Sheboygan Senior Living

SENIOROctober 28, 2011

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October 28, 2011 SENIOR living 3

Senior Living, a publication created to meet the needs of our county's mature citizens, is now in your hands.

Inside you'll find information covering a wide variety of topics. Articles on diet, exercise, home life, estate planning and more. Also included are listings of county programs and groups that have a senior focus.

Keep this guide handy – it's an invaluable resource to help you make informed decisions and determine the best options for making your senior years more reassuring and enjoyable.

Senior Living is published by The Sheboygan Press. Contents of the section are for

Sheboygan Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without prior consent of The Sheboygan Press. For information, contact Robin

Lisowe at 920-453-5155 or email [email protected].

generaL Manager Mike Knuth

advertiSing Manager Dave Liebelt

graphic artiSt Marie Rayome-Gill

SENIORSENIOROctober 28, 2011

www.sheboyganpress.com

Powered by Moxie

Your resource for

Sheboygan area

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4 SENIOR living The Sheboygan Press

The following is a list of local support groups. New groups continue to form, so for an up-to-date list contact the Aging and Disability Resource Center at 1-920-459-3095.

✦ Alzheimer's and Other Related Dementias: Aging and Disability Resource Center, 821 N. 8th St., Sheboygan, 920-459-3095.

✦ Depression Support Group (Health & Hope): Mental Health America, 2020 Erie Ave., Sheboygan, 920-458-3951. Website: www.mhasheboygan.org

✦ Grief Partners (Bereavement Support Group): Vince Lombardi Cancer Center, 1222 N. 23rd St., Sheboygan, 920-457-6800.

✦ Living with Cancer (Cancer Support Group): Vince Lombardi Cancer Center, 1222 N. 23rd St., Sheboygan, 920-457-6800.

✦ Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Support Group: Vince Lombardi Cancer Center, 1222 N. 23rd St., Sheboygan, 920-458-4977. (Third Monday of each month at 6pm).

✦ Parkinson's Support Group: Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, 2629 North 7th St., Sheboygan, 1-800-972-5455 (Education and support for persons with Parkinson's, caregivers and friends).

✦ People Caring for People (Stroke support group): St. Nicholas Hospital, 3100 Superior Ave., Sheboygan, 920-459-4636.

✦ Prostate Support Group (Man to Man): St. Nicholas Hospital, 3100 Superior Ave., Sheboygan, 920-459-4745.

✦ Sheboygan Association of Severely Handicapped Adults: RCS Empowers, Inc., 1305 St. Clair Ave., Sheboygan, 920-458-8261.

Support groups


The Senior Centers in Sheboygan County are open to

all people age 55 and older. Senior Centers provide

opportunities for education, social events, recreation,

volunteering, counseling, mentoring, and resource and

referral.

Examples of some of the educational opportunities

include workshops on ceramics and other crafts, library

services-including large print books and books on tape

or CD, tax preparation, financial planning, volunteer

opportunities, and guest speakers on various issues of

importance, including benefits, financial planning, health,

and governmental issues.

Examples of recreational activities include card playing and

lessons, dart ball, bingo, tatting, movies, intergenerational

activities, dominos, billiards, table tennis, computers, and

TV series production.

Examples of health and wellness programs include

exercise classes, walking programs, yoga, blood pressure

screenings, flu vaccinations, foot care, hearing aid services,

swimming, water exercise, Sittercise, Body Recall, line

dancing, Health Hikers, and Tai Chi. Please contact the

local senior center for more specific information about

programs and services available.

The Senior Activity Center of Sheboygan is located at

428 Wisconsin Ave., Sheboygan. For more information

about the center, please call 920.459.3290. The

Plymouth Senior Center is located at 1500 Douglas

Drive, Plymouth and can be reached at 920.892.4821 for

additional information.

local senior centers


After Binder lost six pounds in three months without trying, her physician suggested she abandon her diabetic diet and increase her portion sizes to try and to stabilize her weight.

“She told me I could eat everything. I told her, ’Everything? Are you sure?“’ said Binder. “After you eat only certain foods, it was mind-boggling. But it opens your eyes up. You feel gleeful and normal.”

Tweaking the octogenarian’s daily calories was about more than making sure her clothes fit. Whether it’s not having access to nutrient-dense meals, dealing with other health complications or coping with feelings of isolation after a loved one’s death, senior citizens can face added challenges when

it comes to meeting their nutritional needs, said Dr. Ina Li, Binder’s physician and a geriatrician with Christiana Care Health System.

