Senior Viewpoint: Choosing the Right Assisted Living Facility

choosing the right assisted living facility, senior viewpoint, senior needs, UP holistic wellness publication

Moving into an assisted living facility is a major change for you or your loved one. New environment, people, routines—all require significant adjustment to this hopefully long-term phase. So you’ll want to be confident in your choice of a facility.

The future resident’s clinical needs, personal preferences, and budget need to be considered first and foremost. Discussion is needed so everyone involved understands these priorities.

The over-30,000 U.S. assisted living facilities vary greatly in size, cost, culture, food, specialization, and perks.

Factors to consider when selecting one include:

Location: Is the facility near family and friends? Is it in the type of setting preferred, i.e. urban, rural, suburban?

Licensing: Is the facility currently licensed? Licensing gives more consumer protections and a place to turn to should complaints arise.

Track Record: Check with family or friends who have experience with the facility, your state or local long-term care ombudsman program, and inspection reports (for state-licensed facilities). The latter two can be found through http://theconsumervoice.org/get_help, or by calling (866) 992-3668.

Staffing & Expertise: What training, education, and experience does the staff have? Is ongoing training provided? Are state or national background checks done on all employees? What is the ratio of staff to residents? (This can be as high as five or six to one in group homes, or as low as MI law requirements of 15 to 1 during waking hours and 20 to 1 after.)

How many hours is a registered or licensed practical nurse on duty? What services do they provide? Will the same staff person consistently help the resident with personal care? (This is optimal.) Can a private duty companion or medical support person be hired?

Infection Control & Prevention, Cleanliness & Safety: What are the facility’s infection control and prevention practices? How does this rate in their government inspection reports? Are both common and private areas kept clean? How are medical and other emergencies handled? Are there security devices and staff? Fire drills? Is there a sprinkler system and smoke detectors throughout the facility? Can the facility verify its financial security?

Needs, Preferences & Routines: Is the type of care you or your loved one might need for a certain medical condition now or in the future available at the facility? Does the facility determine when more services are needed by the resident, or the resident and their family? How often is this service plan assessed? Will the facility accommodate routines that are important to the resident? What’s the policy on personal belongings and pets? What transportation is available to residents? Are there places of interest residents can safely walk to nearby?

Payment & Policies: Review the contract or agreement carefully so you understand exactly what will be provided and what fees will need to be paid, including any security deposit or entrance fee. What are the refund and grievance policies? Does the facility participate in Medicaid? Is there a written schedule of fees for extra services and activities? What might cause these fees to change, and how much advance notice is given?

What are the resident’s rights and responsibilities? What is the grievance procedure? What would cause a resident to be discharged? You can take the initiative to make changes to the contract or require more specificity before signing a contract or agreement.

Dining: How’s the food quality? Are special dietary needs accommodated? How often are menus rotated? May residents eat in their rooms? Can guests join them at meals?

Activities: What kinds of health, wellness, spiritual, and entertainment programs are provided and how often? Are there opportunities to attend activities in the community?

Review the resources listed below for detailed guidance on these and other factors. Visit facilities you’re considering repeatedly, including unannounced. Bring your questions and checklists. Speak with a wide variety of staff members and residents. Take your time reviewing any written materials.

And take a deep breath. You can do this!

Resources

https://health.usnews.com/best-assisted-living/articles/factors-to-consider-when-choosing-an-assisted-living-facility
https://theconsumervoice.org/issues/recipients/assisted-living/additional-resources
Planning Ahead: A Consumer’s Guide to Nursing Facilities, https://www.ahcancal.org/
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/basics/info-2017/assisted-living-options.html

Bodies in Motion: 78-Year-Old Bikes Coast-to-Coast Trans America Trail

Told by Guinness World Record Applicant Bruce Closser to H&H

record-breaking bike trip, UP holistic wellness publication, senior viewpoint

It had been in the back of my mind to do this ride for some years. I had a nephew who’d done it some years ago, and I knew others who did things like that. It seemed like an interesting thing to do.

When you have a job, you can’t just take off for three or four months. After I retired, I spoke with my wife about it, but she wasn’t thrilled about being by herself the whole summer. After she died last year from Parkinson’s disease, I thought, “Maybe this is a good time to do it.“

I made the decision in February while skiing in Colorado with my son and daughter-in-law. That didn’t leave a whole lot of time since you usually start out in May. I wanted to begin as early as I could to get through the midsection of the country so I’d be in the mountains before super-hot weather came.

Then I read an article about a guy from Colorado who had just set Guinness World record as the oldest man to bike across the U.S. He was seventy-five. I thought “Huh! I’m seventy-eight and I’m going to do this. The record is there for the taking.” You have to apply, get approved, and submit a whole bunch of evidence before it’s adjudicated. If I hadn’t seen that article, it probably never even would have crossed my mind.

The Trans America Bicycle Trail goes from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon—4,205 miles total.

It was laid out in 1976 for the U.S. Bicentennial and is the first long U.S. bike trail mapped and designated. It’s become a popular cross-country route and is available on paper maps, phone maps, GPS. The Adventure Cycling Association has since made bike routes all throughout the country. You can go almost anywhere now.

