in and around the house. For more information, call 845-889-4683 or email staatslibrary@gmail.com. The File of Life cannot be mailed and is limited to one per person.
USO SHOW AT FDR LIBRARY
A free evening of WWII-era entertainment will transport visitors back to the Roosevelt days as the Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library hosts a USO Show on Friday, May 27, at 7:00 p.m. Attendees will enjoy an evening of comedy and entertainment, historic film footage, and music from the 1940s. More information available at (845) 486-7745 and at http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/publicprograms/calendar.html
MAKING MEMORIES INTO MEMOIRS
How many decades’ worth of history have you lived through – six? Seven? Nine or ten maybe? It sure would be wonderful to have those experiences preserved, and Northern Dutchess Hospital is offering the memoir-writing workshop “Writing the Stories of Your Life” on Monday, June 13 at 2 p.m.. The workshop is free but registration is required. Details here: http://www.healthquest.org/hq/events/writing-the-stories-of-your-life–4840.aspx
HISTORY AND EXERCISE COMBINED
Get your walking in and learn about the history of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie with a free walking tour of the campus and its buildings on Saturday, June 4 at 10 a.m. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Details at http://info.vassar.edu/calendar/2016/06/04/32354-91316.html
MORE AGING NEWS ONLINE
Difficulties with navigation may be one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease: http://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-04-27/poor-navigation-skills-may-signal-alzheimers-disease
On a positive note, one more benefit of regular exercise is that it may improve blood flow to the brain and help prevent Alzheimer’s:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160516181215.htm
And one of the many things that counts as regular exercise – gardening! http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/17/doctors-should-prescribe-gardening-for-patients-more-often-says-report
Combined photos of London during the Blitz and in the present day: http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/05/london-during-the-blitz-then-and-now-photographs/481851/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-050916
There are businesses that have endured for many decades…and then there’s the sake distillery in Japan that’s been around for 850 years:http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/sudo-family-sake
Brian Jones
Outreach Coordinator
Dutchess County Office For the Aging
27 High Street
Poughkeepsie NY 12601
Phone: (845) 486-2555 Fax: (845) 486-2571
Email: bjones@dutchessny.gov
