Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
For the week of February 25
Golden Living . . . News for Seniors, Their Families and Caregivers
Todd N. Tancredi, Director
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR SENIORS OF THE YEAR
You have about one month to nominate someone for the 2019 Dutchess County “Senior Citizen of the Year” award.
Nominations are being accepted through March 29th in the categories of Senior Male, Senior Female, or Senior Citizen Couple of the Year. The awards are presented at the annual Celebration of Aging luncheon, held Monday, May 20th at Villa Borghese in Wappingers Falls in observance of Older Americans Month. The nomination form and more information are available by emailing bjones@dutchessny.gov or calling our office at (845) 486-2555. It can also be found on Page 4 of the Winter 2018-19 “Spotlight on Seniors newsletter,” available at libraries throughout Dutchess County and online at www.dutchessny.gov/aging.
You may nominate as many people as you wish, in any or all three categories. Eligible nominees must be over age 60 and live in Dutchess County, and must not have won the award before. If they’ve been nominated in the past but haven’t won, feel free to nominate them again. We hear from the friends, families and colleagues of many worthy nominees every year. The subcommittee of Office for the Aging Advisory Board members who choose the honorees have a truly difficult job every year.
The Celebration of Aging also honors residents of Dutchess County who have achieved outstanding feats of successful aging. Call or email to let us know of any Dutchess County resident you know who will turn 100 or older any time this year, or a couple living in Dutchess County who will celebrate their 70th or greater wedding anniversary during 2019. We would like to invite them to be our guests at the Celebration of Aging.
It’s always a treat to hear the wisdom and stories shared by the few among us who are elders to virtually everybody reading this column. It’s not every day you can hear from, for example, a 102-year-old who still makes snow angels during the winter!
We hope to see you at the Celebration of Aging on May 20th; we’ll start taking reservations from the public when the Spring 2019 “Spotlight on Seniors” is published in March.
GET BALANCED THIS SPRING
There’s still time for you to sign up for our spring “A Matter of Balance” classes, which will be taking place late this winter and early in the spring throughout Dutchess County. There are still a few spaces left in classes coming up in Millbrook and Wappinger.
There is also time to sign up for Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention, which will be held in Poughkeepsie and Hopewell Junction starting in the spring. Specific locations for the classes will be provided for those who enroll. Space is limited.
As always, you can also sign up for a Senior Exercise class at a location near you. To find out more, call (845) 486-2555 or email ofa@dutchessny.gov.
Registration for all classes is limited to Dutchess County residents age 60 and above. If a class becomes fully booked, you may have an option to be added to a waiting list.
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
or email bjones@dutchessny.gov for more information
All events subject to unannounced schedule changes
Thu 3/21, 7 p.m. – Scam Prevention, with OFA Outreach Coordinator Brian Jones
St. Martin de Porres Nativity Center
118 Cedar Valley Rd., Poughkeepsie
Sat 4/27 (times t/b/a) – Senior Expo
Red Hook Community Center, 59 Fisk 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 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!
“WALK OVER WATER” FOR PARKINSON’S RESEARCH (April)
It really will be spring in Dutchess County before long, and on Sunday, April 28th you’ll have an opportunity to promote awareness of Parkinson’s disease with the Parkinson’s Disease Support Group of the Mid Hudson Valley (www.midhudsonparkinsons.org). A spring walk on the Walkway over the Hudson (starting from the Poughkeepsie side) will be taking place from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on the 28th. For more information on how to help, go to the website above, email nredkey@aol.com, or call (914) 475-2793.
Other aging news online:
For those who are 65+ and still working, there are some specific pitfalls to watch out for in the Medicare signup process if you’re still on your employer’s health plan: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/business/medicare-enrollment-how-to-sign-up.html (If you’re fuzzy on any of this, call our “HIICAP” health insurance counseling hotline at (845) 486-2566.)
No, getting yourself an infusion of a younger person’s blood is probably not going to be the Fountain of Youth:https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/19/infusions-young-blood-not-proven-safe-effective-fda-warns
This week in senior birthdays:
2/25: Journalist/author Bob Schieffer (82)
2/26: Actor/director/Dutchess native Bill Duke (76)
2/27: Actress Joanne Woodward (89)
2/28: Chemist/inventor Rangaswamy Srinivasan (90)
(2/29: Astronaut Jack Lousma (Apollo/Skylab missions) (83))
3/1: French-American actor/author Robert Clary (93)
3/2: Nobel laureate, last Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev (88)
3/3: Singer/songwriter Jennifer Warnes (72)
This week’s Bad Joke was sent to us by a retired IBMer, so…any groaning on your part is not our fault this time:
A computer programmer’s wife tells him “Go to the store and pick up a loaf of bread. If they have eggs, get a dozen.” The programmer comes home with 12 loaves of bread.
Brian Jones
Outreach Coordinator
Dutchess County Office For the Aging
NEW ADDRESS
114 Delafield St., Poughkeepsie NY 12601
(all OFA phone and email contact info stays the same)
Phone: (845) 486-2555 Fax: (845) 486-2571
Email: bjones@dutchessny.gov
Website: www.dutchessny.gov/aging