I had less than two months to get ready. I’d never done anything like this before, never even did a bicycle tour before. I ski during winter, and I lifted weights to prepare, mostly working on my lower body. But I didn’t have the right kind of bike. There are bikes especially for this purpose but there aren’t many of them around. I researched and found the bike I wanted. The nearest dealer was Love & Bicycles in Negaunee.

The distributor didn’t have the complete bike available so the guys at Love & Bicycles and I got the frame and the fork, researched ordering all the components, and the shop built the bike for me. It was geared exactly the way I wanted (to the extent that we could find the equipment) and was a better bike than what I would have originally gotten.

By the time we got the bike, fenders, panniers (bags you attach to the frame), and racks for them all together, I had just one 1.5 mile ride on it before shipping it out. I was supposed to fly to my daughter’s in Baltimore May 1, but couldn’t get out until May 3 because of a snowstorm.

I started the trail May 5 and completed it August 22—109 days total, with 91 actual riding days, as some days I rested, visited friends, or had to wait out thunderstorm forecasts to avoid possible hail. My bike had to go in a shop to get adjustments made. One component needed to be replaced a couple of weeks from the end.

Chasing down prescriptions was a constant battle.

If I’d known how complicated that was going to be, I’d have planned for it. When skiing in Colorado, I could pick up my prescriptions at the local Walgreens, but the bike trail goes through little towns, a lot of which don’t have a Walgreens.

I have Parkinson’s Disease, so I have to pay really close attention to my meds. It’s a movement disorder where you have a lack of dopamine. Dopamine is a neuro transmitter that allows your brain to communicate with your muscles, so with Parkinson’s the signal gets there late, or garbled, or not at all. It can make you slow or uncoordinated, lose your balance.

We know pedaling is particularly good for Parkinson’s. There are pedaling programs all over the country for it. The Y in Marquette has one. But there aren’t many seventy-eight-year-olds with Parkinson riding their bikes across the country, so I had to figure out for myself how to adjust my medications.

You’re the expert on your body. I figure out what works and my doctor prescribes it for me. I take the normal Parkinson’s meds plus one that’s not so common, so it would be out of stock sometimes, even though the online info would say my prescription was ready to be picked up. If I were to do it again, I would make sure I had every prescription I needed completely stocked beforehand. That probably would have cut five days or so off my trip.

The Trans America Trail isn’t a straight line.

It seems laid out to keep off heavily trafficked routes wherever possible, go through beautiful places, and over every mountain range we can possibly find—Blue Ridge, Appalachians, Ozarks, Bitterroots, Cascades, and the Coastal Range. I did the equivalent of 175,000 feet of climbing, which is 34 miles.

I’m a pretty avid cyclist—I do regular road biking and mountain bike ride with a group once a week. There are five bicycles in my garage. Many times I’ve ridden 40 to 60 miles in a day. What I didn’t know was “Could I do it back-to-back, day after day after day?”

I just had to do it and find out. Turned out I could. Once I knew that (and I was sure of that two weeks into it), then I knew I could complete the trail, barring some catastrophe. Fifty percent of solo riders will finish the Trans America. Of those who get through the first ten days, 90% will finish.

That’s because five days in, you head up the Appalachians. They’re the hardest in the whole thing because they’re so steep and go on for a long, long time, 200 miles or more. They have older roads, not engineered to modern standards of 6 or 7, maybe 8% grades. The road by Marquette Mountain has a 7% grade at its steepest. In the Appalachians, you can get 12, 14 even 17% grades. While riding them, I had my epiphany about a hard day.

I was complaining to myself about how hard it was, wondering “Do I really want to be here doing this?” I told myself “Well, you have two choices here–you can climb this hill or you can sleep in the bushes.”

I decided “Okay, I signed up for this. I knew it was going to be hard, but it’s a hard day, not a bad day.”

I think that distinction is important. We all have to do hard things in our lives, but they’re not necessarily bad. You can think “This is a hard day, not a bad day.” And you just do it. My technique of getting up and riding as long as I could, which might be only a minute or two up that mountain, then wait ’til my breathing settled down, might be another two or three minutes, and go up through a series of stops and eventually get there. Then you get to go down and that’s a lot of fun!

The headwinds are the hardest thing, not only because they can practically bring you to a stop. When you get to the top of a hill, you think “I did it. I’ve won.” Not with the wind. It just keeps blowing. This implacable, uncaring wind just keeps wearing you down. The last twenty miles one day, I hit a howling headwind. I screamed at the wind that day, “You will not stop me! I will do this!”

In the many conversations I had with people along the way, they always asked why I was doing this. It took ’til I got to Colorado to have the answer.

What I observed as I went along and met others biking the whole trail is that people do this when they’re at a transition point in their lives. When you have a job, kids at home, you can’t just take off and do this. People do this when they retire, graduate, quit their job and are trying to figure out what to do in their lives. I met one fellow at a restaurant who told me that when he was seventeen, his brother came back from Vietnam and said ,“Why don’t we ride our bikes to Alaska?” And they did.

The death of my wife Sally was a huge change in my life, definitely a transition point. It’s the first time I ever lived alone—I went from family to college to military to marriage. So I think that’s the reason.

Biking the Trans America has given me a huge feeling of satisfaction by doing something that’s hard and being successful at it. I found it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and as people think it is. Once you can do fifty miles of daily riding, you just repeat that same thing over and over again. If you can do it five times, you can do it fifty times.