In some cases, older people think they deserve to eat whatever they want because they’ve reached their twilight years. Then there are seniors who risk malnutrition because they graze on foods with little nutritional value, a phenomenon sometimes dubbed “tea and toast syndrome.” The aging process also can have an effect on appetite, taste and to some extent, nutrient absorption.

But neglecting nutritional issues can cause a snowball effect that impairs their overall health and reduces their ability to be

For seniors, nutrition can be a special problem

By KELLY BOTHUM, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

For years, Freda Binder watched what she ate. She managed her diabetes without insulin for more than a decade by avoiding sweets and regularly checking her blood sugar.


independent in the long run.

“When an older patient is losing weight, it tells me they’re losing a lot of ground,” Li said. “If you’re losing weight at that age, there’s nowhere to go but down.”

About 13 percent of the population is aged 65 or older, accounting for about 40 million Americans, according to the U.S. Administration on Aging, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A 2010 report on well-being indicators in older Americans found that while the typical senior’s diet met federal guidelines for meat, fruit and total grain consumption, the average amount of saturated fat, sodium and calories from solid fats, alcohol and added sugars was too high.

Like the rest of the American population, more seniors are living with chronic diseases that also can be impacted by their food choices. Fifty-six percent of those age 65 or older report having high blood pressure, while 32 percent have heart disease, according to the federal aging report.

For these patients, specific diets, particularly those that emphasize fruits, vegetables and foods low in saturated fat, can help them better manage their conditions, registered dietitian Isaac Hicks said.

But getting seniors to think critically about how they eat and the way it impacts their overall health isn’t easy. Many have fears they will have to give up a favorite food entirely. Often, they’re relieved to hear that with a few substitutions or smaller portions, they can improve how they eat without giving up favorite flavors.

“It’s about overall trying to change their lifestyle. You want to make sure the foods you are eating are basically nutritional powerhouses,” said Hicks, who works with patients in Christiana Care’s family medicine department and its Center for Community Health.

Added difficultiesThere are several reasons why older people lose weight, and not all of them have to do with how much food they eat, Li said. Being homebound with a lack of access to food, not having enough money or energy to prepare nutritious meals, and even interactions with medication can play a role.

“A lot of the times it’s preparation of food. No one’s preparing food or they can’t prepare it because they’re so short of breath. They can’t stand up to cook,” Li said. “It’s easier to eat something highly processed with not a lot of calories in it.”

When older patients begin to lose weight, it can lead to other problems, such as fatigue and wounds that don’t heal. “Weight loss often comes from what we call a catabolic state. The body is basically eating away at your muscle,” Li said. “As you get more deconditioned, you’re not going to have

the muscle mass to stand up. You might not be functional and stay in the community. Once you lose that, you’re going to be bed bound.”

Meals deliveredFor some seniors, eating alone is reason enough to avoid a meal. However, there are senior centers that provide activities, a chance to meet other people and in many cases, a daily hot meal at an affordable price. If getting out isn’t possible, some programs can bring a healthy meal to them.

The impact of socializing on a person’s physical health shouldn’t be underestimated, said Carolyn Fredericks, executive director of the Modern Maturity Center in Dover, Del.

“When older adults come out of their homes and into a social atmosphere, they’re going to become more involved and basically happier,” said Fredericks.

Loved ones also should keep an eye out to make sure the seniors in their life are eating balanced meals, not just nibbling throughout the day. Consider bringing healthy snacks such as whole fruit, vegetables, high-fiber cereal and whole grain crackers to keep their food supply stocked.

“Even if they’re in assisted living getting three meals a day, they may not be eating them,” Hicks said.


Those “senior moments” that plague so many aging Baby Boomers may or may not be a sign of more serious problems down the line.

New research finds that losing your train of thought or forgetting where you placed your keys may be a fairly benign — albeit annoying — sign of age. But having trouble remembering what happened a few minutes ago, or getting lost in familiar places, may be more serious.

The information, published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, should help primary care physicians sort out the mundane from the more troublesome when they see elderly patients.

“They should be asking their patients if they have any complaints 1/8about memory or thinking skills3/8,” said study lead author Rebecca Amariglio, a neuropsychologist with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. “When you’re getting old, it’s common to ignore these complaints.”

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act includes a provision for screening for these types of problems, called cognitive problems, at a person’s annual physical exam.

So researchers are trying to find simple ways to sort out which

patients can go home (relatively) reassured, and which might need further testing for Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.

For this study, researchers quizzed almost 17,000 women, average age about 74, over the telephone about their own recollections of memory lapses. The investigators then correlated this data with how the women scored on standard cognitive tests, including delayed recall of sets of words and numbers, also administered over the telephone.

