Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
For the week of January 28th
Golden Living . . . News for Seniors, Their Families and Caregivers
Todd N. Tancredi, Director
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
SEEKING SENIORS OF THE YEAR
Do you have a senior friend or neighbor in Dutchess County who volunteers for the community at a pace that would be impressive for somebody half their age? Then it’s about time their efforts were saluted.
The Office for the Aging is looking for nominations in our annual Senior Citizens of the Year awards. We reward outstanding effort by senior men, women and couples, with winners chosen by the Office for the Aging’s Advisory Board in early April. Honors take place at our Celebration of Aging, Monday, May 20th at Villa Borghese in Wappingers Falls.
Nominees must be Dutchess County residents, age 60 or over, who haven’t already won a Senior Citizen of the Year award. If you nominated somebody in a previous year but they didn’t win, you’re free to nominate them again. We typically get several worthy nominees in each category, which we see as a wonderful tribute to the large number of Dutchess seniors who stay active by helping out in the community.
Nomination forms are available on page 4 of the Winter 2018-19 OFA “Spotlight on Seniors,” available at libraries countywide and at this link: https://go.usa.gov/xEbwK. We also have nomination forms available at OFA headquarters, now at 114 Delafield St. in Poughkeepsie.
If you’d like a nomination form mailed or emailed to you, contact Outreach Coordinator Brian Jones atbjones@dutchessny.gov or (845) 486-2544.
HEALTHY AGING TIPS FROM…KEITH RICHARDS?
“I think a clean and healthy life, plenty of exercise, go to church on a Sunday.”
Those can’t be the words of Keith Richards, whose name is synonymous with how NOT to take care of yourself … can they?
Well, whether he intended to or not, the 75-year-old Rolling Stones legend is making a point about healthy aging that applies to all of us: No matter how imperfectly you’ve lived your life up until now, it’s never too late to improve your health. And you don’t have to be a massively wealthy rock star to do it; in most cases, eliminating a bad habit will save you money as well.
Last month, Richards revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that he had recently stopped drinking alcohol, for the most part, saying he “got fed up with it.” Cutting back on alcohol may be a subject you’ll want to take up at your next physician’s visit, especially if the effectiveness of your medications can be affected by alcohol consumption.
Keith still has improvements to make, as we all do. He’s the only member of the band who still smokes cigarettes. But as for successful aging, the Stones meet many of the qualifications: They stay mentally, physically and socially active; they make much better nutritional choices than they used to; and they continue to challenge themselves.
How will you challenge yourself this year?
Golden Living is prepared by the Dutchess County Office for the Aging, 114 Delafield St., Poughkeepsie, New York 12601, telephone (845) 486-2555, email: ofa@dutchessny.gov website: www.dutchessny.gov/aging
Office for the Aging upcoming events
Unless otherwise indicated, call (845) 486-2555 for more information
All events subject to unannounced schedule changes
Thu 1/31/19, 10:30 a.m. – Senior Pedestrian Safety
With Emily Dozier, Senior Planner, Dutchess County Transportation Council…and Brian Jones, OFA outreach coordinator
Tri-Town OFA Senior Friendship Center
55 Overlook Rd., Arlington (rear of American Legion building)
Tue 2/5/19, 3:30 p.m. – Successful Aging
With OFA outreach coordinator Brian Jones
The Grand at River Valley, 140 Main St., Poughkeepsie
Space limited; contact jreece@thegrandhealthcare.com to register
More info at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/events/557987487944655/
Thu 2/7/19, 10:30 a.m. – Senior Pedestrian Safety
With Emily Dozier, Senior Planner, Dutchess County Transportation Council…and Brian Jones, OFA outreach coordinator
Town of Poughkeepsie Senior Center, 14 Abe’s Way
Sat 3/16/19, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – LaGrange Association Library volunteering event
With OFA outreach coordinator Brian Jones
488 Freedom Plains Rd. (Route 55) #109
www.laglib.org or (845) 452-3141 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 your group needs to provide is a venue that’s wheelchair-accessible and open to the public, with space to set up a projector and screen. We have our own projector and screen – but if you have those, let us know.
We feature presentations on Successful Aging, Office for the Aging services, Medicare/Medicaid, scam prevention, senior housing, a wide range of topics related to nutrition, and more!
AGAIN WITH THE SCAM CALLS
In our Office for the Aging anti-scam presentations, we mention phone scam attempts as being increasingly common. They made up 4% of all phone calls in 2017, 30% of calls last year, and could reach half of all calls in 2019.
With tax season on its way, and perhaps with the federal government shutdown remaining in the news, local financial institutions and law enforcement have been noting an increase in scam calls by people falsely claiming to be from the IRS, demanding immediate payment under threat of arrest and/or deportation.
We can’t say it often enough, and you can’t say it often enough to your friends: the calls are scam attempts.
This week the fake call could be claiming to come from the IRS. Next week it could be claiming to come from your utility company, the police department, a “grandchild” (it’s not your grandchild) you haven’t heard from in ages who claims to have been arrested (they haven’t) and supposedly needs bail money.