I realized I can step on my bicycle and go anywhere. I was constantly amazed at how far I had come. While I was doing this, I wrote about it on Facebook—Notes from America, with a detailed record of almost every day. It got really popular. I was really surprised. And I discovered I had some capacities at seventy-eight that I didn’t really know I had. It was a big confidence-builder.

I also learned that given an opportunity, people want to be kind.

I was the recipient of innumerable acts of kindness all the way across the country. I never had a negative encounter with another human being the whole trip, and I had situations where I needed someone’s help and it just came spontaneously, sometimes even before I asked.

I got off route for a prescription and had to chart my own course through rural Kentucky. There weren’t a lot of places to stay. I ended up in a little state-run campground that had no food or water there or en route. It was a hot day. I was virtually out of water, already thirsty, and facing a full night plus packing up and biking fifteen to twenty miles in the morning. When two fellas there found out, they took all my water bottles and drove half an hour away to fill them for me.

In Oregon, I got stranded with two flat tires due to very sharp, pervasive, tiny, strong, hard-to-locate goathead thorns. A woman living nearby provided water so I could locate and fix the holes, but every time there was another leak. She offered to drive me to a bike shop in town. They knew immediately what the trouble was and put a strip inside the tire that would be impenetrable for the thorns.

I also learned that this is an incredibly beautiful country.

Viewing it from the vantage point of a bicycle may be the best possible way—you’re going slow enough that you can see all the nuance and details, yet you’re going fast enough that you can cover some ground. I love driving, but you see things completely differently on a bike. And you can stop anywhere on a bike, unlike a car.

People would ask, “What was your favorite part of the trip?” I’d say “Right now; being here.” I didn’t have to be any place at any time. If somebody wanted to talk for twenty minutes, I could do that. I had time, and I had wonderful interactions with people.

I tried to enjoy every day and realize I didn’t come out to do this ride to get to Astoria, Oregon. I came out to do this every day and enjoy and appreciate every bit of it, and not look toward the end as being a destination. I think that worked well.

Senior Viewpoint: Playing with the Masters, H&H

benefits of intergenerational play, UP holistic wellness, senior viewpoint, UP holistic wellness publication

Did you know the young can help keep you young?

According to Jennifer Crittendon, Assistant Director of the University of Maine Center on Aging, research has shown that spending time with kids benefits your cognitive, emotional, and physical health. It also can give you a sense of purpose, which can help minimize depression. (1) Another study showed older people who volunteered with youth had greater life satisfaction than peers who did not. In fact, a study has even shown that babysitting grandparents have a 37% lower mortality risk than adults of the same age who have no “caring responsibilities.” (2)

Research has also shown that spending time with children and adolescents improves seniors’ communication, self-esteem, decision-making skills, and memory; results in feeling they’re assisting the next generation and making a difference for our future society; and causes them to feel appreciated and valued.(3)

And with good reason! As civicsplus.com describes, children mentored by seniors benefit through improved academic achievement, feeling loved and enjoying dedicated attention, emotional bonding, gaining confidence through non-judgmental companionship, and being exposed to the knowledge and demeanor of older adults. (4)

A University of Oxford study by Professor Ann Buchanan of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention showed “a high level of grandparental involvement increased the well-being of children.” Their study of more than 1,500 children showed that those with a high level of grandparental involvement had fewer emotional and behavioral problems. The influence of positive role models is crucial as children tend to model the behaviors they see.(5)

But perhaps most importantly for seniors, children are masters of play!

And play relieves stress; boosts creativity and mental function; fosters empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy with others; and increases your energy, vitality, and even resistance to disease.(6)

If you are fortunate enough to have grandchildren in your life, whether your own or others’, below are some tips to keep things fun and play-full. And if you don’t have young ones around, seek out opportunities at your local school, library, or community center!

Don’t be afraid to be silly.
Let mess fall where it may, so fun can take precedence! Clean-up can always be taken care of afterward.]
Be flexible. If they want downtime, go with it. If the museum you passionately wanted to share with them has them yawning, move on to something else.
Laugh together.
If you’re related, tell them stories of their mom or dad.
Find ways to be together even if you’re apart—phone, Zoom, online games, letter writing….
Don’t just give things, do things. Shared experiences will benefit both of you more than giving and receiving gifts.(7)

Not sure how to best spend your time together? Here are some ideas to get you started!

Indoors

Draw family tree – can share stories as they ask questions
Make a fort
Ask 20 questions about each other, alternating back and forth
Play cards
Make holiday decorations
Do kid-friendly crossword puzzles together
Have a tea party
Take turns reading from favorite books together
Draw portraits of each other
Bake together
Have a dance party
Make ice cream sundaes
Cook dinner together
Decorate T-shirts with tie-dye or puff paint
Play dress-up–walk around in costumes or put on a play
Play board games
Put on a puppet show
Color together
Have movie night with special snacks
Have a spa day
Make gifts for parents
Play Legos
Teach each other a hobby
Make a racetrack for toy cars with cardboard and masking tape
Make special drinks such as specially flavored lemonades or milkshakes

