Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s
AGING NEWS
For the week of May 17th
Note: the Office for the Aging will be closed on Monday, May 31st for the national Memorial Day holiday. Clients of our Home Delivered Meals program will receive their meals in advance of the holiday.
Golden Living . . . News for Seniors, Their Families and Caregivers
Todd N. Tancredi, Director
Dutchess County Office for the Aging
“CELEBRATION OF AGING” COMING TO OFA SUMMER NEWSLETTER
More seniors than ever before are reaching the milestone of 100 years of age. By the Office for the Aging’s estimates, Dutchess County is close to having 100 centenarians.
Less common, but no less amazing, are the couples who reach 70 or more years of marriage.
For many years, we’ve honored the people in these two rare categories with a “Celebration of Aging” luncheon – but since the COVID-19 pandemic, large in-person gatherings of that type aren’t possible. We adapted the Celebration to this necessity last year by moving the honors to the pages of our quarterly Spotlight on Seniors newsletter, and that’s how we’re honoring these extraordinary seniors once again in 2021.
There’s still time to honor that special centenarian or 70+ year married couple in the summer 2021 Spotlight, if they’re interested in being recognized. Just send their name, age (if a centenarian), years married (if a couple), Dutchess County home town, and photograph (if available) to bjones@dutchessny.gov, or call 845-486-2544 if you have follow-up questions. Submissions for Celebration of Aging honors can be accepted through Thursday, May 27th.
If someone will turn 100 or reach 70 years of marriage later this year, they can be honored in the Spotlight.
FAREWELL, FLORENCE
Over the years the “Celebration of Aging” has honored Dutchess County couples married for as long as 80 years (and counting!), and three centenarians who passed the 110-year mark that made them super-centenarians. One such extraordinary individual was longtime Amenia and Millerton resident Florence Carroll, who passed away in April, less than two months shy of her 114th birthday. She became the oldest person ever born in Dutchess County last year. A 1925 graduate of Millerton High School, Florence had become the third-oldest person in the United States. According to her obituary, she is survived by three children, eleven grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.
OFA SUMMER VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES
The Office for the Aging has plenty of opportunities this summer for students seeking to fulfill their schools’ community service requirements. Helping at the OFA Summer Drive-Thru Picnic serving your community is a great way to meet those requirements while gaining valuable experience in intergenerational service. For seniors seeking to stay physically and socially active, there are plenty of volunteering opportunities with OFA, including at picnics, exercise classes and more.
Email bjones@dutchessny.gov for additional details. A printable volunteering brochure and application is available at www.dutchessny.gov/aging. Not online? Call 845-486-2544 and we’ll mail you the volunteering brochure and application.
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
ONE MORE SPRING OFA BINGO (Tue 5/18)…THEN IT’S PICNIC SEASON
Springtime in Dutchess County is a great time for a drive in the countryside, and this spring it’s also a chance for seniors to take part in OFA’s Drive-In Bingo series. We’ve got one more in May, on Tuesday the 18th at 1:00 pm at the Stanford Recreation Park, 44 Noller Way in Stanfordville, right behind the new library on Route 82. We’ll have more Drive-in Bingos later this year, but Tuesday’s event will be the last one until September, what with Drive-Thru Senior Picnic season starting soon. (Keep reading for more about the picnics.)
If you haven’t played before, here’s how it works: call OFA to register, because space is limited, plus we make up goodie bags for participants so we need to know how many people are coming.
When you get there, you’ll get bingo cards and a marker, and the numbers will be called out using a low-power radio transmitter courtesy of Sheriff Butch Anderson and the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office. You listen for the numbers on your car radio. When you get a bingo…honk your horn. It’s that easy.
We’ll also have trivia questions with prizes from the Office for the Aging. The event will take between 60 and 90 minutes, giving you plenty of time to enjoy a drive through beautiful rural Dutchess.
Now, about those picnics…
The full schedule is available at www.dutchessny.gov/OFApicnics. We’re also mailing out reminder cards to every household where at least one senior lives, about a month before each community’s picnic. You don’t need the reminder card to make the reservation: just call OFA (845-486-2555) to line up your pickup time. The picnics fill up quickly.
This year’s picnics-to-go will include hot sandwiches (hamburgers or veggie burgers), plus sides and condiments.
We’re planning the 2021 season as drive-thru picnics, because New York is still restricting large in-person gatherings. Eventually we’d like to resume traditional sit-down picnics, and will move in that direction as soon as it’s deemed safe to do so.
Many thanks to Wingate Healthcare for their support of the 2021 Drive-Thru Picnic season.
SENIOR PICNIC VOLUNTEER CLERICAL ASSISTANCE WANTED
If you are able to come to the Office for the Aging and help prepare goodie bags for the senior guests of our Drive-Thru Senior Picnics, please contact OFA Outreach Coordinator Brian Jones at bjones@dutchessny.gov or 845-486-2544. Space is limited for our picnic prep work, so we can’t accept walk-in volunteers.
We’ll be looking for picnic clerical assistance from now until roughly mid-August, so if you’re not free now but will be free later in the summer, please get in touch.
Volunteers under age 18 require a signed parental waiver.
VIRTUAL ALZHEIMER’S COMMUNITY FORUM (Monday 5/17)
Join the Office for the Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association on Monday, May 17th from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., for a free virtual forum covering Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and memory loss. Invite friends and caregivers who have been affected by disease, and share your thoughts about how people in the community can be helped. Registration is required; call (800) 272-3900 for more information. OFA outreach coordinator Brian Jones will be among the speakers.