The researchers used a set of questions — seven in all — which asked the participants if they had recently experienced a change in their ability to remember things, whether they had trouble remembering a short list of items (such as a shopping list), whether they had trouble remembering recent events, and whether they had trouble remembering things from one second to the next.

The women were also asked whether they had difficulty following spoken or written instructions, whether they had more trouble than usual following a group conversation or TV program due to memory problems, or whether they had trouble finding their way around familiar streets.

“Getting lost,” in particular, was highly associated with cognitive impairment. Women who reported they had gotten lost in familiar neighborhoods tended to score significantly lower on cognitive tests similar to those used to detect

By AMANDA GARDNER, HealthDay

Certain ’senior moments’ may signal mental decline


signs of Alzheimer’s. Having trouble keeping up with a group conversation and difficulty following instructions were also strongly associated — though not as highly — with cognitive impairment.

On the other hand, forgetting things from one moment to the next was not associated with any decline in measure of cognitive function.

But the more complaints a woman had, the more likely she was to score poorly on the test administered by investigators. Each additional complaint was associated with a 20 percent increase in cognitive impairment. (The complaint of forgetting one moment to the next had a score of zero since it was not associated with impairment.)

The authors noted that the participants were all women and mostly white, however, which means that the findings may not be generalizable to other populations.

Another expert pointed out other limitations of the study.

The “senior moments” reported by the study participants were only related to how well they did on the telephone

tests, not to whether or not the person had actual dementia,

according to Mary Sano, professor of psychiatry and director

of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Mount Sinai

School of Medicine in New York City.

“This may overstate the problem, which also is not a good

thing,” she said, adding that the study does not trace the

source of any problems it uncovered.

“The next step going forward would be to develop specific

questions to ask 1/8and3/8 to see if this relates to dementia,”

Amariglio said.

For now, simple questions don’t portend “what the future

holds,” she added. But answers may indicate that follow-up

is warranted.

“It’s one little extra red flag that can maybe direct decisions,”

Amariglio said.

On the Web:(AT) www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_

of_alzheimers.asp, the Alzheimer’s Association has more

information about stages of Alzheimer’s.



12 SENIOR living October 29, 2010

But unlike many families today, it wasn’t their adult children returning home or elderly parents moving in. It was their granddaughter Catie, just 10 months old when the Bairds’ son and his wife asked them to take her while they were in the midst of a divorce. She has been there ever since. Catie, now 15, calls her grandmother “Mom.”

John died in 2007. Annabel Baird, 65, now lives with Catie in Richardson, a Dallas suburb. “Our son and his wife were unable to care for this baby. They came to us and asked us if we would take temporary custody. We said no but would take permanent custody and back out when they demonstrated their ability to care for this child,” she says. “That never happened.”

The Bairds’ experience is like that of so many grandparents today. Although it’s a family dynamic filled with complexities,

more grandparents than ever are finding themselves in the throes of parenthood yet again. Census data released last month found that 3.1 million children in the USA were living without a parent in the household in 2009. Of those, 59% lived with grandparents.

Grandparents step in when parents are out of the picture because of substance abuse, physical or mental illness, financial problems, incarceration, death, and more recently, military deployment and the recession. These grandparents, many of whom had planned for travel or more “me” time, are instead navigating the terrible 2s, school, sports and the vast cultural and technological changes (think Lady Gaga and texting) that have occurred since their own children were young. As a result of this growth, there’s considerable new research about this demographic, sometimes referred to as

More kids today living in ’grandfamilies’

Four months of an empty nest were all that Annabel and John Baird had before their home in Highland Village, Texas, wasn’t so empty anymore.

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY


“skip generation” households or “grandfamilies.”

“I wanted to be Grandma. You know, the kids come over and you treat them special and then you turn them home to their mother or father,” says Joyce Sylvia, 69, of Providence. “That’s what I had planned.”

Instead, she ended up adopting two granddaughters when they were in elementary school. Now they’re 12 and 15.

Terribly mixed emotions“People like me need someplace they can go and be with other people who are in the same situation,” she says of the support group she attends. “We tell each other stories to help us get through it. Some grandmothers are so downtrodden because this is devastating. Sixty is not when you want to be taking care of kids.”

An analysis released last fall by the Pew Research Center found that grandparents who are primary caregivers of grandchildren are relatively young: 67(PERCENT) are under 60 and 13(PERCENT) are under 45, the 2009 data show.

“I’m nowhere near as young and energetic as I was when I was raising my own children,” says Diane Bergt, 48, of Lacey, Wash., the mother of eight. “Sometimes it’s hard to keep up

with two toddlers.”