Outdoors

Walk
Plant flowers
Bikeride
Picnic
Paint rocks
Play hide ’n seek
Make a birdhouse
Go to a zoo
Go bowling
Draw with sidewalk chalk, including hopscotch and tic-tac-toe
Play mini golf
Visit a Farmer’s market
Go to the park
Blow bubbles—even in winter! Can make from simple online recipes
Go to a public pool
Take a class together—painting, cooking, pottery, art, movement, music….
Go berry or apple picking
Make a sandcastle together
Visit a museum
Go bowling
Go fishing
See a game
Go out to dinner
Go to a movie (8)

1 https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2018/adult-kid-benefit.html

2 https://tinybeans.com/benefits-for-kids-to-spend-time-with-grandparents/

3 https://www.civicplus.com/blog/pr/six-benefits-of-intergenerational-parks-and-rec-activities

4 https://www.civicplus.com/blog/pr/six-benefits-of-intergenerational-parks-and-rec-activities

5 https://tinybeans.com/benefits-for-kids-to-spend-time-with-grandparents/

6 https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/benefits-of-play-for-adults.htm

7 https://shebuystravel.com/how-to-be-the-fun-grandparent/

8 https://mommypoppins.com/boredom-busters/activities-for-grandparents-to-do-with-kids

Senior Viewpoint: Find Your Favorite Fitness

senior fitness, UP seniors favorite exercise, UP wellness publication, UP holistic business

You’ve likely heard about the benefits of exercise repeatedly by now—“Use it or lose it.” “The best medicine is exercise.” “The key to quality longevity is…. (you guessed it! ) exercise.” And who wouldn’t want to live longer or better? Yet according to the National Center for Health Statistics’ most recent study, only 15.3% of men over 65 met 2018 physical activity guidelines, and just 10.8% of women.

But the “fun factor” is key to your success. If you’re dragging yourself to do something you don’t enjoy, you’re unlikely to stick with it or feel encouraged to do more. So, we asked UP seniors to share what type of exercise they enjoy most and why.

Marquette resident Elizabeth Bates says her favorite is cross-country skiing “because it’s outdoors, rhythmic, and pain-free. I love being out in the beautiful winter landscape.”

Retired nurse Kay Mitchell also enjoys the outdoors and is part of the Wednesday Wanderers hiking group.

She explains, “We hike all over the place every Wednesday year-round. It’s a wonderful group of people. It’s just great to be outside in the woods, exploring new or old trails. We get to catch up with each other’s lives, and take turns leading the hike.”

Kay also likes going to the Marquette Senior Center’s Hi-Low Fitness group. “My favorite teacher, Lynn Johnson, does a great cardio workout. It just makes you feel so good…. you get to see all your friends…. They use music and do routines. It’s just fun.”

“I love to do anything that gets me moving,” says Karen Blake of Marquette. “If I can do a flight of stairs in an office building, or tai chi, or just do some stretches at home. I’d like to get back to horseback riding but I haven’t found the right situation yet.”

Retired doctor Peter Zenti also spoke of tai chi.

“When you’re doing some of the tai chi poses and balancing on one foot, that helps when you go out on icy sidewalks.”

Peter enjoys beginner pickleball at Marquette’s Senior Center too. He says, “The main thing we do is laugh—when you swing and totally miss the ball…. when you can’t remember what the score is, and someone else can’t remember…. It’s awesome!” Peter also notes how very helpful and welcoming the group is to new participants.

Former history professor Jon Saari answers, “I like exercise that is a little bit unpredictable, that doesn’t just follow a fixed routine.” Maria Formolo’s tai chi class at the Marquette Senior Center is a favorite of his because unlike most, it includes free exercise and “it’s slow and is adaptive to where your body is at that day.”

Jon also enjoys a new class at NMU called Asahi. He explains, “It’s simplified these many forms (of tai chi) down to a basic one. It’s been tested and found to exercise the whole range of the body’s muscles.”

Former dance studio owner Dawn Dott’s favorite type of exercise is now water aerobics.

She says, “When my body’s submerged in water it’s more buoyant…. I experience less wear and tear on my joints and muscles…. I can work harder and longer than I can on land.”

She adds, “I find it easier to balance in the water…. I feel less stress and anxiety after a water workout, especially when the class has included music. It improves my mood and ultimately, my outlook. It’s a blessing to be part of a kind and fun-loving (water aerobics) group.”

Avid folk dancer Bob Miller also appreciates the social aspect of group exercise. He explains, “I don’t like just dancing alone. Interacting with others is enjoyable.“ Bob also says, “When the music’s going, I feel like I could dance five miles when I couldn’t run one. Rather than getting tired dancing, I feel like I gain energy from it and the music.”

So join in the fun and find (or continue) your favorite form of exercise!

Senior Viewpoint: Successful Aging, Kevin McGrath

successful aging, senior viewpoint, gifts of aging, tips for successful aging, UP holistic wellness, UP holistic publicatioin

When you think about aging, what you are actually thinking about is being alive.

Oftentimes people tend to allow corporations and their advertising campaigns to define what aging is through all of the anti-aging and look-younger products that are being pushed at us in the media and markets, indirectly telling us that the aging process isn’t desirable. Whether it’s gray hair, wrinkles, or reduced energy levels, capitalistic business tries to take advantage and convince us to spend money to change ourselves.

