Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
For the week of May 22, 2017
Golden Living . . . News for Senior Citizens
Todd N. Tancredi, Director
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
HAPPY 113TH, VERA!
Vera Van Wagner of Rhinebeck is in one of the world’s most exclusive clubs. She is one of the tiny handful of people who’ve reached 113 years of age. As of this week there are only 27 living people in this club. Vera was born in Poughkeepsie on May 24, 1904, during President Theodore Roosevelt’s first term in office. 1904 was the year that tea bags first started appearing on grocery shelves; the first underground New York City subway line opened; and the New York Highlanders baseball team still had eight years to go before having their name changed to Yankees.
Vera will be congratulated Tuesday, May 30th at her residence at the Baptist Home in Rhinebeck by friends, family and dignitaries, including Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro. Vera, who lived independently until well into her 100s, is currently the oldest living person in New York, the third-oldest in the United States, and the oldest lifelong Hudson Valley resident ever. According to Louis Epstein of the Gerontology Research Group, she’s now among the 250 oldest people in all of recorded history. Vera is also one of two supercentenarians (people over the age of 110) living in Dutchess County, with Sixta Tulia Aguinaga de Posada of LaGrangeville reaching her 110th birthday in April.
MEDICARE TRAINING DATES UPCOMING
If you would like to learn more about Medicare, the Office for the Aging can help, with regularly scheduled free training sessions to help seniors get a basic overview of what Medicare is and what it does and doesn’t cover. Also discussed during the sessions are Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, EPIC, Medicare Advantage Plans, and Medigap Plans.
“Medicare 101” trainings take place on the third Wednesday of every month at the Poughkeepsie Galleria Community Room from 10 a.m. to noon. The next two sessions take place on Wednesday, June 21st and Wednesday, July 19th.
Additional “Medicare 101” trainings take place on the fourth Monday of every month from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Center for Healthy Aging at Northern Dutchess Hospital, 6527 Springbrook Ave. (Route 9) in Rhinebeck. The next two sessions at the Rhinebeck location take place on June 26thand July 24th.
Additionally, seniors who have some computer skills and an interest in learning how to navigate the Medicare website are invited to training sessions at the Adriance Library Computer Lab, 93 Market St. in Poughkeepsie, on Wednesday, June 28th at 9:30 a.m. Training onmedicare.gov at Adriance takes place the fourth Wednesday of every month.
To register for any of these programs, call the Office for the Aging at (845) 486-2555.
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 events and presentations:
Tue 5/23, 1 p.m. – “Successful Aging” at Wells Manor (Community Room)
Wells Manor Lane, Rhinebeck
(845) 486-2555 for information
Wed 5/24, 10 a.m. – “Successful Aging” at Vassar-Warner Home
52 South Hamilton St., Poughkeepsie
(845) 486-2555 for information
Tue 5/30, 11 a.m. – “Calcium, Vitamin D and Prevention of Osteoporosis” with OFA nutrition coordinator Nimesh Bhargava
at Maplewood Apartments, 457 Maple St., Poughkeepsie
(845) 486-2555 for information
Wed 5/31, 3 p.m. – “Nutrition and Prevention of Cancer) with OFA nutrition coordinator Nimesh Bhargava
St. Simeon I & II, Beechwood Ave., Poughkeepsie
(845) 486-2555 for information
Thu 6/8, 2 p.m. – “Successful Aging” at East Fishkill Community Library
348 Route 376, Hopewell Junction
(845) 221-9943 for information
Friday 6/16, 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2017
Poughkeepsie Elks Lodge #275, 29 Overocker Rd., Poughkeepsie
weaad@evercare.org or (845) 485-1277 for information
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. Keep in mind that during the summer, most of our Wednesdays are occupied with Summer Senior Picnics.
We feature presentations on Successful Aging, Office for the Aging services, a wide range of topics related to nutrition, and more!
PHONE-SKILLED AND/OR OUTDOOR-LOVING VOLUNTEERS WANTED
As you might imagine, organizing 12 Senior Picnics over 14 weeks for hundreds of senior citizens at each picnic is a sizeable undertaking, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without volunteer assistance from dozens of Hudson Valley residents.
With picnic season beginning next week, we’re looking for people who are available on Mondays and/or Tuesdays this summer to help our staff call each senior picnic guest to remind them that their community’s picnic is coming up in a day or two. If you are available any time to make calls from our City of Poughkeepsie offices during business hours on those two days, give Office for the Aging Outreach Coordinator Brian Jones a call or email, at (845) 486-2555 or bjones@dutchessny.gov.
We’re also looking for help at the picnics themselves – setting up tables and chairs, helping to park cars, carrying meals to seniors with mobility trouble, and cleaning up afterwards. If you are free any time during the hours of 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays this summer, get in touch with Brian Jones using the contact information above.
BUSY SUMMER FOR LOCAL ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION
The Alzheimer’s Association of the Hudson Valley has lots of events planned for Dutchess County and beyond, including a Monday 5/22 afternoon event in Red Hook. The full calendar: http://www.alzhudsonvalley.org/index.html
Other aging news online:
The number of seniors adopting new technology like smartphones is growing massively: http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/05/17/tech-adoption-climbs-among-older-adults/
Research into treatments for arthritis – involving the knee, in this case – has indicated that steroid injections aren’t doing much:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/well/live/steroid-shots-do-little-for-knee-pain-of-arthritis.html?emc=eta1
The oldest surviving WWII combat veteran turned 111 recently, and ascribes his longevity to two things – faith and cigars. Happy birthday and Semper Fi to Richard Overton: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/11/nations-oldest-living-wwii-combat-veteran-turns-111.html?ICID=ref_fark
If you’re in search of senior discounts, there’s a location-based app that’ll remind you when you walk into an establishment that a discount is in play:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/retirement/senior-discounts-sciddy.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fretiring&_r=0
(And for seniors who’d rather not be involved with technology, the Office for the Aging offers Senior Discount Cards at our city of Poughkeepsie headquarters, on the second Wednesday of every month from 9:30-11:00 a.m. Find out more by calling (845) 486-2555.)
This week in senior birthdays
5/22: Businessman T. Boone Pickens (89)
5/23: Former Yankees manager (current Orioles manager) Buck Showalter (61)
5/24: Oldest New Yorker and oldest Dutchess resident Vera Van Wagner (113)
5/25: Actor/activist/wizard Ian McKellen (78)
5/26: Sportscaster Brent Musberger (78)
5/27: Author Herman Wouk (102)
5/28: Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani (74)
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