They’re scams.
The good news? It’s not hard to deal with, once you understand that the scammers are trying to shock you into taking leave of your common sense.
The best thing to do with these calls is simply ignore them, without getting angry or worried. If you’ve picked up the phone and realized belatedly that the caller is a scammer, just hang up without saying anything or pressing any buttons.
We do not recommend picking up the phone if your Caller ID recognizes a scammer, no matter how badly you want to read them the riot act. Picking up sometimes alerts scammers that a human being is on the other end of the line, as opposed to an answering machine or voice mail…and you can wind up getting even more scam calls. This also explains when so many scam calls come immediately after you’ve hung up the phone talking to somebody else. The scammers’ calling technology can recognize a busy signal as proof that somebody’s on the line, and will keep calling your number until the line’s free.
There may be a light at the end of the scam-calling tunnel, though – because governments are as sick of the calls as you are.
Late last year, the Federal Communications Commission sent a strong message to phone carriers to have technology in place by late this year to authenticate the source of a call – with possible consequences for the carriers if it’s not done. The discussion of how to stop the fake calls can get highly technical, but you can read a pretty good summary at this link:
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/fcc-says-carriers-must-stop-robocalls-and-spam-calls.html
MEDICAL RESERVE CORPS SEMINAR SERIES
If you’ve been to one of our summertime Senior Picnics, you’ve seen the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) of Dutchess County in action, helping the hundreds of seniors at each picnic with free blood pressure screenings and many other services.
The MRC offers a FREE seminar series each month at locations throughout Dutchess County. Seating at the seminars is limited, so pre-registration is required by emailing MRC coordinator Joe Ryan: jryan@dutchessny.gov.
Here are the upcoming seminars:
CITIZENS PREPAREDNESS
Tuesday, January 29th 7 PM (Red Hook)
Thursday, January 31st 6:30 PM (Hopewell Junction)
What can you do now to prepare for virtually any type of disaster or emergency situation in Dutchess County? This training is open to everyone and is required training for all MRC volunteers. Free emergency backpacks are distributed to all attendees to get started on a Go-kit. Two identical class sessions will be offered: Thursday, January 29th at Red Hook Town Hall, 7340 S. Broadway (Route 9) and on Thursday, January 31st at the Beekman Library, 11 Town Center Blvd, Hopewell Junction.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID
Thursday, January 31st 6 PM (Poughkeepsie)
Saturday, February 9th 10 AM (Eastern Dutchess)
Psychological First Aid (PFA) aims to reduce stress symptoms and assist in a healthy recovery following a traumatic event, natural disaster, public health emergency, or even a personal crisis. This training is especially helpful for first responders, but everyone can benefit from its concepts. The training will be led by Amy Nitza, Ph.D., LMHC, Director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz. Choose from either session: Thursday, January 31st at the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response, 392 Creek Road in Poughkeepsie and on Saturday, February 9th at the Wassaic Fire House, 27 Firehouse Road in Wassaic.
NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION
Thursday, February 7th 6PM
Learn how to become a volunteer member of the Dutchess MRC, what is required of you and what missions you can participate in. This training is open to the public and will take place at the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response, 392 Creek Road in Poughkeepsie.
Other aging news online:
Going outside when it’s cold? Keep in mind that older adults tend to lose body heat more quickly than younger adults…and here are some more tips: http://theconversation.com/its-cold-a-physiologist-explains-how-to-keep-your-body-feeling-warm-108816?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1548174834
When 97-year-old Prince Philip of the UK got into a fender bender earlier this month, it started a conversation on aging, driving, and road safety, for drivers of all ages: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/18/the-guardian-view-on-prince-philips-crash-road-safety-matters-to-all-ages
There’s frugal, and then there’s “making a $75 pickup truck last 38 years” frugal”: https://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Man-drives-75-pickup-to-work-for-38-years-504635912.html?fbclid=IwAR37GhaI28LkT2GcIjdHJoHL3Ug0fW3CGdF-w3hiPpCFh-wnky4uDgSOU64
This week in senior birthdays:
1/28: Swedish sculptor Claes Oldenburg (90)
1/29: Actor/businessman Tom Selleck (74)
1/30: Singer/songwriter/drummer Phil Collins (68)
1/31: MLB Hall-of-Famer and ex-Mets pitcher Nolan Ryan (72)
2/1: Actor/comedian Garrett Morris (82)
2/2: Comedian/actor Tom Smothers (82)
2/3: NFL Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton (79)
And our weekly Bad Joke:
Q: Which side of the duck has the most feathers?
A: The outside.
Brian Jones
Outreach Coordinator
Dutchess County Office For the Aging
27 High Street
Poughkeepsie NY 12601
NEW ADDRESS AS OF MONDAY, JANUARY 28:
114 Delafield St., Poughkeepsie NY 12601
Phone: (845) 486-2555 Fax: (845) 486-2571
Email: bjones@dutchessny.gov
Website: www.dutchessny.gov/aging