Of course, you’re entitled to spend your own money how you want, but be sure it’s on your own terms. Looking younger isn’t being younger, but if that’s what works for you, then spend away! Just don’t let the ad campaigns make you feel inferior, because you’ve developed considerable amounts of experience through your life’s adventures that give you greater insight and wisdom to deal with challenges than a younger person, who may be overwhelmed by them.

Having more free time in retirement can enable older adults to do things they’ve only dreamed about.

Whether it’s going on trips to places on your bucket list, starting a new career in something that’s always interested you, spending more quality time with loved ones, or taking a course at a nearby college or online. You could even teach a course in something you’re good at as an enrichment class for others to expand their skill sets, or attend an enrichment class yourself.

Having more time also offers you the ability to volunteer with different organizations that fit your fancy. Many these days are in desperate need, creating a win-win scenario.

In addition to more time, seniors may also have greater disposable income due to Medicare and Social Security guaranteeing basic health insurance and a minimum income. Senior discounts are also a very nice perk to advancing in years, as they can be found nearly everywhere.

Of course, your mental and physical fitness level is a big influence on how much you might tend to enjoy your later years.

Here are some tips from the National Institute on Aging for aging “successfully,” to help you stay healthy and deal with potential cognitive challenges:

Learn a new skill.
Follow a daily routine.
Plan tasks, make to-do lists, and use memory tools such as calendars and notes.
Put your wallet or purse, keys, phone, and glasses in the same place each day.
Stay involved in activities that can help both the mind and body.
Volunteer in your community, at a school, or at your place of worship.
Spend time with friends and family.
Get enough sleep, generally seven to eight hours each night.
Exercise and eat well.
Prevent or control high blood pressure.
Don’t drink a lot of alcohol.
Get help if you feel depressed for weeks at a time.

There’s no point in trying to fight aging—we either advance in years or not, and until that final day arrives for each and every one of us, it would be wise to make the most of the advantages we’ve earned over the years.

Kevin McGrath is schlepping toward retirement and is looking forward to his next adventure on the highway of Life.

Source: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/memory-forgetfulness-and-aging-whats-normal-and-whats-not

Senior Viewpoint: Evolving from Trauma to Wellness, Beth Jukuri

evolving from trauma to wellness, overcoming sexual abuse, UP holistic wellness publication, UP holistic business

If you were asked to write about health and happiness, what parts of your life would you think about? What parts of yourself would you focus on?

How would you rate your own health and happiness?

The most sacred part of my wellness is my mind and how much I am able to challenge it.

I was indoctrinated into a cult-like religion from birth. I didn’t have access or control of my mind and its beliefs. The religion chose my life for me–where I went, who my friends could be, what I could or couldn’t do with my body.

At forty-six, when a young niece shared with Family Protective Services that “Grandpa touched me,” I became aware that I had been sexually abused as a child by my father.

I also became aware that my body and its emotions and feelings always lived in the truth. My body shook and my steadfastness to stand by my niece and believe her was unshakeable.

My body and its unexpressed emotions, and the way it never lied showed me the fragility of my mind and its false nature.

It became my priority to set my mind right. To bring it back to my body and reality. To use my mind and not let my mind use me.

The wellness of my mind and how it sits with reality is critical in my choice-making and ultimately how I live my life.

Without a mind set in reality, you cannot see life or who you are clearly.

I had lived with so many falsehoods and ill-conceived ideas both of myself and the outside world.

If on your stage of life, you don’t see the backdrop and the other characters in their true form, how will you know how to interact with them?

At forty-six years of age, I woke up in my life and realized I had seen the stage incorrectly and I was playing a part in a play in which I no longer wanted to participate.

The character of who I was fit into the play, but it had no place in reality and with the truth inside of me.

It is ironic to see the darkest parts of your life, to feel the vast emptiness of losing so much and at the same time feel empowered, strong, brave, and deep levels of love.

As I attempted to right my world and to re-adjust the stage, to find the character of me, I brought in new levels of happiness, joy, love, and peace.

I was embracing my history of abuse and acting in the present with new information, and making new choices that honored me.

This did not serve the requirements of my family of origin. It did not serve the silence abuse needed in order to thrive.

I became a new me with a voice and a choice.

The new me brought in new hurdles in many relationships. The open and free relationships welcomed the new me, and we experienced new levels of deep love and connection.

The relationships that were conditional died.

I see this time in my life as one of my greatest achievements—leaving the cycle of abuse. I changed how I interacted with abuse and that changed the trajectory of my lineage.

My breaking the silence and responding differently than my mother is the most difficult thing I have done, yet became one of the most healthy periods of my life.

I broke out of the family dynamic that supported abuse for generations.

The happiness that has slowly seeped back into my life is pure.

It has no hidden agenda or the false realities such an agenda was based on. Nor is it dependent upon the behaviors of others. My happiness is based on me—how I see myself and my worth, and how I love myself.

The levels of happiness I have found as I walked through decades of denial and recovered my innocence is life-changing.

What I know to be sure is that health and happiness live with truth. They grow and thrive in its presence.

My ability to be myself and to know myself and to love myself all stemmed from my ability to live with dark truths.

As Gloria Steinem once said, “The truth will set you free; but first it will piss you off.”

Even my anger and rage and overwhelming sorrow—after expressed—left me in peace. I made sense. The world made sense. The truth is so much easier to live with than trying to prop up a false relationship with both myself and others.

