Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
For the week of December 19
Note: The Office for the Aging’s headquarters at 27 High Street in the City of Poughkeepsie will be closed for the Christmas holiday on Monday, December 26, and closed for New Year’s onMonday, January 2. Home Delivered Meals clients will receive their extra meal the week before each holiday. During the holiday weeks, your Aging News will be emailed on Tuesdays instead of Mondays.
Golden Living . . . News for Senior Citizens
Todd N. Tancredi, Director
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS WITH DEMENTIA
If you’ve been caring for a loved one with dementia, chances are you want to include them in holiday festivities but are worried about how they’ll handle the excitement and extra stimulation. Such times are difficult to handle, but there are simple and tested strategies that can help you all enjoy the holiday season.
If travel is going to be involved, be sure your loved one can handle it. The most important thing you can do for your loved one is ensure their health and safety. Check with your loved one’s physician and ask if plans for “over the river and through the woods” are appropriate. If not, you may feel some guilt at not being able to include them but as the caregiver who knows them best, you can rest easier knowing you have used all the information available and made the best possible decision for a situation in which there’s no perfect answer. One possible alternative is celebrating on a day when you are able to travel to be with them.
For other family members who might not have had day-to-day contact with people with dementia, there are some simple tips they can follow:
- Speak face-to-face at their eye level when possible.
- Do your best to keep topics simple and positive.
- Don’t take offense if they become argumentative or don’t recognize you.
Do your best to redirect the conversation in a positive direction, and remember these moments are not anything you triggered, but are the product of dementia’s effects.
COOKING WITH THE GRANDKIDS
If you’re the grandparents whose home is the family holiday gathering spot, you have your plate more than full. Whatever age your grandkids may be, they can help you pull off a safe and successful holiday celebration.
Think of it as an educational opportunity, and your kitchen is the classroom. Helping you out in the kitchen allows younger kids to improve their motor skills and learn how to follow instructions. Older kids can measure the ingredients; younger ones handle the pouring; and teenagers can carry anything heavy.
As always, start with safety.
- Try to use the back burners on your stove.
- Always use oven mitts to handle hot cookie sheets and pans.
- Switch off your oven and burners when they’re not being used.
- Keep the sharp and breakable items away from the counter’s edge and any small hands that might get too close.
And when in doubt, it’s time to wash your hands. Afterwards, everybody lends a hand cleaning up.
What comes after safety is fun. A bag of flour may tip over; a bit of eggshell might get into the batter; a cookie here and there may be scorched; but your grandchildren are learning even when things get messy. Besides, they’ll help clean up, right?
You might be able to incorporate more nutritious ingredients into the holiday treats, teaching your grandchildren what they cook can be both healthy and tasty – although Great-Grandma’s legendary meatball recipe can definitely be shared “as is” with the young chefs all around her.
Golden Living is prepared by the Dutchess County Office for the Aging, 27 High Street, Poughkeepsie, New York 12601, telephone (845) 486-2555, email: ofa@dutchessny.govwebsite: http://www.dutchessny.gov/CountyGov/Departments/Aging/AGIndex.htm
Upcoming Office for the Aging presentations and events:
TODAY – Monday 12/19, 10 a.m. – “Successful Aging” at Hudson Valley Community Center
110 Grand Ave., Poughkeepsie
(845) 220-7332 or 471-0430 for info
Tuesday 1/10/17, 11 a.m. – “Successful Aging” at Rhinebeck Senior Friendship Center
Memorial Lutheran Church, 1232 Route 308, Rhinebeck (Rock City)
Monday 4/3/17, 2 p.m. – “Succesful Aging” at Pawling Library
11 Broad St.
To request an Office for the Aging presentation for your senior, social and/or civic group, get in touch with outreach coordinator Brian Jones at (845) 486-2555 or bjones@dutchessny.gov. All you need provide is a venue that’s accessible and open to the public, and a space to set up a projector and screen – and this time of year, an alternate date in case your venue is closed by winter weather.
SENIOR PROM VIDEO NOW ONLINE
If you didn’t get to come to this October’s Office for the Aging Senior Prom at Villa Borghese in Wappingers, and aren’t able to catch the recap on area cable TV outlets, here’s the whole two-hour extravaganza on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xov34drTypg
A SNEAK PEEK AT 2017
Our much-sought-after “A Matter of Balance” program will return in the late winter/early spring of the new year with classes being held in both the Town and City of Poughkeepsie, along with Dover Plains, Fishkill, Pleasant Valley, Rhinebeck and Wappingers Falls. Watch for details in the Christmas Day edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal’s “Golden Living” column, and in next week’s Aging News email. If you are concerned about falling, or have fallen in the past and want to regain a measure of confidence and strength, “A Matter of Balance” may be for you.
WHAT IS THE SOUND OF ONE HAND COLORING?
The Tivoli Free Library (86 Broadway) this Thursday (12/22) is offering a free Zen coloring session, at 6:00 p.m. Enjoy a cup of tea, soothing music, and meditative coloring in this relaxing evening for adults. It’s open to all 21 and up.
Other aging news online:
Your life story is worth telling: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/your-money/telling-their-life-stories-older-adults-find-peace-in-looking-back.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fretiring&_r=0
A lot of people who care for senior loved ones at home already know this – there’s a steep learning curve involved: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/12/12/502908035/caring-for-a-loved-one-at-home-can-have-a-steep-learning-curve
Statins have been linked to a reduced chance of Alzheimer’s disease; however, experts are also warning that the study does not prove that statins prevent dementia: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/12/statins-link-reduced-chance-alzheimers-major-new-study/
Following up on the previous story, a case for why statins probably don’t reduce the chance of Alzheimer’s: http://www.healthnewsreview.org/2016/12/statins-probably-dont-reduce-risk-alzheimers-disease-despite-headlines-say/
The size of a certain part of the brain (a part that shrinks with age) may be an indicator of why seniors can become increasingly averse to risk, to the point that they may actually be endangering themselves:https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/dec/13/risk-aversion-in-old-age-down-to-changes-in-brain-structure-scans-suggest
More news on the challenges of aging in place in rural America: http://health.usnews.com/wellness/aging-well/articles/2016-12-08/safely-aging-in-place-in-rural-america
Air pollution and “neighborhood stressors”, things like crime and graffiti, are connected to trouble for aging brains: https://news.usc.edu/113160/air-pollution-and-neighborhood-stress-appear-to-harm-aging-brain/
Plenty of intriguing news at a recent conference on the “business of longevity” in California: http://www.nextavenue.org/great-thinkers-aging-thinking/
For seniors who can’t quite find the item they need to help them live independently day-to-day, here’s some great (or at least amusing) improvisations: https://www.pinterest.com/seniorsadapt/product-hacks-for-seniors/
This week in senior birthdays:
Mon 12/19: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Al Kaline (82)
Tue 12/20: Yankees outfielder Oscar Gamble (67)
Wed 12/21: Talk show host Phil Donahue (81)
Thu 12/22: NASCAR Hall-of-Famer David Pearson (82)
Fri 12/23: Actor/voice artist Harry Shearer (73)
Sat 12/24: Author Mary Higgins Clark (89)
Sun 12/25: Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett (70)
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