She and Dave, her husband of nine years, took in her grandchildren in October 2008, when Joey was just over a month old and Alyssa was 11 months. Bergt says her son, then 22, “showed up at my door with the kids one night.”

Her three teens were still living at home. She has custody of her grandchildren, now 2 and 3. “My life has changed quite a bit,” Bergt says. But “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“Some people say ’Your grandchildren are so blessed.’ No, it’s me. I’m the one who is blessed,” Bergt says.

Donna Butts, executive director of the non-profit Generations United, says grandparents have “terribly mixed emotions” about the situation they’re in.

The most common feeling is one of loss, experts say. “For whatever reason, they’ve lost their own child,” who is not there to parent. “And they’ve lost their own roles. Suddenly, your independence is lost and you’re dealing with the child who is also struggling with loss,” says Carole Cox, a professor of social work at Fordham University in New York. “There’s a real sense of loss in these families.”

Continued on page 14


Baird says “the grief was so great” because her friends’ relationships with their husbands and families hadn’t changed.

“They had grandchildren. I didn’t,” she says. “I lost a grandchild in this, and my grandchild lost her grandparents because she became our child.”

A lot of worriesExperts say they have nagging fears and often are “hypervigilant,” Cox says. “They don’t want this child to go wrong. They worry so about what happened to their own child.”

They also worry about the passing years. “There’s no guarantee that they’re going to be there for that child,” says Gregory Smith, a gerontologist and developmental psychologist at Kent State University in Ohio.

Sylvia says she’s “making sure my insurance is paid so there is no problem if something happens to me.”

Carol Musil, a professor in the School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, has seen a heavy load of worries among grandparents she has been studying since 1996.

“It’s this magnified multi-generational parenting. They’re worrying about two generations of kids.”

Much of the research done in the past 10 years has focused on the health and well-being of grandparents engaged in child-rearing.

“Grandparents, in general, have more physical disability and depression than their peers not raising grandkids,” says Esme Fuller-Thomson, a professor of social work at the University of Toronto.

She has looked at a variety of populations, and the patterns hold within each group. “It seems that grandparents will step forward no matter what their personal sacrifices to take care of these children,” she says.

Her new research, which she’ll present at a conference in November, focuses on the positives. She says grandkids make grandparents proud and create family closeness, reduce feelings of loneliness and make them feel more youthful and re-energized. Having kids around is fun. The grandparents also spoke about having a sense of purpose and more time for their grandkids than they had for their kids. Parenting grandkids reduced stress because they knew the kids were safe in their home.

Continued from page 13


Cox says that in most of the 150 grandparent-headed families

she has studied, most are caring for more than one grandchild,

and often it’s an informal arrangement so the family can avoid

foster care and potentially losing the child to adoption.

“I didn’t even think about how hard it would be raising a child

again,” says Linda James, 64, of Rochester, N.Y. “My thought

was, I didn’t want this child to go into foster care. I didn’t want

this baby to lose her identity. I wanted her to be with family.

That was my reason.”

James has cared for two grandchildren since they were less

than 6 months old. They are now 21 and 23 and still live with

her while both are in college. Her daughter died in 1991.

Helen Fletcher, 72, a retired federal employee in Toledo, had

five grandchildren come to live with her in 2004, when her

daughter, now 35, was incarcerated. At the time, the youngest

was 2, the oldest about 10.

“These children were always going to stay together,” she says.

“I don’t know anybody that would have taken five children.”

Even as the grandparents open their arms to grandkids,

experts say there is plenty of anger at the adult child.

Bert Hayslip, professor of psychology at the University of North

Texas in Denton, says grandparents often speak “very critically

of their children” whose decisions forced them to step in. “Yet,

of course, it’s your own daughter or son. They can be pretty

angry with them and still care about them,” he says.

Sylvia says she and her husband had no kid troubles until their

son was 18 and “got into the street scene and all that.”

“I was devastated with that,” Sylvia says. “I was blaming

myself. I worked. We bought a home. We did everything a

family should do. It still happened.”

While the psychological well-being of grandparents has often

been studied, less is known about the grandchildren.

Among those studying this group is Megan Dolbin-MacNab,

assistant professor of human development at Virginia Tech

in Blacksburg. Two of her studies, published in 2009, found

a “really strong sense of appreciation and gratitude for what

grandparents are doing,” she says.

Catie Baird, now a high school sophomore, says she started

calling her grandmother “Grannabel.”

“But as I got a little older I decided I would call her Mom

because I wanted a mom.”


Knee replacement surgeries are expected to soar as Baby Boomers try to stay active longer, but self-care treatments can help with pain, restore mobility and delay or eliminate the need for surgery.