I loved me, the broken, twisted me that stumbled out of denial. I loved her courage and the bravery she showed to admit she didn’t know who she was.

I woke up at forty-six a stranger to myself.

The new me was a stranger in my relationships.

So began the second half of my life living life as Me.

Discovering and choosing what made me happy, what felt like love, where peace lived, and what I felt was true for me became my way of life.

I love this healthier me, one that is filled with so much happiness and knows deep love, even if she is completely estranged from her family.

I want others to know it is possible to live a good life after abuse.

To be happy.

To know joy.

To feel deep love of self.

What I know to be true is that we love as deeply as we love ourselves.

Abuse isn’t who you are. It is what was done to you. A healthy response is one that honors and respects you.

At sixty-three, I feel very grateful for my mental wellness and the sheer amounts of happiness I experience. Perhaps it’s because of all the years I lived codependent on others to make me happy that I am now so appreciative of my ability to find happiness alone.

Just being at peace with who I am and the choices I have made, and who that makes me as a person, brings me great happiness.

There are moments in our lives when we have the opportunity to become more ourselves or to find a deeper level of awareness. These are moments that will define your life either negatively or positively, with more growing or shrinking.

To me, health has always had an evolutionary spin to it—a feeling of growing and changing. Life is not static.

I feel happiness comes when you are free in the spaces you live and the relationships you have. The freer you become, the more happiness you gain.

Married thirty-five years, mother of four, grandmother of three, retired mail lady, and fiber artist Beth Jukuri‘s art has become her therapy, her therapy her art. She co-founded WIND (Women in New Directions) to explore oneself and grow more empowered through nature and art.

Senior Viewpoint: Creativity – Food for the Mind & Heart, Moire Embley

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I am the program director for the Senior Theatre Experience, an educational theatre program provided by the City of Marquette Arts and Culture and Senior Center. A couple of years ago, I was able to receive training in Art Therapy and bring new methods to integrate into my programming. This training really opened my eyes to understand how much impact creativity can have on one’s overall health and well-being.

Creativity can come in all kinds of forms, and can even occur when we are inspired by another’s self-expression. For some, creativity comes more naturally, and for others, like me… it can take more work. But what I do know is that creativity exists within us all, and it is just like any other muscle in our body—there are ways we can tone that muscle just by simply using it.

As we grow older, we begin to feel the effects of aging and with that, we become more mindful of how we can care for our body, from the food we eat to the exercise we offer it. But caring for our minds is just as important as caring for our physical bodies. Creativity is food for the mind, just as exercise is food for the body.

According to the National Institute on Aging, “participating in the arts may improve the health, well-being, and independence of older adults, and help with memory and self-esteem.” (Aging Fearlessly: Art, Creativity, and Aging, 2021)

There have been many studies linking the positive impact art and tapping into one’s creativity have on the brain.

According to Barbara Bagan, Ph.D., ATR-BC in her article, Aging: What’s Art Got to Do With It? “Neurological research shows that making art can improve cognitive functions by producing both new neural pathways and thicker, stronger dendrites. Thus, art enhances cognitive reserve, helping the brain actively compensate for pathology by using more efficient brain networks or alternative brain strategies. Making art or even viewing art causes the brain to continue to reshape, adapt, and restructure, thus expanding the potential to increase brain reserve capacity.”

One of the students in my program, Lois Stanley, told me her personal experience with this. “If you want to know that value that this program, the Senior Theatre Experience has had for me personally, (other than credibility with my grandchildren), it has opened up all kinds of synapses and new pathways for me… just trying to memorize some of my lines was an enjoyable exercise for my mind.”

Not only does participating in a creative activity improve cognitive function, but it also promotes feelings of purpose, meaning, well-being, contentment, and joy, while helping to alleviate feelings of stress, anxiety, and isolation. It strengthens our connection to our own identity and to the world around us.

Lina Belmore, another participant in my program, shares her thoughts: “I would consider myself an introvert, and sometimes it is difficult for me to interact with people. However, by participating in this program, I’m discovering that theater is the human experience on stage, and because of that, I am finding so many wonderful opportunities that expand my own human experience, and I’m able to create deeper connections with those around me. I’m so thankful that the City of Marquette recognizes how important the arts are, and how it brings people together, and brings warmth to me and to our community.”

If you are an older adult in Marquette County and are looking to explore new ways of bringing more creativity into your life, I encourage you to check out the wide variety of free programs the City of Marquette Arts and Culture and Senior Center offers, from fitness programs to painting, dance, and theatre. My intention with the Senior Theatre Experience is to provide programming, in partnership with Songbird Creative, Northern Michigan University, and local theatre non-profits, that nurtures your creativity and self-expression. I invite you to come have fun while exploring the different aspects of the world of theatre, and partake in unique experiences that illuminate the creativity, collaboration, and innovation behind the curtain. You’ll have the opportunity to attend rehearsals, lectures, backstage tours, learn about lighting, stage, and set design, and get free tickets to upcoming productions.

Moiré Embley has over eight years of experience in arts programming as well as training in Art Therapy. She is the program director of the Senior Theatre Experience, and founder of Songbird Creative, a little company encouraging creativity, self-expression, and mental fitness in older adults.

