Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s For the week of April 8th

Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s

AGING NEWS

For the week of April 8th

Golden Living . . . News for Seniors, Their Families and Caregivers

Todd N. Tancredi, Director

Dutchess County Office for the Aging

REBUILDING TOGETHER IN DUTCHESS COUNTY

 

Saturday, April 27th, is National Rebuilding Day, a day when Rebuilding Together organizations around the country bring volunteers and communities together to revitalize the homes of income-eligible elderly, disabled and veteran homeowners.  Rebuilding Together’s Dutchess County affiliate, formerly known as “Christmas in April,” will complete several critical home repair projects with the help of hundreds of local volunteers.  Rebuilding Together’s mission is to assure that qualified homeowners live independently in a warm, safe and dry environment.               Planning for these projects takes months of hard work in advance of volunteers and their tools coming to a job site.    Rebuilding Together is currently accepting applications on a year-round basis for their no-cost Handyman Programs as well as Rebuilding Day.  Among the general criteria for application, eligibility are:·        Income 80% or less of Dutchess median household income;·        Own and reside in the Dutchess County home for which repairs are sought;·        The homeowner’s mortgage and taxes must be current;·        The homeowner must have homeowner’s insurance.               Applications are available online at www.rebuildingtogetherdutchess.org or by calling (845) 454-7310.  Because they accomplish their work through the generosity of volunteers, they are unable to offer services on an emergency basis.

 

CENTENARIAN SEARCH CONTINUES

If you’re a Dutchess County resident who will reach age 100 or more in 2019, or you’re a married couple living in Dutchess and celebrating an anniversary of 70 years or more this year, we’d love to have you as our guests at the annual “Celebration of Aging” luncheon on Monday, May 20th at Villa Borghese in Wappinger (70 Widmer Rd.).

Each centenarian is admitted for free, along with one guest. Each married couple is also admitted for free. For everybody else, the luncheon is $25 per person if paid before Friday, April 26th. After that date, the price increases to $40 per person.

For more information, call the Office for the Aging.

SCAM PREVENTION EVENTS IN LaGRANGE, STANFORDVILLE

OFA Outreach Coordinator Brian Jones will discuss scams and how to prevent them at two events in the coming week:

–         on Tuesday, April 9th at 10 a.m. at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church on Route 82 in Lagrangeville;

–         on Saturday, April 13th at 10:00 a.m. at the Stanford Free Library (14 Creamery Rd., Stanfordville).

Seniors are commonly targeted by scammers, but people of any age can be victimized; in fact, those in the 18-34 age group are victimized more often by scammers than are seniors.

Contact the Office for the Aging to schedule a presentation for your group. Other issues we cover include successful aging, nutrition, housing and much more.

OFA EVENT SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE

 If your business is interested in reaching active seniors, helping support Office for the Aging events is an excellent way to do so.

 Among our most popular annual events is our Senior Picnic program, a series of 12 weekly picnics taking place throughout the county, starting in late May. Between 200 and 500 seniors attend each picnic.

 All proceeds support Office for the Aging services for seniors and caregivers. To find out more, emailbjones@dutchessny.gov.

 

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

Tue 4/9, 10 a.m. – OFA Scam Prevention, with outreach coordinator Brian Jones

               St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church, 1925 Route 82, LaGrangeville

Sat 4/13, 10 a.m. – OFA Scam Prevention, with outreach coordinator Brian Jones Stanford Free Library, 14 Creamery Rd., Stanfordville

Sat 4/27, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Senior Expo

               Red Hook Community Center, 59 Fisk St.

               For more information, call Rose Rider at (845) 758-8626

Mon 5/20, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. – The Celebration of Aging

               Villa Borghese, 70 Widmer Rd., Wappingers Falls

               Admission information at this link: https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departments/Aging/Docs/Celebration-of-Aging-Reservation.pdf

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!

BORN IN 1919 (OR EARLIER)? MARRIED IN 1949 (OR EARLIER)?

We’re looking for Dutchess County residents who will be 100 or more years old this year, along with Dutchess couples whose marriages will reach the 70-year mark this year…to be our guests at the annual “Celebration of Aging” luncheon at Villa Borghese in Wappingers Falls (70 Widmer Rd.).

Every centenarian gets in for free, along with one guest. Every 70+-years-married couple also gets in for free. There’s still time to RSVP by contacting Outreach Coordinator Brian Jones at bjones@dutchessny.gov or (845) 486-2555.

Admission to the luncheon is $25/person if paid before April 26th. After that date, the price increases to $40/person. For a reservation form or more information, use this link: https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departments/Aging/Docs/Celebration-of-Aging-Reservation.pdf

A copy of the reservation form will also be in the OFA “Spotlight on Seniors” newsletter, due out this month.