”Total knee replacement is an epidemic in our country,” says Marj Albohm, president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. ”That circles back to the American way. Fix it. Give me an operation.”

Replacement operations increased 100% over the past 10 years and are expected to rise 500% by 2030 , according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Traumatic injuries and osteoarthritis, which troubles 27 million American adults by damaging cartilage and bone and causing pain, stiffness and swelling, can lead to expensive surgeries.

The best ways to slow down arthritis and help preserve cartilage cushioning knees and other joints are to follow

How to keep knees pain-free

If your knees start throbbing like those of post-game NFL players, remember all of your options — and not just the easy ones, health experts say.

By Janice Lloyd, USA TODAY


the Arthritis Foundation’s guidelines, says John Richmond, chairman of the group who wrote the AAOS 2008 guidelines for treatments less invasive than knee replacements. At the top of the list is losing weight.

”The only treatment that actually slows down the progress of the disease is weight loss,” says Richmond, chairman of New England Baptist Hospital’s department of orthopedic surgery in Boston. ”You might think restricting activity would help, but it does not.”

Among the Arthritis Foundation’s strategies to combat pain and restore mobility:

Lose weight. Every pound lost reduces the weight on your knees by 4 pounds, says Patience White, chief public health officer of the Arthritis Foundation, which funds research for treatments and a cure.

Get exercising. Include low-impact aerobic exercises (cy-cling, brisk walking, gardening and dancing) in your workout routine. ”We can’t say this enough. Exercise helps with pain and is good for overall health,” says White.

Increase muscle. Work all the muscle groups twice a week. Stronger muscles can help support damaged joints.

But sometimes, a healthy routine won’t help, and people opt for

replacement surgery when pain restricts everyday activities.

Athletic trainer Paul Ullucci, 43, is fighting that fate. He has had

six surgeries on his right knee and is putting off replacement

surgery as long as possible. He combines exercise with other

routines to help his knees, and it’s working, he says.

Among his drills: Squats and bridges (lie on your back and

push up your legs with a ball squeezed between them) are

good exercises for both muscle groups.

”There’s a lot of research showing proper exercise and

stretching will actually prolong the knee’s life,” says Ullucci, a

board member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association

and president of the Ullucci Sports Medicine and Physical

Therapy Inc. in Providence.

One of Ullucci’s patients is a firefighter. ”He’s 53 and was

told he needed knee replacement,” says Ullucci. Instead, ”we

worked with him for 1½ months, and he went back on the job.

He needed to strengthen and have everything balanced in his

body. But he’s going up and down ladders again.”


The open enrollment period for Medicare will begin earlier this year, so seniors need to start looking at their current plans to decide what coverage they want in 2012, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

Enrollment period for Medicare starts early this year

by STEVEN REINBERG, HealthDay


The good news is that while benefits will remain essentially the same for the 99.7 percent of Medicare recipients who have access to Medicare Advantage, premiums for that program will fall 4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the program.

Meanwhile, overall enrollment is expected to increase 10 percent, health officials said. Although the enrollment period will last longer this year it will end earlier, on Dec. 7 instead of Dec. 31, they added.

”As we continue to implement the Affordable Care Act, we are taking the right approach to Medicare,“ HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during a Thursday morning news conference. ”An approach that begins by improving benefits instead of cutting them, and continues to slow the growth in costs.“

All beneficiaries will have access to Medicare-covered preventive services without a co-pay or deductible, including Annual Wellness Visits, in 2012, Sebelius added. Also, people who reach the donut hole in their drug coverage will get discounts on brand name drugs and expanded coverage for generic drugs as part of the Affordable Care Act, she noted.

Premiums for the Medicare Part D, the prescription drug plan, will remain the same, Sebelius said.

”The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 1/8CMS3/8 is encouraging beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug plans to review their current health and drug plan coverage for any changes their plans may be making for 2012 before the annual open enrollment period begins on Oct. 15,“ the agency said.

Speaking at the news conference, Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director of CMS, said that in 2012 Medicare Advantage patients will have ”better benefits, consistent number of choices and lower average premiums.“

For the first time, CMS will reward Medicare Advantage plans with high quality scores through its so called ”Five-Star“ rating system. Plans that earn these financial rewards will also be allowed to market to and enroll new patients all year long, Blum said.

Those currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan will be automatically switched to original Medicare if they do not choose a plan. But to keep prescription drug coverage, everyone will need to enroll in a Part D plan, the agency stressed.

On the Web: www.medicare.gov/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1, Medicare.gov has more on Medicare.

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