Citations:
‌Aging Fearlessly: Art, Creativity, and Aging. (2021, October 21). Maine. https://states.aarp.org/maine/aging-fearlessly-art-creativity-and-aging

Aging: What’s Art Got To Do With It? (2022). Todaysgeriatricmedicine.com. https://www.todaysgeriatricmedicine.com/news/ex_082809_03.shtml#:~:text=Neurological%20research%20shows%20that%20making,networks%20or%20alternative%20brain%20strategies.

Senior Viewpoint: Heighten Your Health Span at Your Local Senior Center, Kevin McGrath

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An old college friend recently told me he was shocked to see I had written an article for Health & Happiness’s Senior Viewpoint column. But after we spoke just a short while longer, he acknowledged that we both are now in our sixties.

Aging, after all, is something that naturally occurs over time. Our minds often are reluctant to accept the changes in our bodies until something happens that brings the aging process to the forefront. Aging takes place in our bodies every day of our life, whether we are aware of it or not.
According to the Mayo Clinic, staying healthy for the maximum number of years and keeping age-related diseases such as osteoarthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s to a minimum is key to a full and rich long life.

This full and rich long life is considered your health span. Your health span differs from your life span, which refers only to how long you live. Health span refers to qualify of life as opposed to duration of life.

The old view of aging, as Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School puts it, was that our bodies became like an old car that just starts to wear out and break down. The new view he describes is that our bodies are much more complicated than a car. Experiments and research have now shown we have genes call surtuins, a promising development regarding aging.

These surtuin genes can make you fitter with proper exercise and diet. They also occur naturally in the body. More research still needs to be done on surtuins, but medical researchers are excited about their early results. Activating and enhancing these genes may be the health span-promoting way of the future.

The basic key to healthy aging is a healthy lifestyle.

Eating a variety of nutritious foods, practicing portion control, and including physical activity in your daily routine can go a long way toward healthy aging. The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that healthy adults include aerobic activity and strength training in their fitness plans.

The Mayo Clinic says starting a fitness program may be one of the best things you can do for your health. After all, physical activity can reduce your risk of chronic disease, improve your balance and coordination, help you lose weight, and even boost your self-esteem. Plus, these benefits typically can be achieved regardless of your age, gender, or current fitness level.

Finding the fitness program that best suits your needs is essential. In my own case, I always was very active practicing Vinyasa yoga, playing in basketball and volleyball leagues, as well as participating in Zumba classes. I needed to find a way to keep the intensity up without overdoing it. Injuries can create a major setback, so it’s important to prioritize avoiding them.

If you’re in the area, a good place to start is the Marquette Senior Center, where they have a slew of options. Maureen McFadden, the center’s manager, can steer you in the right direction depending on your abilities and desires.

I’ve attended the Hi-Low Group Fitness class now for just over a year where instructors Paula, Lynn, Sandy, and Diane alternate higher impact aerobic routines with other cardio routines, mixing in weight training, other floor exercises, and stretching for an excellent hour-long workout. The class is held three times a week in Marquette’s Baraga Gym, which offers plenty of space for the twenty to forty individuals who attend regularly.

Regular Kay Mitchell, who’s been attending these classes for about ten years, keeps coming back because she likes the “great high-intensity workout.” She says the instructors are awesome and make exercise fun. I wholeheartedly agree.

Another reason Kay continues to attend week in and week out is the friendships she has developed with others in the group. Anyone who has ever been part of a team sport, military squad, or any group that works hard to achieve a goal being physically active can understand the sense of camaraderie that develops when people share a common purpose.

Another important factor to consider is brain aging. Brain aging can be traumatic not just for the individual but also his/her family and loved ones. Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia have become the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

Dr. Lewis Lipsitz of Harvard Medical School claims reducing cardiovascular risk factors through mental and physical exercises is key to reduce or slow brain aging. Use it or lose it. Oftentimes as we grow older, we tend to slow down, but all the latest studies show this is the time to increase your activities in those ways that work for you. The priority has now become, as Dr. Sinclair puts it, “keeping people younger for longer as opposed to keeping people older for longer.”

Most people don’t want to live longer if they can’t do much of anything. If our quality of life is good and we can live longer too, that’s icing on the cake. So get active if you aren’t already. And a good place to start is your local Senior Center.

Kevin McGrath can be found step touching on the grape vine of life.

Senior Viewpoint: How to Choose a Healthcare Proxy

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It may seem unthinkable to many of us that a day might come when we are unable to speak for ourselves. Yet according to theconversationproject.org, “half of all people over 65 admitted to a hospital need help from someone else.” As the pandemic and unexpected accidents have shown us, even healthy people may suddenly need someone else to speak for them and help make health care decisions.

A healthcare proxy, also known as surrogate decision-maker, power of attorney for healthcare, or healthcare agent, is able to speak with all of your healthcare team members and read your medical records. This person would apply what they know about your health care preferences to make decisions about tests, procedures, and treatments if you became too unwell to make those decisions yourself, such as in the case of stroke, dementia, or being knocked unconscious.

Parents and legal guardians are automatically healthcare proxies for those under eighteen in their care. If you’re over eighteen and don’t want the legal system to choose a healthcare proxy for you, you need to designate one. This is particularly crucial if you have a chronic illness, are diagnosed with a serious disease, or are going on a big trip.

In Michigan, only one person can act as your healthcare proxy, and must be over eighteen. Who would be best for this important role?