TRI-TOWN FRIENDSHIP CENTER TEMPORARILY RELOCATED

Long-term renovations are beginning this month at the “Tri-Town” Senior Friendship Center at the American Legion facility on Overlook Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie, which has served town seniors as well as seniors from LaGrange and Pleasant Valley.

At present, Tri-Town seniors are enjoying nutritious lunches and activities at the Hudson Valley Community Center, at 110 Grand Ave. in the City of Poughkeepsie. The new phone number for the center is (845) 275-8565.

We’re looking for a more permanent location for the Tri-Town center, in the LaGrange / Pleasant Valley / eastern Poughkeepsie area, that would be suitable for lunch and activity space for at least 40-50 seniors. Send your location suggestions to OFA Nutrition Services Coordinator Nimesh Bhargava at nbhargava@dutchessny.gov.

(NON-EMERGENCY) MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION FOR PAWLING RESIDENTS

Our friends at the Pawling Resource Center (www.pawlingresourcecenter.org) pass along this message:

Did you know…that the Pawling Resource Center provides rides for members of the community to medical appointments, and to access food?

Since the PRC started operation as the Community Resources and Service Center 43 years ago, one of its signature programs is to transport individuals to medical appointments.  For residents of Pawling who do not drive or have no family members or friends to help them, a volunteer driver will pick them up at home, drive them to their doctor’s office or hospital, wait during the appointment, and drive them back home.

Rides are provided to locations within a 40-minute radius, for any individual living within the Town of Pawling (which includes parts of Holmes), who has preregistered for this service.

Request for rides must be booked in advance, giving the PRC at least 5 business days to locate an available driver. No rides can be provided for emergencies, or for medical procedures requiring general anesthesia. Clients must be able to walk, and cannot need transport by wheelchair.

A relatively new series of “Ride To Shop” programs, that provide rides to access food, have proven very beneficial for community members.

  • Volunteer drivers provide rides to shop at the PRC Food Pantry for individuals or families who need assistance.  Twice a month, the PRC arranges for drivers to bring folks to shop for food at Hannaford.
  • Several times a month, through partnerships with The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Pawling and the Lutheran Care Network, individuals living at the Hamlet or the Kings Apartments receive rides to shop at the Food Pantry or at Hannaford.
  • Additionally, eligible homebound individuals may call the PRC and place an order for food from the Food Pantry to be delivered to their home.

All of these transportation programs are supported through grants from the Dutchess County Office for the Aging, United Way of Dutchess and Orange, and through The PRC’s annual “Walk so They May Ride” fundraising event.

The PRC is open Monday through Friday 10-4 and Saturdays 10-3. For further information about these and other services that the PRC provides for Pawling residents, please call during business hours, at 845-855-3459.

Other aging news online:

We’ll start with two stories on robocalls. There’s good news and…read them both for yourself:

A federal crackdown on illegal robocallers has shut down four companies responsible for over a billion robocalls…https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/03/ftc-crackdown-stops-operations-responsible-billions-illegal?utm_source=govdelivery&fbclid=IwAR3Vk6E3boPZD3_8vTYrRGX7FHaxxIFwlo2r1IYAx–lc1125ct5-if8lAY

…the thing is, there were anywhere between 26 and 48 billion robocalls made in the US last year, depending on how they were counted, with more to come this year: https://www.zdnet.com/article/plagued-by-robocalls-26-billion-spam-calls-in-2018-quarter-from-scammers/

Do you remember the “Code Girls” of World War II? Maybe not, because their identities were secret until fairly recently:https://www.today.com/video/code-girls-once-sworn-to-secrecy-honored-publicly-for-their-service-1468681795982?fbclid=IwAR0EbvPc51tl-oEgUb7s3AdGLW3Y0EiQLoC6AQK3_LlqGeGx01HA56d1rHY

This week in senior birthdays:

4/8: Actor/comedian Shecky Greene (93)

4/9: Children’s TV legend Marty Krofft (82)

4/10: Actor Max von Sydow (90)

4/11: Philanthropist Ethel Kennedy (91)

4/12: Children’s author Beverly Cleary (103)

4/13: Actor/singer Paul Sorvino (80)

4/14: Singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn (87)

Uh-oh. The Bad Joke is back.

“I stand corrected,” said the man in the orthopedic shoes.

Brian Jones
Outreach Coordinator

Dutchess County Office For the Aging

NEW ADDRESS

114 Delafield St., Poughkeepsie NY 12601

Author: Harlem Valley News