This is a virtual program presented via webinar and phone. When registering for the webinar, be sure to register using a valid email address. Those who register to participate by phone will receive call-in participation instructions when they sign up.
OFA TAKES PART IN VIRTUAL DUTCHESS DBCH FORUM SESSION (Tue 5/18)
You’re invited to take part in the Tuesday, May 18th virtual forum (via Microsoft Teams) on Mental Health Services for Adults in Dutchess County, taking place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Office for the Aging will be represented at the forum. For more information and a registration link, follow this link: https://www.dutchessny.gov/PublicForumDBCH/public-forums.aspx
SENIOR TAI CHI CLASS STARTING IN POUGHKEEPSIE IN JUNE
Looking for a safe and socially-distanced senior exercise class? There’s a senior tai chi class starting in the Poughkeepsie area in late June. Register by calling the Office for the Aging at 845-486-2555, and we’ll let you know the specifics about the venue and the date(s) the classes happen.
DRIVE-THRU FOOD DRIVE FOR VETERANS (Wed 5/26)
With food insecurity growing during the pandemic for many veterans and their families, The Pines at Poughkeepsie (100 Franklin St.; 845-454-4100) is hosting a Drive-Thru Food Drive this month benefitting local veterans, in partnership with the Dutchess County Division of Veterans Services and Mental Health America (MHA) of Dutchess County’s Vet2Vet program.
The drive culminates at The Pines on Wednesday, May 26th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you can’t drop off a donation at that time, The Pines is accepting donations at its Poughkeepsie facility through May 25th.
Here’s a rundown of their donation “wish list”:
PROTEIN FOODS GRAINS PANTRY HYGIENE APPAREL HOUSEHOLD
Tuna (canned in water) Rice & Rice Side Dishes Coffee Razors Socks Cleaning Products
Chicken (canned in water) Canned Pasta Meals Tea Soap Hats Paper Products
Canned Beef Stew Noodle Side Dishes Mayonnaise Q-Tips Gloves Clorox Wipes
Bean Soups Dry Noodles & Pastas Mustard Band-Aids
Baked Beans Boxed Mac & Cheese Ketchup Shampoo
Beans (canned or dried) Noodle Side Dishes Salt & Pepper Wash Cloths
Peanut Butter Dry Noodles & Pasta Snacks
Pork & Beans Baked Potato Dishes
Nuts Tuna & Chicken Helper
Protein Shakes Low Sugar Cereals
Trail Mix Bran Cereals
Canned Chili Pancake Mix
Oatmeal
Muffin Mix
Whole Grain Crackers
Granola Bars
MUSHROOM WALK AT FERNCLIFF FOREST (Sat 5/29 – registration required)
Join John Michelotti of Catskill Fungi on a mushroom walk at Ferncliff Forest (Mt. Rutsen Rd., Rhinebeck) and learn about the characteristics and ecological functions of fungi. Find out about common mushroomos and learn about their uses throughout history to the present day. Registration is required; contact the Clinton library at 845-266-5530 to register. All ages welcome, with masks recommended.
Other aging news online:
A 103-year-old COVID-19 survivor from remote northern Pakistan has some thoughts on vaccines. Yes, he’s gotten his shots: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/05/08/993864206/103-year-old-covid-survivor-has-advice-for-the-unvaccinated
A guide to aging well: https://www.washingtoninformer.com/a-guide-to-aging-well/
If you “feel younger than your age,” you might just live longer: https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20210512/feel-younger-than-your-age-you-might-live-longer
Just because it says “flushable” on the container of wipes doesn’t mean the wipe is truly flushable. Note this advisory from the Dalton Farms water system in the Beekman/Poughquag area: https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departments/Water-Wastewater/Docs/2021-05-13-DFS-No-Flush-Reminder-Notice.pdf
On the road? Watch for turtles crossing this time of year. Sunday, May 23rd is World Turtle Day: https://www.dec.ny.gov/press/122986.html?fbclid=IwAR2zho_FBsKrAROHE8aUb3bnc8506lEsBts53iyn036AVQKIYEI59YS2hgY
If you recently discovered a dryer sheet in your mailbox and have been wondering why, here’s an explanation. Leave it there. Apparently it keeps wasps and yellowjackets out. We’re not sure how much good the dryer sheet does if the wasps and yellowjackets get there first, though: https://www.rd.com/article/dryer-sheet-mailbox/
This week’s virtual museum tour – the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx: https://www.nybg.org/planttalk/tag/virtual-tour/
This week in senior birthdays:
5/17: Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard (65)
5/18: MLB Hall Of Famers Brooks Robinson (84) and Reggie Jackson (75)
5/19: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Pete Townshend (76)
5/20: Singer-songwriter-actress Cher (75)
5/21: Actor/wrestler Mr. T (69)
5/22: Yankees pitcher Tommy John (78)
5/23: Actress Joan Collins (88)
And here’s the Bad Joke:
Back in my day, I could walk into the grocery store with $20 and walk out with eight porterhouse steaks, three whole chickens, a bushel of sweet corn, four loaves of bread, five pounds of butter, two gallons of milk and a case of beer.
Can’t do that nowadays. Too many cameras.