Your healthcare proxy might need to make tough, quick decisions on your behalf, including on procedures, treatments, or even life support. Health needs sometimes shift rapidly, so this should be someone who could understand your values and wishes in any situation, and will carry them out even if different from their own preferences.

Your healthcare proxy will also need to ask questions of your doctors and other healthcare helpers to get a clear grasp of your situation. They may also need to advocate strongly on your behalf to get the right care for you-—with health professionals and also with people close to you who may not agree with the proxy’s decisions. Is the person you’re considering comfortable enough to do so?

It’s helpful to also designate a secondary healthcare proxy. This person would act on your behalf if your primary choice became unable or unwilling to take this role. If you named your spouse as your proxy, and later are in proceedings for divorce, legal separation, or annulment, this designation would be suspended, and your secondary choice would become your healthcare proxy.

“Sometimes a spouse, adult child, sibling, or other family member may not be the best choice to follow your wishes. Your proxy doesn’t need to be someone local; the person you choose can act as your proxy and make choices for you over the phone,” explain the experts at theconversationproject.org.

If your proxy is a trusted friend, neighbor, member of your faith community, or other non-family member, family members may have questions.

So be sure to identify your proxy and the reason for this choice to them before a healthcare emergency arises. For example, you might explain that you want them to be able to focus fully on your time together and/or be moral support for you rather than have to deal with health care decisions that could be stressful.

You’ll also need to make sure your potential healthcare proxy understands all of the responsibilities involved (The Conversation Project’s downloadable Guide to Being a Healthcare Proxy can help flesh this out), and is willing to take these on. Listen to their responses, answer any questions they may have, and let them know it’s all right if they decide not to be your proxy.

Once someone has agreed to this, you’ll need to have a detailed talk about your healthcare preferences with them. You can download and work with The Conversation Project’s Conversation Starter Guide to help you prepare.

Name your healthcare proxy and alternate in an advance directive; give your proxy a copy of it, along with names and contact info for your primary care doctor and any other important healthcare team members; and give these healthcare team members your advance directive along with your proxy’s name and contact info.

Lastly, be sure to continue discussing your healthcare preferences with your proxy as your understandings and wishes evolve.

Resources:
https://theconversationproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ChooseAProxyGuide.pdf, https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sites/default/files/ALTSA/stakeholders/documents/duals/toolkit/Health%20Care%20Proxy.pdf
https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/healthtips/ask-our-expert-how-to-choose-your-health-care-proxy/
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/miseniors/Advance_Directives_230752_7.pdf
https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/wills-life-planning/making-health-care-power-of-attorney

Senior Viewpoint: Head to Your Local Farmers Market ASAP! Kevin McGrath

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Now that summer has begun taking hold, nutrient-rich soils are transferring more and more of their life-sustaining power to the herbs, grains and vegetables that we then consume and absorb. Our farmer’s markets play a vital role in not only making these fresh, healthy, in-season, locally grown foods available for our choosing, but also offer an open air venue where we can safely and easily engage as social beings again.

As a senior who has been primarily cooped up for over a year in an attempt to keep my fellow citizens and myself out of harm’s way and is finally fully vaccinated, I’ve come to truly appreciate the importance of fellowship. Social isolation can become a routine way of life for many seniors, pandemic or no. Farmers markets bring together humans of all ages, which can be particularly helpful for seniors’ vitality. And, as John Lennon once said, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is a reality.”

Social isolation has been shown to significantly increase your risk of dementia and premature death from all causes, maybe even more than smoking, obesity or physical activity. On top of that, according to the American Psychiatric Association, lonely seniors are more likely to smoke, drink in excess, and be less physically active.

Additionally, we seniors actually need fewer calories, but more nutrient-rich meals.

Plant foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and whole grains) tend to be nutrient dense and are also a great source of fiber, which can help prevent Type 2 diabetes, aid digestion, lower cholesterol, and help you maintain a healthy weight. Research supports filling at least half of your plate with vegetables and fruit at each meal.

To get the greatest nutritional value, as well as flavor, from your produce, you want it to have the shortest possible time between harvest and consumption, making your farmers market a winner again. Food imported from other states and countries is typically older, has been handled more (exposing it to more contamination risks), and sat in distribution centers before arriving at the store.

Another consideration that becomes clearer as I age is the importance of supporting local businesses. Our local economy can be hurt by having our produce transferred in from all over the world, and oftentimes even sold more cheaply. If we don’t support our local businesses with our purchases, and then wonder where all our local businesses went, whose responsibility is that?

Nationwide, growers selling locally create thirteen full time jobs per $1 million in revenue earned.

Those who do not sell locally create three. And dollars generated locally tend to circulate locally, bolstering the economic health of local businesses and families. Plus, if natural disasters continue to increase, affecting the growth and distribution of food from elsewhere, we’ll certainly become even more grateful to have locally-sourced options.

So with summer in full swing, I look forward to seeing my experienced neighbors and friends taking advantage of nature’s “farm-aceuticals” at our local farmer’s market, supporting our own health and that of our community.

While Kevin McGrath isn’t a farmer, he has the greatest respect and admiration for our local farming community and can be found visiting farmers markets wherever he may roam.

Research contributed by Roslyn McGrath, a fellow fan of food, farmers markets, useful info, helpful humans, and Mother Nature.