Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
For the week of January 9
Note: the Office for the Aging will be closed on Monday, January 16 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
Golden Living . . . News for Senior Citizens
Todd N. Tancredi, Director
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
17 WAYS TO HELP SENIORS IN ‘17
It’s eight days into the new year, and if none of the usual resolutions have appealed to you, we at the Office for the Aging can help should you consider giving of your time and talents to your senior friends and neighbors.
Maybe you’d like to help at one of our eight Senior Friendship Centers located all over Dutchess County, or with counseling seniors on their health insurance needs. At any given time we may require volunteer assistance at the dozens of senior exercise classes held at 50 locations throughout Dutchess County, or with help at our many countywide Brain Games sessions.
Our next season of “A Matter of Balance” classes gets underway in just over one month, and if you’d like to volunteer to lead a class, we can help you learn more on how to do so.
If you enjoy driving, our Home Delivered Meals program may be able to use your assistance in bringing hundreds of nutritious meals to seniors all over Dutchess. If you have office skills, the Office for the Aging headquarters in the City of Poughkeepsie could use the extra pairs of hands. If summertime is when you’ll have free time, there will be twelve opportunities to assist at our Senior Picnics, which begin in late May and end in late August.
There will also be opportunities to volunteer at our Celebration of Aging in May, at the Senior Prom in October, and at our Senior Seminars in November.
That brings us to eleven ways to volunteer within the Office for the Aging’s day-to-day schedule, but if you have other ideas in mind we know of many other ways you can help your senior friends and neighbors.
In northeastern Dutchess County, the North East Community Center performs a vital role helping seniors in Amenia, Dover, Millerton, North East, Pine Plains and Wassaic find safe transportation to medical, social-service and other essential appointments; call Monte Stone at (518) 789-4259 or email info@neccmillerton.org to find out more.
Volunteers are also needed to join the Retired Senior and Volunteer Program, delivering meals to shut-ins, providing transportation to the elderly for medical visits and shopping, income tax preparation and much more. Call JoAnn Hickman at (845) 452-5104, ext. 101 for more information.
You could help Friends of Seniors ((845) 485-1277 or friendsofseniors.biz) in their work on behalf of Dutchess County seniors needing non-emergency medical transportation, grocery shopping help and telephone reassurance.
The Hudson Valley chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association relies on a wide range of volunteer assistance, including office and event help, advocacy, support group leadership and much more. Call (845) 471-2655 to help.
Also, the New York State Long-Term Care Ombudsman program uses volunteers to advocate for the best possible treatment for residents of long-term care facilities. Learn more about their opportunities at (845) 229-4680.
That’s at least 17 ways to help our seniors, but we’re sure you know others. Let us know about them using the contact information below.
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.gov website: http://www.dutchessny.gov/CountyGov/Departments/Aging/AGIndex.htm
Upcoming Office for the Aging presentations and events:
Tuesday 1/10/17, 11 a.m. – “Successful Aging” at Rhinebeck Senior Friendship Center
Memorial Lutheran Church, 1232 Route 308, Rhinebeck (Rock City)
(845) 758-0571 for information
Snow date: Thu 1/12
Tuesday 2/7, 11 a.m. – “Successful Aging” at Tri-Town Senior Friendship Center
55 Overlook Rd., Poughkeepsie (rear of the American Legion building)
Includes “A Matter of Balance” informational presentation
Snow date: Thu 2/9
Wednesday 2/8, 12 noon – “Successful Aging” at Pine Plains Community Center
7775 Route 82 (above the library)
Snow date: 3/8
Monday 4/3, 2 p.m. – “Wills, Trusts and Elder Law” at Pawling Library
With John Wirth, Esq., Office for the Aging Advisory Board
11 Broad St.
(845) 855-3444 for information
Monday 5/22, 12 noon – The Celebration of Aging
Villa Borghese
70 Widmer Rd., Wappingers Falls
MARATHON MARRIED COUPLES, STEP UP
You may already know that the Office for the Aging is looking for couples who will be married 70 years or more at any point in 2017, to be honored at our Celebration of Aging on May 22. You may also know that you can find out more by getting in touch with outreach coordinator Brian Jones at bjones@dutchessny.gov and/or (845) 486-2555. If the couple you know would like to go but isn’t sure they can make it in May, reserve space for them now and they can decide later if they’d like to go. We haven’t yet opened up ticket sales for the event, if you were wondering.
Also searching for long-married couples, Catholic couples in this case, is the Archdiocese of New York. If you know any such couples in the Archdiocese married 65 years or more, you can contact Izabella Nagle at (646) 794-3190 or izabella.nagle@archny.org. Their deadline is Jan. 20, 2017.
FREE FALL PREVENTION EVENT COMING UP NEXT WEEK (Thu 1/19)
A free educational program on balance and fall prevention takes place Thursday, January 19 from 2:30-4:00 p.m. at the Manor at Woodside (168 Academy St., Poughkeepsie). The day’s presenter will be Chris Dayger, PT, ATC, of MidHudson Regional Hospital Therapy Connection. Space at the event is limited, so call (845) 483-5551 for more information.
The event is funded in part by the US Administration on Aging, New York State Office for the Aging and Dutchess County Office for the Aging.
Other aging news online:
At the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month, technology for seniors took center stage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/01/04/ces-2017-boom-elderly-tech-smart-walking-stick-iphone-hearing/
But not all senior home technology is what its sales pitch claims it will be: https://www.tech50plus.com/when-a-smarthome-may-not-be-so-smart/
The latest newsletter from the Alzheimer’s Association: http://act.alz.org/site/MessageViewer?autologin=true&em_id=229962.0
A British study on senior loneliness found half a million senior UK residents spent every day alone: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/06/half-a-million-older-people-spend-every-day-alone-poll-shows
Planning to make your home more senior-friendly? Here are some ideas for budgets of all sizes and ambitions: http://www.post-gazette.com/aging-edge/aging-edge-reports/2016/12/30/Tips-for-Creating-a-Home-for-Aging-Owners/stories/201612300156
Trips to the museum can be much more enriching for the visually-impaired, above and beyond Braille and audio, thanks to a new program currently underway at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in the District of Columbia: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/05/505419694/blind-art-lovers-make-the-most-of-museum-visits-with-insight-tours?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170105 (note: several NYC-area museums offer similar programs)
105 and still riding a bike: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/04/508213332/105-year-old-cyclist-rides-14-miles-in-an-hour-en-route-to-a-world-record&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170104
Allegedly those big summer rock music festivals are just for the kids and that racket they listen to. Nobody told Ms. Diana Ross: http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/glastonbury-2017-diana-ross-rumoured-to-be-playing-in-legends-slot/story-30033314-detail/story.html
This week in senior birthdays:
Mon 1/9: Novelist Judith Krantz (89)
Tue 1/10: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey (79)
Wed 1/11: Singer/songwriter/actress Naomi Judd (71)
Thu 1/12: Magician the Amazing Kreskin (82)
Fri 1/13: Actor Richard Moll (74)
Sat 1/14: Race car driver Don Garlits (85)
Sun 1/15: Guitarist/actress Charo (66)
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
